Dear Xequte Software User,

 

Well the last month has been exceptionally busy for us as we released three updates plus a new product for our freeware collection.  On top of that our twins celebrated their second birthday on the sixth, for which we had a fantastic afternoon of food, balloons, games and presents.  I'm sure the kids enjoyed it almost as much as the adults did ;-)

 

There's a picture of Ali and DJ enjoying their cake at:
http://www.xequte.com/personal/2ndbirthday.jpg

 

I'd like to give a special thanks to my wife for her fine work over the last two years, performing a job that demands much longer hours and can deliver more stress than running a software company (any comments can go to her at jenny@xequte.com).

 

Regards

 

Nigel Cross
Xequte Software
nigel@xequte.com
www.xequte.com

 

 

 

* DVD PIXPLAY V1.20 RELEASED

 

DVD PixPlay allows you to create VCD image slideshows for playback on DVD players and computers.  V1.2 adds a number of improvements and some minor bug fixes.

 

Here is a top ten list of changes:

 

1.  Can now create MPEG format disks that autoplay on computers
2.  Burning of DVD disks is now supported (when using MPEG format)
3.  Now offers a DVD compliant MPEG option
4.  Updated CD writing library for greater hardware compatibility
5.  Added custom shape support (such as arrows, lightning bolts, explosions) to title pages and images
6.  Added new wide-screen output option in Advanced slideshow settings
7.  Now checks the existence of all source images, videos and sound files before commencing slideshow wizard and allows creation of the slideshow even if some files are missing
8.  Can now specify the output quality when printing projects
9.  Now remembers each of the preferred folders for projects, images and music files
10. Better handling of the internal aspect ratio flag to address odd display on (mainly) computer systems

 

Complete Change List:  http://www.xequte.com/pixplay/changes.html

 

More info and download:  http://www.xequte.com/pixplay/

 

(Simply install the new version over your old one.  No new key is required).

 

 

 

* EZ-PIX V7.02 RELEASED

 

EZ-Pix is a simple-to-use Image Viewer with full support for slideshow and image editing.  It is one of the quickest browser based viewers available.

 

Here is a top five list of changes:

 

1. Added new option to always go to full screen mode when starting a slideshow
2. Now always centers images in display
3. Improved Styling of main status bar
4. More control over background color of main image
5. New options when installing to create desktop and quick start icons

 

Change List:  http://www.xequte.com/ezpix/changes.html

 

More info and download:  http://www.xequte.com/ezpix/

 

(Simply install the new version over your old one.  No new key is required).

 

 

 

* AMAZE SCREEN SAVER V4.04 RELEASED

 

Amaze Multimedia Screen Saver displays all of your favorite image and multimedia files while your computer is idle.  This update addresses some minor bugs in the last release.

 

More info and download:  http://www.xequte.com/amaze/

 

(Simply install the new version over your old one.  No new key is required).

 

* SITEUP V1.0 RELEASED

 

SiteUp monitors the availability of your web sites and warns you when they become unreachable so you can quickly reboot the server or abuse your tech people.

 

More info and download:  http://www.xequte.com/other/

 

 

 

* PROGRAM TIPS

 

- Smart Pix/MegaView/EZ-Pix:  Shrink to Fit vs. Stretch to Fit

 

New users are often confused by the two display options; "Shrink to Fit" and "Stretch to Fit" available under the view menu.

 

These options determine how images that are larger or smaller than the preview area should be displayed:

 

- Shrink To Fit only applies to images that are larger than the preview window. If enabled, it reduces the display size of the image so that it fits within the preview window.

 

- Stretch To Fit only applies to images that are smaller than the preview window. If enabled, it enlarges the display size of the image to the dimensions of the preview window.

 

- DVD PixPlay: Soundtrack of Slideshows containing Video Files

 

Presently if a PixPlay project contains a mixture of video files and images then DVD PixPlay will use the specified background music rather than the video soundtrack.  If a slideshow contains only video files then you can choose whether to use the video soundtrack or the music files you have specified.

 

If you presently have a mixed project and would like to use the video soundtrack, here are the steps to take:
 
i. Remove any title pages and images from your project (or move them to the end of the slideshow, after the last video)
ii. Select Edit|Select Background Music on the menu
iii. On the dialog that is displayed choose the option to use the video soundtrack as the source of the slideshow sound (if you are presented with the usual background music dialog, rather than a window with the title "Video Soundtrack" then there are still images or title pages that are remaining in your project).

 

- Diji Album: Specifying the default fonts when adding text or links

 

Creating objects with a common font is much quicker with a little knowledge of the three stored text styles available in Diji Album:

 

- Standard Text Style: This is used as the default when creating Text, Image and Button Objects
- Link Text Style: This is used as the default when creating Link Objects
- Heading Text Style: This is used as the default when creating Clip Art Objects

 

To quickly access these styles use the link at the bottom left of the Text or Rich Text properties dialog.  You can also save the currently selected font (color, size, etc) using the same link.

 

The default font when creating a Rich Text Paragraph is the always the font that was last used.