In this Issue:
* Diji Album 5 Released
* Smart Pix and MegaView v7.07 Updates
* Program Tips
* Removing yourself from this List



Dear Xequte Software User,

Firstly, the big news is the release of Diji Album 5.  Version 5 is major upgrade of our digital photo album software featuring over 200 changes and improvements.  We've put particular work into adding many fun new features, including more stylish image objects and new shapes (such as lightning bolts, stars and arrows with gradient fills).  If you have images that you want to share with friends and family please try it out (full details below).

We have also issued updates of Smart Pix and MegaView with some new features including digital camera field editing and exporting to Adobe Acrobat format.

If you encounter any problems with the new releases please e-mail us at sales@xequte.com

A special thanks to everyone who has supported us by purchasing their software.  Thank you, too, to the eighty beta testers that helped us polish Diji Album 5 for release.


Regards

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



* DIJI ALBUM V5.0 RELEASED

Diji Album allows you to create digital photo albums from your images and multimedia files that you can share with friends and family via CD-ROM, E-mail, the Internet or for playback on DVD players.

V5.0 is a major upgrade incorporating over 200 changes.  Here is a top twenty list of improvements:

1.  Powerful new image object allows your images to be displayed with rotation, graying, soft shadow and multiple color frames 
2.  New Shape Object which includes 37 new shapes to the shape object (including stars, lightning, explosions, speech bubbles and arrows) and support for gradient fills 
3.  New rich text object with improved transparency, clickable web links, multiple level undo and full text justification (i.e. simultaneously aligned on left and right) 
4.  Significant enhancements to the creation of web page albums including optional slideshows of album pages, image or both, support for background music files, more control over fonts and improved graphics 
5.  Text, image, clipart, button and shape objects now all support the new "Click Effect", allowing over 40 different actions to occur when any of these object types are clicked (e.g. starting a slideshow, displaying a file, going to a page, etc). 
6.  Improved styling of the user interface with glyphs displayed in drop down box and tab controls, and new graphics for buttons and previews 
7.  Many improvements to the shelf dialog, including support for loading and saving of shelves, more control over album font size and color and support for offline albums (i.e. on CDs) 
8.  Improved camera wizard with combined display of all connected USB and Twain devices and support for the acquisition of video files 
9.  Many improvements to the "Insert Page Wizard" including quick selection of ten common styles with a preview, less clutter and confusion and support for rotated display of images 
10.  Can now specify E-mail, web site and other contact details for albums 
11.  Now when adding images to an album associated sound files (of the same name) are automatically added as autoplaying objects. Also when creating image books, it automatically checks for text files of the same name as the source image files 
12.  Many new keyboard shortcuts for faster application control, including resizing images to 100% (Ctrl+Alt+1), move or delete the current page (Ctrl+M or Ctrl+D), Go to page (Alt+G), previous or next chapter (Ctrl+Left, Ctrl+PgUp/Ctrl+Right, Ctrl+PgDown) and lock object to the full page (Shift+Ctrl+L) 
13.  Contents, Index and Image Index objects can now have their display limited to the current chapter 
14.  Now albums exported to DVD PixPlay can be edited further before burning them to CD 
15.  Favorites List files created in Smart Pix, MegaView or EZ-Pix can now be directly imported into Diji Album 
16.  Four new button functions: send e-mail, open web page and go to the start or next chapter 
17.  Added: Now offers itself as a retrieval option when inserting a camera or image CD under XP
18.  Now stores the last compiled version of an album so that it can be sent to multiple recipients without needing rebuilding 
19.  The clipart object now supports animated GIFs
20.  The digital camera (EXIF) date field is now used when included in the image

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

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

V5.0 is a free upgrade to all users who purchased after 1 Jan. 2004 (New keys were e-mailed out last week to all registered users.  If you did not receive the message please e-mail sales@xequte.com).  Other registered users can upgrade for $15.50 at:

Upgrades:  http://www.xequte.com/dijialbum/upgrade.html



* SMART PIX AND MEGAVIEW V7.07 UPDATES

Smart Pix and MegaView allow you to manage and view your multimedia, documents and digital image collection.  V7.07 is a minor update that offers some small changes and improvements.  Here is a top ten list of changes:

1.  Can now edit of Digital Camera (EXIF) fields
2.  Can now save images to Adobe Acrobat (*.pdf) and PostScript (*.ps) format (no read support)
3.  Added a more configurable sharpen image function in Color Effects dialog
4.  Added output quality option when printing images
5.  Now changes the styling of tab controls based on the UI selection
6.  Now strips EXIF and IPTC data from thumbnails created for HTML pages to make them load faster
7.  Improved styling of status bar in new window
8.  Improved quality of image previews displayed throughout the software
9.  Added Sorting and Filter buttons to the main toolbar (if Simplified UI is off and grid toolbar is hidden)
10.  Fixed A/V error that can occur when closing the program

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


Smart Pix Manager:

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

(Simply install the new version over your old one.  No new key is required if you are already using v7.*).

Upgrades:  http://www.xequte.com/smartpix/upgrade.html


MegaView

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

(Simply install the new version over your old one.  No new key is required if you are already using v7.*).

Upgrades:  http://www.xequte.com/megaview/upgrade.html



* PROGRAM TIPS

- Diji Album: Discovering the New Image Object

One of the biggest changes you will find in Diji Album v5 is the new image object.  This new object now supports multiple color borders, soft shadows and captions, plus you display images as rotated or black and white.  You can even change what happens when you click on it (such as display a new page or print the image).  To access these new options just right click an existing image and select properties, or insert a new image using Insert|Image on the menu

Note that the click function option is not displayed by default.  You can turn it on under File|Options

You will also notice that when you select an image, the selection box no longer snaps exactly to the dimensions of the image.  It is now larger than the image to allow you to control where image captions are displayed and to accommodate such things as the image shadows.


- Smart Pix/MegaView: Editing Camera Fields and Other Properties

With v7.07 it is now possible to edit the digital camera fields of an image (these are the fields that are written to your images when you take a photo with your digital camera).  You can access this functionality by selecting an image and choosing File|File Properties.  This dialog also allows you to edit PhotoShop (IPTC) fields and add and edit custom database fields (Smart Pix only).


- EZ-Pix (also Smart Pix and MegaView): Random file display

If you quickly bore of your images try displaying them in a totally new sequence.  Rather than browsing them with the cursor keys, use the shortcut "*" or "?" to display the next image at random.


- DVD PixPlay: Fading In/Out to Black

If you don't like your slideshow to start and end abruptly why not fade in and out to black?  It is actually a very easy effect to create.  Before the first frame of your slideshow insert a title frame (Edit|Insert Title Frame on the menu) then remove the default text that is added and set the background color to black.  Click OK.  Select the black frame in the main window and change its transition (in the bottom right box) to "Blend"

Repeat the same process to add a blank title frame to the end of your album but this time select the frame before the blank title frame and set its transition to "Blend".


- MailList King: Sending to a Custom Selection of Group Members

You may have found yourself in a situation where you want to send to part of a group, but not all of it (e.g. just users from specific countries).  How can you build up a custom selection of recipients in MailList King?

The answer is to make use of the "tagging" function.  Essentially "tagging" means to mark an item as "ticked"

Firstly you need to display the Tag column:

i. Select View|Column Selector on the menu
ii. Drag the Tag column from the column selector to the header row of the mailing list grid

To clear all existing Tags:

i. On the main window click the "Custom Filter" tab
ii. Select "Display Entries that have been Tagged" from the drop down box
iii. Click "Clear All tags"

To tag items:

i. Display the entries you want to tag (e.g. by doing a search)
ii. To tag one item click the box in the tag column. To tag multiple items select them (e.g. using Ctrl+A to select all) and then right-click the items and set the "Tagged" status

To send to all tagged addresses:

i. On the main window click the "Custom Filter" tab
ii. Select "Display Entries that have been Tagged" from the drop down box
iii. Click the "Send E-mail" button


- Power Print: Testing the Align Objects Function

Here is a short tutorial to get to grips with the new alignment functionality of Power Print:

i. Change into Manual layout by Choosing "Manual Layout" from the Page Menu
ii. Add two images and resize one so that they are different sizes
iii. Click on the first image to select it
iv. Hold down the Shift key and click on the second image to select it too (the first image should have red handles on its corners indicating that it is still selected)
v.  Right-click on the second image and choose Align | Make Same Width

Voila.  Both images will be the same size.

You can resize as many items as you want using this technique.  All items will take on the width (or height, size) of the last selected item.