Monday, May 8, 2006

Lipikar Version 3.0.0 Beta-3

Beta-3 of Lipikar version 3.0.0 released with the following major changes from Beta-2:
  • The "FontBrowser" module was removed - it's contribution towards the core functionalities of Lipikar could not justify it's high overheads. As a result of this removal, the executable size has reduced by about 75% and startup time has reduced significantly.

  • While starting, instead of conforming the window size exactly to the FontMap, Lipikar can now revert to the last window size if the user had resized it.

  • The installer is now capable of detecting and uninstalling any existing installation of Lipikar. Henceforth, Lipikar will not be installed if an existing installation is detected until it is uninstalled.

Friday, May 5, 2006

Lipikar Version 3.0.0 Beta-2

Lipikar version 3.0.0 Beta-2 released today. "Beta-1" was never publicly released - it was provided to Mr. D K. Chowdhury on 29th April 2006 for private testing only. So, as far as public versions are concerned, it's a major jump from the last public release of version 2.1.3. Major improvements are:
  • The "FontMap" (previously known as "Character Map" but rechristened to avoid confusion) gets it's own toolbar.

  • A unique feature called "Custom FontMap" introduced. Instead of operating with a mundane looking FontMap which looks same for all the fonts, you can create your own FontMap layout for a particular font by choosing only the characters you need from that font and arranging them on the 8x28 grid by whichever way you like. Take a look at the two screenshots (normal, custom) to get an idea.

  • Along with create, you can save, load and edit the custom FontMaps as well. These files are only 2 KB in size and can be easily ported by floppies or mail attachments.

  • "Options" was changed to "Default Options". Any change in settings there will affect only Lipikar's default or startup options from now on - it will not change any of the current settings.

  • The "FontBrowser" module gets it's own tab in "Default Options". Among other settings, you can now change the sample text ("The Quick Brown Fox...") too.