Jim Lesurf
Cerilica Ltd released a brand new version (version 4.0) of RiScript Pro at the beginning of February. Since this is a review not a novel, I'll avoid gratuitous suspense by getting to the main conclusion first. This new version is superb, far better than the earlier ones that could be obtained from Uniqueway. As well as being more capable than previous versions, it is much easier to use and has an excellent presentation on the desktop. There is now also a good quality printed manual. If you need to read, create or print PostScript and PDF (Portable Document Format) files, you should certainly buy a copy. If you have an earlier version, upgrade. OK, that was the quick conclusion. If you are not sure what RiScript does, or why PDF files may be important, read on...
What is RiScript?
RiScript Pro can load and display two general types of file - PostScript and PDF. It can then print the results, or re-export them as a PDF file or as drawfiles. This is very useful as, these days, many documents are provided in the form of PDF files. For example, my nice new PostScript printer came with a 'manual' which consisted of two CDROMs. These contained over 1,000 A4 pages-worth of documentation, all in the form of PDF files. No paper manual at all! Using the new version of RiScript Pro, I could finally view these (and print them easily) on my RiscPC for the first time. Up until now I had to resort to an IBM box to read the printer manuals - even though the printer itself worked fine when driven by my RiscPC! Hence RiScript Pro is valuable as a PDF document reader.
OK, previous versions of the RiScript Pro package could display PDF files, and there is also an excellent PD application called !PDF by Leo Smiers that can display PDF files and export them as drawfiles. The problem is that, until now, it was common to find that a PDF file refused to load and display correctly, the reason being that the file format has been steadily developed and extended by its inventors (Adobe, who also invented PostScript) and included features that previous applications couldn't cope with. As a result it was annoyingly common to find that PDF files either refused to load, or didn't view correctly with either the older versions of RiScript, or !PDF. This could be very frustrating when the information in the PDF file was urgently needed but unreadable.
The new version of RiScript Pro is much more up-to-date. I tried it with a number of 'awkward squad' PDF files that I'd previously been unable to display and read under RISC OS. Every one I tried displayed perfectly.
Creating PDF files
However, in addition to the ability to display and print PDF, the real advantage of RiScript Pro is that it can create PDF files. This is potentially a very significant feature as PDF files can be displayed and printed on Windows boxes, Macs, Unix, etc. PDF is a 'vector object' format so the results, when displayed or printed, are limited only by the resolution of the output device. Here we approach 'wysiwyg' across platforms! You can think of PDF as being a sort of 'cross platform' equivalent to the drawfile, but with the bonus of being able to provide a multi-page document and also even hyperlinks similar to html webpages!
To test RiScript Pro, I loaded a document into my usual Wordprocessor/DTP application (TechWriter) and exported a PostScript version of the document. (To do this you have to have the RISC OS PostScript printer driver loaded.) I dropped the resulting PostScript file onto the RiScript Pro icon on the iconbar and it was loaded and displayed. I then re-exported the document as a PDF file which I copied onto an IBM/DOS format floppy disc. I then took the disc to our lab and loaded it into Adobe Acrobat (the standard reader on IBMs, etc) where it displayed. I then printed it from the IBM onto an HP laser printer. The printed result was identical to printing the same document directly from TechWriter running on a RiscPC using the same printer! This included the appearance of the fonts, the layout of all the complex equations, the drawfile illustrations, etc. What I saw and printed from TechWriter on my RiscPC was identical to what any IBM, Mac, etc user would view and print if I sent them the PDF version of my document.
To follow on from this, I created a PDF version of another 'test' TechWriter doc and loaded it onto my website. I then invited a couple of people to download it with their browser and then view and print it on their Macs. Again, the printed results were apparently identical to the original. In each case, the only differences were due to variations in the capabilities of the printers used, i.e. the results might change depending upon the resolution or colour capabilities of the printer, but weren't affected by the choice of computer platform.
This result is very significant for anyone who wishes to publish documents for reading and printing on a variety of types of computer. As with html webpages, it means you can create documents without having to worry about 'What kind of computer do they have?' when you send a file. Unlike webpages, however, you can have precise control of the appearance and layout of the document. For me, this is wonderful as it means that the complex equations, graphs and diagrams that I sometimes produce can all be reproduced precisely by users of non-RISC OS computers.
Although I use TechWriter, the same general result applies if you use Ovation Pro or Impression, or indeed, Draw, Vector or almost any other application that prints. In each case, you can now use a combination of the RISC OS PostScript printer driver and RiScript Pro to generate PDF files that can be displayed and printed to look the same on almost any type of computer.
This is a major step forward in the usefulness of RISC OS machines for the creation and distribution of original work. When you add this to RiScript Pro's ability to allow you to read and print PDF and PostScript files, the application can be seen as a 'key' one that liberates RISC OS users from a set of limitations in exchanging documentation of all kinds. For that reason, I am inclined to leap up and down with excitement and say "Rush out and buy RiScript Pro now!".
Do you need it?
In a calmer mood the reality is that, as with every application, some people may not need it. If you only rarely need to view or print PDF files, you may find that Leo Smiers' !PDF is fine - and of course, it is free! However, you may find that it has trouble coping with some PDF files which RiScript renders perfectly. That said, I know that Leo intends to produce a new version of !PDF which is more up-to-date. (To balance that, Cerilica plan to continue to develop RiScript as well.) If you need to publish documents for reading and printing on 'other platforms', there is no real contest. RiScript Pro does this superbly.
PDF files are becoming increasingly common on the web as well as on CDs. They seem to be becoming the common 'standard' for a wide range of documentation and for some types of illustration. If this isn't of interest to you, you won't want RiScript, but if it is, I'd strongly recommend that you get a copy. All I can say is that I am personally very pleased with it and am sure I will use it quite a lot to provide copies of documents to people who are lumbered with having to use Windows, MacOS, etc. And for the first time I can feel confident that what they see will be precisely what I intended... or at least, precisely what I wrote!
| RiScript 4.00 | PDF 0.73a | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Import PDF | Yes | Yes1 | 1 - but not as many versions as RiScript |
| Import PostScript | Yes
|
No | |
| Export PDF | Yes
|
- | |
| Export PostScript | Yes2 | Yes | 2 - by printing to a file using the RISC OS printer driver |
| Export draw | Yes
|
Yes | |
| Export Text | No | Yes3 | 3 - but results unpredictable due to nature of PDF |
| Yes
|
Yes | ||
| Export Fonts | Yes
|
No | |
| Hyperlinks | Yes
|
No |