Note: In our answers we follow a few shorthand conventions for describing user-interface procedures. Key combinations are presented like this: Ctrl+Shift+F, which means that you should press and hold down the Control key, the Shift key, and the F key at the same time. Menu selections are presented like this: File|Open, which means that you should open the File menu, and then select the Open command.
- How do I change the color of branches?
- How do I create and use a new style sheet?
- I like the ability to add icons to branches of a map. However, the selection of icons that comes with VisiMap Lite doesn't contain many of the icons I'd like to use. Where can I find additional icons to use with VisiMap Lite?
- What is the significance of the 'T' symbol in some of the colors on the color palette?
- How do I print the graphical map in landscape, and the text in portrait?
- The page running headers and footers I have set up do not print. What is wrong?
- When I print a map, the branch lines are drawn over my branch icons, obscuring parts of them. This does not happen when I view the map on-screen. What is going wrong?
- When I try to print a large map, the text prints too small to read. How can I print a large map at a readable size?
- After scrolling around a large map, I sometimes forget which branch I am currently working on and find it difficult to locate it again! Is there an easy way I can bring the currently selected branch into view?
- How do I enlarge the map centre and/or branches so that they accommodate all of the text I have entered?
- Can I upgrade from VisiMap Lite to VisiMap? What does it cost?
- Does VisiMap Lite run on each of Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98 and Windows NT/2000? Are there both 16-bit and 32-bit versions of VisiMap Lite?
- How do I create non-hierarchical links between branches?
- Although I set VisiMap Lite’s Local Data Directory to a different location, VisiMap Lite insists on suggesting the \Data directory when I save a map for the first time. Is this a bug?
- The name "VisiMap Lite" seems to suggest there is a 'heavy' version too! Is there? And if so, what extra features does it boast?
Icons, Color & Styles
Q: How do I change the color of branches?
A: This is done most easily using the color palette at the bottom of the VisiMap Lite window. Select the branch you wish to color and click the left mouse button while the pointer is over the desired color. You can click the right mouse button to set the shading color of the branch, too. If you hold down the Ctrl key while performing either of these operations, the colors will also be applied to the whole tree below the selected branch.
You can also control branch colors by using styles. Search the on-line help system for the term "style".
Q: How do I create and use a new style sheet?
A: To create a new style sheet, choose Styles|Modify styles and then press the Save As button. You will be prompted for a file name. You can then modify, add and delete styles to this new style sheet as you prefer. To attach the new style sheet to a map, open the map (if it is not already open) and double-click over the map centre (or press the Enter key when the map centre is highlighted) to edit it: now press the Change button and choose the new style sheet you have just created from the file selector.
Q: I like the ability to add icons to branches of a map. However, the selection of icons that comes with VisiMap Lite doesn't contain many of the icons I'd like to use. Where can I find additional icons to use with VisiMap Lite?
A: First, VisiMap Lite can work with icons from many sources - while over 100 icons are provided with VisiMap Lite to get you started, you can use other icons, too. Icons are stored in different types of file: executable files and libraries (.exe and .dll files), icon files (.ico), icon libraries (often with the extensions .icl or .il, or even .nil). Most Windows applications installed on your system will have one or more icons embedded in their executable files. Also, many thousands of icons have been collected together into icon libraries, and are available from most public domain and shareware sources, and can be found at various sites on the Internet.
The VisiMap Lite icon selector can view and extract icons for use from any of these files. Use the icon selector's browser to examine the .exe and .dll files present on your system - you never know what little goodies you might find! A good starting point would be to view the moricons.dll library in your c:\windows directory (for Windows 3.x installations) or the shell32.dll file in your c:\windows\system folder (Windows 95/98 installations).
If you have a favourite icon library which you would like VisiMap Lite to load by default when you add a new branch icon, use the Tools|Icons|Default icon file command to set the default file name.
Q: What is the significance of the 'T' symbol in some of the colors on the color palette?
A: Windows recognises two types of color: solid colors which can be rendered exactly on a display or other output device (such as a printer) by a uniform collection of pixels (dots) of the same color, and non-solid dithered colors made by mixing different colored pixels to create an effect that appears to the human eye at a distance of a few inches or more to be the uniform color intended. For example, an area filled with alternating blue and yellow dots would appear green.
While an area can be colored, or shaded, with any color, solid or dithered, Windows can display text only in solid colors. If Windows is asked to draw text in a dithered color, it will in fact draw it in the closest matching solid color available.
VisiMap Lite uses the 'T' symbol in its color palette to indicate to you which color samples are solid colors (and can therefore be used as text colors): if you apply one of these colors to a branch (by clicking the left mouse button over the color sample in the palette), then you know this is the exact color that will be used to display the branch. If you use a text color selected from the palette which does not have the 'T' symbol, then the branch will be colored using only a close match.
Finally, if you use any one of the palette's colors as a background color for a branch (by clicking the right mouse button over the color sample) the branch will be shaded with the color selected, irrespective of whether it is a solid or dithered color.
Return to the
top of this page
Importing & Exporting
Q: I want to copy a map in textual format to my word processor, but I can't determine how. What is the procedure?
A: VisiMap Lite does not have the facility to transfer its data to other programs. You can obtain that capability by upgrading to VisiMap Professional. To find out more about VisiMap Professional, see the VisiMap Professional page of our main site.
Printing
Q: How do I print the graphical map in landscape, and the text in portrait?
A: VisiMap Lite has an option to do this automatically. Choose the File|Page Setup command and make sure the 'Auto-orientate map' option is checked. When this option is checked, VisiMap Lite will print the graphical map in the best orientation (i.e. if the map is wider than it is tall, VisiMap Lite will print it in landscape, otherwise it will print the map in portrait). The textual form of a map is always printed in the default orientation you have set for your printer.
Q: The page running headers and footers I have set up do not print. What is wrong?
A: VisiMap Lite prints the running headers and footers in the top and bottom page margins: you have most likely set your print margins too small. To correct this, first choose the File|Page Setup command and, in the dialog box that appears, highlight the page layout you wish to change. Now select the Margins property sheet and make sure the top and bottom margins are large enough. Values of about 1" (or 2.5 cm) are typical. Finally, set the placement of the running headers and footers inside these margins by selecting the Headers property sheet and then entering appropriate values. If you have set your margins to 1", offsets of 0.5" are sensible.
Q: When I print a map, the branch lines are drawn over my branch icons, obscuring parts of them. This does not happen when I view the map on-screen. What is going wrong?
A: This is due to the operation of your printer driver. VisiMap Lite does have a built-in workaround, though: choose the File|Page Setup command, then display the Maps property sheet and check the "Do not draw under icons" option.
Some printer drivers also offer a choice of “raster” and “vector” graphics rendering modes. If this is the case with your driver, setting the mode to “raster” will also solve the problem (but it may also significantly lengthen printing times).
Q: When I try to print a large map, the text prints too small to read. How can I print a large map at a readable size?
A: By default, VisiMap Lite will reduce a large map in size sufficiently to fit on one print page. If this results in text which is too small to read, you can choose to have VisiMap Lite print the map at full size over as many pages as are necessary. To set this option, first choose the File|Page Setup command and, in the dialog box that appears, highlight the page layout you wish to change. Now select the Scaling property sheet and then choose the "Print as mosaic" option. Change this option back to "Shrink to fit page" when you later wish to revert to the standard behaviour.
For manageability and readability reasons, you might also like to consider using VisiMap Lite's map linking and multiple-print features to keep your maps modular and relatively small. You can link related maps together, and at print time choose to print the whole set of interlinked maps. For more information on these features, search the VisiMap Lite on-line help system for the keywords "Map Link" and "Printing".
Viewing
Q: After scrolling around a large map, I sometimes forget which branch I am currently working on and find it difficult to locate it again! Is there an easy way I can bring the currently selected branch into view?
A: Yes, just press the 5 key on the numeric keypad (if you have NumLock on, hold down the Shift key while pressing 5).
Q: How do I enlarge the map centre and/or branches so that they accommodate all of the text I have entered?
A: VisiMap Lite will optimise the size of the map centre and branches of the map so as to make best use of the display or print space available, word-wrapping titles onto two lines where necessary. In an effort to preserve an aesthetically-pleasing layout, however, VisiMap Lite will clip some very long titles on the graphical map display (but not on the textual display or printout): these are identified by the presence of an ellipsis (...).
If you routinely use long branch and map centre titles, which VisiMap Lite then clips, you can instruct VisiMap Lite to allow longer branches by setting an option. To do so, choose the Tools|Preferences command and increase the "Maximum branch length" setting on the Maps page.
Return to the
top of this page
Miscellaneous
Q: Can I upgrade from VisiMap Lite to VisiMap? What does it cost?
A: Yes! When you upgrade from VisiMap Lite to VisiMap, you are credited with the nett registration fee you paid for VisiMap Lite (or InfoMap Lite) against the nett purchase price of VisiMap. For full details about upgrading and the costs of doing so, refer to the 'How to Buy Our Products' page at our main site.
Q: Does VisiMap Lite run on each of Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98 and Windows NT/2000? Are there both 16-bit and 32-bit versions of VisiMap Lite?
A: VisiMap Lite is a 16-bit application that runs fine on each of Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 3.51 or 4.0 and Windows 2000. VisiMap Lite takes on the look-and-feel of which ever version of Windows it is running on. A 32-bit version of VisiMap Lite is planned.
Q: How do I create non-hierarchical links between branches?
A: This feature is not available in VisiMap Lite.
Q: Although I set VisiMap Lite’s Local Data Directory to a different location, VisiMap Lite insists on suggesting the \Data directory when I save a map for the first time. Is this a bug?
A: No. VisiMap Lite’s Local Data Directory is the location where VisiMap Lite keeps map templates and configuration data. While you can change it (via the Tools|File Locations command), it does not control the location where new maps you create are stored.
When you ask VisiMap Lite to save a newly-created map for the first time, VisiMap Lite opens the Save As dialog in the currently logged directory for your computer. If you want to set the current directory to a fixed location every time you start VisiMap Lite, the easiest way is to modify the program icon you use to start VisiMap Lite. To do this, right-click the icon on your desktop (Windows 95/98/NT4/2000) or in your program folder (Windows 3.1), and choose Properties from the popup menu. Then set the “Start-in” directory as desired.
Q: The name "VisiMap Lite" seems to suggest there is a 'heavy' version too! Is there? And if so, what extra features does it boast?
A: Yes, VisiMap Lite is a low-cost, cut-down version of CoCo Systems' retail product, VisiMap (now superseded by VisiMap Professional). You can read about VisiMap Professional on the VisiMap Professional page of our main site.
