Mac GS View 1.0b1
Copyright © 1999-2000 Bernd Heller. All rights reserved.

MacGSView may be distributed only under the conditions of the Aladdin Free Public License. This software comes with NO WARRANTY. See the file LICENSE for details.


What is MacGSView?
With MacGSView you can view PostScript and PDF files. You can also print them and 
export them in various formats (including PICT, TIFF, JPEG, PDF).
This is the first public version of MacGSView. I have been working on it together
with Jeff Schindall since about one year.
Now it is mature enough to let other people see and use it and I hope to get lots of
comments from you, how to make the appliction better and more useful.


System Requirements
Any Apple Power Macintosh, PowerBook, iMac, iBook with MacOS 8.5 or later should be
enough to use MacGSView. How much memory you need depends on which documents you
open with it, and at which resolution you wan to view them. If you have 5MB free for
MacGSView to use you should be able to view some standard size documents.


Features and changes from the 5.50 version of MacGS
€ Ghostscript is no longer part of the application but is loaded dynamically from a
   shared library ("GhostScriptLib PPC").
€ MacGSView handles documents conforming to the Adobe Document Structure
   Convention: you can view/print pages randomly as it really should be. Non-DSC
   files can still only be viewed from the first to the last page, this cannot be
   changed.
€ You can freely zoom in/out of the pages
€ You can render the pages at different color depth and resolutions (depending on free RAM)
€ You can copy a page as PICT to the clipboard
€ You can save PS/PDF documents as PICT, TIFF, JPEG, BMP, PDF, PNG, ... (more to come)
€ You can render multiple documents at the same time
€ VERY basic AppleScript support is implemented (open, close, quit)
€ Rendering is much faster than in any other Mac Postscript Viewer


Know Issues
€ You cannot save as EPSF and PS although the formats can be selected
€ Performance issue with very large documents
€ Some PDF documents don't render correctly
€ You cannot change the page size: In an DSC document the page size is contained and used
   by MacGSView. Non-DSC documents default to US Letter.
€ Rotated pages are not always handled correctly.


The Future of MacGSView
I have a lot of ideas how this program can be improved, but as I am developing it, I am looking
at it with other eyes than a user does. So if you have an idea what can be made better
(and how) feel free to tell me. You can contact me via email at mac-gs@aladdin.com.

Logo/Icon:
I would like to have a new logo and a new icon for MacGSView. If you have a design idea
work it out and send me the result.

Internationalization:
MacGSView is fully localizable to any language. If you want to make a localized version of
MacGSView contact me (you will need CodeWarrior, although you will not have to change
anything in the source code) at mac-gs@aladdin.com.


Bug Reports
If you find any bugs please send an email to mac-gs@aladdin.com. You should include the
following information:
€ What machine do you have and which system software version do you use
€ Perhaps include the document which didn't work (which page!)


Version History
18 Feb 2000 - Version 1.0b1 (First Public Beta)