I’m like most people. I know it all so I don’t need the manual. I was able to load this program with ease. With Win 95 you can use the “RUN” command from the Start button or the “Add/Remove Programs” icon under My Computer/Control Panel. In both cases you run a:\setup and follow the well-made installation program.
My system is relatively slow for Win 95 software (486 DX 33/12 Mb) so the thirteen disks took just under thirty minutes to load. A CD version would be a great idea. I recommend a 486 DX4 100 with 16 Mb of memory and a CD-ROM as the minimum for this or any other Win 95-based programs.
To start the program click the Start button, choose Programs and then Harvard Graphics. At this point you have several choices. They are Harvard Graphics, Quickview, 5-Minute Coach, Upgrade Information, or What’s New. I’ll go through each one of these starting from the bottom of the list.
What’s New brings up a document explaining all the goodies added for this version. This document is well written hype but should not be part of the startup menu choices. You’ll read this once, if at all. Unless you own an earlier version of Harvard Graphics, don’t bother!
The Upgrade Information choice is better. This choice brings up a hypertext menu giving you access to information about using files from earlier versions. This information is very useful for anyone who wants to convert any old Harvard Graphics (HG) files. Again, unless you own an earlier version of Harvard Graphics, don’t bother!
The 5-Minute Coach is a poor attempt at a multimedia training system. The information is good but the presentation is not. First, when I started the Coach from the Start menu it gave me no option to expand it to full screen. Also, it caused the wallpaper to change to and from some strange colors. That, in itself, was very distracting. When I started the Coach from within Harvard Graphics it required a “Small Fonts” setting to run. I had to modify my Win 95 environment and restart Win 95 to use this feature. In either case the Coach uses some animation but no sound and is advanced from screen to screen by the user. The text involved is a bit small and can’t be adjusted within the program. Considering the strength of Harvard Graphics, I expected better.
Quickview is a presentation system that can be used with or without Harvard Graphics installed on the same machine. It gives you a choice of views; a thumbnail view of all the slides in the presentation or a single slide at a time. It includes VCR type control icons for continuos play, forward, backward, and beginning. This utility is nicely done and appears quite useful.
The primary programs are Harvard Graphics and Harvard F/X. These two programs are the is basis for all presentation/slide development. They combine to form a full featured design and development environment with tons of help and some very interesting special effects. With the ability to create simple text slides, slides with any kind of chart (pie, bar, 3D bar, etc.), to a multi-slide animated slide-show with sound, I can’t imagine any presentation that couldn’t be done with this program.
Harvard Graphics is fully implemented for Win 95 with menus, icons, floating/dockable tool bars, and a right-click popup menu. It also has the ability to attach sound to your slides and animate them. You can use one of many special effects to show and remove slides from the screen ( wipe, fade, rain, etc.) and color capabilities include a gradient effect (one color blends to another) that can begin and end with any colors you choose. Even text can be filled with gradient colors or with a bitmap. (Yes, text filled with a bitmap.)
The capabilities of this program are extended by another one from within. Harvard F/X is part of the program set and loads if the default loading sequence is chosen. This program is activated from the menu bar or an icon and adds a variety of goodies to enhance your slides. Some of the functions include text kerning, object skewing and reshaping, along with making circular copies of an object (puts multiple copies of an object in a circle). You can even skew bitmap images after you import and trace them with F/X.
The Harvard Graphics program (set) is very complex but simple to use for basic slides. You can keep the advisor, a very handy guide, visible on the right side of the screen while your work in progress is to the left. Follow the steps given by the advisor or venture off on your own. When using the “quick” options and the advisor, prebuilt templates provide easy to modify slides as a place to start. A few changes in text and you can have one or many professional looking slides done rather quickly. The advisor will, if you choose, even check your slides to see if they match the template you used. Sounds like an easy way to insure consistency across your entire presentation.
If you do wish to build complex presentations you will need to read the manual, use help, and experiment. There is a learning curve here. There are may menu items and icons with more added in F/X. This program has, however, functions that may not always do as expected. One such annoyance is the “Apply” button. When modifying text or graphics clicking “OK” doesn’t complete the change. You must “Apply” it or the change doesn’t show up on the design surface. Also, don’t expect a lot from the manual. It is well done, with step-by-step instructions and many screen shots but is much too thin. On more than one occasion it said to see help for more information. The complex nature of this program dictates the need for a more in-depth manual.
Overall, I like this program. It provides as much latitude in
business presentation development as anyone should ever need. All of this
power at a list price of $395 (you should be able to pick this up at a
street price below $300). This a full-fledged business graphics package
for corporate America that you can, with some effort, use to sell your
ideas to your boss or the board of directors.