Due to my enforced confinement, (See Vol 4 John 29), I went a little crazy and added quite a few new features to the voice stacks. I am already finding these features to be very useful, especially the marked cards and new find command.

But first of all, a word about scheduling. We seem to have reached a consensus that one issue a month is about right. Currently, my finalization routine automatically sets the due date to two weeks from the first monday after shipping. Thus the due date will always fall on a monday, any you will always have at least two and sometimes three weekends to respond. I will try to launch a new issue within two weeks after the due date. This should result in an issue every four or five weeks.

Now then, here is my list of the latest improvements. You may want to extend this field (see below) and use the find command to jump directly to more detailed explanations.

• As per Holly's request, I am releasing an slightly improved version of Paul's Quotationist stack. See Vol 4 John 15

• In a phone conversation, Cliff wanted to know if there was some way to make the cramped voice card text field larger. I told him there was not, but on thinking it over, I decided that it was rather easy after all. SO you can now EXTEND the text field by simply clicking on the left edge of the field. Some buttons will be hidden and the field will widen to the full width of the card. Clicking again on the left edge will retract the field to its normal position. The field will also retract automatically whenever you leave the card. It makes reading and writing a little easier and is also fun to watch: TRY IT NOW!
• Both volumes 3 and 4 now come equipped with a very powerful FIND command (See Vol 4 John 22). You can use it to find any word or phrase in any range of past volumes, and you can also use it to jump quickly to a referenced card (try double clicking on "Vol 4 John 22" then type F for FIND; when the dialog box appears, hit return).

  Tip: you can use ~ (or GO BACK from the HyperCard menubar) to return to this card.

• The process of inserting the specially formatted reference tags like the one above is made easier by the new Card Marking feature. You can "mark" a card by simply clicking on it's masthead. From then on, a reference tag to that card can be inserted anywhere by hitting the TAB key and the FIND command will automatically return to the marked card if you choose. (See Vol 4 John 28)
• I have implemented the fabulous voice font discussed in the last issue. There are now "sticky" quote and parenthesis keys available, and we can add more new characters as we like. See Vol 4 John 17.
• The index card has a new look. The tracking information below the index field now includes a bar graph so you can tell at a glace how far along in your reading you are. Also, the member icon buttons on the index card now go dark as each hello message is read, just as they do on the Archipelago main screen. As before, clicking any one of these buttons will jump directly to the hello message.
• I have made certain internal improvements so that the voice card checklist function is more reliable. The voice button on the main screen will go dark when and only when all cards have been read.
• Finally, I have refined the harvesting process so that scrollbars will be hidden on short messages that do not require scrolling. Thus you can tell at a glance if you need to scroll to see more text. Also the card design has been slightly improved; the text fields are a little bit taller (See Vol 4 John 23)