In focusing on providing easier access to the already powerful features of ClarisWorks, Claris has concentrated on making complex tasks easier to accomplish in the latest version of the software package. Claris has made all of the concepts and tools of ClarisWorks easier to learn and master.
The most significant advancement is the addition of "Assistants." The new Assistants feature guides you through the creation of certain types of complex documents as well as the performance of certain tasks by asking you questions that walk you through the process. Assistants allow you to concentrate on what you want to accomplish without having to master all the tools necessary to generate your desired results. In some cases, an Assistant can also supply "hints and tips" which give expert advice on how best to get your ideas across.
Within a ClarisWorks document, there are Assistants to help you create a table, insert a footnote, or address an envelope (known as "task Assistants"). They are accessed through the Help menu on Windows, and the Question Mark Icon (called "Guide Menu" under System 7.5) on Macintosh computers.
There are eight Assistants for the Macintosh and seven for
Windows:
- Name & Address List
- Calendar
- Newsletter
- Presentation
- Address Envelope, document creator and task assistant
- Insert Footnote
- Make Table
- Find ClarisWorks Documents, Macintosh only
As you can see, the idea behind the Assistants is to help you be more productive by allowing you to concentrate on what you want to do without having to invest a lot of time and energy in learning features and tools. Gone are the days of having to wrestle with document structure and design considerations.
The software architecture behind the Assistants, called Claris Assistance Technology, is extensible. As additional Assistants become available through Claris, and (over time) through selected third parties, they can be easily added to the Assistants library by you: therefore, to take advantage of new Assistants, you do not need to purchase new versions of ClarisWorks, as there is no need to modify the application itself to accommodate new Assistants.
Assistants at work
Let us look at an example. In business, organizations, and education, people often need to keep their customers informed of new developments, stay in touch with their membership, or provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. To do this, people frequently spend a great deal of time in the drafting and design of newsletters. ClarisWorks provides a Newsletter Assistant to guide you through the creation of just such a document.
Assistants of this type are accessed through the New Document dialog by clicking on the "Start with an Assistant or Stationery" button.
Once you select the Assistant you want, the interview process begins. The Newsletter Assistant starts by asking you what your goal is. Are you trying to provide instruction, or do you need to present a variety of news and general
information?
The Assistant responds intelligently to the answers you give and provides "tip text" which explains the different options, showing you how selecting a particular option impacts the design of the document. In our newsletter example, you can create either an instructional newsletter or a general information newsletter. The distinction here is that the instructional newsletter allows for long, in-depth articles placed sequentially from one page to another; while the design of the general information newsletter allows you to cover a variety of topics in a concise fashion.
Having received your answers to its questions, the Newsletter Assistant proceeds to ask what paper size and format style to use, offering choices ranging from "business" to "post modern." Each Assistant screen has a thumbnail (a small, icon-sized image) of the document created which changes in appearance, providing visual feedback to reflect the options you have selected.
Next, the Newsletter Assistant poses some practical questions, such as what title to give the newsletter, how to format the date and issue and/or volume #, and how many pages you want your newsletter to be. The process of answering the Newsletter Assistant's questions is the process of building your newsletter.
The ClarisWorks Assistants have a consistent interface throughout. For example, an Assistant's questions are always found at the top of the dialog box or screen, and the multiple-choice-like responses, as well as the thumbnail, are always found towards the middle of the screen along with the tip text identified by an artful exclamation point.
At this point in our newsletter example, the Assistant goes on to inquire about some style considerations. Do you want a table of contents on the first page? How about a
highlighted editorial column? Are you planning to mail this newsletter, and, if so, will you want to set aside one-third or one-half of the back page for the mailing label?
To help you add visual impact to your newsletter or other documents whether created with the help of an Assistant or not. ClarisWorks 3.0 ships with lots of "content" in the form of over 70 pieces of clip art, and seven fonts licensed from Monotype Corporation. If you are a "non-artist" type, these can be used to help you create professional-looking flyers, presentations, newsletters, and other types of documents with ease.
Finally, the Assistant offers a separate "Hints and Tips" document that you can print out with your finished newsletter. This Hints and Tips document provides expert advice on how to write and structure the articles in your newsletter. It can be created once and saved or printed for future reference.
The ClarisWorks Assistants can help you create other documents as well. Not only can Assistants help you get your work done, but Assistants can also help you get acquainted with ClarisWorks features. Other Assistants can help you perform tasks like inserting a footnote, creating a table or (on the Macintosh version only) finding your files. As Assistance technology grows, "getting up to speed" on your computer can take less time and be more fun.