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Issue Number 08 - July 1999Home - Subscribe - Archive - Articles - EmailWelcome to the MANTEX newsletter! Here's a quick list of topics covered in our latest issue.
'StyleWriter' - grammar checker Free UK Service Providers Writing Guides - 'MHRA Style Book' Millennium tip Win95 'The Art of Typography' 'TextPad' - a powerful text editor 'Writing for the World Wide Web' Free Fonts and more... A Journalist's Guide to the Internet SEARCHing for freebies Our site is full of free downloadable guidance notes, bibliographies, and sample pages for students, tutors, and writers. Have you visited and not been able to find what you were looking for? Now you can use our new SEARCH feature. The search engine will list all the pages which contain your selected keywords. It even lists them according to date. For instance, if you typed the keyword 'exams' it produces a long list - from free guidance notes, to our publication on 'Revision and Examinations'. If you typed 'Renner' it will list this month's review of a book on the typographer Paul Renner. Give it a go, and let us know what you think.
'StyleWriter' - grammar checker StyleWriter is a grammar-checker which works in conjunction with Word, but offers much more sophisticated features and more context-sensitive advice than Microsoft's own. 
We did a comprehensive review of the program,
and a new lower price has just been announced
if you are prepared to download the program.
I recommended it to a Japanese student recently
as an aid to English Language skills, and he was
delighted with the results. He wrote: "You are right - StyleWriter looks like what
I am looking for. I thank you for introducing
me to this product. God's richest blessings".
I'm still waiting for the richest blessings,
but the review meanwhile is at -
Free UK Service Providers The number of companies offering Net access at nought pounds now stands at 169. That's according to Paul Hillbeck's very useful site which lists them all - complete with technical details of their provision and direct contact links. The information is presented in easy-to-read tables,and when I visited the site it had been updated only two days before. For people who just want simple email, access to newsgroups, and maybe somewhere to park a few web pages, these companies are genuinely offering something for nothing. You might be charged for any technical support, but you shouldn't need much of that once you're up and running.
Windows Key - a quick tip If you bought your computer after 1995, you probably have a Windows key -- usually between the left-hand Ctrl and Alt keys, with a picture of the Windows logo on it. What's it for? Instead of clicking the Start button, press the Windows key. The Start menu appears! You can highlight Start menu items by using the arrow keys and execute them by pressing Enter. [That's one use, anyway.]
Writing Guides - 'MHRA Style Book'
In their place they put features such as TextPad's
ability to let you work on several files at the same
time. You can open a dozen or two, then do a SEARCH
and REPLACE to change 'file-A.htm' to 'file-B.htm'
with one mouseclick.
The program also lets you spellcheck HTM files, and
doesn't insert lots of unwanted code when you SAVE.
You have a choice of editable dictionaries, and there
doesn't seem to be any limit to the size of the file
you can work on.
It's shareware, and costs only £17.00 or $27.00 to
register. Well worth it, believe me.
"Writing for the World Wide Web"
Free Fonts - and more...
There are also free fonts, free graphics, and
free everything else at (where else?) TheFreeSite:
And just to remind you of other free font
sources, don't forget the excellent series
of screen fonts which Microsoft commissioned.
You can download these fonts *free* - but if
you are thinking of publishing in electronic
format, don't imagine that this might solve
some of your design problems. The strange fact
is that although Microsoft gives them to you
for nothing, you are not allowed to give
them away.
"A Journalist's Guide to the Internet"
"This is not a computer book; it's a journalism book."
Former Associated Press reporter Christopher Callahan
makes his emphasis clear from the start of this basic
guide.
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News-08-July-99
Mantex - PO Box 100 - Manchester M20 6GZ
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This is a
brief and easily usable guide to the
[UK] conventions of editing and presentation
of text in the humanities.
It is now used by the Open University as
a set text of guidance notes for some of its
humanities courses. The central sections of the book
deal comprehensively with issues of
bibliographic referencing - a subject on which most of us need to refresh our memories from time to time.
Full details and review article at --
This is a very beautifully illustrated biography,
tracing the development of his theories and designs
from the 1920s to the 1950s. It is particularly interesting on showing the relationship between such apparently disparate topics as typographical aesthetics and the political events of the time. Full details and review article at --
Its emphasis is
on creating Web pages rather than formal instruction
in writing. There are page design tips,
diagrams of coding, tricks with tables to position text
horizontally and vertically on the page, and he shows you
how to get your results
up onto the Web.
It's from Allyn and Bacon, who specialise in books
for students and teachers. Its gentle approach might
suit those students who are still a little overawed
by technology. Full details and review article at --
He advises his readers to 'forget surfing'.
Instead, they should start thinking about building a
reliable set of sources and learn how to search
intelligently. He shows the best way to use search engines, and how to
develop the electronic equivalent of a journalist's contact book.
It's all expressed in clear, plain prose, and each chapter is
supplemented by stories from journalists on how
they have used the Internet to do their work.
A review article and full details at --