Readme for ProNews/2 Version 1.00 Beta 4
--------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for evaluating ProNews/2, the best USENET reader for OS/2! 
To install please type install on the command line.  If you are
upgrading from beta 1, 2, 2b, or 2c you must delete the entire program
and install from scratch.  If you are upgrading from beta 3 or beta 3b
you must switch to the ProNews directory and run upgrade.exe after the
install.

Whats new in this version
-------------------------

- Spell Checking has been added to the program.  ProNews now contains a
spell checker (based on SpellGuard technology) and comes with a US
English dictionary.  Dictionaries are also available for Dutch, German,
French, UK English, Spanish, and Italian.  ProNews will batch check
your spelling (no purchase of SpellGuard is required) but if you still
want the as-you-type spell checking you can still purchase the
SpellGuard package.

Dictionaries available for:
US English (http://www.netusa.net/~rmahoney/sg_usdct.zip)
Dutch (http://www.netusa.net/~rmahoney/sg_nldct.zip)
German (http://www.netusa.net/~rmahoney/sg_dedct.zip)
French	(http://www.netusa.net/~rmahoney/sg_frdct.zip)
UK English (http://www.netusa.net/~rmahoney/sg_ukdct.zip)
Spanish (http://www.netusa.net/~rmahoney/sg_esdct.zip)
Italian (http://www.netusa.net/~rmahoney/sg_itdct.zip)

- The font can now be changed when printing articles.

- Group window page flipping.  You can now maximize the header pane of
the group window and use the tab key to flip to the body pane (which
will be maximized).  This allows you to get the most out of your screen
real estate.

- Confirmation dialogs are now available throughout the program.  They
can be turned off and on in the settings.

- Support has been added for marking from the current article to the
top/bottom as as either read/unread.

- Support has been added for the use of an external editor for outgoing
posts.

- Tabs in the control panel can now be reordered.

- HotFilters.  HotFilters allow you to set up one time, toggle, or
local/global filters with the press of a button.  It is possible to
create a button to 'watch the current subject', 'kill the current
author', 'hide all read articles until the button is pressed again',
'delete all articles not queued for download'.  Almost anything you can
think of can be added to the toolbar via HotFilters.  There is
documentation and some samples in the program help files.

- Post Canceling.  You can now cancel posts which you have sent in
error.

- The composer of a message is now placed in the title bar of the body
pane in the group window.

- It is now possible to change the sort order of a group by clicking on
the fieldbars as if they were buttons (ala Window95).

- Full Sort options can be assigned to toolbar buttons.  By adding a
toolbar item with 'Cmd:  ChangeSort'.  You create this button and in
the parameters selection.  You must specify the sort creteria as such:

N - Sort new
R - Sort read
L - Sort lines
S - Sort subject
C - Sort composer
D - Sort date
T - Sort retreived

+ - Modify the sort to use ascending until the next + or -.
- - Modify the sort to use descending until the next + or -.

ie. To sort by subject ascending and lines by descending (in that order
of priority) the parameters would be: s-l (the default sort order is
ascending).  To sort by decsending date, lines, subject it would be
-dls.

- Added 'Cmd: DefaultSort' to the toolbar palette which will reset the
sort order for a newsgroup back to that specified in the settings.

- You can now set the maximum number of articles that pronews will
retrieve and have it pop up a dialog asking for the exact number to get
if the count available goes over that number.

- The format of the composer field in the group window can now be
changed by the user.

- Ctrl+/ is now the hotkey used to select all in the header pane
of the group window.

- Pressing enter in the subject field of the post window no longer
clears the entry field.

- When articles that are queued for send are edited they now get
reformatted and flowed when the message is resent.

- The D filter flag now works properly.

- The options to expand the article tree on group open now allow
multiple items to be selected.

- URL highlighting now recognizes '=' as a valid character.

Notes about this version
------------------------

+ A number of things are not implemented, including help and POP3
posting.  Many of the routines have not been optimized for CPU
consumption. This will be addressed before the final release of 1.00.

+ There are probably numerous bugs, and without your help we won't be
able to find them.  If you have a problem, please email us
(support@panaceasoft.com) and let us know.

+ This version will quit working on December 1st 1997.  We have put
this timeout in the code to ensure that people are using the most
current beta.  There will be a new beta posted to our website at LEAST
two weeks before this version times out.

+ This (and all beta versions of version 1.00) are free until it times
out.  What this means is that if the beta cycle lasts 6 months, and you
use the program for that period you are not expected to pay any money. 
By using this beta and reporting bugs/requests you are doing us a
favor, not the other way around.  Of course once the final 1.00 is
released this program will become shareware.

Non obvious features
--------------------

+ Using the TAB key on the article windows switches between the article
bodies and article headers windows.

+ The SPACE key pages down the article body window, and when the end of
the article is reached, advances to the next unread article.  The
default action of the spacebar may be configured in the program's
settings notebook.

+ Each toolbar in the program can be customized.  Right click on the
toolbar to learn more.  Toolbars for individual groups are saved so you
can give each group you read it's own toolbar suited to it's content. 
To copy an item from one toolbar to another CTRL-Drag it.

+ Double clicking on the [+] [-] items in the tree views expands all
subtrees.

+ Selecting all articles in a group and then using the decode
option will automatically scan for multimessage binaries and properly
decode them for you.  Binaries with missing parts are not downloaded,
and are highlighted to let you know they have missing pieces.

+ To edit an article or message that is queued for send you have to go
into the Queue window and double click on it.

+ Right click on everything.  Nearly every part of the program has a
context sensitive menu.  Some options may only be reached in this
manner.

Known Bugs and Limitations
--------------------------

The help system is in it's very early stages.

Problems with the program opening a new copy of Netscape each time the
Jump to URL option is selected.  This feature only works with a certain
DLL supplied by Netscape with it's installation.  Fixpack 1 for warp 4
replaces this DLL with a broken version. 

Again, thank you for trying ProNews/2!
