-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
File:  aesop.txt
Rev.:  0 
Date:  15 October 1994
Note:  For update, check OmniMedia's archive ("How to Contact the Publisher")  
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-------------------------
1.  Electronic Book Title
-------------------------


                              AESOP'S FABLES

              translated by George Fyler Townsend (1814-1900)

                      (C) Copyright 1994 by OmniMedia


    ***** An Electronic Book Produced and Published By OmniMedia *****

     This Electronic Book can be freely distributed over all electronic
     networks provided it is not altered in any manner and all the files
     are included.  See the section "Copyright Notice and Other Terms"
     for more specific information.



---------------------
2.  Table of Contents
---------------------

This information file is divided into the following sections:

 1.  Electronic Book Title  (presented above)
 2.  Table of Contents  (this section)
 3.  Introduction
 4.  About the Translation and This Electronic Book
 5.  System Requirements
 6.  Files That Must Be Included in the Distribution Package
 7.  How to Obtain This Electronic Book  (if some of the files are missing)
 8.  Viewing/Installation Instructions
 9.  How to Use This Electronic Book and Some Useful Features
10.  Copyright Notice and Terms  (which you should read carefully)
11.  How to Contact the Publisher



----------------
3.  Introduction
----------------

This OmniMedia electronic book is a hypertext conversion, using the
outstanding Microsoft Windows 3.1 Help engine ("WinHelp"), of the classic
book "Aesop's Fables", translated by George Fyler Townsend (1814-1900).

All Windows 3.1 systems with a VGA (or better) color monitor can read this
electronic book without any need for special software other than what is
already included with this electronic book.

This book is FREE, compliments of OmniMedia!  Do give it a try!



--------------------------------------------------
4.  About the Translation and This Electronic Book
--------------------------------------------------

The 312 Fables contained in this electronic book, "Aesop's Fables,"
translated by the Rev. George Fyler Townsend (1814-1900), came from a Public
Domain ASCII text file that is freely available on the Internet and other
electronic BBS.  Several minor textual errors, such as punctuation, spelling
and capitalization, were found in the ASCII text file and have been corrected
in this version.

For a recent book containing all the "Aesop's Fables" translated and published
by Rev. Townsend (a total of 350, 38 more than are found in this electronic
book version), the interested reader is referred to:

     "Aesop's Fables."  Based on the translation of George Fyler Townsend,
     with an introduction by Isaac Bashevis Singer, illustrated by Murray
     Tinkelman.  Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1968, 215 pages.



-----------------------
5.  System Requirements
-----------------------

To view this electronic book, you must have an IBM-compatible PC (386 or
higher is recommended), with color VGA (or better) video resolution.  It must
have Microsoft Windows 3.1 installed.

This electronic book has been tested using the common color video resolutions
of VGA, 640x480x256, 800x600x256, and 1024x768x256.  For maximum clarity and
readability, it is recommended that you use as high of a video resolution as
your system allows, up to 1024x768x256, or even higher (however, resolutions
higher than 1024x768x256 have not been tested.)  For the very high video
resolutions, you should consider using large size fonts if that option is
available to you.  Consult your Windows documentation for how to increase your
resolution if that is possible for your particular video card and monitor
combination.  (If you feel the font size is too large, read the discussion
about window/font size in the section "How to Use This Electronic Book and
Some Useful Features.")

All further technical details mentioned in this file are specific to Windows
3.1 installations.

Three final and important notes:

First, this electronic book is written using the Arial TrueType font, which
is part of the normal installation for all Windows 3.1 systems.  If you have
removed this font from your system, for whatever reason, the file will not
appear as it was authored (though it may look similar or at least readable.)
It is recommended that you reinstall the Arial TrueType font if you have
removed it from your system (refer to your Windows documentation.)

Second, a very small number of Windows users have experienced some
difficulties in properly reading all of the special text characters for
reasons that are not completely understood, though evidence points to bugs in
a very early release of Windows 3.1 (most Windows users don't have this early
release, if you do, consider upgrading to version 3.11.)  The most common
difficulties encountered have been left and right single and double quotes
not being reproduced properly, as well as other characters not being
reproduced properly such as the copyright and trademark symbols, bullets and
em/en-dashes.  Do contact OmniMedia if you observe any anomalies regarding
characters and/or fonts that you believe are not due to running an early
release of Windows 3.1.

Third, both the background and foreground (text) colors have been hard-coded
in this WinHelp format file.  If you have color vision disabilities which
make it difficult to read all or part of this electronic book, contact
OmniMedia and special arrangements will be considered.



-----------------------------------------------------------
6.  Files That Must Be Included in the Distribution Package
-----------------------------------------------------------

To properly use this electronic book, the following files must be included in
the distribution package.

aesop.hlp    --  The WinHelp file of "Aesop's Fables"
aesop.txt    --  This file
book.ico     --  A book icon that can be used for permanent installation



--------------------------------------
7.  How to Obtain This Electronic Book
--------------------------------------

This section will outline three ways by which you can obtain this electronic
book if some or all of the required files are missing or corrupted.  With any
of these ways, you will obtain a single archive file, most likely a ZIP file
('aesop.zip' or something similar), which requires a dearchiver to extract
the required files, such as PKUNZIP.

It is probable that other ways to obtain this and other electronic books from
OmniMedia will be implemented in the future.  Contact OmniMedia for more
updated information.

(Note:  When you obtain this electronic book in ZIP format (the most likely
        archive format), you will need to use an "unzipper."  If you don't
        have one already, we recommend that you use the authentic DOS
        shareware utility called PKZIP (version 2.04g), PKWARE, Inc.  There
        also exist several other "clone" unzip utilities (shareware and
        freeware) for both DOS and Windows, obtainable from many BBS and
        Internet sites.  For those of you who have ftp/WWW access, we have
        conveniently placed the shareware file 'pkzip204.exe' into our
        archive.  The ftp address is ftp.netcom.com /pub/OmniMedia/books/misc
        the WWW (Web) URL is ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/OmniMedia/books/misc .)


Here are the three ways you can presently obtain this electronic book:

1)  From the Internet Via Anonymous FTP and WWW (World-Wide Web.)

    OmniMedia maintains an anonymous ftp archive at

    ftp.netcom.com  /pub/OmniMedia/books

    In order to directly download the files from this archive, you need to
    have access to an Internet site with ftp or WWW access.

    For anonymous ftp, if you don't know how to use it, consult with someone
    who does or study the helpfile or manual at your site.  Be sure to type
    "binary" before issuing the "get" or "mget" command.

    For WWW (or Web) access you can easily download the file 'aesop.zip' (and
    other OmniMedia electronic book titles and files) using your browser
    (Mosaic is the most commonly used WWW browser.)  The URL to the archive is

    ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/OmniMedia/books

    In addition, OmniMedia will attempt to upload this electronic book to
    other anonymous ftp archives on the Internet, for example, the CICA
    archive (ftp.cica.indiana.edu).  You can use archie to try to locate
    these other potential sites.

2)  Via Mail Server from OmniMedia's Archive.

    It is possible to access OmniMedia's archive via e-mail.  This is a good
    method for those who have e-mail access to the Internet but don't have
    ftp or WWW (Web) access.

    In order to use the mail server, you must have, in addition to an
    unzipper (see the section "Viewing/Installation Instructions"), a
    uudecoder, since the binary ZIP file will be uuencoded into an ASCII
    format suitable for e-mail.  Most Unix sites have a built-in uudecode
    utility, but nearly all other operating systems do not.  Obviously, you
    cannot obtain a uudecoder for your platform via this e-mail server (since
    it is a binary executable), so you have to find one elsewhere, probably
    by downloading it from a local BBS (uudecoders for DOS/Windows do exist,
    but are not found at all BBS sites.)
    
    For more information on this option, send e-mail to omnimdia@netcom.com
    and request the file describing how to access Netcom's ftp mail server.

3)  From Your Local BBS.

    There is no doubt that, over time, this electronic book will be
    distributed to many BBS and online services around the world.  OmniMedia
    will attempt to upload this file to Windows On Line, one of the largest
    Windows BBS in the world (phone 510-736-8343;  it does require a
    membership fee for downloading privileges.)  And once you obtain this
    electronic book, feel free to upload it to your favorite BBS (be sure to
    include all the files listed in the section "Files That Must Be Included
    in the Distribution Package.")
    


--------------------------------------
8.  Viewing/Installation Instructions
--------------------------------------

There are several ways to view, and if desired, install this WinHelp
formatted electronic book on your Windows 3.1 system.  Two will be given
below.  If you are not very familiar with Windows, it is recommended that you
print out this section for step-by-step instructions.  Of course, it is also
recommended that you consult your Windows manual should any questions arise
or these instructions don't work for you.

Within a few months of this issue of 'aesop.txt' (dated 15 October 1994),
OmniMedia is tentatively planning to implement an easy-to-use installer
oriented towards the novice Windows user.  Check with OmniMedia for more
information.

Now, to view this electronic book, following are two ways to do it (it is
assumed that you've already extracted the necessary files from the
distributed archive file, if that's how you obtained this electronic book --
see the section "How to Obtain This Electronic Book"):

1) If you just want to view the electronic book without permanent
   installation (e.g., for evaluation purposes), place the file 'aesop.hlp'
   into a directory anywhere on your hard disk (you should also be able to
   read it directly from a diskette but it will be noticeably slower.)  Then,
   from File Manager within Windows, locate 'aesop.hlp' and click on it.  The
   Windows Help file viewer, winhelp.exe, will automatically be executed and
   the electronic book will be displayed.  Enjoy!

2) For a more permanent installation with a convenient icon, it is advisable
   to first create a special directory on your hard disk and copy the files
   'aesop.hlp' and 'book.ico' into that directory.  As an example, which will
   be used for the explanation below, this directory path could be named
   C:\WINDOWS\BOOKS .

   The next step is to either select or create the program group into which
   you will place the title AESOP'S FABLES (or whatever you want to call
   it -- it need not be in caps.)  If you don't already have a special
   program group for electronic books, you need to create one.  To create a
   new program group which could be called, for example, OMNIMEDIA BOOKS (it
   need not be all in caps), simply go to the FILE menu of your Program
   Manager, select NEW , PROGRAM GROUP , OK , and then in the box labeled
   DESCRIPTION, enter the string OMNIMEDIA BOOKS (or whatever else you want
   to call the program group), then press OK (leave the GROUP FILE box
   empty.)

   Once the program group, whether old or new, is selected, then from Program
   Manager select FILE , NEW , PROGRAM ITEM , OK .  At this point, you have
   three text boxes to fill.  For the DESCRIPTION box enter AESOP'S FABLES
   (or whatever else you want the application icon to be called -- it need
   not be in caps);  for the COMMAND LINE box enter
   C:\WINDOWS\WINHELP.EXE AESOP.HLP ;  for the WORKING DIRECTORY box enter
   C:\WINDOWS\BOOKS .  Then to select the icon, click on CHANGE ICON and
   attach the file BOOK.ICO from the directory C:\WINDOWS\BOOKS to this
   application using BROWSE to locate it.  Then, click OK twice to finish.

   Now, your selected program group should contain an icon of a book with the
   name AESOP'S FABLES underneath it.  Just click on the book icon whenever
   you want to read it!  Enjoy!



-------------------------------------------------------------
9.  How to Use This Electronic Book and Some Useful Features
-------------------------------------------------------------

Using the WinHelp viewer is intuitive and very easy.  Once you are viewing
this electronic book on your computer, you can learn much of what you need to
know by simply experimenting with the toolbar buttons, menu commands, etc.
If you do need more help in reading and using this electronic book, refer to
"How to Use Help" which can be selected from the "Help" menu item found near
the top of the window when viewing this electronic book.

Some useful features of this electronic book include

1) Bookmark  -- You can place one or more bookmarks at any location so you
                can later return to that location, even after exiting this
                book.  The Bookmark feature is found in the menu.

2) Annotate  -- You can add notes and comments to any topic displayed in a
                window (excepting temporary pop-up windows.)  The Annotate
                feature is found in the menu under 'Edit.'

3) Hypertext -- Hypertext is nothing mystical.  It is simply text which has
                been linked to text elsewhere in the electronic book.
                Clicking on hypertext will move you to the text the hypertext
                is linked with.  In this electronic book, much effort has
                been made to make it clear which text is hypertext.  To
                verify if a word or phrase is hypertext, the mouse pointer
                will switch from an arrow to a small hand with a pointing
                finger when placed on top of hypertext.


One note about scrolling should be mentioned for those newcomers who are
totally unfamiliar with the purpose and use of scroll bars.  You may notice
in this electronic book that for most windows (i.e., topics), there is a
scrollbar at the right-hand-side (and sometimes at the bottom) of the viewing
window.  The scroll bar is there because the text of the topic is too long or
too big to fit completely within the visible window.  By clicking your mouse
on various parts of the scroll bar, you can move ("scroll") either up or down
in the text.  Specifically, clicking on either the up or down arrows (which
are found at the top and bottom respectively of the scroll bar), will move
you either one line up or one line down in the text.  You can also scroll a
full window or page if you click anywhere in the scroll bar between the up or
down arrows and the slider (the slider is the plain rectangular "button" that
slides in the scroll bar, and indicates where the viewing window is
positioned with respect to the topic text.)

Another note concerns the aspect of font size.  If you are using VGA
(640x480) resolution, you may find the font size to be quite large,
especially on bigger monitors.  One solution is to maximize the window size,
done by clicking on the upper right-hand button, and read the window from
further away -- maximizing the window size (to fill the whole screen) will
also make the electronic book look better at the 640x480 resolution with
respect to the number of characters per line being similar to a typical book.
(One of the reasons why this larger font was selected was to insure that this
electronic book would be easily readable on laptop/notebook-sized screens --
WinHelp unfortunately does not yet allow variable font sizes depending on the
video parameters.)  If you still feel the characters are too large for your
taste (regardless of the resolution you're using), consider going to a higher
screen resolution if you can (since that will tend to decrease the font
size.)  You might even want to consider testing the large/small font options
for the higher resolutions if available to you for your particular video
card.



-------------------------------
10.  Copyright Notice and Terms
-------------------------------

This electronic book, "Aesop's Fables" (the "TITLE") is Copyright 1994 by
OmniMedia and is fully protected by United States Copyright laws and
international treaty provisions.

This TITLE can be electronically duplicated and redistributed provided that
none of the associated files (see text file 'aesop.txt' for the complete
list) are omitted and/or altered in any manner.  You are highly encouraged to
redistribute this electronic book far and wide (such as to your favorite BBS)
so that many others can enjoy it.

This TITLE, is provided 'AS IS', that is, you use this title at your own
risk, without warranty of any kind.  This includes, but is not limited to,
defects/errors with the format of this TITLE as well as defects/errors in the
media used to distribute this TITLE to the supplier and/or purchaser.
OmniMedia further disclaims all implied warranties including, but not limited
to, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

In no event shall OmniMedia and/or any suppliers of this TITLE be liable for
any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for lost
profits, business interruptions, loss of business information, or any other
pecuniary loss) arising from the use of or inability to use the TITLE, even
if OmniMedia and/or the suppliers of this TITLE have been advised of the
possibility of such damages.  Because some jurisdictions do not allow
exclusions or limitations of liability for consequential or incidental
damages, this limitation may not apply to you.



---------------------------------
11.  How to Contact the Publisher
---------------------------------

OmniMedia is devoted to producing only the highest quality works on most
forms of modern media.  Our current and planned offerings include

     Electronic books published in Windows 3.1 Help and Microsoft Multimedia
     Viewer formats

     Audio CD reissues (using state-of-the-art digital restoration) of early
     jazz, blues, dance and personality recordings

     Very high resolution fractal image prints.

For more information or advice about this electronic book or other offerings,
contact

     OmniMedia
     c/o Jon E. Noring
     1312 Carlton Place
     Livermore, CA 94550

     (510) 294-8153
     (510) 447-1771 (fax -- not always online)

     Internet:  omnimdia@netcom.com

OmniMedia's anonymous ftp archive is located at

     ftp.netcom.com  /pub/OmniMedia/books

For WWW (Web) users, the URL address to the archive is

     ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/OmniMedia/books



...ENJOY!

