Tutorial

Basic information on the program

This program is a virtual representation of the standard wooden ruler.
(read in the faq section how we could stuff the wooden ruler into the computer processor)

It will allow you to measure all kinds of stuff in your virtual windows desktop.
(read in the faq section what are the nicest things to measure there)

To start the program press the Start Button, click Programs click Computer Ruler click Ruler.
When first started the program displays the ruler in a standard ruler's position.
You can use the mouse to grab it and move it around, just like the wood counterpart. Moving the cursor of the mouse just over the ruler turns the cursor into an arror. Clicking the left buton changes the cursor into a powerfull hand will enable you to effortlessly slide the mouse on the surface of the screen. (read the faq if you are left-handed)

Quick Operation Guide

When you hover your mouse pointer over the Computer Ruler, it will change shape to that of a long spear that has a sharp spike at one end and a transparent spy glass at the handle. As you move the spear, Computer Ruler will display the distance in pixels from the start of the ruler and the color of the exact pixel under the spy glass in the standard HTML format. This can be very handy for measuring distance between the exact details wanted.
If you would like to measure items with the Computer Ruler near the margins of the screen then a feature usually known as "rotation of the ruler" comes in handy. Technically, you can press R to rotate the ruler 90 degrees to the right and L to rotate it back with the same ammount. Pressing these keys multiple times rotates the Computer Ruler accordingly.
If you need to quickly rotate the Computer Ruler to your desired orientation, you can use the keys N for orientating the ruler with the measurement scale up, S for scale towards down, V for scale facing left and E for the scale facing towards right.
Also, if for some reason you want to change the width of the ruler you can do so by pressing the buttons 1 up to 4 on your keyboard. The size of the ruler changes in the following ways: Pressing 1 makes the size equal to one quarter of the screen dimension, 2 makes it 1/2 of the screen, 3 makes it two thirds and 4 makes it the same size as screen's size.

Advanced Operation Guide

If you want a more in detail configuring and advanced usage details this is the right section to read and understand. With our product very dificult tasks of new paint coat, more legible letters and even menu driven commands are easy for our users to make use of. First thing is to popup the menu, and for that all you have to do is to click on the Computer Ruler with the right mouse button. (And when we say right, we mean the button located in the right).

Orientation option has the following suboptions: North, East, South, West, Right, Left.

Clicking North will rotate the Computer Ruler with the scale towards the top of the screen.
Clicking East will rotate the Computer Ruler with the scale towards the right of the screen.
Clicking South will rotate the Computer Ruler with the scale towards the bottom of the screen.
Clicking West will rotate the Computer Ruler with the scale towards the left of the screen.

*We recommend you that you keep your screen with the TFT panel facing upwards and with the top part of the screen to the North. By using this little trick the menu options will have the direct meanings of the cardinal points. Be careful to use a thick protective aquarium of of acrylic glass for the protection of the TFT screen.

Clicking Right will rotate the ruler towards the right with 90 degrees.
Clicking Left will rotate the ruler towards the right with 90 degrees.

*All the icons have clearly visible icons that display inteligibly what the corresponding menu-option does.

The Length option allows you to select one of the predefined sizes for the ruler:

The size of the ruler changes in the following ways:
Pressing 1 makes the size equal to one quarter of the screen dimension
Pressing 2 makes it the size of a half of the screen dimension
Pressing 3 makes it two thirds of the screen dimensionPressing 4 makes it the same size as screen dimension

The "Choose color..." option allows you to change the color of the ruler.

Simply by clicking this option will bring you the standard color picker that has the few basic colors ready prepared for the picking. Click on the desired color box and then click the OK button or press the Enter key.
However, if you cannot find your desired color or wish to compose your own color out of shades red, greem and blue, press the "Define Custom Colors >>" button. If you will do so, a second part of the color picker unwraps and displays an advanced color composer. (please consult your reference manuals of your operating system for details on that) The process of picking the color is pretty straight forward, and at the end just click OK or press Enter to commit the color change to the ruler.
If you do not want to change the color of the ruler, then, instead of clicking OK or pressing Enter please press the Esc button usually located at the upper left on your keyboard or click the Cancel button to the lower part of the color picker.

The "Font color..." option allows you to change the font used for the drawing of the scale of the Computer Ruler and also the color of the letters in the font. As a piece of advice please use for the letters colors contrasting to the color of the ruler, or you may render the scale hardly visible.

The "Help..." option displays this booklet with the informations regardinfg the usage of the Computer Ruler and a few hints on the advanced features and some frequently asked questions regarding the product.