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Larger Version 2.04 
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 Well, I've only just received my review copy of !Larger at the last
minute just before this, Spectrum2 is released, so the following
description will reflect this and is intended as an outline of
features to what seems to be a complex application taking up only a
minimal 96k.  !Larger installs correctly on the left of the icon bar
as it is a filing system. At this point your backdrop (if you had
one) will revert to flat grey like the default setting.
 The Menu from !Larger contains Info, Save, Load, Desking, User, Map,
CONFIG and QUIT, all which will be dealt with in turn, but first an
analogy. !Larger is a filofax for the Arc desktop. Or is it? It's
certainly an organiser, but I feel many of the facilities are not
really essential as their functions (ie. Free, Save, Send windows to
back etc.) can be found elsewhere on your machine. !Larger bundles
them together with a very useful feature in the 'Map' facility, which
is where the application takes it's name from, as through this 'Map'
the user can access a Larger desktop. 

-Info, Info displays the name, purpose, version and tells us the
author is 'Warm Silence Software', who have a very creative and
suitable logo, though what 'warm silence' is, is anyone's guess!
-Save, This enables you to save the Backdrop, System Variables and
Sprites. The save for the application set up is in the
config(uration) section.
-Load, Load is the complimentary part of the above save option and
reloads those features at any point.
-Desktop, This has 4 items Home, Retrieve, Cycle Windows and Cycle
Tasks. What these seem to do is bring the windows which are on screen
and open to the front in varying orders (the Cycle Windows being the
most aptly named)  there must be a good reason for these and there
is, but you'll need to read the entry for MAP to understand what.
-User, This option opens a filer window within the Larger application
itself with either modules or an empty filer, presumably to save to.
There is also an option to WIPE the disc in drive 0, or get the Free
state of either drive 0 or 4, something that can be easily performed
via the Hard or floppy drives of your machine anyway, so I can't see
the point of its inclusion in !Larger.
-Map, This is not as you might imagine anything to do with the map of
a disc, but a small representation (in a window) of the desktop
(shown as a blue oblong) it also shows where all the windows are in
relation to the desktop that are visible on your screen. The really
useful thing is that you can point to a part of this map (which is X
times bigger than the desktop representation) and the view you see on
screen is reflected on the map. In effect this makes your desktop
infinitely Larger (good name) as you can drag windows and files
around and off the screen area without them cluttering it. Still not
got it? Well let's look at it this way - you have a 17" screen, but
you have a much Larger desktop available. How do you put a window or
icon outside the bounds of the screen? The answer is, by using the
small map as a reference. You have an overview of the whole desktop
in the Map (not just the screen area), and you click on the Map where
you want to go on the desktop! You are no longer restricted to the
small screen area; and I used to think it was good moving the windows
off the edge of the screen! This is definitely the best feature in
!Larger and would like to see this incorporated into the Acorn as
standard.  When Menu is clicked over this Window 'Map' the 4
'Desktop' menu items from the previous entry above are shown.
-Home, Centres the windows on the visible area of screen, (if they
were outside it). 
-Retrieve, brings the Desktop representation to the middle of the
Window Map along with all windows. (These may have been randomly
distributed around the virtual desktop area). 
-Cycle Windows, This option will cycle through all windows on screen
bringing each one to the top in turn. (Just like the 'Back' icon but
in reverse).  
-Cycle Tasks, This seems to only cycle through windows with
applications in, but not text files, but I could be wrong. I'm not
sure about this one.

 The next item on the main menu is Config... and this is where this
initial configuration for the application is performed. Firstly the
Backdrop facility in !Larger is organised so that you can opt for
say, all the Directories to automatically reside one one side of the
screen and all the Applications on the other. Regardless of where you
put them, !Larger will organise them for you. These options along
with many others can be customised to suit you.
 So what is !Larger like being used in the real world? Well, !Larger
is BIG on options and on customisation, not to mention the infinite
desktop you'll gain by buying it. If you're one of these people who
end up with too many windows on screen at any one time them you need
!Larger. Me, I can live without it (though I do like the 'Map'
feature). Some of the features are very useful, especially the Map as
I keep saying, but other options - Save, Load and Free just aren't
necessary as they are available via other avenues of your machine.

Product: Larger
Price: 10
Contact: Warm Silence Software, St Catherine's College,
Manor Road, Oxford, OX1 3UJ

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