Introduction | Featured Benefits and Advantages | Preview Window Fonts | File Format Options | Scripting | Demo Version Introduction Bars & Stripes® is a Macintosh program designed exclusively by Mefco, Inc. which allows an individual without PostScript training to create a wide variety of PostScript bar codes. The bar codes created by Bars & Stripes can be printed on a PostScript imagesetter to produce high quality bar code film masters. They can also be sent to a LaserWriter to produce black/whites for mechanicals or copied if outside services are required. These bar codes are formatted as Encapsulated PostScript Files (EPSF) and can be easily placed within any page layout program such as PageMaker, Adobe Illustrator, or QuarkXpress. Why contract for bar codes when you can produce them in-house? Now you can save time, money, and see a quick return on your investment with Bars & Stripes. back to top Featured Benefits and Advantages Producing bar codes with Bars &Stripes is accomplished in one easy step. The user simply selects the desired bar code type from the "Symbol" menu. Once selected, an input screen for that bar code will appear. Bars & Stripes creates accurate bar codes for UPC, UPC-E, EAN, ISBN, Interleaved 2 of 5, Code 39, Code 128, Pharma-Code and UPC Extended Coupon Code. The user simply enters the data for the desired bar code and creates the "EPSF" file by clicking the "Make EPSF" button, or by pressing the Enter key. back to top Preview Window A unique feature of Bars & Stripes is the ability to optionally add the symbol's specifications to the preview image. This information appears on the screen in Bars & Stripes and the page layout program, but does not print. These specifications allow the operator to make a quick visual check of bar code size, height, width and bar width reduction prior to importing the image into the page layout program, and again before printing. back to top Fonts Bars & Stripes allows the user to choose the font for the Human Readable Text accompanying the symbol; either the standard OCR B, or any installed PostScript font. back to top File Format Options Bars & Stripes offers users the flexibility to choose between two EPSF formats: native and compatible. The native format produces a compact and accurate symbol, however it can not be further modified by programs such as Adobe Illustrator. Compatible EPSF files can be opened with any program that understands Illustrator format, allowing the user to add adornments and/or colorize the symbol. Format can be selected on a per symbol basis. Use the native format when you want to reduce the possibility of an artist accidentally changing the symbol, thus rendering it useless. Use the compatible format when the artist needs to be able to carefully change the symbol, perhaps to colorize it. back to top Scripting Bars & Stripes comes with its own simple scripting language. Users can create their own scripts with a text editor, or can save a script to recreate the current symbol. Scripts can be executed from a file, or embedded in an Apple Event. A database program (such as FileMaker Pro) can control the creation of symbols via the standard "Do Script" Apple Event. back to top Demo Version The demo version of Bars & Stripes allows you to take the program for a no-obligation test drive. You can see just how easy bar code generation can be, only the actual generation of EPSF files has been disabled. You may download a demo version or samples from the demo page. back to top For further information please contact us. home | features | demo | purchase | support | contact us Copyright © 2001, Neuco Image Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "Bars & Stripes" is a registered trademark of Mefco, Inc.