[14th June 2002]: Version 5.0 released

* Increased minimum system requirements: needs JRE1.3.0 (or JRE1.2.2?)
  or greater

* Improvements:
  - preview (when painting with generic tools for example)
    will now show the correct when usind mix-mode.

  - Replace illegal characters
    - Added a few new characters
    - moved the configuration into the text file replace_illegal.txt
      for easier upgrades.
    - When mark illegal characters is activated in JavE and you hover the
      mouse cursor over an illegal character you will see the character code
      in the status line. When you know an illegal character and a good
      substitute just let me know and I will add it to the configuration file.

* Cosmetic changes:

  - improved user interface with generic tools. Should now
    be much more intuitive.

  - Created an icon for help->debug->crash now that does fit 
    much better ;-)

* Image2Ascii:

  - Brand new image2ascii algorithm (JavE Algorithm 4/1). Can be 
    adjusted to many different fonts and will produce much
    better results when converting to large ascii images

  - new option for image2ascii algorithm "B/W": 3by2
    This is a higher resolution black and white converter
    using 6 pixels from the original image to create a
    character. This is in most cases slightly better than
    the old 2by2 algorithm.

* New features:
  
  - Brightness dialog (menu modify -> brigthness)
    You can change the brightness of an ascii art image.
    Will work best with greyscale style and
    could be useful for movie editing (fading scenes).

  - Invert image (menu modify -> invert b/w)
    new algorithm for inverting simple black/white style images:

                                8888888888888888888888888888
     _,ooooooo_       dodoo     8888"P""""""""8888888'"'""88
   ,888PP"""Y88o      88888'    88P   ,,___.  "888888     d8
   `P'        Y8b     8888F     88b,d88888888. `88888    ,88
             ,88[    ]8888      888888888888P  ]8888[    888
      _,oooo88P'     d888       88888"P""""  ,d88888'   8888
    d888PP"""        d88'       888'   ,,___88888888'  d8888
   d8P'              88P    ->  88' ,d88888888888888  ,88888
   ]88_      __     d88'        88[  "888888""88888'  d88888
    `88ooooo888     d8P         888b  """""   88888' ,888888
      `YPPPP"        "          88888b.,,,,_88888888_8888888
                                8888888888888888888888888888
        ,oL       ,88L          8888888P"`8888888P  `8888888
        YPP       Y88P          8888888.,,8888888.  ,8888888
                                8888888888888888888888888888

  - 45(11f9 4nd 00n45(11f9 (asciify and unasciify)
    In menu modify. Similar to the one on bug's web site:
      http://www.404bug.prv.pl/

  - Pasting a table containing tab-characters (to separate the
    table cells) will result in a formatted table.
    This should also work when pasting data from Excel or other
    spreadsheet applications.
     

* Movie editor:
   - Saving 'making of' will store information about how long
     each keystroke etc. took. So during playback you will
     also see when there where pauses etc.
     By default playback will be about twice as fast as editing
     and pauses are limited to about 1 second.
     Thanks to Hakim (Chickenman rulez!) for the idea.
   - moved all buttons to context menus (right mouse click
     on current frame)
   - added list with all frames. All frames are given titles.
     By default the title is "frame 1", "frame 2",...
     If the movie is a making-of, the title is the tool the
     frame has been created with. I think I will leave it that way
     that the tool-entry "T:..." for each frame in the movie is
     also the title-entry.
     At the moment one can not edit this frame title. Also
     some items in the context menu for multiple frames in
     the list will not work (move left/right).
   - Reverting frame order available in context menu for selected frames
     in the list. It will revert all frames from the first
     one selected to the last selected frame. I will fix this maybe
     to reverse all groups of subsequently selected frames.
   - changing color (foreground/background) now works using the
     Java Swing colorchooser dialog. It is very slow and ugly 
     - I don't like it and will try to write my own (like always).
   - selecting frames now works in the list only, but it will also
     be visible in the thumbnails. At the moment clicking on a
     thumbnail will make the clicked frame the current frame.
     Maybe I will change this to perform selection instead.
     Input about that is very welcome.
   - Thumbnail images for frames are cached - so scrolling should be
     quicker.

* Fixed bugs:
  - Keyboard shortcuts messed up in JRE 1.4
  - free shape selection forgetting its shape when copied to
    clipboard (caused by JRE1.1-compatibility reasons)
  - feltpen tool freehand generic does not remove
    pencil cursor when releasing mouse button
  - Making selection with right mouse button produced rectangle

* Misc:
  - Ascii steganograms in image2ascii converter:
    the encoder was already included in earlier versions (you may
    have seen the option "steganogram, text" in the 1-pixel
    image2ascii algorithm) but it did not work (in some versions
    of JavE) and there was no decoder yet. Now it works:

    encode:
      use image2ascii algorithm "gradient" and convert
      an image to ascii. Specify a text for the steganogram.
    decode:
      load a text file with a converted ascii image (or paste it as
      new selection). Choose menu special, decode steganogram.
      Enter the gradient with which the image was converted.
      You will see the text from the steganogram in the other
      textfield, when the gradient (=key) is correct.

    About security of this method:
      Now that the way it works is documented here, it should not be
      a big problem to decode steganograms even when you do not
      know the key. The key is the gradient and it could be guessed
      from looking at the converted image (at least when it is not a
      very complicated one). 
      You can increase security by making the gradient as complex as
      possible, for example by using some of the characters more often
      than once. " .:.::oOoo@o@@" is propably better than " .:oO@"
      Note that for the decoding gradient every second character from
      the gradient does not matter, i.e.:
      " .:oO@" is the same as " #:#O#"

[19th March 2002]: Version 4.0 released

************ IMPORTANT NOTE for Java1.1 users: *********************
* JavE4.0 will be the very last version that supports Java1.1.     *
*                                                                  *
*   With the release of the Java runtime environment and SDK 1.4.0 *
*   I decided to concentrate on 1.3 and 1.4 instead of writing     *
*   workarounds for the old 1.1 platform.                          *
*   JavE 5.0 will then introduce some improved user interface      *
*   components from the Java Swing library (e.g. a better menu bar *
*   that also works with 1.4).                                     *
*   JavE will then no longer support Java 1.1                      *
********************************************************************

* Changed the license
    - You may now freely distribute JavE, as long as there are no
      files from the package removed or modified.

* New user interface for tools (hope you like it)
    - the tools are arranged in two columns now
      By this I can add more tools and JavE should also be
      better to use on smaller displays.

    - the options for grid, pure ascii, etc. went from the
      bottom to the tool bar. There are now icons to make it
      easier to see what the options are for.

* Selection Tool:
    - Dropped limitation to rectangular selections:
        - New selection tool: Freehand selection.
        - add/remove parts of the selection by holding down
          shift/control key when marking a selection region
          (this is the way most people are used to do it from other
          graphics editors)
    - Bugfix: Cropping to selection now switches to Text tool as
              expected

* Image2Ascii-dialog:
    reduced size by distributing the options to different panels
    on a tabbed pane. Now it should fit ordinary screens :-)
    The only drawback is that you have to switch between the tabs
    to get access to all of the options...

* Scrolling keys page up, page down, pos1 and end
  should now work as expected
  (scrollbar animations should now also work in JavE)

* New feltpen styles O and X for generic tools

* Animated GIFs (exported from jmov or image2ascii batch conversion)
  will now loop infinitly

* Scrollbar animation export:
   - new option for keeping the timing of the original file
     (by writing frames with long duration more often then once)

* Changed default position and size of editor and options dialog
  again to hopefully fit the needs of all operating systems. Now
  JavE should also look ok on a 800x600 pixels screen size
  Mac computer for example.

* Added a button for the movie editor in the top toolbar

* Added email/name fields to the editor options.
  They will be automatically added to jmov animations.

* Show/hide watermark and auxiliary lines now works independently

* Export: I have removed the annoying text
  "This diagram has been created using..."
  This will save time, because you will not have to remove it
  by hand :-)

* Generic Tools:
   - Improved result for line art style
     I don't think it is possible to write better generic algorithms
     than the ones used here: There are now two levels of processing,
     where based on a complex set of rules the mouse movements
     (or shapes like circles etc.) are converted to ascii line art.

* New image2ascii-algorithms
   - "Edge Tracing" and "Edge Detect"
     
* Text Tool:
    - Speedup: Cursor movement much faster
    - Bugfix: Ctrl-Tab for switching between documents will no longer
      move the cursor

* image2ascii batch conversion/jmov export:
    - multiple files are now numberd with leading 0s, so it will be
      much easier to sort them afterwards: 000, 001, 002,...

* JavE editor File-Open:
    - GIF/JPG/BMP files are automaticalle opened in the
      image2ascii-dialog

* Movie Editor:
    - added scrollbar to quickly jump to frames anywhere in the movie
    - added a "title" to the jmov file format. Can be adjusted
      using menu movie->information and will be used for example
      for the title of the html page when exporting as javascript.
    - fixed a few bugs

* Fixed a few bugs:
    - text cursor should work a little bit better (and faster)
    - title of jmov will be converted to html wehn exporting to
      JavaScript animation
    - removed ghost selection boxes when scrolling with text
      tool active.
    - ...

* Command line interface to use JavE's image2ascii
  algorithms w/o having to start the gui.

  You will find a detailed description in the documentation.
  (either online or in the download package)


[8th December 2001]: Version 3.0 released

 * Compress/expand:
    - resize ascii art image from 1x1 pixel to double size
      Some images (depending on art style) do not scale well - but I think
      most often it still is a good state to start with if you want to
      change the size of an image.
      This feature could also be a good effect for Ascii animations (jmovs).
 
 * Camelizer:
    - Use a BMP/GIF/JPG image to apply a shape for your text
    - here is an example (the content of this text is not up to date):
   
                            The
      Camel            izer is a t
ool that take        s any kind of t
 ext and forms       it into a given
    shape. Th    e shape is tak en fr
  om a GIF/BM  P/JPG image and   it onl
  y takes li  ttle e    ffort to create
  Ascii imag es like      this one. I di
  d not have a good        id ea     for a
   name  for this to  ol, so I d    ecided
   to cal  l  it "Ca mel  izer". This is bec
     ause p ropably the most famous exam ple
        for this effect is a nice Perl p rog
             ram formed int o the   shap e
             of a   camel.  Have    fun  w
             ith t  he cam  eliz    er -
              it   is not    ava     ila
             ble   ye t     , bu     t w
             ill     be     p        art
              of       t  he          v
             er        y n           ex
            t          releas        e
            o        f JavE.        Sta
        y tune                     d!
 
 * Function plotter (menu "Special"):
    - plots simple functions like sin(), cos(), tan(), abs(), sqrt(), x^2, +-*/
    - sometimes has problems with pole points and does not make annotations on axis
        (you have to see it as a proof of concept)
    - example:


                                   |
 3 * sin(x) + 2 * x                |
                                   |
                                   |              ____
                                   |           ,-'    ''-.._         ,
                                   |         ,'             `-.....-'
                                   |        '
                                   |      ,'
                                   |     /
                                   |    /
                                   |   /
                                   |  /
                                   | /
                                   |/
                                   ,'
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''','''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
                                 .'|
                                 / |
                                '  |
                               '   |
                              '    |
                             '     |
                           ,'      |
                          /        |
   _____                _'         |
,-'     '`-._         _-           |
             '--....-'             |
                                   |
                                   |
                                   |
        
 * TextTool: 
    - combined with selection tool - there is no need to switch
    - use SHIFT+Cursor-keys to select text
    - use CTRL+Cursor-keys to move around selection
    - insert-mode: END will move cursor behind the last character
      in the current line. If it's already there it will be put at the end
      of the line.        
    - mix is disabled for insert mode.

 * Selection tool:
    - switches to text tool automatically when dropping selection
    - Ctrl-CursorUp/CursorDown will move the selection (if any)
    - Alt+CursorUp/CursorDown will change layer mode
    - use double click to select a region with connected characters
    - use single click to switch to text tool
    - Hitting a key will delete the selection and the typed character
      will be written to the selection origin.

 * Freehand tool generic:
    - new styles: felt pen with different characters
    - the mouse cursor somewhat shows the pencil size when drawing
   
 * New submenu "Transform" in menu "Modify"
    - contains flip/mirror/rotate [static]

 * FIGlet font export assistant:
    - will no longer overwrite existing files w/o warning
    - fixed bug of mask only appearing when starting the dialog first time
    - improved layout and help button to open documentation
      (will not work on some systems)
 
 * JMOV-Editor:
    - current frame is displayed in the main editor window and can be
      edited w/o switching between editor and jmov-editor.
    - Strip non-movie information to get rid of selections, cursors etc.
      This is useful for reducing the file size of movies that are no
      "making of"s.
 
 * JMOV-Export:
    - added compressed JavaScript (many thanks to Joaquim for porting
      the JMOV-packer)
      Should work much better than the uncompressed option.
      However I have left the uncompressed option in for compatibility 
      if there are problems.
    - added animated GIF export
      will not work with large animations and I recommend using
      a graphics program afterwards to achieve better compression.
    - better preview for GIF/animated GIF export  

 * Auxiliary lines:
    - useful tool for perspective images. Works like a watermark.
    - add lines using the mouse (draw mode)
      and move around the lines or points (edit mode)
    - I will add a color option in a future release

 * Ascii2GIF:
    - Font and size can be adjusted
    - supports pixel view
 
 * Pixel View  
    - improved to also draw round rectangles
 
 * Recent-File-list in menu "File"
  
 * jave.ini-file: 
    - Paths and (most of the) configuration are kept and will be the same
      after restarting the program.
    - There is now a simple options dialog with program options
      (menu -> view -> options).
      There will be more options in future releases!

 * Freehand algorithmic and ellipses algorithmic:
    - improved performance

 * Clone-Tool:
    - intuitive use, preview

 * Algorithmic lines:
    - 3 new line styles for algorithmic lines:
      CeeJay (normal):
                             1/2  |   |   |  1/2
                      1/1     |   |   |   |   |     1/1
                  3/2   \     `.  `.  |  ,'  ,'     /    3/2
             2/1   \     \     |   |  |  |   |     /     /   2/1
               .    `.    \    `.  |  |  |  ,'    /    ,'    ,
         3/1    `.    \    \    |  `. | ,'  |    /    /    ,"    3/1
           .      `.   `.   \   `.  | | |  ,'   /   ,'   ,"      ,
     4/1    `-.     `.   \   \   |  | | |  |   /   /   ,"     ,-"    4/1
        -._    `-.    `.  `.  \  `. `.|,' ,'  /  ,'  ,"    ,-"    _.-
   5/1     `-._   `-.   `.  \  \  |  |||  |  /  /  ,"   ,-"   _.-"    
      `--._    `-._  `-.  `. `. \ `. ||| ,' / ,' ,"  ,-"  _.-"    _.--"
  6/1.__   `--._   `-._ `-. `. \             / ," ,-" _.-"   _.--"  
        `--.__  `--._  `-._`        _____        "_.-"  _.--"  __.--"
 7/1 `--..__  `--.__ `--._       .-'     `-.       _.--" __.--"  __..--"
    --..__  `--..__ `--.__     ,'           `.     __.--" __..--" 
 8/1      ``--..__ `--..__    /    _     _    \    __..--" __..--'"     
                  ``--..__   ;    (_)   (_)    :   __..--'"
  -----------------------    |                 |  
  
   CeeJay (alternative):
  
  
                  ..--''""   :    |       |    ;   ""``--..
 8/1      ..--''"" .--''""    \    `.___.'    /    ""``--. ""``--..     
    --''""  .--''"" .--'""     `.           ,'     ""`--. ""``--. 
 7/1 .--''""  .--'""  ,--'       `-._____.-' CJ    ``--. ""`--.  ""``--.
        .--'""   ,--'" _,-".                     . `-._ ``--.  ""`--.
  6/1'""    ,--'"  _,-" .-' ,' /             \ `. `-.  `-._  ``--.  
       ,--'"   _,-"  .-'  ,' .' / .' ||| `. \ `. `.  `-.   `-._   ``--.
   5/1"    _,-"   .-'   ,'  /  /  |  |||  |  \  \  `.   `-.    `-._   
        ,-"    .-'    ,'  .'  /  .' .'|`. `.  \  `.  `.    `-.     `-.
     4/1    .-'     ,'   /   /   |  | | |  |   \   \   `.     `-.    
           '      ,'   .'   /   .'  | | |  `.   \   `.   `.      `
        3/1     ,'    /    /    |  .' | `.  |    \    \    `.     3/1
               '    .'    /    .'  |  |  |  `.    \    `.    `
             2/1   /     /     |   |  |  |   |     \     \    2/1
                 3/2    /     .'  .'  |  `.  `.     \    3/2
                      1/1     |   |   |   |   |     1/1
                            1/2   |   |   |   1/2
                                 1/3  |  1/3

     bug:                              
                    -2/1  -3/1      3/1   2/1
                       ;    ;    :   :    :
               -1/1    :    |    :   |    ;   1/1
                   \    ;   :    :   ;   :   /
           -1/2     \   :    ;   :  :    ;  /     1/2
                `.   \   ;   |   :  |   :  /    .'
                  `.  \  :   :   :  ;   ; /   .'
       -1/3         `.                      .'        1/3
             `-.                                  .-'
    -1/4        `-.                            .-'
         "*-.                                      .-*" 1/4
             "*-.                              .-*"
  -1/5 `*-._                                       _.-*' 1/5
            `*-._                             _.-*'

      `"*-._                                       _.-*"' 1/6
 -1/6       `"*-._                           _.-*"'

 -1/7 `"*=-._                                     _.-=*"' 1/7
             `"*=-._                       _.-=*"'
         
       
 * File paths:
    - JavE can now be started from any directory, as long as the jar file
      is on the classpath.
      All configuration files and FIGlet fonts will be found in JavEs
      subfolders

 * FIGlet Tool:
    -  Alt+Cursor-up / Alt+Cursor-down scrolls through the fonts in the
       current front category.
       This makes it much easier to find a good font.

 * Gradients (Fill tool, Image2Ascii, 3D Renderer):
    - Reversed character order from 'dark to bright' to 'bright to dark'
      Also added a white space character as the brightest character
      (did I remove it in the last release??)
  
 * Program Icon:
    - there is a new icon.ico file for the program icon
      (see JavE program folder).
      It has been improved (for higher resolution) by Joey - Many thanks!
  
 * Asc-Tris:
    - Improved look - thanks to Rob Gerber.

 * Image2Ascii:
    - New Conversion algorithm "felt pen" - thanks to CeeJay for the idea
    - Fixed bug: Rotating 90 degrees right/left did mirror the image

 * Clipart library:
    - New cliparts from MJP, VK, lbm and Joey
    - Entering a valid name for new categories now works

 * Crash Recovery:
    - Hitting cancel in crash recovery dialog will now close the program.

 * Fixed bugs:
    - "redo null" in menu edit fixed.
    - Image2Ascii with watermark: size was sometimes not
      identical after conversion
    - rotate 180 degrees [static]
      (rotate 90 degrees is not yet fixed and will produce wrong
      results sometimes!)

===============================================================================

[14th October 2001]: Version 2.0 released

  * Text-Tool:
    - As requested by many people (me included) insert/overwrite now
      works as in any other text editor.
    - The text tool has been somewhat combined with the selection tool.
      Using the mouse or shift-cursor keys with the text tool
      will automatically switch to the selection tool/mode (as expected).
      In selection mode you can use the cursor keys to move the selection
      and hit escape oder enter to drop it and return to the text tool.

  * Font support on most  operating systems (see Menu "View" -> "Font")
      - This option is not available on Java 1.1 JREs
      - To support Fixedsys on windows platforms you have to download the
        true type version form the JavE homepage 
      
  * Image2Ascii:
     * After conversion you can set the converted image as watermark
       (e.g. to do refinments by hand)
    
     * 4pixel algorithm improved:
       - option to consider line distances in conversion:
         This  will result in smoother diagonal lines
       - character '-' is no longer used
          
  * Watermark:
    - pressing Shift key when resizing => proportions like in the original image
    - Menu "Special" -> "Set content as Watermark"
      (e.g. for resizing Ascii images by hand...)
    
  * New tool: Clone Tool
      Use Shift+Mouse button to select clone origin
        
  * Compress horizontal/vertical/both  (Menu -> "Modify" -> "Compress")
      Can be used to create a "lake effect" (in combination with shake lines)
      (Many thanks to CeeJay and bug :-) )
      
  * Brush/Eraser (/Clone Tool):
      No longer leaving gaps when dragging the mouse cursor to fast

  * Misc:
      Dialogs can be handled by keybaord as expected (Shortcuts/Cursor/Enter)
      (Does not work on some operating systems)
      
  * Rectangle/Ellipse Generic:
      Fill as option (not yet available for algorithmic tools)
  

  * 3D Rendering Tool: Gradients can be changed in shading mode
 
  * JMOV-Editor and Batch conversion in image2ascii:
      Export to: 
        * "Scrollbar Animation"
        * GIF-Files
        * JavaScript-Animation
  
  * FIGlet export assistant (Mnnu Tools)
      You have created a complete set of FIGlet characters but do not
      know how to create a FIGlet font? No problem: This Assistant will
      help.
  
  * New option in Menu File: "Revert"
  
  * Replace Character:
     - Moved  to menu "edit"
     - Dialog stays open
                  
  * Fill Gradient:
      Using right mouse button reverts the gradient:
      e.g. ".:oO8" instead of "8Oo:. "
      
  * Menu Modify "Rotate": added 90 degrees rotation left/right
      (does not work well due to the proportions of characters)
             
  * Moved menu 'Color' to menu 'View' 
  
  * Document size in statusbar (now always correct values), click there to change
  
  * Selection:
     - New 'Layer' "difference": Only characters different from the ones below
       are displayed. This is useful to find the differences  of two documents
   
  * Character set (for "mark illegal characters") can be configured
    (Menu "View" -> "Character Set")
      
  * Asc-Tris, Lots of minor improvements
     - fading out finished lines
     - rotating blocks even when at the border
     - pause
     - ... 
      
  * AND MANY MANY MORE...

===============================================================================

[15th July 2001]: bugfix Version 1.1a released

Main reason for this release is to fix a bug in Jave 1.1:
The image2ascii converter did not work with that release for there were some files
missing in the download package.

What's new:
 * Fixed bug of image2ascii converter not working in Jave 1.1
 * new Menu "Tools" contains image2ascii converter, figlet, textbox and clipart editor.
   Until now those tools were only available through buttons
 * 3d renderer:
   - speedup: now about 16 times faster.
   - new style: shaded

===============================================================================

[12th July 2001]: Version 1.1 released

It was hard work, but now it is done: The Jave Movie Player is integrated
into Jave. JMOV-animations can now be edited/viewed/created in Jave.
But that's not the only thing new. Although I have concentrated on fixing bugs and
increasing usability, there are many new features to have fun with.
Here is a list of what's new:

 * Movie Editor for JMOV-Files (Jave Movie Files)
   You can now load/play/create/edit JMOV files
 * Thumbnail Browser
   - now a little faster
   - can also display thumbnails for JMOV-Files
   - can now be accessed from a button in Jave
 * Edit Menu:
   - paste as new document/paste as new selection
 * Color schemes: 
  - now black on white is standard at startup
  - Every document can now have its own color scheme (black on white/white on black/black on gray)
 * Ascii2Gif:
   Size can now be adjusted in a wider range (not only thumbnail size like in Jave1.0beta)
 * Menu - Modify - Rotate:
   Rotates document/selection 180degrees
 * Menu Special (Well, I was playing around a bit...):
   - Small tool for creating fractals (mandelbrot set)
   - Ascii 3d renderer can create simple 3d scenes or animations (rotates the scene 360 degrees)
   - Two surprises - I am not going to tell you what it is, you have to look at it yourself
   - Something like a screensaver...
   
 * Mouse movement:
   Most actions with mouse can now also end outside the current documents area.
   This is often good for drawing shapes or moving selections (although the document is not yet being
   scrolled when you move the selection out of the visible area)
 * Generic Tools (the green ones):
   -adjusting the options (style/mix) for one of those tools will affect all of them
   -new style: dot  
    .'''..                  ..    :                     :
   :      '.             ..'      '.                   .'
   :       :          ..'          :                   :
   :        :       :'              '.               .'
    '        '....''                  '.           .'
                                     '''.....'''    
 * Thousands of bugfixes and smaller improvements

BTW: I have removed 'beta' from the version number, because I have not received bug
reports for a long time now. I still know about some bugs in Jave, but is there nobody
who wants them to be fixed? So if you find a bug or something you don't like the way it
works (or not) please post a few words to markus@jave.de. I will try to fix it.
Also I would like to know what you think about the new features and what other ideas you have.

What comes next?
  - documentation (hopefully)
  - bug fixes

[8th June 2001]: Version 1.0beta released

Ok, it has taken some time, but finally here it is. Containing megatons of changes:

 * Increased performance (should be enormous on some machines)

 * Improved look and feel

 * Improved font scaling

 * Crash recovery: 
   If you restart Jave after a crash it will try to recover the last
   state of your documents along with most of the undo-history
   (you should not lose more than one or two steps of editing)
 
 * Jave-Movie:
   You can save your document along with the history of each step of editing
   as Jave-Movie.
   It will become clear what this feature is for as soon as I have
   released the JavePlayer (Open source project) within the next few days.
   Stay tuned.

 * New Algorithms for better shape tools:
   The Tools Freehand, Rectangle, Line, etc. are divided into two
   different sets:
   The old ones are called "algorithmic" (colored blue) and
   there are now new ones called "generic" (colored green), that work a different way.
   For the generic tools you can always chose one out of 3 styles:

                           XXXXXXXXXXXXX    character
                       XXXX             XXXX                    ,o.
     thick3         XXX         __,..       XX                 ,88
d888oooo_         XX     _,.--''                       thick2 ,88
`YP8888888bo.   XX  _,--'           _______                  d8P
      'YYY8888o__,-'         _,oo8PPPYYYYYPP8ooo_          ,d8P
           `Y888b.        ,o8PY'          ,.  'YY8o.     _d8P'
          _,'XY888o_    o8P'            ,888'     `Y8o.,d88'
    line,-  X   Y888o.d8P             ,d888'        _d888'
      /'   X      Y8888oo._     __,od888P'      _,o888PY8b
    /'    X        d8Y888888888888888PP'  __,oo888PY'    Yb thick1
          X       d8'  ``YYPPPPPPYY'    d8888PP''         Yb
                  Y'                     ''                Y

 * Ascii File Browser:
     Go to menu->file->browse and browse the ascii files on your system.

 * Brush tool:
      Finally there is a tool available where you can chose your own brush:
         +++++-----------+              ++-----------+
      +++|||||B+-+-----------+        ++|| Brush :-) |
   +++|||+++++-|-+++-----------+   +++||++-----------+
  +|||+++------+-|||+-----------+ +|||++-----------+
 +|+++-----------+++|+----------++|+++-----------+
 |++-----------+    +|++-----+++||+-----------+
 ++-----------+      +|++++--|||++-----------+
 +-----------+        +||||BB+++-----------+
 +-----------+         ++++--+-----------+
     Edit the characters of the brush (Shift-Space will create a Delete-Character) or
     use selection tool to select whatever you want to use as brush
     and chose menu->selection->use as brush.

 * Mix-Mode
   With (almost) every tool you can now chose if you want it to work
   either in mixed or in overwrite mode.
   In mix mode characters will be merged, e.g.: - and | will become +
   In combination with the brush tool you can draw lines like that:
   __
  d88b
  Y88P Brush
              _____
           __d88888b__
         _d88888888888b        __
  ______d888888P Y88888b      d88b  result when drawing
 d88888888888P     Y8888b   _d8888
 Y888888888P        Y8888b_d88888P
                     Y8888888888P
                      Y8888888P

 * Rectangle tool/Textbox tool:
   use whatever characters you want:
            ______                A.......B
+-------+  |      |    .------.   f       g
|       |  |      |    |      |   f       g
+-------+  |______|    `------'   C"""""""D  etc.


 * Selection tool:
   * Most functions have been moved to menus and are now also available
   when there is no selection
   * Improved 3d-look for background/foreground (can be disabled)
   * Dropping a selection will resize the plate if neccessary

 * Text tool:
   Notepad-mode (well, something like an option to switch overwrite/insert)

 * Eraser tool:
   increased performance, different shapes and sizes

 * FIGlet:
   * Added a simple tool for inserting FIGlet text without using the dialog
   * FIGlet fonts are now in an extra downloadable package (containing 195fonts)
   * Increased font compatibility - no more incompatibilities known
   * Fonts are now divided into categories: styles (Banner, Outline,...), number of lines, year of creation
   * New Font "benjamin":  |3[-|\|.]/-\|\/|||\|

 * Misc:
   * Ascii2GIF (menu->file->ascii2gif)
   * Show/hide watermark using shortcut (Ctrl-P)
   * Show/hide grid using shortcut (Ctrl-G)
   * Rot13, uppercase, lowercase
   * Center, center by the line, align left, align right
   * Shake lines
   * Try to repair Ascii Art with shaked lines
   * In most algorithms the configurable parts have been moved to text files
     (This makes updates easier)
   * Holding down SHIFT key when drawing ellipses and rectangles will make them quadratic

 * Included: readme.txt, history.txt, license.txt

 * Most important Bugs removed since last release:
    * Removed non ascii characters from cliparts
    * Tool options dialog should now be visible on any machine 

 * Many more...

===============================================================================

[18th April 2001]: Version 0.91beta released

 * Tons of bug fixes
 * (almost) unlimited undo/redo
 * Fill tool: Dithering for gradient fill
 * Three color schemes: black on white, white on black, normal
 * Load image as watermark for the plasticbag technique (move, resize, lighten/darken)
 * Gradients are now in a file "./gradients/gradients.txt"
 * Many more...

===============================================================================

[13th April 2001]: Version 0.9beta released
  
 * Tons of bug fixes
 * Fill tool: 3 different matching modes, extendable pattern library, sunburst/radial gradient
 * Seperated ellipse/rectangle tool.
 * Preview for freehand, ellipse, rectangle
 * Image2Ascii: improved BMP support: 90% of the BMP file formats can be loaded.
 * Many more...
  
===============================================================================

[6th April 2001]: Version 0.8beta released
  
 * Tons of bug fixes
 * Fill tool: Fill pattern or gradient
 * Text tool: Track following (moves cursor along freehand lines etc.)
 * Renamed makro to clipart. A new file format for cliparts (an incompatible change from version 0.7beta).
 * Many more...
  
===============================================================================

[3rd April 2001]: Version 0.7beta released
  
 * line styles: 3 professional Ascii Art line styles: Veronica, Glory, Segerman JFL
 * Mulitple documents (Page-up/down or Ctrl-Tab to switch)
 * Improvements in mirror/flip
 * (experimental file browser)
 * Bug fixes (and of course: lots of new bugs)
  
===============================================================================

[18th March 2001]: Version 0.6beta released
  
 * 4 styles for lines in freehand/line painting
 * Selection now has 3 levels for pasting: foreground, normal, background
 * Dialog for replacing characters
 * Animated selection, blinking cursor
 * Menu bar
 * Bug fixes

===============================================================================
  
[9th March 2001]: Version 0.5beta released (0.4 was a non official release)
  
 * Better freehand painting
 * Better ellipses
 * Image2Ascii improvements: 3 Algorithms, conversion to Braille, ...
 * Textbox resizing keeps content
 * Bug fixes

===============================================================================
  
[2nd February 2001]: Version 0.3beta released, new Homepage

===============================================================================

[18th January 2001]: Version 0.2beta released.

===============================================================================

[1st November 2000]: Version 0.1beta released.