Bert's African Animals
(Including All the Bert's Coloring Programs)
A Coloring Program For Introducing
Young Children to the Computer
Shareware Version 3.0 User's Guide
Introduction
This instruction manual was produced for use with the Bert's African
Animals program. Several other Bert's coloring programs are also
available and these instructions are for use with these programs as
well.
Bert's African Animals is an enjoyable coloring program for children
of all ages, but is especially useful for introducing young children to
the computer. Bert's African Animals was designed by educators to be
used by young children with a minimum of assistance by adults. As a
coloring program Bert's African Animals is superior to many other
children's coloring programs in that it allows the user to place the
various animals, all in four different sizes, on a variety of
backgrounds. This allows children to easily create their own picture
before coloring. The opportunity to create their own picture will allow
children to take pride in their unique creation.
When first started Bert's African Animals displays a title screen
and then the drawing surface with eight buttons on the left. Children
can operate the program with the mouse alone. A window is provided which
allows children to write a short story about their picture using the
keyboard. The fact that they created the picture will help provide the
motivation to write about it. One of the best ways for children to learn
to read is to write, even if their initial attempts include phonetic
spelling which is not always correct. If your child is not ready to
attempt writing his/her story, then another good strategy is for you to
type in your child's story as he/she dictates it to you. Then have your
child read back the story he/she created. This is another very effective
beginning reading strategy. They will love creating a setting, writing
or dictating their own story and printing out a copy.
Installation
Bert's African Animals requires an IBM compatible computer with at
least 512K of memory, a VGA display and a Microsoft compatible mouse.
The installation process is quite easy.
First, make a backup copy of your Bert's African Animals program
disk. If necessary consult your PC-DOS/MS-DOS manual for a description
of the Diskcopy command. Save the original program disk in a safe place
and use the copy as the working program disk.
Second, while it is possible to use Bert's African Animals on a
floppy disk system, a hard disk system is a necessity for reasonable
speed and storing a number of pictures your child has created. To
install Bert's African Animals on a hard disk use the following steps:
1. Insert the floppy disk in your computer in drive A
2. Type A:
3. Type INSTALL A C
Bert's African Animals Version 3.0 Page 1 of 5
Any combination of drive letters can be used, the first is the
source and the second is the destination. For example, INSTALL B D will
install the program from floppy drive B to hard drive D. The
installation will create a directory called BERT3 on your hard drive and
you will need to enter a CD\BERT3 to change to the Bert's African
Animals directory before running the program. Once installed just type
BERT to start the program. If your computer gives a series of beeps when
you run Bert's African Animals it is probably because it cannot find the
image files it needs to run, and other problems are showing up as well.
All the files for Bert's African Animals need to be in the same
directory for the program to operate successfully. You should not mix
the .DOT image files from Bert's African Animals with those of versions
previous to 3.0 as they are in a different format.
Operation of Bert's African Animals is quite easy. The eight buttons are
configured to do the following when the left mouse button is clicked on
them.
The Command Buttons
SELECT AN ANIMAL
When beginning a new picture six small backgrounds are displayed.
The user clicks with the mouse on the selected scene to have it drawn on
the screen full size.
Next, a group of six animals are displayed. Clicking the mouse on
any one of the animals will select it. If the stop sign is clicked on,
no animal will be selected and you are returned to the drawing surface.
Clicking the mouse on the box between the stop sign and the green
arrows sets the voice status. Voice can be set to on, off or voice only
- meaning the animal's only say their name through the computer's
internal speaker. The sound quality is somewhat limited due to PC
speaker quality, but the advantage is that no additional hardware is
needed.
If the down green arrow is selected the next group of animals will
be displayed for possible selection. The up arrow returns to the
previous group of animals.
The selected animal appears in four different sizes. After the
animal of the desired size is chosen, a rectangle outlining its size
will appear in the upper left. When the left mouse button is held down
on the rectangle it can be dragged into its desired position. When the
left mouse button is released, the animal will be drawn and any
previously drawn lines under it will be erased. This allows you to place
one animal in front of the next. It is best to first place all the
desired animals on the drawing surface before filling with color, as
some colors cannot be drawn over with an animal outline. An additional
feature is that the animal figures can also be drawn in reverse. To
reverse a figure simply hold down the right mouse button as you release
the left one when you position the animal on the drawing surface.
SELECT A COLOR
When this button is clicked a group of thirty colors is displayed.
When a color is chosen it fills the crayon in the button. This color
will fill the portion of the picture clicked on. Clicking outside the
color box restores the screen with no action.
Bert's African Animals Version 3.0 Page 2 of 5
WRITING A STORY
Clicking on this button displays a window where a story can be
typed. Along with the normal alphanumeric characters, the backspace and
delete keys will erase characters. In addition the left and right arrow
keys will move the cursor to any position in the window. The complete
window is displayed, which consists of 8 lines of 38 characters.
Pressing the Enter key or filling the entire 8 lines closes the story
window. If you have problems displaying the window because it was
previously filled to overflowing try typing a backspace before opening
the window with a mouse click.
ERASE
This selection will erase the current drawing surface as well as the
story area. The user must verify the erase by choosing a happy face for
erase or sad face to cancel the erase.
SAVE
The drawing surface and story area can be saved by clicking on this
button and then selecting the save box with the arrow pointing inward.
While simple for adults, this function may need explaining with young
children. Care must be taken because selecting the retrieve box with the
arrow pointing outward will load the stored image and story, erasing the
one currently on the screen. When storing an image the user is prompted
for a name. It should be a simple eight character or less file name with
no extension or path name. When retrieving an image a large window
appears containing the names of the images previously saved. Simply
clicking on a name will retrieve the image. Many drawings can be stored
by giving them different names. Again, this may be confusing for small
children. A suggestion is to use his or her name with numbers for easy
recall, ie. bert1, bert2, bert3, etc. Clicking outside the load/save box
restores the screen with no action.
PRINT
The image and story can be printed on several different types of
printers: Epson or IBM dot matrix printers that support either 9 or 24
pin graphics, the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet series of printers and the
Hewlett-Packard PaintJet and DeskJet 500C color printers. Other printer
brands that support these formats will also be compatible. The user need
only click on the type of printer he has to begin printing. Once a
printer has been selected, the program will remember the last printer
selected and assume that it will be used for future printing. Clicking
on the print button will then use this as the default printer. If the
type of printer needs to be changed simply hold the right mouse button
down while clicking the left one on the print button. This will allow
you to choose the printer you desire.
UNDO
Clicking on this button erases the last animal that was placed on
the drawing surface. Misplaced animals can be removed with this command
without effecting the image underneath. If the right mouse button is
held down when releasing the left one the last color fill will be
Bert's African Animals Version 3.0 Page 3 of 5
undone. In both cases the undo function will only work on the most
recently placed animal or color fill.
STOP
Selecting this button exits the program. A second check on a happy
or sad face must be done to confirm exiting the program. After a support
shareware message is displayed, clicking the mouse will return the user
to DOS.
Additional Programs Available
Bert's African Animals has been written in a way that it can
restructure itself depending on the image files that it finds available.
If image files for Bert's African Animals, Bert's Dinosaurs, and Bert's
Prehistoric Animals are found by the program, the user is prompted to
choose which program to run. Each program contains a different set of
topic images which your child will enjoy. The following programs are
currently available and others may be added.
Bert's Dinosaurs
Bert's Prehistoric Animals
Bert's Whales and Dolphins
When registering your copy of Bert's African Animals these
additional programs are available for a small increase over the
registration price. Registered users may purchase additional programs at
any time.
Registration
You may freely copy and distribute this shareware Version 3.0.
Shareware users who find Bert's African Animals useful should support
the author and register their copy. The form found below should be used
for registration. Registered users will receive a copy of Version 3.1 of
Bert's African Animals with additional images and a printed manual.
The registration fee is $20. ($30. outside the United States.) Please
include $2.00 for shipping and handling. A complete listing of the
program, which is written in the newest version of Borland C++, is also
available for an additional $20.00. Additional programs such as Bert's
Dinosaurs, Bert's Prehistoric Animals, etc. are available for $5.00 each
when registering your program.
Checks should be made out to:
Theron Wierenga, P.O. Box 595, Muskegon, MI 49443
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Registration Form
Bert's African Animals 3.0
Name____________________________________________________________
Address_________________________________________________________
City_______________________________________State_____Zip________
Disk size desired: 5 1/4 in._______ 3 1/2 in._______
Registration fee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20.00 __________
Registration fee (Outside the USA) . . . . . . 30.00 __________
Borland C++ program code . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 __________
Additional program ( ) . . . 5.00 __________
Additional program ( ) . . . 5.00 __________
Additional program ( ) . . . 5.00 __________
Additional program ( ) . . . 5.00 __________
Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ___2.00___
Total enclosed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __________
Method of payment: Check or MO______ MasterCard______ Visa______
Account number____________________________ Expir. date__________
Signature (necessary)___________________________________________
How did you receive your copy of this program?__________________
________________________________________________________________
Suggested improvements__________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Bert's African Animals 3.0 is a software product of
Theron Wierenga
P.O. Box 595
Muskegon, MI 49443
Bert's African Animals Version 3.0 Page 5 of 5
