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Gravity by MicroPlanet |
From shareware to freeware, you can expect to see some wonderful things with a program like that. Gravity doesn't disappoint as a full featured news reader!! |
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download HERE! |
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Gravity by MicroPlanet There are many individual internet users who have become accustomed to using Microsoft's Outlook Express that comes with the operating system. I must admit, I am one of these individuals. I've used it for many years now and I've become accustomed to it's look and feel. This, perhaps, may help you understand my reluctance to review a newsgroup reader. I was going to do one on Outlook Express 6 beta but, since it's a beta, I thought it wouldn't be a good idea. They, along comes news about Gravity, a shareware news reader which recently went freeware! I figured I'd give it a spin. I'm certainly glad I did! Gravity is a full featured news reader which will stand up to just about any other news reader I've seen. There are tons of features and an excellent interface, which, after a few configurations, gave it a nice look that I was soon able to get used to! Here's the info: Downloading........ Size zipped: 2.5 megs Size Installed: 8 megs in it's directory plus system files (approx. 8 megs total) At 2.5 megs, it's not a long wait, but of course expect a bit more time depending on your connection speed. The link was quick and fast for me at the time I tried to connect, and the download had no problems at all. Web Site.......... This is new to my reviews. This connecting web site is not the official MicroPlanet site as they have not updated their pages yet, but this web site is nicely designed with lots of information on this program. There are many links to comments and hints to get you started on the program. A very nicely layed out design with not too much extensive "travel" needed to get to the information. Installation.......... Gravity comes in a self installing .exe file, so a decompression program is not needed (you should have one anyway!!). It uses a newer install runtime and it super fast and easy to follow. I like the interface on this one much better too. Configuring the program for connection is easy using the tutorial which will explain everything you need including what info to get you hooked up. Help Files.......... For a program this good, there should be help files, and Gravity doesn't disappoint here. There is a nice tutorial based on "lessons" to help you get started. These cover most of the basics and touches on a few in depth details as well. There is also a standard "ReadMe" file which can be accessed from the Help menu. I tried a quick search for "layout" and I received a number of bookmarks within the help files to a number of different aspects of layout. Interface........... Gravity is a nice little newsgroup reader package with lots of color and choices. As a user, you are given 5 choices for your layout. It just happened that my favorite layout scheme was there. Here's a pic of the total interface as I have it set up on my computer.
As you can see, the program gives you an icon toolbar at the top, just below the menu items. This button bar is configurable via the View => toolbars menu item. This opens a two tabbed window which lets you pick the different toolbars to display, as well as the commands necessary for each toolbar. I played with this thing for a bit and you can make some awesome bars! The icon graphics though quite large, are really colorful and actually look good along the top. Here's a pic of the toolbar configuration window:
You also get a choice of showing the status bar, filter bar, outbox bar, and rule bar within the interface. Though I found that these were rather "gray" compaired to the rest of the screen, at least you get a choice of getting rid of them if you want. The writing window is nice, neat and configured for easy use with a few toolbars on the top for the most major mail writing details such as file attach, send plus others. Here's a pic of the composition window:
Features........... There are tons of great features to rave about in Gravity. First, I must show you the program configuration screen which is totally tabbed and massive!! It's found in the View => Global Options menu:
From here, you have a massive amount of settings to go through at your hearts desire. For instance, in the total of 18 tabs, there is one to input and save multiple signatures, your windows layout (as mentioned earlier), warnings, your followup/Reply lines, display, spelling settings (YES, an onboard spell checker!!!) plus more, more, more. You'll have to download and install this program just to get a glimpse of these choices. The spell checker works great as I made a test message to post in alt.alt.test and tried it out. Even this spell checker has some configuration to it as you can make 12 changes via the spellcheck -> options radio button. Another great feature is the "Image Gallery" which allows you to view a set of pics in succession. This is ALSO configurable including thumbnail images, full screen slideshow and more!! Simply amazing for freeware!! Gravity will decode binaries and slap them together for you as well as download your favorite pics and allow you to view them individually or in a series with the image gallery. There is also a "Bozo Bin" which allows you to filter out certain spam/troll/garbage messages from showing on your listing. Problems......... None yet. I don't expect to find any either. It's that good! Closing......... To finish, let me say that I've actually only touched the surface of this great newsgroup reader program. There are many other features not listed here and the only thing I can suggest is that if you are interested in a "former shareware now freeware" newsreader, you should download this sucker and give it the once over. You won't believe what you're going to find.
Enjoy Buzzy J
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