$_$_CONTENTS_LIST

The above line will generate a contents list should 
choose to convert this file to HTML using AscToHTM.

What's new in Version 5.0
=========================
version 5.0 represents a major and long-delayed update to the
previous version.

There are many changes in version 5.0, fully described in the
product's documenattion.  Some of the major changes include

- Ability to fully control table generation through use of
  "Table Definition files" that identify types of table
  and specify how they should be interpreted and formatted
  
- Ability to "tag" your own tables for greater accuracy.  Useful
  if you are machine-generating your text documents.
  
- Ability to manipulate text on input and to label lines as being
  headings and the line by using a "Text commands" file.
  
- Improved support for non-ASCII character types and character encodings

- Support for comma-delimited and tab-delimited tables

What was new in Version 4.1
=========================
Version 4.1 has a number of small changes, and offers better support
when converting files that use non-ASCII character sets.

A new /TABLE command line qualifier that allows the input
file to be treated as a single plain text table

A Swedish interface has been added.  Many thanks to Dan Sverraby.

A new utility A2HDETAG is available to registered users so they can
"de-tag" their source files to remove all AscToHTM pre-processor
tags, leaving a plain text fit for publishing, e.g. on Usenet.

Policies are added to allow the character encoding of a document 
to be set and - in some cases - auto-detected. 

Extra Font policies have been added to give more control over the
fonts used for things like headings, table of contents, tables etc.

The main menu now has a "check for updates" option.  If you select
this you'll be taken to the JafSoft website where you'll be told
if any newer versions of the software have been released.

The CONTENTS_LIST tag can be set to generate a list for a limited
range in the document, meaning a list for the current chapter
can be created if wanted


What was new in Version 4.0
===========================
Version 4.0 introduces Frames support.  You can now get
the software to place your document into a set of Frames
with a contents frame to the left, and header and footer
frames top and bottom.

You can now customize the HTML generated by the software
by defining "HTML fragments".  These can be used to add
personal touches to headers, horizontal rules and
navigation bars.

The software now recognises "embedded headings" where the
heading text is the first part of the first paragraph.

New policies allow you to treat lines beginning with 
words like "Chapter", "Part" or any other words and
phrases you choose to be treated as headings.

Italian is added to the languages you can choose for
the user interface.

/COMMA and /TABBED command line qualifiers allow you to
treat whole files as comma-delimited or tab-delimited 
tables.

URL parsing is improved to support new top level domains
such as .info, and to recognize obfuscated domain names
like http://3640005069/.

New options allow you cope with source files that contain
PCL printer codes or Japanese/Chinese characters.

And of course, some bugs were fixed...

Full details of the changes can be found in 
section 11.1 of the HTML documentation.


What was new in Version 3.3
===========================
Version 3.3 introduces font support using CSS. You can 
now choose the font for your document. This can be 
implemented via CSS or <FONT> tags.

Support is added for comma and tab delimited tables. 
Pre-processor commands have been added to allow you 
to mark up a section of comma-delimited or tab-delimited 
data you want turning into a table.

More control is now possible over table detection, 
analysis and generation with the addition of several 
new policies in this area.

New file/line structure policies allow more control
over how the original document's file structure should be
preserved. 

New options allow you to cope with special character types
such as MIME-encoded quotable strings, DOS line drawing 
characters and change bars.

More language support. A Portuguese translation is added to
the existing German and Spanish translations, and a new 
"language skin" feature allows translations to be saved
to file, edited and then reloaded back into the program.

A new document - the "Tag manual" - describes all the
preprocessor commands in detail.

And of course, some bugs were fixed...

Full details of the changes can be found in 
section 11.2 of the HTML documentation.
   
   
What was new in Version 3.2
===========================
Version 3.2 continues the improvements in user
interface.  DDE may now be used to display results
in existing browser windows.

The HTML code is radically altered to be more
standards compliant, and to facilitate the addition
of fonts and CSS support planned for V4.0.

Support for "in-line" tags, gives increased ability
to add hyperlinks and other features to your pages.

The Windows version now supports command line 
invocation, and the command line options are greatly 
enhanced.

Many new policies are added to facilitate an overview 
of "what to look for"; filter the output messages; 
colour table rows differently and much, much more.

The documentation is enhanced with the creation of a 
"Policy manual", describing all policies in details.

Support is added for German and Spanish user 
interfaces. These are incomplete, and are being added 
by an army of volunteers, with other languages under 
production.

And of course, some bugs were fixed...

Full details of the changes can be found in 
section 11.3 of the HTML documentation.


What was new in Version 3.0
===========================
Version 3.0 introduces an improved user interface.
This includes better integration between the 
program and its HTML documentation, now accessible
via the Help menu.

Support is added for better handling of sparse
tables, colouring headings, and embedding
policies in documents using the new
CHANGE_POLICY pre-processor command.

Full details of the changes can be found in 
section 10.3 of the HTML documentation.

This can be accessed from the 
Help | HTML doco (offline) menu option.


What was new in Version 2.3
============================
Version 2.3 introduces wildcard support and the
new "directory page" feature.  This allows an HTML 
index to be built up of all the files that are 
converted in a single pass.  This index contains 
hyperlinks to the files themselves, and also 
contains hyperlinks to each section within the 
files.  This allows it to be used as a super 
contents list for a directory's-worth of converted 
files.

Also improved in this version is contents list 
generation.  It is now possible to have the 
contents list placed at the top of the generated 
HTML file, rather than in a separate file.  
This is achieved by making a third, intermediate, 
pass through the document.  Consequently such 
conversions may be slower than they were previously.

Full details of the changes can be found in 
section 11.5 of the HTML documentation.


What was new in Version 2.2
===========================
Version 2.2 represents the introduction of the TABLE
generating technology first released in the AscToTab
freeware utility.

Full details of the changes can be found in 
section 11.6 of the HTML documentation.
