PC TAP Consumer Report : Graphics Software for Scientific Applications ; Desktop Printers ; Open Forum: MS Windows DOS Extention ; Macintosh 35mm Slides


                HEADQUARTERS LIBRARY

                ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIOM AGENCY
                WASHINGTON, D.C. 20 )
        Consumer Report
            Graphics Software for Scientific Applications
                       Desktop Printers

                         Open Forum:
                     MS Windows DOS Extension
                      Macintosh 35mm Slides
                          Report *2
                         September 1989
EPA
220/
1989.17 !
PC Technology Assessment Program
EPA National Data Processing Division
Information Centers Branch - RICII, MD-35
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
Telephone: (919) 541-0568 (FTS) 629-0568

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PC TAP CONSUMER REPORTS
CD
CD
From the Editor's Desk
Welcome to the second publication in our PC TAP Consumer Reports series. In this issue we are
featuring a report about our recently-completed PC Technology Assessment Program study of
graphics software for scientific applications. The purpose of the study was to investigate the suitability
of commonly-available graphics packages for displaying scientific data, as opposed to the business
information that is often presented in graphics format. The report begins on page 2.

In another report on page 19, the results are presented of a survey conducted at RTP to assess user
satisfaction with three popular desktop printers. Chanya Harris, RfC N's WordPerfect specialist,
conducted the survey while visiting secretaries and other heavy users of WordPerfect in the Research
Triangle Park area. Open Forum, beginning on page 24, contains two items. The first is a synopsis of
a Microsoft Windows 286 information paper published by the EPA National Data Processing Division's
Architectural Management and Planning Branch. The second article, contributed by Theresa Rhyne of
RICII, provides a step-by-step description of a recommended technique for making 35mm slides on
Macintosh computers.

The response to the first PC TAP Consumer Report, published in August, has been encouraging.
We're pleased that readers like our informal format, and that you find the reports readable and
informative. In upcoming issues we will be publishing findings from our in-process studies of PC
graphics file conversions, color output devices, and desktop scanners. We hope you will continue to
enjoy these reports, and that you will find them helpful. Also planned for future Consumer Reports is
a regular summary of "what's going on around the Agency" in terms of technology assessments that
are planned or in progress by groups other than PC TAP.
David A. Taylor
PC TAP Coordinator
CC tAP CQfi$um.er ft*ports do not present formal findings,
represent official policy, or make specific fecommeftdations about
which products our readers should o< should not use.. Rather, they
aceimended as an information exchange through which our readers
may share opinioDs, based on tfi ejrowneicperier>ces, about various
ttems of hardware and software. The last page in this issue has
Inlormation about how to submit material for publication in PC TAP
Consumer Reports.
CVI
_ HFAnQUARTERS LIBRARY
g •.-ku»WVMFNTAl PROTECTION AGENCY
2£ -"..JiN.'noN D.C. 20460

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GRAPHICS FOR SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS
Introduction
Those who use desktop computers to prepare scientific data for hardcopy publication have long
struggled with the limitations imposed by PC-based graphics software. The market has traditionally
catered to the requirements of business graphics consumers with software that makes attractive pie,
bar, and word charts, but which can't construct the kind of graphics required for scientific data
representation. Although the "scientific graphics" software that has been marketed for some time has
been largely a collection of band-aided business graphics packages, vendors are beginning to show
signs that they are at last hearing the cries of the scientific computing community.

One of the goals of this PC TAP project was to present an objective assessment of software commonly
in use throughout the Agency for scientific graphing. We asked participants in our study of PC
software for scientific graphics to assess the qualities of a number of such products. An informal
survey was conducted among some of the EPA scientific compting community, and the products
mentioned most often as either in use or of significant potential interest were selected for evaluation.
Our objective was to determine how suitable this group of products is for typical EPA applications, not
to perform a detailed investigation into all the characteristics and capabilities of each package. Our
report, then, reflects the findings of your peers as they applied these software solutions in their
particular working environments. Here are the products that were assessed in this study:
EnerGraphics
Grapher
Graph Plus
Harvard Graphics
Lotus Freelance Plus
Lotus Graphwriter II
Sigma Plot
SlideWrite Plus
Three additional products-Arts & Letters, TempleGraph, and Xerox Graph-are also undergoing user
assessments. However, because these evaluations were begun late in the project, the reports on those
packages will be the subject of a followup Item in a future Consumer Report.

Each study participant was asked to use the software being evaluated to prepare a graphics image
typical of those normally used in his organization. A standard evaluation form was provided on which
users were asked to record their assessments of the software from a number of perspectives. To
ensure the completeness of the evaluation form and the appropriateness of its contents, it was
reviewed by a several scientific users who are experienced in the preparation and use of graphs for the
analysis and presentation of scientific data. A composite summary of the input from these evaluations
is presented in a table on page 16.

Beginning on page four, each of the software products evaluated in this study is described in some
detail. In these discussions we have attempted to create a verbal synopsis of the quantitative data
extracted from the evaluation forms. Evaluator comments are quoted when they are available and they
amplify or clarify the text. Additionally, when related information has been found in trade publications
the appropriate citations are provided.

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About Graphics Software for Scientific Applications
To the uninitiated it may seem that a PC graphics package should have universal applicability. After all,
a graph is a graph, isn't it? However, after closer investigation one learns quickly that the requirements
that scientific graphics must satisfy are much more elaborate and specific than those for graphs
typically prepared for business applications.

Except for sharing the term graphics in their labels, scientific graphics and business graphics have
little in common. For example, a recent feature in infoworld ("The New Power of Presentation
Graphics," Infoworld, April 3,1989, pp. 55-74) pointed out that text charts account for 70 to 80 percent
of the data-generated graph charts in the typical business presentation. On the other hand, in
comparison with features like error-bar creation, curve fitting, and missing-value processing, text-
handling is a low priority in graphics for scientific applications.

Scientists' requirements for graphics have been summarized as "high-quality output that can be sent as
is to a scientific journal for publication. And they need to be able to produce it quickly, make changes
in a straightforward manner, examine the results of the changes on-screen, and then print the graph.
Another requirement... is flexibility in determining the appearance of the graph..." ("Scientific Graphing
Software: Not Just a Pretty Picture," PC Magazine, March 14,1989, p. 259). Perhaps the contrast
between business and scientific graphics can best be illustrated by listing some of the evaluation
criteria used by PC and Infoworld in their respective studies.

Scientific Business
Performs arithmetic Bulleted lists
Calculates standard deviation Free-form text charts
Maximum points per data set? Bar charts
Scientific & Greek symbols Line charts
Line style options Pie charts
Line thickness options Area charts
Grid line options Variety of type fonts
Composite graphs Shaded fill patterns
Log and log-linear plots 3-D effects
Error bars (x and y axes) 360-degree rotation
Bar graphs w/optional error bars Predesigned text charts
Polar plotting Preformatted templates
Curve fitting options Drawing capabilities

Clearly, although the fundamentals of graphics imaging are involved in both of these areas, we are
dealing with a case of apples and oranges when we try to compare them. And while our purpose here
is not to compare business graphics with scientific graphics, one should understand the
fundamental difference between the two categories when assessing the suitability of software for one
of them. This is especially applicable in our current situation, because while most people have at least
a passing acquaintance with business graphics, few are aware of the meticulous, exacting
requirements often associated with the graphic depiction of scientific data. But now that we're all
adequately grounded in our subject we can begin looking at our software evaluation reports.

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Product Reviews
On the following pages, product reviews are presented in alphabetic order by product name.

EnerGraphics Overview

EnerGraphics is a general-purpose graphics package. It makes standard pie, bar, line, and text charts,
and also has the capability to create statistical and symbol charts; and scatter graphs. Special fonts are
available to customize charts generated in EnerGraphics, and charts can be imported into the
product's DRAWING module where logos and symbols can be added and lines, curves, and graphics
can be drawn on the chart. ASCII files can be imported directly into EnerGraphics.

Although this product certainly has the capability to generate certain charts and graphs that would be
useful for presenting some scientific data, its orientation strongly favors business/presentation
graphics. This is clear from a list of things the user's manual says the product is well suited for:
organization charts, flow charts, special logos, floorplan layouts, electrical circuits, mechanical
drawings, musical scales, advertising layouts, designing letter fonts, and preparing graphics for
desktop publishing applications.

User Assessment of EnerGraphics

Our software evaluator-an experienced, sophisticated PC user- found EnerGraphics version 2.2 fairly
intuitive and easy to use. However, the documentation, the tutorial, and the online help features were
all found to be average-to-poor in quality and usefulness. Initial creation of a graphic image required
some study before success was achieved.

This package provides most of the features generally considered minimal requirements for scientific
graphic use, but it doesn't support output in Postscript or matrix camera format. During the
assessment, the graphs were printed on the HP LaserJet Series II printer and the HP plotter. Using
program defaults, output on these two devices was judged "average," with some changes in shapes
and sizes in comparison with the original screen image. Our evaluator felt the quality on the HP Series
II was acceptable, but considered the HP plotter output to be below average. The graph below was
produced on the HP LaserJet Series II by EnerGraphics.

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Several apparent bugs were encountered in the software. For example, the screen went blank and the
file was lost if HELP was called while customizing a graph. Also, the EGA driver was unstable,
sometimes necessitating a reboot of the PC in order to return to the Automaxx menu when exiting from
EnerGraphics.

This product's best feature was reported to be its ability to handle 2 or more items in 3-D.
Nevertheless, EnerGraphics was rated unacceptable overall, and our evaluator commented that he
"would not recommend this program to anyone..."

EnerGraphics, List $395
Requirements: 512K; DOS 2.0 or later

Manufacturer: Enertronics Research, Inc.
5 Station Plaza
1910 Pine Street
Saint Louis, MO 63103
(314)421-4682
Grapher Overview

Golden Software calls this product a "powerful and flexible tool for creating high resolution XY graphs
for viewing on screen or output to a printer or plotter." Grapher employs pull-down menus to offer over
100 options for creating XY graphs, but defaults also provide pre-selected options that allow users to
create graphs by simply entering their data. The basic package comes with two additional modules
called View and Plot. View allows the user to look at disk-resident graphs, and zooming and panning
functions are supported. The Plot module produces hard copy output; it can also serve as a
standalone program to plot existing graphs from disk files.

One of Grapher's strong points is said to be its flexibility in tailoring the appearance of a graph. Nearly
every element of a graph can be edited; the size, shape, orientation, and color of symbols, axes, and
labels can be adjusted. The inability to adjust line thickness when outputting to a laser printer or when
creating slides, however, limits the potential quality of the results. Other shortcomings of this product
include an inability to use calculated standard deviations to plot error bars, and the total absence of bar
graphs from its inventory of graph types. Nevertheless, Grapher was selected as an "Editor's Choice"
in PC Magazine's March 14,1989 feature on scientific graphing software.

User Assessment of Grapher

Despite media claims to the contrary, our reviewer, a working EPA scientist and acknowledged "PC
hacker," found Grapher to be somewhat difficult to use. Needed information was found to be
unavailable or hard to find in the "not very helpful" tutorial, initial creation of a graph was "difficult," as
was the generation of a "nice looking plot." The latter problem was attributed to the print program
being separate from the plotting program. Plots generated on an HP LaserJet (one is reproduced on
the next page) were rated as poor-to-average with some alterations in shapes and sizes and color
variations. File importation was rated "cumbersome" (import files must be ASCII text); file export is not
supported by Grapher.

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Graph Plus Overview

Micrografx calls Graph Plus "a program designed to let you create professional business and scientific
charts." The emphasis, however, is clearly on the business/presentation graphics end of the spectrum.
PC Magazine included this package among a group of "business-oriented presentation graphics
packages (that) claim to have the features that scientists need." The package's reported strengths
include attractive output as a result of having access to all the fonts and drawing capabilities of
Microsoft Windows, along with great ease of use and editing power.

Graph creation is accomplished by specifying the data to be graphed and the type of graph desired.
Graph Plus provides a "worksheet" file into which the user may enter values, or into which existing files
may be opened for editing or adding more data. Certain external data files (Graph Plus, VisiCalc,
dBASE III, Multiplan, Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, and comma-delimited ASCII) can also be imported
into a Graph Plus worksheet. However, few graphics images can be imported; only files created in
Micrografx Designer or those that can be brought from other Windows applications via the clipboard
can be imported.

Available chart types include tables and area, bar, column, line, pie, and scatter charts. Once the user
has selected the type of graph to be created, the software displays a "Gallery" dialog box containing
examples of the formats in which such graphs can be created, with the default highlighted. When the
user selects the type of graph desired, Graph Plus creates it using the previously-specified worksheet
data. A Graph Plus sample chart is reproduced below.
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User Assessment of Graph Plus

Our Graph Plus reviewer, an experienced programmer and user of graphics software for analysis and
presentation of scientific data in his day-to-day work, felt that Graph Plus would be a viable option for
someone who Is already working in a Windows environment. Although the product was easy to install
and become familiar with, overall ease-of-use was rated average to-poor. Items considered to be
below par were those typically of most interest to scientific users: handling of curve smoothing, Greek
characters and mathematics notation, error bars, missing values, regressions, and super/subscripts.