In this run through of features I'll avoid spending too much time on the things you already take for granted (or perhaps should) such as: cut/copy/paste, drag/drop, multiple documents, preferences, undo, font, color, ruler, page layout, tool bar with customization and so on. Instead we'll take a closer look at some of the features that make DrawWell and WorksWell special.

DrawWell has so many features it's hard to know where to begin, perhaps the "medium" on which we are going to do our drawing is the best place to start. DrawWell uses a "sheet of paper" metaphor with full control over its size by way of an Inspector panel and Page Layout options. You can choose sizes ranging from a business card to poster. In the real world sheets of paper are often kept together in a folder or a book, DrawWell mimics this by letting you create multiple pages within a document. This is useful for keeping pages together and permits control over page numbering and multi page printing.

On real paper a fine grid of lines is sometimes printed to help you align your drawings. DrawWell grids are highly configurable and implement snap, hiding and even go to the lengths of allowing multiple varying sized grids on the same page.

Transparent acetate sheets are sometimes used by graphic artists to layer separate graphic elements. DrawWell uses and extends this idea by allowing you to create unlimited named layers within a document. The Inspector is used to set layer attributes such as whether the layer is visible or printable. Layers may also be locked to avoid inadvertant selection.

Another useful tool taken from the real world is a magnifying glass. When working on small areas of the page just zoom in up to 6400% of the original. To zoom in to a page you have the choice of either using the magnifying tool to select the area you are interested in or setting a zoom popup menu. Zooming out is also useful if you want to see all of your documents pages at once.

So far we have seen how ideas from the real world can be successfully used in building software equivalents for our drawing applications. We have looked at our ability to use layers of graphical objects a concept somewhat similar to using transparent acetate sheets. Indeed this is a powerful techniques also occasionally found in other drawing applications.

A feature we have never seen in other drawing applications is our ability to turn the entire drawing area semi or fully transparent so that items on your desktop underneath your DrawWell document window become visible. This is not only a neat trick but genuinely useful in that you can trace around objects displayed in other applications without having to go to the trouble of "Screen Grabbing" them or importing them temporarily.