ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the capabilities of relatively inexpensive graphics packages, programs which can be run on personal computers. The new computer graphics technology provides technical writers with easier access to tools for creating the diagrams and drawings. The mouse, a small device about the size of a cigarette pack, is attached to the computer by a flexible cable. High performance monitors require higher performance graphics hardware in the computers that drive them. Drafting systems can handle much larger images by storing them on a “virtual” page, a page which is abstractly defined within the computer. In some cases computer graphics technology gives the writer the ability to create final images; in other cases it provides him or her with a tool which facilitates communicating with graphics artists by making it easy for writers to produce rough images. Drawing even a simple rectangle is much simpler with a graphics program than with traditional drafting implements.
