8. TECHNICAL REFERENCE... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This section provides a detailed explanation of all elenaents of the Professional Page program. Each menu selection and gadget is exhaustively examined, with explanations of what it does, how it can be accessed, what it looks like on the screen, and how it works. You should re@er to the Technical Reference section when you have a question about where to find an item, or what some part of the program does. The Professional Page Screen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Professional Page screen is the Amiga equivalent of a designer's drawing table. The strip along the top displays the menus which give you access to various parts of the program. The strip down the right hand side has a variety of tools to assist you in laying out pages. This reference begins at the top left corner of the screen, and works its way across the top and down the right hand side to the bottom, explaining each feature along the way. For many menu selections, there are keyboard equivalents. These are summarized in the Appendix B: Keyboard Equivalents as well as the Quick Reference Guide. COMMON ELEMENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Let's look at some common elements before getting to the main body of the Technical Reference section: using requesters and using extended selection. Using Requesters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Requesters are used whenever additional information is needed by Professional Page. Requesters prompt for required information or acknowledgement of an action. There are several types of input components that requesters use, including: listings, booleans, strings, buttons, and slider requesters. Listings: Listings are displayed in a small window. They may contain directories and file names, color names, or font names. If there are more entries than can fit into the window, the scroll bars (to the right of the window) can be used to diaplay different sections of the list. Scroll arrows (above and below the scroll bar) can also be used for this purpose. To select an entry in the window, click on the entry. In most requesters, it is possible to select an entry and acknowledge the requester by double clicking on the entry. Boolean: Booleans are "ON/OFF" type requesters. "ON" (a filled circle) shows that a particular feature is active. "OFF" (an empty circle) shows that a particular feature is inactive. Generally speaking, clicking in the circle will change a "ON" to a "OFF" state and vice-versa. Strings: String requesters expect information to be typed in. To enter information, click the text line associated with the string requester and use the normal Amiga editing features to enter the information. Text input should be terminated by pressing the RETURN key. Buttons: Button requesters are used for selecting a further requester and for acknowledging the current one. They are rectangular in shape and are activated by clicking on them. Sliders: Sliders are used to input values on a scale. For example, in the color definition requester, there is a scale for the percentage of red to use on the screen. Adjusting the slider will adjust the amount of red used. File Requester ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Professional Page, all access to disk files is done through a file requester. The file requester has the following components: Listing: All directories and files are listed in the listing window. Clicking a directory or file will place the name into the Drawer or File string text line. Double clicking on a file will select the file and acknowledge the requester. Chicking on a directory will open that drawer on disk. To close a drawer, jugt click on "/" entry in the listing. String Components: Drawer and File names can be entered directly into the appropnate text lines. Buttons: Drive selection and acknow;ledgement buttons are also in the file requester. Moving Requesters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If the requester obstructs your view of a part of the page, simply grab the requester box by the moving gadget (the horizontal lines at the top of the requester). Extended Select ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This technique greatly speeds up the process of making a series of menu selections using the mouse. This offers the ability to make several mouse selections with one pass of the mouse across several menus. * Pull down a menu, and, keeping the right mouse button pressed, click with the left mouse button on several items and sub-items as you work your way down the menu. * When you release the right button, the various items and sub-items you selected will be enacted in the order in which you selected them. * For example, if you have selected the Text tool, and then select Type/Typeface/New, Type/Size/New, and Type/Style/Bold all in one pass, those items with requesters will automatically present their requesters in sequence, while the items which toggle on/off will have changed to the setting you desire. 8.1 PROJECT MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Project menu is the most general menu, consisting of nine items. New ~~~ Creates an environment for a new document. * Clears the existing document from memory. There can only have one document open at a time (though that document can have many pages). * New is automatically executed upon startup. * The name of document is changed to "Untitled". * Any material which is located on the art board is not deleted. Open ~~~~ Opens an existing Professional Page document, reading it from a floppy disk or a hard disk. * Open deleted the document in memory. A warning requester appears to confirm that the current document should be deleted. * Opens the file requester to allow you to enter the name of the document be loaded. * Any materials located on the art board will be deleted. This is because you are loading an entire document, including a saved art board which may have materials already on it. Save ~~~~ Saves the version of the document that you've been working on, using the current document name as the filename. If no name has been specified, the document will be given the file name "Untitiled". * Select Save frequently while working on a document, to ensure not losing data because of a power failure or a system crash. * The art board is saved as part of the document. * See Project/Information and Project/Save As to change the current document name. Save As ~~~~~~~ Saves the current document under a new name. * The file requester is used to select a new filename for the document. * The art board is saved as part of the document. * The new filename becomes the current document name. Information ~~~~~~~~~~~ Displays information related to the current document. * The "Document Information" requester includes user-definable text lines for the document name (file name), author's name, comment, and revision number. * Type in any changes necessary. Changes made with this requester are saved with the document. * Two dates/times are saved with each document: the date/time it was first created and the date/time it was last saved. * The List Bitmap Files gadget calls up another requester which shows a list of the bitmap graphic files used in the document. Professional Page may prompt you to make these files available when you load or print the document. Import ~~~~~~ Import is used to import box components (such as text, bitmap graphics or structured drawings) into the document. Import/Text ~~~~~~~~~~~ Imports text generated by various word processors and text editors. * Imported text sits in the text paste buffer until the Paste item is issued from the text editor. * The file requester will ask you which file to import. * The requester's title tells you which type of file the program expects. (See "Preferences/Text Format" later in this section regarding importing specific files saved by word processor programs). * Text files can have native and imbedded formatting codes. See the Using Professional Page secting and Appendix F: Formatting Text for more details. Import/Bitmap Graphic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Imports a bitmap picture. A "bitmap" is a computer picture composed of a pattern of pixels of colors or gray tones. The Amiga has a standard file format, called IFF, for all bitmap pictures created by paint programs such as Deluxe Paint II or video digitizers such as Digi-View. The resolution of a bitmap picture is determined when it is created: Professional Page cannot change it. * An Import IFF Bitmap? file requester prompts you for the desired file name. * Imported bitmaps are placed directly into the active box, so you must select an empty, active box before you can import a bitmap graphic. * Any IFF including HAM mode graphics can be loaded into Professional Page any number of colors from two to 4096. * All resolution modes are supported. A bitmap picture on the Amiga can range in size from a single pixel to as many as 1024 by 1024 pixels. Since any picture can have a different color map and Professional Page uses only 16 colors on the screen, the colors from the imported graphics are rendered in 8 gray scales when displayed. The original color information, however, is retained in the graphic's original data file and will be used when you print or color separate the page. * Since color must be converted into gray levels for display, a large bitmap picture takes time to load: so be patient. * Depending on how much memory you have on your Amiga, you may face limits on the number of graphics you can have in a document. * In order to load the document or to print the page in black and white, you must have all the original picture disk files available. You will be prompted for the appropriate disk when needed. * It may be desirable to place all the images for a document in the same directory of a disk so that they can be found again easily when it is time to print the document (with fewer disk swaps). * Proof printing does not require the bitmap disks. (See "Project/Print".) * For information on sizing, cropping, and moving bitmap graphics see the Using Professional Page section. Import/Structured Drawing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Imports a structured drawing. A "structured drawing" differs from a bitmap in that instead of being composed of a mosaic of dots, it is made up of "vectors"--mathematical descriptions of line direction, width and so on. A structured drawing can be printed out on a laser printer or a typesetting machine at the printer's maximum resolution. This means that structured drawings can be very smooth without the "jaggies" of a bitmap image. * The Import Drawing? requester prompts you for the file name. * Similar to the bitmap graphic, a structured drawing is placed directly into the empty active box. * All of the graphic elements, line weights, fill shadings, and fill from Aegis Draw Plus are supported. The drawing is automatically so that it is entirely visible, and occupies the largest possible area of the active box, while maintaining the aspect ratio of the drawing. Print ~~~~~ Print is used to get hard copy output from a PostScript device. The Pring item has three sub-items which give you a choice as to what you want to send to the laser printer or typesetting machine. These sub-items are: Current Page, Entire Document, and Thumb Nail. (See Using Professional Page for more information on printing.) Print/Current Page, Entire Document, Thumb Nail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Generates hard copy output. A requester will prompt for: * the number of copies you wish to print. * the printer port or disk file you wish to send the output to (click on ser:, par:, or disk gadget). * Manual or Automatic paper Feed. * Proof mode. This is used if you wish to print only the text and structured drawings without the delay of printing bitmap graphics. * Override Custom Spece. This is used to override the special output settings specified in the Page requester. * The Print Entire Document requester also asks for a range of pages to print. * The Print Thumb Nail requester asks for a range of pages to print, and whether there shoudl be 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4 thumb nails per output sheet. About ~~~~~ Brings up an information window displaying copyright messages and credits. Quit ~~~~ Exits from Professional Page. A requester asks for confirmation of the action. PAGE MENU ~~~~~~~~~ The Page menu allows operations on individual pages or template. Pages and templates may be created or deleted, saved or retrieved from disk, or modified. Template Pages ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Template pages are individual pages that are used as a prototype when creating other pages. The newly created page will have the same dimensions and contain the same boxes and contents as the template page. You can specify separate even and odd template pages, to allow for the way the final document will be printed and read. The newly created page takes the attributes from the appropriate template. note that all boxes on a page creted from a template are locked, but can be unlocked if desired. Pages may be inserted at specified location in the document. If necessary, pages are shifted upwards, to accommodate for the newly created pages. Create ~~~~~~ Creates a new page, either from an existing template, or from a default page that can be tailored to the requirements of the job being done. Create/From Template ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Creates a number of pages to be inserted into the document. Pages will take on the attributes and contents of the appropriate template page. A requester will prompt for the page range and for the desired action. The options are: * Use Page Numbers: Pages will be created using the Odd or Even template, depending on whether the page number is odd or even. * Use Odd: Pages will be created using only the Odd template. * Use Even: Pages will be created using only the Even template. Create/From Default ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Adds a range of pages to a specified location in the document, from the default attributes. * Brings up the New Page requester so tha you can change the attributes of the new page. Load ~~~~ Loads a saved page into the even or odd template, or directly into the document as the current page. The Load item has three sub-items: New Current, Even Template and Odd Template. * Loading a page file into a template replaces the existing template with the page just loaded. * Loading a page file into current adds that page to the end of the document Save ~~~~ Saves a particular page separately from the rest of the document. The Save item has three sub-items: Current, Even Template and Odd Template. NOTE: A page file only holds one page at a time; it does not contain any information on the page number or the art board. it is a good idea to give your page files a suffix like ".page", ".even" or ".odd" so that it is easier to find them in the future, and not confuse them with document files. Finally, the page and document files have completely different formats - pages cannot be loaded as documents and vice-versa. Delete ~~~~~~ Removes the current page from the document. * If there are boxes on the page, you will be asked whether you want to continue or abort the deletion. * If any of the deleted boxes contain text which is linked to boxes on other pages, the text is not deleted, but flows into the next linked box. If all of the linked boxes are on the deleted page, however, the text is deleted along with the page. * Pages are resequenced after the current page is deleted. Alter ~~~~~ Alters the parameters of the current or default page. Alter/Current ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alters the page parameters of the current page. You can change the page size, page number, number of columns, the width of the gutter between columns, and margins of the page. When you change the attributes of the current page, only one page is affected so you can have different page formats in a document. * The requester consists of five page format options which determine page dimensions (four predefined, and one user-definable): a Page Number gadget, four margin text lines, a column numbering text line, a gutter width text line, and a PostScript Output Specs gadget. * To move a page within the document, change the Page Number gadget. Pages are resequenced after the move. * The Output Page Specifications requester appears when you click on the PostScript Output Specs gadget. It allows you to set the position, scale, rotation and orientation of the current page output. Type the numerical values for Position, Scale and Rotation into the appropriate text lines, pressing RETURN after each entry. The outline of your modified printed page will be superimposed over the white rectangle of the printer's output dimensions. Alter/Default, Even Template, Odd Template ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Changes the parameters of the default, even or odd template page (which will be used to create new pages). * A page format requester pops up, almost identical to the Alter/Current Page Format requester in appearance and operation. The only difference is that it lacks a page number gadget. Make Template/Even, Odd ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Template pages are useful if many pages share common design elements such as headers, footers, and page numbers. Once you have created a template page, new pages can be created with all of the template's design elements already on them. There can be two template pages in a document, one for odd-numbered pages and one for even-numbered pages. * The Make Template item replaces either the odd or even of the template pages with a copy of the current page. All of the boxes on the current page are copied to the template page(s). The links between text boxes on the current page are kept in the template, but any links between the current page and other pages are broken. Visible ~~~~~~~ Hides the current page from view temporarily. 8.3 BOX MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allows operations on individual Boxes in the document Show Active ~~~~~~~~~~~ The outline of the active box flashes so that it can be quickly identified. The view is repositioned so that the active box is visible. Clone Active ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Makes a duplicate of the active box. All of the box's contents and attributes are copied except the position. The cloned box overlaps the original, slightly lower and to the right. If the active box is linked to other text boxes, the cloned box will have the same visible box contents as the active box, but will not be linked to anything. Delete Active ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Deletes the active box. Where this box is part of a chain of linked text boxes, the box will disappear, but its contents will be distributed to the following boxes. If the box is not empty and is not lined in a chain, a requester appears to confirm the deletion. Alter/Active, Default ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Changes the attributes of the active box. The various attributes are set in a requester. * An Active Box requester appears, consisting of a row of icons, four Margins text lines, four Position text lines, and the Set Tabs gadget. * There are five gadget icons at the top of the requester. They are: Lock-Unlock, Transparent-Opaque, Permeable-Impermeable, Quick Display on-off, and Frame on-off. * Lock-Unlock: A Locked box cannot be moved, resized, or deleted. Locked boxes are easy to identify because they don't have sizing handles on their outlines. When the lock "opens", the box is unlocked. When it "closes", the box is locked. NOTE: All boxes from a template page are locked automatically, but when a page is created from a template, you may then unlock the boxes you want to edit. * Transparent-Opaque: Makes a box transparent or opaque. This is especially useful if you have one box on top of another (for example, a line of text on top of a scanned photo). Clicking on the icon toggles between transparent and opaque. The active box is opaque if the solid-outline icon obscures part of the dashed-outline icon behind it. * Permeable/Impermeable: If a permeable box is placed in front of a text box, the text will intrude into the box, and may be obscured depending on whether the front box is transparent or opaque. If the front box is made impermeable, the text flows around the front box, making a "runaround". If the impermeable box is behind the text box, there is no runaround. Clicking on the icon toggles between the two settings. If type is visible through the small square, the active box is permeable. If not, it is impermeable. Changing the permeability of a box causes runarounds in text boxes behind that box, but has no effect on text in the box itself. NOTE: You may want to set a margin around the image area of the impermeable box, to give it some "breathing room" from the surrounding boxes. * Quick Display: If Quick Display is on, the contents of the box are not displayed. This greatly speeds up normal operations (i.e. you can move the box around without having to wait so long for the page to be redrawn.) The box is displayed, although its contents are not visible on the screen. Graphic boxes are depicted with an X and text boxes are filled with a pattern. * Frame: Causes the frame to be turned on. The frame takes on the attributes currently set in the Draw menu (see "Structured Drawings" in the Using Professional Page section). NOTE: Box frames cannot be attached to boxes containing structured drawings. * Margins: Selects a margin around the image area of a box. You can specify the top, bottom, left, and right margins separately. No text or graphics appear outside these margins in a box. To change the margins, type the desired margin widths into the appropriate margin text lines. * Position: Specifies the position and size of a box precisely. You can enter the position of the top left hand corner and the height and width of the box. When the requester first comes up, these text lines contain the position and size of the active box. These parameters cannot be set for the default box and are not shown in the Alter Default requester. * Graphic Scale: Scales bitmap graphics or structured drawings in both the X and Y directions. This technique is useful to resize images to fit the layout. Enter the desired X and Y sacling values into the Graphic Scale string gadgets. NOTE: The Graphic Scale parameters only appear if the active box contains a graphic or a drawing. You cannot scale text with this option. * Set Tabs: Defines up to fifteen different tabs, plus paragraph indent. This makes it simple for you to import text and insert it at the correct tab location relative to the left edge of the box. Select the Set Tabs gadget in the requester and a Set Tabs requester appears. NOTE: The Set Tabs gadget and requester will only appear if the active box is a text box or is empty. 8.4 GROUP MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A group is a collection of boxes on either a page or the art board. Once a collection of boxes has been grouped, it can be treated as a unit. The group can be moved as a single unit (all boxes keeping the same spatial relationship), cloned (copied), deleted, or aligned. If a group is moved such that there are boxes on and off the page, the boxes completely off the page will drop to the art board and the boxes on the page will remain as a group. If the entire group is moved to or from the art board, the group remains intact. Only one group can exist at any given time. To create a group, select the Make Group tool (discussed later in "The Tool Palette") and drag a outline around all the boxes to be grouped. Note that after the group has been created, the cursor reverts automatically to the Null Pointer. All of the non-active boxes in the group now have solid black outlines. To add a box to the group, click in the box while holding down the SHIFT key. To remove a box from a group click in the box while holding down the CTRL key. To move a group, hold down the SHIFT key while dragging one of the boxes in the group. To move an individual box within the group, select the box and drag it, in the normal fashion. The box will remain in the group. Clone ~~~~~ Creates a new group of boxes identical to the original in both attributes and content. The new group appears slightly beside and below the original group. The original group is "forgotten", and the newly cloned boxes form the new group. If any of the boxes in the original group were linked to other text boxes, those links do not exist in the clones group, and the contents are limited to what ws in its member boxes at the time it was cloned. Delete ~~~~~~ Deletes all of the boxes in the current group. If some boxes in the group are not empty, a request is made to confirm the delete. If some boxes in the group are linked to others, the text is not deleted, but remains as part of the linked series. If, however, text is not linked to outside the group, it is deleted. Graphics and drawings will always be deleted. Forget ~~~~~~ Undoes or "forgets" the current group, without changing any other attributes of the boxes in the group. Align ~~~~~ Aligns all boxes in the group with the top, botom, left, or right side of the active box. This gives you a very quick way of reorganizing your group. * Make active the box (by clicking on it) that you wish the others to be aligned with. * Select any one of the four available Group/Align sub-items (Top, Bottom, Left, and Right). Center ~~~~~~ Centers all boxes in the group either vertically, horizontally, or both, with the center of the active box. * Make active the box (by clicking on it) that you wish the others to be centered with. * Select any of the three available Group/Center sub-items. Merge ~~~~~ Merges all structured drawing components within the group into one structured drawing box. This is very useful for combining a series of structured drawing segments or parts into a unified illustration. It also stabilizes your structured elements into one unit that can't be accidentally disrupted. (See "Structured Drawings" in the Using Professional Page section). * Ensure all desired structured drawing elements are in the group. * Select Group/Merge. * The new structured drawing can be manipulated in the same manner as any other structured drawing. NOTE: Once a group of structured drawings has been merged, it cannot be undone. If you're not sure whether a particular box should be included in the merge, leave it out. You can always use Merge again later to add more boxes. 8.5 TYPE MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Type menu contains most of the typographic controls for the program. Professional Page has two methods of assigning typesetting parameters to text. First, when you create text with a word processor, you can embed special codes in it, which Professional Page interprets when the text is imported. (For an explanation of this, refer to Appendix F: Formatting Text.) The second method is through the use of the formatting tools in the Type menu. All text creation and editing can be done in the active box. To enter the text edit mode, select the Text tool. The items in the Type menu operate in conjunction with marked text blocks. If a block of text is marked, selections made from the Type menu will affect the entire block. If no block is selected, any changes in the Type menu take effect at the next typed character. Attributes shown in the Type menu are that of the character preceding the cursor if there is no marked block, and that of the first character in the block if a block exists. The method of marking blocks of text is described in Edit Menu. Typeface ~~~~~~~~ Selects the current typeface. In the Typeface item, a list of active typefaces is shown (by default, only Times will be active when you start up). Typeface/New ~~~~~~~~~~~~ If the desired typeface is not shown, choose a new one by selecting the New sub-item. This will bring up a requester listing all the available fonts. * All the typefaces for which you have Metric Files (font width tables) on your fonts: directory (usually on the fonts and Utilities disk) will be listed in the requester. * Select the typeface you want by double clicking its name. NOTE: Professional Page comes with nineteen metric tables loaded. if you wish to use other typefaces, it is simply a matter of loading other metric tables onto your Fonts and Utilities disk. This program demands to see all the fonts for a given document on a single disk. If you do not have a hard disk, and still wish to use many fonts, you may find it useful to make up a set of metric file disks with different combinations of fonts on each. A maximum of 127 typefaces can be used within a single document. Size ~~~~ Selects the current size of the typeface choses (a point size of 12 points is selected by default when you start up). In the Size item a list of active sizes is shown. If the desired size is not shown, a new one can be chosen by selecting the New sub-item. * A Point Size requester appears. * Delete the current point size listed in the requester, and type in the new one. NOTE: point sizes up to 127 points in increments of 1 point may be specified. Style ~~~~~ Allows you to select text styles: Plain, Bold, Italics, Outline, and Underline. To undo all of the selected styles, select Plain. Kerning ~~~~~~~ Turns kerning off and on. Selecting Type/Kerning toggles kerning off and on. A check mark next to Kerning shows that it is on. Tracking ~~~~~~~~ Sets the tracking. * Select Type/Tracking and the Tracking requester appears. Type in the numeric value for tracking desired. * You can also track a selected block by using the left ad right arrow keys (which shifts in 2/100 of an Em space for each keystroke). Line Spacing ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sets spacing between lines of type. * Select Type/Line Spacing and a Line Spacing requester appears. * Click on the Fixed, Relative, or Leading gadgets. Type numeric values into the text lines. * Fixed spacing is spacing between lines, independent of the text point size * Relative spacing is specified as a percentage of the largest point size on the line. * Leading is the amount of extra space to add to the largest point size on the line. It is expressed in points, and can be negative or positive. Only one of these can be in effect at a time. * Paragraph spacing is specified as a percentage of the line spacing you have chosen. It is always operative, regardless of whether you have selected Fixed, Relative, or Leading. * The linespacing attributes of the last character of the line is used for the entire line. Baseline ~~~~~~~~ Moves the baseline of a block of text up or doen. * Select Type/Baseline and a Baseline Shift requester appears. * Enter the desired baseline shift into the string gadget. Both positive and negative values are acceptable. * Baseline shifts can also be changed (in increments of 0.5 points) by using the up and down arrow keys for a selected block. Hyphenation ~~~~~~~~~~~ Turns hyphenation on and off. Prefix and Suffic parameters for hyphenation are specified through the Preferences menu (se "Preferences/Hyphenation Contol" later in this section). If there is a check mark to the left of the Hyphenation sub-item, then hyphenation is on. See Design section. Justification ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Selects the justification of the text: Left, Right, Center, or Flush. The justification of the first character on the line is used for the entire line. Paragraph Indent/In, None, Hanging ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Selects how paragraphs are to be handled. A RETURN n the text indicates a paragraph break. Paragraphs indents can be: * None: The start of the paragraph lies flush with body of the text. * In: The start of the paragraph is indented in from the rest of the body of the text. * Hanging: The start of the paragraph is indented in from the rest of the body of the text. NOTE: the amount of indents is determined by the paragraph spacing in the Set Tabs requester selected from the Box/Alter/Current sub-item. 8.6 EDIT MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This menu is used to access the text editing functions of Professional Page. Editing text is described in the Using Professional Page section. The items of the Edit menu are used to enter and edit text in the manner of a word processor, and also work hand in hand with the typographical tools found in the Type menu. Cut ~~~ Cuts out the marked block of text. The cut block will be kept in a paste buffer to await pasting. Copy ~~~~ Copies the marked block of text to the paste buffer. This differs from the Cut item in that the Cut removes the block from the current box, while Copy leaves it there. Paste ~~~~~ The contents of the past buffer are placed at the current cursor position. Unmarked Block ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The current block is unmarked. Save Block ~~~~~~~~~~ Saves the marked block as an ASCII text file. A file requester will prompt for the file name. All typographic information is translated into imbedded ASCII codes. Select Box ~~~~~~~~~~ Blocks all visible contents of the current text box where the cursor is located. Select All ~~~~~~~~~~ The entire article is selected as a block. If the box containing the text cursor is linked to other boxes, all of the text in these boxes will be blocked. Find ~~~~ Searches through the entire article associated with the active box for a text string. If there are any embedded ASCII formatting commands (such as style or font size changes) in the search string the search will match only those strings with the specific attributes. If there are no embedded ASCII formatting commands, the search will match text with any attributes. * Select Edit/Find and a Find requester appears which has a string gadget for specifying what to search for, a directional gadget (an arrow), and a button which allows you to ignore letter case in the search. * Click on the arrow to choose the direction of the search, and Professional Page will search through the article in the desired direction. If a match is found, it will be blocked. Replace ~~~~~~~ Searches through the entire article and replaces one string with another. This may be done once, or for all occurrences of the Find string with optional confirmation before each substitution. * A Find/Replace requester, similar to the Find requester, appears. It contains the same gadgets described under Find. In addition, there is a Replace with string gadget. If an occurrence of the Find string is found. it will be replaced by the contents of this string. If Global is on, every occurrence of the Find string from the text cursor to the end of the article (in the specified direction) will be replaced. If Query is selected, you will be asked, at each occurrence of the string, whether to replace it or not. As with the Find item, you may wish to use embedded ASCII formatting commands. Find Next ~~~~~~~~~ Finds the next occurrence (in the current search direction) of the Find string. Replace Next ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Finds the next occurrence of the Find string and replaces it with the Replace string. If Query is selected, you will be asked for verification before the replacement is done. 8.7 DRAW MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Drawing parameters apply to both structured drawings and box frames. Select the Box Create tool or nay of the structured drawing tools, and any changes to the drawing parameters take effect upon the cretion of the next structured drawing or the frame of the next box created. If you are not in the box create of structured drawing mode, changes to the drawing parameters affect the active box. The attributes in the Draw menu are those of the active box. Line Weight ~~~~~~~~~~~ Lists the line weights for the drawing tools or box frames. You can choose None (zero width), 1/2 point, 1 point, 2 points, 3 points, 4 points, or Hairline (which prints out at the minimum width your printer is capable of, but is shown on the screen with a single pixel width). You can also choose a Custom line width sub-item. * Select Draw/Line Weight/Custom. * A Line Width requester appears. * Type in the desired line width in points (to the nearest 1/2 point). Line Patterns ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Allows you to select various line patterns for use by the drawing tools and the box frames. Fill Patterns ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lists fill patterns, including None if no fill is desired. COLOR MENU ~~~~~~~~~~ Professional Page keeps track of and handles colors to be used by the Professional Color separator. Colors can be selected for structured drawings, frames, and text. Color information is maintained for bitmap graphics, but not displayed. A database of colors may be defined and saved for later use. A color is specified by a name, now it should appear on the screen, and how it is to be printed (eg. separated or mechanical colors) by the Professional Color Separator. Ink Color ~~~~~~~~~ Selects the ink color from the list of available colors or from the submenu. The ink color is used in text, structured graphic lines, and box frames. * Selecting Color/From List produces a requester asking for a color name. Fill Color ~~~~~~~~~~ Allows you to select a fill color from the list of available colors or from the submenu. The Fill colors are used to fill structured drawings and box frames. Define ~~~~~~ Defines a new color for use with text or structured drawings. * Select Color/Define to bring up a list of available colors and a palette to change an existing color or define a new one, which is added to the available colors list. The new colors will not be added to the submenus until it is used by choosing Color/Ink Color/From List or Color/Fill color/From List. Load ~~~~ Loads from disk a set of previously defined colors. In this way you can set up a database of useful colors which can be loaded into a document at will. Save ~~~~ Saves to disk the set of colors currently defined in this documnt. NOTE: Yu can use up to 127 colors in a document. although only 16 colors are displayed on the screen (9 of which is used by bitmap graphics), all colors will print correctly using the Professional Color separator. 8.8 PREFERENCES MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This menu lets you set a number of the environment parameters for a document. Many of these affect the appearance of the screen, or other aspects of Professional Page's operation. These settings, however, have no effect on the appearance of the document when printed. These settings are saved with the document. Magnification ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The regular Amiga high resolution screen display (typically 640 by 400 pixels) is quite detailed for an off-the-shelf personal computer. Despite this, it is impossible to show an entire typeset page on screen in full detail. To allow you to view individual letters, as well as to see the whole page, there is a zoom option. There are five levels of magnification: 25%, 33%, 50%, 100%, and 200%. These magnifications are presented as sub-items. A check mark identifies the current magnification level. Layout Tools ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brings up a requester with several features that help you lay out a page precisely. The Layout Tools are divided into several sections, including: Units, Grid, Ruler, and Outlines. Unit ~~~~ Defines the unit of measure in your document. You have a choice of inches, centimeters, or picas to use as your measurement units. The one you choose is used throughout Professional Page whenever you are asked for a size or a position. Grid ~~~~ Rules the page into a precise grid, to position elements accurately. Grids can be turned on or off. They can be user specified in both the x and y directions, or selected from any one of four predefined grids. Snap to Grid ~~~~~~~~~~~~ If this is selected all positioning and sizing will snap precisely to the intersection of the two nearest grid lines. This makes precise placing of boxes with the mouse very quick and easy. If Snap to Grid is on, grid snap occurs whether or not the grid is visible. Ruler ~~~~~ Allows you to turn the ruler on or off and to specify its units. Outlines ~~~~~~~~ Normally, every box is surrounded by a dotted border (solid if the box is active), and may have handles. If Outlines is turned off, these borders are not drawn. Turn Outlines on when editing a page, and off to see how it will look as output. Columns ~~~~~~~ If this is turned on, the page margins and columns (as set by the Page/Alter items) are displayed as dashed lines. Columns are only visual indicators. They can be used as guides for the placement of boxes on the page (see the Tutorial and Design sections). Text Format ~~~~~~~~~~~ There are a wide variety of word processors and text editors available for creating text on the Amiga. In addition, you may wish to import ASCII (raw text) files from other machines such as MacIntoshes, IBMs, and so on. Many of the Amiga text editors have particular file formats which require special interpretations to import them into Professional Page. Professional Page understands several of these formats. * Always check what sort of text file you are importing, and select the text format accordingly. If there isn't a format which exactly matches your file, use the generic setting. * You may embed a wide variety of formatting codes in your file at the word processing stage (see Appendix F: Formatting Text for further information). * In addition to their own formats, many word processing programs can save a "text only" version of the file. If your word processor is not one of those supported, use text only if you can. Hyphenation Control ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sets the previx and suffix parameters for hyphenating text and allows you to load or change the current exception dictionary. Hyphenation Control is located in the Preferences menu rather than the Type menu because it is global, set once, and not usually reset in the course of the document's production. To add to, or load a new exception dictionary, type the name of your list in the string gadget and click either Load or Merge. Print Specifications ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sets up the global output device environment. Print Specifications requester will provide the following information: * Output Page Size: specifies the physical sheet size of the output device. For example, a laser printer. * Roll Paper Size: specifies the roll size for a continuous output device. For example, a laser typesetter. * Negative print: indicates whether the image should be printed as a negative. * Mirror print: indicates whether the image should be mirrored before printing. * Halftone Screen: specifies the density and angle of screen. QuickMove ~~~~~~~~~ Controls whether the contents of your box are visible while being moved. By default, when you pick up a box to move it, only the outline acutally moves. The contents stay where they were, and only move when you put the box down. Sometimes it is convenient to see the contents while you are moving the box. If the QuickMove is turned off, the box contents will be picked up and moved around. This item toggles QuickMove on and off. The contents of the Box do not show even when the QuickMove item is off if the system is low on memory. Memory Warning ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If at any time you are low in contiguous chip memory, Professional Page gives a "low memory" warning. his item allows you to turn the low memory warning on or off. Note that if you do get this warning, you should save your document to be on the safe side. Black & White ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option switches Professional Page into a black and white operating mode. This results in increased speed and memory efficienty. If you don't require Professional Page's color capabilities this option should always be on. In black and white mode, bitmap graphics are dithered for onscreen display. Output is not affected. FRONT-BACK GADGETS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This standard Amiga gadget allows you to toggle between one screen and another. For example, you may be running another Amiga program in the background, and wish to go from the Professional Page screen to this other program without rebooting. Just click on the left gadget to switch screens. THE TOOL PALETTE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The tool palette contains a variety of layout and structured drawing tools. The palette is divided into five parts: The Page Number gadget, the General Tools palette, the Screen Position gadget, the box Control tools, and the Structured Drawing tools. NOTE: Once you select one of these tools, it will generally stay selected until you specifically select another tool. Note that the tool gadget stays highlighted and the mouse pointer changes to reflect the state. PAGE NUMBER GADGET ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Page Number gadget allows you to view any page in your document. The gadget indicates the page number of the currently visible page. * Pressing the top arrow will ring up the next page in the document. * Pressing the bottom arrow will bring up the previous page. * Pressing the down arrow from the first page, shows the "even", then "odd", template pages. Template pages can be edited exactly like any other page. * The text line in the middle of the gadget displays the current page number. To go directly to another page, delete the current page number, type in the number of the page you wish to view, and press RETURN. * Type "e" or "o" to see the even or odd template. THE GENERAL TOOLS PALETTE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Box Create Tool ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Makes boxes anywhere on a page or on the art board. * Click on the Box Create Tool icon. This turns on Box Create mode. The pointer turns into crosshairs on the screen. * Click and drag a box to the desired size. You can create more than one box by just clicking and dragging each box in turn. * Make sure you return to the tool palette and exit from the Box Create mode if you want to use some other tool. * Using Augo Box, a box can be automatically created to the size of the particular column. It will take on the maximum possible size in that oclumn without overlapping other boxes. To use Auto Box in Box Create mode, hold the CTRL key down while clicking in that column. Null Pointer ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Null mode is used to move and size objects on the screen. Clicking in this gadget turns off the current mode and returns it to Null mode. The mouse pointer changes to an arrow. Make Group ~~~~~~~~~~ Selects one or more boxes as a group. * To make a group, drag out an outline around the boxes to be included in the group. Those boxes that are completely contained within the outline will form the new group. * After a group is made, the Group tool automatically turns off, and returns to the Null mode. Hand Move ~~~~~~~~~ Turns on Hand Move mode. If you are in a higher magnification mode where not all of the page is visible, this mode allows you to pick up the page and drag it around to see other parts of it. * Drag the page in the direction that you wish the page to move relative to the screen. Text ~~~~ Turns on Text Edit mode. * Select the Text tool * Select the box to edit by clicking in that box. To select another box to edit, simply click in the other box. * Using Auto Box, a text box can be created in a particular column automatically. The text box will be the largest possible box in that column without overlapping other boxes. To use Auto Box, click in the desired column while holding the CTRL key. Mop ~~~ Mops up or deletes the contents of a box or a series of linked boxes. * Select the Mop tool, and click in the box whose contents you wish to mop. The contents of the box will be deleted after confirmation. WARNING: If the box is a text box linked to other text boxes, the contents of the other linked boxes will also be deleted. PAGE POSITION GADGET ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scrolls around a magnified page. The gadget shows a white positioning rectangle representing the screen image, inside a larger black rectangle indicating the entire page. The positioning rectangle indicates the location of the visible portion of the page in the current magnification mode. * To change the position, simply drag the smaller rectangle around within the representation of the full page. NOTE: You can use the Page Position gadget to find the general area you want, and then Hand Move for fine adjustment. BOX CONTROL TOOLS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This group of gadgets represents functions that affect the relationships among boxes. Box to Front/Box to Back ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reorders the layering of overlapping boxes. The boxes are normally layered in the order in which they were created. Each box is created in front of all the others. You can change the order of the boxes by bringing the active box to the front or sending it to the back. Next Linked Box ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If the active box is in a text chain (linked to other text boxes), clicking on the Next Box gadget will activate the next box in the chain. The view will shift to show the next box if it was not previously visible. Previously Linked Box ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Similarly, the Previous Box gadget will activate the previous box in the current chain of text boxes. NOTE: These gadgets will only work on text boxes that are linked to other text boxes. Link ~~~~ Creates a chain of text boxes. * The active box must be a text or empty box either isolated or at the end of an existing chain. * Select the Link tool. Click in the box you wish to add to the chain. This box will now be added to the chain and will become the active box. * An Auto Box can be created and linked by holding the CTRL key down while clicking the mouse button. Unlink ~~~~~~ Breaks a chain of text boxes. * Select the Unlink tool. Click in he box which you wish to unlink. The chain will be broken at the beginning of this box. This box will now become the first box in a new chain which contains the rest of the previous chain. DRAWING TOOLS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These gadgets enable you to draw structured or object oriented (CAD type) drawings, anywhere on the page or art board. Professional Page allows you to create shapes in a variety of line weights and colors. The line weight, line color, and fill pattern can be changed from the Draw menu. Straight Line ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Click on the page and while the left mouse buton is still down move the mouse to drag out the line. Once you are satisfied with the positioning of the line, release the mouse buton to put the line on the page. * If you hold down the ALT-key when you put down the first point of the line it will be constrained to the nearest 45 degrees. Rectangle ~~~~~~~~~ * Click on the page; this anchors one corner of the rectangle. * Drag the opposite corner to the required size. * Holding down the ALT-key while drawing the rectangle constrains it to a square. Ellipse ~~~~~~~ * Click on the page, the location of the center of the ellipse. * Drag the corner of the ellipse box out to the desired size. * Holding down the ALT-key while drawing constrains the ellipse to be a circle. Bezier Curve ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Draws curves in a manner similar to the "rubber band" curves that Amiga users are familiar with from bitmap paint programs such as Deluxe Paint II. * Draw a line as described in the Line tool * A "rubber band" curve will follow the cursor. * Click and release the left mouse button when the curve looks the way you want it. * Holding the ALT-key while drawing the initial line constrains it to be at the nearest 45 degrees. Free Hand Drawing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Draws freehand shapes. * Press the left mouse button. As long as you keep it depressed, you will draw wherever the mouse moves. * As soon as you release the button, everything drawn is placed in a box. Polygon ~~~~~~~ Draws straight line polygonal shapes. * Click and release the left mouse button to start the first line segment. Move the mouse to the next point. Clicking and releasing draws the first line segment and starts rubber banding the second, continue as long as you want. Double-clicking the left button ends the polygon (after drawing the last line segment). * Holding the ALT-key before drawing the initial point will close he polygon regardless of where the last point is.