Table of Contents

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Introduction

Acknowledgements

Section I: The Nisus Way

Chapter 1. Welcome to Nisus Writer

History: The Evolution of Nisus Writer

Jerzy Lewak Starts Paragon Courseware

Building a Better Text Editor

The Push for a New Word Processor

The “Amazing Word Processor” Appears

Nisus Learns New Tricks

Nisus XS Announced

Nisus Compact Arrives

A New Direction for Nisus

Nisus Writer 4.0 Finally Emerges

The Journey Continues

A Quick Tour of Nisus Writer

The Menu Bar

Document View

Display Options

Important Terms

Margins and Line Wraps

Rulers and Styles

Layout Page and Document View

Macros and Glossaries

Find/Replace

Summary

Chapter 2. The Nisus Writer Philosophy

The Swiss Army Knife

Text is Plastic

Roll Your Own

Everything in Its Place

Let the Computer Do the Work

No Modes

Form Before Content

Nice Little Touches

The Biggest Mouth Gets Fed

Summary

Chapter 3. Switching from Another Word Processor

Stranger in a Strange Land

Why Nisus Writer is Unique

What’s Missing

What’s Different

All About Styles

Margins

Columns

Graphics and Layers

Typographical Control

Document Linking

Nisus Writer’s Glossary Feature

RAM-Based Documents

Missing in Action

Converting Documents from Other Formats

Making the Switch

Word 5

Word 6

WordPerfect

Summary

Section II: Mastering the Fundamentals

Chapter 4. Text Basics

The Nisus Writer Working Environment

The Document Window

Menus and Dialog Boxes

Window Management

The Amazing Option Key

The Windows Menu

Floating Tool Bars

On-Line Help

Entering, Selecting, and Editing Text

Entering Text

Selecting Text

Noncontiguous and Vertical Selection

Editing Commands

Other Editing Controls

Undo

Drag and Drop

Special Characters

Display Options

Moving Around Your Document

Character Formatting

Fonts

Size

Style

The Style Menu

More Styles

Color

Format

Paragraph Formatting

Margins, Line Wraps, and Indents

Adjusting Margins

Adjusting Line Wrap and Indents

Working with Tabs

Justification

Line and Paragraph Spacing

Rulers

Changing Rulers

Copying and Deleting Rulers

Moving Paragraphs and Their Rulers

Headers and Footers

Footnotes and Endnotes

Placement Options

Symbol Options

Working with Footnotes

Spell Checking

Skip and Ignore

The User Dictionary

Spelling Checker Options

Thesaurus

Hyphenation

Word Count

Summary

Chapter 5. Beyond Words: Graphical Elements

The Text and Graphics Layers

The Text Layer

The Graphics Layer

About Graphic Objects

The Graphics Tools

The Tool Palette

Selecting Objects

Moving and Resizing Objects

Drawing Lines and Shapes

Adding Text to Graphics

The Display Palette

Anchor Menu

Placement Menu

Text Wrap Menu

Overlay Attributes

The Line and Fill Palettes

The Graphics Menu

Layering Graphics

Grouping Graphics

Scaling Graphics

Duplicating Graphics

Rotating Graphics

Nudging Graphics

Using the Grid

Character Graphics

Importing Graphics

Using the Clipboard

Using the Import Dialog Box

Page Graphics

Movies

The EGO Format

Tables

Inserting Tables into Your Document

Entering and Editing Text

Selecting Columns, Rows, and Cells

Resizing Columns and Rows

Inserting and Deleting Columns or Rows

Formatting Your Table

Character Styles

User-Defined Styles

Cell Color

Alignment

Leading

Margins

Using Dingbats

The Fill Commands

Footnotes

All About Settings

Entry Settings

Title and Notes Settings

Column and Row Header Settings

Group Header Settings

Grid Lines and Frames

Shading

Units of Measurement

Settings Files

Reorganizing Tables

The View Menu

The Find Menu

Exporting and Importing

Stupid Table Tricks

Cool Uses for Tables

Equations

Inserting Equations into Your Document

Using Templates

Using Symbols

The Template, Symbol, and Macro Bars

Using Styles

Equation Tidbits

Fun with Equations

Summary

Chapter 6. Working with Sound

The Sound Bar

Text-to-Speech

Listening to Your Text

Other Voices

Why Text-to-Speech?

Recording Sound

Sound Annotations

Naming Sounds

Attached Annotations

How Sounds are Stored

Auto-Highlighting Recordings

Sound Menu Options

Grouping Sounds

Playback Options

Recording Options

Why Sound Recording?

Summary

Chapter 7. Document Formatting and Printing

Layout Page

Adjusting Margins

Double-Sided Printing and Booklets

Layout Options

Adding a Frame

Columns

Page Setup

Printing

Mail Merge Basics

Fields

The Host Document

The Data Document

Performing the Merge

Summary

Chapter 8. File Management

Opening, Closing, and Saving Files

The File Access Menu

Importing Files

Nisus Writer and XTND

Exporting Files

Using the Catalog

The Catalog Menu

Mailing Your Documents with PowerTalk

Summary

Section III: Power Techniques

Chapter 9. Customizing Nisus Writer

Preferences

Start Up

Saving Files

Editing

Finding

Scrolling

Measurement

Printing

Parentheses

Dictionaries

Keyboard Shortcuts

Stationery Files

Magic Stationery Files

Floating Tool Bars

Editing Tool Bar Button Icons

Editing Tool Bar Buttons

Optimizing Memory

Adjusting the Memory Partition

Trim Down Your System

Tune up Nisus Writer’s RAM Usage

Reducing Undos

The Memory Indicator

Memory Hogs

Other Strategies

Summary

Chapter 10. Advanced Editing

Defining Rulers and Styles

Using Named Rulers

Naming Rulers

Displaying Rulers

Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Rulers

Changing Named Rulers

Renaming, Deleting, and Finding Named Rulers

Importing Named Rulers

Moving Paragraphs with Rulers

Using Defined Styles

The Define Styles Dialog Box

The Style Name

Determining Which Attributes are Affected

Setting Character Attributes

Style Interaction

Duplicating and Removing Styles

Combining Styles and Rulers

Editing Existing Defined Styles

Working with Defined Styles

Importing Styles

Ruler/Style Problems and Solutions

Dynamically Linked Styles

Beyond Cut & Paste: Clipboard Magic

Appending and Swapping

Copy to Find/Replace

Editing on the Clipboards

Using Multiple Clipboards

Publish & Subscribe

Creating a Publisher

Publish Options

Subscribing

Working with Subscribers

Subscribe Options

Other Publish & Subscribe Commands

Numbering and Variables

Numbering Pages

Last and Next Page Numbers

Formatted Page Breaks

Numbering Document Parts

Setting Numbering Options

Variable Stamps

Marking and Cross-Referencing

Marking Text

The Jump To Submenu

Cross-References

Creating Indexes and Tables of Contents

Indexes

Index and Index As…

Multilevel Indexing

Building the Index

Indexing Using a Word List

Indexing with Find/Replace

Tables of Contents

Using Styles for Indexes and Contents

Summary

Chapter 11. Find & Replace

Getting Started with Find and Replace

Understanding the Find Modes

Choosing a Find Mode

Performing a Basic Find/Replace

Using Styles in a Find/Replace

Using the “Any” Styles

Find/Replace Options

Finding Character Graphics

Finding and Replacing Autonumbers and Variables

Find/Replace Without the Find/Replace Dialog Box

Where Find/Replace Applies

All About Metacharacters

PowerFind: Find Almost Anything

The PowerFind Wild Cards

Using Wild Cards

What’s in a Word?

The PowerFind Special Menu

The Repeat # Menu

Some PowerFind Examples

The Position Menu

Character on Left and Character on Right

Other Position Metacharacters

The Clipboard Menu

The Match Menu

Found Items

Parentheses

Narrowing Searches

Referring to Parts of a Found Expression

PowerFind Pro: Find Everything Else

PowerFind Pro Fundamentals.

PowerFind Pro Metacharacter Equivalents

Other PowerFind Pro Metacharacters

Looking for Sets

Looking for the Shortest Match

Parentheses Galore

PowerFind Pro Examples

Summary

Chapter 12. Automating Nisus Writer

Using Glossaries

Creating and Expanding Abbreviations

Editing Glossary Entries

Working with Glossary Files

What Can You Put in a Glossary?

Styles and Rulers in Glossary Entries

Macros

What’s a Macro?

Macros: The Nickel Tour

Recording a Macro

Recording Step-by-Step

Playing a Macro

Editing a Recorded Macro

Macro Capabilities and Limitations

What Macros Do and Do Not Record

Macro Language Features

When Macros Can Run

Macro Writing School

A Note to the Macrophobic

About These Lessons

Lesson 1: Organizational Details

The Macro Editing Window

Macro Editing Shortcuts

Use Comments!

Using “Execute Selection”

Lesson 2: Using Menu Commands

Menu Commands with Arguments

Using Rulers in Arguments

Turning Menu Commands On or Off

Recording versus Typing

The Key Command

Lesson 3: Find/Replace in Macros

A Basic Find/Replace

Find Options

Variations on the Find/Replace Command

Recess Story: A Tale of Two Dialects

Lesson 4: Variables

Variable Names

Variable Types

Defining Variables

Local and Global Scope

Numeric Variables

Strings

Date and Time Variables

Quotes and Other Mysteries

Lesson 5: Using the Clipboards

Interacting with the User

Lesson 6: Labels, Subroutines & Loops

Labels and the “Goto” Command

Conditionals

Subroutines

Loops

Lesson 7: Working with Numbers

Counting

Math

Random Numbers

Lesson 8: Arrays, Stacks, and Queues

Arrays qua Arrays

Stacks

Queues

Fun with Arrays

Lesson 9: Scripting with Frontier

Lesson 10: Debugging

Learning More

Summary

Chapter 13. Understanding WorldScript

Introducing WorldScript

The Language Key

The Nisus Network Server

Working with WorldScript

WorldScript-Related Preferences

Special Notes by Script

Roman

Eastern European

Cyrillic

Right-to-Left Languages

Arabic & Persian

Hebrew and Yiddish

Asian Languages

Chinese

Japanese

Find/Replace with WorldScript

Summary

Section IV: Applied Document Processing

Chapter 14. Business Document Processing

Business Forms and Stationery

Keeping Your Documents Consistent

Setting Document Attributes

Saving the Stationery Files

Combining Stationery and Macros

Making Forms

Using Mail Merge for Form Letters

Desktop Publishing

Importing to QuarkXPress or PageMaker

Page Layout with Graphics Tools

Presentations and Multimedia Documents

Slide Shows

Multimedia Presentations

Summary

Chapter 15. Working with Long Documents

Dealing with Memory

Linking Documents

Sequencing Page Numbers

Maintaining Consistency

Indexing Linked Documents

Using Defined Styles

Dynamically Linked Styles

Un-naming a Ruler

Autonumbering

UpdateVariables()

Variables in Editions

Cross-Referencing

Indexes and Contents Revisited

Using Styles for the Index and Contents

Multiple Indexes and Tables of Contents

Dynamic Tables of Contents

Summary

Chapter 16. Nisus Writer and the ’Net

Using Nisus Writer for E-mail

PowerTalk

Stand-Alone E-mail Programs

E-Mail Macros

Authoring HTML Documents

HTML Basics

A Simple HTML Document

Nisus Writer and HTML

Limitations

HTML Macros

Getting Started with HTML Macros

Starting From Scratch

Using Stationery

Converting Existing HTML Documents

Converting Regular Documents to HTML

Previewing Your Work

Major HTML Elements

Lists

HTML Styles

Links

Other HTML Macros

It’s Two, Two, Two Docs in One

Summary

Chapter 17. Creating Instructional Materials

Hypertext Documents

Basic Principles

Marking the Text

Establishing a Link

Creating and Using the Macro

Variations on a Theme

Language Learning Lessons

Lesson Ideas

Specific Tips

Other Strategies

Summary

Chapter 18. Organizing your Life with Nisus Writer

The Nisus-Centered Life

The Contact Manager

Names, Addresses and Phone Numbers

Other Contact Information

The Journal

The Workbook

Summary

Appendices

Appendix A. Keyboard Shortcuts

Navigation Shortcuts

Standard Selection Shortcuts

Noncontiguous Selection Shortcuts

Deletion Shortcuts

Catalog Shortcuts

Window Shortcuts

Affecting All Open Documents

Header/Footer and Footnote/Endnote Shortcuts

Ruler and Style Shortcuts

Special Characters

Table Tool Shortcuts

Menu Commands

Other Commands

Equation Tool Shortcuts

Navigation and Selection Shortcuts

Menu Commands

Inserting Symbols (Method 1)

Inserting Symbols (Methods 2 & 3)

Inserting Templates (Method 1)

Inserting Templates (Methods 2 & 3)

Inserting Macro Expressions

Inserting Spaces

Adding Embellishments

Appendix B. Find/Replace Expressions

Wild Card Metacharacters

“Special” Metacharacters

Repeat # Metacharacters

Position Metacharacters

Match Metacharacters

Search Options

Appendix C. Macro Command Quick Reference

The Menu Command Dialect

Menu Commands that Take Arguments

On/Off as Arguments

Other Menu Command Dialect Items

Programming Dialect Commands

Operators

Variables and Variable Commands

Storage Methods and Storage Variables

String Functions

Date and Time

Document Functions

Window Functions

Sound Functions

Other Macro Terms

Math and Trigonometry

Appendix D. Troubleshooting

What Have You Got?

Dealing with Crashes

Printing Problems

Language Key Problems

Other Sources for Answers

Contacting Technical Support

CD-ROM