# Chapter 3

# Using BeatWare Writer

This chapter provides you with all the information you need to design your own custom layouts with Writer.

## Adding, Deleting and Enhancing Text

### Adding Text

The simplest way to add text is to click in a file to place the I-beam cursor where you want it, and then type. In Writer, you can also add text from other files by:

- Dragging and dropping any text file into an open Writer file window.
- Copying or cutting and pasting text from the current file or a different file. The menu commands and keyboard shortcuts for these operations are:
  - Copy: Edit.Copy, or Cmd+C
  - Cut: Edit.Cut, or Cmd+X
  - Paste: Edit.Paste, or Cmd+V

### Deleting Text

- Place the I-beam cursor behind the text you wish to delete and press the backspace key to delete one letter at a time. Pressing the Delete key will delete the characters to the right of the I-beam cursor, one at a time.
- Click and drag the mouse to highlight the area to delete, then press the Delete key.
- Highlight the area to delete and select Edit.Cut (Cmd+X). This saves the text to the clipboard, so you can use it again (by pasting it) if you want to.

> TIP: Writer saves you time with a few text highlighting shortcuts. Positioning the I-beam cursor and clicking once with the mouse, places the cursor, clicking twice highlights the entire word, clicking three times highlights the entire paragraph.

### Enhancing Text

To enhance the appearance or placement of text in the document, start by highlighting the text you wish to change. Do this by clicking and dragging with the mouse to highlight an area of text; if you want to extend a highlighted area after releasing the mouse button, press the Shift key before clicking and dragging the mouse again. Use Edit.Select All (Cmd+A) to highlight the entire document. The following table summarizes text enhancement options.

To | Do this
Change fonts | Select Text.Font, and choose a font from the pop-up menu. Toolbar alternative: click in the font box (which displays the name of the current font) and choose from the pop-up menu.
Change font size | Select Text.Size, and choose a size from the list. Toolbar alternatives: click in the font size box (next to the font selection pop-up menu), type the size you want, and press Return/Enter for your change to take effect; or click on the left arrow beside the font size to decrease, the right arrow to increase one point size at a time.
Change font style | Select Text.Style and choose Plain, Bold, or Italic from the pop-up menu (you can use bold and italic simultaneously). Keyboard shortcuts: Cmd+B (bold), Cmd+I (italic). In the Toolbar, the P, I and B icons stand for plain, bold and italic.
Change font shear | The shear or slant of the text can be set using the text-entry field on the right side of the Toolbar. Depress the right arrow for increased right shearing, the left arrow for increased shearing to the left.
Change font color | Double click on the black square in the toolbar to launch Writer's color panel. You can select your desired color by using the sliders, inputting numeric color values or choosing a color from the color wheel.

## Finding and Replacing Text

Use the selection of find/replace functions in the Edit menu to search for and replace text. The following table summarizes them:

Menu item & shortcut | Does this
Find/Replace (Cmd+F) | Selecting Edit.Find brings up the Find dialog. To do a simple find, type the word(s) to search for in the text field. Check or leave unchecked the options for case sensitivity, wrap at the end, and search in all flows. Find locates the first instance of the word you search on, and continues from there if you click Find Next. To return to a previous instance, click Find Previous. To find and replace, extend the dialog by clicking the arrow in the lower-left corner. Enter the replacement text and choose one of the three buttons: Replace All, Replace,or Replace/Find.
Set Search String (Cmd+E) | Provides shortcut to entering text string in Find Field. If you highlight text and choose Enter selection, the Find dialog appears with that text in the Find field. Proceed as you would in Find/Replace.
Find Next (Cmd+G) | Finds next instance of string in Find Field.
Find Previous (Cmd+D) | Same as above, but jumps to previous instance of string in Find Field.
Replace (Cmd+R) | Replaces found text string with text string in Replace Field.
Replace and Find (Shift+Cmd+R) | Replaces text string and finds next instance of string in Find Field.
Replace All | Replaces all instances of text string in Find Field with text string in Replace Field.

## Locking Text

Writer provides you with a feature that allows you to lock your text to prevent unwanted content changes from occurring while you work on the layout of your document. To invoke the lock, select View.Lock Text from the menu.

## Positioning Text

To enhance the appearance, spacing or placement of text in the document, start by highlighting the text you wish to move.

### Justifying Text

The options available for justifying text are available under the Paragraph menu. Highlight paragraph and select either Left, Right, Full or Center justification. The same choices are also available from the justification icons in the Toolbar.

### Line Spacing

Line spacing is controlled by the grouping of three page-like icons on the upper right side of the window. Your options include single-spacing, one and one-half and double spacing. Begin by highlighting the text to be spaced and click on the appropriate icon in the Toolbar.

### Indenting

The lower green triangular marker () on the Ruler bar controls paragraph indentation. To have Writer indent the first line of every paragraph automatically, drag the marker to the desired location. Writer will align the first character of every new paragraph with this marker. To change the indentation position after your text has been entered, select the text and drag the marker along the Ruler Bar.

### Indenting with Bullets

You may wish to use bullet points to draw attention to a list of items or important points. To add bullet points while composing your document, simply click on the Bullets icon () above the Ruler Bar. Doing so will place a bullet on the left margin. You may follow this bullet with text. Subsequent lines will each begin with a bullet, unless the bullet mode is manually disabled by clicking on the icon once again. The arrows to the left and the right of the bullet icon control the indentation of the bullet, an inch at a time. To add bullets to an existing list, highlight the list and click on the bullet icon. Writer will place a bullet at the front of each item listed.

### Setting Margins

Margin settings are controlled by the upper green triangular markers ( and ) on the Ruler bar. To set margins, simply drag the marker along the ruler to the desired position. When resetting margins for existing text, be sure to select the text before sliding the margin marker to the desired position.

### Setting Tabs

The tab markers reside in the ruler bar below the Toolbar. Tabs may be set by clicking on the Ruler Bar, exactly where a tab is desired. When entering text, use the Tab key to move the cursor to the next tab. To modify a tab placement using the markers, highlight the text aligned to a tab, then grab on the tab marker and drag it. Release the mouse button to set the tab. To remove a tab, drag the tab marker either upward or downward, off the Ruler Bar.

# Page Layout

BeatWare Writer makes customizing your page layout quick and easy by leveraging the speed and highly visual interface of the BeOS. Writer lets you add, drag and drop text and images directly where you want them. You'll see the changes you make in real-time, as they happen.

> TIP: You can keep an eye on the overall layout of your file by opening a new view of your file (View.New Viewer) and zooming way out. All layout changes you make in the normal view will automatically be reflected in the layout view.

## Adding Columns

Adding one or two columns to the layout of your document is a simple menu operation. Choose Frame.Two Columns or Three Columns. To return file to a one column layout, choose Frame.One Column. There's no need to highlight text to make this change; the command changes the entire document.

> TIP: To avoid rework, it is good practice to determine and set column format when you begin working. Some custom formatting may be lost if column set-up is changed mid-stream.

## Frames

Writer is a frame-based word processor, meaning that all text and images reside in frames which can be easily added, deleted, resized and moved.

In order to move, resize or add content to a frame, the Layout Lock must be disabled (View.Lock Layout) and the frame must be active. To activate a frame, click on the blue border. When a frame is active, its dotted-line border is red.

### Moving a Frame

To move a frame, click on the frame to activate it. Then, holding the mouse button down, drag the frame to its new location.

To make small changes in the position of an active frame you can move it one space at a time in any direction with the arrow keys. To reposition the frame 10 spaces at a time, press Shift+Arrow key.

### Resizing a Frame

To resize a frame, click on one of the blue handles (small blue squares) on the frame line.

- To resize a frame's height and width at the same time, click on one of the corner handles, hold down the mouse button, and drag the handle until the frame is the desired size. Release the mouse button.
- To resize either height or width, click on the handle in the middle of the side you want to move, hold down the mouse button, and drag the handle until the frame is the desired size. Release the mouse button.

When you reduce a frame's size, any text you displace flows automatically into the next frame. An orange line that originates in the active frame and terminates in the overflow frame indicates the direction of text flow.

### Adding a Frame

You can add a frame to a page -- for example, to frame a graphic, or create a text box--very easily. Move the cursor to where you want to place the frame and press the CTRL key. Then press and hold the mouse button while dragging the mouse out to create the size frame you want. Your text will automatically reflow to accommodate the frame.

> TIP: Add Header and Footer frames to a single page automatically by using the menu commands, Format.Add Header and Format.Delete Header. Header and Footer frames may be resized in the ususal way to meet your layout specifications.

### Creating Embedded Frames

Frames added in this manner are free floating frames, meaning they appear within another frame but are not part of or embedded in the larger frame. Embedded frames provide the added advantage of resizing and moving automatically when the larger, containing frame is moved or resized. It is possible to add an embedded frame by activating the larger, containing frame before adding the new frame. Embedded frames will have a gold frame when inactive.

### Deleting a Frame

To delete a frame, activate frame by clicking on it and press delete.

### Changing Text Flow Between Frames

You can redirect text flow in page frames by pressing the Shift+CTRL keys and clicking on the orange flow line at its point of origin. Holding the mouse button down, drag the line to where you want the text to flow into another frame, and release the mouse button. As soon as you click on the line, the flow line will change to pink to indicate that it is being modified.

### Adding Text to a Frame

You can add text to a frame you create:

- Click inside the frame to get a cursor and type your text.
- Drop text from an outside source (file format .txt) into the new frame. Make sure the frame is activated (border is red) before you drag and drop the text into it.
- Redirect text flow into the new frame by pressing the Shift+CTRL keys and clicking on the orange flow line at its point of origin. Holding the mouse button down, drag the line to where you want the text to flow into another frame, and release the mouse button.
- Cut and paste existing text into the new frame.

## Inserting an Image

You can insert an image into Writer (file formats JPEG, TARGA, TIFF or PICT) by dragging and dropping the image file into an open Writer document. Resize and move the image the same way you would resize a frame. Your text will automatically scroll around the new image!

Just as you can embed frames, you can embed images. The advantage of embedding images within the larger frame is that by placing the image within the larger frame, you have more control over the the text wrapping feature (See Controlling the Flow of Text Around an Image).

To embed the image, activate the larger frame and hold the Shift key while dragging the image into the frame. The border of the image will have the same gold color as an embedded frame. When the frame is active you can opt to have the text wrap to the left of the image, the right of the image or go through the image. Pressing the tab key consecutively will cycle through these options. Similarly, these options are available from the Frame menu.

> TIP: To attach text to an image, such as a footnote or header, create a new frame. Drag and drop image into frame.Type related text within the same frame.

## Inserting a Table or Chart from BeatWare Sum-It

Drag and drop tables and charts from Sum-It into Writer easily by highlighting the area in Sum-It, holding the CTRL key and using the mouse to drag the selection into Writer.

## Controlling the Flow of Text Around an Image

You can control whether the text flows to the right, to the left or through an embedded image. Once the image is embedded into the document, select the image by clicking on it. From the Main Menu select Frame.Text Flows Left, Text Flows Right or Text Flows Through. The text will reposition itself as directed. An alternative to the menu commands is available by pressing the tab key. Writer will cycle through the three options.

## Deleting an Image or Chart

To delete an image or chart, click on the image and press the delete key.

## Breaking Frames

A frame break inserts a new, empty frame at the point of the break. To break a frame, place the I-beam cursor where you wish to break the text and select Format.Insert Frame Break.

## Locking Your Page Layout

Writer provides you with a feature that allows you to lock your frames to prevent unwanted changes from occurring to your layout while you edit the text of your document. To enable the lock, select View.Lock Layout from the menu.

### Hiding Frames

Once your page layout is complete and locked, you may hide the frame borders by deselecting View.Show Frames from the Main Menu. Hidden frames will not appear when the document is viewed on screen or when printed.

## Saving Your Work

To save a new file or to change the name or path of a previously saved file, select Save As from the File menu. In this window you name the file and set a path to the place on your hard drive where you want to save it. The BeOS also gives you a set of menus with the file saving window which allow considerably expanded options for handling the file within this window. See the BeOS User's Guide for more information.

To save a file in text, RTF or UTF8 file format, select Export... from the File menu. In this window, you will be able to choose the name and save location as described above in addition to specifying your choice of file formats.

For previously named files, select Save (Cmd+S).

## Printing Your Work

Choose File.Page Layout to set paper type and document orientation, then use the Print command (Cmd+P) to print your work.