Subject: Re: Update to documentation (fwd)
From: Martin Sevior (msevior@mccubbin.ph.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Thu Aug 17 2000 - 16:12:53 CDT
Here is a little exchange Chris and I had about Modeless dialogs and
suggested changes to the documentation.
On Wed, 16 Aug 2000 ChrisDigo@aol.com wrote:
> It's a good idea. But I don't know what's the point about modeless dialog.
> What it is? How it work and in what in can interrest the end user? Could you
> help me like this I could explain it in the french manual version?
>
> Thank you
> Chris
>
A modeless dialog is one that allows you to keep typing and manipulating
your current documents (you can have multiple open documents in abiword)
while the dialog is active. This is extremely useful for "Insert Symbol"
in particular. For people who need those strange symbols in their document
it is much more convienent to park the dialog off to one side
then keep typing in the current document. Whenever they need a new symbol
they can select it via "insert Symbol". Also it is possible to select
symbols with the arrow keys and <enter>. (Arrows move the selected symbol,
<enter> inserts the symbol in the document.)
In the case of word count, it can optionally auto update as a modeless
dialog. If you are writing a 1000 word essay you can park the dialog off
to one side and watch as you get close to the required number of words.
In the case of goto/find/replace you can park the dialog(s) off to one
side while you interactively alter text in the document using the dialogs
to navigate around the text and between open documents.
All the dialogs operate on the last used document and all can be open at
once. It is now possible to have 9 open abi documents and 5 open modeless
dialogs. 6 if you count the list dialog which is not ready yet.
You should definately update the French help!
Cheers
Martin
>
> > So we now have modeless dialogs for
> >
> > Insert Symbol, Word Count, Goto, Search and Replace. Can the documentation
> > be updated to explain how these work now?
>
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