Customizing a Framework

Nota Bene gives you full control over the formatting and numbering of your framework. The Document Framework/Outline Structure dialog guides you through all the details necessary to develop a new framework or outline structure. This dialog may be accessed by clicking Tools, Framework Library and then clicking New at the bottom of the Manage Framework Library dialog. If you want to customize an existing framework, the process is the same except that you use the Manage Framework Library dialog to select the framework you want to customize and then click Edit instead of New. This provides you with all of the settings in the framework you are customizing as default settings so that you only need to set the options that you want to change.

To create a new framework using the Document Framework/Outline Structure dialog, follow these instructions. If you are customizing an existing framework, you can skip any step that describes a control that you do not want to change. [Instructions that apply specifically to customizing an existing framework are shown in square brackets.]

Use the slider control in the top left of the dialog to select the number of levels you want in your framework. As you increase the number of levels, one tab will appear at the top of the dialog for each level. Each tab is initially labeled "Article 1." [If you are editing an existing framework, the tabs will have different labels depending on the existing framework settings. You can increase the number of levels of an existing framework, but you cannot decrease the number of levels.]

If you are going to want each heading indented (e.g. in an outline), check the box labeled Indent Each and use the slider control to indicate how much indentation you want. This is a global setting which will apply to all framework components, indenting each level more than the level before. The number of levels and the indentation will be reflected in the diagram in the box at the bottom left of the dialog.

Click on the first tab (the tab furthest to the left) at the top of the screen. This tab will be used to select the settings for the first level of headings and body text (e.g., for outline points I,II, III ...). Note that the global settings you selected in steps 1 and 2 remain in place. If you are creating a new framework, this tab and the tabs next to it will be labeled "Article 1." [If you are editing an existing framework, you only need to enter settings you want to change. Unless you change them, the settings will remain as they are in the framework you chose to edit.]

4	A framework component may consist of a heading or body text or both. Use the check boxes to indicate whether you want first level framework components to include a heading or body text or both.

5	If you checked the heading box, the Heading tab will be active and you will use this tab to select settings for the heading of the first level.

The Heading may consist of a Caption, a Number and a Title or any one or two of these elements. In "Article 1: This is a Sample Title," "Article" is the Caption, "1" is the Number and "This is a Sample Title" is the Title. Click one of the three radio buttons under Heading Format to indicate whether you want these Heading Elements to be on one line, separate lines or run-on. Note that the images in the boxes at the left and at the top of dialog demonstrate the effect of your choices.

7	Click on the Font button if you want to define the font for the entire heading. Use the Set Heading Font dialog to set the font for the Heading. If you want to have different fonts for different parts of the Heading, skip this step.

8	Use the Level Indent slider control to set the indentation for this level. This will override the global setting established with the Indent Each slider control in step 3 above.

There are three icons in the white box at the bottom right of the Document Framework/Outline Structure dialog. To identify these icons, move the cursor to the icon and pause. A label identifying the icon will appear. If you want to add extra space before or after the Heading or to add punctuation after the Title, click the appropriate icon and enter the settings you want in the dialog that will appear.

When you click on the Heading tab, three tabs corresponding to each heading element (Caption, Number, and Title) will appear below the white box in the Document Framework/Outline Structure dialog. Use the check boxes on the tabs at the bottom of the dialog to indicate whether you want your heading to include a Caption, a Number or a Title or any combination of 2 or all 3 of these elements.

Alignment/Indent: Click on one of the radio buttons to indicate whether you want the heading centered or left aligned.

Number: Use the drop down list to select decimal numbers, upper or lower case roman numerals, upper or lower case letters or bullets.

Starting number: Use the slider control to set the starting number. If you are writing a chapter that will be included in a manuscript file, and you want the numbering sequence to continue from previous chapters, select Continue Sequential from the dropdown list. If not, select Begin Sequential.

Alignment/Indent: Click on one of the radio buttons to indicate whether you want the heading centered or left aligned.

Keep together: Use this slider control to indicate the number of lines of text that must be kept with the heading. If there isn't enough room for the heading and the number of lines you specify at the bottom of the page, the heading will start at the top of the next page.

Allow auto hyphenation: Check this box if you want to allow auto hyphenation for titles that extend to more than one line.

Alignment/Indent: Click on one of the radio buttons to indicate whether you want the heading centered or left aligned.

If you have checked the Body Text check box in step 4 indicating that you want to include body text in this framework component, then click on the Body Text tab. The Level Indent slider control is the same control described in step 8 above. Click the Text Font if you want to make changes to the font of the text.

When you click the Body Text tab, three tabs corresponding to body text formatting (Indentation, Alignment, and Spacing) will appear below the white box in the Document Framework/Outline Structure dialog. Click the Indentation tab if you would like to make changes to the indentation of the body text and make the following selections:

Type: Click on None if you want no indentation, Block if you want all lines to have the same indentation or First Line/Hanging if you want the first line indentation to be different from the rest of the paragraph.

Paragraph Indentation: Use the slider controls to set the indentation from the left margin of the first line, the indentation from the left margin of the following lines and the indentation from the right margin of all lines.

16	Click the Alignment tab if you would like to make changes to the alignment of the body text and make the following selections:

17	Click the Spacing tab if you would like to make changes to the spacing of the body text and make the following selections:

Line spacing: Select automatic or fixed line spacing. Automatic spacing will adjust depending on the font while with fixed spacing, the space from one line to the next remains the same even if the font size changes. Use the Additional slider control to add a fixed amount of space after each line.

You have now completed the process of selecting the settings for the first framework component. Click on the next tab labeled Article I [the label may be different if you are editing an existing framework] and repeat steps 4 through 17 to select the settings for this framework component. Repeat the process for each level.

Type in a descriptive name for the framework you have just customized, or if you want to save your changes to the name of one of the existing frameworks, highlight that framework. Use the Save To Library drop down list at the bottom of the dialog to select User-Defined Frameworks or one of the other libraries. Click Add to add a new framework or Update to update an existing framework.