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9 - Setting Preferences

Nvu allows you several ways in which you can customise the way in which the program operates.

9.1   Toolbars

You can view or hide a number of the toolbars. On the Menu Bar select View – Show/Hide then check which toolbar you wish to display. You cannot hide the menu bar nor the unnamed toolbar.

You can customise some toolbars to change which items appear on them. To do so right-click on the bar and select ‘Customize’ then drag an item to or from the toolbar.

As you customise a toolbar you can select whether you wish to display small or large icons. Note this selection is specific to each bar.

9.2    Toolbar buttons

The list below shows the buttons, and the corresponding icons, available on Nvu toolbars. The buttons are normally located on the toolbar indicated. A button may not be installed by default in which case the bar may be customised to make it available.

Since the Composition Toolbar is often the simplest way of carrying out a function this guide has generally assumed that buttons available for that bar are visible. If you have disabled the Composition or Format toolbar or a button, functions may be still accessed via the Menu bar. The corresponding selections are shown in the table opposite. If there is a shortcut key (with control key) it is also listed. (The symbol ^ means press the Control key simultaneously with the key shown.)

Keyboard alternatives to toolbars Button Menu bar selection Shortcut Anchor Insert – Named anchor Align center Format – Align – center Align justify Format – Align – justify Align left Format – Align – left Align right Format – Align – right Bold Format – Text style – bold   ^B Browse File – Browse page Bulleted list Format – List – bulleted Choose color for text Format – text color Choose color for background n/a Choose highlight color for text n/a Copy Edit – Copy   ^C Cut Edit – Cut      ^X Find    Edit – Find      ^F Form    Insert -- Form Horizontal Line    Insert – Horizontal line Image    Insert – Image Indent text    Format – increase indent     ^] Italic    Format – Text style – italic      ^I Larger font size   Format – Font size – larger      ^+ Link    Insert – Link      ^L New    File – New        ^N Numbered list   Format – List – numbered Open   File – Open File      ^O Outdent text    Format – decrease indent      ^[ Paste    Edit – Paste      ^V Print    File – Print    ^P Publish    File – Publish Save   File – Save       ^S Smaller font size   Format – Font size – smaller      ^- Spell    Edit – Spell checking      ^K Table   Insert – Table Underline    Format – Text style – underline      ^U

9.3    Editing preferences

Nvu can be customised in several ways through the Menu selection Tools > Preferences mechanism.

There are four sets of options ‘General’, ‘Fonts’, ‘New page settings’ and ‘Advanced’. Many of the options will be self-explanatory and need no further explanation.

General – With ‘Use CSS Styles …’ unchecked pages use an early form of HTML.

The options ‘Retain original source formatting’ and ‘Reformat HTML source’ alter the display in Source view but have no effect when viewed in a browser. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

‘Retain original source formatting’ introduces a number of blank lines, particularly in the head area, but when files are transferred to other applications e.g. for validation, line numbers approximately correspond.

‘Reformat HTML source’ does not introduce blank lines but splits lines so that line numbers correspond poorly.

New page settings – By completing the boxes a number of items may be added which will appear in the ‘head’ area of all new pages. These include Author’s name, Language, Writing direction and Character set.

Note Some of these may be overridden for specific pages using Format > Page Title and

Properties.

Among other options available are colours for links; but better control can be achieved using styles (Section 4).

Advanced – Setting ‘Return in a paragraph always creates new paragraph’ can be useful. If un-set a return creates a line break.

Setting ‘Underline misspelled words’ is a useful reminder to poor spellers who forget to run the spell checker separately, however it consumes resources which may slow the system, in particular the time taken to switch between views may become excessive.

More information

For more details of particular options consult the Nvu Help Documentation.

Nvu User Guide - Based on Nvu version 0.9 - 01-Apr-2005