Updated documentation

2019-11-03 12:19:48 +01:00
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 Introduction
 ************

-novelWriter is a simple multi-document plain text editor using a modified
-markdown syntax to apply simple formatting. Additional features are available
-through special meta data commands. These make it possible to generate an
-overview of the entire novel project and how the various files are
-interconnected.
+novelWriter is a simple, multi-document plain text editor using a modified markdown syntax to apply simple formatting.
+Additional features that are not standard markdown are available through special meta data keywords.
+These keywords make it possible to inter-link documents, and generate an overview of the entire novel project and how the various files are interconnected.

-The user interface is intended to be as minimalistic as practically possible,
-and most features are accessible through the menu and through keyboard
-shortcuts. The colour scheme of the user interface can be modified with various
-themes, and new themes are fairly straight forward to add. They are separated
-into gui and syntax themes, and can be found in the themes folder in the source
-code.
+Design Philosophy
+-----------------

-The tree view has various sections for the various types of supporting files
-that the User may want to add to the project. The novel itself lives under its
-own root folder, and export features are in the process of being added. These
-will include HTML, open document and PDF via LaTeX.
+The user interface is intended to be as minimalistic as practically possible, while at the same time provide a complete set of features needed for writing a novel.
+
+.. note::
+   novelWriter is not intended to be a full office type word processor.
+   It doesn't support images, links, tables, and its formatting is limited to headers, and bold, italics and underlined text.
+
+Most features are accessible through the menu and through keyboard shortcuts.
+The colour scheme of the user interface can be modified with various themes, and new themes are fairly straight forward to add.
+
+The project itself is laid out in a tree view on the left hand side of the main window.
+It has various sections, called *root folders*, for the various types of supporting files that the user may want to add to the project.
+The novel itself lives under its own root folder.
+
+Project Layout
+--------------
+
+The layout of the novel itself is managed through the four supported heading levels, H1 through H4.
+H1 is used for the book title, and for partitions.
+H2 is used for chapter tiles.
+H3 is reserved for scene titles.
+H4 is for section titles within scenes, if such granularity is necessary.
+
+For the files designated as project notes, the usage of headers imply no structural meaning, and the user is free to do whatever they want.
+
+Project Export
+--------------
+
+The project can at any time be exported to a range of different formats.
+Natively, novelWriter supports export to plain text file, html5 document, LaTeX source file, novelWriter flavoured markdown, and standard markdown.
+Additional export options are available through `Pandoc <https://pandoc.org/>`_.
+Currently, novelWriter will assist in converting the project to Open Office documents, Word documents, and epub.
+However, to be able to fully take advantage of the many features of Pandoc, you may want to run it yourself and use the novelWriter html or markdown export as input.
+
+screenshot
+----------
+
+.. image:: images/screenshot.png
+   :width: 800