Released on 26 August 2021
+Released on 10 September 2021
-This is a beta release of the next release version, and is intended for testing purposes. Please -be careful when using this version on live writing projects, and make sure you make frequent +
This is a release candidate of the next release version, and is intended for testing purposes. +Please be careful when using this version on live writing projects, and make sure you make frequent backups.
+From this release on, Debian packages will be provided for Ubuntu and Debian users. A new +PPA has also been created. +Adding this will allow users to install and update novelWriter automatically on Ubuntu and Debian. +
Release 1.5 introduces a new project file format, which has been given a file format version 1.3. The project file and index is updated automatically when you open the project, which means you can no longer open it in an older version of novelWriter.
-You may also have to make a handful of changes in your novel documents as these are not updated -automatically. However, the changes are minimal and in any case only affects the way your -manuscript looks like when exported via the Build Novel Project tool. The details are described -below.
+You may also have to make a handful of changes in your novel documents as novelWriter will not +make any automated changes to your actual text. However, the changes are minimal and in any case +only affects the way your manuscript looks like when exported via the Build Novel Project tool. The +details are described below.
The main change in this release is the significant simplification of document layouts. Previously, there were seven different layouts available for novel documents, in addition to the one layout for project notes. The original intention of these layouts were partially to define some -default formatting behaviour when exporting your project, and partially a way to indicate whether a -specific document was a partition, chapter or scene.
+default formatting behaviour when exporting your project, and partially as a way to indicate +whether a specific document was a partition, chapter or scene.With this release, all the seven layouts for novel documents have been merged into a single -layout called simply "Novel Document". The other layout for "Project Note" remains unchanged. The +layout called simply "Novel Document". The other layout, "Project Note", remains unchanged. The functionality provided by the various novel layouts have been implemented in other ways, and a few new formatting codes have been added to accommodate the formatting functionality lost with the removal of the layouts. They are all available in the Format and Insert menu.
The changes you need to make to your project should be limited to altering a handful of titles and maybe insert a page break code here and there. The only title formats you need to update are those for the main novel title and for your unnumbered chapters, if you have any.
-Novel titles need to be altered from "# Novel Title" to -"#! Novel Title" and unnumbered chapters from "## -Chapter Name" or "## *Chapter Name" to "##! -Chapter Name". That is all. For inserting page breaks, you can add a single line with the -command "[NEW PAGE]" where you want the break to be inserted. As before, -page breaks are automatically inserted in front of all partition and chapter titles.
-You will find these changes described in more detail the documentation in the -"Format -1.3 Changes" section.
+Novel titles need to be altered from "# Novel Title" to "#! Novel Title" and unnumbered chapters +from "## Chapter Name" or "## *Chapter Name" to "##! Chapter Name". That is all. For inserting page +breaks, you can add a single line with the command "[NEW PAGE]"" where you want the break to be +inserted. As before, page breaks are automatically inserted in front of all partition and chapter +titles.
+You will find these changes described in more detail in the documentation in the +"Format 1.3 Changes" +section.
Due to the above changes, the GUI has been altered a bit. The main changes are in the project @@ -49,7 +52,7 @@ whether it was a chapter or scene. With these layouts gone, the distinction is i other visual means.
The project index will now record the level of the first header of your document, and select a different icon for documents with a partition, chapter or scene header. These are colour coded as -green, red and blue respectively. The project notes have also received a new icon, with a yellow +green, red, and blue respectively. The project notes have also received a new icon, with a yellow colour code. Due to this change, the grey icon themes have been removed.
In addition, novel documents with a partition or chapter header will have the document label viewed as bold and underlined. This feature can be disabled in Preferences if you want a cleaner @@ -64,6 +67,14 @@ rewritten and now conforms more closely to the Open Document standard. Most of t will not be noticeable to you as a user, but you may notice that the exported document will now allow multiple consecutive spaces. Previously, two spaces, or more, would be concatenated into a single space in the exported document.
+The internal spell check tool has been removed. If you want spell checking, you must install the +Spell Enchant tool. The internal spell checker was only ever added because the Python package for +Spell Enchant was not available on 64-bit Windows. This was corrected over a year ago. The main +issue with the internal spell checker was that it only included English, and the large dictionary +files had to be shipped with novelWriter.
+Finally, a PDF version of the documentation should now be shipped with your install package. If +it is available, a "User Manual (PDF)" option should be visible in the Help menu. This should give +you access to the documentation also when you don't have an active internet connection.
See also the Releases page.
diff --git a/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.0.htm b/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.0.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 789ef644..00000000 --- a/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.0.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,137 +0,0 @@ - - - - -Released on 3 February 2021
-This patch release fixes a couple of minor issues with the Preferences dialog and the behaviour -of one of the keyboard shortcuts.
-Aside from these fixes, the main point of this patch is to add new setup features for -novelWriter on Windows. A Windows installer will no longer be provided for the foreseeable future, -and instead functionality has been added to the main setup script to create desktop and start menu -icons.
- -The full changelog is available -here.
- -Released on 24 January 2021
-This patch release fixes a minor bug sometimes encountered when running novelWriter from command -line on Windows. In addition, the Solarized Dark and Solarized Light themes have been added to the -selection of GUI and syntax themes by a user contribution.
-The main change in this release is to the install scripts and the documentation related to -installing and running novelWriter. The primary change is a different method of packaging the app -for Windows. Instead of building an .exe file, the new setup instead builds a runnable zip -file .pyz. The executable would often be mistakenly flagged by virus control software due to -the packaging tools. This is a known problem with pyinstaller and similar tools, but such warnings -are always concerning even if they are false positives.
- -Released on 19 January 2021
-This patch release fixes a few minor cosmetic issues, a minor issue with the indexer, and a bug -when adding words to the user's own spell check dictionary. Additionally, the documentation has -been updated based on user feedback, and some install issues resolved.
- -Released on 10 January 2021
-This release is mainly to bring the documentation up to date, as I forgot to update the install -instructions in the original 1.0 release. I also forgot to change the various settings and help -texts that describe novelWriter as under initial development (beta state).
-Some minor improvements have been made to the "Edit Project Item" dialog and some restrictions -on the settings available for documents created in the "Outtakes" folder relaxed. A few minor -issues with the document and project changed icons on the status bar have also been resolved. The -indicators were previously set to changed status even if no actual change had been made to the -project.
- -Released on 3 January 2021
-Based on my own testing and usage, and no serious bugs discovered in quite some time (aside from -a few corner case issues), it appears that novelWriter is stable enough for a 1.0 release. Thanks -to all the new users who keep providing feedback on bugs, cosmetic issues, or suggesting -improvements and new features. I'm glad to hear that others find my application useful, and I will -keep making improvements as I get new suggestions and have new ideas myself. At the same time, I -will continue to keep novelWriter simple and clean and avoid feature-bloat.
-This release mainly fixes cosmetic and other minor issues to the user interface and makes a few -minor improvements to some less used features. Aside from this, nothing major has changed since the -last release candidate.
-This release concludes over two years of tinkering with this project. The project grew out of -numerous lunch and coffee discussions with my colleague Marian Lückhof at my former job. We were -both looking for a tool for writing novels on Linux that suited our needs. We started assembling a -wish list of features that has become novelWriter. In addition, users on GitHub have continued to -test new features, provide very helpful feedback, and make new suggestions for improvements. -Especially the feedback from @johnblommers has been helpful during much of the initial development -time. Over the last months more users have started posting ideas and feedback. Thanks to all of you -for your contributions.
-The 1.0 release is intended as a first release of the core features of novelWriter. That does -not mean that all planned features have been fully implemented. There is a long list of ideas and -suggestions to consider and implement. New ideas and suggestions are welcome. Either as feature -requests in the issue tracker, or if not fully formed, can be discussed on the -discussions page. - -
Released on 13 December 2020
-This second release candidate for 1.0 comes with only minor changes and improvements, and a -handful of minor bugfixes.
-Among the improvements is the addition of all the possible @-keywords for tags and references to -the "Insert" menu under the sub-menu "Tags and References". The "Help" menu has also received a few -improvements and additional links to useful webpages. This release also adds a "Release" notes tab -to the "About novelWriter" dialog. The release notes are displayed automatically the first time you -launch novelWriter after updating to a new version.
-Among the fixes is better support for high resolution screens. A few elements on the GUI did not -scale properly, among them the document editor and viewer header and footer. These were clipped on -high res screens due to an underlying issue with the Qt widget underestimating how much space it -required to accommodate the text. Unfortunately, dragging the novelWriter app between screens of -different scaling factors is not currently supported. However, the GUI should scale properly to the -scaling factor on the screen it is opened on.
-The work leading up to this release has mostly been focused on improving the test coverage of -the source code of novelWriter. This helps to ensure that the code does what it is intended to do, -and is able to handle corner cases and unexpected external errors and user actions that may occur. -While writing these tests, a number of minor potential issues have been uncovered and handled. Most -of these are corner cases that may not even be reachable by unexpected user actions.
-Hopefully, these changes have resulted in an even more stable version of novelWriter. If no more -issues are discovered, the next release will be the final version 1.0 release.
- -Released on 16 November 2020
-This is the first release candidate for the upcoming release of novelWriter 1.0.
-Since the fifth beta release about four weeks ago, not much has been changed in novelWriter. A -few minor tweaks have been made to the GUI.
-A number of features and tools are now automatically switched off when there is no project or -document open for those features to act upon. Previously, this was a bit inconsistent, although no -serious bugs have been reported or encountered.
-Most of the minor changes in this release should not be noticeable to most users. However, there -are a couple of noticeable changes.
-The "Typewriter Mode" of the editor has been improved. Essentially, this feature is a sort of -smart scroll. It tries to keep the cursor stationary in the vertical direction, and will try to -scroll the document up when the cursor skips to a new line while typing (or down in case of -backspaces). This is similar to the way a typewriter scrolls the paper when hitting the return key. -It improves the writing experience as the current active line will stay at the same eye height -level on the screen.
-Previously, the feature would lock the cursor to a given vertical position defined by the user. -Now, instead, the cursor will remain stationary in the vertical direction at any position the user -sets it to by mouse click or keyboard navigation. The user can define a minimum distance from the -top where this feature is activated. These changes makes it more flexible in terms of where the -focus is in the editor. The feature can be controlled from the main Preferences.
-It is now possible to switch syntax highlighting theme without restarting novelWriter. -Previously, changing the theme would only half-way update the document, header and footer -background and text colours. The new settings would not be fully applied until the application was -shut down and started again, thus making it a bit tedious to look through syntax themes to find the -one you want.
-Switching main GUI theme still requires a restart.
- - - diff --git a/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.1.htm b/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.1.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 4db3412f..00000000 --- a/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.1.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,49 +0,0 @@ - - - - -Released on 21 February 2021
-This patch makes a couple of minor improvements to the GUI. The keyboard shortcut for deleting -entries in the project tree has been changed from "Ctrl+Del" to "Ctrl+Shift+Del" to free up that -shortcut for the document editor. It is now possible to use the shortcut for deleting the word in -front of the cursor, a common and useful feature of many text editors.
-The way the negative word count filter option works on the Writing Statistics tool has been -changed to be more intuitive. Enabling this filter now appears to remove all negative entries -without altering the other entries. Previously, the removed negative counts would be included in -the following entries to make it consistent with the total word count. In addition, writing -sessions shorter than five minutes, and with no change in the word count, are no longer recorded in -the session log file.
-Other changes include improving the speed of the internal spell checker, used when the Enchant -spell check library isn't available. The internal spell checker is no longer significantly slower, -but is still lacking in functionality compared to Enchant.
- -See also the Releases page.
- -Released on 7 February 2021
-The main change in this release is the addition of a new tab to the project tree on the left -side of the main window. The regular project tree is now on a tab named "Project", while a new tab -named "Novel" displays a simpler version of the information on the main "Outline" page. It lists -all the headers of the novel part of the project, as well as the word count and point-of-view -character of each section. This is an alternative way to navigate the novel part of the project. -The various tree views are now also kept better in sync when the user selects various documents and -headers.
-In addition, a new information dialog named "Project Details" has been added. It replaces the -"Details" tab in "Project Settings", and adds more information about the novel part of the project. -In particular, a "Table of Contents" in the "Contents" tab displays a summary of the main parts -and chapters of the project, their total word counts, and an estimated page count. This was made in -response to users asking for ways to estimate the total page count of the project. The page count -is estimated based on a words per page setting, which can be changed on the dialog window.
-Since the tabs below the project tree now add some extra room on the GUI, some convenient -buttons have been added in the same area, with direct access to "Project Details", "Writing -Statistics" and "Project Setting".
-A few other minor changes have been made as well. The Preferences dialog has been improved with -clearer categories and hopefully better help text. Some new options have been added too. They allow -syntax highlighting of multi-paragraph quotes. The highlighter can now optionally accept quotes to -be left "hanging", that is, no closing quote in the same paragraph.
- - - diff --git a/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.2.htm b/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.2.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 864521b1..00000000 --- a/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.2.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,104 +0,0 @@ - - - - - -Released on 28 March 2021
-This patch release is a bug fix release addressing some inconsistencies and issues with the -document header buttons when Focus Mode is active. The keyboard shortcuts for search and replace -should now also work in Focus Mode. In addition, the setup script for novelWriter has been improved -when installing on Windows.
- -See also the Releases page.
- -Released on 21 March 2021
-This patch release is a bug fix release addressing issues with the document editor's search and -replace tool. Due to some recently added restrictions on when various tools are active, depending -on which part of the main window has the user's focus, the search tool keyboard shortcuts and -buttons were blocked when they shouldn't. This release resolves these issues.
- -Released on 14 March 2021
-This release is mainly focused on the Build Novel Project tool. Completely new export classes -have been written to support Open Document and Markdown exports. In addition, the way document -layouts are handled have been automated a little to assist the user in keeping header levels and -document layout flags in sync. The third new additoion is the ability to record and log idle time -during a writing session to improve the writing statistics information as requested by several -users. Finally, it is now possible to directly edit the project dictionary via a new, simple GUI -dialog.
- -The main changes for this release are to the Build Novel Project tool. The Open Document export, -as well as the Markdown export, is now handled entirely by code written for novelWriter. -Previously, these export features depended on the underlying Qt library's save routines connected -to the preview document shown in the build dialog. Using this method of export both meant that the -content of the document was dependent on the preview being generated first, and it also meant that -the exported document had limited support for novelWriter-specific features and custom formatting. -The new export class should generate a much better result, especially for the Open Document -formats. The Open Document standard is supported by Open Office, Libre Office, Google Docs, -Microsoft Word, and probably a number of other applications too. The Markdown export hasn't changed -a lot, but should be a slight improvement on the previous export feature.
-These changes to the build tool also imply that the saving process is now independent of the -content of the preview window, meaning you don't have to rebuild the preview before saving, which -was previously the case. To make this more consistent, the PDF export option has been moved to the -print button as it is actually a print-to-file feature under the hood, not technically a proper PDF -export format. It is exactly the same as printing to file from the print preview dialog.
-In addition to the changes to the export features, the Build Novel Project tool now also has -controls for line height, which applies to all rich text export formats, and the option to replace -unicode characters with appropriate html entities for html export.
- -Among other changes in this release are a few improvements to the process of creating and -changing documents. When a new document is first created, the header is generated from the assigned -label and layout.
-In addition, for some document layouts, when the user changes the header level of the first -header of the document, the document layout setting is updated accordingly. This should reduce the -need for the user to maintain two ways of assigning the role of a given document. This automation -only applies to combinations of header level and current document layouts where there is no -ambiguity. For instance, changing the header level in a "Scene" document from level 3 to 2 changes -the document layout automatically to "Chapter". But changing the first header of a "Book" layout -document from 1 to 2 does not change the document's layout as the "Book" layout is a generic -document layout and it's perfectly reasonable for its first header to be a chapter header.
-Keep in mind that novelWriter treats documents with layout "Book", "Chapter" and "Scene" exactly -the same during exports. The distinction is only meant as a way to indicate the purpose of a -document in the project tree. This new automation is meant to assist in keeping this information up -to date. The other layouts do have an effect on formatting during export, and are generally left -alone.
- -Another change that has been requested by a couple of users is to have the session timer in the -status bar stop counting when the user is inactive (idle). This feature is optional, and can be -controlled from Preferences. The definition of "idle" in this context is either that the user is -active in a different application than novelWriter (loss of focus) or that the user has not made -any changes to the current document for a given amount of time. The time threshold is by default -five minutes, but can be altered in Preferences.
-In addition, the idle time is also recorded in the session log, and can be viewed in the Writing -Statistics dialog and exported with the rest of the information. The idle time is recorder in the -logs regardless of whether the status bar clock takes idle time into consideration or not. So even -if you turn off the idle time switch in Preferences, the other idle time setting still affects the -writing stats log entries.
- -The user dictionary of the project, where words added to the dictionary from the document editor -go, can now be viewed and edited with a new "Project Word List" tool in the "Tools" menu.
-A small additional feature added is also the ability to undo the last move of an item in the -project tree. The keyboard shortcut for this is `Ctrl+Shift+Z`, or it can be accessed from the -menu. The feature can only undo the last move, but it includes both documents moved to trash, moves -by up/down keypress or menu entries, and drag and drop moves.
-A new keyword has been added to mark characters in the story. The new keyword is intended to tag -a character as the focus character for a chapter or scene. This is useful for stories where the -point-of-view character and the focus character are different.
-Lastly, two bugfixes have been made as well. The Empty Trash feature was no longer working due -to an earlier fix solving another issue. The feature has now been restored. In addition, the -indexer now checks that a keyword (tag or reference) is valid before saving it to the index. -Previously, an invalid keyword could be saved to the index and potentially crash the application. -
- - - diff --git a/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.3.htm b/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.3.htm deleted file mode 100644 index e0f6882f..00000000 --- a/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.3.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,60 +0,0 @@ - - - - -Released on 13 June 2021
-This patch release fixes a potential file encoding issue when running setup on Windows, and a -minor issue with the project word count not being updated immediately when a file is deleted. In -addition, the keyboard shortcuts to change focus between the project tree, the editor, the viewer, -and the outline panel, have been changed for Windows users. They keyboard shortcuts were -interfering with the Alt codes used for special characters. The shortcuts are unchanged for Linux -and macOS.
- -See also the Releases page.
- -Released on 30 May 2021
-This is a patch release that fixes some minor issues. One issue was with the split tool, which -would drop the last line from the source document during a split if it was missing a final line -break. A minor issue with the display of word counts on the details panel under the project tree -has also been fixed. In addition, the setup script commands for Linux have been improved a bit.
- -Released on 6 May 2021
-This is a patch release primarily to fix a problem with the Qt translation library used to make -novelWriter available in multiple languages. One of the function calls made to the library was -added recently, in Qt 5.15, which many users on Linux will not have installed on their system. The -issue could be resolved by updating the library, but it's an unnecessary and inconvenient -restriction.
- -Released on 2 May 2021
-The main feature of the 1.3 release is internationalisation. The release introduces support for -Portuguese, French, and Norwegian for the main GUI, in addition to the default English. The -settings for choosing the GUI language can be found in the main Preferences.
-The implementation is such that the projects themselves can use a different language than the -one selected for the GUI. To allow for better support for multiple language projects, the Build -Novel Project tool has the added option to select the language of the injected text into exported -documents. In particularly for the number words that can be added for chapter headers. Available -languages here are the same as mentioned above for the main GUI, plus German.
-Settings have also been added in Preferences to allow for automatic injection of spaces or -non-breaking spaces in front of, or behind, certain characters. These are features generally -available in text editors for French, but the implementation in novelWriter simply makes them a -free text box where you can list all characters or symbols where you want a space added -automatically.
-The translation files for this release have been provided by Bruno Meneguello for the Portuguese -translation, by Jan Lüdke (jyhelle) for the French translation, by Veronica Berglyd Olsen for the -Norwegian translation as well as the minor modifications for US English, and Marian Lückhof -provided the translation file for chapter numbers in German.
-The work to rewrite novelWriter to allow for internationalisation was done by Bruno Meneguello -and Veronica Berglyd Olsen.
- - - diff --git a/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.4.htm b/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.4.htm deleted file mode 100644 index e7b250d7..00000000 --- a/novelwriter/assets/text/release_notes_1.4.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,70 +0,0 @@ - - - - -Released on 30 August 2021
- -This is a patch release fixing an issue with the auto-replace feature for single and double -quotes. The issue appears when using the new indent and text alignment codes followed by a quote -symbol, and quotes following a tab or non-breaking space.
- -See also the Releases page.
- -Released on 27 July 2021
- -This release fixes a couple of minor issue with some of the dialog boxes. The fix was -accidentally left out of release 1.4.
- -Released on 27 July 2021
- -This release contains some new features and a lot of code refactoring. Among the main new -features is paragraph alignment and indentation. Regular line breaks within paragraphs are now also -supported. The changes are described in more detail below.
- -Translation files have been added for Simplified Chinese by Qianzhi Long.
- -The way line breaks inside paragraphs work has been changed. A single line break is now treated -as a proper line break and will show up in the document viewer and exported documents. A single -line break does not start a new paragraph, but forces a break inside the paragraph like a Shift + -Enter does in most rich text editors. Two line breaks is still needed to start a new paragraph.
-The old syntax of adding two spaces at the end of a line to force a line break within a -paragraph will still work as before, so there is no need to change your existing text if you've -used this feature. However, there is a new highlighting feature that will show you where in the -text you have redundant spaces. If you are used to having double spaces between sentences, you may -want to switch off this highlighting feature in Preferences as it will also detect those.
-A helper function has been added to the Format menu that can look through a paragraph and remove -line breaks in case you've been using line breaks inside your existing text under the assumption -that the exporter and viewer will ignore them.
-I hope this change will not be too inconvenient. I believe the new behaviour will make more -sense for most people. Especially considering some of the feedback I've gotten on how line breaks -work. The original implementation was following the Markdown standard, but since novelWriter is not -a proper Markdown editor and instead just borrows from Markdown, this behaviour always seemed a bit -unnecessary.
- -The default text alignment is left or justified based on your preferences. For documents with -the layout set to Title Page or Partitions, the default is centred. However, sometimes you may -want to override this default. A new set of codes have therefore been added to allow specifying -alignment as well as additional text margins on individual paragraphs.
-The logic of the syntax is as follows:
-A single angle bracket will push the text away from the edge it points away from. Therefore, a -single '>' before the paragraph, or a single '<' after the paragraph, will add indentation on -the respective side. It's perfectly valid to do this on both sides at the same time.
-A double set of angle brackets will push the text all the way towards the opposite side. -Therefore, a double set of '>>' before the paragraph will indicate right alignment, and a -double set of '<<' after the paragraph will force left alignment. Also here both can be used -at the same time, which results in the paragraph being centred.
-Format menu entries and keyboard shortcuts have been added so that you don't have to memorise -these codes.
- - - diff --git a/sample/nwProject.nwx b/sample/nwProject.nwx index d0f34b58..fd55da69 100644 --- a/sample/nwProject.nwx +++ b/sample/nwProject.nwx @@ -1,13 +1,13 @@ -