Veronica Berglyd Olsen
5ee857f6f4
* Change documentation theme to 'furo' * Update docs source for new theme * Update index and split introduction * Add a Getting Started section to the docs * Rename getting started docs file * Reorganise setup instructions * Update usage sections for consistency * Update docs references in main README * Show release in sidebar
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86 lines
4.0 KiB
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.. _a_overview:
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********
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Overview
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********
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.. image:: images/python_powered.svg
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:align: right
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:width: 220
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novelWriter is built on `Python 3 <https://www.python.org/>`_, a cross platform programming
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language that doesn't require a compiler to build and run. That means that the code can run on your
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computer right out of the box, or zip file as it were.
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While it is developed for Linux primarily, it runs just fine on Windows as well. It also works just
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fine on macOS, but the author is not a mac user so less attention is paid to that platform.
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In order to run novelWriter, you also need a few additional packages. The user interface is built
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with `Qt 5 <https://www.qt.io/>`_, a cross platform library for building graphical user interface
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applications.
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For install instructions, see :ref:`a_started`.
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Using novelWriter
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=================
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In order to use novelWriter effectively, you need to know the basics of how it works. The following
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sections will explain the main principles. It starts of with the basics, and gets more detailed as
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you read on.
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:ref:`a_breakdown` – Essential Information
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This section explains the basics of how the application works and what it can and cannot do.
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:ref:`a_ui` – Recommended Reading
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This section will give you a more detailed explanation of what the various elements on the user
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interface do and how you can use them more effectively.
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:ref:`a_fmt` – Essential Information
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This section covers how you should format your text. The editor is plain text, so text
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formatting requires some basic markup. The structure of your novel is also inferred by how you
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use the title headings. Tags and references are implemented by simple codes.
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:ref:`a_kb` – Optional / Lookup
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This section lists all the keyboard shortcuts in novelWriter and what they do. Most of the
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shortcuts are also listed next to the menu items inside the app, so this section is purely for
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reference.
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:ref:`a_typ` – Optional
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This section gives you an overview of the special typographical symbols available in
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novelWriter. The auto-replace feature can handle the insertion of standard quote symbols for
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your language, and other special characters. If you use any symbols aside from these. their
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intended use is explained here.
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:ref:`a_prjfmt` – Optional
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This section is more technical and has an overview of changes made to the way your project data
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is stored. The format has changed a bit from time to time, and sometimes the changes require
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that you make small modifications to your project. Everything you need to know is listed in this
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section.
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Organising Your Projects
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========================
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In addition to manage a collection of plain text files, novelWriter can interpret and map the
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structure of your novel and show you additional information about its flow and content. In order
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to take advantage of these features, you must structure your text in a specific way and add some
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meta data for it to extract.
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:ref:`a_proj` – Essential Information
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This section explains how you organise the content of your project, how to customise them, and
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how to handle archived content and set up automated backups of your work.
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:ref:`a_struct` – Essential Information
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This section covers the way your novel's structure is encoded into the text documents. It
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explains how the different levels of headings are used, and how you can include information
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about characters, plot elements, and other meta data in your text.
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:ref:`a_notes` - Recommended Reading
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This section briefly describes what novelWriter does with the note files you add to your
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project. Generally, the application doesn't do much with them at all aside from looking through
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the for tags you've set so that it knows which file to open when you click on a reference.
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:ref:`a_export` - Recommended Reading
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This section explains in more detail how the export tool works. In particular how you can
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control the way chapter titles are formatted, and how scene and section breaks are handled.
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