Veronica Berglyd Olsen
95 lines
4.0 KiB
ReStructuredText
95 lines
4.0 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _a_overview:
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********
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Overview
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********
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.. only:: html
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.. image:: images/python_powered.png
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:align: right
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:width: 220
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novelWriter is built as a cross-platform application using `Python 3 <https://www.python.org/>`_ as
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the programming language, and `Qt 5 <https://www.qt.io/>`_ framework for the user interface.
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novelWriter is built for Linux first, so this is where it works best. However, it also runs fine
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on Windows and MacOS due to the cross-platform framework it's built on. The author of the
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application doesn't own a Mac, so on-going Mac support is dependent on user feedback and user
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contributions.
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Spell checking in novelWriter is provided by a third party library called
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`Enchant <https://abiword.github.io/enchant/>`_. Please see the section on :ref:`a_custom_dict` for
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how to install spell checking languages.
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For install instructions for novelWriter, 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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chapters will explain the main principles. It starts with the basics, and gets more detailed as you
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read on.
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:ref:`a_breakdown` – Essential Information
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This chapter explains the basics of how the application works and what it can and cannot do.
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:ref:`a_ui_project` – Recommended Reading
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This chapter will give you a more detailed explanation of how you can use the user interface
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components to organise and view your project work.
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:ref:`a_ui_writing` – Recommended Reading
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This chapter will give you a more detailed explanation of how the text editor and viewer work.
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:ref:`a_fmt` – Essential Information
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This chapter 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 from how you
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use headings. Tags and references are implemented by special keywords.
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:ref:`a_kb` – Optional / Lookup
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This chapter lists all the keyboard shortcuts in novelWriter and what they do. Most of the
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shortcuts are also listed next to their menu entries inside the app, or in tool tips. This
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chapter is mostly for reference.
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:ref:`a_typ` – Optional
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This chapter 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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Organising Your Projects
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========================
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In addition to managing 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 chapter explains how you organise the content of your project, and how to set up automated
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backups of your work.
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:ref:`a_struct` – Essential Information
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This chapter 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 some special formatting for
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different kinds of headings.
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:ref:`a_references` - Recommended Reading
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This chapter explains how you organise your notes, and how the Tags and References system works.
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This system lets you cross-link your documents in your project, and display these references in
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the application interface.
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:ref:`a_manuscript` - Recommended Reading
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This chapter explains how the :guilabel:`Manuscript Build` tool works, how you can control the
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way chapter titles are formatted, and how scene and section breaks are handled.
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Additional Details & Technical Topics
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=====================================
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The Additional Details and the Technical Topics sections contain more in-depth information about
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how various bits of novelWriter works. This information is not essential to getting started using
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novelWriter.
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