Re: Style Sheed Documentation
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg76591] Re: [mg76535] Style Sheed Documentation
- From: John Fultz <jfultz at wolfram.com>
- Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 06:12:02 -0400 (EDT)
- Reply-to: jfultz at wolfram.com
Many of your questions are answered in my last email...I'll drill down on= those that weren't... On Wed, 23 May 2007 05:39:43 -0400 (EDT), David Park wrote: > Since a new feature of Version is that documentation can be updated on- > line, it would be nice to get some additional tutorial documentation for > style sheets without waiting for Mathematica 6.1 or 6.01. > > I've a few style sheets of my own design from 5.2. I'm willing to create > them fresh in 6.0 so that they will be totally compatible with 6.0 and so > I can learn how to use the new style sheet system. > > So here are some of my questions: > > 1) I would like to start with the standard Default style and modify it to > make a style sheet system that I will call XStyle. I want to do things > like change fonts and font sizes, add some new cell types, set menu > positions, add some open/close icons, change the background for the > entire notebook. But first, how do I create and save the XStyle.nb style > sheet, so that I can edit and develop it to the style I want? Here's the part we really need to deliver an interface for. For now, you= can create a private stylesheet, then save it. You can also use the Install= dialog to put it in the right place. Unfortunately, there's a bug in the Install dialog...it erroneously (and somewhat confusingly) includes built-in= stylesheets in the popup list. The better thing to do is to choose "From File...", and= pick the file you saved. Note that this is just a convenient way of copying the= file to the right place. The Install dialog will improve in the minor 6.0.x releases. > 2) I noticed that the Default style sheet has two extra levels of > sections: Subsubsubsection and Subsubsubsubsection. I would like to have > them and modify them. (I would like to add open/close icons.) How do I > get access to them so I can modify them? > > 3) Suppose I want to modify the background color for the entire notebook. > How do I do that? > > 4) Maybe Cascading Style Sheets are obvious and maybe they are not. Would > it be possible to have a basic description on how they work? I think I answered the above questions pretty clearly in my last email. > 5) As a designer of new style sheets, would I have to created my own > cascading style sheets? Would I have to have an XStyleCore.nb and an > XStyleDefault.nb? If so, how would I create them? Just start with the stylesheet you want to use as your base and go from= there. > 6) I did create a style sheet by something of a hack. I saved the private > style sheet that came up under a new name and then I went to the WRI > style sheets and just copied whole sections into it, and then modified > them. (This is probably not the way to do it?) This seemed to work except > that when I now first evaluate a cell in a notebook I get a Message > window warning about an invalid value for MenuPosition and I don't know > why because I made them all distinct. I had a new Title type cell and > three new Text type cells and I tried to interlace their Menu positions > with the title and text menu positions. Then I tried putting them all at > the end with menu positions greater than 10000 and distinct - but I > still get the message. What are the rules on MenuPosition? I don't see a > lot of usefulness for hidden styles not on the menu. Hidden styles are very useful, actually. Styles which are used by the= system, but which are generally inappropriate for use at the cell level (like the Graphics and Panel styles, or the format-type styles like StandardForm and TraditionalForm) shouldn't clutter the style menu. However, you're certainly right in suggesting that end-user-created styles generally should be in the menus. The styles created by typing into the= input field and pressing Enter should have an appropriate MenuPosition by default= which always places the style at the bottom of the menu, alphabetized among= other user-created styles. Not entirely certain where the MenuPosition warning came from, but I could= tell you if you send me the stylesheet. > 7) When one modifies a style, such as Text, one gets just the normal Text > style cell. What about the Presentation, Printing and Condensed styles? > How would they be entered? Right now, there's no way to do this. My original version of the interface= had a way to do this, but testers and internal users kept getting confused by= it. So, for now, you'll have to edit the cell expression. I think in future versions of the interface, there will be some "advanced" interface that= isn't always around to confuse people that will allow you to do this. > 8) How would I make a new text cell type with a new name by modifying the > existing Text style (keeping the original Text style?) Answered in my previous email. > > I will probably have more questions but I hope that is a basic start. > > I'm very pleased that John Fultz has taken an interest in this. From past > experience we can expect nothing but good results! Why thank you! Sincerely, John Fultz jfultz at wolfram.com User Interface Group Wolfram Research, Inc.