
Lesson 4: Returns and Indentations


Rightmost column

Look at the rightmost column of WSedit (unformatted). The rightmost column ¨
shows different colors.

..this is a comment line!
- Lines beginning with two dots (comment lines)
.lh10
- Lines beginning with a single dot (dot commands)
- Lines with a Hard Return at the end
- Lines with a Soft Return at the end.

A hard return (dark blue) is the end of a line where you have entered Return ¨
manually from the keyboard. Unless it is manually removed, this Return will ¨
exist even if the formatting is changed. A soft return (light blue) is the end ¨
of a line as determined by the formatting. If you change the window size of ¨
WSedit and you edit an unformatted file, the editor will insert soft returns ¨
to conform to the formatting. In the "special functions" menubar item, you ¨
will find commands where you can transform text with soft returns into text ¨
with hard returns and the reverse.


Indentations

Users of WinWord-like programs often have problems with indentations. In ¨
Write&Set, indenting is quite easy and handy.

One useful capability is to set tabulator stops. For example, tabulator stops ¨
at columns 6, 9, and 12 would be established by

.TB 6,9,12

The default value is .TB 4 (i.e., a tabulator stop at column 4).

           This is a text indented to column 12. Because the third tabulator ¨
           is set to column 12, I had to type the tabulator key three times ¨
           for this indentation. I have named the characters which occurs when ¨
           using the tabulator key "snow characters". These characters are ¨
           normal characters which can be deleted or inserted manually. You ¨
           can press Ctrl-I to get a single snow character.


(1)  This is another sample. The expression (1) is not indented, but all text ¨
     following (1) will be inserted to column 6. The insertion remains until ¨
     you type a hard return.
     a) This is a subentry in this text list. Here, I have written more text ¨
        so you can see that the next line is indented, too.

.pm8
.lm6
Automatic indentation can be established by changing the left margin, using ¨
the .LM (left margin) and .PM (paragraph margin) dot commands. You will ¨
see the effect of this command in the formatted file. In WSedit (unformatted), ¨
you won't see the "automatic indentation".

The "paragraph margin" affects the first line of a paragraph, and the "left ¨
margin" affects the other lines. If you enter only a value for the "left ¨
margin", it affects all lines in a paragraph.

..now we disable "automatic indentation"
.pm0
.lm0
Reformatting

If you want to alter the indentation, then modify the ".TB" command. To test ¨
it, modify the ".TB" command above to ".TB 8,10,15".

Nothing happens. Place the cursor on the line where snow characters are ¨
located and select special functions - format paragraph or simply press ¨
Ctrl-B. Now the modified ".TB" command takes effect.

Another possibility for modifying indented paragraphs is to delete or insert ¨
"snow characters" in the first line of the paragraph. If you don't press ¨
Ctrl-B, the indentation won't be modified.

