Sections - Authoring Lengthy Documents Part 1
For the next few blog entries I'll be discussing tips for making lengthy Notes documents easier for users to read. ?The tips will cover the use of sections, tables, and anchor links. ?Today I'll start with Sections.
Sections are a wonderful Lotus Notes feature which allow you to collapse a lengthy portion of a document down to small, more reading parts. ?Readers can expand or collapse sections to see the part of the document they wish to read.
Sections can be created in two ways. ?1) You can first create a section then add text to it, or 2) You can select the portion of the document you want and turn it into a section. ? For #1, while editing a document from the file menus choose Create - Section.
Lotus Notes will insert a closed, untitled section similar to this:
Pressing ALT+ENTER will bring up the Section's Properties Box, where you can change the title, border, colour, font, and other characteristics. ?
Enter the name you wish to be displayed when the section is collapsed, and choose a border style and colour. ? ?Pay close attention to the border style pick list, there are some really great options (such as gradient fills, boxes, tabs, etc) but you may miss them if you don't scroll down to see more choices. ?On the 3rd tab of the Properties Box, you can change the font (size, colour, style, etc) for the Section's Title.
For method #2 of creating a Section, highlight the text (can be multiple paragraphs, images, anything you'd like) and click Create - Section. ? Lotus Notes will create a new section for you, and even fill in the title based on the first line of the content you selected. ? *You can change the title to whatever you would like using the Properties Box.
It may take a few moments to get used to Sections, so I suggest you practice by creating a fake document and adding several sections to it. ?After a few moments, you will have a good undderstanding for what the various combinations of border types, colours, and title fonts, will enable you to do. ?For example, you can compress down a long document to something like this, where users can easily collapse and expand the section they wish to read.
Finally, you can remove a Section by selecting the title to make the section "in focus" and then from the file menus choose Section - Remove Section. ? This DOES NOT delete the content in the section, it just removes the Section that was "wrapping" the content.
Sections are a wonderful Lotus Notes feature which allow you to collapse a lengthy portion of a document down to small, more reading parts. ?Readers can expand or collapse sections to see the part of the document they wish to read.
Sections can be created in two ways. ?1) You can first create a section then add text to it, or 2) You can select the portion of the document you want and turn it into a section. ? For #1, while editing a document from the file menus choose Create - Section.
Lotus Notes will insert a closed, untitled section similar to this:
Pressing ALT+ENTER will bring up the Section's Properties Box, where you can change the title, border, colour, font, and other characteristics. ?
Enter the name you wish to be displayed when the section is collapsed, and choose a border style and colour. ? ?Pay close attention to the border style pick list, there are some really great options (such as gradient fills, boxes, tabs, etc) but you may miss them if you don't scroll down to see more choices. ?On the 3rd tab of the Properties Box, you can change the font (size, colour, style, etc) for the Section's Title.
For method #2 of creating a Section, highlight the text (can be multiple paragraphs, images, anything you'd like) and click Create - Section. ? Lotus Notes will create a new section for you, and even fill in the title based on the first line of the content you selected. ? *You can change the title to whatever you would like using the Properties Box.
It may take a few moments to get used to Sections, so I suggest you practice by creating a fake document and adding several sections to it. ?After a few moments, you will have a good undderstanding for what the various combinations of border types, colours, and title fonts, will enable you to do. ?For example, you can compress down a long document to something like this, where users can easily collapse and expand the section they wish to read.
Finally, you can remove a Section by selecting the title to make the section "in focus" and then from the file menus choose Section - Remove Section. ? This DOES NOT delete the content in the section, it just removes the Section that was "wrapping" the content.
