[zargron]

I thought about the following soon after starting to use UR, however it took cnewtonne’s comments on “compose content” for me to bother posting.

OVERVIEW
Select an item and produce a single RTF document from item title and content of item details for all sub-items.

DETAILS
1) New “Outline Formatting” page in the “Options” dialog box.
This new page to allow user to establish various default formatting options.

(a) Associate a font format (style, size, bold, italic, underline) with a heading level, perhaps up to a maximum of 9 levels. Each of these levels will associate with a heading level in the finished document.

(b) For each level, allow setting of an indent width. A distance that the heading should be moved in from the documents left margin. Also allow setting of an indent width that all item detail text will have.

(c) So, how will this be used? Format of heading levels should gradually DECREASE in intensity from level 1 down to level 9. The left margin indent could gradually INCREASE from level 1 to level 9. The indent for item detail text would perhaps be set somewhere between that being used for level 1 and level 9.


2) In UR, with an item selected, user can already access the “Print/Print Preview” dialog box. Add a new option to this window titled “Item Branch Outline” this will provide access to a new “Print Branch Outline” dialog box.


3) In the new “Print Branch Outline” dialog box, provide two pages.

PAGE 1 - allow users to set the following:
(a) Assign a starting heading level.
(Users will want to create sub-documents – allow them to start the formatting from any heading level. As the print routine recursively works through the lower level branches from the selected item, it will create headings by applying formatting to each item title. Movement down each branch level will result in the appropriate next level of formatting being applied.)

(b) Choose whether to apply numbering and set the start number.
(This would automatically prefix each heading with a number appropriate to its level down the branches from the selected item. If the user enters “2.4.3” as the starting number, this number would prefix the heading for the selected item. Headings from the first level down from the selected item would then appear as: 2.4.3.1 | 2.4.3.2 | 2.4.3.3 | 2.4.3.4 | and so forth. Furthermore, if the user puts something like a closing bracket at the end of the number, this gets used in the automatic numbering. For example, “2.4.3)” would include the “)” as part of the prefix. Also allow the user to decide whether to include the start number as part of the numbering. In other words, using the above example, the heading for the selected item would still appear as “2.4.3)”, then the first level down would appear as: 1) | 2) | 3) | 4) | and so forth.)

(c) Choose whether to include the standard UR header & footer.

(d) Choose whether to page break “first” level branches.
(A writer selects the item that represents their document. Each main branch from this item corresponds to a chapter of that document. By selecting this option, the writer can start each chapter on a new page.)

(e) Only include outer branch text. Exclude outer branch text.
(As specified earlier, the object of this facility is to produce a single RTF document from content of item details pane. However, perhaps the writer would like to integrate public and private content under the one branch. The writer could record their private comments with chapter and section headings. Only at outer most or lowest level items would the writer place their finished or public work. Leaving both options off would print everything. Turning the “include” option on would give the writer their “public” document. Turning the “exclude” option on would provide the writer with a “private” document. This latter document would perhaps give the writer a form of “things to ponder and do”.)

PAGE 2 - mimic the proposed new “Outline Formatting” page mentioned earlier.
(Note that formatting changes made here don’t need to be permanently saved – only applied to the current document.)

Obviously the user would click the usual “OK / Cancel / Help” buttons from this proposed new dialog box.

CLOSING REMARKS
So far this suggestion does not impose any new requirements on existing item manipulation functionality. It imposes a reasonably major change to the “Options” dialog box and a very minor change to the “Print/Print Preview” dialog box. It asks for a brand new “Print Branch Outline” dialog box, plus processing to create the RTF output. May I be so bold as to suggest that most writers would be quite happy dropping such a document into a dedicated word processor for final formatting.

I look forward to seeing some constructive criticism.