koffice/doc/kword/fundimentals.docbook

<chapter id="fundamentals">
<chapterinfo>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Mike</firstname>
<surname>McBride</surname>
</author>
<!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
</authorgroup>
</chapterinfo>

<title>Fundamentals</title>
<para>This section of the documentation discusses starting &kword;, introduces the user to templates and
discusses an important difference between two major types of templates.</para>


<sect1 id="starting-kword">
<title>Starting &kword;</title>
<indexterm><primary>starting &kword;</primary></indexterm>

<para>&kword; can be started one of four ways:</para>

<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>You can select &kword; through the system menus, under:
<menuchoice><guimenu>K-Button</guimenu><guimenuitem>Office</guimenuitem>
<guimenuitem>KWord</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para> 
</listitem>

<listitem>
<para>If you are in a terminal program (&konsole;, <application>Xterm</application>, &etc;), you can type:
<screen><prompt>$</prompt> <userinput><command>kword &amp;</command></userinput></screen></para>

<para>Or</para>

<para><screen><prompt>$</prompt> <userinput><command>kword</command> <replaceable>filename</replaceable> &amp;</userinput></screen></para>
</listitem>

<listitem>
<para>Using &konqueror;, you can click on your data file (&kword;
documents end in <literal role="extension">.kwd</literal>).  This will
automatically start &kword; and begin editing the file.</para>
</listitem>

<listitem>
<para>Using the &koffice; Workspace.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="template-intro">

<title>An Introduction to Templates</title>
<indexterm><primary>templates</primary><secondary>introduction</secondary></indexterm>

<para>OK, so the first question a new user may have is:</para>

<para><emphasis>Why do I need to use a frames based word processor, when
I am perfectly happy writing my letters on my current (page layout) word
processor? </emphasis></para>

<para>Well the good news is, adjusting to a frames based word processor
is easy and once a template is selected, &kword; can act just like a
page layout word processor.  There are templates
available for simple correspondence and day to day use.</para>

<para>When a more complex document (newsletters,
posters, &etc;) needs to be created, you will not need to switch to a different
application to generate these special documents. There are templates in
&kword; which will help generate newsletters or other more
complicated documents.</para>

<para><emphasis>What are templates and what can they do for
the user?</emphasis></para>

<para>A template can be thought of as an initial mold for a document.</para>

<para>When a user sits down to write a document, they already have an idea of
what the final product will look like. If they are writing a letter to a
business, a document with only one column, which goes all the
way across the page, and from top to bottom of the page is appropriate.  When a user sits
down to author a newsletter for a local organization, however, they may
want a large title across the top, and several columns for quick news
articles.</para>

<para>With &kword;, this predetermined notion of how the
document should look is used to select a template.  By using a template, 
a set of frames is created to approximate this final layout. For
a business letter, a document with one large frame that covers the
page from top to bottom and side to side would be selected. 
For a newsletter, however, a two or
three column document is more appropriate. Once this
template is selected, &kword; will create the frames automatically.</para>

<para><emphasis>What if the user decides to change the
layout after a template is selected?</emphasis></para>

<para>This is not a problem. If a document begins as a single
column document and it is decided later that two columns is better, another column can be added. 
The purpose of templates is not to
limit the ability to change the layout of a document, but rather to take some of the
work load off the user whenever possible.  Choosing the correct template when
beginning a document will simplify the formatting (as opposed to
always selecting the default template and making changes later).
Choosing the wrong template
will not limit the flexibility of the document later on.</para>

<para>The next section, consists of one more important topic which
you should understand before we begin using &kword;.</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="wp-vs-dtp">

<title>The difference between Text Oriented and Page Layout
templates</title>
<indexterm><primary>templates</primary><secondary>Text oriented/Page Layout</secondary></indexterm>

<para>It is vital that the
difference between Text Oriented and Page Layout templates is clear in
your mind.</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>Text Oriented</term>
<listitem>
<para>The Text Oriented templates are designed to act like page-oriented
word processors. When you select a Text Oriented template, you will
create a template with one or more frames. The first frame is distinctly
tied to the paper size of your document.  When you increase or decrease
the paper size or change the margins, the frame size is automatically
adjusted.  You are <emphasis>not</emphasis> able to move this frame
around on the page and you cannot delete this frame. If you need to
adjust the size or position of this frame, you must <link
linkend="page-format">adjust the margins</link>. On top of the first
frame, you can, of course, add additional frames. These frames can
contain pictures, text or whatever you want. These new frames can be
moved, re-sized and deleted to suit your needs. If you want it, &kword;
will even wrap the text from the first frame around any information in
any subsequent frames.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>Page Layout</term>
<listitem>
<para>These templates are designed for desktop publishing.  When you
select a template from this class, all of the frames are created
equal. This is where the difference between Page Layout and Text
Oriented template lies. None of the frames in a Page Layout template are
tied to the page as tightly as the main frame in a Text Oriented
template is. Each of the frames is independent of the page size, and can
be moved or re-sized without changing margins, &etc; Of course this also
means that altering the margins or paper size of your document requires
that you individually move/resize each frame.  </para>

<note><para>In addition to not having a main text frame, Page Layout
documents cannot use the automatic headers or footers (though these can be
added in as frames).  Additionally, footnotes must be managed by hand while
in Page Layout Mode.</para></note>

</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

<para>As you can see, the choice between Page Layout and Text Oriented
templates is a choice between flexibility (Page Layout) and convenience
(Text Oriented).  You can create any document you like with either type
of template.</para>

<para>If the concept of templates is still unclear, please follow along
with the following tutorial. The first document you create will use a
Page Layout template. This should help clarify exactly how templates
function.</para> 

</sect1> 
</chapter>