The GNOME Handbook of Writing Software Documentation

David Mason

Daniel Mueth


            <d-mueth@uchicago.edu>
          

Alexander Kirillov


            <kirillov@math.sunysb.edu>
          

This is a pre-release!

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. You may obtain a copy of the GNU Free Documentation License from the Free Software Foundation by visiting their Web site or by writing to: Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

Many of the names used by companies to distinguish their products and services are claimed as trademarks. Where those names appear in any GNOME documentation, and those trademarks are made aware to the members of the GNOME Documentation Project, the names have been printed in caps or initial caps.

Revision History
Revision 0.99 04.10.2000

Table of Contents

Introduction
The GNOME Documentation Project
Notation and Conventions
About This Handbook
Getting Started Writing GNOME Documentation
Selecting A Document
Installing and Using DocBook
GDP Document Templates
Screenshots
Application Bugs
Using CVS
The GNOME Documentation System
The GNOME Help Browser
The GNOME Help Browser (GNOME-2.0)
Dynamic Document Synthesis(GNOME-2.0)
The GNOME Documentation Components
DocBook Basics
Introduction to DocBook
XML and SGML
Structure Elements
Inline Elements
GDP Documentation Conventions
Conventions for All GDP Documentation
Conventions for Application Documentation
Writing Application and Applet Manuals
Listing Documents in the Help Menu
Application Help Buttons
Packaging Applet Documentation
Applet Documentation Files
Adding Documentation to an Applet Menu
Writing Context Sensitive Help (coming in GNOME-2.0)
Referring to Other GNOME Documentation (coming in GNOME-2.0)
Basics of Documentation Style
Planning
Achieving a Balanced Style
Structure
Grammar and Spelling
Teamwork
Working With The GDP Team
Working With Developers
Finishing A Document
Editing The Document
Submitting The Document
Resources
Resources On The Web
Books
Mailing Lists
IRC
A Document Templates
Template 1: Application Manual
Template 2: Applet Manual For GNOME 1.x
Template 2: Applet Manual For GNOME 2.x

Documenting GNOME and all the numerous GNOME applications is a very large project. The GDP is always looking for people to help write, update, and edit documentation. If you are interested in joining the GDP team, you should join the gnome-doc-list mailing list . Read the section called “Getting Started Writing GNOME Documentation”, for help selecting a project to work on. Feel free to introduce yourself on the gnome-doc-list mailing list and indicate which project you intend to work on, or else ask for suggestions of important documents which need work done. You may also want to join the #docs IRC channel on irc.gnome.org to meet other GDP members and discuss any questions you may have. For a list of GDP projects and members, see the GDP Website.

The GDP Documentation Status Table (DocTable) (http://www.gnome.org/gdp/doctable/) is a web page which tracks the status of all the various documentation components of GNOME. These components include application documentation, internal GNOME component documentation, user documentation, and developer documentation. For each documentation item, it tracks the current status of the documentation, who is working on the particular document, where the documentation can be found, and provides a forum for the discussion of each item.

You should use the DocTable to help you select a documentation item which needs work done. Once you have selected an item to work on, please register yourself as an author so that other authors do not duplicate your work and may contact you to help or offer suggestions. Also be sure to keep the status icons up-to-date so that the GDP team can easily identify which items need additional help. The DocTable also allows people to make announcements and suggestions and to discuss issues in the comments section.

All documentation for the GNOME project is written in SGML using the DocBook DTD. There are many advantages to using this for documentation, not least of which is the single source nature of SGML. To contribute to the GDP you should learn to use DocBook.

Download and install the following DocBook Tools packages: jade, docbook, jadetex, sgml-common, and stylesheets. (RPM users should note that jade is platform dependent (eg. i386), while the other packages are in the noarch directory.) You can find more information on DocBook Tools here.

If you are an Emacs user you may want to grab the psgml package as well. This is a major mode for editing sgml files in Emacs.

The GDP uses its own DocBook stylesheets. To use the GDP stylesheets, you should download the file gdp-both.dsl from the gnome-docu/gdp/dsssl module in CVS (or from GDP Custom DSSSL Stylesheet)and copy it over the file /usr/lib/sgml/stylesheets/cygnus-both.dsl. Alternately, you can download and install the gnome-doc-tools package which will set up the stylesheets as well as the DTD discussed below.

Due to some license issues involved with the creation of gifs, the GNOME Documentation Project has decided to use the PNG image format for all images in GNOME documentation. You can read more about the issues involved with gifs at http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/gif.html.

The current DocBook DTD(3.1) does not include support for embedding PNG images in your documents. Since the GDP uses many screenshots in its documentation, we use our own variation on the DocBook DTD which has PNG image support. We encourage everybody to use this DTD instead of the default DocBook DTD since your source document header and your output document appearance subtly vary between the two DTD's. To install the GDP custom DTD with PNG image support by hand:

Alternately, you can download and install the gnome-doc-tools package which will set up the custom stylesheets and DTD for you.

To include PNG files in your documents, you will need to indicate that you are using this special DTD. To do this, use the following headers:

Articles:

<!DOCTYPE Article PUBLIC "-//GNOME//DTD DocBook PNG Variant
V1.1//EN"[]>
          

Books:

<!DOCTYPE Book PUBLIC "-//GNOME//DTD DocBook PNG Variant
V1.1//EN"[]>
          

The tools available in DocBook Tools allow you to convert your sgml document to many different formats including html and Postscript. The primary tool used to do the conversion is an application called Jade. In most cases you will not have to work directly with Jade; Instead, you will use the scripts provided by DocBook Tools.

To preview your DocBook document, it is easiest to convert it to html. If you have installed the DocBook tools described above, all you have to do is to run the command $db2html mydocument.sgml. If there are no sgml syntax errors, this will create a directory mydocument and place the resulting html files in it. The title page of the document will typically be mydocument/index.html. If you have screenshots in your document, you will have to copy these files into the mydocument directory by hand. You can use any web browser to view your document. Note that every time you run db2html, it creates the mydocument directory over, so you will have to copy the screenshots over each time.

You can also convert your document to PostScript by running the command $db2ps mydocument.sgml, after which you can print out or view the resulting .ps file.

There are many resources available to help you learn DocBook. The following resources on the web are useful for learning DocBook:

  • http://www.docbook.org - Norman Walsh's DocBook: The Definitive Guide. Online O'Reilly book on using DocBook. Contains an excellent element reference. May be too formal for a beginner.

  • A Practical Introduction to DocBook - The Open Source Writers Group's introduction to using DocBook. This is an excellent HOW-TO type article on getting started.

  • Getting Going with DocBook: Notes for Hackers - Mark Galassi's introduction to DocBook for hackers. This has to be one of the first introductions to DocBook ever - still as good as it ever was.

  • FreeBSD Documentation Project Primer for New Contributors - FreeBSD documentation project primer. Chapter 4.2 provides a very good introduction to writing documentation using DocBook. Note that it also describes some custom extensions of DocBook; fortunately, they are clearly marked as such.

Norman Walsh's book is also available in print.

The following sections of this document are designed to help documentation authors write correct and consistent DocBook:

You may also discuss specific DocBook questions with GDP members on the #docs IRC channel at irc.gnome.org and on the gnome-doc-list mailing list.

Templates for various types of GNOME documents are found in Appendix A. Document Templates. They are kept in CVS in gnome-docu/gdp/templates. The easiest source to get them from is probably the GDP Document Templates web page, which is typically kept completely up-to-date with CVS and has a basic description of each file from CVS.

Most GNOME documents will have screenshots of the particular applet, application, GNOME component, or widget being discussed. As discussed above in the section called “GDP DTD (PNG Image Support)” you will need to install the special GDP DocBook DTD which supports PNG images, the format used for all images in GNOME documentation. For the basic DocBook structure used to insert images in a document, see the section called “Images in DocBook Tools” above.

Screenshots should be kept in the main documentation directory with your SGML file for applets, or should be kept in a directory called "figs" for application and other documentation. After you use db2html to convert your SGML file to HTML (see the section called “Creating Something Useful with your Docs”), you will need to copy your screenshots (either the individual PNG files for applet documentation, or the whole "figs" directory for other documentation) into the newly created HTML directory. Note that every time you use db2html the HTML directory is erased and rewritten, so do not store your only copy of the screenshots in that directory. If you wish to create PostScript or PDF output, you will need to manually convert the PNG images to EPS as described in the section called “Images in DocBook Tools”, but will not need to copy these images from their default location, as they are included directly into the output(PostScript of PDF) file.

CVS (Concurrent Versions System) is a tool that allows multiple developers to concurrently work on a set of documents, keeping track of the modifications made by each person. The files are stored on a server and each developer checks files out, modifies them, and then checks in their modified version of the files. Many GNOME programs and documents are stored in CVS. The GNOME CVS server allows users to anonymously check out CVS files. Most GDP members will need to use anonymous CVS to download the most up-to-date version of documentation or programs. Modified documents will typically be emailed to the the application developer. Core GDP members may also be granted login CVS privileges so they may commit modified files directly to CVS.

To understand DocBook, a basic understanding of SGML is helpful. SGML stands for Standard General Markup Language and is one of the first markup languages every created. HTML is actually derived from SGML and XML is a subset of SGML. SGML uses what is called a Document Type Definition to specify elements which are contained between brackets, < and >. Text is marked by both beginning and ending elements, for example in the DocBook DTD, one denotes a title with <title>The Title</title>.

The DTD (in the case of the GDP, DocBook) defines rules for how the elements can be used. For example, if one element can only be used when embedded within another, this is defined in the DTD.

An SGML file is just a plain ASCII file containing the text with the markup specified above. To convert it to some easily readable format, you need special tools. The GDP uses DocBook Tools, a free package of utilities for working with DocBook which includes Jade, which does the SGML/DSSL parsing. You can read more about DocBook Tools in the section called “Installing DocBook”.

The final appearance of the output (e.g. PostScript or HTML) is determined by a stylesheet. Stylesheets are files, written in a special language (DSSSL -- Document Style Semantics and Specification Language), which specify the appearance of various DocBook elements, for example, what fonts to use for titles and various inline elements, page numbering style, and much more. DocBook tools come with a collection of stylesheets (Norman Walsh's modular stylesheets); GNOME Document Project uses some customized version of this stylesheets -- see the section called “GDP Stylesheets”.

The advantage of specifying the structure of a document with SGML instead of specifying the appearance of the document with a typical word processor, or with html, is that the resulting document can be processed in a variety of ways using the structural information. Whereas formatting a document for appearance assumes a medium (typically written text on a standard-sized piece of paper), SGML can be processed to produce output for a large variety of media such as text, postscript, HTML, Braille, audio, and potentially many other formats.

Using 'content' as the elements to define the text of a document also allows for search engines to make use of the actual elements to make a "smarter search". For example, if you are searching for all documents written by the author "Susie" your search engine could be made smart enough to only search <author> elements, making for a faster and more accurate search.

Since the overall appearance of the output is determined not by the DTD or the SGML document, but rather by a stylesheet, the appearance of a document can be easily changed just by changing the stylesheet. This allows everyone in the project to create documents that all look the same.

As stated before, the GDP uses the DocBook DTD. For a list of introductory and reference resources on DocBook, see the section called “Resources”. The following sections also provide convenient instructions on which markup tags to use in various circumstances. Be sure to read the section called “GDP Documentation Conventions ” for GDP documentation-specific guidelines.

The most common list types in DocBook are <itemizedlist>, <orderedlist>, and <variablelist>.

<itemizedlist>

This is the simplest unnumbered list, parallel to <ul> in HTML. Here is an example:


<itemizedlist>
  <listitem>
    <para>
      <guilabel>Show backup files</guilabel> &mdash; This will
      show any backup file that might be on your system.
    </para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>
      <guilabel>Show hidden files</guilabel> &mdash; This will
      show all "dot files" or files that begin with a dot.  This
      files typically include configuration files and directories.
    </para>
  </listitem>
  <listitem>
    <para>
      <guilabel>Mix files and directories</guilabel> &mdash; This
      option will  display files and directories in the order you
      sort them instead of 
      always having directories shown above files.
    </para>
   </listitem>
</itemizedlist> 

		
and output:

Note the use of &mdash; for long dash (see the section called “ Special symbols ”). Also, please note that the result looks much nicer because the terms being explained (Show backup files, etc.) are set in a different font. In this case, it was achieved by using <guilabel> tag. In other cases, use appropriate tags such as <guimenuitem>, <command>, or -- if none of this applies -- use <emphasis>.

<orderedlist>

This list is completely analogous to <itemizedlist> and has the same syntax, but it produces numbered list. By default, this list uses Arabic numerals for numbering entries; you can override this using numeration, for example <orderedlist numeration="lowerroman">. Possible values of these attribute are arabic, upperalpha, loweralpha, upperroman, lowerroman.

<variablelist>

This list is used when each entry is rather long, so it should be formatted as a block of text with some subtitle, like a small subsection. The <variablelist> is more complicated than itemizedlists, but for larger blocks of text, or when you're explaining or defining something, it's best to use them. Their greatest advantage is that it's easier for a computer to search. The lines you are reading now were produced by <variablelist>. The source looked liked this:


<variablelist>
  <varlistentry>
    <term> <sgmltag>&lt;itemizedlist></sgmltag></term> 
    <listitem><para> 
	This is the simplest unnumbered list, parallel to
        <sgmltag>&lt;ul></sgmltag> in HTML. Here is an example:...
    </para></listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>		 
	<term> <sgmltag>&lt;orderedlist></sgmltag></term>
     <listitem><para>	
	This list is completely analogous to
	<sgmltag>&lt;itemizedlist></sgmltag> 
    </para></listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>		 
	<term> <sgmltag>&lt;variablelist></sgmltag></term>
     <listitem><para>	
		This list is used when each entry is rather long,...
    </para></listitem>
    </varlistentry>
</variablelist>        

		

Lists can be nested; in this case, the stylesheets are smart enough to change the numeration (for <orderedlist>) or marks of each entry (in <itemizedlist>) for sub-lists

To refer to another place in the same document, you can use tags <xref> and <link>. The first of them automatically inserts the full name of the element you refer to (section, figure, etc.), while the second just creates a link (in HTML output). Here is an example:

An example of a <link linkend="extip">tip</link> was given in
<xref linkend="notes" />.  
          
which produces: An example of a tip was given in the section called “Notes, Warnings, And Tips”.

Here notes and extip are the id attributes of the section called “Notes, Warnings, And Tips” and of the example of a tip in it.

To produce a link to an external source, such as a Web page or a local file, use <ulink> tag, for example:

 To find more about GNOME, please visit <ulink type="http"
url="http://www.gnome.org">GNOME Web page</ulink> 
          
which produces: To find more about GNOME, please visit The GNOME Web Site You can use any of the standard URL types, such as http, ftp, file, telnet, mailto (in most cases, however, use of mailto is unnecessary--see discussion of <email> tag).

Every GNOME application or applet should have a manual specific to that particular application. This manual should be a complete and authoritative guide. The manual should describe what the program does and how to use it. Manuals will typically describe each window or panel presented to the user using screenshots (in PNG format only) when appropriate. They should also describe each feature and preference option available.

Application manuals should be based on the template in the section called “Template 1: Application Manual”. Applet manuals should be based on the templates in the section called “Template 2: Applet Manual For GNOME 1.x” for GNOME versions 1.x and the templates in the section called “Template 2: Applet Manual For GNOME 2.x” for GNOME versions 2.x.

Application manuals should be made available by having a "Manual" entry in the Help pull-down menu at the top of the application, as described in the section called “Listing Documents in the Help Menu”. Applets should make their manuals available by right-clicking on the applet.

Typically the application manual and possibly additional help documents will be made available to the user under the Help menu at the top right of the application. To do this, you must first write a topic.dat file. The format for this file is:

One line for each 'topic'.

Two columns, as defined by perl -e 'split(/\s+/,$aline,2)'

First column is the HTML file (and optional section) for the topic,
relative to the app's help file dir.

Second column is the user-visible topic name.
      
For example, Gnumeric's topic.dat file is:
gnumeric.html   Gnumeric manual
function-reference.html Gnumeric function reference
      
When the application is installed, the topic.dat file should be placed in the $prefix/share/gnome/help/appname/C/ directory where appname is replaced by the application's name. The application documentation (converted from SGML into HTML with db2html) should be placed in this directory too.

The topic.dat file is used by the GNOME menu building code to generate the Help menu. When you define your menu:

GnomeUIInfo helpmenu[] = {
              {GNOME_APP_UI_ITEM, 
               N_("About"), N_("Info about this program"),
               about_cb, NULL, NULL, 
               GNOME_APP_PIXMAP_STOCK, GNOME_STOCK_MENU_ABOUT,
               0, 0, NULL},
               GNOMEUIINFO_SEPARATOR,
               GNOMEUIINFO_HELP("appname"),
               GNOMEUIINFO_END
        };
the line specifying GNOMEUIINFO_HELP causes GNOME to create a menu entry which is tied to the documentation in the directory mentioned above. Also, all the topics in the topic.dat file will get menu entries in the Help menu. When the user selects any of these topics from the Help menu, a help browser will be started with the associated HTML documentation.

Most GNOME applications will have Help buttons. These are most often seen in Preference windows. (All Preference windows should have Help buttons.) Most Help buttons will connect to the application manual, although some may connect to special documents. Because the Help buttons do not generally have their own special documentation, the documentation author(s) do not need to do very much. However, the application author must be careful to guarantee that the application correctly opens the help documentation when the Help buttons are pressed.

To make the Help buttons call the correct document in the GNOME Help Browser the developer should add code based on the following example:

gchar *tmp;
tmp = gnome_help_file_find_file ("module", "page.html");
if (tmp) {
  gnome_help_goto(0, tmp);
  g_free(tmp);
}
    

In GNOME 2.0 each applet will have its own documentation installed separately, and the GNOME 2.0 help browser (Nautilus) will dynamically merge the applet documents into a single virtual book called GNOME Applets. During the transitionary stage between GNOME 1.0 and GNOME 2.0, each applet in the gnome-applets package has its own manual(stored with the applet in CVS), but they are merged together manually to create the GNOME Applets book before distribution. Telsa <hobbit@aloss.ukuu.org.uk> is the maintainer of this document. Applet documentation should be sent to Telsa (or placed in CVS) who will make sure they are correctly packaged with the applets. The applet author should be contacted to modify the menu items and help buttons to bind to the applet documentation if necessary.

Images which are part of the applet documentation should be in PNG format and should reside in the same directory as the SGML document file in CVS(gnome-applets/APPLETNAME/help/C).

Applets which are not part of the gnome-applets package must package their documentation with the particular applet package. They should use the same applet template as other applets. However, the <xref> links to the introductory chapter of the GNOME Applets book must be removed (as the 1.x GNOME Help Browser does not allow you to create links between separate documents) and replaced with suitable text. Note that since this document is not part of the GNOME Applets book, you must remember to add <legalnotice> and <copyright> sections.

Context sensitive help, also known as "pop-up" help, will allow a user to obtain help information about specific buttons or parts of an application.

Context sensitive help is still under development and not all the details are available at this time. However, the basics can be shown here so that you can understand how the system will work.

The Context Sensitive Help system is designed to allow the developer to give an id to a particular portion of the User Interface, for example, a button. Once the interface is complete a Perl script can then be run against the interface code to create a "map" file. This map file allows the developer or writer to associate particular paragraph sections from an XML document to the interface items.

The XML used for the document is a small XML DTD that is being developed to use the same tags (albeit, much fewer) as DocBook so that writers do not have to re-learn a new DTD.

Once the document is written and map file is complete, when the user launches context sensitive help on the interface (either by pressing a button and then clicking on the interface item they want information on, or by right mouse clicking on the interface item and selecting a pop-up menu item like "What's This") a small transient window will appear with brief but detailed information on the interface item.

In the GNOME 2.0 Help System, you will be able to create links from one document to another. The exact mechanism for doing this is in development.

Most people have never enjoyed reading a software manual, and they probably never will. Many times, they'll read the documentation only when they run into problems, and they'll be frustrated and upset before they even read a word. On the other hand, some readers will read the manual all the way through, or at least look at the introduction before they start. Your document might serve as a reference for an expert or a guide to a beginner, and it must have enough depth to satisfy the first without overwhelming the second. Ideally, it will serve beginners as they become experts. Remember, your goal is to produce complete, intuitive and clear documentation.

In order to write useful documentation, you'll have to know who your audience is likely to be. Then, you can look for the problems they're likely to run into, and solve them. It will also help if you focus on the tasks users will perform, and group features accordingly, rather than simply describing features at random.

Just as you need to juggle expert and novice readers, you'll have to juggle a number of other extremes as you write:

The GDP team is a valuable resource for any documentation author. GDP members can answer most questions documentation authors have during the course of their work. It is also important to make sure you are not duplicating work of other GDP members by visiting the GDP Documentation Status Table (http://www.gnome.org/gdp/doctable/) and assigning a documentation item to yourself. This table also provides a forum for making suggestions and announcements for each documentation item. The best way to get in touch with GDP members is on the #docs IRC channel at irc.gnome.org or else by emailing the gnome-doc-list mailing list.

After an author has finished a document (or even a draft version of the document), it is a good idea to ask a member of the GDP team to read the document, checking it for grammar, proper DocBook markup, and clarity. One may typically find another author to do this by either asking on the #docs IRC channel at irc.gnome.org or by emailing the gnome-doc-list mailing list.

The GNOME Documentation Project Web page lists current GDP projects and members.

The GDP Documentation Status Table tracks the status of all the various documentation components of GNOME.

Norman Walsh's DocBook: The Definitive Guide in an excellent book on DocBook, available both online and in print.

A. Document Templates

The following template should be used for all application manuals. You can always get the latest copy of this template from GDP Documentation Templates.



<!DOCTYPE Article PUBLIC "-//GNOME//DTD DocBook PNG Variant V1.1//EN"[
        <!-- if not using PNG graphic, replace reference above with
             .....PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN"[
         -->
<!ENTITY version "1.0.53">
        <!-- replace version above with actual application version number-->
	<!--  Template Version: 1.0.1  (do not remove this line) -->
]>


<!-- This is a GNOME documentation template, designed by the GNOME
  Documentation Project Team. Please use it for writing GNOME
  documentation, making obvious changes. In particular, all the words
  written in UPPERCASE (with the exception of GNOME) should be
  replaced. As for "legalnotice", please leave the reference
  unchanged.

  Remember that this is a guide, rather than a perfect model to follow
  slavishly. Make your manual logical and readable.  And don't forget
  to remove these comments in your final documentation!  ;-)
  -->

<!-- =============Document Header ============================= -->

<article id="index"> <!-- please do not change the id -->

  <artheader>
    <title>MY-GNOME-APP</title>
    <copyright>
      <year>2000</year>
      <holder>ME-THE-AUTHOR</holder>
    </copyright>

  <!-- translators: uncomment this:

  <copyright>
   <year>2000</year>
   <holder>ME-THE-TRANSLATOR (Latin translation)</holder>
  </copyright>

   -->

  <!-- do not put authorname in the header except in copyright - use
  section "authors" below -->

    <legalnotice>
      <para>
        Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
        document under the terms of the <citetitle>GNU Free
        Documentation License</citetitle>, Version 1.1 or any later
        version published by the Free Software Foundation with no
        Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
        Texts. You may obtain a copy of the <citetitle>GNU Free
        Documentation License</citetitle> from the Free Software
        Foundation by visiting <ulink type="http"
        url="http://www.fsf.org">their Web site</ulink> or by writing
        to: Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite
        330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
      </para>
      <para>
        Many of the names used by companies to distinguish their
        products and services are claimed as trademarks. Where those
        names appear in any GNOME documentation, and those trademarks
        are made aware to the members of the GNOME Documentation
        Project, the names have been printed in caps or initial caps.
      </para>
    </legalnotice>

  <!-- this is the version of manual, not application --> 
    <releaseinfo>
       This is version 1.0 of MY-GNOME-APP manual.
    </releaseinfo>

  </artheader>

 <!-- ============= Document Body ============================= -->

 <!-- ============= Introduction ============================== -->
  <sect1 id="intro">
    <title>Introduction</title>

    <para>
     <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> is an application which
     proves mathematical theorems.  It has all the basic features
     expected from a mathematical theorem prover, as well as a number
     of advanced ones, such as proof by confusion.  In fact, many of
     the proofs produced by <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application>
     are so complex that they are capable of proving almost anything
     with a virtually null likelihood of being disproven.  It also has
     the very popular predecessor of proof by confusion, proof by
     dialog, first implemented by Plato.
    </para>
    <para>
      It also allows you to save and print theorem proofs and to add
      comments to the proofs it produces.
    </para>

    <para>
      To run <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application>, select
      <menuchoice>
	<guisubmenu>SUBMENU</guisubmenu>
	<guimenuitem>MY-GNOME-APP</guimenuitem>
      </menuchoice>
      from the <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu>, or type
      <command>MYGNOMEAPP</command> on the command line.
  </para>

    <para>
      <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> is included in the
      <filename>GNOME-PACKAGE</filename> package, which is part of the
      GNOME desktop environment. This document describes version
      &version; of <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application>.
    </para>
  </sect1>


 <!-- ================ Usage ================================ -->
 <!-- This section should describe basic usage of the application. -->

  <sect1 id="usage">
    <title>Using MY-GNOME-APP</title>
    <para>
      <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> can be used to produce a
      perfect proof of <emphasis>any</emphasis> mathematical theorem
      (provided, of course, that this theorem is correct), thus
      providing for new users an easy-to-use graphical interface to
      modern mathematics. This section describes basic usage of
      <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application>.
    </para>

    <!-- ========= Basic Usage =========================== -->
    <sect2 id="mainwin">
      <title>Basic usage</title>
      <para>
        Starting <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> opens the
        <interface>Main window</interface>, shown in <xref
        linkend="mainwindow-fig">. The window is at first empty.

        <!-- ==== Figure ==== -->
        <figure id="mainwindow-fig">
	  <title>MY-GNOME-APP Main Window</title>
	  <screenshot>
	    <screeninfo>MY-GNOME-APP Main Window</screeninfo>
	    <graphic fileref="SCREENSHOT" format="png" srccredit="ME">
            </graphic>
	  </screenshot>
	</figure>
    <!-- ==== End of Figure ==== -->
      </para> 


 <!-- For this app, one could put "proving" or "edit" (probably even
      both of them) as sect2's seperate from the main window
      section. Since they were both so closely involved with the main
      window, I decided to have them as sect3's isntead. Judgement
      call. -->

      <sect3 id="proving">
	<title>Proving a Theorem</title>
	<para>
          To get a proof of a theorem, select
          <menuchoice>
	    <guisubmenu>File</guisubmenu>
	    <guimenuitem>New</guimenuitem>
	  </menuchoice>,
            which will
	    bring up the <interface>New Proof</interface> dialog box.
	    Enter the statement of the theorem in the
	    <guilabel>Theorem statement</guilabel> field, select your
	    desired proof type from the drop-down menu, and and press
	    <guibutton>Prove!</guibutton>.
        </para>
	<para>
          If <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> cannot prove the
          theorem by the method you have chosen, or if you have not
          selected a proof type at all,
          <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> will attempt to
          choose the one that it thinks is most conclusive.  In order,
          it will attempt to prove the theorem with the following techniques: 
     
                <variablelist>
	    <varlistentry>
	      <term>Deduction</term>
	      <listitem>
		<para>
                  This is a proof method that is generally accepted
                  for full credit by Logic professors.
                </para>
	      </listitem>
	    </varlistentry>
	    <varlistentry>
            <term>Induction</term>
	    <listitem>
	      <para>
                This logical style will also earn you full credit on
                your homework.
             </para>
	    </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
	    <varlistentry>
	      <term>Dialog</term>
	      <listitem>
	      <para>
                This logical method is best for Philosophy classes,
                and will probably only merit partial credit on Logic
                or Mathematics homework.
              </para>
	    </listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry>
	      <term>Confusion</term>
	      <listitem>
	      <para>
                Suitable only for political debates, battles of wits
                against the unarmed, and Philosophy classes focusing
                on the works of Kant. Use with caution.
              </para>
	      </listitem>
	    </varlistentry>
	  </variablelist>
          </para>

   <!-- You might want to include a note, warning, or tip, e.g. -->
	
	<warning>
	  <title>Proving Incorrect Theorms</title>
	  <para>
            <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> cannot prove
            incorrect theorems. If the theorem you have entered is not
            demonstrably true, you will get a message to that effect
            in the main window.  To disprove a theorem, ask
            <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> to prove its
            logical inverse.
          </para>
	</warning>
      </sect3>
      <sect3 id="editing">
	<title>Editing Proofs</title>
	<para>
          Once you have proven the theorem, it will be displayed in
          the <interface>main window</interface>.  There, you can read
          it over, choose text styles for different portions of it,
          and make comments on it. This section will guide you through
          that process.
        </para>
	<para>
          To alter text styles, first select the statement you wish to
          change by clicking on it once.  You can select several
          statements by Then, choose the style you want to apply from
          the <guisubmenu>Style</guisubmenu> submenu of the
          <guimenu>Edit</guimenu> menu.
          <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> will convert the
          text to that style.
        </para>
        <para>
          You can also enter comments on a statement by selecting that
          statement, and then beginning to type.  Comments will appear
          after the statement you have selected.
        </para>

	<note>
	  <title>Altering The Proofs Themselves</title>
          <para>
            <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> does not allow you
            to alter a proof it has produced itself.  You can, save
            your proof as a plain text file (using the
            <guimenuitem>Save as...</guimenuitem> menu), and alter it
            that way.  Be aware, however, that
            <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> uses its own file
            format for saved proofs, and cannot re-open a file unless
            it is in the .mga format.
          </para>
	</note>
      </sect3>


  <!-- If there are other functions performed from the main window,
       they belong here.   -->

    </sect2>
 
    <!-- ========================================================= 
      Additional Sect2's should describe additional windows, such as
      larger dialog boxes, or functionality that differs significantly
      from the most immediate functions of the application. Make the
      structure logical.
      =============================================================  -->


    <sect2 id="toolbar">
      <title>Toolbar</title>
      <para>
        The toolbar (shown in <xref linkend="figure-usage-toolbar">)
        provides access to several commonly used routines.
        <figure id="figure-usage-toolbar">
	  <title>MY-GNOME-APP Toolbar</title>
	  <screenshot>
	    <screeninfo>MY-GNOME-APP Toolbar</screeninfo>
	    <graphic fileref="usage-toolbar.png" format="png"></graphic>
	  </screenshot>
	</figure>
        <variablelist>
	  <varlistentry>
	    <term>New</term>
	    <listitem>
	      <para>
                Brings up the <interface>New Theorem</interface>
                dialog.
              </para>
	    </listitem>
	  </varlistentry>
	  <varlistentry>
	    <term>Open</term>
	    <listitem>
	      <para>
                 Open an exisiting theorem you want to prove, or a
                 completed proof you wish to print or format.
               </para>
	    </listitem>
	  </varlistentry>
	  <varlistentry>
	    <term>Save</term>
	    <listitem>
	      <para>
	         Save the current theorem permanently in a
	         file.
               </para>
	    </listitem> 
	  </varlistentry>
	</variablelist>
       </para>
    </sect2>
    <!-- ========= Menus =========================== --> 

    <sect2 id="menubar">

       <!-- Describing the menubar ensures comprehensive feature
       coverage. Nest itemizedlists inside variablelists so that each
       menu is easily located by indexing software. Proper indentation
       makes it easier! -->

      <title>Menus</title>
      <para>
	The menu bar, located at the top of the <interface>Main
	Window</interface>, contains the following menus:
       </para>
      <variablelist>
	<varlistentry>
	  <term><guimenu>File</guimenu></term>
	  <listitem>
	    <para>
	       This menu contains:
	       <itemizedlist>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	            <menuchoice>
		      <shortcut>
			<keycap>F3</keycap>
		      </shortcut>
		      <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem>
		     </menuchoice>
	             &mdash; This opens a file which is saved on your computer.
	           </para>
		</listitem>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	             <menuchoice>
		      <shortcut>
			<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>S</keycap></keycombo>
		      </shortcut>
		      <guimenuitem>Save</guimenuitem>
		    </menuchoice>
	            &mdash; This saves your file.
	          </para>
		</listitem>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	             <menuchoice>
		      <shortcut>
			<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>W</keycap></keycombo>
		      </shortcut>
		      <guimenuitem>Close</guimenuitem>
		    </menuchoice>
	            &mdash; This closes your file.
	          </para>
		</listitem>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	            <menuchoice>
		      <shortcut>
			<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>Q</keycap></keycombo>
		      </shortcut>
		      <guimenuitem>Exit</guimenuitem>
		    </menuchoice>
	            &mdash; This quits the application.
	          </para>
		</listitem>
	      </itemizedlist>
	  </para>
	  </listitem>
	</varlistentry>
	
	<varlistentry>
	  <term><guimenu>Edit</guimenu></term>
	  <listitem>
	    <para>
	   This menu contains:
	   <itemizedlist>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	            <menuchoice>
		      <shortcut>
			<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>X</keycap></keycombo>
		      </shortcut>
		      <guimenuitem>Cut</guimenuitem>
		    </menuchoice>
	            &mdash; This removes any text or data which is selected and
	            places it in the buffer.
	          </para>
		</listitem>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	            <menuchoice>
		      <shortcut>
			<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>C</keycap></keycombo>
		      </shortcut>
		      <guimenuitem>Copy</guimenuitem>
		    </menuchoice>
	            &mdash; This copies any text or data which is selected into
	            the buffer.
	          </para>
		</listitem>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	           <menuchoice>
		      <shortcut>
			<keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>V</keycap></keycombo>
		      </shortcut>
		      <guimenuitem>Paste</guimenuitem>
		    </menuchoice>
	            &mdash; This pastes any text or data which is copied into
	            the buffer.
	        </para>
		</listitem>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	             <guimenuitem>COMMAND1&hellip;</guimenuitem>
	             &mdash; This opens the <interface>COMMAND1</interface>
	             dialog, which is used to ....
	          </para>
		</listitem>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	            <guimenuitem>COMMAND2</guimenuitem>
	            &mdash; This ....
	          </para>
		</listitem>
	      </itemizedlist>
	    </para>
	  </listitem>
	</varlistentry>
	

	<varlistentry>
	  <term><guimenu>Settings</guimenu></term>
	  <listitem>
	    <para>
	   This menu contains:
	   <itemizedlist>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	      <guimenuitem>Preferences&hellip;</guimenuitem>
	       &mdash; This opens the <link
	       linkend="prefs"><interface>Preferences
	       Dialog</interface></link>, which allows you to configure
	       many settings.
	     </para>
		</listitem>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	            <guimenuitem>COMMAND3</guimenuitem> &mdash;
    	            This command does something.
    	    	   </para>
		</listitem>
	      </itemizedlist>
	    </para>
	  </listitem>
	</varlistentry>
	
	<varlistentry>
	  <term><guimenu>Help</guimenu></term>
	  <listitem>
	    <para>
	      This menu contains:
	       <itemizedlist>
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	             <guimenuitem>Manual</guimenuitem> &mdash; This
    	              opens the <application>GNOME Help
    	              Browser</application> and displays this manual.
	          </para>
		</listitem>
		
		<listitem>
		  <para>
	            <guimenuitem>About</guimenuitem> &mdash; This
    	            opens the <interface>About</interface> dialog
    	            which shows basic information about
    	            <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application>, such as
    	            the author's name, the application version number,
    	            and the URL for the application's Web page if one
    	            exists.
	          </para>
		</listitem>
	      </itemizedlist>
            </para>
	  </listitem>
	</varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </sect2>
  </sect1>



 <!-- ============= Customization ============================= -->

 <sect1 id="prefs">
  <title>Customization</title>
  <para>
   To change the application settings, select
   <menuchoice>
    <guimenu>Settings</guimenu>
    <guimenuitem>Preferences...</guimenuitem>
   </menuchoice>.  This opens the
   <interface>Preferences</interface> dialog, shown in <xref
   linkend="preferences-fig">.
  </para>

  <figure id="preferences-fig">
   <title>Preferences Dialog</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>Preferences Dialog</screeninfo>
    <graphic fileref="SCREENSHOT" format="png"
     srccredit="ME">
    </graphic>
   </screenshot>
  </figure>

  <para>
   The properties in the <guilabel>PREFSTABNAME</guilabel> tab are:
   
   <!--many people use itemizedlists in cases like this. Variablelists
   are more appropriate -->

      <variablelist>
	<varlistentry>
	  <term> <guilabel>Default Text Style</guilabel></term>
	  <listitem>
	    <para>
              Select the default text style for statements in your
              proof.  You can still change the style for individual
              proofs or sections of a proof at a later date.
            </para>
	  </listitem>
	</varlistentry>
	<varlistentry>
	  <term>(Configuration Item Label)</term>
	  <listitem>
	    <para>
             (Description of Configuration)
             </para>
	  </listitem>
	</varlistentry>
	<varlistentry>
	  <term>(Configuration Item Label)</term>
	  <listitem>
	    <para>
             (Description of Configuration)
             </para>
	  </listitem>
	</varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </para>

    <para>
     The properties in the <guilabel>SECONDTABNAME</guilabel> tab are:
       <variablelist>
	<varlistentry>
	  <term>(Configuration Item Label)</term>
	  <listitem>
	    <para>
             (Description of Configuration)
             </para>
	  </listitem>
	</varlistentry>
	<varlistentry>
	  <term>(Configuration Item Label)</term>
	  <listitem>
	    <para>
             (Description of Configuration)
             </para>
	  </listitem>
	</varlistentry>
      </variablelist>
    </para>

  <para>
    After you have made all the changes you want, click on
    <guibutton>OK</guibutton> to apply the changes and close the
    <interface>Properties</interface> dialog. To cancel the changes
    and return to previous values, click the
    <guibutton>Close</guibutton> button.
  </para>

 </sect1>


 <!-- ============= Various Sections ============================= -->

 <!-- Here you should add, if necessary, several more sect1's,
 describing other windows (besides the main one), file formats,
 preferences dialogs,  etc. as appropriate. Try not to make any of
 these sections too long. -->


 <!-- ============= Bugs ================================== -->
 <!-- This section should describe known bugs and limitations of
      the program if there are any - please be frank and list all
      problems you know of. -->
 <sect1 id="bugs">
  <title>Known Bugs and Limitations</title>
  <para>
   This application has no known bugs.
  </para>
 </sect1>


<!-- ============= Authors ================================ -->

 <sect1 id="authors">
  <title>Authors</title>
  <para>
   <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application> was written by GNOME-HACKER
   (<email>hacker@gnome.org</email>). To find more information about
   <application>MY-GNOME-APP</application>, please visit the <ulink
   url="http://www.my-gnome-app.org" type="http">MY-GNOME-APP Web
   page</ulink>.  Please send all comments, suggestions, and bug
   reports to the <ulink url="http://bugs.gnome.org" type="http">GNOME
   bug tracking database</ulink>. (Instructions for submitting bug
   reports can be found <ulink
   url="http://bugs.gnome.org/Reporting.html" type="http">
   on-line</ulink>.)  You can also use <application>Bug Report
   Tool</application> (<command>bug-buddy</command>), available in the
   <guisubmenu>Utilities</guisubmenu> submenu of <guimenu>Main
   Menu</guimenu>, for submitting bug reports.
  </para>

  <para>
   This manual was written by ME
   (<email>MYNAME@MYADDRESS</email>). Please send all comments and
   suggestions regarding this manual to the <ulink type="http"
   url="http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gdp">GNOME Documentation 
   Project</ulink> by sending an email to 
   <email>docs@gnome.org</email>. You can also add your comments online 
   by using the <ulink type="http" 
   url="http://www.gnome.org/gdp/doctable/">GNOME Documentation Status
   Table</ulink>.
  </para>

  <!-- For translations: uncomment this:

  <para>
   Latin translation was done by ME
   (<email>MYNAME@MYADDRESS</email>). Please send all  comments  and
   suggestions regarding this translation to SOMEWHERE.
  </para>

  -->

 </sect1>


 <!-- ============= Application License ============================= -->

 <sect1 id="license">
  <title>License</title>
  <para>
   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
   modify it under the terms of the <citetitle>GNU General Public
   License</citetitle> as published by the Free Software Foundation;
   either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
   version.
  </para>
  <para>
   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
   WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
   <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> for more details.
  </para>
  <para>
   A copy of the <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> is
   included as an appendix to the <citetitle>GNOME Users
   Guide</citetitle>.  You may also obtain a copy of the
   <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> from the Free
   Software Foundation by visiting <ulink type="http"
   url="http://www.fsf.org">their Web site</ulink> or by writing to
   <address>
    Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    <street>59 Temple Place</street> - Suite 330
    <city>Boston</city>, <state>MA</state> <postcode>02111-1307</postcode>
    <country>USA</country>
   </address>
  </para>
 </sect1>
</article>












The following templates should be used for all applet manuals in GNOME 1.x releases. You can always get the latest copy of these templates from GDP Documentation Templates. Note that the template consists of two files; the first file calls the second as an entity. You should name the first file appletname-applet.sgml and the second file should be named appletname.sgml, where appletname is the name of the applet.



<!DOCTYPE Article PUBLIC "-//GNOME//DTD DocBook PNG Variant V1.1//EN"[
 <!entity APPLETNAME.sgml SYSTEM "applet_template_1.sgml">
        <!--  Template Version: 1.0.1  (do not remove this line) -->
]>

<!-- This is a GNOME documentation template, designed by the GNOME
  Documentation Project Team. Please use it for writing GNOME
  documentation, making obvious changes. In particular, all the words
  written in UPPERCASE (with the exception of GNOME) should be
  replaced. As for "legalnotice", please leave the reference
  unchanged,make sure to add/remove trademarks to the list as
  appropriate for your document.

  Please don't forget to remove these comments in your final documentation,
  thanks ;-).
-->

<article id="index"> <!-- please do not change the id -->

 <!-- ============= Document Header ============================= -->
 <artheader> 
  <title>APPLETNAME Applet</title>
  <copyright>
   <year>2000</year>
   <holder>YOURFULLNAME</holder>
  </copyright>

  <!-- translators: uncomment this:

  <copyright>
   <year>2000</year>
   <holder>ME-THE-TRANSLATOR (Latin translation)</holder>
  </copyright>

   -->

  <!-- do not put authorname in the header except in copyright - use
  section "authors" below -->

  <legalnotice>
   <para>
    Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
    document under the terms of the <citetitle>GNU Free Documentation
    License</citetitle>, Version 1.1 or any later version published
    by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no
    Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. You may obtain a copy
    of the <citetitle>GNU Free Documentation License</citetitle> from
    the Free Software Foundation by visiting <ulink type="http"
    url="http://www.fsf.org">their Web site</ulink> or by writing to:
    Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
    Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
   </para>
   <para>
    Many of the names used by companies to distinguish their products and
    services are claimed as trademarks. Where those names appear in any
    GNOME documentation, and those trademarks are made aware to the members
    of the GNOME Documentation Project, the names have been printed in caps
    or initial caps.
   </para>
  </legalnotice>

  <releaseinfo>
   This is version XXX of the APPLETNAME applet manual.
  </releaseinfo>
 </artheader>

 <!-- ============= Document Body ============================= -->

 &APPLETNAME.sgml;

</article>






        <!--  Template Version: 1.0.1  (do not remove this line) -->

 <sect1 id="APPLET">
  <title>APPLET Applet</title>

  <para>
   <application>APPLET</application> applet, shown in <xref
   linkend="APPLETapplet-fig">, allows you to &hellip;.  To add this
   applet to a <interface>Panel</interface>, 
   right-click on the <interface>Panel</interface> and choose
   <menuchoice>
    <guimenu>Panel</guimenu>
    <guisubmenu>Add to panel</guisubmenu>
    <guisubmenu>Applet</guisubmenu>
    <guisubmenu>SECTION</guisubmenu>
    <guimenuitem>APPLET</guimenuitem>
   </menuchoice>.
  </para>

  <figure id="APPLETapplet-fig">
   <title>APPLET Applet</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>APPLET Applet</screeninfo>
    <graphic format="png" fileref="APPLET_applet" 
    srccredit="YOURNAME">
    </graphic>
   </screenshot>
  </figure>

  <!-- ============= Usage  ================================ -->
  <sect2 id="APPLET-usage">
   <title>Usage</title>
   <para>
    (Place a short description of how to use the applet here.)
   </para>

   <para>
    Right-clicking on the applet brings up a menu containing the
    following items:
    <itemizedlist>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>Properties&hellip;</guimenuitem> &mdash;
       opens the <link linkend="APPLET-prefs">
       <guilabel>Properties</guilabel></link> dialog.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem> &mdash;
       displays this document.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       <guimenuitem>About&hellip;</guimenuitem> &mdash;
       shows basic information about <application>APPLET
       Applet</application>, including the applet's version and the
       author's name.
      </para>
     </listitem>

    </itemizedlist>
   </para>
  </sect2>


  <!-- ============= Customization ============================= -->
  <sect2 id="APPLET-prefs">
    <title>Customization</title>
    <para>
      You can customize <application>APPLET</application>
      applet by right-clicking on it and choosing
      <guimenuitem>Properties&hellip;</guimenuitem>. This will open the
      <interface>Properties</interface> dialog(shown in <xref
      linkend="APPLET-settings-fig">), which allows you to
      change various settings.
    </para>

    <figure id="APPLET-settings-fig">
     <title>Properties dialog</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>Properties dialog</screeninfo>
      <graphic format="png" fileref="APPLET_settings"
      srccredit="YOURNAME">
      </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>

    <para>
     The properties are:
     <itemizedlist>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        (Configuration Item Label) &mdash; If this button is
        checked&hellip;(description)
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        (Configuration Item Label) &mdash; Selecting this
        button&hellip;(description)
       </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
       <para>
        (Configuration Item Label) &mdash; Enter the name of
        &hellip;(description)
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>
    </para>

    <para> 
      After you have made all the changes you want, click on
      <guibutton>OK</guibutton> to apply the changes and close the
      <interface>Properties</interface> dialog. To cancel the changes
      and return to previous values, click the
      <guibutton>Close</guibutton> button.
    </para>
  </sect2>


  <!-- ============= Bugs ================================== -->
  <!-- This section should describe known bugs and limitations of
       the program if there are any - please be frank and list all
       problems you know of -->
  <sect2 id="bugs">
   <title>Known Bugs and Limitations</title>
   <para>
    This applet has no known bugs.
   </para>
  </sect2>


  <!-- ============= Authors ================================ -->

  <sect2 id="authors">
   <title>Authors</title>
   <para>
    <application>APPLET</application> was written by GNOME-HACKER
    (<email>hacker@gnome.org</email>).  Please send all comments,
    suggestions, and bug 
    reports to the <ulink url="http://bugs.gnome.org" type="http">GNOME
    bug tracking database</ulink>. (Instructions for submitting bug
    reports can be found <ulink
    url="http://bugs.gnome.org/Reporting.html" type="http">
    on-line</ulink>.  You can also use <application>Bug Report
    Tool</application> (<command>bug-buddy</command>), available in the
    <guisubmenu>Utilities</guisubmenu> submenu of <guimenu>Main
    Menu</guimenu>, for submitting bug reports.
   </para>

   <para>
    This manual was written by ME
    (<email>MYNAME@MYADDRESS</email>). Please send all comments and
    suggestions regarding this manual to the <ulink type="http"
    url="http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gdp">GNOME Documentation
    Project</ulink>  by sending an email to
    <email>docs@gnome.org</email>. You can also submit comments online
    by using the <ulink type="http"
    url="http://www.gnome.org/gdp/doctable/">GNOME Documentation
    Status Table</ulink>.
   </para>

   <!-- For translations: uncomment this:

   <para>
    Latin translation was done by ME
    (<email>MYNAME@MYADDRESS</email>). Please send all  comments  and
    suggestions regarding this translation to SOMEWHERE.
   </para>

   -->

  </sect2>


  <!-- ============= Application License ============================= -->

  <sect2 id="license">
   <title>License</title>
   <para>
    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
    modify it under the terms of the <citetitle>GNU General Public
    License</citetitle> as published by the Free Software Foundation;
    either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
    version.
   </para>
   <para>
    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
    WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> for more details.
   </para>
   <para>
    A copy of the <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> is
    included as an appendix to the <citetitle>GNOME Users
    Guide</citetitle>.  You may also obtain a copy of the
    <citetitle>GNU General Public License</citetitle> from the Free
    Software Foundation by visiting <ulink type="http"
    url="http://www.fsf.org">their Web site</ulink> or by writing to
    <address>
     Free Software Foundation, Inc.
     <street>59 Temple Place</street> - Suite 330
     <city>Boston</city>, <state>MA</state> <postcode>02111-1307</postcode>
     <country>USA</country>
    </address>
   </para>
  </sect2>

 </sect1>








The following templates should be used for all applet manuals in GNOME 2.x releases. You can always get the latest copy of these templates from GDP Documentation Templates.

Note that this template consists of two files. The first file is an introductory chapter. You should not modify this chapter. The second file is the actual applet document, which you should modify to describe the applet you are documenting. You can name the first file whatever you like, such as gnome-applets.sgml. Name the second file according to the applet's name: appletname-applet.sgml. Make sure you update the entity at the top of the shell document to reflect the new name of the applet document.


<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//GNOME//DTD DocBook PNG Variant V1.1//EN"[
<!ENTITY TEMPLATE-APPLET SYSTEM "gnome-applet-template.sgml.part">

]>

<book id="gnome-applets">

 <bookinfo>
  <title>GNOME Applets</title>
  <authorgroup>
   <author><firstname>Telsa</firstname><surname>Gwynne</surname></author>
   <author><firstname>John</firstname><surname>Fleck</surname></author>
   <author><firstname>David</firstname><surname>Mason</surname>
      <affiliation><orgname>Red Hat, Inc.</orgname></affiliation>
    </author>
    <author><firstname>Dan</firstname><surname>Mueth</surname></author>
    <author><firstname>Alexander</firstname><surname>Kirillov</surname></author>
  </authorgroup>
  <edition>GNOME Applets version 0.1 for GNOME 1.1.5</edition>
  <pubdate>2000</pubdate>
  <copyright>
   <year>2000</year>
   <holder>Telsa Gwynne, John Fleck, Red Hat Inc., Dan Mueth, and
    Alexander Kirillov</holder> 
  </copyright>
  <legalnotice>
   <para>
    Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
    manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
    preserved on all copies.
   </para>
   <para>
    Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
    this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
    the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
    permission notice identical to this one.
   </para>
   <para>
    Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
    manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
    versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a
    translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.
   </para>
   <para>
    Many of the names used by companies to distinguish their products and
    services are claimed as trademarks. Where those names appear in any
    GNOME documentation, and those trademarks are made aware to the members
    of the GNOME Documentation Project, the names have been printed in caps
    or initial caps.
   </para>
  </legalnotice>
 </bookinfo>

 <!-- #### Introduction ###### -->
 <chapter id="applets-intro">
  <title>Introduction</title> 

  <!-- #### Intro | What Are Applets? ###### -->
  <sect1 id="applets-what-are">
   <title>What Are Applets?</title> 
   <para>
    Applets are one of the most popular and useful objects you can add
    to your <interface>Panel</interface> to customize your desktop.
    An applet is a small application which runs inside a small area of
    your <interface>Panel</interface>. Applets have been written for
    a wide range of purposes.  Some are very powerful interactive
    tools, such as the <application>Tasklist</application> Applet
    which allows you to easily 
    control all of your main applications.  Others are simple system
    monitors, displaying information such as the amount of power left
    in the battery on your laptop (see <application>Battery Charge
    Monitor</application>) or weather
    information(see <application>GNOME Weather</application>).  Some
    are simply for amusement(see <application>Fish</application>).
   </para>

   <para>
    Applets are similar to swallowed applications in that both of them
    reside within the <interface>Panel</interface>. However, 
    swallowed applications are generally applications which were
    not designed to run within the <interface>Panel</interface>.
    Typically one will swallow an application which already exists in
    the main <interface>desktop</interface> area, putting it into your
    <interface>Panel</interface>.  The application will continue to
    run in the <interface>Panel</interface> until you end the
    application or  unswallow it,  placing it back onto the main part of
    your desktop when you need to.
   </para>

   <para>
    <figure id="example-applets-fig">
     <title>Example Applets</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>Example Applets</screeninfo>
       <graphic fileref="example_applets" format="png"
       srccredit="muet">
       </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>
    Several example applets are shown in <xref
    linkend="example-applets-fig">.  From left to right, they are: (1)
    <application>Mixer Applet</application>, which allows you to turn
    on/off sound and control its volume by clicking on the applet.  (2)
    <application>Sound Monitor</application> Applet, which displays
    the current volume of sound being played and allows you to control
    various sound features.  (3) <application>GTCD</application>
    Applet, a CD player which has all its controls
    available in the applet and displays the track and time. (4)
    <application>Drive Mount</application> Applet, used to mount and
    unmount drives with a single click of the mouse. (5)
    <application>Desk Guide</application> which allows you to view
    and control multiple virtual screens. (6)
    <application>Tasklist</application> Applet which allows you to
    control your various windows and applications.
   </para>
   <para>
    There are many other applets to choose from.  The rest of this
    chapter will explain the basic information to get you started
    adding, moving, and removing applets from your
    <interface>Panels</interface> and using them. The following
    chapters go through each of the standard GNOME applets describing
    them in detail.  There are also additional applets which can be
    downloaded off the Web.   See <ulink type="http"
     url="http://www.gnome.org/applist/list-martin.phtml">The GNOME
    Software Map</ulink> for lists of additional GNOME applications
    and applets. 
   </para>
   <para>
    As you read through the the rest of this chapter, you should try
    adding and removing applets from your <interface>Panel</interface> and
    experiment with them freely.  
   </para>
  </sect1>

  <!-- #### Intro | Adding, Moving, and Removing Applets ###### -->
  <sect1 id="applet-add-move-replace">
   <title>Adding, Moving, and Removing Applets</title>

   <sect2 id="adding-applets">   
    <title>Adding Applets to a Panel</title>
    <para>
     To add an applet to a <interface>Panel</interface>, right-click
     on the <interface>Panel</interface> and select 
     <menuchoice><guimenu>Panel</guimenu><guisubmenu>Add to panel</guisubmenu>
     <guisubmenu>Applet</guisubmenu></menuchoice>. This will show you
     the menu of all the applets on your system, divided into
     categories. Choosing any applet from this menu will add it to the
     <interface>Panel</interface>.
    </para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="moving-applets">
    <title>Moving Applets In or Between Panels</title>
    <para>
     It is easy to move applets in a <interface>Panel</interface> or
     between two <interface>Panels</interface>. If you have a
     three-button mouse, just move the mouse over the applet, depress
     the middle mouse button and drag the applet to its new location,
     releasing the middle mouse button when you are finished.  Note
     that you can drag applets within a <interface>Panel</interface>
     or between two <interface>Panels</interface> this way. If you
     don't have a three-button mouse, just 
     right-click on the applet and choose
     <guimenuitem>Move</guimenuitem>. The cursor will turn into a
     cross and the applet will move with your mouse until you press
     any mouse button to indicate you are finished moving it.
     If, in the course of this movement, it hits
     other objects, the behavior depends on the global preferences
     you have set for your <interface>Panels</interface> in the
     <application>GNOME Control Center</application>: the applet you are
     moving can switch places with other objects, "push" all objects
     it meets, or "jump" over all other objects without disturbing
     them. You can also override the default behavior by holding
     <keycap>Shift</keycap> button (for "push" mode),
     <keycap>Ctrl</keycap> (for "switched" mode), or
     <keycap>Alt</keycap> (for "free" mode, i.e. jumping other other
     objects without disturbing them) button while dragging.
    </para>
    <para>
     To change the global Panel preferences, right-click on any applet
     or <interface>Panel</interface> and select 
     <menuchoice>
      <guimenu>Panel</guimenu>
      <guimenuitem>Global Preferences...</guimenuitem>
     </menuchoice>.
     The <guilabel>Default movement mode</guilabel> is set under the
     <guilabel>Applets</guilabel> tab.
    </para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="removing-applets">
    <title>Removing Applets from a Panel</title> 
    <para>  
     To remove an applet from a <interface>Panel</interface>,
     right-click on the applet and select <guimenuitem>Remove from
     panel...</guimenuitem>. 
    </para>
   </sect2>
  </sect1>


  <!-- #### Intro | The Right-Click Pop-Up Menu ###### -->
  <sect1 id="right-click-pop-up-menu">
   <title>The Right-Click Pop-Up Menu</title>
   <para>
    Clicking the right mouse button on any applet brings up
    a <guimenu>pop-up menu</guimenu>. This 
    menu always has certain standard menu items in it and
    often has additional items which vary depending on the particular
    applet. 
   </para>
   <sect2 id="standard-right-click-items"> 
    <title>Standard Pop-Up Items</title>
    <para>
     All applets should have the following items in their right-click
     <guimenu>pop-up menu</guimenu>:
     <variablelist>
      <varlistentry>
       <term>Remove from panel</term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
         The <guimenuitem>Remove from panel</guimenuitem> menu item
         removes the applet from the <interface>Panel</interface>. 
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
       <term>Move</term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
         After selecting <guimenuitem>Move</guimenuitem>, your mouse
         pointer will change appearance (typically to a cross with
         arrows in each direction). As you move your mouse, the applet
         will move with it.  When you have finished moving the applet,
         click any mouse button and the applet will anchor in its
         current position.  Note that applets can be moved between two
         <interface>Panels</interface> this way.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
       <term>Panel</term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
         The <guisubmenu>Panel</guisubmenu> submenu contains various
         items and submenus for adding and removing
         <interface>Panels</interface> and applets and for changing
         the configuration.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
       <term>About</term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
         The <guimenuitem>About...</guimenuitem> menu item brings up a 
         dialogue box containing various information about the applet,
         typically including the applet's  name, version, author,
         copyright, license and desciption. 
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
       <term>Help</term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
         The <guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem> menu item brings up the help
         manual for the applet. 
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
     </variablelist>
    </para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="applet-properties-dialog"> 
    <title>The Applet Properties Dialog</title>
    <para>
     Many applets have customizable properties.  These applets will
     have a <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> menu item in their
     right-click <guimenu>pop-up menu</guimenu> which brings up the
     <interface>Properties</interface> dialog where you can alter the 
     appearance or behaviour of the applet.
     <figure id="example-props-dialog-fig">
      <title>An Example Applet Properties Dialog</title>
      <screenshot>
       <screeninfo>An Example Applets Properties Dialog</screeninfo>
       <graphic fileref="applet_props_dialog" format="png"
        srccredit="muet">
       </graphic>
      </screenshot>
     </figure>
     All <interface>Properties</interface> dialogs have the following
     buttons at the bottom of the dialog:
     <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guibutton>OK</guibutton> &mdash;
        Pressing <guibutton>OK</guibutton> will activate any changes
        in the properties you have made and close the
        <interface>Properties</interface> dialog.
       </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> &mdash;
        Pressing <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> at any time will
        make your changes active without closing the
        <interface>Properties</interface> dialog.  This is helpful if
        you would like to test the effects of the changes you have
        made but may want to continue changing the properties.
       </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guibutton>Close</guibutton> &mdash;
        Pressing <guibutton>Close</guibutton> will close the
        <interface>Properties</interface> dialog.  Only changes in the
        configuration which were previously applied with the
        <guibutton>Apply</guibutton> button will persist.  Other
        changes will not be made active.
       </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guibutton>Help</guibutton> &mdash;
        Pressing <guibutton>Help</guibutton> brings up the manual for
        the application, opening it to the page describing the
        <interface>Properties</interface> dialog.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>
    </para>
   </sect2>
 
   <sect2 id="common-right-click-items"> 
    <title>Other Common Pop-Up Items</title>
    <para>
     Many applets also have one or more of the following items in their
     right-click pop-up menu:
     <variablelist>
      <varlistentry>
       <term>Run...</term>
       <listitem>
        <para>
         The <guimenuitem>Run...</guimenuitem> menu item generally
         invokes a program  which is related to the applet in some way
         but which runs in its own window rather than in the
         panel. For example: 
        </para>
        <orderedlist>
         <listitem>
          <para>
           The <application>CPU Load</application> applet, which monitors
           what programs are running, has a <guimenuitem>Run
           gtop...</guimenuitem>  menu item. Selecting this menu item
           starts <application>GTop</application>, which allows you to
           view and control programs which are running.
          </para>
         </listitem>
         <listitem>
          <para>
           The <application>CD Player</application> applet has a
           <guimenuitem>Run gtcd...</guimenuitem> menu item which
           starts the GNOME <application>CD Player</application> when
           selected, which has more capabilities than the applet.
          </para>
         </listitem>
        </orderedlist>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
     </variablelist>
    </para>
   </sect2>
  </sect1>
  
  <sect1 id="feedback">
   <title>Feedback</title>
   <sect2 id="reporting-bugs"> 
    <title>Reporting Applet Bugs</title>
    <para>
     GNOME users are encouraged to report bugs to <ulink type="http"
     url="http://bugs.gnome.org">The GNOME Bug Tracking
     System</ulink>.  The easiest way to submit bugs is to use the
     <application>Bug Report Tool</application> program by selecting
     <menuchoice>
      <guimenu>Main Menu</guimenu> <guisubmenu>Utilities</guisubmenu>
      <guimenuitem>Bug Report Tool</guimenuitem> 
     </menuchoice>.
     Be sure to be complete in describing what you did to cause the
     bug to surface and, if possible, describe how the developer can
     reproduce the the scenario.
    </para>
   </sect2>
   <sect2 id="documentation-feedback"> 
    <title>Providing Feedback</title>
    <para>
     GNOME users are welcome to provide suggestions for how
     applications and documentation can be improved.  Suggestions for
     application changes should be submitted using the
     <application>Bug Report Tool</application> discussed above.
     Suggestions for documentation changes can be emailed directly to
     the documentation author (whose email should be included in the
     "Authors" section of the document) or by sending an email to
     <email>docs@gnome.org</email>. 
    </para>
   </sect2>
   <sect2 id="joining-gnome">  
    <title>Joining GNOME</title>
    <para>
     GNOME is a community project, created by hundreds of programmers,
     documentation writers, icon design artists, web masters, and
     other people, most of whom work on a volunteer basis.  New GNOME
     contributors are always welcome. To join the GNOME team, visit
     these web sites: developers &mdash; <ulink type="http"
     url="http://developer.gnome.org">The GNOME Development
     Site</ulink>, documentation writers &mdash; <ulink type="http"
     url="http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gdp">The GNOME Documentation
     Project</ulink>, icon design artists &mdash; <ulink type="http"
     url="http://gnome-icons.sourceforge.net/">Gnome Icon Web</ulink>,
     general &mdash; <ulink type="http"
     url="http://developer.gnome.org/helping/">Helping GNOME</ulink>,
     or just join the gnome-list email list (see <ulink type="http"
     url="http://www.gnome.org/resources/mailing-lists.html">GNOME Mailing
     Lists</ulink>) to discuss what you are interested in doing.
    </para>
   </sect2>
  </sect1>
 </chapter>

 <!-- ############### Template Applets ##################### -->
 <chapter id="template-applets">
  <title>Template Applets</title>

  &TEMPLATE-APPLET

 </chapter>

</book>








	


  <!-- Please replace everywhere below GNOMEAPPLET with the name of -->
  <!-- your applet. Most importantly, all id attributes should start -->
  <!-- with the name of your applet - this is necessary to avoid name -->
  <!-- conflict among different applets --> 
  <!-- Please replace YOUR-NAME with your name and YOUR-EMAIL with your email-->
  <!-- Please replace HACKER-NAME with the applet author's name and -->
  <!-- HACKER-EMAIL with the applet author's email -->

  <!-- You should name your file: GNOMEAPPLET-applet.sgml -->
  <!-- Screenshots should be in PNG format and placed in the -->
  <!-- same directory as GNOMEAPPLET-applet.sgml -->

  <!-- Applet docs will be merged into <chapter>'s inside a -->
  <!-- <book>. Thus, the indentation below (2 spaces before the <sect1>) is -->
  <!-- correct.-->

  <!-- Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of -->
  <!-- this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission -->
  <!-- notice are  preserved on all copies. -->
  <!-- -->
  <!-- Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of -->
  <!-- this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided -->
  <!-- that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the -->
  <!-- terms of a permission notice identical to this one. -->
  <!-- -->
  <!-- Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this -->
  <!-- manual into another language, under the above conditions for -->
  <!-- modified versions, except that this permission notice may be -->
  <!-- stated in a translation approved by the Foundation. -->

  <!-- ###############   GNOMEAPPLET   ############### -->
  <sect1 id="GNOMEAPPLET">
   <title>GNOMEAPPLET Applet</title> 

   <para> 
    <application>GNOMEAPPLET</application> applet, shown in <xref
    linkend="GNOMEAPPLET-fig">, does this and that. To learn how to
    add this applet to a <interface>Panel</interface>, see <xref
    linkend="adding-applets">. 
   </para>
  
 
   <figure id="GNOMEAPPLET-fig">
   <title>GNOMEAPPLET</title>
   <screenshot>
    <screeninfo>GNOMEAPPLET</screeninfo>
    <graphic format="png" fileref="GNOMEAPPLET-fig" srccredit="ME">
    </graphic>
   </screenshot>
   </figure>

   <sect2 id="GNOMEAPPLET-usage">
    <title>Usage</title>
    <para>
     This applet does nothing. To use it, just
     left-click on it and it will instantly do nothing.   
    </para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="GNOMEAPPLET-right-click">
    <title>Right-Click Pop-Up Menu Items</title>
    <para> 
     In addition to the standard menu items (see <xref
     linkend="standard-right-click-items">), the right-click pop-up menu has 
     the following items: 
     <itemizedlist> 	
      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> &mdash; This menu
        item opens the <interface>Properties</interface> dialog (see
        <xref linkend="GNOMEAPPLET-properties">) which allows you to
        customize the appearance and behavior of this applet.
       </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        <guimenuitem>Run Hello World...</guimenuitem> &mdash; This
        menu item starts the program <application>Hello
        World</application>, used to say "hello" to the world. 
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>
    </para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="GNOMEAPPLET-properties">
    <title>Properties</title>
    <para>
     You can configure <application>GNOMEAPPLET</application> applet by
     right-clicking on the applet and choosing the
     <guimenuitem>Properties...</guimenuitem> menu item. This will open the
     <interface>Properties</interface> dialog, shown in <xref
     linkend="GNOMEAPPLET-properties-fig">.
    </para>
    <figure id="GNOMEAPPLET-properties-fig">
     <title>Properties Dialog</title>
     <screenshot>
      <screeninfo>Properties Dialog</screeninfo> 
      <graphic format="png" fileref="GNOMEAPPLET-properties" srccredit="ME">
      </graphic>
     </screenshot>
    </figure>
    
    <para> 
     To change the color of the applet, click on the
     <guibutton>color</guibutton> button. To change other properties,
     click on other buttons. 
    </para>

    <para>
     For more information on the <interface>Properties</interface>
     dialog, including descriptions of the <guibutton>OK</guibutton>,
     <guibutton>Apply</guibutton>, <guibutton>Cancel</guibutton>, and
     <guibutton>Help</guibutton> buttons, see <xref
     linkend="applet-properties-dialog">.
    </para>
   </sect2>
  
   <sect2 id="GNOMEAPPLET-bugs">
    <title> Known Bugs and Limitations</title>
    <para>
     There are no known bugs in the
     <application>GNOMEAPPLET</application> applet. 
    </para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="GNOMEAPPLET-authors">
    <title>Authors</title>
    <para>
     This applet was writen by HACKER-NAME
     <email>HACKER-EMAIL</email>.  The documentation for this applet
     which you are reading now was written by
     YOUR-NAME <email>YOUR-EMAIL</email>. For information on submitting
     bug reports and suggestions for improvements, see <xref
     linkend="feedback">. 
    </para>
   </sect2>

  </sect1>