Add Topic Content

In Paligo, you write content as separate pieces of information, see Topic-Based Authoring.

The Paligo Editor is designed to hide the code to simplify the writing process. You can still view the structure in the Element Structure Menu, XML Tree View or Source Code Editor.

First you Create a Topic and then to add content you use the Toolbar or the Element Context Menu. To work smoother, use the Keyboard Shortcuts.

You can add Elements, Informal topics as well as nest existing components. When you are ready to save the content it will be validated.

A topic in the Paligo editor. It has a title, paragraph and a procedure with 3 steps. The text in the first step is selected. At the top, the element structure menu shows section, procedure, step, para.

XML tree view of a topic containing a title, paragraph, and a 3-step procedure. The XML tree has blue labels for each structure element (section, title, para, procedure, and step) and these are organized into a hierarchy.

To the left the Element Structure Menu. To the right the XML Tree View.

Note

You can add as many Block Elements and Inline Elements as you need, but the maximum permitted size for a topic is 1 MB.

Add Attributes

Every element has a set of attributes, which are properties that define the element's characteristics. For each attribute, there is a value, and by changing the value, you can control how Paligo uses the element.

Attributes are used for many different purposes in Paligo, including applying filters to your elements so that you can include or exclude content in different scenarios. Many of the attributes come from the DocBook standard, but there are some Paligo-specific ones too.

To add attributes to an element:

Select the element in the topic.
Place the cursor in the Element Structure Menu below the toolbar.

Note

When you select an element in the Element Structure Menu, Paligo highlights it in yellow.
Select the element and choose Go to element to show the attributes for this particular element.

The Element Attributes Panel. now shows the attributes for the selected element.
Use the Add attribute search to enter the name of the attribute or scroll through the available options.

In the image above the attribute will be added to a para element .
Select the attribute to be inserted .

Note

You can only add attributes that are valid for the selected element.
Give the attribute a value. Depending on the attribute type:
- Select a menu option.
- Enter the value manually in a text-entry field.
- Check a box in front of a profiling value or Create Profiling Values
To the left - The attribute width has a manually entered size value. To the right - The attribute audience has a list of profiling values to choose from.
Select Save.
Repeat this procedure for any other elements that need attributes.

Tip

To remove an element attribute, see Remove Attributes.

To update a profiling value for an attribute, see Add or Remove Profiling Values.

Add Author Remarks

The remark element is a regular DocBook Element and works like an internal comment (author notes) inside the topic. For example it can be used as a tip, an internal instruction or a reminder for other authors. It will only be visible to authors working in the Editor View and not displayed to the end users.

The remark element is not handled via the Element Attributes Panel since it has no profiling values. It is visualised with the enclosing "box" highlighted in yellow with a lock and a green speech bubble.

By default, the remark element comments are not shown in published output. But there is a way to include them in the PDF output, see The Basics of Topic Editing. However it cannot be made to appear in an HTML output.

Note

A remark element has no relation to the Review or Contribution assignments and will not be a part of those.

Place the cursor where the remark element is to be inserted.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter Remark and select it from the Element Context Menu.
Enter the internal comment.
Select Save.

Note

If you click on an area outside the remark element, the editor will highlight the enclosing "box" in yellow.

Remove Author Remarks

This section describes how to remove a remark.

Select the Remark element in the topic.
Place the cursor in the Element Structure Menu below the tool bar.
Select the element and choose Delete.
Select Save.

Add Block Elements

To add structural "block" elements to a topic:

Open your topic in the editor.
Position the cursor (also known as the caret) where you want to add a block element. You can position the cursor manually or you can select an element in the element structure menu and choose Go to element. (The element structure menu is immediately below the toolbar, and it shows the position of the currently selected element).

The position of the cursor is important as there are rules that govern where each type of element can be used. For most types of block element, you can place the cursor on the next line, just like you would in a word processing program. But there are some exceptions, for example, you cannot add a table inside a para element.

Paligo will advise you if you try to add an element in a position that is not permitted.
Add the element for the type of content you want to insert. There are several ways to add elements:
- Use the Edit toolbar and Insert toolbar to add commonly used block and inline elements, including paragraphs, images, tables, italicized text, and underlined text.
- Use keyboard shortcuts.
- To display the Element Context Menu, press:
  Windows: Alt + Enter ⏎
  
  Mac: Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎
  At the top of the element context menu, there is a search field that you can use to find an element by name. When you start to type in the field, the list updates to show those elements that are a close match to your entry and are valid at the current position.
  
  Alternatively, you can select one of the most commonly used elements from the top section of the list or scroll down the entire list to find the element you want.
  
  The element context menu only shows the elements that are valid at the position you have selected in the content structure. If you cannot see the element you want, it is because it is not valid at that position. Try selecting a different position.
  
  Note
  
  You can choose your own favorite elements and have those appear at the top of the element structure menu. For details, see Working with the Element Context Menu.
Add your content inside the block element. For paragraphs, list items, etc., enter your text. For some types of block element, Paligo prompts you to choose an image, enter a video url, etc.

Add Inline Elements

To add inline elements to the text in a topic:

Open your topic in the editor.
Highlight the content that you want to apply the inline element to.
Add the element for the type of content you want to insert. There are several ways to add elements:
- Use the Edit toolbar and Insert toolbar to add commonly used block and inline elements, including paragraphs, images, tables, italicized text, and underlined text.
- Use keyboard shortcuts.
- To display the Element Context Menu, press:
  Windows: Alt + Enter ⏎
  
  Mac: Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎
  At the top of the element context menu, there is a search field that you can use to find an element by name. When you start to type in the field, the list updates to show those elements that are a close match to your entry and are valid at the current position.
  
  Alternatively, you can select one of the most commonly used elements from the top section of the list or scroll down the entire list to find the element you want.
  
  The element context menu only shows the elements that are valid at the position you have selected in the content structure. If you cannot see the element you want, it is because it is not valid at that position. Try selecting a different position.
  
  Note
  
  You can choose your own favorite elements and have those appear at the top of the element structure menu. For details, see Working with the Element Context Menu.

Add a Sequence of UI Options

Abstract

Learn how to use the menuchoice element to add a sequence of options inside a single instruction. For example, "select File → Save".

When you are writing instructions, you may want to tell readers to select several options in a sequence. Paligo XML includes elements that are designed especially for this purpose.

You can either:

Insert a menuchoice element as a container and then add the various user interface elements inside it.

With this approach, Paligo will automatically insert an arrow symbol between the user interface elements in the sequence. For example:
Insert the user interface elements directly into a para, without using menuchoice. Paligo will not generate an arrow icon, so you will need to add text between the user interface elements, for example:

Note

Inserting user interface elements directly into a para, without using menuchoice, can give a better user experience for screen reader users. (If you use menuchoice, screen readers may read out the user interface options and also the arrow symbol).

There are several user interface elements that you can use, including elements for menus, menu items, and keyboard shortcuts. We describe them in the following procedure. But it is up to you to decide how detailed you want your structure to be. You can take a purist approach and use all of the elements as intended, or a simpler approach where you use one element, such as guilabel, to represent all user interface options.

Select the topic or component in the Content Manager to open it in the Editor.

Alternatively, you can Create a Topic and edit that.
Find or add the paragraph that will give the instructions to select a sequence of options. Click in the paragraph at the position where you want the sequence to appear.

If you are going to use the menuchoice element so that Paligo automatically includes an arrow icon between UI elements, continue from step 4.

If you are not going to use the menuchoice element and are going to insert the UI elements directly into the paragraph instead, continue from step 5.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter menuchoice element and add it.
Click in the "parent" element:

If you are using the menuchoice element, click in the menuchoice element you added in step 4.

If you are not using the menuchoice element, click in the para element you selected in step 3.
Use the element context menu to add one or more of the following user interface elements:
- guilabel
  
  Use to contain the name of a label. When you have added the element, enter the name inside it.
- guibutton
  
  Use to contain the name of a button. When you have added the element, enter the name inside it.
- guiicon
  
  Use to contain the name of an icon. When you have added the element, enter the name inside it.
- guimenu
  
  Use to contain the name of a menu. When you have added the element, enter the name inside it.
- guimenuitem
  
  Use to contain the name of a menu option. When you have added the element, enter the name inside it.
- guisubmenu
  
  Use to contain the name of a submenu. When you have added the element, enter the name inside it.
- shortcut
  
  Use to contain keyboard shortcut details. When you add the shortcut element, you can add keyboard shortcut elements inside it, including keycap, keycombo, and keysym for keyboard keys and mousebutton for mouse actions.
  
  To learn more about these elements, see the DocBook 5.2 standard (they are listed as children of shortcut).
Repeat the previous step until you have created the structure for every option in the sequence.
Select Save.

You can then publish your content.

Note

To style the user interface elements, use CSS for HTML outputs and the PDF layout editor options for PDF.

For details, see:

Example 31. A sequence of UI options and an alternative keyboard shortcut

Let's say you want to add an instruction that tells users to select a File menu and then a Save option inside that menu. You also want a paragraph that tells them how to use a keyboard shortcut as an alternative.

When you publish, it will look something like this:

Paligo adds the arrow between File and Save automatically, as the structure is set up to use the menuchoice element.

The underlying XML for this is as follows:

<para>When you have completed your design, select 
    <menuchoice>
        <guimenu><emphasis role="bold"><emphasis>File</emphasis></guimenu>
        <guimenuitem><emphasis role="bold"><emphasis>Save</emphasis></guimenuitem>
    </menuchoice>.
</para>
<para>Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut: 
    <menuchoice>
        <shortcut>
            <keycombo>
               <keycap>Alt</keycap>
               <keycap>S</keycap>
            </keycombo>
        </shortcut>
    </menuchoice>
</para>

So to create it in a topic, you add two para elements for each paragraph.

Inside the first para, you add the text that comes before the menu name and menu option. You then add the menuchoice element as the container and inside that, the guimenu and guimenu item elements. You enter "File" in the guimenu and "Save" in the guimenuitem. As these are not styled as bold automatically by Paligo, you also use the bold toolbar icon on "File" and "Save". In the code, this adds emphasis role=bold to those words.

Inside the second para, you add the text that comes before the keyboard shortcut. You then add the menuchoice element as the container. Inside menuchoice, you add a shortcut element, and inside that keycombo. Inside the keycombo, you add two keycap elements, one for each key that needs to be pressed. Finally, you enter the text for the keys inside the keycap elements, in this case, Alt and S.

Inline Elements and Symbols

There are many elements that you can use on parts of your text inside a paragraph, for example, you can make a word appear italicized by using the emphasis element, see Emphasis. These elements are inside a block element, and so are known collectively as "inline elements".

You can also insert special characters, such as symbols like @ and ©, see Insert Symbols and Special Characters. Technically, these are not inline elements, but they are similar as you can include them inside a block element such as a para.

Note

DocBook 5.1 has many other inline elements you can use in Paligo.

Emphasis

You can add emphasis (italic, bold or underline) to text in various elements, including para,code and parameter. Italicization is used for gentle emphasis and bold is used for heavier emphasis. Underline is a line drawn under the text, often used to create a blank to be filled in by hand or to create a horizontal line.

It is possible to use italic, bold and underline on the content at the same time. However, if using the emphasis attribute, the role value replace the default italicization. The solution is to use the emphasis attribute in combination with the toolbar buttons or keyboard shortcuts.

In Paligo, you can add emphasis in three different ways by using:

The buttons in the Editor Toolbar
Keyboard Shortcuts
The emphasis attribute

Add Emphasis

You can use Keyboard Shortcuts or the buttons in the the Editor Toolbar to add emphasis (such as italic bold and underline) to the content.

Highlight the text that you want to be bold, italic or underline.

1 = Bold, 2 = Italic, 3 = Underline
Select the relevant toolbar buttonOR use keyboard shortcuts:
- Bold: Ctrl + B (Windows) ORCommand ⌘ + B (Mac)
- Italic: Ctrl + I (Windows) ORCommand ⌘ + I (Mac)
- Underline: Ctrl + U (Windows) ORCommand ⌘ + U (Mac)
Select Save.

Add Emphasis Attribute

You can use the Emphasis attribute to make the content bold, italic or underline. When adding the emphasis attribute, the text becomes italicized by default. If adding a role, the value (bold or underline) replace the default italicization.

If you want to use another emphasis when using the emphasis attribute, the solution is to use it in combination with the Toolbar buttons or Keyboard Shortcuts.

Important

You can use emphasis on text that already has an inline element, such as code. But it is important that the emphasis element is outside the inline element, for example:

 <para><emphasis><code>code snippet content goes here</code></emphasis></para>

Highlight the text that you want to be bold, italic or underline.
Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.
Enter emphasis and select it.

By default the text becomes italicized.
To make it bold or underlined, select the emphasis element or highlight the text that uses it.
Add the role attribute and set its value to bold or underline in the element attributes section.

The italicization will be replaced with the chosen value.
Select Save.

Remove Emphasis

There are two ways to remove content formatting such as italic, bold or underline, either use the button in the Editor Toolbar or use Keyboard Shortcuts.

Highlight the text that you want to remove the formatting from.
Select Remove format in the Toolbar.

OR use the keyboard shortcut:
- Alt + Shift ⇧ + F (Windows)
- Option ⌥ + Shift ⇧ + F (Mac)
Select Save.

Insert Symbols and Special Characters

To insert symbols and special characters in your topics, you can use the toolbar:

If the character you need is not available in that map, you can also insert any character available using the standard method for your operating system, as described e.g here: How to Quickly Type Special Characters on Any Computer, Smartphone, or Tablet.

If the special characters you need are actually part of an equation, you should use an equation or inlineequation element instead, and use the built-in Math Editor.

Articles in this section

Note

Add Attributes

Note

Note

Tip

Add Author Remarks

Note