new users' guide

[Jeff Kingston]

Here's my plan for a new Users' Guide.  I haven't written it yet,
so now's your chance to make useful suggestions about any aspect
whatsoever.  If in a previous mail you have asked for some feature,
please don't ask again; I have kept all the mail and I am referring
to it as my preparation of the new release proceeds.  Jeff Kingston.
====================================================================

I intend this document to be a one-stop tutorial and reference for users
who don't want to know how things work.  It should replace all of the
existing documentation except "Document Formatting with Lout", the
reference manual for expert users.

Chapters or sections which don't correspond to anything in the existing
documentation are marked (*).  The unmarked sections will basically be
as they are now, with a few more examples and cross references, and
changes where correspondents have indicated that the text is unclear.


A User's Guide to the Lout Document Formatting System

Preface

Chapter 1. The Basics

    1.1  Getting started
    1.2  Fonts
    1.3  Colour (*)
    1.4  Displays
    1.5  Lists
    1.6  Paragraph breaking styles
    1.7  Footnotes
    1.8  Figures and tables
    1.9  Multiple columns
    1.10 Unusual characters
    1.11 Plain text output (*)


Chapter 2. Structured Documents

    2.1  Letters (*)
    2.2  Overhead transparencies (*)
    2.3  Technical reports
    2.4  Books
    2.5  Cross references
    2.6  Making an index
    2.7  Organizing large documents


Chapter 3. Changing Things (*)

    3.1  Setup files
    3.2  Changing the overall appearance
    3.3  Languages other than English
    3.4  Defining new symbols


Chapter 4. References

    4.1  Introduction
    4.2  Making a bibliographic database
    4.3  Citing references
    4.4  Changing the reference style (*)


Chapter 5. Tables

    5.1  Introduction
    5.2  Changing the style of entries and columns
    5.3  Changing the style of rows
    5.4  Aligned columns
    5.5  Margins
    5.6  Rules, boxes, multi-page tables, etc.
    5.7  A final example


Chapter 6. Equations

    6.1  Introduction
    6.2  Symbols
    6.3  Spacing
    6.4  Summary


Chapter 7. Figures

    7.1  Introduction
    7.2  Basic shapes
    7.3  Creating new shapes
    7.4  Lengths, angles, and points
    7.5  Putting it all together
    7.6  Errors
    7.7  Summary


Chapter 8. Graphs (*)

    8.1  Introduction
    8.2  Changing the overall appearance of the graph
    8.3  Ticks and labels
    8.4  Changing the appearance of the data
    8.5  Placing arbitrary objects on the graph
    8.6  Mathematical functions, loops, and tests
    8.7  Adding a key to the graph
    8.8  Errors
    8.9  Summary


Chapter 9. Graphics (*)

    9.1  Including illustrations
    9.2  Rotation
    9.3  Scaling


Chapter 10. Pascal Programs


Chapter 11. C and C++ Programs (*)

   11.1  Introduction
   11.2  Stand-alone mode
   11.3  Embedded mode
   11.4  Changing the default values
   11.5  Tab characters


Appendix A. Error messages and what to do about them (*)


Index