Changing the Format of a Document
Lesson 5: Margins ,and Tabs
You can change margins just as easily as line spacing. The fol-lowing exercise will lead you through the process of changing the left margin to 5 and the righ t margi~ to 45:
1. To change the left margin, issue the LEFT MARGIN command, I\@J II]. When WordS tar asks:
LEFT COLUMN NUMBER (ESCAPE for cursor column)?
enter @] and press 1 RETURN I.
2. To change the right margin, use the RIGHT MARGIN command, 1\ [ ] ] ffi]. When the following prompt appears:
RIGHT COLUMN NUMBER (ESCAPE for cursor column)?
enter
rn
I]] and press 1 RETURN I.3. To format the document with the newly specified margins, place the cursor at the beginning of each paragraph and use the REFORM command, 1\ [ID . Notice that the RULER LINE reflects the new margin settings.
4. To restore the original left margin of 1, try a slightly dif-ferent approach. Move the cursor to the far left-hand margin; you'll have to use the arrow keys to do so.
Notice that the status line shows that the cursor is in column 1. Issue the LEFT MARGIN command, I\[]] II].
When WordStar requests a column-number, simply press the 1 ESC I key. Pressing ESC will set the left margin at the column where the cursor is located (column 1).
5. Restore the original right margin (65) with the RIGHT MARGIN command I\@][[],and enter I]][[] as the column number. You cannot use the ESC key in this case because you haven't learned how to move the cursor beyond the current right-margin setting of 52.
REFORM with 1\1]] to reestablish the original and normally used WordStar margins.
You can temporarily disengage the margins so you can enter text outside of the present settings. To release the margins, use the MARGIN RELEASE command, 1\ [QJ [8J . After issuing this com-mand, you can move the cursor beyond the current margins.
The message IllJE"i'jl::t. will be displayed at the far right of the STATUS LINE while the margins are released. The original mar-gins will again be in effect as soon as the cursor returns within the bounds of the current margins.
Something to consider when you format a document is that standard line spacing, margins, and tabs reset whenever you leave WordStar. This means that text in a file will remain format-ted as it was when you saved it, but when you return to edit after leaving WordStar, the standard settings will be in effect.
To clarify this point further, suppose you were creating a docu-ment with 65 as the right margin, and you saved the file and left WordS tar to use another program. When you returned to edit
the file, existing text would still have 65 as its right margin, but entry of any subsequent text or reformatting would have 52 as its right margin.
There is an easy way to set the margins and tabs to match those of a previously composed document. Place the cursor within a full line of existing text and issue th~ FROM FILE LINE com-mand, I\@] II]. If your existing text has 65 as the right margin, the I\OF will reset the current right margin to 65.
Another practical application demonstrates the FROM FILE LINE command. We will create an imitation ruler line that will specify the margin and tab settings for your file.
Place the cursor at column 5 (you can tell by looking at "COL"
on the status line) and type L as your left margin marker. Now enter hyphens-make sure they're not soft hyphens-all the way to column 52 and type R to mark the right margin. You can
position exclamation points (!) on the line where you want tabs set; enter a number sign (#) to denote decimal tab stops (an indicator that aligns decimal points in numbers).
Leave the cursor within the imitation ruler line and issue the FROM FILE LINE command, ""@][£]. This command clears the present margins and tabs and sets those the new ruler line specifies. Observe that the real RULER LINE below the menu reflects the new settings. To prevent the imitation ruler line from appearing when you print the document, insert two periods at the front of the line in columns 1 and 2. These periods are a DOT command, and they inform the printer not to print this ruler line; you'll learn all about DOT commands later on.
The TAB command definitions on the ""0 menu are fairly self-explanatory. ""1 (or TAB) advances the cursor to the next tab stop, moving text with it if INSERTION is ON. The PARA-GRAPH TAB command, ""OG, temporarily sets the left margin to the next tab stop and remains in effect until you type some-thing, issue a margin command, move the cursor to the left of the position in which you issued ""OG, or press RETURN. Ex-periment with these tab commands if you like!
Remember that tab stops are shown below the menu on the RULER LINE. WordS tar shows regular tabs as exclamation points (!) and automatically sets them at every fifth column. You can set your own tabs in order to format a document or arrange columnar data. The SET TAB STOP command, 01 (or ""0 fol-lowed by the TAB key) sets tab stops. Either of these commands prompt you for the column number in which you want the tab set. You can specify a column or press ESC to indicate the col-umn containing the cursor as the tab site. Follow this exercise to become familiar with tab arrangement:
1. To clear the tab stops in column 11 use the CLEAR TAB command, ,...@] 1]]. WordS tar will ask:
CLEAR TAB AT COL (ESCAPE for cursor col; A for all)?
Enter
IJJ IJJ
and press 1 RETURN I. Watch the exclamation point in column 11 disappear from the RULER LINE.2. To clear the tab set at column 16, move the cursor to column 16 (as shown on the STATUS LINE), issue the CLEAR TAB command, I\. I]] [ill, and either enter the column number
IJJ
[§J followed by1
RETURNI,
or press the ESC key. Either of these actions clears the tab at the column containing the cursor.3. To clear all of the tab stops, again use the 1\.1]] [ill com-mand, but this time answer the prompt with [K] fol-lowed by 1 RETURN I to clear all of the tab settings. The RULER LINE should now consist of a dotted line of hyphens with L on the left and R on the right.
4. To set a regular tab, use the SET TAB command,
I\. I]] [IJ. This message appears:
SET TAB AT COLUMN (ESCAPE for cursor column)?
Enter []] []] and press 1 RETURN I to set a tab at that col-umn. An exclamation point positioned roughly in the middle of your screen on the RULER LINE represents the tab you have set. As before, you could have set the tab at the cursor column by pressing ESC. Entering # before you enter the column number or before pressing ESC, sets a decimal tab.
Columns of numbers may be aligned on the decimal point, or text can be right-aligned through the use of decimal tabs. After you tab over to a decimal tab stop, characters you enter will move to the left, pushing the entire field to the left of the deci-mal setting. The cursor remains at the tab position until a period is entered, thus terminating that particular decimal tab.
Decimal numbers entered under the decimal tab will align with the decimal point in the column where the tab was set. Text that does not contain decimal points or periods will align with the character one column to the left of the decimal tab stop. Decimal tabbing is only active when VARIABLE TABBING is ON. You
can determine whether this feature is ON by looking at the
"0 menu.
The VARIABLE TABBING command, "@] [YJ, switches this fea-ture OFF or ON. This feafea-ture is normally ON so that variable tab stops are in effect and you can specify tab settings if you desire. When VARIABLE TABBING is OFF, fixed tabs are in effect. Fixed tabs are not normally used for standard word-processing operations; use fixed tabs when you use WordStar to write computer programs.
If you intend to write programs using WordStar, you need to know that when VARIABLE TABBING is OFF the tab character ("lor the binary number representing 9 decimal) is used in the file and is displayed with fixed stops every eight columns, as opposed to the multiple spaces WordS tar enters into the file when VARIABLE TABBING is ON. You should turn this feature OFF when you develop programs for use with the CP/M text editor (ED.COM) or Micropro's WordMaster editor.
Since each fixed tab is a single character, it acts differently than the multiple characters in variable tabs. The cursor cannot go within the white space representing the fixed tab, and the cur-sor advances over the tab. Text inserted before the tab appears in front of it until enough text is entered to force the tab to move to the next tab position.
To refresh your memory on line spacing, margins, and tabs, use the MARGIN and TABS HELP command, "QJ IM].