Odds and Ends

Just before calling it a 'wrap' on my HTML Kit configuration plan, here's a few odds and ends.

• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Random Notes
• My Wish List

Keyboard Shortcuts

There's a couple of keyboard shortcuts that are so widely implemented in word processors, other text editors, WYSIWYG editors, online message boards and email programs that to me they've become like second nature. And since HTML Kit offers you the option to define your own keyboard shortcuts then I just had to set them up. (I was surprised that they weren't set up by default but hey... no worries.)

To define keyboard shortcuts...


Press Ctrl + F10 on your keyboard to access the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog

Click on Add...
(The flashing text cursor should appear in the "Press a key:" box)

Press Ctrl + B to define the new keyboard shortcut.

In the 'New Command' section...

Click to select the Insert Text radio button.
Type the following into the box beside the 'Insert Text' radio button:


(Don't forget the pipe character "|")



Click <<Add
Click OK to apply the setting.

Don't close the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog just yet but once again...

Click on Add...
(The flashing text cursor should appear in the "Press a key:" box)

Press Ctrl + I to define another new keyboard shortcut.

In the 'New Command' section...

Click to select the Insert Text radio button.
Type the following into the box beside the 'Insert Text' radio button:


Click <<Add
Click OK to apply the setting.

Click OK to close the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog.


Now whenever you select text in the Editing Window and then press Ctrl + B, your text will be enclosed in <b>...</b> tags (thus rendering it in the bold font style). The cursor will appear at the end of the tags. Likewise, whenever you select text and press Ctrl + I, your text will be enclosed in <i>...</i> tags (thus rendering it in the italic font style).

NOTE: These keyboard shortcuts are especially suited to working with selected text only. If you wish to make them more versatile so that the cursor is properly placed in the event that there is no selected text then move the pipe character "|" over so that keyboard shortcuts are written like this:

For <b>...</b> tags (bold) enter this into the box beside the Insert Text radio button:

<b>{{SELTEXT}}|</b>

For <i>...</i> tags (italic) enter this into the box beside the Insert Text radio button:

<i>{{SELTEXT}}|</i>

TO LIST ALL KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS (INCLUDING CUSTOMIZED) ~

Click on Help » Keyboard Shortcuts

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Random notes

This is by no means intended to comprehensive. Just some random notes I'm making to act as reminders. If the list grows big enough I may compile it into a page entitled 'Using HTML Kit' (or something like that)

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HOW TO STRIP ALL HTML TAGS ~

1. Select text to be stripped of HTML tags
2. Click on Actions » Tools » Text tools » Remove <...> blocks

(Or use the "Frequently used text tools" button on the Actions Bar "Tools" tab)

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CRUDE LIST WIZARD ~

1. Type out the line you want to set as a list item.
2. Add a line break (press Enter on keyboard) to set it as a list item.
3. Type out another line you want to make a list item out of (press Enter to make it a list item)
4. Repeat until your list is complete.
5. Select all lines. (Make sure selection block spans the entire screen on all lines otherwise it won't work.)
6. Click on Actions » Tools » Text Tools » <li>...<li>
   (Or use the "Frequently used text tools" button on the Actions Bar "Tools" tab)

Note: All this will have to be enclosed in the requisite <ul>...</ul> or <ol>...</ol> tags but still it's a huge time-saver.

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CUSTOMIZE THE DROP DOWN MENU FOR HREF ATTRIBUTE ON HYPERLINK ANCHOR TAGS WIZARD ~

I had to do this because the auto-complete function in Tags Wizard was driving me up the wall. (Note: It was functioning perfectly normal. It's just that I don't like auto-complete.)

In "HTML-Kit\Data\Default" folder, locate and open default.hmd file and edit list under [URLs]. Note that for each entry in the HREF drop-down menu there are two entries in the default.hmd file.

N1="YOUR_ENTRY"
V1="^VYOUR_ENTRY^N|"

Replace YOUR_ENTRY with that which you wish to appear in the href drop-down menu. Note that entries in this file are also numbered so if you add a whole new entry, make sure that it respects the numbering order. The best thing to do is to simply replace a seldom used entry with your own custom entry.

WARNING: Admittedly this is a little unorthodox and some may feel jittery (and rightfully so) about mucking around with HTML Kit configuration files. But personally I've had no trouble with this. Just be careful.

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CREATE A BOOKMARK, GO TO BOOKMARK ~

Create: Edit » Bookmarks » Assign...
Go To: Edit » Bookmarks » Go To...

Quick Go To Next Bookmark: Press F2
Quick Return to Previous Bookmark: Press Shift + F2

Quick Assign/Delete Bookmark at cursor: Press Ctrl + F2

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SAVE ALL CURRENTLY OPEN FILES TO A "DESKTOP" CONFIGURATION FOR EASY ACCESS ON NEXT SESSION:

Save Desktop - File » Save Desktop as...
Reopen Desktop - File » Open Desktop...


Note: Keep in mind that this is done automatically. To open your last desktop, click on File » Open Desktop » Last Session. Saving desktops, however, can be very handy to quickly open specific sets of files. Also, DON'T CLOSE ALL FILES BEFORE SHUTTING DOWN HTML KIT otherwise your 'last session' will be a blank start (*chuckle*)

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LOOSE NOTES ABOUT USING PLUGINS GENERATOR

In the 'Plugin Definition' screen (displaying the hierarchical tree of plugin buttons) select the plugin name (at the top) and then on the right, in Plugin Properties, click to open the Options drop down list. OR click on Edit » Plugin Options.

Click to check Add Move Cursor to automatically add this option whenever a pipe character "|" is found in the created plugin.

Also, to activate the 'Invoke Command' part of the Plugins Generator, it may be necessary to click to check Invoke Command (in "Generate Code required to" box)


Enclose Selection vs. Insert Text

When making Plugins, it is always better to use 'Enclose Selection' instead of 'Insert Text'. Then, in the After Text box, enter the pipe character "|" as the first character (without the quotation marks). Then in the Options section, make sure that MC (move cursor) is activated. Now the plugin is much more versatile. It will either enclose your selected text with the plugin data or, in the event there is no selected text, it will place the cursor at the correct position once your plugin data is inserted into the Editing Window.

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My Personal Wish List

Either these are not possible or I haven't figured out how to do them yet. If you have any information related to following, please email me. Thanx.


WISH LIST:

• Keep text selected after applying an action or plugin.
• Set HTML Kit so that when text is selected, if you press on Right Arrow -->, cursor jumps to end of selection and text is deselected. Likewise if you press on Left Arrow <--, cursor jumps to beginning of selection and text is deselected. (This is a standard in word processors and text editors. I don't know why HTML Kit decided to do things differently. Or did I miss something?)
• Rename the [Favorites] tab...? (Okay this might be a stretch but what-the-hey...)
• Slow down the scroll speed when selecting multiple lines of text using the mouse and it's necessary to go below the bottom of the Editing Window. (Waaaay too fast. In fact, I find that if you have to use the mouse to select multiple lines of text that go below the bottom then the operative word is "DON'T". Use the keyboard instead. Hold Shift and press the down arrow.)
• Disable Auto-Complete in Locate dialog and Tags Wizard.

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Well, that's it for now folks. I hope this tutorial was of some use to you.

Happy editing!


Sincerely,

~ Robert Darrell, Webmaster of Iron Spider, May 16th, 2004