Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 2: Getting Started StarOffice |
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When you first start StarOffice, after closing the dialog box that requests that you register StarOffice, it looks similar to Figure 2.7. Because StarOffice has some integration that you're probably not used to with other office packages, here's a review of the parts of the screen that you see immediately:
Figure
2.7
StarOffice
appearance at startup.
The menus and toolbars are probably familiar to you from many office software packages --The menu items are used to select actions; the toolbars are shortcuts to various menu items. You'll learn more about them later. StarOffice includes several different toolbars.
The middle or main section of the window is the StarOffice Desktop --Like other Desktops that you've seen in Linux or other operating systems, the Desktop provides icons that you can choose to initiate various actions. The icons on the StarOffice Desktop either open a Help file or open a new file of a certain type.
The Help window opens each time you start StarOffice --You can close it by clicking the Close icon in the upper right corner of the window. Help is always available from the Help menu or by pressing F1. (Unless F1 is already used for something by your window manager.)
The bottom line of a StarOffice document window is the Status bar--The Status bar contains information about the file that you're working on, such as the page you're on, the size of the current file, and the date and time. When no document is open, no status bar is displayed.
Beneath the Status bar is the Start bar, which contains the Start button (similar to the main menu button in KDE or Windows 98) --Icons and the filenames of currently open documents are also provided on the Start bar to quickly switch between the documents that you have open (equivalent to switching between them using the Window menu).
Note - StarOffice tries to expand to full screen when it opens. If you're using KDE, StarOffice might cover up the panel or taskbar. In this case, you'll need to resize the StarOffice window (or press the Maximize button) in order to see the Status bar and Start bar. |
Now you can look more carefully at the parts of the StarOffice window that you haven't seen in other graphical programs.
To understand the things you'll be doing with StarOffice, it's probably best to start thinking of the StarOffice window as a Web browser rather than as an office software package.
To begin with, notice the box in the middle of the top toolbar (The Function toolbar) that resembles an URL from your Web browser. Actually, it is an URL, but it probably starts with the word file because you're viewing your Desktop, which is actually just a file stored in your Linux filesystem.
You can use the file:// descriptor to view other local files. In fact, when you load a document or spreadsheet, the filename is displayed with a file:// URL. This is similar to opening a local HTML or text file in a Netscape browser.
Tip - The StarOffice Desktop and other features described in this hour are located in your StarOffice directory. For example, the Desktop is located at ~/Office50/Desktop, and the Explorer contents are at ~/Office50/explorer. |
You can also use StarOffice to browse the Web. To see this in action, if you have an active Internet connection, try entering another URL in the text entry box--for example, type the following:
http://www.cnn.com
You will learn about using StarOffice with the Internet in Hours 22, "Creating Internet Documents with StarOffice," and 23, "Using StarOffice Email and Newsgroup Features."
Most of the other features of StarOffice that you'll learn about are implemented within this browser-like design. StarOffice just happens to be a browser that can edit documents and spreadsheets, run slide shows, maintain databases, and so on.
To return the StarOffice window to the main Desktop display, choose the icon with the picture of a drafting table (a desktop), just to the right of the Start button on the Start bar.
Here's a closer look at the features on the Function toolbar that contains the URL box.
The Function toolbar (shown in Figure 2.8) is composed of icons that are used within all parts of StarOffice. Taken together they look like a combination of the icons you know from your Web browser and your favorite office software.
You can see a brief description of each of these icons by leaving your mouse cursor sitting on the icon for a couple of seconds. The following is a description of each of the icons, looking from left to right on Figure 2.8:
The Link icon --Represents a link to the document that you're currently viewing. Move the mouse pointer over this icon and click to drag a link to this icon to any location within StarOffice. A typical use is to add a document to your list of bookmarks in the Explorer's Bookmark folder.
The URL window --Displays the URL of the document that you are currently viewing. You can enter any URL on the Web here if you have an Internet connection. This field often displays URLs that you are unfamiliar with (often starting with private or component) when you are viewing StarOffice tools such as the Address Book.
The URL history arrow --Enables you to view previously visited URLs. Click on this drop-down list arrow. You can select any document in the drop-down list to change to that document.
Figure
2.8
The
Function toolbar in StarOffice.
Note - Documents in the history list might not be available if your network or Internet connections have changed since you viewed a document. |
The Back arrow --Changes to the previously viewed document. After using the Back arrow to visit a previously viewed document, use the Forward arrow to return to later documents.
The Stop sign --Turns red like a stop sign if a document is being loaded, locally or from the Internet. You can click the icon to stop the document from loading.
The Home button --Takes you to your Home document. You'll learn how to set your Home document in Hour 4, "Configuring StarOffice," in the Browser Options dialog box.
The Reload icon --Reloads the current document. Use this icon to refresh an Internet document or a local document that has changed since it was last loaded.
The Edit icon --Indicates that the current document is being edited. Some documents cannot be edited. Often you can start to edit an Internet Web page by saving a local copy and using the Edit icon to start editing.
The Open and Save icons --Are used to open a new local document or to save the current document, as in most graphical programs.
The Send icon --Used when you are writing an email or newsgroup message (see Hour 24, "Using StarSchedule").
The Print icon --Immediately prints the current document to the current default printer.
The Cut, Copy, and Paste icons --Function as in most other graphics programs. Use them to move around text and other parts of any file you're working with in StarOffice.
The Undo and Redo icons --Revert to repeat your last editing action. You can set the number of saved editing steps when you configure StarOffice.
The Explorer icon --Makes the Explorer window visible or hidden.
The Beamer icon --Makes the Beamer window visible or hidden.
The Navigator icon --Makes the Navigator window visible or hidden.
The Stylist icon --Makes the Stylist window visible or hidden.
The Help Agent icon --Makes the Help Agent window visible or hidden.
Some of the Function bar icons change depending on the type of document you're working with. You'll look at those as they're needed in later hours.
With that basic description of the Function bar, you can explore some of the other parts of StarOffice, starting with the status bar.
The status bar in StarOffice is similar to the status bar in most other popular graphical applications, but it contains some unique features as well.
You can hide the status bar if you want more room onscreen for your documents. Choose Status Bar from the View menu; choose it a second time to display it again. The status bar is shown in Figure 2.9 as it appears when you begin editing a document . The Status bar includes, from right to left, the following components:
Figure
2.9
The
StarOffice status bar.
The date and time--These are taken from your Linux system information.
The Modified indicator--An asterisk (*) appears in this field to show when information has been entered but not saved to disk. Each time you save your document, the indicator disappears until you enter something new that needs to be saved.
The Hyperlink status--This toggles between HYP and SEL to indicate how to work with hyperlink references. Click on this part of the status bar to change it. If HYP is displayed, clicking on a hyperlink jumps you to the document referred to in the link; if SEL is displayed, the text of the link is selected (highlighted).
The Insert indicator--When INSRT is displayed, your typing inserts new characters; when OVER is displayed, your typing overwrites the existing text in your document. You can change this by pressing the Insert key on your keyboard or by clicking on that part of the status bar.
The size indicator--This displays the relative size of the document being viewed. You can change the size by choosing Zoom from the View menu or by clicking the right mouse button on that part of the status bar. The right-click selection menu is displayed in Figure 2.10.
Figure
2.10
The
Zoom selection menu is
displayed when you right-click on the current size in the status bar.
The style--This displays the paragraph style for the paragraph in which the cursor is currently located. Also displays the character style if it's not the default setting for that paragraph style. (Paragraph styles are described in Hour 9, "Using Advanced Formatting Tools.") You can see a list of the styles that are defined for the current document by choosing Stylist from the Format menu.
The page count--The page count is displayed as two numbers: the page that the cursor is on and the number of pages in the document. If you double-click on the page count section of the status bar, the Navigator window appears. With the Navigator window, you can move to any part of the current document by selecting a page number, a table, an index marker, or any other part of the document. The Navigator window is shown in Figure 2.11.
Figure
2.11
The
Navigator window.
Note - The page count is not displayed if you select Online Layout from the View menu. |
The Start Bar is separated from the Status Bar when your document windows in StarOffice are not maximized to fill the StarOffice window. A Status Bar appears at the bottom of each document window, whereas the Start Bar always appears at the bottom of the StarOffice window.
The Start Bar includes the following items:
The Desktop icon --No matter how many documents you have open, this icon always appears on the Start bar to the right of the Start menu. Click the Desktop icon to bring the StarOffice Desktop into view; you can choose from the icons there to open a new file or other items you've placed there.
Buttons for each open document window --Enable you to switch to any open document by clicking one of the buttons on the Start Bar.
The Start menu --Similar to the K menu in KDE or the Start menu in MS Windows, the Start menu shows a list of options for new document types you can open, utilities you can start, and previously edited documents. The first level of the Start menu is shown in Figure 2.12. The Start menu is always visible on the left edge of the Start bar at the bottom of the main StarOffice window.
Figure
2.12
The
first level of options on the StarOffice Start menu.
Most sections of the status bar can be sized however you want them. You can even size some of them into oblivion. When you move the mouse pointer near the border between two parts of the status bar, the mouse pointer changes to a double arrow. Just click and drag to resize that part of the status bar.
The toolbars in StarOffice are similar to toolbars you've used in other office suite programs; StarOffice just uses more of them. The default display has both a Function toolbar and an Object toolbar. The icons on the Object toolbar change depending on what type of work you're doing. The icons on the Function toolbar stay relatively constant.
You can choose to hide or redisplay any of these Toolbars by selecting them from the View menu, under the Toolbars submenu.
When you start working on a document, the Main toolbar is also visible, as shown in Figure 2.13. It is located on the left side of the StarOffice window and is used to insert objects of different kinds into your documents. Because this is often the easiest way to quickly add a feature, you learn how to use the icons on the Main toolbar as you explore formatting and inserting objects into your documents in Part 2, "Creating Documents with StarWriter."
Figure
2.13
The Main toolbar enables you to insert many types of objects into your document.
Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours |
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Hour 2: Getting Started StarOffice |
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