Editing Topics and Headings

1. Editing Content in Topic Objects

The Edit Ribbon provides all core formatting and content-editing tools used within a topic object.

Figure 9: The Edit and Review functions in Author-it

It allows users to:

• Apply paragraph and character styles
• Insert hyperlinks and graphics
• Draw and format tables

These tools function similarly to a traditional word-processing interface.

Text and View Controls

• Zoom: Adjust the zoom level at the bottom of the screen to improve readability.
• Change Template: You can reassign a topic’s template at any time through the Templates menu.
• Save Regularly: Use the disk icon, Save Topic button, or Ctrl + S.

Styles and Formatting

• Designer-defined styles: The existing paragraph and character styles depend on what the Designer role has configured for the library.
• Paragraph styles: Apply to entire paragraphs using the styles dropdown.
• Character styles: Apply to selected text for emphasis (e.g., bold, strong)

2. Working With Tables

Author-it offers structured table controls to ensure consistency across outputs.

Creating Tables

• Set the insertion point to Body Text before inserting a table.
• Use the table grid selector to choose the number of rows and columns.

Table Layout Ribbon

When a table is selected, a context-sensitive ribbon appears, including options like:

• Resize table width/height
• Apply borders and shading
• Add rows automatically by tabbing out of the last cell

Paragraph Marker Requirement

• Author-it requires a paragraph marker under every table.
• Designers often apply a “hidden” paragraph style (e.g., 1-pt white text) to prevent odd spacing in final outputs.
• If there is a large paragraph marker, it usually means no style was applied — apply Body Text.

3. Review and Troubleshooting Tools

The Review and View ribbons provide essential functions for quality checks and problem resolution.

Review Ribbon

• Spell Check: Run on a single topic or the entire book.
• Find/Replace: Standard search tools.

Figure 10: The components of the View Tab in Author-it

View Ribbon

• Ruler: Useful for table spacing and graphic width adjustments.
• History & Properties: Shows edit history, object details, relationships.
• Locate: Highlights the topic’s location in the folder structure.

Details View (Troubleshooting Mode)

This view shows:

• Base template
• Last modified date/user
• Object code, version, release state

It is particularly useful when:

• A topic has the wrong template
• No template is assigned

Both issues often cause publishing errors. Users can right-click → Apply Template to assign the correct one.

View Ribbon

• Remove: Removes the object from the book only.
• Delete: Entirely removes it from the library.
• When an object becomes orphaned, Author-it prompts the user to decide whether to delete it permanently or not.

Test Publishing (Best Practice)

• Regularly perform small, quick test publications.
• Helps catch template mistakes, style issues, and missing content early.
• Published output may differ from in-library preview because final formatting comes from output templates.

4. Editing and Synchronizing Topic Headings

Each topic includes multiple heading fields for different outputs.

Description vs. Heading Fields

• Description field: Internal object name, used only inside the library.
• Heading fields: Separate fields for Print, Help, and Web outputs.
• They do not need to match each other or the description.

Synchronization Behavior

• An asterisk (*) next to the heading in the editor indicates full synchronization - all headings match the description.
• Changing any one heading breaks synchronization.

Editing Specific Output Headings

Use the icons for:

• Printer → Print heading
• Monitor → Help heading
• Globe → Web heading

Each can be customized independently.

Synchronization Tools

Easily update headings quickly using:

• Synchronize Headings (Print, Help, Web): Makes all output headings identical.
• Synchronize All Headings and Description: Makes description + all three headings identical.