THE PUBLISHER'S GATEWAY TO THE INTERNET
The BeyondPress XTension provides a streamlined method for converting the contents of QuarkXPress documents to HTML files. The XTension works by creating pointers to the contents of a document; these pointers are represented by icons in a palette. You can manipulate the icons in the palette to specify precisely what is exported and how it will look.
BeyondPress lets you delete items, create new items, rearrange contents, and apply styles to text and pictures -- all without affecting the QuarkXPress document. Since the palette contains pointers rather than actual content, the content to be exported is updated automatically when the QuarkXPress document is edited. BeyondPress also provides a variety of tools for fine tuning and customizing HTML files.
BeyondPress automates many steps involved in exporting the contents of a QuarkXPress document to an HTML file. The steps you will generally perform are:
1 Map style sheets in the document to HTML tags.
2 Generate a list of all the contents of the document.
3 Separate the contents of the document into distinct articles.
4 Fine tune articles by overriding style sheet mapping, reformatting pictures, creating hypertext links, and adding HTML items.
5 Preview the articles in your preferred browser, then export the articles as HTML files.
Everything you need to accomplish these tasks is in the BeyondPress Preferences dialog box (Edit menu: Preferences submenu) and the Document Content palette (View menu: Show Document Content).
The BeyondPress Preferences dialog box includes six panels, one for each type of preferences. Click the icons in the scroll list at left to specify which preferences you want to edit. All BeyondPress Preferences apply to the application, not to a specific document. The Document Content palette contains buttons, icons, and pop-up menus that let you manipulate the contents of a document.
To install BeyondPress, drag it to the XTension folder in your QuarkXPress 3.3 folder and launch QuarkXPress.
BeyondPress previews HTML files in the browser you prefer. Your preferred browser can also be used to locate other Web pages so you can create links to them.
To choose a browser to use with the XTension, open the General Preferences dialog box (Edit: Preferences: BeyondPress) and click General. Click the HTML Browser button to display a directory dialog box. Locate and select your preferred browser, then click Open. Click OK to close the General Preferences dialog box.
The Document Content palette lets you generate a Content List for the active document, manipulate the Content List, format pictures and text, create links, and preview and export Articles.
Click this icon To
New Article Add a new Article to the document's Content List
List Document Add all content elements in a document to an Article
Add Items Add selected boxes in the document to an Article
Add Text Add highlighted text (and its box) to an Article
Link Create a hypertext link within a document or to a URL
Segment Text Chain Segment a text chain for export to different Articles
Preview Preview the selected Article or element in the preferred browser
Delete Delete the selected Article or element from the document's Content List
Preferences Display the BeyondPress Preferences dialog box
Drag this icon To
Custom Insert text or HTML source by typing in a dialog box or choosing from a list of Master Elements.
Paragraph Insert a paragraph return (Return in QuarkXPress, <P> in HTML)
Line Break Insert a line break (Shift-Return in QuarkXPress, <BR> in HTML)
Space Insert a space
H. Rule Insert a horizontal rule
The lower portion of the palette displays the Content List, which includes all the elements in the document (text chains, pictures, anchored boxes, and custom elements). The Content List is displayed as follows:
Element icon Meaning HTML Options
Article Contains elements Export, displays directory dialog box
Text Chain Text from linked boxes Master Styles pop-up menu
Pictures Picture not anchored in text Modify, displays Image Settings dialog box
Anchored Picture Picture box anchored in text Modify, displays Image Settings dialog box
Anchored Text Text box anchored in text Master Styles pop-up menu
Custom Text or HTML source Master Elements pop-up menu
Paragraph Paragraph return (Return) Master Elements pop-up menu
Line Break Line break (Shift-Return) Master Elements pop-up menu
Space Space Master Elements pop-up menu
Rule Horizontal rule (HTML item) Master Elements pop-up menu
To rearrange elements in an Article, drag the icons:
* Text Chains, Pictures, and custom elements can be rearranged, dragged into Article folders, and dragged on top of Text Chains (to anchor the elements in text).
* Anchored Text and Anchored Pictures are displayed in gray because they cannot be moved using the palette. To change the location of an anchored box, it must be moved in the text chain in the document, then added to the Content List again.
Double-click on an element in the Content List to jump to it in the document. If an item in the document has been entered into the Content List, select the item in the document to select it in the list.
To see BeyondPress in action, try these quick exercises. These exercises touch on all the primary features of the XTension. If you're not sure which button or icon the steps are referring to, check the previous section "Using the Document Content Palette."
1 Open the "Sample Doc for Evaluation" QuarkXPress document included with BeyondPress. The document is a template so you can open multiple copies without altering the original file. Look at the spread to see what's on the pages.
2 Press Command-Option-C to display the Document Content palette (View menu).
3 Click the List Document button. If necessary, resize the palette to see the entire Content List.
BeyondPress creates a list of all the elements in the document and places it in an Article, which looks like a folder. (The contents of an Article are exported as one page.) All text chains and pictures are listed according to their placement on the page (from left to right and top to bottom). Anchored boxes are listed under their parent text chain.
According to the default General Preferences, empty boxes and unaltered master page items (such as headers and footers) are not added to the Content List.
4 To name the Article to be exported, click on the words "Untitled Article" in the Content List and change them to "Fitness." (This is similar to changing the name of a file in the Mac OS Finder.)
5 To preview the Article in your preferred browser, select the Fitness folder in the Content List and click the Preview button. If you have not specified a browser, you'll be asked to now.
BeyondPress launches the browser, which previews the HTML page, showing how the text will look and how the picture will be positioned. Pictures do not preview unless you check Create Images for Preview in the General Preferences dialog box.
Since HTML tags have not been applied, the text is all displayed in the browser's default style. However, bold, italic, and paragraph alignment from the QuarkXPress document are maintained.
1 Close the preview in your browser, then return to QuarkXPress.
2 Open the Mapping Preferences dialog box (click the Preferences button on the Document Content palette, then click Mapping).
3 The pop-up menus on the right let you map the existing QuarkXPress style sheets to HTML styles. Map Byline to Emphasis, Fitness Subhead to Headline 2, and Main Headline to Headline 1. Click OK to close the Mapping Preferences dialog box and save changes.
Style sheets mapped to Default display in the browser's default text style; the text retains bold, italic, and paragraph alignment from the QuarkXPress document.
4 Preview the Article again by selecting the Fitness folder and clicking the Preview button.
The heads and subheads are now mapped to HTML headline styles. The byline is displayed in the browser's emphasis style.
1 Close the preview in your browser, then return to QuarkXPress.
2 To place an HTML horizontal rule after the headline, drag the Rule icon (from the second row of icons on the palette) between the "Red Hot & Healthy" Text Chain and the "A" Text Chain icons.
3 To move the byline so it appears right after the headline and rule, click on the Text Chain icon "By Michelle Dally Johnston," then drag it right below the Rule icon.
4 The Text Chain for the display type "THE ABSOLUTE LATEST IN HEALTH, FITNESS, AND BEAUTY" is not integral to the story. To remove it from the Content List so it is not exported, click on its Text Chain icon, then click the Delete button. Note: You cannot Undo this action.
Deleting elements from the Content List does not affect the QuarkXPress document.
5 Preview the Article again by selecting the Fitness folder and clicking the Preview button.
The preview displays the headline, then the horizontal rule, then the byline. The "ABSOLUTE LATEST ..." text is no longer exported. Notice that the picture is displayed at the end of the article.
1 Close the preview in your browser, then return to QuarkXPress.
2 You can anchor the picture in the text so that it appears where it is discussed in the story. Click on the picture in the document to select its icon in the Content List. Drag the "No Disk File" Picture icon on top of the "Having a ball" Text Chain icon. Click the text insertion point at the end of that section (in the blank line before the "Playboy says" subhead) and click OK.
3 To preview pictures in the browser, open the General Preferences dialog box (click the Preferences button on the Document Content palette), then check Create Images for Preview. Click OK to close the General Preferences dialog box and save changes.
4 Convert the initial cap "A" to an image by clicking on the "A" Text Chain and choosing As Image from the pop-up menu next to it.
5 To format the "A" after converting it to an image, click the Modify button next to it. In the Image Settings dialog box, change the Alignment to Left, the Format to GIF, and the Horizontal and Vertical Scale to 50%.
Drag the mouse over the image's white background in the preview area to display the Eyedropper. Click the Eyedropper to make the background transparent. Click OK.
6 To format the other picture, click on the "No Disk File" icon, then click the Modify button next to it. Change the Alignment to Right and the Format to JPEG with Normal Quality. Click OK.
7 Preview the Article again by selecting the Fitness folder and clicking the Preview button.
Notice the initial cap now looks like the one in the QuarkXPress document. Scroll down to the see the format and position of the other picture. (Only Netscape 1.0 and higher support Left and Right picture alignment, so your pictures may not be aligned properly.)
1 If you're satisfied with the Preview, return to QuarkXPress. With the Fitness folder still selected, click the Export button next to it in the HTML column.
2 The name of the Article is automatically entered in the Export HTML text as: field with the ".html" extension. BeyondPress creates the Fitness.html file and files for the associated images in the location you specify in this dialog box.
3 Check Open in Browser, then click Save.
That's it! You have created a Web page from a QuarkXPress document. The Web page may not be perfect at this point, but you'll be able to clean it up easily using other BeyondPress features. As you're learning about other features, you may want to continue experimenting with this document.
This manual uses the following terms to describe BeyondPress features:
* Article: A group of elements from a QuarkXPress document that you want to export as an individual HTML page.
* Content List: A list of text chains, text ranges, pictures, and anchored boxes in a document, displayed with icons in the Document Content palette. The list also shows custom elements added for export.
* Content Element: An item in the Content List -- a text chain, text selection, picture, anchored box, or custom element.
* Custom Element: An item added to the Content List that did not come from the QuarkXPress document. Custom elements are useful for adding spaces, line breaks, rules, boilerplate text,
and HTML items.
* Master Element: A Custom Element added to the list of Master Elements, which can be quickly added to any Content List for any document.
* Master Style: An HTML tag added to the list of Master Styles, which you can map QuarkXPress style sheets to or apply to text elements in the Content List.
For more information about creating Web pages, or about HTML, try the following resources:
* The Beginner's Guide to HTML (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html) provides a brief but relatively thorough look at the basics of HTML.
* The World Wide Web home page of the W3 Consortium (http://www.w3.org/) provides access to more advanced information. In the Technical Details section, use the HTML Format hypertext link to jump to a page that discusses the HTML language. From that page, you can access many other pages with information about HTML and the Web ranging from philosophical to technical details.
Copyright
This manual and the software described in it are copyrighted to Astrobyte, with all rights reserved. Under copyright laws, this manual and the software may not be copied, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of Astrobyte. Under the law, copying includes translating into any other language or format.
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.
The following statement is required by Quark, Inc.:
Quark, Inc. makes no warranties, either express or implied, regarding the enclosed computer software package, its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose. Quark, Inc. disclaims all warranties of including, but not limited to, distributors and retailers of Quark, Inc. software. Without limiting the foregoing, in no event shall Quark, Inc. be liable for any special, indirect, incidental or consequential damages in any way relating to the use or arising out of the use of the enclosed software. Quark, Inc.'s liability shall in no event exceed the total amount of the purchase price/license fee actually paid for the use of the enclosed software.
Some states do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties and/or the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so these exclusions and limitations may not apply to particular customers.
Astrobyte and the Astrobyte logo are registered trademarks of Astrobyte LLC. XTension is a trademark and QuarkXPress is a registered trademark of Quark, Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.
© 1995 Astrobyte LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Credits
Thanks to all the BeyondPress testing sites for their invaluable feedback in the development of this software. Special thanks to Dan Brogan and 5280 Publishing for the BeyondPress sample documents.
BeyondPress logo, box and manual design by Design Society, Denver, Colorado.