Oakland CPM Archive/oakcpm.iso/cpm/wstar/wshead.tzt/WSHEAD.TXT

Text File | 1988-01-30 | 8KB | 137 lines

FROM HEAD TO FOOT
by Richard S. Williams, PAKUP, October 1986

(Tips on using headers and footers with WordStar)

When using NewWord or WordStar, you have the option of putting in
headers (repeated lines at the top of each page) or footers
(repeated lines at the bottom).  Both programs assume that you
want a footer consisting of a page number centered at the bottom
of the page.  In fact, I want no such thing, and neither does
anyone else I know.  When I first got my computer, I spent a
whole day in growing anger at MicroPro before I finally decoded
the manual enough to learn how to turn the default page number
off!  This column will deal with a few tips in using your headers
and footers.  Some of the information is in the manuals that you
have been using to press stamps or prop up your Kaypro, but much
has been painstakingly discovered by trial and error.

The page number:  If you generally don't want page numbers at the
bottom of EVERY page including a one-page memo to Mom, the best
thing to do is to change the default by using WINSTALL (for WS)
or NWINSTAL (for NW).  This is a very straightforward thing to
do.  Just get into the proper program and change it.  If you
usually want the page number to print at the bottom, but want to
turn it off sometimes, you can use the dot command .op (omit page
number) or .fo to do so.  When doing the latter, you are
replacing the default footer with a "blank" footer, so you must
type a couple of spaces (I use a tab).  Note that the two
operations have different effects.  If you use .op, then the
"restore page number" command [.pn] restores the unwanted default
number in the footer as well as the desired number in the header
(you can avoid this with another .op on a line after the .pn).
If you use the .fo command, however, the default number will not
return unless you use the .pg command (see below).

There are three dot commands that work specifically with the
default page number.  .pc X [where X is a number you choose] puts
the default page number in column X.  .op turns the default page
number off.  .pg turns the default page number back on.  .pn X
[where X is a number you choose] sets the page number (default or
otherwise) to the number you select.  For more on this command,
see below.  Remember that .pc and .pg have no effect on any but
default page numbers, but .pn works on both default and other
header/footer numbers.

To insert a page number elsewhere, you have to put it in.  The
character # serves as the place marker for the number that will
increment on each page.  If you really do want the # to print
(such as in page # 3) then put a backslash before it:  \#; if you
want to print a backslash, type it twice: \\.  The WordStar
manual says that you get the number by typing ^P before the #.
That will work, but so will the plain #.  You can, by the way
have as many automatic page numbers in your header or footer as
you want (although I cannot think of why one wouldn't be
sufficient).

The tricky thing about page numbers is getting them on some pages
but not on others.  The simple way to avoid the page number on
page 1 is to disable the default page number (see above) and then
type the header after the first line of page 1 but before the
page break for page 2.  It is best to type any dot command on a
line following a hard carriage return to prevent a paragraph
reform from moving the period away from the first column.

Usually, page numbers begin with page one, but you can set the
page number with the dot command .pn X.  This way, you can keep
chapters in separate files, for instance, and print them with the
page numbers in proper sequence.  You can also type in a title
page and/or pages without numbers and then begin with the first
page of text as page 1.  Typing .pn without a number restores a
suppressed page number in WordStar.  The number will be whatever
it would have if you had not suppressed the page number in the
first place.  In NewWord, however, you must specify the page
number you want.  Typing .pn alone produces page 0 (both the
default and other page numbers are so affected).

Your headers and footers can be set up with boldface,
underlining, and superscripts.  You can also change the pitch
with the ^pa and ^pn control commands.  If you are using
alternate pitch throughout your document (as I do to get elite
type as in the newsletter) the pitch must be set for the
header/footer as well as the text.  Many times I end up having to
redo a page because I forgot to put the alternate pitch in the
header.  By the way, spaces as well as characters are affected by
pitch (the way I usually notice a pitch mistake is seeing the
header print off the right hand edge of the page).

The character width dot command .cw that is in effect at the
place where the header/footer is typed will control it throughout
the document no matter what you do to the text.  This way, you
can start out with a compressed header and print the text in
larger type by changing the character width immediately
afterward.

If you want headers or footers to print on opposite sides of the
page on odd and even pages (the way this newsletter does its
headings, or the way books have numbers in the upper or lower
outside corner), you can do so quite easily with the ^pk command.
Any spaces that follow the ^pk will be ignored on odd pages but
printed on even pages at print time.  If you are like me and use
the alternate character pitch to get elite, then you must put the
^pa command in the header/footer before the ^pk command to get
the header/footer on alternate corners.  Essentially, the ^pk
must come immediately before a series of spaces in order to work.

Another tricky thing is getting the header/footer to line up with
the right margin.  The best (most accurate) way to do this is to
type the line starting at the left margin, backspace to the
beginning and move the end of the line to the right margin by
spacing it over.  Then go back to the beginning of the line and
add the initial dot command and whatever control commands you
want to work.  If you want to center the header/footer (as in a
page number) it is best to do so in the same manner, using ^OC
and then putting in the dot command.

You can also adjust the margin between the header/footer and the
text by means of a dot command (or permanently change it with the
installation program).  The factory set default is two blank
spaces between the line and the text in both WS and NW.

A few words need to be said specifically about NewWord [note
above the differences in the .pn command].  Because NW allows up
to 3 header/footer lines without tricking the program (you can
trick WS by sending a <CR> code to the header/footer line with a
user defined key--if anyone is interested in the procedure, I'll
write about it in a later issue), the dot commands include
indications for the line number.  You can use .he or .fo if you
want just a single line, but you can also specify the line with
.h1, .h2, .h3 or .f1, .f2, .f3.  If you use the alternate pitch
command ^pa, you need use it only once in a set of multi-line
headers/footers, not in each line.

All this sounds more complicated than it really is.  Headers and
footers are actually easy to use.  The complications arise
because (like much else in WordStar and NewWord) there is so much
flexibility built into the system.