Additions:
Back to VoodooPad
Edited on 2008-02-23 13:14:40 by BradEllis
Additions:
If you're new to VoodooPad, start by reading this page, you'll find it incredibly helpful. Don't worry about losing that description, it will appear just like new every time you open up a new document.
After reading that page, you will most likely be ready to start working, but if you need a more in depth overview of the different functions VoodooPad offers, please take a look at these helpful walkthroughs.
About the Documentation
Introduction to VoodooPads Interface
Introduction to the Work Area
Introduction to the Toolbar
Introduction to Palettes and Drawers
Deletions:
If you're new to VoodooPad, start by reading this page, you'll find it incredibly helpful. Don't worry about losing that description, it will appear just like new every time you open up a new document. We'll use this page to start our tutorial about VoodooPad, but before we do, a disclaimer about this walkthrough.
About this Tutorial
Occasionally in this tutorial we'll mention shortcut keys and menu items that perform actions. In reality in order to make something italic, you'll need to select it, and then click on the Format menu at the top of the screen, hover over the Font menu item and then go to the right to select the Italic option. From now on that will be truncated to "Format->Font->Italic." You may also find it helpful to use the shortcut key which is Command + I. If you find yourself making a lot of things italic, try using the shortcut, it'll sink into muscle memory before you know it. If you're not sure what the shortcut is for an action, it will be listed next to the menu item. The image below is what the Font menu will look like. You can see "Italic" is selected, and the shortcut "Command I" is written to the right of it.
For the convenience of this tutorial, we'll also start abbreviating shortcuts as follows:
Command or ⌘ – Cmd
Control or ^ – Cntrl
Option or ⌥ – Opt
Shift or ⇧ – Shft
So that holding the Command and the Option keys simultaneously while pressing the "k" key will be abbreviated Cmd-Opt-k.
We are also going to call the area in which you edit text on your document the work area and the top part with all the buttons the toolbar.
Edited on 2008-02-06 15:46:57 by BradEllis
Additions:
We are also going to call the area in which you edit text on your document the work area and the top part with all the buttons the toolbar.
Deletions:
We are also going to call the area in which you edit text on your document the work area and the top part with all the buttons the toolbar.
Although it's much more, VoodooPad is a text editor at its foundation. Even the page of text that appears when you open the application can be edited, just click somewhere in the middle of a sentence and start typing. You'll find that VoodooPad performs the same way most text editors behave on your Mac.
Lets start our tutorial by displaying the Text Ruler and formating our paragraphs.
Start by choosing the menu item Format->Text->Show Ruler
A text ruler should appear at the top of the page, like this which will allow you to format the paragraphs.
Before we go further, lets perform a select all by choosing Edit->Select All. In order to change our text, ie, make it bold, italic, change the font, etc, we need to first select it. This is the fastest way of selecting everything.
Now that we have everything selected, draw your attention to the triangle pointing downward with a short bar over it at the left edge of the ruler.
If you click on the bar (not the triangle) and drag it one quarter inch to the right, it separates from the triangle and forms a "T".
This is used to set the indentation for any selected paragraphs. Notice that you've just indented all the paragraphs on this page.
There's much more to text editing, but VoodooPad generally uses the text editing capabilities built into MacOS X. If you're not familiar with the richness associated with such text editing capabilities, you can open TextEdit and choose Help->TextEdit Help for help with most of those text editing capabilities. There are also a couple topics included at the end of this tutorial if you would like to explore the text editing facilities in greater depth.
Our purpose here, however, is to help you learn how VoodooPad can help you organize your mind, so let's do a couple more fun things.
Notice in your document that the word, VoodooPad is highlighted and underlined just like a link in a web browser. That's because it is a potential link. Just click on it and you will be taken to a new page within VoodooPad.
The first interesting thing about clicking on that word is that the page you are taken to didn't exist until you clicked. When you did so, VoodooPad looked for a page for that alias, and when unable to find it, created a new page with the sentence "Write about VoodooPad here." at the top.
In general, when a new page is created for a link, the default format is to put a similar sentence at the top of an empty page that mentions the word (or phrase) you clicked, as follows:
"Write about here."
In order to see this in action, click at the end of the sentence on the new page and press the Return key twice to enter an empty line. Now type (or copy from this page) the words, "VoodooPad has shown that it clearly differs from TextEdit." As you do this, notice that the word "TextEdit" displays as a link as well.
Now click on the new TextEdit link and another new page will be created as we described. Add your name to this new page to make it unique.
Now, click the Back button at the very top of the new page twice and you will be taken back to the first page that was opened. We will refer to this first page as the Home page from now on. Once again, click on the word VoodooPad anywhere else in the Home page and you will be taken back to the VoodooPad page to see the additional text you added. This demonstrates that you're going to the same VoodooPad page from any VoodooPad link.
Once again, click on the Home page of VoodooPad and click to put the insertion bar at the very bottom of the page. Press the Return key twice and add the words, "TextEdit and more." Notice that the word, "TextEdit" has again been highlighted. Click on it and confirm that VoodooPad takes you to the same TextEdit page that was created by linking from your second page where you added your name.
Of course, not all links in VoodooPad are links to pages within the VoodooPad document. VoodooPad can distinguish real web links and will act appropriately.
To see this, go back to the Home page and scroll to the bottom where you will see a link to the VoodooPad web site ( http://www.flyingmeat.com/∞ ) in the second to last paragraph. When you click on that link, your browser will open and take you to the Flying Meat home page, the makers of this and other useful desktop tools for your Mac.
VoodooPad can be very intelligent about links and recognize them as they are typed in. As a final exercise in this topic, again go to the bottom of the text in the Home page and click on the TextEdit link. Add a space and the following after your name on the page: "http://www.apple.com"∞. Notice that as soon as you type it in, it becomes a link. Click on the link and your browser will once again open and take you to the Apple home page.
We won't be using the document you just modified, so you're welcome to close it either by clicking the red Close button in the top left corner of the window or by choosing the File->Close or its keyboard equivalent, Cmd-w.
Doing so should display a sheet indicating that you've made changes to the document and asking what you would like to do. We would suggest clicking the Don't Save button.
Edited on 2008-02-01 16:40:22 by BradEllis
Additions:
There's much more to text editing, but VoodooPad generally uses the text editing capabilities built into MacOS X. If you're not familiar with the richness associated with such text editing capabilities, you can open TextEdit and choose Help->TextEdit Help for help with most of those text editing capabilities. There are also a couple topics included at the end of this tutorial if you would like to explore the text editing facilities in greater depth.
Notice in your document that the word, VoodooPad is highlighted and underlined just like a link in a web browser. That's because it is a potential link. Just click on it and you will be taken to a new page within VoodooPad.
Deletions:
There's much more to text editing, but VoodooPad generally uses the text editing capabilities built into MacOS X. If you're not familiar with the richness associated with such text editing capabilities, you can open TextEdit and choose Help->TextEdit Help for help with most of those text editing capabilities. We've also included a couple topics at the end of this tutorial if you would like to explore the text editing facilities in greater depth. help:anchor='txted11618'%20bookID=TextEdit%20Help
Notice in your document that the word, VoodooPad is highlighted and underlined just like a link in a web browser. That's because it is a link. Just click on it and you will be taken to a new page within VoodooPad.
Edited on 2008-02-01 16:30:31 by BradEllis
Additions:
If you're new to VoodooPad, start by reading this page, you'll find it incredibly helpful. Don't worry about losing that description, it will appear just like new every time you open up a new document. We'll use this page to start our tutorial about VoodooPad, but before we do, a disclaimer about this walkthrough.
About this Tutorial
Occasionally in this tutorial we'll mention shortcut keys and menu items that perform actions. In reality in order to make something italic, you'll need to select it, and then click on the Format menu at the top of the screen, hover over the Font menu item and then go to the right to select the Italic option. From now on that will be truncated to "Format->Font->Italic." You may also find it helpful to use the shortcut key which is Command + I. If you find yourself making a lot of things italic, try using the shortcut, it'll sink into muscle memory before you know it. If you're not sure what the shortcut is for an action, it will be listed next to the menu item. The image below is what the Font menu will look like. You can see "Italic" is selected, and the shortcut "Command I" is written to the right of it.For the convenience of this tutorial, we'll also start abbreviating shortcuts as follows:
We are also going to call the area in which you edit text on your document the work area and the top part with all the buttons the toolbar.
Although it's much more, VoodooPad is a text editor at its foundation. Even the page of text that appears when you open the application can be edited, just click somewhere in the middle of a sentence and start typing. You'll find that VoodooPad performs the same way most text editors behave on your Mac.
Lets start our tutorial by displaying the Text Ruler and formating our paragraphs.
Start by choosing the menu item Format->Text->Show Ruler
A text ruler should appear at the top of the page, like this which will allow you to format the paragraphs.
Before we go further, lets perform a select all by choosing Edit->Select All. In order to change our text, ie, make it bold, italic, change the font, etc, we need to first select it. This is the fastest way of selecting everything.
Now that we have everything selected, draw your attention to the triangle pointing downward with a short bar over it at the left edge of the ruler.
There's much more to text editing, but VoodooPad generally uses the text editing capabilities built into MacOS X. If you're not familiar with the richness associated with such text editing capabilities, you can open TextEdit and choose Help->TextEdit Help for help with most of those text editing capabilities. We've also included a couple topics at the end of this tutorial if you would like to explore the text editing facilities in greater depth. help:anchor='txted11618'%20bookID=TextEdit%20Help
"Write about here."
Deletions:
If you're new to VoodooPad, start by reading this page, you'll find it incredibly helpful. Don't worry about losing that description, it will appear just like new every time you open up a new document. We'll use this page to start our tutorial about VoodooPad.
Although it's much more, VoodooPad is a text editor at its foundation. Even this page of text can be edited, just click somewhere in the middle of a sentence and start typing. You'll find that VoodooPad performs the same way most text editors behave on your Mac.
Occasionally in this tutorial we'll mention shortcut keys and menu items that perform actions. In reality in order to make something italic, you'll need to select it, and then click on the Format menu at the top of the screen, hover over the Font menu item and then go to the right to select the Italic option. This is both long to describe, and long to perform. From now on that will be truncated to "Format->Font->Italic." You may also find it helpful to use the shortcut key which is Command + I. If you find yourself making a lot of things italic, try using the shortcut, it'll sink into muscle memory before you know it. If you're not sure what the shortcut is for an action, it will be listed next to the menu item. The image below is what the Font menu will look like. You can see "Italic" is selected, and the shortcut "Command I" is written to the right of it.
For the convenience of this tutorial, from now on we'll also abbreviate shortcuts as the following:
In short, on the surface, VoodooPad behaves very much like the Apple TextEdit program when TextEdit is in Rich Text mode. Like TextEdit, we can display the Text Ruler and format our paragraphs.
To do this, click just before the first word of the first paragraph in the Work Area and drag all the way to the bottom of the last paragraph. That is, select all the text of the page except the graphic at the top and the heading. Now choose the menu item Format->Text->Show Ruler.
A text ruler should appear at the top of the page, like this
which will allow you to format the paragraphs. Notice a triangle pointing downward with a short bar over it at the left edge of the ruler.
There's much more to text editing, but VoodooPad generally uses the text editing capabilities built into MacOS X. If you're not familiar with the richness associated with such text editing capabilities, you can open TextEdit and choose Help->TextEdit Help for help with most of those text editing capabilities. We've also included a couple topics at the end of this tutorial if you would like to explore the text editing facilities in greater depth.
"Write about here."
Oldest known version of this page was edited on 2008-01-30 16:41:25 by BradEllis []
Page view:
Welcome to VoodooPad
VoodooPad is a simple and elegant Mac application that extends the concept behind a wiki to your desktop and puts you in control. That's a great explanation if you've actively contributed to a wiki, but if you haven't or don't know what a wiki is, then use this tutorial to get you started and comfortable with VoodooPad's features. If you have contributed to a wiki, you might still want to skim through this tutorial to discover the many ways in which having a wiki on your desktop can help you painlessly organize your mind!
When you open VoodooPad for the first time, you will be greeted by this image:
If a page with that image on the top of it isn't currently showing, then go to the File menu and choose New Document.
If you're new to VoodooPad, start by reading this page, you'll find it incredibly helpful. Don't worry about losing that description, it will appear just like new every time you open up a new document. We'll use this page to start our tutorial about VoodooPad.
Although it's much more, VoodooPad is a text editor at its foundation. Even this page of text can be edited, just click somewhere in the middle of a sentence and start typing. You'll find that VoodooPad performs the same way most text editors behave on your Mac.
Occasionally in this tutorial we'll mention shortcut keys and menu items that perform actions. In reality in order to make something italic, you'll need to select it, and then click on the Format menu at the top of the screen, hover over the Font menu item and then go to the right to select the Italic option. This is both long to describe, and long to perform. From now on that will be truncated to "Format->Font->Italic." You may also find it helpful to use the shortcut key which is Command + I. If you find yourself making a lot of things italic, try using the shortcut, it'll sink into muscle memory before you know it. If you're not sure what the shortcut is for an action, it will be listed next to the menu item. The image below is what the Font menu will look like. You can see "Italic" is selected, and the shortcut "Command I" is written to the right of it.
For the convenience of this tutorial, from now on we'll also abbreviate shortcuts as the following:
Command or ⌘ – Cmd
Control or ^ – Cntrl
Option or ⌥ – Opt
Shift or ⇧ – Shft
So that holding the Command and the Option keys simultaneously while pressing the "k" key will be abbreviated Cmd-Opt-k.
In short, on the surface, VoodooPad behaves very much like the Apple TextEdit program when TextEdit is in Rich Text mode. Like TextEdit, we can display the Text Ruler and format our paragraphs.
To do this, click just before the first word of the first paragraph in the Work Area and drag all the way to the bottom of the last paragraph. That is, select all the text of the page except the graphic at the top and the heading. Now choose the menu item Format->Text->Show Ruler.
A text ruler should appear at the top of the page, like this
which will allow you to format the paragraphs. Notice a triangle pointing downward with a short bar over it at the left edge of the ruler.
If you click on the bar (not the triangle) and drag it one quarter inch to the right, it separates from the triangle and forms a "T".
This is used to set the indentation for any selected paragraphs. Notice that you've just indented all the paragraphs on this page.
There's much more to text editing, but VoodooPad generally uses the text editing capabilities built into MacOS X. If you're not familiar with the richness associated with such text editing capabilities, you can open TextEdit and choose Help->TextEdit Help for help with most of those text editing capabilities. We've also included a couple topics at the end of this tutorial if you would like to explore the text editing facilities in greater depth.
Our purpose here, however, is to help you learn how VoodooPad can help you organize your mind, so let's do a couple more fun things.
Notice in your document that the word, VoodooPad is highlighted and underlined just like a link in a web browser. That's because it is a link. Just click on it and you will be taken to a new page within VoodooPad.
The first interesting thing about clicking on that word is that the page you are taken to didn't exist until you clicked. When you did so, VoodooPad looked for a page for that alias, and when unable to find it, created a new page with the sentence "Write about VoodooPad here." at the top.
In general, when a new page is created for a link, the default format is to put a similar sentence at the top of an empty page that mentions the word (or phrase) you clicked, as follows:
"Write about here."
In order to see this in action, click at the end of the sentence on the new page and press the Return key twice to enter an empty line. Now type (or copy from this page) the words, "VoodooPad has shown that it clearly differs from TextEdit." As you do this, notice that the word "TextEdit" displays as a link as well.
Now click on the new TextEdit link and another new page will be created as we described. Add your name to this new page to make it unique.
Now, click the Back button at the very top of the new page twice and you will be taken back to the first page that was opened. We will refer to this first page as the Home page from now on. Once again, click on the word VoodooPad anywhere else in the Home page and you will be taken back to the VoodooPad page to see the additional text you added. This demonstrates that you're going to the same VoodooPad page from any VoodooPad link.
Once again, click on the Home page of VoodooPad and click to put the insertion bar at the very bottom of the page. Press the Return key twice and add the words, "TextEdit and more." Notice that the word, "TextEdit" has again been highlighted. Click on it and confirm that VoodooPad takes you to the same TextEdit page that was created by linking from your second page where you added your name.
Of course, not all links in VoodooPad are links to pages within the VoodooPad document. VoodooPad can distinguish real web links and will act appropriately.
To see this, go back to the Home page and scroll to the bottom where you will see a link to the VoodooPad web site ( http://www.flyingmeat.com/∞ ) in the second to last paragraph. When you click on that link, your browser will open and take you to the Flying Meat home page, the makers of this and other useful desktop tools for your Mac.
VoodooPad can be very intelligent about links and recognize them as they are typed in. As a final exercise in this topic, again go to the bottom of the text in the Home page and click on the TextEdit link. Add a space and the following after your name on the page: "http://www.apple.com"∞. Notice that as soon as you type it in, it becomes a link. Click on the link and your browser will once again open and take you to the Apple home page.
We won't be using the document you just modified, so you're welcome to close it either by clicking the red Close button in the top left corner of the window or by choosing the File->Close or its keyboard equivalent, Cmd-w.
Doing so should display a sheet indicating that you've made changes to the document and asking what you would like to do. We would suggest clicking the Don't Save button.