Figure 2.2.3a Illustration of the result of using the "Insert ordered topic" macro through a before-and-after image.
Because markup languages can be tedious, the editor comes with macros to speed up the preparation process. Macros are shortcuts that generate the necessary eHTML code to accomplish a specific task (i.e. inserting images).
There are a few built-in macros that the user can use. These can all be accessed from the "Create→Macros" menu. These include: "Insert ordered topic", "Insert unordered topic", "Insert image", "Insert note", "Insert slide break", and "Generate slides".
The "Insert ordered topic" macro generates an ordered list topic. This ordered
list is placed at the cursor location. The ordered list has both a beginning
and ending <ol> tag and a <li> tag in between. A type
attribute is also generated. The cursor is then placed after the
type attribute. At this point it is up to the user to enter the
type of list the user wants (See 2.2.1. eHTML
Tags). Figure 2.2.3a below shows a before-and-after illustration of the
"Insert ordered topic" macro.
Figure 2.2.3a Illustration of the result of using the "Insert ordered topic" macro through a before-and-after image.
Similarly, the "Insert unordered topic" macro generates an unordered topic list. This list is placed at the cursor location and has both a beginning and ending <ul> tag. Enclosed between these tags, a single <li> tag is generated. The cursor is placed after this <li> tag. Figure 2.2.3b below shows the before-and-after result of running this macro.
Figure 2.2.3b Illustration of the result of using the "Insert unordered topic" macro through a before-and-after image.
The "Insert image" macro generates the image tag with attribute
src. The cursor will be placed after the src attribute, thus
allowing the user to type in the image address immediately after using the
macro. Figure 2.2.3c demonstrates a before-and-after illustration of using
the "Insert image" macro.
Figure 2.2.3c Illustration of the result of using the "Insert image" macro through a before-and-after image.
The "Insert note" macro generates the opening and closing comments tags and places the cursor in between the generated tags. These tags are useful for the user to help the user keep notes about the lecture material. Notes are only visible in the source file and are used during lecture preparation; they are not visible during the presentation. Figure 2.2.3d shows a before-and-after picture of the "Insert note" macro.
Figure 2.2.3d Illustration of the result of using the "Insert note" macro through a before-and-after image.
The "Insert slide break" macro generates a <slidebreak> tag at the cursor and places the cursor after the <slidebreak> tag. Figure 2.2.3e shows a before-and-after image of this process.
Figure 2.2.3e Illustration of the result of using the "Insert slide break" macro through a before-and-after image.
The last macro, "Generate slides", inserts <slidebreak> tags throughout the entire lecture, effectively converting the entire lecture into slides. By default, a slide is 450 printer points wide and 350 printer points high with 36 printer point Times New Roman font. These values can be altered (See Managing Display Size). Images are displayed at their native size or at the size requested in the <img> tag attributes. If the image is too large to fit within the 450 by 350 point slide, only 450 by 350 points worth of the image is shown. The rest of the image is not shown. That is, images do not jump across slides.