Tools and Utilities This section describes some of the tools and utilities in the GNOME Desktop.
Running Applications Run Application dialog, using The Run Application dialog gives you access to the command line. When you run a command in the Run Application dialog, you cannot receive output from the command. To run a command from the command line perform the following steps: Open the Run Application dialog in any of the following ways: From a panel You can add the Run Application button to any panel. See . Click on the Run Application panel button to open the Run Application dialog. Using shortcut keys Press AltF2. You can change the shortcut keys that display the Run Application dialog in the Keyboard Shortcuts preference tool. The Run Application dialog is displayed. Enter the command that you want to run in the blank field, or choose from the list of known applications. If you enter only the location of a file, an appropriate application will launch to open it. If you enter a web page address, your default web browser will open the page. Prefix the web page address with http://, as in http://www.gnome.org. To choose a command that you ran previously, click the down arrow button beside the command field, then choose the command to run. You can also use the Run with file button to choose a file to append to the command line. For example, you can enter emacs as the command, then choose a file to edit. Select the Run in terminal option to run the application or command in a terminal window. Choose this option for an application or command that does not create a window in which to run. Click on the Run button on the Run Application dialog.
Taking Screenshots screenshots, taking You can take a screenshot in any of the following ways: From any panel You can add a Take Screenshot button to any panel. For instructions on how to do this, see . Click on the Take Screenshot button to take a screenshot of the entire screen. Use shortcut keys To take a screenshot, use the following shortcut keys: Default Shortcut Keys Function Print Screen Takes a screenshot of the entire screen. AltPrint Screen Takes a screenshot of the window to which the mouse points. You can use the Keyboard Shortcuts preference tool to modify the default shortcut keys. From the Menubar Choose ApplicationsAccessories Take Screenshot. From the Terminal You can use the gnome-screenshot command to take a screenshot. The gnome-screenshot command takes a screenshot of the entire screen, and displays the Save Screenshot dialog. Use the Save Screenshot dialog to save the screenshot. You can also use options on the gnome-screenshot command as follows: Option Function --window Takes a screenshot of the window that has focus. --delay=seconds Takes a screenshot after the specified number of seconds, and displays the Save Screenshot dialog. Use the Save Screenshot dialog to save the screenshot. --include-border Takes a screenshot including the border of the screen. --border-effect=shadow Takes a screenshot and adds a shadow bevel effect arround it. --border-effect=border Takes a screenshot and adds a border effect arround it. --help Displays the options for the command. When you take a screenshot, the Save Screenshot dialog opens. To save the screenshot as an image file, enter the filename for the screenshot and choose a location from the drop-down list.
Yelp Help Browser Yelp
Introduction The Yelp Help Browser application allows you to view documentation regarding GNOME and other components through a variety of formats. These formats include docbook files, HTML help pages, man pages and info pages (support for man pages and info pages may optionally be compiled in). Despite the different formats supported, Yelp does its best to provide a unified look and feel regardless of the original document format. Yelp Help Browser is internationalised, meaning that it has support to view documents in different languages. The documents must be localised or translated for each language and installed properly for Yelp Help Browser to be able to view them.
Starting Yelp
To Start <application>Yelp Help Browser</application> You can start Yelp Help Browser in the following ways: System Menu Choose Help Command Line Execute the following command: yelp
Interface When you start Yelp Help Browser, you will see the following window appear.
<application>Yelp Help Browser</application> Window
Yelp Help Browser contains the following elements in
Menubar File Use this menu to Open a New Window, view the About this Document page, Print the current document, or Close the window. Edit Use this menu to Copy, Select all, Find..., or to set your Preferences. Go Use this menu to navigate Back, Forward, to the Help Topics page. When viewing a DocBook document, use this menu to navigate to the Next Section, Previous Section or to the Contents. Bookmarks Use this menu to Add Bookmark(s), or Edit Bookmark(s). Help View information about Yelp Help Browser and contributors to the project through the About menuitem. Open this document with the Contents menuitem or by pressing F1. Toolbar Back Use this button to navigate back in your document history. Forward Use this button to navigate forward in your document history. Help Topics Use this button to return to the main table of contents (shown in ). Browser Pane The browser pane is where you will be presented with the table of contents or the documentation. Use the table of contents to navigate to the documentation you need.
Using Yelp
Open a Document To open a document in Yelp Help Browser, use the Table of Contents to navigate to the desired document. Alternatively, you may view a particular document by invoking Yelp Help Browser from the command line or dragging files to Yelp. See for more on this.
Open a New Window To open a new window: Click File New Window Use the key combination CtrlN
About This Document To view information about the currently open document: Click File About This Document This option is only available for DocBook documentation. Legal notices and documentation contributors are usually listed in this section.
Print a Page To print any page that you are able to view in Yelp Help Browser: Click File Print this Page
Print a Document To print an entire document: Click File Print this Document This option is only available for DocBook documentation.
Close a Window To close a window in Yelp Help Browser, do the following: Click File Close Window Use the key combination CtrlW
Set Preferences To set your preferences in Yelp Help Browser: Click Edit Preferences A window will appear that looks like :
<application>Yelp Help Browser</application> Preferences Window
The options that are available in this dialog have the following functions:
Use system fonts Check this option to display documentation using the default fonts used by the GNOME Desktop. To choose your own fonts to display documentation, uncheck this option and click on the buttons next to the text Variable Width or Fixed Width. Variable Width This is the font to use when a static or fixed width font is not required. The majority of text will be of this type. Fixed Width This is the font to use when all text characters need to be of the same size. This font is usually used to indicate commands, program blocks, or other text that falls under these categories. Browse with caret Click this option if you would like see a caret or cursor in the . This allows you to browse the document more easily by showing where the cursor is located in the document.
Go Back in Document History To go back in the document history: Click Go Back Use the key combination AltLeft Use the Back button in the Toolbar
Go Forward in Document History To go forward in the document history: Click Go Forward Use the key combination AltRight Use the Forward button in the Toolbar
Go to Help Topics To go to the Help Topics: Click Go Help Topics Use the key combination AltHome Use the Help Topics button in the Toolbar
Go to Previous Section To go to the previous section: Click Go Previous Section Use the key combination AltUp This option is only available in DocBook formatted documents.
Go to Next Section To go to the next section: Click Go Next Section Use the key combination AltDown This option is only available in DocBook formatted documents.
Go to Contents To go to the contents for a document: Click Go Contents This option is only available in DocBook formatted documents.
Add a Bookmark To add a bookmark for a particular document: Click Bookmarks Add Bookmark Use the key combination CtrlD A window will appear that looks like .
Add Bookmark Window
Enter your desired bookmark title in to the Title text entry field. Then click Add to add the bookmark, or click Cancel to cancel the request.
Edit Bookmarks To edit your collection of bookmarks: Click Bookmarks Edit Bookmarks... Use the key combination CtrlB A window will appear that looks like .
Edit Bookmarks Window
You can manage your bookmarks using this window in the following ways:
Open Use this button to open the selected bookmark in a new window. Rename Use this button to rename the title of your bookmark. Remove Use this button to delete the bookmark from your collection. Once you are finished managing your bookmarks, click the Close button to exit the Edit Bookmarks Window.
Get Help To get help using Yelp Help Browser (and see this document): Click Help Contents
Advanced Features
Opening Specific Documents
Opening Documents from the File Manager To open a document, such as an XML file, from the file manager, open the document in Nautilus File Manager, or drag the icon from Nautilus to the Yelp document pane or launcher.
Using the Command Line to Open Documents Yelp Help Browser supports opening documents from the command line. There are a number of URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers) that can be used. These include: Use this URI when you want to access a file with yelp, for example: yelp file:///usr/share/gnome/help/gcalctool/C/gcalctool.xml or Use this URI when you want to access GNOME help documents, which are typically written in DocBook format. yelp ghelp:gcalctool If you want to open the help document at a particular section, append a question mark to the end of the URI, followed by the section id. yelp ghelp:user-guide?yelp-advanced-cmdline Use this URI when you want to access a particular man page. You can append the section of the man page you would like to view if there are multiple man pages with the same name. The section number should be enclosed in parenthesis and therefore it may be necessary to escape the argument so that the shell does not interpret the parenthesis. yelp man:gcalctool or yelp 'man:intro(1)' yelp 'man:intro(2)' Use this URI when you want to access a particular GNU info page. yelp info:make
Refreshing Content on Demand Yelp Help Browser supports the CtrlR shortcut keys, which will reload the DocBook document that is currently open. This allows developers to view changes to documents as they are made.
More Information This section details some of the helper applications which Yelp Help Browser uses, and provides resources where you can get more information about Yelp Help Browser.
Scrollkeeper Yelp Help Browser uses scrollkeeper to generate the table of contents for DocBook and HTML documentation, and also keep track of translations for each document.
GNOME Documentation Utilites The documentation distributed with GNOME uses this set of utilities for a variety of things: Ease translation of documents to different languages. Provide a set of tools to help package and install documentation into the correct location and register the documentation with scrollkeeper. Perform conversion from DocBook format to a format suitable for display. Yelp Help Browser relies on GNOME XSLT Stylesheets to perform conversion from DocBook to HTML. GNOME Documentation Build Utilities are relied upon by application authors to install and register documentation within the help system.
Homepage and Mailing List For further information on Yelp Help Browser, please visit the Documentation Project homepage, http://live.gnome.org/Yelp, or subscribe to the mailing list, gnome-doc-devel-list@gnome.org.
Joining the GNOME Documentation Project If you are interesting in helping produce and update documentation for the GNOME project, please visit the Documentation Project homepage: http://live.gnome.org/DocumentationProject