The Content Editor is where you write. In appearance, the Content Editor is similar to other WYSIWYG editors out there.[1] However, there's one big different that may confuse users at first. By design, what you see inside the editor won't look the same in the final output. This behavior encourages you to focus on content rather than its visual, and it results in a cleaner XHTML document that can be molded into different structures as necessary. This is how Lacuna Books is able to create multiple versions of your book from a single copy of document.
Figure 4-4 The toolbar in the Content Editor is organized in groups of similar features.
Since formatting, list, and paragraph alignment are pretty standard, let's focus on the rest.
To use inline formatting, you need to have text selected first.
- Inline code: your text is rendered
this way - Highlight: highlight your text
Creating a link, inserting figures, and creating citation and references are pretty specialized, so we'll look at them in detail in the following sections.
The most basic block in the Content Editor is a paragraph. Any block that doesn't have any special treatment is a paragraph— indicated with a subtle dotted border. Then comes a set of headings.
In the Outline Tool, notice how you can have sections nested. This hierarchical structure allows you to organize relevant content together, similar to folders and directories in file system. Also some sections can bubble up to its parent, which causes headings to be little confusing. For example, you have used h1 to h3 systematically in your section A. And section A includes section B as a child, and section B's content bubbles up with the option "Display the current section from its parent" enabled. What happens to headings in section B? Should you use h4 to h6 since you've used h1 to h3 in its parent section, section A?
Since sections can be reshuffled in any way, Lacuna Books is designed so that it can update headings according to the current depth in respect to its parent. Therefore, always start the top heading in a section with h1. As it gets rendered it can stay as a top level heading or switched to lower heading depending on the current section's depth.
Some paragraphs serve special purpose such as epigraph, side notes, and citation.
Never worry about what you are escaping from. Reserve your anxieties for what you're escaping to.
— The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Although the user-defined tag aside requires its own section, you can apply Sidenote class to one or more paragraphs within a section. It stands out from the regular text and can be used to get the reader's attention and digress from the main content. Below is an example with a helpful tip regarding sidenote.
Note: To remove the custom class, simply select the same class again. It works like a switch— select it repeatedly to turn it on and off.
Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house a world; and beyond its world, a heaven. Know then, that the world exists for you. For you is the phenomenon perfect. What we are, that only can we see. All that Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can do. Adam called his house, heaven and earth; Caesar called his house, Rome; you perhaps call yours, a cobbler's trade; a hundred acres of ploughed land; or a scholar's garret. Yet line for line and point for point, your dominion is as great as theirs, though without fine names. Build, therefore, your own world. As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in your mind, that will unfold its great proportions.
— Nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson