d_The Basics of Construction Mode

The Basics of Construction-Mode

Return to 'Introduction to the HW HTML Drafting Project'

Construction mode is a very important first thing to learn. There are not so many keys, so let's just jump right in to some of the basics:

These keys are working mostly the same in both Construction-Mode and Style-Mode.

I am making a special mention of them here simply because they are very similar in both modes. I will mention where they are slightly different.

• Q will quit the program. Same with shift + Q.
• S will save the file. shift + S will prompt for a new filename and then save.
• T will make the mouse paint the Three Colour System. In Construction-Mode it will also have and effect on the HJKL keys. In Style-Mode it will not effect HJKL.
• G will put us into grab/move mode. In Style-Mode this only removes the effect of T.
• V will perform a Document Reflow starting at top right, and finishing at bottom left.

Keys that deal with removing/storing parts and getting them back

First I will tell about the keys that remove parts

The most obvious key that will remove parts is the X key. The X key and the P key should be thought of like they are being a 'pair'. The one removes the part, and the other one puts it back in.

P puts the same part back in, so, we can see that we are not really deleting the parts. We are sort of just storing them for later.

Shift + X will remove all of the parts, and shift + P will bring back those ones that were stored.

This is a really important thing to get used to right away, almost as important as remembering the status of the caps lock key!

There are some more keys that remove parts in much the same way, the only difference is that they use the Three Colour Groups to decide which ones will be removed. Those keys are del, end, and pDn. Grey, pink, blue: Thats the order left to right. Directly above those are keys that will act in a way that is similar to P only again, it will be particular to each colour group. Those are ins, hm, and pUp.

This is a very important feature in the program because we can _effectively and easily isolate groups. So, for example, if we want to work on the blue group only, we can simply hide the grey and pink groups.

Now I will tell about the keys that mostly only save the parts

There is an interesting system in place that will save the parts inside of registers that are named by the alphabet keys. For anyone that already knows VI I will tell you that it's basically the same but with one minor change.

To put the selected part into a register, you will first press the M key, and then follow that by pressing the Letter Key where you wish to store that part. To do this semi-automatically use shift + G. Then you will get a whole lot done faster. When you put a part into a register the part will then have the letter appearing in it's top corner. Like this:

First we have selected the part with either keyboard or mouse:

Then we will press M followed by the A key (any other letter key would also work):

Then, to show how the system works, we can press the C key to give focus to the cursor, and follow that by pressing the F key, and then the A key to copy the part back at the cursor.

If we had not pressed the C key, the copied part would have appeared at the right side of the part which had focus, like so:

Notice also that the focus is then transfered automatically to the inserted part.

Now to give the detail on the last key: ', this key should be pressed, and then followed by a letter key. When this is used, we will transfer the part focus to the named part. Again, this is a lot like VI.

You can read more about the Part Focusing System now if you wish.

Or just go right ahead, and read on about the next group of keys.

These are mode-enabling keys, which also select from the tuners on the number pad.

To give them briefly in order:

• W: manages windows
• E: can change the part edges
• T: deals with the Three Colour System
• D: very similar to G only the copies will be duplicates
• G: allows parts to be moved around the screen using HJKL
• Z: uses HJKL to change the z-index (the stacking order)

There is also a tiny page giving this: Mode-enabling keys

I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the information in the link above.

All of these keys will change the behaviour of the major keys: HJKL. These keys are used very frequently, and are very important to remember. But, just think, if you can remember how those keys work, you might also be learning the keystrokes that will later unlock for you the ancient text-editor called VI. That could be real asset for coding, and for all other typing purposes. It's somehow just always better than other text-editors.

The next thing to mention is that the W, D, and G keys will additionally change the behaviour of the following set of keys:

These keys do the very important job of putting in new parts or new windows.

If we are in W-mode then ADINO will place a new window in various locations.If you are familiar with VI: The rules for how this will work is almost exactly what you would expect. For those who are not familiar:

• I will put a new part on the immediate left
• A will put a new part on the immediate right
• O will put a new part directly beneath
• shift + O will place the part directly above
• shift + I will place the part at screen left, against the edge
• shift + A will place the new part at screen righ, against the edge

These key-bindings have been chosen to correspond as closely as possible to the same motions in the text editor, VI.

When you are in W-mode, the action will be on the windows; in G-mode, the action will be on the part; in D-mode, the action will produce a duplicate of the part.

• shift + N will put a new part at the cursor location when using G or D modes

A very crucial thing to try to remember is that shift + N will put a new TAB into the browser instead of a new window. This can be a very useful for certain workflows.

This is fairly self-explanatory:

Q and shift + Q = quit

shift + W = append

S and shift + S = save

shift + F = open

Wrapping and unwrapping the parts:

Wrapping is performed using all of the parts in the document when you use Y or shift + Y. When we use shift + U each colour group will be wrapped separately with like colours.

Y = wrap tight

shift + Y = wrap using the window as the part boundary (good for offsets)

U = unwrap

shift + U = wrap per colour group

Putting things into the 'Guide Layer'.

The guide layer is useful sometimes, just don't try using it for duplicating things because the ID of the parts are actually ending up with duplicates in the document, which is generally bad. Good news! If you don't know what that means, then it probably doesn't matter for you.

shift + M = copy everything in the document into the guide layer

shift + R = pull everything back out of the guide layer and put it into the document

Dealing with the cursor:

C = puts the cursor at the part, and might change focus to the cursor

shift + C = bring the part to the cursor location

One that might seem strange:

shift + B = copy all of the stuff from the window that opened this one

B = display some part information

What's coming up next?

Learn about the Part Focusing System