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Tech Typing Tips

As you may or may not know, text processing on the UNIX system is not a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) type of process. The functions of text entry (using an editor) and formatting are separate. This means that a file is edited and lines of formatting instructions are embedded in the lines of text. Later, using various preprocessors and the text formatter (called nroff for fixed width characters and troff for proportional spaced characters) the file is transformed into the desired output on a printer.

The purpose of this article is to provide you with hints and clues, so that your final output conforms with what you had in mind. Also, we will try to point out some rough spots and typical pitfalls that users encounter so that you can avoid them. We want to share our findings of how to make text processing on the UNIX system relatively painless.

For our first subject, I would like to talk about macro packages and how to make page layout easier. The text processors nroff and troff allow for a series of commonly used instructions to be defined by the user and called by a user defined name. These are called macros and occur on a line by themselves which start with a period, followed by two characters (like.PP). By calling this simple two letter macro, a series of more complex instructions are executed. Over the years, several sets of these macros have been made and are available to the users so that they don't have to reinvent them. Macros save time and help standardize formatting design. A macro typically causes something to happen to the next line of output, or turns on a certain formatting feature, or works in conjunction with another macro to perform a function on the information between the two. In another article, we will go into this in more detail, but for now, realize that the text in your file will be embedded with basic commands to nroff or troff and with macro commands.

Now for some information about basic page layout. In all the files that the technical typing group creates, they have what is called a "front file," which is a set of macro settings which inform the macro package how you want the page to be laid out. These instructions initiate such parameters as the page margins, spacing between the lines, and other instructions which set the style of the document. Having these files "canned" saves a lot of time in retyping the instructions and assures that all of the settings that are important are properly set. We strongly recommend that you get a standard "front file" for the macro package that you will be using and learn how to manipulate the various settings that are controlled therein.

Learning the fundamentals of the various basic page layout parameters will take you a long way in making your text processing work on the UNIX system easier, because you will not have to worry about that aspect as you are typing the individual instructions that go along with the text you are creating.

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