BottomFeeder Home Page

BottomFeeder
User's Guide

Version 4.4

July 1, 2007

 

Valid XHTML 1.0!

 

BottomFeeder on SourceForge

 

Cincom Smalltalk Home Page

 

© 2007, Richard A. Demers

 

Contents

 

BottomFeeder Home Page

Contents


Introduction
 |   |- Notice
 |   |- Related Documents
 |   |- New Features
 |   |- Credits
 |
BottomFeeder
 |- Main Window
 |   |- Views
 |   |   |- Tree View
 |   |   |- Item List View
 |   |   |- Item Zoom View
 |   |   |- Newspaper View
 |   |- Panes
 |   |   |- Tree Pane
 |   |   |   |- Tree Icons
 |   |   |   |- Folders
 |   |   |   |- Feeds
 |   |   |- Item List Pane
 |   |   |- Item Pane
 |   |   |- Status Line
 |   |- Main Menu
 |   |   |- File Menu
 |   |   |- System Menu
 |   |   |- Browse Menu
 |   |   |- Stylesheets Menu
 |   |   |- Feeds Menu
 |   |   |- Items Menu

 |   |   |- Network Menu
 |   |   |- View Menu
 |   |   |- Plugins Menu
 |   |   |- Help Menu
 |   |- Toolbars
 |   |   |- Main Toolbar
 |   |   |- Item Toolbar
 |   |- Keyboard Shortcuts
 |   |   |- Tree Pane Shortcuts
 |   |   |- Item List Pane Shortcuts
 |   |   |- Item Pane Shortcuts
 |   |   |- Other Shortcuts
 |- Auxiliary Windows
 |   |- About
 |   |- Add Feed
 |   |- Amazon Feed Builder
 |   |- BottomFeeder Search
 |   |- Bug Report
 |   |- Comment Poster
 |   |   |- File Menu
 |   |   |- View Menu
 |   |   |- Help Menu
 |   |   |- Toolbar
 |   |- Del.icio.us Tagger
 |   |- Enclosure Manager
 |   |- Enclosure Manager Settings
 |   |- Exception
 |   |- Feed Auto-Discovery

 |   |- Feed Maintenance
 |   |- Feed Properties
 |   |- Filter Definitions
 |   |- Internet Feed Builder
 |   |- Internet Search
 |   |- Item Properties
 |   |- Named Font Selector
 |   |- News Feed Builder
 |   |- Restore Host File
 |   |- Runtime Errors Report
 |   |- Save to Host File
 |   |- Search Wizard
 |   |- Settings Window
 |   |   |- Browsing Settings
 |   |   |- Caching Settings
 |   |   |- Del.Icio.Us Settings
 |   |   |- Feed Settings
 |   |   |- Memory Settings
 |   |   |- Network Settings
 |   |   |- Newspaper Settings
 |   |   |- Unix/Linux Settings
 |   |   |- User Interface Settings
 |   |   |- User Settings
 |   |- Slim Mode
 |   |- Tear Off
 |   |- Upgrade Manager
 |   |- Workspace
(continued)

Contents (continued)


Blogging
 |- Blog Poster Window
 |   |- Menus
 |   |   |- File
 |   |   |- Post
 |   |   |- Settings
 |   |   |- Site
 |   |   |- View
 |   |   |- Help
 |   |- Toolbar
 |- Auxiliary Windows
 |   |- About
 |   |- Blogroll Editor

 |   |- Enclosure Editor
 |   |- File Upload Editor
 |   |- Open Draft
 |   |- Open Item
 |   |- Select CSS Style
 |   |- Settings
 |   |   |- Basic
 |   |   |- Blogger
 |   |   |- CST
 |   |   |- Meta Weblog
 |   |   |- Movable Type
 |   |   |- Network
 |   |- Technorati Tags
 |   |- Trackback Request Editor

 |
Browsing
 |- Browsing Window
 |   |- Menus
 |   |   |- File
 |   |   |- View
 |
Editing
 | Editing Pane
 |   |- Wiki-style Markups
 |   |- WYSIWYG Toolbar
 |   |- Checking Your Spelling

 

Contents

BottomFeeder Home Page

Introduction

Congratulations on selecting BottomFeeder as your Internet aggregator. It's a great way to keep up with whatever is happening in rapidly changing websites that publish feeds. BottomFeeder is more than "yet another RSS reader;" it is a tool to help you make the Internet better serve your needs. If you are familiar with Internet browsers and e-mail readers, you will be right at home with BottomFeeder.

Oh, if you're curious about the name BottomFeeder, think about what bottom feeders, like crabs, eat - whatever falls to the bottom of the sea from all the fish swimming above them. Not a pretty picture, but they sure taste good!

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Notice

BottomFeeder has been released as an Open Source program, under the Artistic License. When you download it, you agree to abide by this license.

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Related Documents

The following documents are available to help you get the most benefit from BottomFeeder:

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New Features

The major changes in BottomFeeder version 4.4 from version 4.3 are the following:

  1. LibTidy, which corrects coding errors in feed items, can now be turned on or off at the feed level. If LibTidy seems to damage the items of a given feed, you can disable it for that feed. (Select Feed Properties in the feed's popup menu.)
  2. When you update from version 4.3 to 4.4, you may well see duplicate items for the first few days. The way BottomFeeder assigns item identifiers (guids) when a feed doesn't have them has been changed to fix a persistent problem. The duplicates will go away over time, but if you want to eliminate duplicate items for a specific feed right away, you can regenerate the feed (Select Update > Regenerate Feed in the feed's popup menu).
  3. The BottomFeeder Settings Window has been simplified. A lot of the settings were confusing and rarely used, and really did not belong in a user interface. However, these options still exist, and can be changed via the BottomFeeder initialization file.
  4. When defining filters, you can now define them as positive (to include matches and exclude non matches) or negative (to exclude matches and keep all else). See the Use to filter out check box in the Filter Definitions Window.
  5. A Show persistent items option has been added to the View Menu. This option allows you to easily view all items in all feeds that you previously marked as being persistent.
  6. Seldom used options were removed from the Main Window menus and toolbar.
  7. Options were removed from the Item List and Item popup menus corresponding tools were added to a new items toolbar above the Item List pane.

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Credits

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BottomFeeder Home Page

BottomFeeder Main Window

Main Window Views

When you start BottomFeeder, you see the Main window. The actual appearance of the Main window depends on what you are doing. BottomFeeder shows you one of four different views:

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Tree View

BottomFeeder tree view

The Tree View shows a tree of folders and their feeds in the left pane, a table of items from a selected folder or feed at top-right, and selected items at bottom-right.

To see this view, select the View > Show all items command.

Window Controls

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Item List View

BottomFeeder item list view.

The Item List View shows a table of items at top and selected items at the bottom. This view is used to show all items in all feeds that meet a specific criteria.

To see this view, select:

Window Controls

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Item Zoom View

BottomFeeder item zoom view.

This view expands the Item pane to include the entire view area. This provides more area for viewing the contents of items.

To obtain a zoomed view, use the Toggle zoom item tool. You can also use the ctrl-n and ctrl-p shortcut keys to go to the next or previous new item.

Window Controls

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Newspaper View

BottomFeeder newspaper view.

This view shows a newspaper-like summary of multiple items from one or more feeds. The advantage of using this view is that you only have to scroll down to see additional items; you don't have to individually select items from a list. If you subscribe to a lot of feeds, this can be a real convenience.

To obtain a newspaper view, select a feed or folder in the Tree pane, and BottomFeeder shows you its new items; or if there are no new items, it shows the top five items (new or old) instead.

For each item, the newspaper view shows:

Window Controls

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Main Window Panes

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The Tree Pane

The Tree pane provides a hierarchical view of your folders and the feeds they contain. The root of the tree is the My Feeds folder. All of your feeds are contained in this folder or in one of its sub-folders, including:

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Tree Icons

Tree objects are displayed with the following icons:

BottomFeeder tree icons.

BottomFeeder helps you to keep track of which feeds have new items that you have not yet read. In the Tree pane, it displays a Red Feed Icon or a Red Bell Feed Icon for feeds with new items, and in the Item List pane, it displays the titles of new items in bold red text.

Clicking on an item in the Item List pane tells BottomFeeder that you have read it; that it is to be considered old. BottomFeeder immediately changes its title to normal black text. When all items of a feed are old, BottomFeeder displays a Blue Feed Icon or a Blue Bell Feed Icon for the feed.

You can tell BottomFeeder that all items of a feed are old. In the Tree pane, select the feed and click the Mark feed > Mark all feed items old command of its popup menu. You can also select an item and click the Mark all feed items old tool. If you decide you want the item to contine to be identified as new, click the Mark item as new tool.

BottomFeeder changes the color of a feed's icon according to the following rules:

You can ask BottomFeeder to alert you to the arrival of new items in a subscribed feed. Select the feed and click the Alerts > Add Feed Alert command of its popup menu. BottomFeeder changes the feed's icon to a Red Bell Feed Icon or a Blue Bell Feed Icon. When feeds are updated by new items, and there is an alert on at least one of them, BottomFeeder enables the View > Show Alerts command and the View All Alerts tool.

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Folders

A folder is a named collection of sub-folders and feeds. You can create folders in a folder to organize your feeds. For example, you can put all of your Genealogy feeds in one folder and all of your Star Trek feeds in another.

Following the name of each folder is a pair of numbers in parentheses, for example; "(3/43)". The first number is the number of feeds in the folder with new content, and the second number is the total number of feeds in the folder. You can tell if there is anything in a folder by looking at these numbers.

With your mouse, you can do the following with folders:

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Folder Popup Menus

When you right-click a folder in the tree, the following menu pops up:

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Feeds

With your mouse, you can do the following with a feed:

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Feed Popup Menu

When you right-click a feed, the following menu pops up:

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Item List Pane

BottomFeeder 3 column item list pane.

When you select a feed in the Tree view, BottomFeeder presents the items in the feed in the Item List pane of the Main window. The Item List pane is a table of item dates, item titles and item categories. You can sort items in ascending or descending sequence by any column - just toggle the header bars above each column.

BottomFeeder 4 column item list pane.

When BottomFeeder presents a Item List view, the name of the feed that contains each item is presented in a feed title column of the table.

BottomFeeder helps you to keep track of the items you have already read. If an item is new, BottomFeeder displays it in bold red text. When you select the item, BottomFeeder considers it to be old and displays it in normal black text.

When you right-click an item, the following menu pops up:

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Item Pane

BottomFeeder item pane.

When you select an item in the Item List pane, BottomFeeder presents the item in the current tab page of the bottom-right pane of the Main window. Often this is a description of the item, but it may be a link to a web page, or even the complete item. If it is a link and you click it, a separate browser window opens to show you the linked web page.

Pane Controls

Item tabs - BottomFeeder presents items in tabbed pages. The label of each tab is the name of the item's feed. You can have as many tabbed pages as you want, but only one of them is highighted as the current page. When you right-click within a tab, the following pop-up menu is presented:

Item pages - BottomFeeder present items in tab pages. When you right-click within an item, the following pop-up menu is presented:

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The Status Line

BottomFeeder tells you its operational status in the bottom line of the Main window. Between the times that it is updating the feeds, it tells you how many minutes until the next update. During updates, it tells you which feed is being updated and what percent of the updates are done. In the status area, you can find and select text, and copy text to the clipboard through its popup menu.

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Main Menu


File Menu

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System Menu

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Browse Menu

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Stylesheets Menu

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Feeds Menu

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Items Menu

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Network Menu

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View Menu

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Plugins Menu

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Help Menu

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Toolbars

Toolbars are collections of icons that each represent a command to BottomFeeder. Typically, they are provided only for frequently used commands.

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Main Toolbar

BottomFeeder main toolbar.

The Main Toolbar is located below the Main Menu. It provides single-click execution of a number of frequently used BottomFeeder tools. All of these tools are also available through the Main Menu or through one or more popup menus. Toolbar icons are enabled only when they can be validly used; for example, when a feed has been selected.

Tool Icon Action
Toggle slim mode. Toggle between the full BottomFeeder Main window and the Ticker window.
Add feed. Add a new feed to the selected folder.
Check for upgrades. Check for upgrades and plug-ins to BottomFeeder.
View all new items. View all new items in all folders.
View all alerts. View all alerts; that is, all new items in feeds with notifiers.
View all items. View all folders in the Tree pane.
Open a new tab for the item. Open a new tab page in the Item pane. BottomFeeder creates a new page, copies the contents of the currently selected page to it, and highlights the new tab as the current tab.
Mark all feed / folder items as new. Mark all items in the selected folder or feed as old.
Mark all feed / folder items as old. Mark all items in the selected folder or feed as old.
Restore deleted items to feed. Restores to a feed items previously deleted but not yet replaced by new items.
Stop browser download. Stop the downloading of a webpage by the BottomFeeder browser.
Pause / resume updates. Pause or resume the updating of feeds.
  • When feeds are being updated, BottomFeeder routinely checks the update process to make sure it completes its work. If that process unexpectedly terminates, BottomFeeder tries to restart it. However, if the update process appears to stall you can use this tool to restart it.
Toggle online/offline. Toggle whether BottomFeeder is online or offline.
Exit BottomFeeder. Exit BottomFeeder.

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Item Toolbar

BottomFeeder item toolbar.

The Item Toolbar is located above the Item List pane or the Item pane, depending on which view is in use. It provides single-click execution of a number of frequently used BottomFeeder tools related to individual items. Toolbar icons are enabled only when they can be validly used; for example, when an item has been selected.

Tool Icon Action
Toggle zoom. Switch to the Item Zoom View for the currently selected item.
Print item. Print the item as presented in the current tab page of the Item pane. BottomFeeder opens a Print window so you can specify how you want it printed.
Save item in file. Save the item as a local file. BottomFeeder opens a Save As window so you can specify the path, name, and type of the file.
Send comment on item. Send a comment on the selected item. BottomFeeder presents the Comment Poster window in which you can enter a comment. This option is enabled only for feeds that accept item comments.
Send an e-mail about the item. Send the item as an E-mail message. BottomFeeder opens the New Mail window with the title of the item as the subject of the message. You can further edit the message.
BottomFeeder does not support gmail as an smtp server or any mail server that uses ttls).
Toggle item as flagged. Flag (or unflag) the item as one requiring your further consideration.
  • To see all items that you have flagged, in all of your feeds, select the View > Show flagged menu option.
Toggle item persistence of item. Toggle the persistence of the item in the feed's item cache. In the Item List, BottomFeeder indicates that an item is persistent by displaying its title in italics. The item is not replaced when the feed is updated to include new items.
  • If an item is both persistent and deleted, it remains available in the feed's item cache, but visible only when viewing hidden items.
Create a blog entry about the item. Post an entry to a blog for the item. BottomFeeder presents the BlogPoster window, in which you can add a blog entry.
  • This tool is enabled only if the BottomLine plug-in has been installed.
  • BottomFeeder copies any text that has been selected in the item to the blog entry.
Send tags about the item to del.icio.us. Add tags to the item in your account in the del.icio.us social bookmarking service, along with your own keywords. BottomFeeder opens the Del.icio.us Tagger window.
Delete the item. Delete the item from the feed. BottomFeeder removes the item from the Item List.
  • You can also delete a selected item by pressing the delete key.
  • Deleted items remain available in the feed's item cache until they are replaced by the arrival of new items.
  • Use the Filters > Restore all deleted items selection in the feed popup menu to restore all the available deleted items of a feed.
  • Use the Filters > View hidden items command in the feed menu to see all the available deleted items (and filtered items) of a feed.
Remove tags about the item from del.icio.us. Remove tags to the item in your account in the del.icio.us social bookmarking service. BottomFeeder opens the Del.icio.us Tagger window.
Mark the item as new. Mark the item as new. BottomFeeder displays it in bold red text.
Launch a browser on the item. Open a browser window. BottomFeeder opens a browser on the web page associated with the item.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Each of the panes of the main BottomFeeder window responds to commands entered via key combinations; otherwise known as keyboard shortcuts. The pane that currently has focus determines how Bottomfeeder handles each shortcut.

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Tree Pane Shortcuts

When focus is in the Tree pane, the following keyboard shortcuts are enabled:

Shortcut Key Action
Tab Shift focus to the Item List pane.
Shift-Tab Shift focus to the current tab page of the Item pane.
Up Arrow Go up by one tree node.
Down Arrow Go down by one tree node.
Page Up Go up by 1 page, where a page is defined by the number of lines available for display in the Tree pane.
Page Down Go down by 1 page, where a page is defined by the number of lines available for display in the Tree pane.
Ctrl-Home Go to top node of tree.
Ctrl-End Go to bottom node of tree.
+ Expand the currently selected tree.
- Collapse the currently selected tree.
* Fully expand the currently selected tree.
Ctrl-Shift-a Add feeds to the currently selected folder.
Ctrl-b Launch a browser on the currently selected feed link.
Ctrl-c If a feed is selected, copy the feed's title to the clipboard.
Ctrl-g Fully expand the tree.
Ctrl-h Fully contract the tree.
Ctrl-r Mark as old all items in the currently selected feed or folder.
Ctrl-u Mark as new all items in the currently selected feed or folder.
Ctrl-z Toggle zoom mode.
Space Toggles the display of the items of the currently selected feed or folder.

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Item List Pane Shortcuts

When focus is in the Item List pane:

Shortcut Key Action
Tab Shift focus to the current tab page of the Item pane.
Shift-Tab Shift focus to the Tree pane.
Up Arrow Go up by one item.
Down Arrow Go down by one item.
Page Up Go up one page, which is defined to be five items if five are available.
Page Down Go down one page, which is defined to be five items if five are available.
Ctrl-Home Go to top item.
Ctrl-End Go to bottom item.
Ctrl-b Launch a browser on currently selected item.
Ctrl-c If an item is selected, copy the item's title.
Ctrl-l Flag (or unflag) the item as one requiring your further consideration.
Ctrl-m Send a comment on the item. BottomFeeder presents the Comment Poster window in which you can enter a comment. This option is enabled only for feeds that accept item comments.
Ctrl-n Go to the next new item in the item list.
Ctrl-o Post an entry to a blog for the item. BottomFeeder presents the Blog Poster window, in which you can add a blog entry.
  • This shortcut is enabled only if the BottomLine plug-in has been installed.
  • BottomFeeder copies any text that has been selected in the item to the blog entry.
Ctrl-p Go to the previous new item in the item list.
Ctrl-r Mark as old all items in the currently selected feed.
Ctrl-u Mark as new all items in the currently selected feed.
Ctrl-z Toggle zoom mode.
Space Go to next new item in the list but keep focus in the list.

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Item Pane Shortcuts

When focus is in the Item pane:

Shortcut Key Action
Tab Shift focus to the Tree pane.
Shift-Tab Shift focus to the Item List pane.
Up Arrow Go up by three lines.
Down Arrow Go down by three lines.
Page Up Go up one page, where a page is defined by the number of lines available for display in the tab page.
Page Down Go down by one page, where a page is defined by the number of lines available for display in the tab page.
Ctrl-Home Go to top line.
Ctrl-End Go to bottom line.
Ctrl-b Launch a browser on currently selected item.
Ctrl-c Copy the currently selected text of the item to the clipboard.
Ctrl-l Flag (or unflag) the item as one requiring your further consideration.
Ctrl-m Send a comment on the item. BottomFeeder presents the Comment Poster window in which you can enter a comment. This option is enabled only for feeds that accept item comments.
Ctrl-o Post an entry to a blog for the item. BottomFeeder presents the Blog Poster window, in which you can add a blog entry.
  • This shortcut is enabled only if the BottomLine plug-in has been installed.
  • BottomFeeder copies any text that has been selected in the item to the blog entry.
Ctrl-n Go to the next new item in the item list.
Ctrl-p Go to the previous new item in the item list.
Ctrl-r Mark as old all items in the currently selected feed.
Ctrl-u Mark as new all items in the currently selected feed.
Ctrl-z Toggle zoom mode.
Space Do down one page.
Shift-Space Do up one page.

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Other Shortcuts

Shortcut Key Action
F1 Browse the Users Guide.
F4 Toggle slim mode.
Ctrl-f Open the BottomFeeder Search tool.
Ctrl-s Save all settings.
Ctrl-t Open the BottomFeeder settings window.

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BottomFeeder Home Page

BottomFeeder's Auxiliary Windows

Most of the time you are using BottomFeeder, you interact with the views and panes of its Main window; however, auxiliary Windows appear for many supporting functions.

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About Window

About window.

Open this window by selecting the Help > About command.

You can find out about the BottomFeeder program and its compnents in this window.

Window Controls

When you right-click within the details area, the following pop-up menu is presented:

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Add Feed Window

Add feed window.

Open this window by selecting the Add Feed... command in the folder popup menu or the Add Feed... tool.

You can add feeds to a folder in this window.

Window Controls

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Amazon Feed Builder Window

Amazon feed builder window.

Open this window by selecting the Feeds > Amazon Feed Builder... command in the main menu.

You can define a feed that you want from Amazon.com with this window. BottomFeeder adds the new feed to your My Feeds folder.

Every update cycle, BottomFeeder sends the query that defines your feed to Amazon, which generates a feed file on-the-fly.

Window Controls

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BottomFeeder Search Window

BottomFeeder search window.

Open this dialog window by selecting the Items > Search BottomFeeder... command.

You can search for a text string in the feeds BottomFeeder has already saved in your local system. The results of the search are presented in a new tab page of an Item List view.

Window Controls

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Bug Report Window

Bug report window.

Open this dialog window by selecting the Help > Bug Report command.

You can report bugs you find in the operation of BottomFeeder.

Window Controls

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Comment Poster Window

Commenting tool window.

Some feeds allow you to send comments to the website that publishes the feed. BottomFeeder supports two types of comments:

  1. Feed comments. Select a feed in the BottomFeeder Tree pane and click on the Feedback > Send comment on feed... command in the feed's popup menu. For example, the feed may allow you to query the website that publishes the feed. If a response to the comment is returned by the website it is displayed in a new tab page of the Item pane. An example of a response could be the results of a query.
  2. Item comments. Select an item in the BottomFeeder Item List pane and click on the Send comment on item... tool in the item toolbar. This allows you to send a comment about the item to the website that publishes the feed. If a response to the comment is returned by the website, it is displayed in a new tab page of the Item pane. An example of a response could be your comment appended to the original item.

To identify yourself in your comments, change the Comment user name setting in the BottomFeeder User Interface Settings window.

The Comment Poster works with any server that supports the Well Formed Web Comment API Module. This is an Internet standard for sending comments about a feed or item. BottomFeeder only supports comments to feeds that accept them. Few feeds support feed-level comments, and few feeds provide immediate responses to item comments.
Window Controls
File Menu

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View Menu

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Help Menu

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Commenting Toolbar

 

Commenting toolbar.

This toolbar is located below the menus. It provides single-click execution of a number of frequently used commenting tools. All of these tools are also available through the Main Menu or through one or more popup menus. Toolbar icons are enabled only when they can be validly used.

Tool Icon Action
Preview tool Preview. Opens the Preview window with your comment formatted as you specified.
Post tool Post. Sends your comment to the feed's server to post it with the item you are commenting on.
Help tool Help. Opens the Markup Help window, which provides help for wiki-style markups.

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Del.icio.us Tagger Window

Del.icio.us Tagger window.

Open this window by selecting the Add del.icio.us tags... tool in the item toolbar.

Use the Del.icio.us tagger to add or remove tags to a selected item at the Del.icio.us social bookmarking website.

Window Controls

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Enclosure Manager Window

Enclosure Manager window.

Open this window by selecting the Plugins > Enclosure Manager command.

Use the Enclosure Manager to find out about the enclosures that are available in the items of various feeds that BottomFeeder handles for you.

Window Controls
File Menu
Saved Enclosures Popup Menu

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Enclosure Manager Settings

Enclosure manager settings window.

You can control how the Enclosure Manager works by changing various settings. Open this window by selecting the File > Enclosure Settings... command in the Enclosure Manager window menu.

Window Controls
Enclosure Settings Tree Popup Menu

When you right-click in the Settings Tree pane, the following menu pops up:

Enclosure Settings

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Exception Window

Exception window.

BottomFeeder opens this window when it encounters an exceptional condition it is not programmed to handle.

Window Controls

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Feed Auto-Discovery Window

Feed auto-discovery window.

Open this window by selecting

The Syndic8 website is a directory of RSS feeds on a wide variety of topics. You can search it for feeds to add to a folder. If you select a folder in the tree, the feeds are added to that folder; otherwise, they are added to a new folder whose name is derived from your query string.

Window Controls

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Feed Maintenance Window

Feed maintenance window.

Open this window by selecting the Feeds > Feed maintenance... command.

Over time, some feeds can become inactive, receiving no new items from their source web site. This command enables you to easily identify and remove these trees from your feed tree.

Window Controls

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Feed Properties Window

(See window pages, below.)

Open this window by selecting the Feed properties... command in the pop-up menu of a feed in the Tree pane.

You can view the properties of a feed in the Feed Properties window, and change some of them.

Window Controls

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Feed Properties General Page

Feed properties window, general page.

This tab page presents properties common to all feeds.

Page Controls

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Feed Property Settings Page

Feed properties window, settings page.

This tab page presents properties that can be individually set for each feed.

Page Controls

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Feed Properties Details Page

Feed properties window, details page.

This tab page presents the detailed properties of the selected feed. The properties presented in the list varies from feed to feed, depending on which properties were provided by the generator of the feed. Some of the properties are links that you can click to browse the linked webpage or to send mail to a linked mailbox.

Page Controls

When you right-click within the Details tab, the following pop-up menu is presented:

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Feed Properties Encoding Page

Feed properties window, encoding page.

This tab page presents radio buttons that allow you to specify the encoding standard used by the feed.

Page Controls

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Filter Definitions Window

Filter definitions window.

Open this window by selecting

You can identify the items of a selected feed or of all feeds that you do not want to see. Filters that operate on all feeds are called global filters.

Feed items are filtered at the following times:

Feed items are not filtered when the items of a feed are displayed.

Window Controls

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Internet Feed Builder Window

Internet feed builder window.

Open this window by selecting the Feeds > Internet Feed builder... command.

A number of websites allow you to send them a query. Use this window to identify the website and specify a query. BottomFeeder adds the new feed to the My Feeds folder. The website returns the results of the query formatted as a feed.

Every update cycle, BottomFeeder sends your query to the website, which generates and returns a feed file on-the-fly. The website does not keep a feed file up-to-date.

Window Controls

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Internet Search Window

Internet search window.

Open this dialog window by selecting the Items > Internet search... command.

You can search for a text string in one of several Internet websites. A browser is launched on a results page produced by the searched website.

Window Controls

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Item Properties Window

(See window pages, below.)

Open this window by selecting Item Properties... command in the pop-up menu of an item in the Item List pane.

You can view the properties of an item in the Item Properties window.

Window Controls

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Item Properties General Page

Item properties window, general page.

This tab page presents properties common to all items.

Page Controls

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Item Properties Details Page

Item propeties window, details page.

This tab page presents the detailed properties of the selected item. The properties presented in the list varies from item to item, depending on which properties were provided by the generator of the item. Some of the properties are links that you can click to browse a linked webpage or to send mail to a linked mailbox.

Page Controls

When you right-click within the Details tab, the following pop-up menu is presented:

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Named Font Selector

Named font selector window.

Open this window by selecting the System > DefineFonts... command.

BottomFeeder uses of a variety of font styles for the text it displays in trees, lists, and other window controls. Use the Named Font Selector window to change the appearance of these font styles. The font family, pixel size, color, boldness, italic, underline, strikeout options of a font style can be edited and viewed.

This is a reuse of an existing VisualWorks Smalltalk window. While this window supports the definition of new font styles, there is no way to use new font styles in BottomFeeder. Think of this as a promise of things to come in a future release of BottomFeeder.

Window Controls

The File menu of the Named Font Selector window has the following commands:

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News Feed Builder Window

News feed builder window.

Open this window by selecting the Feeds > Headline News Builder... command.

Various websites support searches of news feed files. You can ask them to search for a text string and build a new feed from the results of the search. BottomFeeder adds the new feed to the My Feeds folder.

Every update cycle, BottomFeeder sends the query that defines your feed to the news service, which generates a feed file on-the-fly. The news service does not keep a feed file up-to-date.

Window Controls

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Restore Host File Window

Restore host file window.

Open this dialog window by selecting the Network > Restore all via FTP... command.

You can restore feeds saved in a network host file.

Window Controls

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Runtime Errors Report Window

Runtime errors report window.

Open this dialog window by selecting the Help > View Current Error Log command.

You can report bugs you find in the operation of BottomFeeder.

Window Controls

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Save to Host File Window

Save to host file window.

Open this dialog window by selecting the Network > Save all via FTP... command.

You can save your current feeds to a network host file.

Window Controls

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Search Wizard Window

Search wizard window.

Open this dialog window by pressing the Define Builder... button in the Feed Builder window. You can define a feed builder query to be sent to a website of your choice.

This window is not used to request searches, only to define the searches that can be requested in the Feed Builder window.

Window Controls

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Settings Window

Settings window.

Open this window by selecting the System > BottomFeeder Settings... command.

You can control how BottomFeeder works by changing various settings. The settings are arranged in a set of pages identified by name in the tree on the left. Individual settings are presented on the right in the selected page.

Window Controls
Settings Tree Popup Menu

When you right-click in the Settings Tree, the following menu pops up:

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Browsing Settings

Settings window, browsing page.
Page Controls

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Caching Settings

Settings window, caching page.
Page Controls

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Del.Icio.Us Settings

Settings window, Del.Icio.Us page.
Page Controls

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Feed Settings

Settings window, feed settings page.
Page Controls

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Memory Settings

Settings window, memory page.
Page Controls

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Network Settings

Settings window, network page.
Page Controls

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Newspaper Settings

Settings window, newspaper page.
Page Controls

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Unix/Linux Settings

Settings window, Unix/Linux page.
Page Controls

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User Interface Settings

Settings window, user interface page.
Page Controls

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User Settings

Settings window, user page.
Page Controls

Specify the following if you are connected to the Internet through a proxy server:

Specify the following for your Email SMTP server. This is the same information that is required for an Email account by your Email program (such as Outlook Express). BottomFeeder version 2.9 requires it only if you send in bug reports.

Specify the following if you intend to do Save and Restore to a FTP Server:

BottomFeeder only uses the proxy settings if you are accessing the Internet through a proxy server.

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Slim Mode Window

Slim mode window.

Open this window by selecting the Toggle Slim Mode tool in the main toolbar.

The Slim Mode window is an alternative to the BottomFeeder main window. It is a cycling display of the titles of new items. BottomFeeder closes the Main window and displays the Slim Mode window.

To return to the Main window, close the Slim Mode window, and then restore BottomFeeder.

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Tear Off Window

Tear Off Window.

You can tear off a tab page from the Item pane of the Main window by using the Tear Off command of a tab's popup menu.

Window Controls
Popup Menu

When you right-click within the item area, the following pop-up menu is presented:

Keyboard Shortcuts

When focus is in the item area, the following keyboard shortcuts are available:

Shortcut Key Action
Up Arrow Go up by three lines.
Down Arrow Go down by three lines.
Page Up Go up one page, where a page is defined by the number of lines available for display in the tab page.
Page Down Go down by one page, where a page is defined by the number of lines available for display in the tab page.
Ctrl-Home Go to top line.
Ctrl-End Go to bottom line.
Ctrl-c Copy the selected text to the clipboard.
Space Go down one page.
Shift-Space Go up one page.

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Upgrade Manager Window

Upgrade manager window.

Open this window by selecting the Check for upgrades... tool in the main toolbar.

You can upgrade your version of the BottomFeeder program and load plug-ins. The current version of the upgraded components are copied to btfSave/backup in your BottomFeeder Home Directory before being replaced. If you need to back out the updated components, do the following:

  1. Go to the User Interface Settings, and turn off Should save files on exit.
  2. Quit BottomFeeder.
  3. Copy the components you just updated from btfSave/backup to the appropriate directory (either plugins or app, depending on the file).
  4. Restart BottomFeeder.
Window Controls

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Workspace Window

Workspace window.

Open this window by selecting the System > Execute Smalltalk Code... command.

You can enter and execute Smalltalk statements and scripts using this window. It can be used to enter, edit, save to file, read from a file, execute, debug and inspect any sequence of Smalltalk statements.

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BottomFeeder Home Page

Blogging

Web logs ("blogs") are an increasingly popular way for people to express their views on whatever interests them. Each blog is an Internet website in which a person enters items. The most recent item of a blog is presented at the top of a webpage, followed by earlier items.

Many blogs also include an RSS feed that identifies the latest items in the blog. An aggregator, such as BottomFeeder, periodically reads the RSS file, and keeps its client up-to-date as items are added to the blog. This is a great way to keep up with a possibly large number of blogs.

As a convenience for users who have their own blogs, BottomFeeder includes a blog poster for creating and updating the items in a blog. This plugin communicates with the blog's server in support of the following tasks that the owner of a blog might want to accomplish:

The BottomFeeder blog poster works with any server that supports the following Internet standards for working with the items to a blog:
  1. Blogger API
  2. MetaWebLog API
  3. Movable Type API
  4. CST API. This API was designed specifically for working with the Cincom Smalltalk blog server.

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Blog Poster Window

Blog poster window.

Open this window in the following ways:

  1. While using BottomFeeder to read an item of a feed (perhaps a blog feed), you may want to enter an item in your own blog about the same subject. Select the Blog It! tool and BottomFeeder opens the Blog Poster window, in which you can enter and post an item to your own blog. The title of the feed item becomes the subject of your new blog item, and a link to the original blog item is added to the top of your new blog item.

    An alternative is to send a comment on the item to the originating feed by using the BottomFeeder Comment Poster window. However, you may prefer to keep your opinions in your own blog where you can more easily edit them. Whether you comment on an item or Blog It! is largely a matter of preference. For example you may send short comments to the originating feed, while posting longer opinions to your own blog.

  2. You can also use the blog poster to add a new item to your blog -- without reference to any other feed item. Select Plugins > Bottom Line command.
Window Controls

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Blog Poster Menus

File Menu

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Post Menu

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Settings Menu

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Site Menu

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View Menu

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Help Menu

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Blog Poster Toolbar

Blog poster toolbar.

This toolbar is located below the Blog Poster menu. It provides single-click execution of a number of frequently used blog poster tools. All of these tools are also available through the Main Menu or through one or more popup menus. Toolbar icons are enabled only when they can be validly used; for example, when a feed has been selected.

Tool Icon Action
Preview tool BottomFeeder opens the Browsing window with the current item formatted as you specified.
Post tool BottomFeeder sends the current item to the blog server.
Upload files tool BottomFeeder sends the files in its current upload list to your blog server.
Save draft tool BottomFeeder saves a draft of the current item in your local system. Be sure to provide a subject for the item before saving it; BottomFeeder identifies each item in the Open Draft window by its subject.
Toggle sellchecker tool Toggle the spellchecker tool.
New post tool Clear the input area for the creation of a different item. Only one item can be open at a time, either one selected from the File > Open command, or a new one created by the File > New command. If there is currently an item open, it is discarded.
Select file to upload tool BottomFeeder opens the Open... window so you can select a file from your system to upload to the blog server. It adds the selected file to a list of files to be uploaded as a group by the Post / Upload files command.
Load from server tool BottomFeeder retrieves the titles of the active items in your blog (but not those in an archive)and displays them as a tree in the Open Item window. Expanding an item provides a list of the item's comments. When you select an item or a comment, BottomFeeder retrieves it from your blog.
Load drafts tool BottomFeeder presents the Open Draft window. When you select a deferred item, BottomFeeder retrieves that item.
Delete tool Clear the currently open item of the blog poster. This command does not delete either an existing item of your blog or a draft that you have saved.
Blog roll tool BottomFeeder retrieves the blog roll from your blog, and opens the Blog Roll Editor window so you can edit it.
Help tool Display help for wiki-style markups.

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Blog Poster - Auxiliary Windows

Most of the time when you are using the blog poster, you interact with the views and panes of its main window; however, auxiliary windows appear for many supporting functions.

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About Window

About window.

Open this window by selecting Help > About in the blog poster menu.

You can find out about the blog poster in this window.

Window Controls

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Blogroll Editor Window

Blogroll editor window.

Open it by selecting Post / Blogroll tool... in the blog poster menu.

A blogroll is a list of links to other blogs and websites that the owner of a blog wants to recommend to the readers of the blog. Use this tool to update the blogroll of your blog.

Window Controls

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Enclosure Editor Window

Enclosure editor window.

Open it by selecting Post / View/define enclosures... in the blog poster menu.

An item posted to a blog can have one or more enclosures; Use this window to update the enclosures of the current item.

Window Controls

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File Upload Editor Window

File upload editor window.

Open it by selecting Post / Edit files to upload... in the blog poster menu.

Use this tool to manage the list of files to be uploaded to your blog.

Window Controls

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Open Draft Window

Open draft window.

Open this window by selecting File > Open / Drafts in the blog poster menu.

When you enter items, you do not have to post them to the blog server right away. You can save drafts of items in your local system. If you have drafts for more than one server, each server appears as a separate node in the tree, along with its drafts.

Window Controls

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Open Item Window

Open item window.

Open this window by selecting File > Open / From Server in the blog poster menu.

This window retrieves the titles of the available items in your blog and presents them as a tree. The comments associated with each item are also available in the tree.

Window Controls

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Select CSS Style Window

Select CSS Style window.

Open this window by selecting File > Open / Styles in the blog poster menu.

This window presents the CSS stylesheets available in your blog server. Select one of them.

Window Controls

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Settings Window

Blog poster settings window.

Open this window by selecting Settings / Posting Settings... in the blog poster menu.

You can control how the blog poster works by changing various settings. The settings are arranged in a set of pages identified by name in the tree on the left. Individual settings are presented on the right in the selected page.

Posting Profiles Menu
Window Controls

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Basic Settings
Blog poster basic settings page.
Page Controls

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Blogger Settings
Blog poster blogger settings page.
Page Controls

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CST Settings
Blog poster CST settings page.
Page Controls

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MetaWeblog Settings
Blog poster MetaWeblog settings page.
Page Controls

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Movable Type Settings
Blog poster MovableType settings page.
Page Controls

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Network Settings
Blog poster network settings page.
Page Controls

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Technorati Tags Window

Technorati Tags window.

Use this tool to manage Technorati tags for the blog item. Open it by selecting Post / Technorati Tags in the blog poster menu.

Window Controls

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Trackback Request Editor Window

Trackback Editor window.

Use this tool to manage trackbacks to the currently item. Open it by selecting Post / Trackback request editor... in the blog poster menu.

Window Controls

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BottomFeeder Home Page

Browsing

Browsing Window

Browsing window.

Open this window by

You can find out how an item or comment that you have entered or updated will appear in a browser after its markup tags have been applied. This is a limited function browser. It requires a valid XHTML source to function properly. It does not always render HTML web pages correctly. This will improve over time as it is further developed.

Window Controls

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Browsing Menus

File Menu

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View Menu

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BottomFeeder Home Page

Editing

The Comment Poster window and the Blog Poster window support text editing in the same way, by means of a common editing pane and its associated tools.

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Editing Pane

 

Editing pane.
Controls

The Blog Tool and the Comment Tool support a number of markup options for your comments:

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Wiki-style Markups

If you do not need the capabilities and complexities of XHTML, you can use simpler wiki-style markups.BottomFeeder transforms these markups into the equivalent XHTML tags. Here are the markup options:

!text!
Enclose text in ! (exclamation) marks to make it bold.
_text_
Enclose text in _ (underscores) marks to underscore it.
^text^
Enclose text in ^ (caret) marks to make it italics.
`text`
Enclose text in ` (backquote) marks to preserve its formatting.
/text\
Enclose text in ` (forward and reverse slashes) to format it as an indented block quote.
-
Starting a line with a dash character gives you a horizontal line.
*
Starting a line with an asterisk gives you a bullet point in a list. Starting new lines with an asterisk gives you more bullet points in the same list. Starting a new line with something other than an asterisk ends the bullet list. You can also nest a list within a list by starting a new line with more asterisks.
#
Starting a line with a hash gives you a numbered point in a list. Starting new lines with a hash gives you more numbered points in the same list. Starting a new line with something other than a hash ends the numbered list. You can also nest a list within a list by starting a new line with more hashes.
||
Starting a line with two vertical bars starts a table, and each double bar starts a new cell. A carriage return indicates a new row. Starting the content with a { character aligns the cell to the left, while starting the content with a } aligns the cell to the right.
[Title of Link>http://www.blah.com]
Text in this format gives you a link to the specified webpage.
This is the same as an HTML anchor tag, of the form <a href="http://www.blah.com">Title of Link</a>
[img>http://www.blah.com/image.gif]
Text in this format gives you an image in the displayed text.
This is the same as an HTML image tag, of the form <img src="http://www.blah.com/image.gif>.

Two Carriage returns in sequence begins a paragraph.

Any text inside <pre></pre> tags is not transformed.

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WYSIWYG Toolbar

Editing toolbar.

This toolbar is located at the top of the editing area. It provides single-click execution of a number of frequently used editing tools.

Tool Icon Action
Cut Cut the selected text after copying it to the clipboard.
Copy Copy selected text to the clipboard.
Paste Paste the contents of the clipboard at the current cursor position.
Undo Undo the last editing operation.
Redo Redo the last editing operation.
Bold Make the selected text bold.
Italicize Italicize the selected text.
Add a link Add a link at the current cursor position.
Add numbered item Add a numbered item at the current cursor position.
Add bulleted item Add a bulletted item at the current cursor position.
Add a table Add a table at the current cursor position.
Paragraph style Select a paragraph style.

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Checking Your Spelling

As you enter text into the Editing pane text input area, BottomFeeder marks any spelling errors in red and underlines them. You can fix them immediately or you can just keep typing and then go back to fix the errors. Right-click a spelling error and BottomFeeder gives you a menu of possible corrections. If you see the spelling you want, just select it; otherwise, position the cursor in the misspelled word and correct it yourself.

You will find that BottomFeeder does a good job of coming up with likely candidates for misspelled words, but this version of BottomFeeder does not allow you to say that a word marked as misspelled is really spelled the way you want. This can be important in technical documents that have a lot of special-purpose words and acronyms, so you can expect this feature in a future release of BottomFeeder.

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BottomFeeder Home Page

The End