The Window tab in the Publication Properties dialog allows you to set the manner in which the pages of your publication will be displayed. This tab allows you to control how the Main Publication Window is set up – it can be set to display full screen (i.e. you cannot see the desktop behind the publication) or in a new window (i.e. a window floating on top of the desktop).
Note:
Chapters control the size of pages. By default, Chapters will display in the Main Publication Window unless you request them to display in a Publication Panel or a New Window. Therefore, there is also a Window tab in the Chapter Properties dialog – see Window tab in Chapter Properties for more information.
Use the Display Full Screen option if you want the pages to block out the Windows desktop completely.
Note:
If the users screen resolution is larger than the size of the page displayed in your publication, the Surround Colour set in the Options tab of the Publication Properties dialog is used. For example, if your page is 800x600 and the Surround Colour is black then a user with a screen size 1024x768 will see an 800x600 page surrounded by black.
Use the Change Display Mode to option if you want to temporarily change the screen mode of the user’s computer while the publication is running. This is particularly useful if you want to standardise your page sizes (e.g. 800 x600 page size) because you can also set the screen resolution to the same size (e.g. 800x600) so your publication fills the screen.
Note:
As soon as the user exits a publication, the screen resolution is reset to the user’s preference.
Use the Auto Scroll View option if you want to hide the side and bottom scrollbars that appear on a page when the Chapter size of a publication is larger than the display mode; you can auto-scroll instead. Auto scrolling allows you to scroll to other parts of the page by simply moving the cursor to the right or left side of the page or to the top or bottom of the page – the page will automatically scroll in that direction.
Note:
For example, if the page size for a chapter is set to 800x600 but the Change Display Mode to option (point 2 above) is set to 640x480 then the screen is smaller than the page it is trying to display. Therefore, scrollbars will appear on the side and bottom of the screen. With this option ticked, the scrollbars will not appear but you can auto-scroll instead.
Use the Colour Depth option if you want to set the end-users computer to display a publication at a given colour depth. Click on the down arrow to the right of the box to select a colour depth from the list provided. By default, the No Change option is selected.
Note:
The colour depth option can only be changed when the Display Full Screen option is selected.
If the graphics driver on the end-users computer cannot support the colour depth (bits per pixel or bpp) you have set, then Opus will ignore the option to change the colour depth. For example, if the end-users graphics card only supports 16 bpp and you have set 24 bpp, Opus will ignore your bpp setting.
On Windows 95 systems, the graphic drivers do not support on-the-fly colour depth changes, again Opus will make no change to colour depth on these systems. Most Windows 98 drivers (but not all) and everything above Windows 98, will allow colour depth changes, providing that the colour depth you choose is supported by the individual graphic card as explained in the previous paragraph.
Use the Monitor option if you want your publication to use a particular monitor on systems capable of running multiple monitors. Opus allows you to set up to 15 different monitors. This option is also available for Chapters so that different chapters can be displayed on different monitors. In most cases you will need a special graphics card for this feature but many laptop computers provide this facility.
Use the Display in new Window option if you want the Main Publication Window to display in a popup window. Selecting this option will highlight the Display in new Window panel options (described below).
Note:
The options in this panel allow you to set the same options for the new window as you can for Chapters in the Window tab of the Chapter Properties dialog.
Use the Title Bar option if you want the new window to include a Title Bar. The Title box allows you to type the name that will appear on the left-hand side of the Title Bar – make the title as descriptive as you like.
Note:
The name entered in the Title box does not change the name of the publication as it appears in the Objects tab in the Organiser.
Use the System Menu option if you want the user to be able to close the window.
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This option will only appear if the Title Bar option (point 4 above) has been used.
Use the Minimise Box option if you want the user to be able to minimise the window on screen.
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This option will only appear if the Title Bar option (point 4 above) has been used.
Use the Maximise Box option if you want the user to be able to open the window to full screen size.
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This option will only appear if the Title Bar option (point 4 above) has been used.
Use the Always on Top option if you want this window to appear above all other windows currently open on screen.
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This option is particularly useful for help files and software training publications where the instructions can sit permanently over the software being used.
Use the Drag by Contents option if you want the user to be able to click anywhere inside the window to drag the window to a new position on screen.
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The standard method for moving a window is to click and drag the Title Bar of the window – this option allows you to drag the window by clicking anywhere inside the window. This option is useful if you have not included the Title Bar option (see point 4 above).
This option will not work if you have drag objects on the page.
Use the Transparent Background option if you want pages that have no background colour selected in the Background tab of their Page Properties dialog to appear transparent on screen.
Note:
If this option is not selected then pages that have no background colour will be displayed with the colour entered in the Surround Colour option in the Options tab of the Publication Properties dialog.
Use the Alpha Transparency option if you want to use alpha blending to allow smooth background transparency. The normal window transparency uses a single transparency level – either a pixel is transparent or it is not. Alpha transparency allows for a full range of transparency, making it possible for a window to have soft edges or holes.
Note:
This option requires the user to have Windows 2000 or higher to see the effect. If they do not have a suitable version of Windows simple single colour transparency will be used instead.
This mode requires significant calculations and can make publications run more slowly.
When using alpha transparency the window cannot have any title bar or border settings.
Use the Border panel if you want the window to have a border. There are two options: Thin and Resizable. The Thin option is a single line border and does not allow the user to stretch or shrink the size of the window. The Resizable option allows you to create a window that can be resized by the user.
Note:
If a user resizes the window below the page size, scrollbars will appear.
Use the Location panel to set the position of the window when it first appears on screen. Use the spin buttons to set the percentage in the Across and Down boxes. Alternatively, type the percentage directly into the boxes.
Note:
Setting the location to 50% Across and 50% Down will display the window in the centre of the screen.
Use the Size to Fit option in the Size panel to set the size of the window to the page size set in the General tab of the Chapter Properties dialog. By default, this option is selected.
Use the Custom option in the Size panel to set the window size to your own width and height. Use the spin buttons to set the number of pixels for the Width and Height boxes. Alternatively, type the number of pixels directly into the boxes.
Note:
If you make the window smaller than the page size, scrollbars will appear. If you make it larger than the page size, the background colour will be set to the Surround Colour in the Options tab of the Publication Properties dialog.
Use the Run Minimised option if you want the publication to initially open in the Windows desktop Task Bar rather than displayed full screen or in a window. This is useful if you are creating a publication like a calendar, diary or alarm for occasional use.
Use the Minimise to System Tray if you want to be able to minimise the publication in the Windows desktop System Tray when the user minimises the publication (point 8 above).
Note:
This is often used with the Run Minimised option (point 17 above) to create background programs. If the Run Minimised option is applied then the publication is not shown on the page, however, it is processing as soon as it is opened. This means your publication is working even though it is not displayed making this option very useful for background processing publications.
Click on the Apply button to save your changes.
A page will be resized in two circumstances:
if you are displaying your publication in full-screen mode at a higher resolution than the page size;
or if you are displaying your publication in a resizable window and that window is resized beyond the page dimensions you have set.
The maximum height and width are useful for preventing the page being resized so much that the quality of some of its content suffers – for example if you have used small bitmap graphics for buttons.