User Interface

The user interface (even improved in version 1.5) can still be quite confusing due to its dual purposes: for creating/viewing books (applications), and browsing web pages. Before delving too deeply into details, you may want to look at two sample scenarios, which highlight typical commands and preferences.

Newt's Cape appears initially as a 2-line floating "control panel" at bottom of the screen (over the book control bar area): a single-line URL and a row of command buttons. Interface elements appear below more or less in left-to-right and top-to-bottom order. Note: The presence/location of interface items depends on MessagePad model, screen size/orientation, installed functionality, and book status.

Drag Button

move Newt's Cape by dragging the dot at top center. Instead of moving it, you can also hide Newt's Cape temporarily, and redisplay it later from the Newt's Cape icon in book control bar or from Extras.

top triangle button

This triangle button expands the single URL line to 3 lines; toggling it again collapses back to a single line.

URL

Enter a URL in this area; it may initially display http://. A caret automatically appears; drag&drop text, or use handwriting or a keyboard to enter a location. You can also highlight a URL in Notes (or NewtWorks), and select Newt's Cape:getURL from the Notes action menu (Newt's Cape from the NewtWorks Tool menu). You can select items from Bookmarks. During processing, the area displays the current document id (URL or ISBN). Typical values:

http: URL (or relative to BASE of current document); <http://...> and <URL:http://...> ok
Newt's Cape parses and views the HTML document via NIE or WebMail (text-only). Newt's Cape also displays plain text and GIF files directly, and installs packages (.pkg) after confirmation. other MIME types.
mailto: URL
Newt's Cape posts a message to Outbox using the default mail transport
news: URL
Newt's Cape passes URL to Newt's Paper news reader, if installed, or another news reader if registered with URLcop.
ftp: URL
ignored currently unless an ftp client is registered with URLcop
isbn
opens the book, e.g., introtoc.htm (Newt's Cape: Introduction)
appSymbol
opens(toggles) an application, e.g., stylePalette (Styles)

Keyboard Icon

On systems without a keyboard connected, the keyboard icon is visible; tap it to pop up a keyboard.

Newt's Cape icon

Tap the Newt's Cape icon in order to open the current URL. This is same as File:Open Location. In the book bar, the same icon redisplays Newt's Cape if hidden.

bottom triangle button

This triangle button expands/collapses status line, error line and Stop button under the row of command buttons.

Info "i" Button

About

display Newt's Cape version and short description in HTML. This also appears automatically when you start Newt's Cape if you haven't registered and paid yet. Tap the Book button to convert this into a book.

Help

Open the Newt's Cape Introduction/TOC book, if installed; or another book if a custom helpISBN specified.

Prefs

Same as tapping the Options button. (For MP120/MP130 portrait orientation, this is the only way to view Options).

Register

If the Newton Register application is installed, opens a registration screen. This is a convenient and reasonably safe way to register with a credit card via email. Newton, Mac, Windows, web versions of Register After you've paid, be sure to turn on the I paid checkbox to disable the automatic About box.

File

This button and remaining command buttons are intended to mimic the commands/menus you might find in a typical desktop web browser.

Open Location

Kept for compatibility with older interface. It's probably more convenient to use the Newt's Cape icon to open the current URL.

Open Notes

Newt's Cape scans Notes (Notepad) for text entries that begin with <HTML> -- this may take a few seconds the first time. Newt's Cape pops up a list of TITLEs (or "untitled" if no TITLE tag) of possible documents for you to select. Newt's Cape ignores anything before <HTML> (or <!DOCTYPE) and anything after </HTML>. In the Notes application, you can select Newt's Cape:Open from the action menu.

Note: The popup menus for Notes, Inbox, Paperback, Personal Media and Save as Text to Desktop do not scroll on 1.x (unless you use a third party utility).

Open Inbox

Pops up a menu of Inbox (via email, beam) entries that contain HTML documents (like those described for Notes); if you use EETransfer or newtFTP, you can include HTML documents and GIF files. If a large HTML document was split into multiple messages, Newt's Cape displays the title from the initial message, and combines the rest (tested with Aloha). Alternatively, you can Put Away items from the Inbox to the Notepad, and then edit/process from there.

Open Paperback

Pops up a menu of Paperback "books" that contain HTML source documents. This can be a convenient way to transfer and access large, static HTML documents and not clutter up Notes, heap or cache. In addition to containing an <HTML> tag, the text should not contain any null (0x0) characters -- otherwise, a Paperback may not appear in the popup menu.

Open Personal Media

If Personal Media is installed, pops up a menu of Stores (e.g., Internal, Card), then a menu of Workspaces, and finally a menu of Documents. HTML source is processed like Notes.

Open WabumiUni

2.x, Japanese version only. WabumiUni is a Paperback-like application especially for Japanese-encoded characters. It should be available on a UniFEP CD-ROM (that comes with the Japanese Newton) from Enfour.

Open NewtWorks

2.1 only. If NewtWorks is available, pops up a menu of documents that contain <HTML>. The NewtWorks titles are listed (these may or may not be the same as the HTML source TITLE). Note: this interface relies on undocumented APIs, so is not guaranteed to work. HTML source is processed like Notes.

Open HTML Cache

2.x only, if cache on. pops up a menu of URLs of current HTML documents (except POST results). Uses a cached list of items (except first time or after adding/removing items); otherwise busy box appears while list of URLs is collected. Although the popup menu uses a smaller font and wider area, long URLs may still be clipped; sometimes last item may be barely visible at bottom. Selected URL appears in URL area; if you have open URL immediately? preference selected, it is automatically opened; otherwise, you can manually open it via Newt's Cape icon, or Remove from Cache, or edit it.

Open Image Cache

2.x only, if cache on. popup (cached/generated) menu of current image (GIF) URLs. Note: occasionally (depending on command/context), if a GIF file doesn't end with .gif, its cached entry might not be found.

Open Desktop

If you have a cable connected to your Newton, you can access HTML documents via serial or AppleTalk directly from your desktop computer and a terminal program. Select a serial or ADSP option from the popup menu. Once you have opened a connection, this item changes to Close Desktop. You can transfer HTML documents separately via Sloup and access from Notes or Newtworks; or HTML/GIF via EE Transfer and access from Inbox.

Transfer an HTML file via your terminal emulator using a "Send Text" command. For 1.x, Newt's Cape parses each line immediately. For 2.x, Newt's Cape collects all of the lines before parsing, and if you have desktop? cache option selected and a BASE HREF (URL) in document, source is stored in HTML cache; you can also send non-HTML text files if you include header info.

Newt's Cape automatically disconnects after encountering a complete line with "</HTML>" or usually if it detects "Out of Heap". Otherwise, select Close Desktop after the transfer is complete. You might also open a connection to log error messages while processing documents from another source, e.g., Notes or to Save an existing book as text.

Serial(9600)

Many terminal programs will work for serial, such as ZTerm on Macintosh or Terminal on Windows. You should configure it as follows:

Note: Newt's Cape can handle Macintosh, DOS and Unix end-of-line characters. To avoid overwhelming Newt's Cape and losing text, make sure that your terminal emulator sends one line at a time and supports XON/XOFF; you may also wish to turn off line wrapping. For further details about configurations, see the the usage scenario and Sloup documentation.

Serial(57600)

Once you have serial working at 9600, you may wish to try 57600 -- this will be somewhat faster, but HTML processing (on 1.x) will likely be a bottleneck, especially if Display Item Process option is selected.

ADSP

For ADSP (AppleTalk protocol), your desktop system will need an application such as ClarisTerm that supports ADSP ("CommToolBox-aware"). Select "Wait For Connection" in your terminal program, then select Newt's Cape's ADSP option -- you will then be offered a chooser to select a network location. Last ADSP zone and host saved as preference; confirms as default for next connect. Note: ADSP may not be too reliable on older Newtons.

Close Desktop

The connection is normally closed automatically when </HTML> is encountered (there must be a final line-end character also), or Newt's Cape exits. Select this to close an open connection explicitly.

Save as Package

This appears if there is a non-empty book and NewtPack (available to registered users) is installed. The current Newt's Cape book resides in heap and is installed only temporarily as a book. This temporary book disappears if you quit Newt's Cape, reboot your Newton, tap Remove Current Book, or process another document.

If a book with the same ISBN already exists, Newt's Cape prompts you to replace it. NewtPack starts to save the book as a package and displays progress in Newt's Cape status area (Older versions of NewtPack display a "barber pole" and Stop button for NOS 2.x in a separate progress box). The Save Package Process option allows creation of somewhat larger books for 1.x; also see Size Constraints.

During Save, Newt's Cape removes the book to recycle space, but may still run out of heap. If you are using an Original MessagePad (OMP with pre-1.3 ROMs), you should be able to save small packages (~30-40K). If you are planning to use books with Newt's Cape (regular or Lite) present (e.g., these books) or book that make use of explicit http links, each book package will be smaller if you uncheck the Standalone book pkg? preference. A book can also be stored compressed on the Newton to save further space. To create 1.x compatible books with a 2.x Newton, use b&w rather than gray graphics, use portrait rather than full page size, use standard (built-in) fonts unless you plan to distribute fonts with your book, and use special 1.x-compatible versions of Newt's Cape and NewtPack (ALIGN on paragraphs with links, and 2.x protos in VALUE_TYPEs should be ignored).

If NewtPack completes successful (you'll hear a sound; otherwise, you'll see an error message; or a close box will appear in old 1.x progress box), you can access the book from the Extras drawer and remove it later as you would any package. If you would like to distribute the book as a package to other users, you can move it to a Mac or Windows desktop using Extract Package (1.x) or PackageBuddy (2.x).

Save HTML to Notes

2.x only, if cache on. save current HTML cache entry to Notepad as text. Newt's Cape adds comment with filename as first line of Note. For HTML, it adds BASE before TITLE; very long text source may cause an error

Save Image to Notes

2.x only, if cache on. save current Image cache entry to Notepad as a graphic.

Save HTML to NewtWorks

2.1 only, if cache on. save current HTML cache entry to NewtWorks as text.

Save Image to NewtWorks

2.1 only, if cache on. save current Image cache entry to NewtWorks as a graphic.

Save as Text to Desktop

(aka "DumpBook") useful for extracting text from any existing book. Select a book (from a popup) to dump text (using Print function) along with partial HTML markup -- this assumes you first tapped Open (or use Sloup) for text to appear in terminal emulator; or connected to NTK Inspector. Since actual tag information is unavailable in BookMaker/NewtonPress and (current) Newt's Cape books, font information may appear in pseudo-tags to indicate phrase breaks -- do appropriate text search and replace before re-processing with Newt's Cape. This may not work on very old MPs.

Save Book to NewtWorks

2.1 only. Select a book (from popup) to copy styled text and graphics from any Newton book (including current book) to a NewtWorks document. In this initial version, any formatting/layout info (e.g., indent, spacing, tables) is lost, form objects are omitted, links don't work.

Remove Current Book

remove the current Newt's Cape book. This should not normally be necessary since the book is removed when you process another document, save a book or exit Newt's Cape. But you can free up heap sooner by using this.

Remove from Cache

discard current entry from HTML or Image cache (this is done automatically if you Reload)

Reset HTTP

2.x only. If an error leaves Newt's Cape in a strange state, or a transfer appears hung, or you would like to disconnect without quitting Newt's Cape, you can select this command instead of closing/reopening Newt's Cape (it may continue with queued requests, i.e., for Load Images). This releases NIE connection and removes any passwords (via authentication). If no other NIE applications are active, depending on your NIE Preferences, you will either immediately disconnect or see a flashing star at top center.

View

Current Book

Display the current book. If a book with the same ISBN already exists, Newt's Cape will not display the book -- instead, a Confirmation box will (eventually) appear, prompting you to replace the existing book/package. After removing it, you should be able to view the new book.

Close Overview

When book's overview(TOC) is open, this can be more convenient to close TOC than dragging Newt's Cape up or hiding it, closing TOC, moving or reshowing Newt's Cape.

Reload

discard current source (if present in the cache) and retrieve. if autoLoad? pref is on for Images, this also discards/reloads related images.

Load with Images

If Image Cache is enabled, a busy box appears and Newt's Cape scans current cached document for IMG and INPUT TYPE=IMAGE (GIF) URLs in current cached document. A popup menu appears. Tap "All Images" to load all images in the document or select a specific image. After fetching image(s), Newt's Cape reprocesses document to show image(s) embedded. If some images do not load due to server timeout, just do Load with Images again; if some GIF images still don't load, send me the URL so I can test. If the images are large or you get GIF conversion errors (e.g., 50K @ 16-grays), you might try using a lower resolution and check that you have enough space available on your default store.

Document Source

display (cached) HTML source via Newt's Cape book viewer as PRE text (default). If source is not too large, you can also use Save HTML to Notes, Save HTML to NewtWorks, or specify a different helper app to view "text/plain". After viewing source, you will need to remove the current book in order to browse/parse the HTML for this URL.

Go

Back

return to the previous link location (in history list). same as the Back button in the book control bar.

Forward

return to the next link location (in history list) -- after a Back. same as the Forward button in the book control bar.

Clear History

clears history list

(History items)

a list of up to 20 most recent link locations (most recent at bottom). select an item to go there directly.

Bookmarks

2.x only. Newt's Cape obtains the current URL first from the URL area (if the text begins with http:). You can drag/copy the current URL from the URL area to Notes or to a 3rd party bookmark manager; or add a HyperLink to HyperNewt from the book.

Add Bookmark

adds URL or title to end of current menu and to user bookmark soup.

Remove Bookmark

removes URL from current menu and bookmark soup

Remove All

removes all URLs from current menu and bookmark soup

Save as Outline

saves bookmarks to a Notes outline. You can select a URL there and use Newt's Cape:getURL; or edit the list and then re-import via Newt's Cape:Add Bookmarks (if you have HTMList installed and do Remove All first).

http://www.

adds simple pattern to status field (modify via handwriting or keyboard), sets caret to end, and opens software keyboard (unless external keyboard is attached)

Newt's Cape Example Page

annotated collection of examples: text, form, graphics, package, NewtonScript.

(user bookmarks)

sorted titles (or just URLs) of documents from current user bookmark soup. If these include long URLs or titles, the scroll list will appear wider with a smaller font (like Open:HTML Cache)

Options

Options button does not appear in portrait orientation on MP120/MP130 -- select i:Prefs for a popup menu.

General

Specify Newt's Cape settings, especially NIE-related. For 1.x, only Doc Done Sound, Page Size, Scale Images to Fit?, Pkg, NewtonScript, and Startup/Proxy URL appear.

HTML

2.x only. If you have a number selected (i.e., not "no cache"), Newt's Cape saves any source obtained via NIE (or serial optionally) in a soup called HTMLCache:NewtsCape. You can remove individual entries using Remove from Cache, Reload or your favorite soup editor.

no cache
empty cache (immediately) and disable
10-200 items (default: 50)
number of regular cache entries to keep when quitting Newt's Cape -- this is after removing any expired or temporary entries; Newt's Cape then discards oldest entries. it defines a "temporary entry" as one whose URL contains "?" or one obtained via a POST query. Note: you should think of this number as the minimum number of entries; during a session, this limit can be exceeded by temporary and regular entries. If you plan to fetch many, large documents you may wish to set this lower, depending on how much memory you have available (or exit/re-enter Newt's Cape to remove a few entries; or set to "no cache" (to clear), then to a number).
open URL immediately?
if this is checked (default: true for new users), opens rather than just displays URL after Open HTML Cache selection
trust cache?
if on (or for a temporary entry)
already connected
do not ask server to check for more recent version
not connected
use cached entry directly without asking to connect
if off (default)
already connected
ask server to check for more recent version
not connected
ask user to connect; if user closes without connecting, use cache entry
recommended setting: on for HTML (unless you expect frequent changes or don't want to Reload manually)
empty upon quit?
automatically discards all items from cache when you quit; opens new cache when you start
remove? <!--...-->
removes HTML comments (including JavaScript) from documents, to shrink cached size and increase processing speed somewhat. default: on. (if comments removed, "Parsing length" may be less than original transfer size)
desktop?
if on, and source transferred via serial or ADSP and contains a BASE HREF beginning with http:, Newt's Cape adds/replaces the source in the cache

Images

2.x only. Newt's Cape saves any image (GIF only currently) obtained via NIE in a soup called ImageCache:NewtsCape.

no cache
empty cache and disable
10-200 items (default: 50)
same behavior as for HTML cache.
open URL immediately?
if this is checked (default: true for new users), opens rather than just displays URL after Open Image Cache selection
trust cache?
same behavior as for HTML cache. recommended setting: on for Images (unless you expect graphics to change frequently on server)
empty upon quit?
automatically discards all items from cache when you quit; opens new cache when you start
auto load?
if selected, Newt's Cape scans current document source for occurrences of graphics (i.e., IMG and INPUT TYPE=IMAGE tags), retrieves the graphics into the Image Cache, and then reprocesses the document to display the graphics inline. To avoid accidental transfer of many/large images, we would recommend, however, that you leave this off and reprocess a single document using the Load with Images command in the View menu. (Note: Newt's Cape does a quick text scan/pattern match, not a full parse, so it's possible that it may miss some syntactic permutations).
original (unconverted)?
if selected (and usually Cache Only Process option is selected), cache original GIF (or other type) image rather than convert immediately into Newton format; image will be converted each time it is accessed (although slower, this may be useful for experimenting with different numbers of grays, or threshold level).
animated?
if on, converts animated GIFs as sequence of frames (otherwise, first frame only). If you have many/fast animations on a book page, you may want to use Process:Display All to prevent display from interfering with parsing.
scale to fit?
if enabled (default: off), a graphic/animation that is too large for screen/page/table cell is scaled locally to fit (rather than scrolled); any client (AREA) regions are also scaled down; server map coordinates are scaled up.

scale to fit?

1.x only checkbox: same as 2.x Images option (above); note: PICTs are not scaled.

Res. (Resolution)

2.x only. sets the graphic resolution for GIF conversion.

B&W(threshold) (default)
black and white (1-bit resolution). specify an optional threshold value between 1-254 (default: 128) in field to right; GIF converter "rounds" values above this to black; it rounds values below to white
4-gray
2.1 only. 4 gray levels (2-bit resolution). threshold field hides.
16-gray
2.1 only. 16 graylevels (4-bit resolution). this usually looks the best, but also uses the most storage.

Cookies

2.x only. Cookies are small amounts of state information provided by certain servers.

Skip
skip all cookies (default) -- Newt's Cape does not save cookies, nor does it send cookies; this also removes any earlier cookies.
Ask
(default) confirm whether to keep/send cookies for each host
Keep
keep/send cookies (without asking)

If a server suggests that Newt's Cape is not capable of handling cookies, it is probably discriminating on the User-Agent field. One solution is to contact the site administrator and ask them to recognize "User-Agent: Newt's Cape/...". It might also be possible to add a User Agent Prefix to try to trick the server into thinking you're using a suitable version of Netscape (Mozilla?) or Explorer, for example.

Doc Done

built-in sound to play when document finishes processing (default: none). 2.x includes any additional registered sounds.

Page Size

select page size to use -- 1.x default: portrait; 2.x default: full

Help
help book
Portrait
240x320 portrait size only
Landscape
320x240 landscape size only (2.x)
Full (2.x)
full screen -- on smaller MessagePads, this is portrait or landscape size, depending on orientation; on MP2K and eMate300, this could be 480x320 or 320x480)
Full-4 (2.1)
full screen (but shift 4 pixels to right) -- if full screen books are shifted off left edge of screen, use this option to work around bug on MP2K and eMate300 with old ROMs

Notes: Actual vertical size is 2 pixels less. Changing Page Size or Rotate removes current book if it does not fit in new size/orientation. A portrait book on landscape 2.1 may not update page number properly until it's saved as a package.

Help books have a smaller screen size (and different viewer), and are best suited for small pages with headings. Links to help sections display just the corresponding heading in the Topics list (not the content page directly). You should set Above for Hx tags to 'Top. Too many headings may not scroll. Since help books differ slightly in underlying implementation from regular books (and 1.x vs. 2.x), there may be other problems (reports and feedback appreciated). Help books can be saved as separate packages or as part of a NewtDevEnv application.

Pkg

if NewtPack is installed, this picker appears. Note: the settings before processing the document are used (changing just prior to saving does not apply to current book).

label: Pkg(1.x) or Pkg(2.x)
if both Newt's Cape and NewtPack are 1.x compatible (i.e., non-"-2") versions, 1.x indicates that book package will be 1.x compatible; otherwise, 2.x appears
Standalone
if checked, Newt's Cape or Newt's Cape Lite will not be required to support basic navigation and back/forward book buttons; otherwise, each saved package will be (~25K) smaller and "Lite" appears. To open or follow http: entries, you would need full Newt's Cape installed in either case.
Compressed
if checked, package is stored compressed -- this eliminates the need for package.compressed META attribute.

Bookmarks

2.x only. select a different bookmarks soup. Picker displays "none" and any 3rd party bookmark soups that appear to be compatible with "Bookmarks:Newtscape"; you should be able to access "Bookmarks:Avanti" for Shuffler, and exported soups from pURL.

NewtonScript

Although we are not aware of any actual situations, it is possible that a web page could contain a malicious fragment of NewtonScript. When set to none (default), Newt's Cape ignores any NewtonScript embedded in HTML documents. If you create your own pages, download trusted pages (e.g., examples.htm) or examine the source yourself, you may want to change the setting to Compile to allow Newt's Cape to evaluate expressions and compile methods while processing those documents in order to provide richer appearance and functionality.

Authenticate

If a proxy or host requires "basic" authentication, it will prompt for user name and password as needed -- after completing, tap Authenticate to reload the page. This information is supplied automatically for subsequent requests to the same proxy or host, but is discarded when you quit Newt's Cape (or tap Reset HTTP). However, there may be situations where you want to provide authentication in advance, e.g., you've turned off "trust" on caches and are about to Reload a page or Load with Images and are going through a proxy server that requires authentication or to a host that requires authentication. To prevent multiple password prompts from appearing, you can proactively login in advance -- just tap this button, fill in the host (without http://), user name and password.

Startup URL

This and other options are accessible via a picker. The 3-line input field below is used to display/enter the value.

After Newt's Cape starts up, :getURL is called with this URL (this can also be a local URL such as "Notes/foo.htm")

Proxy URL

On 1.x, this appears as Proxy Host. In order to access the net through firewalls, you can supply a proxy host and port, e.g., http://www.foo.com:80. For 2.x, it should begin with http://; the port number is optional (default: 80). If you frequently encounter Adobe Acrobat PDF files, a useful proxy to convert any PDF documents to HTML: http://access.adobe.com:8080

You can use a mailto: proxy to send URL requests to a mail server, especially for 1.x, or for 2.x, even if NIE is installed. Since web-mail@ebay.com is no longer available, try one of the following free web-mail servers below (if you find others, please let me know). Since these may differ in command syntax, the mailto: proxy can include subject (the examples below are empty) and body fields (the body field is a pattern expression with the document URL substituted as a parameter). Examples for some currently known servers:

Proxy Exceptions

2.x only. Even if you have specified an http proxy, you can still access certain hosts directly. Include any domain exceptions, separated by semicolons, e.g., foo.com; xyz.org.

Find.Title

2.x only. You can create a Find options frame for your favorite search engine; the current default is AltaVista. This allows you to highlight a phrase in Notes or NewtWorks, and tap Newt's Cape:Find.

There are several fields to supply (best obtained by looking at the HTML form that you use for the search engine): Find.Title, Find.URL, Find.Method, Find.Data (and Find:CheckData to "compile" the frame).

Find.Title appears in Notes menu when a phrase (not URL or HTML source) is selected. e.g., AltaVista would appear as Newt's Cape:Find (AltaVista). If this is empty, Notes will not display a :Find command; if Newt's Cape is closed and it's unclear if there is a Find pref, it will display :Find?

Find.URL

URL for a search engine, e.g., http://altavista.digital.com//cgi-bin/query. This would typically be the ACTION of a search form.

Find.Method

GET or POST -- corresponds to the METHOD of a search form; must be uppercase. e.g., GET for AltaVista.

Find.Data

NewtonScript source for an array of alternating data slots and values e.g., for AltaVista: ["q","", "pg","q", "what","web", "fmt","c"]. You would typically obtain these by looking at a FORM and its INPUT, SELECT and TEXTAREA objects in a search page. Note: first slot in the array must be the "query" slot -- Newt's Cape sets this slot with the selected phrase from Notes or NewtWorks. Slots correspond to case-sensitive NAME attributes. Values are strings for default and hidden VALUE attributes; for checkboxes, enclose the value(s) for same name in an array, e.g., ["checked"].

In case of very long data definitions (since this is only a 3-line text field), enter last fields first, and then add other items before these to keep most recent visible; select CheckData several times to catch any errors early (since you won't be able to edit the last items conveniently). If you add this for your favorite search engine, let me know the parameters you used, and I'll summarize for other users.

Find:CheckData

compiles and checks the data frame definition -- you must do this after editing Data. Possible responses:

Agent Prefix

2.x only. default: none. primarily for advanced users/testing. some servers may use the User-Agent request header attribute to route you to different pages, or to assume (incorrectly) certain capabilities, e.g., cookies; this allows you to add a prefix to the usual "Newt's Cape..." label. e.g., "Lynx Newt's Cape...".

Agent Size&Res

2.x only. default: none. some experimental web/proxy servers might generate different pages and/or graphics based on browser/screen size and resolution. If non-empty, includes fields in request header:

UA-pixels
based on Page Size preference and possibly screen orientation
UA-color
based on Res. preference

Auto Login

non-empty value means login automatically (without confirmation) using default link setup

I Paid

After you register, you can check this to prevent the About box from automatically appearing when you start Newt's Cape.

Inet Setup

2.x only. shortcut to open the Internet Setup NIE application

helpISBN

isbn (default: introtoc.htm) of a local book to follow when selecting i:Help

Appearance

Customize properties of different tags, e.g., font, indent, etc. These prefs are saved across sessions as System preferences. (Note: individual documents can override these Prefs via META -- this is discussed in an advanced NewtonScript document).

Tag
Hx, P, PRE, etc. Modified tags appear with a bullet prefix and display Defaults button. Note: PRE will also affect CODE, KBD, SAMP and TT phrase tags. Form objects support font, and Above/Below; TEXT_LABEL and SELECT_LABEL refer to label part of fields; SELECT_MENU (2.x only) refers to popup menu; PASSWORD font same as TEXT (and TEXT_LABEL); RESET font same as SUBMIT.
(Missing)
for Hx, text pattern for missing levels. default: "". If you specify a pattern, e.g., "{missing ^0}", ^0 is placeholder for Hx tag.
Defaults
if any modified, button appears; tap to return to built-in default values for this tag (this also removes any preference entry)
Above
indent (in pixels) above this object. 'Top means start object at top of book page (this might be useful for H1). Other sample values provided.
Left
indent left of object
Below
indent below object
Split
what to do when object does not fit on remaining page
'true
split using same tag for remaining object
'nil
don't split (keep together, starting new page if necessary). recommended for Hx
'P (or other tag)
split but use this object tag for continuation, e.g., for LI
Align
alignment of text (this is overridden by any ALIGN attribute): Left (default), Right, Center, Justify ("full" justification -- not great on short lines)
Family
name of font (depending on system):
Size
an integer, typically between 9-18.
Face
Plain, Bold, Italic, BoldItalic, Underline (this may be redone as checkboxes for more combinations)
"Sample"
example using current Family, Size, Face, Align
System Family, Size
2.x Japanese/Chinese only. For users who have English Newtons, install Japanese/Chinese fonts, and do not have a system-level patch to make these default. For example, select Kanji14 in System Family. Fonts in the Newt's Cape interface change to use the new font as default. You still need to choose HTML tag fonts separately in Options:Appearance. System Size (default=9) is used for labels and buttons; you can choose 10 (if 9 is not readable and items fit). Data, menu and status values use 10 point (if Size=9) or 12 (Size=10); user editable entries use 12 point (in either case). There is some extra initialization that is required and some (slow) redisplay, especially for menus.

Process

Under Options. Process displays current processing options (including htmlApps). Due to possible configuration changes, this is not saved as a Preference. Note: for NOS 2.x, the current screen orientation (via system Rotate button) can be used to create the book in portrait or landscape (see Page Size).

Display Item

As Newt's Cape adds a content item to the book, it immediately displays and updates the book (unless the book already exists -- see Display). At the end of the document, Newt's Cape positions the book to page 1, # link destination or page from History menu, and optionally plays a sound.

Display Page

The default. Newt's Cape displays each finished book page (while the next page is processed). This is much faster than Display Item (especially on NOS 2.x).

Display Page1

Similar to Display Page, except that it does not scroll automatically to subsequent pages during processing.

Display All

Newt's Cape displays the book only when it is entirely finished. For documents that contain many animated graphics, especially on slow or heap-challenged MessagePads, this option may be appropriate.

Cache Only

For NOS 2.x and NIE, this can fetch an HTML or GIF document into cache, but without parsing and displaying it. You can process it later, e.g., when logged out to save time or maximize heap. This is also handy if you want to experiment with the Gray Levels or B&W threshold for unconvertedGIFs.

Save Package

if NewtPack is installed. It is similar to Display All, followed by selecting Save as Package (under File). However, with this option, Newt's Cape can create a much larger book (especially on 1.x) -- since it does not have to actually display the book, it can store some objects (text and graphics) in a separate temporary area on your default store rather than in limited heap.

Other Process Plugins

Other applications can install process options. For example, an application might collect bulleted items into bookmarks or into a Notes outline. see installHTMLApp API and htmlApp example.

Encoding

2.x Japanese (~J), Chinese(~C) and special English(~E) versions only. select a NewtonTextEncoding for exchanging data between desktop or http server and Newton (default: 'sjis = ShiftJIS).

Thanks to Shinobu Yamada; for cool, funny, useful applets or information for Newton users in Japan, see MarbleDevelopment. Thanks also to "GNUE" (aka Makoto Nukui) for the NewtonTextEncoding (NTE) development tool.

Reset All Prefs

resets all Prefs (General and Appearance) to default values (and Newt's Cape closes/reopens). This should happen automatically if there is a significant upgrade to Newt's Cape. Then, check/make your customizations (again).

Status Line

if bottom triangle expanded. The status line (below commands) displays information for NIE*/serial connection and transfer progress, parsing (number of tags/current tag), installing a package, and saving a book (NewtPack). It replaces various progress boxes in earlier versions. Status information is refreshed as time permits. since this is based on lines currently, really l-o-n-g (many K) lines, e.g., query results with few line breaks, may appear to hang (after completing)-- just wait awhile for line to finish parsing.

*If you do not have an active NIE connection, the NIE connection box appears the first time you attempt to access a URL that's not in the cache. This document assumes that you already know how to configure and establish your connection. If you close the connection box (rather than tap Connect), or tap Stop during the connection process, Newt's Cape should stop accessing the current URL (and also flush any other pending requests, e.g., graphics). If a site requires a name and password, an authentatication dialog appears.

Error Line

if bottom triangle expanded. The error line (below status) displays error messages from transfer or parsing. If you are using a serial or ADSP connection, error messages may be printed to your terminal emulator.

Stop button

Stop button can be used to interrupt connection, transfer or parsing. (at other times, it is currently not hidden but should not do anything) (Note: to interrupt package saving with NewtPack, use version 3.4e2).

Hide box

Sometimes you may want to get Newt's Cape out of the way without dragging, or a more time-consuming close/reopen. Tap the small close box with gray background to the left of the regular close box to hide Newt's Cape. You can reshow it quickly from the book bar or Extras.

Newt's Cape Close box

When Newt's Cape quits, it releases any open connection (NIE or serial), removes current temporary book, restores heap, and cleans up the 2.x caches (checks/removes any temporary or old entries to maintain number of items specified for HTML and Images caches. it also discards any authentication information). If you just want to hide the Newt's Cape window temporarily, use the gray hide box to the left.

If you are using a "freeze manager", you can minimize problems by manually Closing any open serial connections and doing Reset HTTP (any NIE connection) and waiting a few seconds before quitting. (Ideally, freezing managers would allow a few seconds for asynchronous closing of communications)

Apparently, the 2.1 book reader maintains a large number of entries for "offline book" entries (for annotation and bookmark info); Newt's Cape now removes all except the most 20 recent offline entries (rather than let this grow indefinitely).

In The Book

The book consists of several areas:

  1. title: 1 or more lines at top; corresponds to TITLE tag
  2. content area: your document
  3. control bar (bottom)
  4. system commands: Rotate, Find, overview, scroll up, scroll down

During processing (if Display Item or Display Page is selected), or after selecting View:Current Book in Newt's Cape or tapping the book's icon in the Extras Drawer, you should find yourself in the current Newton book.

While the current document is still processing, you should not follow links until the document is finished. If there are a lot of animated graphics on a page, you may want to try to scroll to a different page to minimize contention (or use Process:Display All). If you need to abort the current document (e.g., too large or strange), you can try the Stop button. A document might be truncated if a server disconnects prematurely, or sends extremely long lines which overflow buffers.

Content Area

You have some control over the appearance of your document: fonts, page breaks, etc. (Options:Appearance).

If a ? icon appears for missing graphics, you can load graphics for current document by using a line gesture, or selecting View:Load with Images. If a graphic appears with a 2-D scroller at its lower-left corner, you can re-parse the document after changing scale to fit.

Underlined text, outlined graphics usually indicates a hypertext link or image map. In addition to tapping a link, you can use several gestures.

highlight
hold down to select then double-tap selection to copy/drag text
line gesture (horizontal is easiest)
brings up a menu
Go: ...
follow link URL (same as just tapping on link)
display URL
display full (resolved) URL in status area (copy it, etc.)
Load Image:... (for ALT, graphics with links)
get graphic URL, then re-process current page; same as View:Load Images with just this graphic

A link may appear not to work if there are bold or unusual font changes earlier in the same paragraph. If a URL matches a local object, that application or book opens (for NOS 2.x, if local document is a frozen book or application, it is thawed). If the destination is an absolute URL (begins with http://...) or is relative to the BASE of the current document, Newt's Cape uses NIE (for 2.x) to request the document; for 1.x, it generates a WebMail request (you can delete these from your Outbox if you change your mind).

Book Control Bar

This bottom bar should already be familiar to you (other books, MessagePad manual); Newt's Cape adds Newt's Cape icon, back and forward buttons.

icon next to book close box
expand/collapse book bar
info button
About displays book title, author, publisher, copyright, date; Help displays System help book; Prefs displays page size.
bookmark (pages) button
this can be used to create a list of marked pages within the book. Note: these do not persist for temporary books.
annotate (squiggle) button
this can be used to add notes to pages within the book. Note: these do not persist for temporary books.
Newt's Cape icon
(to the left of the page number on NOS 2.x; on right on 1.x) tap Newt's Cape icon to reshow Newt's Cape. note: if Newt's Cape is not installed and book is standalone, this should appear as a large overview dot -- tap to popup list of 20 most recent link locations, or to Clear History (similar to Go button).
current page number
tap this to jump to a different page (use scroll arrows for moving to previous/next page)
Back button (a "left" arrow)
adds "current" book to history list; go back to an earlier link location. This is also available under the Go button in Newt's Cape. Note: if you are returning to a form, the earlier data is not restored (unless it was a saved book).
Forward button (a "right" arrow)
return to a link location (before Back); forward in the history list (similar to desktop browser).
action/routing (envelope) button
you can Print/Fax all or a range of book pages; this uses the built-in book reader format, which arranges several book pages per paper page. Print Later only works with saved (package) books; for temporary books, use Print Now. If HyperNewt is installed, you can select "HyperLink" to save a link/bookmark to the current document (URL, isbn and page number).
close box
book closes. you can redisplay book with View:Current Book

System Commands

These are usually found on the silkscreen or floating menu bar.

Find button
Find will not usually find text in 2.x temporary books (due to the way that objects are stored); Find should work properly with saved books.
overview button
popup Table of Contents (TOC) headings, based on contiguous H1-H6 HTML tags. Note: you can customize the text for missing levels. You close the overview from Newt's Cape (rather than moving or hiding it).
scroll arrows
previous/next book page
Rotate
2.x (in Extras menu). Rotate keeps current book if it's a help book, or portrait/landscape on 2.1. Subsequent books will be created by default in the current orientation (either portrait or landscape; perhaps both in the future; see Page Size).

Notepad and NewtWorks

You can do three things from NewtWorks (2.1 only) or Notepad documents:

  1. select and follow a URL
  2. process an HTML source document
  3. 2.x: Find a highlighted phrase using a search engine

In NewtWorks, select text in a Paper (not Drawing) document; or, in Notes on any MessagePad. If no selection, entire document is used (except 2.x Outline/Checklist). Here is how each action is recognized/performed:

URL
  1. select URL beginning with http: (or mailto:, news:)
  2. select Tools:Newt's Cape (or type cmd-H -- for "HTML") in NewtWorks, or select Newt's Cape:getURL in Notes menu
  3. Newt's Cape goes to that URL
HTML source
  1. select text containing <HTML> (or no selection for entire document)
  2. select Tools:Newt's Cape (or cmd-H) in NewtWorks, or select Newt's Cape:Open in Notes menu
  3. Newt's Cape processes the HTML source
any other text (upto 100 characters)
  1. select text to be used as a query (default: all)
  2. select Tools:Newt's Cape (or cmd-H) in NewtWorks, or select Newt's Cape:Find in Notes menu
  3. sends query to a search engine directly (to specify a different search engine, see General Options: Find.Title, .URL, .Method, .Data Prefs)

For More Info

This document (in all its formats) is © 1995-98. Steve Weyer, Greg Simon. All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Version 1.5. Last updated: Jan 1998


Steve Weyer - weyer@kagi.com
Greg Simon - gsimon@ricochet.net