Cream of the Crop 11/Cream of the Crop 11-1.iso/comm/snup140.zip/SLIPKNOT.TIP

Text File | 1995-11-28 | 20KB | 748 lines

# Starting
Welcome to SlipKnot Tips

These tips provide clues for using
features of SlipKnot that you may not
have thought of.

If you uncheck the "Tips at startup?" box
below, you can always turn it back on
using the Help Menu at the top of the
screen.
---
# Test
Test SlipKnot

When SlipKnot's Local Home Page is
displayed, there are links inside
to 3 other pages with information
about SlipKnot.

The "Test Fonts" page shows the effects
of all of your screen font choices.  You
can also use it to test your printer.

The "SlipKnot People Page" will allow
you to test graphics and sound (if you
have a sound driver installed in Windows).

The "Features and Tips" page will tell
you how SlipKnot works, and provide
advanced information.
---

# Housecleaning
Housecleaning your History Folder

Documents will accumulate in your History
folder and eventually slow SlipKnot down
(when you have hundreds of them).

To see those documents, press
Documents/History or the icon with the
circular arrow.  The number of documents
there will appear at the lower left of
the History Folder list.

When in the History Folder, use the
Delete or Move menu items to remove
documents from the History.
---

# Retrieve icon
The "Retrieve" Icon

Remember that you can use the icon with the
picture of the Web and the arrow pointing
to the center to bring up the "Retrieve
from Internet" dialog box quickly.

That dialog box keeps the last 10 document
addresses for reselection, and, equally
important, allow you to correct typos you
may have made in the last typed address.
---

# Folders
Folders: Why?

Use the Folders icon (or the "Documents/
Folders" menu item) to create new folders.

You can store documents and bookmarks,
along with your comments about them, inside
these folders.

When viewing a document, use the Page
menu to save what you are viewing as a
document or as a bookmark inside a
folder to display later.
---

# Bookmarks
Bookmarks vs. Documents

A Window's Page menu allows you to save
the information you are viewing either
as a "document" or as a "bookmark".

When you save a document as a "bookmark"
SlipKnot saves only its address.  When
you attempt to redisplay a bookmark,
SlipKnot will attempt to retrieve the
document again from the Internet, so you
must be online to do this.  Saving as
a "bookmark" uses less disk space.

In contrast, when you save as a "document",
SlipKnot saves all of the information
contained in the document, and you can
redisplay the document again from your
own disk.  You do not have to be online
to do this.  Of course, more disk space
is used to save all of the information.
---

# Offline
Using SlipKnot Offline

You do not have to be logged on to use
SlipKnot Web.

Simply press the "World Wide Web" button
in SlipKnot Terminal to launch SlipKnot
Web at any time.

You can then redisplay documents from
folders or display HTML files you may
have on your disk drives.
---

# Demo
Demonstrating SlipKnot

If you want to demonstrate SlipKnot to
others, you do not have to be connected
to the Internet to do so.

Simply save all of the documents that
you want to use for the demonstration
inside one or more of your folders.
Make sure that you save them as
"documents".

If the documents are linked to one
another, when you click on a link,
the "Retrieve" dialog box will appear.
Press the "Search in other folders"
button to tell SlipKnot to find the
saved document in one of your folders.
---

# HTML
How is a document created?

Documents are written in the HTML
language (Hypertext Markup Language).

The best way to learn HTML is to look
at how documents that you actually
see are written.  Use the "Page/View
as HTML Source" menu item in the
document window to display the
source of the current document.

To use this menu item, you must have
a "text viewer" installed in SlipKnot.
Use the "Configure/Viewers" menu to
install one for TXT file types.  A
suitable choice is the Windows Write
program (WRITE.EXE) that should reside
in your \WINDOWS directory.
---

# Tools
SlipKnot and HTML Tools

If you retrieve the SlipKnot "What's
New Page" from the Internet, you will find
a link there to a page containing SlipKnot-
compatible tools.

These are other graphics viewers installable
into SlipKnot and sound players.

You will also find HTML authring tools there,
as well as a wealth of information about
HTML itself.
---

# lynx
For lynx users...

If you have been using lynx, and saving
addresses inside lynx bookmarks, you
can retrieve and display those bookmarks
in SlipKnot.

Bring up the "Retrieve" dialog box (using
Navigate/Retrieve from Internet, or pressing
the icon with the arrow/Web).  Then ask for:

lynx_bookmarks.html

This will work if your lynx bookmarks are in
your UNIX login directory.
---

# Downloading
Downloading UNIX files

There are two ways to download a file from
your UNIX system to your PC:

1. In SlipKnot Terminal, use the
"Communications/Get file from Host" menu item.

2. In SlipKnot Web, bring up the "Retrieve"
dialog box, and simply type in the name
of your UNIX file.
---

# non-HTML files
Classifying non-HTML files

If SlipKnot Web retrieves a non-HTML file,
it will try to discern what type of file it is.

It will look at the suffix of the file to
see if there's a viewer installed for it.
For instance, if the suffix is ".gif",
then SlipKnot will bring up the graphics
viewer to display the file.  SlipKnot
recognizes file suffixes and viewers for
them by looking at the settings in the
"Configure/Viewers" menu item.

If there's no viewer for that suffix, or
if the file has no suffix, SlipKnot will
look at the beginning of the file to see
if it is really an HTML document.  If so,
SlipKnot will display it normally.  If not,
SlipKnot will check if the file is purely
ASCII and suggest the TXT viewer for it.

If none of these work, then SlipKnot will
allow you to save the file so that it can
be used by some other program.
---

# Clipboard
Clipboard Tips

You can use the Windows Clipboard fruitfully
in both SlipKnot Terminal and Web.

For instance, suppose you want to mail the
address of a cool Web page to a friend.
When viewing that page, use the "Page/
Copy URL to Clipboard" menu item to copy
the address to the Clipboard.  Then return
temporarily to SlipKnot Terminal.  Start up
your UNIX mailer, and when you are typing
the message to your friend, insert the
document's address from the Clipboard by
using the "Edit/Paste" menu item.  This
way, you can guarantee that you will not
make any typing mistakes with these long
and precise addresses.
---

# Link
Getting a page address from a friend

If you receive the URL (address) of an
interesting Web page from a friend in an
incoming mail message (while using SlipKnot
Terminal), and want to retrieve the page
yourself then:

Highlight the full address (starting with
the "http://") with the mouse, and press
the "Communications/Get Highlighted URL"
menu item.  Then get out of your mail
program and back to your UNIX prompt.

Press the World Wide Web button to return
to SlipKnot Web, and as soon as you do so,
SlipKnot will ask whether you want to
retrieve the page whose address you
captured in the mailer.
---

# FTP
Using anonymous FTP

SlipKnot Web can retrieve directories
and files via anonymous FTP for you.
If you have the FTP address of a file,
or a directory of a file, use the
following (URL) form to retrieve the
directory listing or the file itself:

For a directory of files:
ftp://site/path/

For a file:
ftp://site/path/filename

For instance, the SimTel directory
where SlipKnot major releases are
carried can be reached at:

ftp://oak.oakland.edu/SimTel/win3/internet/

You can even try this now, by highlighting
the full address above with your mouse,
pressing Ctrl-C to capture it into the
Windows Clipboard, pressing "OK" to remove
these SlipKnot Tips from the screen, then
using the "Navigate/Retrieve from Internet"
menu item, and pasting from the Clipboard
using Ctrl-V.
---

# Function Key Macros
Function Key Macros

In SlipKnot Terminal, you can assign
frequently-used character strings to short-
cut keys.

For instance, if while using UNIX, you find
yourself executing the "ls -l" command
frequently, you can assign this to the
Shift-F3 key combination by using the
"Setup/Function Key Macros" menu item,
and placing the string:

ls -l^M

into the Shift-F3 box.  Thereafter,
whenever you are at the UNIX prompt,
pressing Shift-F3 will send that string
to your host and execute that command.
---

# Jobs
The Job Queue

You probably know that you can ask for
more than one document to be retrieved.

If not, here's how: when you have a
retrieval in progress, just click on
another link to retrieve, and SlipKnot
will queue up the second request.  Once
the first request is finished, SlipKnot
will immediately start retrieving the
second (and third...) one.

You can queue up 30 requests at any one
time and watch the pages being retrieved
one-by-one in the background.
---

# Pause
Controlling the Job Queue

The most important feature of the job
queue (the pending requests for pages)
is the Pause capability:

If for some reason you want to stop the
retrievals temporarily (for instance, you
want to get back to SlipKnot Terminal to
do some work, or you want to put off
retrievals for another day), press the
"See Jobs!" menu item, and Pause the job
queue.  Once the currently active request
is finished, SlipKnot will put a hold on
the rest of the retrieval requests until
you press the Resume button.

SlipKnot will even save the jobs until the
next time you enter SlipKnot Web, and ask
whether you want to resume the retrievals.
Note: If you say "No" to this question, the
job queue will remain in a Paused state, and
each new request will simply be put on the
queue until you either delete the jobs or
Resume.
---

# Version 1.12
Version 1.12 Improvements

The details of some of these improvements
are in tips below.  This is juts a listing.

1. Text-first display (the document text will
be displayed before the pictures come in).

2. Resizable windows.

3. Choice of number of windows (2 - 10).

4. SlipKnot Web will now print pictures as
well as text.

5. Facelift on the toolbar, more icons:
Forward and Back buttons to step through
the History Folder, Stop,
Retrieve Graphics On/Off.

6. Retrieve Actions/Get Unretrieved Pictures
menu item in document window, in case
you previously decided not to get all of
the pictures.

7. Picture caching: for incoming documents
using the same picture -- that picture is
retrieved only once from the Internet.

8. JPEG inline picture support.

9. Elimination of the Toolbar (under the
Configure menu) to create more usable
screen space.

10. Windows can be cascaded (under Windows menu).

11. You can switch to a particular window
using the new Windows menu or the Ctrl-
Function keys.

12. In SlipKnot Terminal, you can now choose
different file transfer protocols for
uploading and downloading.
---

# Upload/Download
SlipKnot Terminal Upload/Download

You can now choose different file transfer
protocols (in Setup/Host) for uploading
and downloading.

Since uploading is a more difficult task,
it is sometimes preferable to use a different
and more reliable protocol for it (like
Kermit).
---

# Text first
Text-First display

By default, SlipKnot now displays the text
of a document as soon as it comes in.  You
can change this using the Configure/
Preferences menu item.
---

# Picture caching
Picture Caching

SlipKnot will search inside the History
Folder for a picture in case you have
previously retrieved it for display inside
another document.  This can be turned off
using Configure/Preferences.
---

# Resizing
Resizing documents

You can resize your document windows
by dragging their borders to make them
larger or smaller (although there is
a smallest size).

After resizing a window, SlipKnot will
remember this new size, and try to create
new windows to the same size.
---

# Number of windows
Number of Document Windows

SlipKnot allows you to choose the number
of document windows open at any one time.

In Configure/Preferences, you can set this
number between 2 and 10.

BE CAREFUL: if you are using a machine with
4MB of RAM or less, we would recommend
fewer than 5 windows!
---


# Screen space
Getting more screen space

Use Configure/Toolbar to remove (or restore)
the toolbar to create more vertical screen
space for your documents.
---

# Toolbar icons #1
Guide to Toolbar Icons #1

1. House: brings up either the SlipKnot
Local Home Page (containing the necessary
link to the SlipKnot What's New Page,
which is the key to upgrading SlipKnot)
or your own local Homepage (see under
Configure/Preferences).

2. Circular Arrow: shows your History Folder,
which contains all of the documents you have
recently gotten.  Be sure to clean this out
periodically.

3. Left Arrow: brings up the document prior
to the current document from the History
Folder.  Tip: If you have no documents
displayed, press this arrow repeatedly to
display documents from latest to earliest
from the History Folder.

4. Right arrow: brings up the next document
from the History folder.  Tip: If you do not
have any documents displayed, press this
arrow to start displaying the first document
in the History Folder, and then each
subsequent document.
---

# Toolbar icons #2
Guide to Toolbar Icons #2

5. Folder: This allows you to create new
folders to store documents, to delete
unwanted folders, to find out the real
MSDOS directory names of these folders,
and, of course, to look at the contents
of these folders and display their
documents.

6. Retrieve Graphics: When pressed, this
will turn On or Off the SlipKnot option to
retrieve the pictures inside a document.
When Off (icon crossed out in red), SlipKnot
will retrieve only the text of a document,
and not the pictures.  If, after looking
at the text, you want the pictures, use the
document window's Retreive Actions/Get
Unretrieved Pictures menu item.

7. Web with Arrow: to bring up the dialog
box for retrieving a new document if you
know its address.  Tip: the last 10
addresses (URLs) are stored in a drop-down
list, so if you've made a typing error,
you can go back and correct it.

8. Stop: to stop the retrieval of any in-
process document.
---

# Window clutter
Window clutter?

OK, now that you have 5 - 10 windows open
simultaneously, how do you control "window
clutter"?

1. You can minimize any of the windows using
the Windows standard down-arrow button in
the upper-right corner of the document
window.  A small button will appear on the
Toolbar (if the Toolbar is visible) which
will maximize that window when needed.

2. You can switch to any of the open
windows using either the Windows menu
item, or the appropriate Ctrl-Function key.

3. You can cascade the windows using the
Windows/Cascade menu item.

4. You can, of course, close several of
them.

5. And finally, you can tell SlipKnot to
allow only a smaller number of windows
(in Configure/Preferences).
---

# 1.13 features
Version 1.13 Features

General:

SlipKnot will now work with with freenets
and  BBS's -- but requires the cooperation
of a sysop to install (please refer
your sysops to us, at:
<[e-mail]>)

SlipKnot Terminal:

- Scrollback buffer
- separate scrollback buffer colors
    (see Setup/Terminal/Colors)
- AutoZmodem detection (see the
    Tip below)

SlipKnot Web:

- Get All Links (see Tip below)
- Save as Text file ( " )
- Low memory guard  ( " )
---

# Get All Links
"Get All Links"

This feature (in version 1.13 and later)
allows you to ask SlipKnot to get a lot
of documents at once.

If you get a document that leads you to
many other documents, press the "Get All
Links" menu item in the document window,
and it will show you the links to other
documents from this page.

You can then select all of those links
you want SlipKnot to retrieve, and they
will be put in the Job Queue.

Be sure to read the explanation of this
feature (press the "Explanation" button)
when list of links appears.
---

# Save as Text file
Save as Text file

This version 1.13 feature allows you to
save the document you are viewing as
a pure text file, without the HTML codes.

You will find it under:
   Page/Save as Text File
---

# Low Memory Guard
Low Memory Guard

SlipKnot allows you to display up to 10
documents at once.  However, this uses up
a lot of Windows memory (actually, "Windows
resources").  This is a special type of
memory, unrelated to the amount of physical
RAM you have in your computer.  Therefore
you can have 16MB of RAM or more and still
run out of Windows resources.

Inside Configure/Preferences, there is a new
setting called "Low Memory Guard".  It is
set, by default, to 10%.  Please read the
explanation (press the "Explain") button
there for a discussion of how this setting
prevents memory depletion.
---

# AutoZmodem
AutoZmodem download detection

SlipKnot Terminal:

In version 1.13, SlipKnot Terminal can now
detect when the UNIX host is starting to send
a file (or files) using Zmodem.  Therefore,
you can now instruct your UNIX system to
send files without having to bring up the
Communications/Get File from Host dialog.

Simply type the Zmodem command at your
UNIX prompt (e.g. "sz -b george") and your
UNIX system will then attempt to send you
that file.  At the same time, SlipKnot
Terminal will detect that a file called "george"
is coming in, and allow it to download.

You can also use this feature to download
multiple files from your UNIX system
(e.g. "sz -b "foo*" will download all files
starting with "foo").

Which directory will these files go into?
Use the Setup/File Download Directory to
specify.
---

# 1.40 Features
Main version 1.40 Features

SlipKnot Terminal:
1. "local printing" and other printing
   features.
2. visual resign of Terminal bottom to
   make it easier for low-resolution screens

SlipKnot Web:
1. "mailto:" is supported
2. "authentication" (depends upon lynx 2-4-2+)
3. automatic redirection (lynx 2-4-2+)
4. background colors & centering


# Mailto
Mail (mailto:)

SlipKnot supports outgoing mail, both in
SlipKnot Terminal and Web.  And it supports
the "mailto:" HTML tag.

SlipKnot does NOT provide a mail reader.

To use the mail facility, you MUST set up
the mail parameters first.  In SlipKnot
Terminal, bring up the Setup/Host menu item
and press the Mail Setup button, and then
press the Help button for explanations.
---

#local printing
Printing capabilities in Terminal

Terminal supports several printing
facilities:

1. "local printing" -- this allows some
UNIX programs to send some text directly
to your local printer.  For instance,
the mail reader, Pine, can be told to
print a mail message directly on your
printer.

2. Print screen (under the Edit menu)

3. Print incoming text (under the Edit menu).
---