About dot commands
ZATZ uses a patent-pending editorial production tool called ZENPRESS to produce our publications. Each article is formatted using a defined set of style objects called dot commands. While most of our authors won't be formatting their articles using dot commands, we felt it would be useful to have a full reference online, mostly as a tool for our own editors.
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The general editing commands are those that are most likely to be used in the body of an article and directly impact the content viewed by the reader. General editing dot commands include:
.A Name (answer)
This is for interviews, along with .Q. The parameter is the name of the interviewer or interviewee (i.e., .Q DG)
.BEGIN_CODE
Program code inside - must end with a .END_CODE
.BEGIN_HTML
Uniterpreted HTML inside (used if we need to force some HTML formatting) - must end with a .END_HTML
.BEGIN_LIST
Begin a list sequence, but rather than going through the process of using a .BEGIN_LIST /.BULLET/.END_LIST sequence, the incoming data parser now generates bulleted lists. All you need to do is put a *(space) in the first character of a line and it's turned into a bullet. If there are lines separating bullets, they're turned into separate bullet lists. Must end with a .END_LIST.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
Begin a sidebar - must end with a .END_SIDEBAR
.BEGIN_STEPS
Begin a series of numbered steps - must end with a .END_STEPS
.BEGIN_TABLE
Begin a table. More on formatting tables at the end of this document. Must end with a .END_TABLE
.BLUENOTE
This is an .EDNOTE rendered in blue.
.BULLET
Item
.CALLOUT
Text to be used in a callout
.EDNOTE
Commentary
.END_CODE
Ends a code sequence -- must begin with a .BEGIN_CODE
.END_HTML
Ends an HTML sequence -- must begin with a .BEGIN_HTML
.END_LIST
Ends a list sequence -- must begin with a .BEGIN_LIST
.END_SIDEBAR
Ends a sidebar -- must begin with a .BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.END_STEPS
Ends a sequence of steps -- must begin with a .BEGIN_STEPS
.FIG Letter (Capitalized)
Used in the scan process to identify a figure and which one (letter) -- followed by a caption in a complete sentence which describes that figure.
.FIGPAIR Letter (Capitalized)
Used for a small and large image. Followed by a caption in a complete sentence which describes that figure.
.FLYINGHEAD text
Contents - flying headline that goes with title and summary in Table of Contents
.GRAPHICPAIR
Like a FIGPAIR, but doesn't actually put the words "FIGURE" into the page.
.H1
Heading level one
.H2
Heading level two
.IMAGE Letter (Capitalized)
Used in the scan process to identify a figure. The letter identifies which image is used, followed by options LEFT or RIGHT, which sends the image to the left side or the right side of the page.
.IMAGEPAIR Letter (Capitalized)
Used for a small and large image. The letter identifies which image is used, followed by options LEFT or RIGHT, which sends the image to the left side or the right side of the page.
.QUOTE
Offers a paragraph for a long quote
.Q Name (question)
This is for interviews, along with .A. the parameter is the name of the interviewer or interviewee (i.e., .Q DG)
.STEP text
Like .BULLET, generates a number in a list
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Table formatting commands
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ZENPRESS has a sophisticated table formatting tool, driven by dot commands. Each individual dot command provides a different part of the table. There are a few important factors you'll need to be aware of:
- Tables start with a .BEGIN_TAB_TABLE;
- Next comes three optional commands .TAB_TABLE_HEADER, .TAB_TABLE_WIDTH, and .TAB_TABLE_ALIGN;
- The main content of the table is a series of .TAB_TABLE_ROW commands;
- Finally, end it with a .END_TAB_TABLE.
Each command is followed by a series of parameters. Formatting these parameters correctly is essential. The way it's done is like this:
DOTCOMMAND<space>PARAM1<tab>PARAM2<tab>PARAM3...
Notice that the first parameter follows a space, while all the others follow tabs. This is so you can have spaces inside the parameters (like for titles, and so forth). If you're editing text with dot commands in a browser, you won't be able to do the tabs. You'll be much better off copying the entire text to an editor like UltraEdit, making your changes and including the tabs, and then copying the content back to the browser.
And now, the commands:
.BEGIN_TAB_TABLE letter caption
Every table must have a table letter (like TABLE A) and a caption. be sure the letter is in upper case.
.TAB_TABLE_HEADER columns
The header is used at the top of the table. You can have any number (within reason) of columns, each separated by a tab.
.TAB_TABLE_WIDTH columns
Each column can be formatted to be a certain width (either a percentage or absolute pixels). If you want the column to be sized by percentage, use a number with percent sign (i.e., 30%). If you don't use a percent sign, it'll be sized by pixels. Again, separate each column with a tab.
.TAB_TABLE_ALIGN columns
The value for each column can be RIGHT, CENTER, or LEFT.
.TAB_TABLE_ROW columns
Herein lies the actual contents of the table.
.END_TAB_TABLE
Wraps it all up.
Every article starts off with a series of dot commands in precise order. Here are some of those dot commands. Refer to previous articles for the proper formatting.
.AUTHOR
Author name
.DEPT
This is used in the scan process to identify articles that are departments for the Table of Contents.
.FEATURE
This is used in the scan process to identify articles that are features for the Table of Contents.
.OTHER
This is used in the scan process to identify articles that are listed as other articles on the Table of Contents.
.SPONSOR
This is used in the scan process to identify articles that are from our sponsor on the Table of Contents.
.SPOTLIGHT
This dot command is a placeholder that triggers all the spotlight processing. Put this in the article that's going to be the spotlight article. The article containing .SPOTLIGHT is to be featured on the site's home page. Options to the .SPOTLIGHT command are:
- .SPOTLIGHT (pulls title, summary, and first figpair or fig)
- .SPOTLIGHT FIGONLY figname (runs a figure only, no text)
- .SPOTLIGHT TEXTONLY (runs only title and summary)
- .SPOTLIGHT FIG X (runs the X figure, title and summary)
- .SPOTLIGHT FIGPAIR X (runs the -SM X figure, title and summary)
.SPOTLIGHT FIGONLY
Assumes a GIF graphic is located in the main issue directory (next to the ISSUE.DAT file). Be sure the GIF file name doesn't conflict with a generated file name for any article. So don't use <articlename>.GIF. Use something like "cover.gif" or something.
.SUMMARY text
This is used in the scan process to specify summaries for the Table of Contents
.TITLE text
The title of the article
Every article ends off with a series of dot commands in precise order. Here are some of those dot commands. Refer to previous articls for the proper formatting.
.BIO
Description of person. Expects an active .AUTHOR.
.DISCUSS
Contains the link to the PowerBoard for this article.
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Article production formatting commands
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Once the article is fully edited, we need to see how it pages out. We preview the article in ZENPRESS, and then decide where we want page breaks. These commands control page breaks (which on the Web, involve creating entirely new Web pages, each with their own navigation commands). Now you know part of why ZENPRESS is going to get a patent.
.BEGIN_KEEP
Keep what's inside the BEGIN/END pair on the current page - must end with a .END_KEEP
.END_KEEP
Ends a KEEP sequence -- must begin with a .BEGIN_KEEP
.PAGE
Forces a page throw
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Masthead formatting commands (ISSUE.DAT file)
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When we run an issue, we create an ISSUE.DAT file which contains information on the issue. While there's more than just the .MASTHEAD command, this is all we've documented thus far.
.MASTHEAD
Items are done in the format: Editor-in-Chief: David Gewirtz<BR>david@ZATZ.com. This is used in the ISSUE.DAT file. The item in front of the colon is rendered in bold as the title, the items after are rendered as plain text on the masthead and the <BR> forces a line break.
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AuthorPower formatting commands
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AuthorPower has some unique formatting commands to help keep track of the articles that are in progress. Here they are.
.ENDORSER
This is a special formatting tag for the person who made a quote listed in the "They Love Us" section.
.HBAR
Produces a thick horizontal bar containing the header information. Useful for separating sections.
.REVIEW_TITLE
This is the header for a review that's still open and available.
.REVIEW_ASSIGNED
This is the header for a review that's been assigned to an author and is still in progress.
.ARTICLE_IDEA
This is the header for an article that's still open and available.
.ARTICLE_ASSIGNED
This is the header for an article that's been assigned to an author and is still in progress.
.REVIEWS_COMPLETED
This begins the list of recently completed reviews.
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