TheScribe Documentation

Documentation is always a work in progress as it is only useful when users are actually able to benefit from it.

We have compiled here the information that we believe will be of practical use. If you find that something merits being included or discussed in more detail, contact us at info@sequencepublishing.com and we will adjust this document as appropriate.

Table of Contents

1. What is TheScribe? [^]

TheScribe integrates a word processor and WordList Manager into a real-time vocabulary profiler system, providing language educators and researchers with a specialized environment tuned for the careful creation of lexically-sensitive educational and experimental materials.

2. System Requirements [^]

TheScribe has been developed for the Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP operating systems.

It is highly recommended that the latest OS Service Packs be installed. Old system files effectively cripple the WordProcessor and can compromise an unspecified number of formatting features.

While there are no special hardware specifications in terms of CPU speed or RAM size, modern equipment will always be preferred as real-time profiling can be an expensive operation and the visual update of the color tagging in the WordProcessor depends on system components outside of the control of TheScribe. In particular, those operations that involve parsing the entire text start to be time consuming once file sizes exceed 10,000 chars. Note that, however, the algorithm in charge of this aspect of TheScribe has been extensively optimized making its impact imperceptible while typing.

2.1 Installing [^]

If the package was downloaded as a zip file, unzip the package where desired (if unzipped from the command line, supply the parameter -d). Once unzipped, simply run the program 'TheScribe.exe'.

If the package was downloaded as a setup executable file, run the setup program and follow the instructions. Once installed, run TheScribe from the Start menu.

2.2 Uninstalling [^]

If the package was downloaded as a zip file, simply remove the directory where TheScribe was installed.

If the package was downloaded as a setup executable file, run the uninstall utility provided (via the Start menu) or through the 'Add/Remove Programs' applet.

3. Program Features [^]

TheScribe has been designed with simplicity of use in mind, striving to be as intuitive as possible, and the distribution of its functionality has been conceptually separated into three aspects:

• The WordProcessor which provides basic editing and formatting functionality as well as partial compatibility with Microsoft Word® via the rich edit (*.rtf) format.
• The WordList Manager which is capable of creating and modifying lexical sets whether statically (through the WordList Operations dialog) or dynamically (while typing).
• The Profiler Engine integrates the WordProcessor and the WordList Manager into a real-time vocabulary profiling system that provides automatic color marking of words as they are typed and according to which wordlist these belong.

These aspects are discussed in depth in the following subsections.

3.1 Graphical User Interface [^]

The user interface is logically separated into two areas: the WordProcessor and the WordList Manager.

3.1.1 The WordProcessor [^]

The WordProcessor menu panel groups those operations that are most frequently used for editing and formatting.

This menu is populated with a grid of buttons corresponding to file operations and editing/formatting functions as well as a real-time count of the number of types (unique words) and tokens (total number of words) currently loaded in the editor.

By subgroup:

	New Document, Save, Save As. Open, Close.
	Cut, Copy, Paste.
	Undo, Redo.
	Search, Replace.
	Left Alignment, Center Alignment, Right Alignment, Bulleted Paragraph.
	Bold, Italic, Underlined, Font.
	Increase Left Indentation, Decrease Left Indentation. Increase Right Indentation, Decrease Right Indentation.

Other functionality has been implemented and is available through shortcut keys (Section 3.2).

3.1.1.1 Editor/Words Tabs [^]

The WordProcessor area can be toggled between 'Editor' and 'Words' via the tabs shown below.

The Editor tab displays a richedit area where to create documents.

The Words tab displays a list of all the types (unique words) in the current document. Types are organized alphabetically by the wordlist they belong to. Each type is accompanied by the amount of times it appears in the text (token count). Those types that do not belong to any list are listed at the end under the heading 'Off-Listed'.

3.1.2 The WordList Manager [^]

The WordList Manager menu panel displays all implemented functionality.

This menu is populated with a gird of buttons from where to manipulate wordlist and their impact on the editor.

By subgroup:

	New Document, Save, Save All. Open, Close, Close All.
	Sets the default directory. All files in this directory will be loaded into the WordList Manager. Note that TheScribe will load all files in this directory every time it is started.
	Brings up the WordList Operations dialog (Section 3.1.2.1)
	Sets the color of a wordlist.
	Activates/Deactivates a wordlist for use in the editor (same as double-click).
	Shift up/down the position of a wordlist in the WordList Manager.

Operations on individual wordlists affect the wordlist currently selected in the WordList Manager.

3.1.2.1 WordList Operations [^]

The WordList Operations dialog provides a simple and powerful interface where to manipulate wordlists.

This dialog is invoked from the WordList Manager menu button over the currently selected wordlist.

The dialog displays the name, count, and contents of the wordlist in alphabetical order.

On 'Ok' any modification is incorporated into the wordlist and is immediately available to the Profiler Engine. Note that, as could be expected, if modifications to the wordlist have been made, the entire document will be automatically reparsed.

On 'Cancel' any modification is discarded and the wordlist remains unmodified.

There are three kinds of wordlist operations: item, clipboard, and external file. All operations result in an alphabetically sorted wordlist.

Item operations involve adding/removing words from the wordlist. Each word in the 'Add' entry field must be separated by blanks (spaces).

Clipboard operations provide the usual functionality. Copy and cut operate on those words currently selected and place words in the clipboard as a string of words separated by blanks. The paste operation parses the content of the clipboard by, again, segmenting it using blanks as word boundaries.

External File operations refers to manipulations involving several wordlists. These are the set operations: union, intersection, and complement intersection. All set operations open a file dialog where it is possible to select one or several files containing wordlists.

	Union adds all words from all external wordlists (except duplicates).
	Intersection removes those words not present in all external wordlists.
	Complement Intersection removes those words present in any external wordlist.

Note that external file operations are also available by directly dragging and dropping wordlist files on the listbox, bringing up the dialog below which functions as described above.

3.1.2.2 Wordlist Contents [^]

The contents of any wordlist can be viewed while typing by right-clicking over the appropriate wordlist in the WordList Manager.

Wordlist Contents dialogs are resizable and can be made to persist on top of TheScribe. All wordlists can be opened simultaneously.

Note that static or dynamic updates to a wordlist will automatically update the corresponding Wordlist Contents dialog (were it to be open).

3.2 Shortcut Keys [^]

It is possible to add words to the wordlists dynamically while typing.

The WordProcessor also supports the following shortcut keys (note that these may be not be available depending on your system):

• CTRL-1 Line spacing = 1 line.
• CTRL-5 Line spacing = 1.5 line.
• CTRL-2 Line spacing = 2 line.
• CTRL-SHIT-L Rotate Through Bullets.
• CTRL-L, CTRL-E, CTRL-R Left Alignment, Center Alignment, Right Alignment.
• CTRL-A, CTRL-5 Select All.
• CTRL-F Find
• CTRL-SHIFT-F Replace.
• CTRL-Z Undo.
• CTRL-Y, CTRL-SHIFT-Z Redo.
• CTRL-X, CTRL-C, CTRL-V Cut, Copy, Paste.
• CTRL-I, CTRL-TAB, TAB Insert Tab.
• CTRL-(LEFT ARROW), CTRL-(RIGHT ARROW) Move One Word left, Move One Word Right.
• CTRL-SHIFT-+ Superscript.
• CTRL-+ Subscript.
• CTRL-' Accent Acute (as in á).
• CTRL-` Accent Grave (as in à).
• CTRL-SHIT-` Accent Tilde (as in ñ).
• CTRL-; Accent Umlaut (as in ä).
• CTRL-, Accent Cedilla (as in Ç).

4. WordLists [^]

A wordlist file contains a single word per row.

The Profiler Engine parses the document's text extracting words as sequences of alphanumeric characters bounded by blanks (spaces). Therefore, contractions (i.e. don't, couldn't) and hyphenated types (i.e. so-called, no-show) are each considered single words. Naturally, compound types separated by intervening spaces (i.e. pass around, look for) will find no matches in the editor.

Note also that the Profiler Engine is not case-sensitive.

4.1 WordLists Provided [^]

TheScribe package (zip or executable setup) includes four wordlist files in the directory "[INSTALLATION PATH]\_WordLists":

• "_GSL.TXT": Essentially Bauman and Culligan's updated version of West's General Service List (2,284 words). The list is arranged from most to least frequent.
• "_AWL.TXT": Essentially Coxhead's Academic Word List (570 words). The list is arranged from most to least frequent.
• "_GSL_WF.TXT": Expands the GSL to include high-frequency word family members (7,764 words). The list is sorted alphabetically.
• "_AWL_WF.TXT": Expands the AWL to include high-frequency word family members (3,107 words). The list is sorted alphabetically.

4.2 Custom WordLists [^]

The WordList Manager makes it possible to customize any list via the WordList Operations dialog (Section 3.1.2.1).

Additionally, words can be selected in the editor and then added to any of the 10 first wordlists in the WordList Manager by pressing CTRL-SHIFT-[number], where [number] stands for the index of the target wordlist in the WordList Manager.

Wordlists can also be assembled outside of TheScribe and, essentially, any collection of words can be compiled into a wordlist as long as it is stored in an ASCII file containing a single word per row.

5. Program Operation [^]

TheScribe's editor is similar to any other WordProcessor in terms of use, and documents can be opened (ASCII and RTF formats) or created from scratch, modified, and then saved (ASCII and RTF formats). It is also possible to drag and drop a document into the editor area, simulating an 'open' operation.

Limited compatibility with Microsoft Word® exists and it is possible to cut, copy, and paste to/from TheScribe and Word®. As pointed out earlier, the exact extent of this compatibility is dependent on the components installed in the user's system and, as a rule of thumb, the latest OS and service updates correlate with more functionality.

The Profiler Engine continually operates in the background and uses whatever wordlists are present and activated in the WordList Manager to parse and color the current document as it is being typed.

The WordList Manager loads all files in the default directory when TheScribe is started. Wordlists can be added at any point by means of the WordList Manager menu (it is also possible to drag and drop a file directly onto the WordList Manager).

5.1 Limitations [^]

The file size for the editor has been capped at 1 MB.

Other than opening a new document, some editing and wordlist operations require parsing the entire text which can be time-consuming once file sizes exceed 10,000 chars. As explained earlier, the visual update of the color tagging in the WordProcessor depends on system components outside of the control of TheScribe.

The WordList Manager can handle any number of wordlists of any size, memory permitting.

6. Updates and Contact [^]

TheScribe is still under development and not all project objectives have been accomplished yet. Furthermore, the present is a stable beta release. Be sure to acknowledge this and read the license agreement carefully. Use this program at your own risk.

Updates will be made available as the project evolves.

We value feedback. Please, contact us at info@sequencepublishing.com with any comments, bug reports, etc.

Visit www.SequencePublishing.com for up-to-date information regarding TheScribe.

Feedback Form

We value feedback. Feel free to contact us via the form below (or send us an email if you prefer) with comments and questions.

Name: Email: Comments:

7. License Agreement [^]

READ CAREFULLY ALL TERMS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT BEFORE USING THIS SOFTWARE

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT, YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO USE THIS SOFTWARE

Permission is hereby granted to anyone to freely use TheScribe (hereafter referred to as 'this software') for any purpose with the exception of including it in a product, in which case both permission and acknowledgment are required.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the software and documentation are provided "as is". Franc Morales and Leah Gilner (hereafter referred to as 'the authors') disclaim all other warranties and conditions, either express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, conformance with description, title and non-infringement of third party rights. In no event shall the authors be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special or exemplary damages or lost profits whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use or inability to use the software product, even if the authors have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

The authors allow you to distribute this software if all of the following conditions are met: you are not charging any money for it, the distribution files are kept together and unmodified, and the authors' permission is obtained before distribution. You may give this software package to friends or colleagues, burn it onto cd-rom's (or other media) and upload it to free/shareware sites as long as the original package remains unmodified.

All rights to this software (including any images or text incorporated into this software) are owned by the authors. However, the word lists (AWL.TXT, AWL_WF.TXT, GSL.TXT, and GSL_WF.TXT) provided with the installation package are placed in the public domain.

You may not disassemble or reverse engineer any part of this software.

You may not rent or lease this software.

The authors are not required to make available technical support for this software. The authors may, from time to time, revise or update this software. In so doing, the authors incur no obligation to furnish such revision or updates to you.

This license agreement will immediately and automatically terminate without notice if you fail to comply with any one of the terms and conditions cited. Upon termination of this license agreement, you agree to promptly remove the software from your system.

TheScribe.
Copyright 2001-2007 by Franc Morales and Leah Gilner.
All rights reserved.