How to use the manual				-*- outline -*-
---------------------

There are a few different ways to read the online manual. (I assume
you're using a Unix system, but you can also get 'less' for DOS.)

* Using less (or more)

The simplest way to read it or refer to it is to use 'less'.

** Reading 'cover to cover'

One (crude) way to do this is 'cat chapter* | less'.

A nicer way is to use the 'makeoutline' script to create
'plus3man.txt'. This is an Emacs outline, but it's just a normal text
file and is easily readable with less.

** Using it as a reference

*** On the single file

In fact, it's possible to use less on 'plus3man.txt' for reference
purposes (i.e. looking something up in the contents, skipping to that
chapter/section, etc.) if you know a couple of things.

To get to a given chapter, type '</\*.*r xxx' where 'xxx' is the
chapter number. The '<' at the front goes to the top of the file to
ensure the search is in the right direction. (The 'r' is the 'r' in
'Chapter'.)

To get to some part of chapter 8, type '</\*.*t xxx' where 'xxx' is
the part number. (The 't' is the 't' in 'Part'.)

It can be useful to know the mark commands, which act as bookmarks.
The 'mark' command is 'm', which prompts for a letter to represent the
mark. If you later want to return to a mark, you type ' (apostrophe)
followed by the mark letter. 


*** On the multiple files

It's also possible to use less in a multiple-file fashion which allows
skipping between chapters, though not very cleanly - do 'less
chapter*' and use ':n' and ':p' to move forwards and backwards,
respectively, through the various chapters. Unfortunately, this means
you have to remember the contents of the chapters and sections. If
you're using X, you could view the 'contents' file in another xterm or
something similar. Another possibility is to create a more descriptive
link to the file - for example, you might do 'ln -s chapter8.part27
plus3dos.guide'.


* Using GNU Emacs

** Using Outline mode with 'plus3man.txt'

Load it with 'C-x C-r plus3man.txt RET' from Emacs. Type 'M-x
hide-body' to hide most of the text - it makes finding the right
chapter/part very easy. Go to the line '* Contents', and type 'C-c
C-s' to show the 'Contents' section.

Any line starting with a '*' and ending with '...' can be expanded in
this way. Similarly, you can hide the text under a heading beginning
with '*' by typing 'C-c C-h' while on the heading line.

See the documentation for Outline mode for more details. To get it,
type 'C-h f outline-mode'.


** Using Dired and View mode

You can use Dired to display the directory the manual is in, and use
the 'view' mode from it. From Emacs, type 'C-x C-f' and whatever the
name of the manual's directory is (probably '.' at the moment). You
can use 'C-p' to move up and 'C-n' to move down as usual, 'v' to view
a file (space forward, DEL backward, 'q' quit), and 'q' to quit the
Dired buffer.