253 lines
11 KiB
XML
253 lines
11 KiB
XML
<preface id="gramps-preface">
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<!--
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User Manual for Gramps - a GTK+/GNOME based genealogy program
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Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Alexander Roitman
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This document is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
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it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
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(at your option) any later version.
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This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
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MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
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GNU General Public License for more details.
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You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
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Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
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-->
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<!-- $Id$ -->
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<title>Preface</title>
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<para> &app; is a genealogical
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application. &app; is an acronym for the
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Genealogical Research and Analysis Management Programming System. To put
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it shortly, it allows you to store, edit, and research genealogical data
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using your computer. Its functionality is somewhat common to other
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genealogical programs. However, &app; offers some unique features. </para>
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<sect1 id="why-gramps">
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<title>Why GRAMPS?</title>
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<para> &app; was conceived under the concept
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that most genealogy programs were designed to provide the researcher the
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capability to input information related to a particular family tree.
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Most of these programs have allowed for the arranging and storing of
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information consistent with the GEDCOM standards. They usually provide
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means for displaying descendant or ancestral relationships by means of
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graphical displays, charts, or reports. These may be augmented with
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pictures or other media to enhance the data. Most provide for inputting
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data on unconnected individuals/families that may or may not have a
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relationship to the primary surname being researched. Various other
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enhancements may also be provided in the genealogical program that
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allows for different degrees of importing and exporting data from other
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programs and printing the data contained in the various reports. </para>
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<para> &app;, on the other hand, attempts to
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provide all of the common capabilities of these programs, but, more
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importantly, to provide an additional capability of integration not common
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to these programs. This is the ability to input any bits and pieces of
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information directly into &app; and
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rearrange/manipulate any/all data events in the entire data base (in any
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order or sequence) to assist the user in doing research, analysis and
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correlation with the potential of filling relationship gaps. In short, it
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is a tool that provides a way to input all your research into one place and
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do your analysis and correlation using the speed, power, and accuracy of
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your computer instead of pencils and unmanageable reams of paper. </para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="whats-new">
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<title>What's new since 1.0.X</title>
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<para>This section lists most notable changes from the previous stable branch of
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&app;, the 1.0.X.</para>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry><term>Berkeley database backend</term>
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<listitem><para>The default format for &app; is now the BSDDB database.
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This change allowed us to overcome performance issues and memory
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requirements of the 1.0.X branch. With the database backend, the database
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sizes of up to a hundred thousand people do not
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present a major obstacle any longer.</para>
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<para>
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The default extension for &app; BSDDB database files is grdb. The new format is open and
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fully documented in the developer's API reference distributed with the source of &app;.
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</para>
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<para>A consequence of the new database backend is that the changes, once approved
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by the user, are applied immediately. In short, once you click <guibutton>OK</guibutton>
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in the Person, Family, Source, Place, Media object, or Event editor, all the changes made to
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this object are recorded in the database. No saving is necessary (or even possible). The analog
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of quitting without saving would be abandoning all changes and quitting. Also, it is possible
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to undo recent actions.
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</para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>Interface improvements</term>
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<listitem><para>
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There were numerous changes in the interface. Most of them are subtle and incremental
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improvements, and all of them cannot be listed here. The most noticeable changes are:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>Removal of alphabetical tabs</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Ability to add/remove/rearrange columns in list views</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Removal of Save function and addition of Undo</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Proper window management and removal of most modal windows</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Support for Tip of the Day</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Person-dependent context menus (right-click) in Pedigree View
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listing parents, children, spouses, and siblings</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Export wizard</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Built-in Find function in list views</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Date selector dialog</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Name editor enhancements: patronymic names and non-default grouping</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>Recent file support (both gramps-specific and gnome-wide)</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>Other database backends</term>
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<listitem><para>
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Along with the BSDDB backend, the in-memory database handling for &app; XML and
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GEDCOM formats has been added. Simply put, it is now possible to natively open data
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in those two formats (although the preferred and default format is grdb) and work with
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that data, without necessarily setting up an empty database and then importing into it.
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This approach requires holding all data in memory, so it is only useful for small databases
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(depending on the available memory size). In such mode, the data is automatically
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saved upon exit, to mimic the functionality of the real database.
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<warning id="gedcom-inmem1-warn">
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<title>GEDCOM Editing</title>
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<para>
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Please keep in mind that some information in GEDCOM file may be lost
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during import into &app;. Simply opening and viewing the file will not change it.
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However, if any changes were made and they were not abandoned upon exit,
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exiting &app; will save the data, with the possible data loss.
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</para>
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</warning>
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</para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>Import and Export</term>
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<listitem><para>
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New import and export filters available for the GeneWeb format.
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</para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>Reports</term>
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<listitem><para>
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A new report -- Statistics Chart -- has been added to &app;.
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</para>
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<para>An overall change of the whole report framework has been acomplished.
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All reports now remember their options. It is possible to generate reports from the command
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line, without launching the interactive &app; session. The report API is much simpler now,
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making it easy to write custom report. A single code instance may be used for a standalone
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report, a book item, and a command-line report. </para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>Command line</term>
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<listitem><para>The new command line functionality includes opening the filename
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argument given without any flags, as well as new flags and options for report generation.
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Also, the addition of new formats leads to addition of available format options.
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</para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>Internationalization</term>
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<listitem><para>
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The approach for entering and displaying dates has been completely
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re-worked. In particular, the new framework allows for a deeper
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localization of displayed dates than was ever possible using the
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translatable strings.</para>
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<para>The internationalization of names have also been improved.
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Names can be grouped under a non-default string. Patronymic names are
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supported, and it is easy to program new ways on displaying names, as
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may be required by various cultures and languages.
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</para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry><term>Desktop integration</term>
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<listitem><para>All formats known to &app; are now registered as mime types, each
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with its icon and &app; as a default handler. Double-clicking on a file with any of these
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formats will launch &app; and open that file. &app; also added support for the recent
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documents functinonailty. This is on both for the GNOME-wide level and within the &app;.
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</para>
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<para>The preferences are now properly store using GConf, with schemas, partitioning
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of keys into smaller directories, error checking, and notification. </para>
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</listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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</sect1>
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<sect1 id="typography">
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<title>Typographical conventions</title>
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<para>
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In this book, we some words are marked with special typography:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><application>Applications</application></listitem>
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<listitem><command>Commands</command> you type at the command
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line</listitem>
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<listitem><filename>Filenames</filename></listitem>
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<listitem><replaceable>Replaceable text</replaceable></listitem>
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<listitem><guilabel>Labels</guilabel> for buttons and other
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portions of the graphical interface</listitem>
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<listitem> Menu selections look like this:
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<menuchoice>
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<guimenu>Menu</guimenu>
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<guisubmenu>Submenu</guisubmenu>
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<guimenuitem>Menu Item</guimenuitem>
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</menuchoice>
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</listitem>
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<listitem><guibutton>Buttons</guibutton> you can
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click</listitem>
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<listitem><userinput>Anything you type
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in</userinput></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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<para>
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We also provide assorted bits of additional information in tips
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and notes, as follows.
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<tip id="example-tip">
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<title>Tip</title>
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<para>
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Tips and bits of extra information will look like
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this.
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</para>
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</tip>
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<note id="example-note">
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<title>Note</title>
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<para>
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Notes will look like this.
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</para>
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</note>
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</para>
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<para>
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Finally, we have warnings, in cases where you should be careful:
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<warning id="example-warning">
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<title>Example Warning</title>
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<para>
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This is what a warning looks like. If there's a chance
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you'll run into trouble, we'll warn you beforehand.
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</para>
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</warning>
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</para>
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</sect1>
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</preface>
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