XML Editor

This button lets you preview the topic, snippet, or template page. It also lets you see how the topic will look with condition tags associated with it or with specific target settings applied to it. If you click the face of the button, the preview is shown based on the format specified in the primary target. If you click the down arrow, you can select any of the targets in your project from a menu. The preview is then displayed using the output format specified in that target.

In addition, the preview updates as you save changes in your file; when you open a new content file (i.e., topic, snippet, template page); when you change the File, Target, or Conditional Expression fields; and when you click the refresh button .This ensures you are always seeing the most current content in the Preview window pane.

For more information see Previewing Topics.

Opens the Conditional Text dialog, which lets you associate condition tags with a file while you edit it. This is similar to the feature that you can use to preview a document with certain conditions set. The difference is that this associates the conditions to the document as you edit it in the XML Editor. See Associating Conditions to a File While Editing.

Flare provides multiple layout modes when working in the XML Editor: Web Layout, Web Layout (Tablet), Web Layout (Mobile), and Print Layout. This lets you see your content in the format that you are most likely concerned about at the moment. See Layout Modes.

The default and print mediums are tied to the Web Layout and Print Layout modes, respectively. The tablet and mobile media queries are tied to the Web Layout (Tablet) and Web Layout (Mobile) modes, respectively.

The key is to select the layout first. If you select the medium or media query, the layout will not automatically change as well.

Clicking the down arrow on this button lets you select a medium or media query so that you can view the topic with a specific set of styles.

This drop-down field is simply intended to show you how particular styles make a topic look. By using this feature, you are not telling Flare to use that medium in the output for that topic. The way to do that is to associate the medium with a target.

When (multiple) displays, that is an indication that multiple styles are applied, and content in the XML Editor is rendered with all applicable styles (according to the width). However, if only one medium is selected, then that medium is shown in the drop-down.

For more information, see Mediums and Media Queries and Selecting Mediums and Media Queries.

If you are viewing content using the Print Layout in the XML Editor, you can use this drop-down in the local toolbar to choose a specific page layout. See Selecting a Page Layout to View Content in the XML Editor.

Opens the Insert Hyperlink dialog, which lets you insert a text hyperlink on the selected text in the topic. See Inserting Text Hyperlinks.

Opens the Insert Cross-Reference dialog, which lets you insert a cross-reference into the topic at the location of the cursor. See Inserting Cross-References.

Opens a dialog, if you click the face of the button. You can use this dialog to insert an image. If you click the down arrow on the button, a drop-down opens, where you can access your pinned images and recently used images. See Inserting Images.

Opens the Insert Snippet Link dialog, if you click the face of the button. You can use this dialog to insert a snippet. If you click the down arrow on the button, the Insert Snippet drop-down opens, where you can access your pinned snippets and recently used snippets. See Inserting Snippets.

Opens the Variables dialog, if you click the face of the button. You can use this dialog to insert a variable. If you click the down arrow on the button, a drop-down opens, where you can access your pinned variables and recently used variables. See Inserting Variables.

Opens the Character dialog, if you click the face of the button. You can use this dialog to choose a character to insert or perform many other tasks. If you click the down arrow on the button, you can select other options, such as inserting a quick character or choosing one of your favorite or recent characters. See Inserting Characters and Symbols.

Activates Index Entry Mode. Click in the text where you want to insert the keyword and start typing. The words you type are added directly into the Index window pane. Use this method to do a lot of indexing all at once, without performing any other tasks in the topic or snippet. See Inserting Index Keywords.

Activates Concept Entry Mode. Click in the text where you want to insert the keyword and start typing. The words you type are added directly into the Concept window pane. Use this method to create concepts in a lot of topics at once, without performing any other tasks in the topic. See Inserting Concepts.

Turns paragraph and space markers on and off. When you turn this feature on, you can see markers that show where paragraphs end and where space exists before and after content.

If you click the face of this button, all of the content changes, showing the XML tags surrounding the content. If you click the down arrow, you can select the following options.

• Caret Tag Neighborhood Read more… Turns the caret tag neighborhood feature on and off (it is off by default). See Caret Tag Neighborhood.

• Markers Read more… Turns markers on or off in the active topic or other content file. See Markers.

• Inline Markers Read more… You can show or hide markers for all inline elements in the active topic. See Inline Markers.

• Block Structure Bars Read more… Shows or hides the tag block bars. These bars are displayed to the left of the content area. They show the different tags for your chunks of content (i.e., block-level tags), as well as the overall tag structure. See Structure Bars.
• Span Structure Bars Read more… Shows or hides the span bars representing inline tags. These bars are displayed at the top of the content. See Structure Bars.
• Expand/Collapse Read more… Enables or disables the feature to collapse and expand tags in the XML Editor. See Collapsing and Expanding Tags.
• Horizontal Ruler Read more… Shows or hides a measurement ruler horizontally at the top of the editor or window pane. If you click the ruler after it is opened, you can select to convert the ruler to pixels, points, centimeters, inches, or ems.
• Vertical Ruler Read more… Shows or hides a measurement ruler vertically at the left of the editor or window pane. If you click the ruler after it is opened, you can select to convert the ruler to pixels, points, centimeters, inches, or ems.
• Layout Resizer Read more… Shows or hides the layout resizer at the top of the editor. When enabled, you can click the controls on the resizing slider or enter a breakpoint value in pixels, points, centimeters, inches, or ems to alter the width setting.
• Invisible Tags Read more… Turns invisible tags (e.g., <title>) on or off in the active topic. This option is enabled only if you have selected "Show tags."
• Comments Read more… Turns comment tags on or off in the active topic. Comment tags are those that you have added to a topic in order include notes behind the scenes (without the comments being seen in the output).
• Thumbnail Images Read more… Toggles between showing images in the XML Editor as thumbnails or at full size. This is a feature for you as the author, allowing you to scale all images down to 48 pixels high (if the original size is larger than that). This lets you see more content and less of your images as you edit topics. The images are only scaled for your editing purposes; they are not necessarily shown as thumbnails in the output. See Showing Images as Thumbnails While Editing.
• Tags in Mono-Color Read more… Lets you choose whether to display tags in a color or in black. This option is enabled only if you have selected "Show tags."
• Tags in Mono-Font Read more… Lets you choose whether to display all tags in the same font or in the font actually applied to each area. This option is enabled only if you have selected "Show tags."
• Object Positioning Read more… Turns object positioning on and off. Object positioning can be used with text boxes, images, and other objects that you have inserted into topics. If this option is on, you can easily position the object in different places in the topic (e.g., to the right or left of the frame on a page). See Object Positioning.
• Orphan/Widow Control Read more… Turns widow and orphan control on or off. If this is turned on, you can see the effects in the Print Layout mode in the XML Editor. Widow control determines the minimum number of lines in a paragraph to be left at the top of a page or column. Orphan control determines the minimum number of lines in a paragraph to be left at the bottom of a page or column. The default number of lines for both is 2, but you can adjust this setting. See Widows and Orphans and Setting Widow and Orphan Control.
• Hidden Elements Read more… Shows content that has been designated as "hidden." In other words, you can have a style where the "display" property value is set to "none." Normally, content to which this style is applied will not be seen. But you can display that content by selecting this option.
• Conditions Read more… If you have created and applied condition tags, clicking this button toggles between showing and hiding them.

• Snippet Conditions Read more… If you have created and applied snippet condition tags, this command enables or disables a marker that overlays snippets that have snippet conditions applied to them. See Using Snippet Conditions.

• Variable Names Read more… Lets you choose whether to see the names of variables in your markers (if you have inserted variables) in the active topic. See Visual Cues for Variables.

• Variable Highlighting Read more… Lets you choose whether to see a gray background behind variable definitions in a topic. See Visual Cues for Variables.

• Bookmark Names Read more… Lets you choose whether to see the names of bookmarks in your markers (if you have inserted bookmarks) in the active topic.
• Named Elements Read more… Lets you choose whether to see the yellow flag icon next to named elements in your markers (if you have inserted named elements) in the active topic. Named elements are used for inserting togglers into topics.
• Locks Read more… Locks or unlocks the content designated with the gray background. After content has been locked, it cannot be edited, and annotations cannot be added to it. See Locking Elements.
• Locked Elements Read more… Lets you show or hide the gray background associated with elements that have been locked or selected to be locked. See Locking Elements.
• Changes Read more… Displays any tracked changes or annotations (notes) that have been attached to any content in the topic. See Reviews and Collaboration.
• Marker Width Read more… Lets you adjust the width of markers in the active topic to see more or less of the markers when they are visible.

Expands all tags in the editor (i.e., blocks of content), so that you can see any content that was previously collapsed.

Collapses all heading tags in the editor (and the content under them). An ellipsis icon displays under the main heading. As an alternative to collapsing all tags, you can hover to the left of each block of content and click the angled arrow to collapse just that part.

Displays the number of words in the open file. If you highlight words in the file, this area shows you how many words are selected out of the total count. If a file contains snippets, the words from those snippets are not included in this word count, because those are separate files.

Reduces the scale of the font by 10% each time you click the button.

Resets the scale of the font to 100%.

Increases the scale of the font by 10% each time you click the button.

Lets you select a specific percentage to scale the font.

Shows or hides the colored shading of content to which condition tags have been applied.

Shows or hides the tag block bars. These bars are displayed to the left of the content area. They show the different tags for your chunks of content (i.e., block-level tags), as well as the overall tag structure. See Structure Bars.

Shows or hides the span bars representing inline tags. These bars are displayed at the top of the content area.

See Structure Bars.

Enables or disables the feature to collapse and expand tags in the XML Editor.

Shows or hides a measurement ruler horizontally at the top of the editor or window pane. If you click the ruler after it is opened, you can select to convert the ruler to pixels, points, centimeters, inches, or ems.

Shows or hides a measurement ruler vertically at the left of the editor or window pane. If you click the ruler after it is opened, you can select to convert the ruler to pixels, points, centimeters, inches, or ems.

Displays the number of words in the open file. If you highlight words in the file, this area shows you how many words are selected out of the total count. If a file contains snippets, the words from those snippets are not included in this word count, because those are separate files.

Displays the first page of the topic in Print Layout mode.

Displays the previous page of the topic in Print Layout mode.

Displays the next page of the topic in Print Layout mode.

Displays the last page of the topic in Print Layout mode.

Displays the current page of the topic, as well as the total number of pages in the topic. You can enter another number in the field or use the arrow buttons to navigate to a different page.

The Zoom/Scale button (which looks different depending on the current selection) opens a drop-down menu so that you can select from the following options:

• 100% Displays the page at 100% of its actual size.
• 100% (2 pages) Shows two pages of a topic at a time, displaying each one at 100%.
• Fit Width Resizes the page so that it displays in proportion to the width of the window pane.
• One Page Displays only one page at a time.
• Two Pages Displays two pages at a time.
• Four Pages Displays three pages at a time.
• Eight Pages Displays four pages at a time.

Reduces the scale of the font by 10% each time you click the button.

Increases the scale of the font by 10% each time you click the button.

Lets you select a specific percentage to scale the font.

Shows or hides the colored shading of content to which condition tags have been applied.

Shows or hides the tag block bars. These bars are displayed to the left of the content area. They show the different tags for your chunks of content (i.e., block-level tags), as well as the overall tag structure.

Shows or hides the span bars representing inline tags. These bars are displayed at the top of the content area.

Enables or disables the feature to collapse and expand tags in the XML Editor.

Shows or hides a measurement ruler horizontally at the top of the editor or window pane. If you click the ruler after it is opened, you can select to convert the ruler to pixels, points, centimeters, inches, or ems.