February 2014

From: Dr Christopher Mabb, Scientific Word Ltd.
To: Our Scientific Word/WorkPlace/Notebook Technical Typesetting list

1. Colour headers:    We've referred to the fancyhdr package before (Item 7) and uploaded a sample document; this time we'll add the refinement of your choice of colours. By way of example, let's use the red from the Keep Calm posters on our website – in RGB that's 193,12,6. (You can use websites like http://www.colorspire.com/rgb-color-wheel/ and http://www.maxi-pedia.com/rgb+color+picker to convert between decimal and hex codes for colour.)
   Open the document in Scientific Word/WorkPlace. You'll have to 'GoNative' to add the xcolor package, since xcolor is not in the default list of packages: Typeset – Options & Packages – Package Options – GoNative, and enter {xcolor} beneath the other packages. Then in the Preamble add the lines:

   \definecolor{newred}{RGB}{193,12,6}
   \newcommand*{\newred}[1]{\textcolor{newred}{#1}}

   or whatever RGB numbers you want. Now, wherever we want to use that red colour in the document, we just call the command \newred. So, for example, the line that said:

   \lhead{\nouppercase{\leftmark}}

   for the running Section name and number becomes:

   \lhead{\newred{\nouppercase{\leftmark}}}

   You can see the results here (though there's no need to limit yourself to only one colour). And the documentation for the xcolor package is in the TCITeX\doc\latex\contrib\xcolor folder of your \sw55 or \swp55 installation.



2. British English dictionary:    There's an issue with the current iteration of the licence server which can cause difficulties for those of you who have bought the optional British English dictionary.
   Essentially, the first time you register your permanent licence and enter the dictionary serial number, the licence server records that your program serial number is entitled to use the British English spell checking. On the second and subsequent occasions of registering (perhaps for your laptop, your home machine etc.) you should not give the dictionary serial number; you will still get a valid licence file, correctly unlocking the British English dictionary (which will still need installing according to our installation instructions Steps 9 to 12).
   If you do give it the dictionary serial number, you will only confuse the licence server, poor thing. And it probably won't give you a licence file.
   To sum up: Step 6 of our installation instructions should be omitted for second and subsequent registrations.



3. And also...     A user Emailed us with the sample sentence below:

   "Colonize is not the same as colonise and color is not the same as colour. Center is different to centre and organize, realize and recognize are all different to organise, realise and recognise"

   pointing out that "... the American dictionary picks up the -ise as errors but the British doesn't pick up the -ize words as errors". In our reply, we said:

   "While it’s true that American English recognises(!) only the –ize spelling, and while I prefer the –ise spelling as you can see, the –ize spelling is also correct in British English. See, for example, American_and_British_English_spelling_differences and Oxford_spelling: you’ll see that the Oxford English dictionary, among others, prefers the –ize version as closer to the Greek and Latin origins."

   But the British English dictionary does a pretty good job of flagging up all the other Americanized(!) spellings as the shortcomings they are   ; - )



4. Version 6.0:     Here's the latest:
   1. We continue to honour the promises we have made about v6.0, including now not to charge Annual Maintenance (Item 5) until version 6.0 is released.
   2. Some of our remaining stock of v5.5 Boxed systems is slightly shop-soiled. Ordinarily we would not sell boxes which were slightly tatty – but if you absolutely must have a Boxed system (including the printed manuals) we do still have some left.
   3. As we said to one of our sites last week when they booked some further Scientific Word Training:

      "I know you won’t believe anything I tell you about v6.0 – I can't say I blame you..."

      ...but the day is definitely drawing nearer.



5. Copyright notice:    An enquiry recently from our webpage at http://www.scientific-word.com/ asked:

   "How to insert copyright notice in papers"

   We replied:

   "Thanks for your message. We recommend adding the copyright notice in the Front Matter (Typeset – Front Matter), possibly in the Author Field or in a separate line beneath the Address (see attached). The copyright symbol is on the Latin-1 dropdown (the 9th) on the Symbol Panels toolbar (View – Toolbars)."

   You can download a sample document here.



6. The survey:    Please don't forget (Item 8) that we are always keen to get your feedback. We've put together a short feedback form that will really help us be of better service in the future.
   You don't want to complete the short survey? How about just replying with a sentence or two? Any way you can provide feedback will really be appreciated! Thanks a lot...



7. And in unrelated news...    I cleared away yesterday's newspaper, dropping it on the pile for recycling in such a way that the last three days' front pages were all looking up at me.
   And it struck me how clearly the masthead THE TIMES stood out from 5'10" away, as I vaguely thought "I wonder what font that is"... (Hint: think of the two or three most common fonts on your computer!)
   Strictly, however, it's not. But you'll have to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_New_Roman for the full story.