Note: The colour extension described here is currently regarded as
“undocumented and unsupported” by Icon Tech as it is a bit fiddly to set up.
So if you can't get it to work, don't pester them, contact me!
Extended Colour Control
From version 4.10 onwards TW/EW Pro offer an extended ability to control background colours. Previous versions have been limited to a choice from the standard ‘desktop 16’ colours for background. 4.10+ provide a way for the user to define and use an additional 16 colours of their choice for backgrounds.
In order to know which ‘extended’ colours the user wants to have available, TW/EW Pro now looks for a palette file named - with amazing originality - ‘Palette’ inside the !Boot.Choices.TechWriter directory. So the first step is to put such a file in place. If you don’t have a suitable file to hand you can, if you wish, use the palette file in the zip archive linked to the icon below.
Palette file and info. (775 bytes.)
The archive also contains a textfile that gives information about the colours in this particular palette. They aren’t particularly special and you can change them as you wish to suit your needs, but they give you something to get you started.
Normally, to obtain the required background colour, you highlight the section to be altered, click menu, then go through format->borders.
Clicking with select on one of the diplayed colours then chooses the required colour from the 16 shown.
The illustration on the left shows the normal result of choosing one of the grey colours where the grey is shown as a Preview.
To obtain one of the ‘extended’ colours all you have to do is hold down the alt key whilst selecting one of the displayed 16. The colour preview then shows the user defined result, and this will be used to set the background colour when you click ‘OK’.
As an example, using the palette file I've provided, the illustration to the right shows the result of holding down alt whilst selecting the same grey as before. Now the result is a user defined colour from the palette file held in the !Boot.Choices.TechWriter directory.
This new freedom to define and choose background colours is particularly useful for webpages where black-on-white can get dull and the normal desktop 16 colours are mostly either too garish or too dark for comfort! From 4.10 onwards, when saving as html, all drawfile illustrations and equations are anti-aliased to the chosen document background colour.
Back to the main TechWriter Tips page for more info...
Content and pages maintained by: Jim Lesurf (jcgl@st-and.demon.co.uk)