Stepper Buttons in Nisus Writer
Even if you’re not familiar with the term, you almost certainly know how to use steppers. They are those little up and down arrow buttons you see next to numeric controls on your Mac. For example, you’ll see steppers next to the paragraph spacing controls in Nisus Writer:
As you probably already know (or can guess!) clicking the arrow buttons changes the spacing by ±1 point.
What’s new in Nisus Writer Pro 3.1 and Nisus Writer Express 4.1 is an enhancement for steppers that refines how they react to clicks. By holding down a modifier key as you click, you can increase or decrease the adjustment amount:
• Hold the Control key to trigger smaller changes.
For example, the font size will change from 12 points to 12.1 points.
• Hold the Option key to trigger larger changes.
For example, the paragraph spacing will change from 6 points to 12 point.
The adjustment amounts are sensitive to context and ruler units. For example, changing the paragraph indent using the Option key may result in a difference of ±1 centimeters vs ±0.5 inches.
There are a few mnemonics to help you recall which modifier key does what. You will notice that the relative order of the Control/Option keys on your keyboard matches that of the minus/plus keys. This is in harmony with the Control key triggering smaller changes (minus), and the Option key triggering larger changes (plus). Another way to think about it is that the Control key gives you greater control over the measurement, since the adjustment is finer.
We hope this improvement helps you dial in exactly the measurement you want, and reduces some repetitive clicking.