Customizing your word processor – creating a “block indent” button

A user recently asked for a button that would “block indent” selected text:

First, will there be a button you can push that will indent an entire paragraph?

Second, (a more accurate description of ‘block indent’) will there be a button you can push that will indent both right and left margins of a paragraph? An example of needing this feature would be, say, if you have a quote that is too long for quotation marks, you will want to ‘block indent’ it, which means the paragraph is centered on the page, but indented on both right and left margins.

We have not made provisions for any such “buttons”. However, that does not mean that you (any user) can’t extend the “out of the box” capabilities of Nisus Writer Express to fulfill unforeseen needs.

I answered:

To paraphrase the House Un-American Activities Committee:

There is not now, nor has there ever been a button you can push that will indent an entire paragraph.

You should, however (in Nisus Writer Express 2.x), be able to create a “Style” in the “Style Sheets” view of Nisus Writer Express that will consist of an indented paragraph (you’ll set the ruler parameters along with the font, etc.) Then, you’ll be able to select a range of text (put your insertion point inside a paragraph or select portions of various paragraphs) and click that style’s name in the Style palette. There, once you’ve created the “block indent” or “block quote” style, one click achieves the desired result… almost the same as Nisus Writer Express coming shipped with a button.

Can you think of other ways to customize Nisus Writer Express that others might appreciate knowing about?

`//rite on!