XanaNews - Working with XanaNews (part 3 of 4)

[continued from part 2] . . .

XanaNews > Help > Contents > Working with XanaNews > Options - Explained

Options - Explained
XanaNews provides you with many options which allow you to configure it
to look and behave how you want. To change the options select 'Options...'
from the Tools menu.
XanaNews provides a three-tier system for some of the tabs on the Options
form. These options all appear in the Default Settings section, and can
be overridden in the Derived Settings sections in Account Properties and
Newsgroups Properties. This allows you to create different settings for
particular accounts or newsgroups:
*Set options to their usual settings in Tools/Options...
*Over-ride some options in Account Properties. For instance a particular
 account may be on a foreign server where it's common practice to post
 messages using a particular character set.
*Over-ride some options in Newsgroup Properties. For example you may
 want to apply a more relaxed set of filters in one group than in other
 groups in the account.

XanaNews > Help > Contents > Working with XanaNews > Options - Program
Settings

Options - Program Settings
The Program Settings define some basic behaviours of XanaNews.
Show in System Tray
This will show a XanaNews icon in system tray (the area next to the
clock)
Show Tree Tooltips
Displays tooltips (or hints) that show additional helpful information,
like complete group names in the groups tree or message count in a
thread in the message tree.
Hide Dormant Connections
Hides inactive connections in the Queued Requests window (those with no
icon in front of it)
Mark Crossposted Messages As Read
Crosspost is to post a message in more than one group. If this option
is on and you read such a message, it is marked as read in every other
group it has been posted automatically.
Note that 'Mark Crossposted Messages as Read' can affect the
performance of XanaNews in several ways.
Quote full text if none selected
When you reply to a message, XanaNews copies in - or 'quotes' the
selected text in the message pane. This neat feature allows you to
easily respond to the salient bit of a message, without quoting too much.
The 'Quote Full Text if None Selected' allows you to control what
happens if no text is selected in the message pane when you click 'Reply'.
Check for latest versions on the Internet
XanaNews can check for later versions of itself on the Internet. If it
notices that a new version is available a link is displayed in the status
bar.
To achieve this, XanaNews downloads the file
http://www.btinternet.com/~wilsoncpw/xananews.txt and checks its contents.
No information is uploaded.
Find Message Id on Internet
Enter the URL for the search engine. %id% will be replaced with the raw
message id, and %qid% will be replaced with the message id, encoded in
quoted printable format.
For example:
* http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?threadm=%qid%
  will use Google Groups search to locate the message in its thread.
* http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?selm=%qid%
  will use Google Groups search to locate the individual message

XanaNews > Help > Contents > Working with XanaNews > Options - Colours
& Fonts

Options - Colours & Fonts
The Colours & Fonts section allows you to choose the font and colour for
each area in the workspace.
Message Tree
You can use the root 'Message Tree' item to select the font, font style
and background colour for all the Message Tree elements together.
Alternatively you can select an individual element to change the font,
font colour, font style and background colour. The following individual
elements can be selected:
*Regular Messages          The default colour for message headers
*Messages To Me            Messages in threads you've posted to
*My Messages               Messages written by you
*XanaNews Messages         Messages from other XanaNews users
*Dormant Messages          Messages with no unread replies
*Replies to my messages    Direct responses to your messages
*Ignore Messages           Messages marked as 'Ignore'
Note that the font style applies to messages that have been read. You can
select additional font styles for unread messages in the Message Tree
settings
While it's fun to see other XanaNews users' messages in a different colour,
its not to everyone's taste. Turn the feature off in Message Tree settings,
rather than by changing the colour and font here.
Message Pane
You can use the root 'Message Pane' item to select the font, font style
and background colour for all the Message Pane elements together.
Alternatively you can select an individual element to change the font,
font colour, font style and background colour. The following individual
elements can be selected:
*Regular Text       The default colour for messages
*Header Text        The colour used to display headers in the message pane
*Signatures Text    The colour used to display signatures
*Level 1 Quotes     Used to display level 1 quotes
*Level 2 Quotes     Used to display level 2 quotes
*Level 3 Quotes     Used to display level 3 quotes
Message Editor
The Message Editor section allows you to select what font, font colour,
font style and background colour are used in the message editor.
Groups Tree
The Groups Tree section allows you to configure what font, font colour,
font style and background colour are used in the Subscribed Groups tree.
Note that the font style applies to messages that have been read. You can
select additional font styles for unread messages in the Groups Tree settings

XanaNews > Help > Contents > Working with XanaNews > Options - The Groups Tree

Options - The Groups Tree
The Groups Tree shows the accounts and newsgroups you're subscribed to. This
section controls how the Groups Tree is displayed.
Show Message Count
If Show Message Count is checked, XanaNews displays the total number of
messages in each group, as well as the number of unread messages.
Auto Expand Tree
When Auto Expand Tree is checked, XanaNews automatically expands the group
tree when it is started.
Show Groups with Unread messages
When a group has unread messages XanaNews can display the group name with
additional attributes - Bold, Underlined or Italic.
This is in addition to any font settings for the groups tree made in
Options - Colours & Fonts
Trim Group Names
XanaNews can trim long group names so that you don't need to make the
groups tree too wide. There are three 'trim' options:
*Don't Trim.
 The group names are shown in full. eg. comp.os.windows.misc
*Relaxed.
 The last two segments of the group name are displayed in full. The
 remaining segments are truncated to a single character. eg.
 c.o.windows.misc
*Aggressive.
 Only the last segment of the group name is displayed in full. The
 remaining segments are truncated to a single character. eg. c.o.w.misc
Show Markers for Interesting Messages
This controls whether the 'Interesting Messages' symbol is displayed in
the groups tree alongside groups containing interesting messages - as well
as in the message tree next to the individual interesting message.
*'Don't Show' specifies that the symbol is never shown in the groups tree.
*'Unread' specifies that the symbol is shown if the group contains unread
 interesting messages.
*'All' specifies that the symbol is shown if the group contains any
 interesting messages

XanaNews > Help > Contents > Working with XanaNews > Options - The Message
Tree

Options - The Message Tree
Use the Message Tree options to control the appearance of the message tree
and its message headers.
Show Unread Messages
Select a font style with which to display unread message headers. This is
applied in addition to the style specified in Colours & Font Settings
Show First Line as Subject
When selected, this causes the 'Subject' column to display the first non-
quoted, non-blank line as the subject. Otherwise you will see a set of
subject lines, all the same, starting with 're:'
Hide Folder Icons
Hide the 'Folder' icons that appear next to messages with replies. I have
this checked, to save space.
Hide Read Messages
Hide messages marked as read. Note that this only happens when you leave
and re-enter the group. I like to see entire threads, so I leave this
unchecked.
Don't Highlight Other XanaNews Users
While it's fun to see other XanaNews users' messages in a different colour,
its not to everyone's taste. Turn the feature off here, rather than in
Colours & Fonts
Use Highlight Colour for Selected Text
Controls the colour used to display selected items in the message tree,
and also in the subscribed groups tree. Usually highlighted items look
like this.
Select this option to make the look like this:
Tree Column
Select the column in which the tree is displayed. I display the tree in
the 'Flags' column.
Hide Columns
Select any columns you want to hide. Hiding column saves space. I usually
hide the 'Number' column.

XanaNews > Help > Contents > Working with XanaNews > Message Tree Actions

Message Tree Actions
Use the Message Tree Actions options to control how the message tree behaves.
Auto Expand Threads
Automatically expand the whole thread when you click on one of its messages.
Auto Centralize Message
Automatically scroll the message tree so that the selected message is
centered.
Auto Expand when Changing Groups
Automatically expand all messages when you select a group.
Auto Download on Click
Automatically download a message body when you click on a message header.
Auto Mark as Read
Allows you to automatically mark a message as read a short while after you
select it.

XanaNews > Help > Contents > Working with XanaNews > Options - The Message
Pane

Options - The Message Pane
The Message Pane options control the basic functionality of the message
pane and how messages are displayed.
Display Header Details Bar
Turn on and off the display of the header details bar, which appears
between the message tree and message pane. The header details bar shows
the message number, author and subject.
In addition, the message header bar contains a 'Fixed Font' button 'F',
and a drop-down list of character sets.
*Click the 'Fixed Font' button to set the message pane display to
 temporarily use a fixed-pitch font. This can be useful when a message
 contains tables, program listings, ASCII art, etc.
*Use the drop-down list of character sets to adjust the temporarily adjust
 the currently selected message's character set.
Because the header details bar shows the message number, you may want to
turn off the message number column altogether, so that there's more space
for the rest of the columns.
Check Spelling
This option is clearly in the wrong place. It will be moved to the
'Program Settings' section!
It controls whether spelling is checked when you post a message. Note that
you can only enable this if you have installed the ISpell spell-checker
system.
No X-Faces
X-Faces are the small, black & white picture that you see at the very top
of some messages. Turn off their display with this option.
You can add your own X-Face to your messages. See the Identities section
for details
No HTML Decoding
Some people post messages containing the same text in two sections - a raw
text section and an HTML section. Using HTML section allows your messages
to use different fonts, colours, etc. like a web page.
HTML messages are usually discouraged in USENET, because they waste
resources by at least doubling the size of every message. In addition,
they expose your computer to the risk of catching viruses etc.
XanaNews does not let you post HTML messages, but it will display them if
it finds them. Use this option to completely turn of the display of the
HTML part of these messages.
Wrap Lines at 'n' Characters
Use this option to control how XanaNews wraps messages when displaying
them in the message pane.

[end part 3; see part 4 for continuation]