Overview
If you are an experienced Mac user this short section contains all you need to begin producing documents with Sahafi.

After you have installed Sahafi, double click the program 'al-Nashir al-Sahafi' and you'll see the Sahafi window, with rulers around the edge, and containing a new blank page in the center (the page is indicated by a large rectangle.) Don't worry if the page looks 'small', you are in 'size to fit' view, so the whole page is scaled down to fit the window. If you wish to see the page actual size choose Views from the Documents menu.

You will also see two palettes in the window. At the top is the Pages palette which lets you move from page to page within a document. On the left is the Tools palette where you choose tools to work on a page.
 


The Tools Palette

  Pointer (moves objects)   Rotation (rotates objects)  
Hand (scrolls the page) View (changes page view)
Text Block (draws a new text block) Text Edit (edits text in a text block)
Link (links text blocks) Rectangle (draws rectangles)
Picture Block (draws new picture blocks) Cropping (moves pictures within picture blocks)
Lines (draws horizontal and vertical lines) Diagonal Line (draws a diagonal line)
Round Cornered Rectangle (draws rectangles with round corners) Oval (draws ovals and circles)
Polygon (draws polygon shapes) Polygon Editor (changes the shape of polygons)
Article Design (draws a new article design block) Article Edit (edits the article design)
 
The basic idea behind Sahafi is that all pages are built from simple 'blocks'. There are just three types of blocks: text blocks, picture blocks and graphics blocks such as lines. Blocks are created by choosing the appropriate tool from the Tool palette and drawing a new block. All blocks can be moved and resized by using the Pointer tool. And the contents of a block can be edited by choosing the appropriate edit tool from the Tool palette and clicking in the block. For example, to create a text column on the blank page, first choose the Text Block tool, then draw the text block on the page, then choose the Text Edit tool and click in the text block to type text.
List of Operations
The list of operations below is an 'instant overview' of Sahafi designed to get you started fast. When you are ready to produce real projects with Sahafi try opening one of the design templates and modifying it to your needs. The templates are in the 'Templates Folder' and they can save you a lot of time.
  • To change the page view - choose Views from the Document menu, or choose the View tool and click anywhere in the page.

  • To type text - choose the Text Block tool and draw a text block. Choose the Text Edit tool, click in the text block, and start typing.

  • To import a picture - choose the Picture tool and draw a picture block. Choose the Cropping tool, click in the picture block, and choose Import Graphic from the File menu.

  • To move or resize any block - choose the Pointer tool, click the block and drag to move it. Or drag the control points to resize it.

  • To see the specifications of a block - choose the Pointer tool, then double click the block. Make any changes you need and click OK.

  • To create more pages - choose Insert Page from the Page menu.

  • To move to another page - click its icon in the Pages palette.

  • To flow text automatically - select the Link tool and click the first text block, then click the second, continue till you reach the last block and double click it. The blocks can be on the same or different pages. All these blocks are now linked and text will flow automatically through them as you type.

  • To run text around a picture - select the Pointer tool and double click the picture block to get its specifications. Click Runaround and select Shape. Now, when any text block overlaps this picture, text in the block will runaround the picture frame.

  • To use master pages - if you have material that needs to appear on every page of a document (such as lines, or boiler plate text) you can save time by using the master pages in the Pages palette. Anything you put on the Left (L) master appears on ALL the even numbered (left) pages. Anything you put on the Right (R) master appears on ALL the odd numbered (right) pages. There are 26 different L and R master pages labeled 'A' through 'Z'.