Documentation for Yet Another NewsWatcher consists of a number of different files organized into several folders.
The primary user guide is "YA-NewsWatcher User Guide." This is an illustrated "Yet Another File Viewer" document. It explains what files and folders Yet Another NewsWatcher uses, and discusses the useful features of the program.
"Non-English Docs" is a folder containing simple Japanese and Chinese language setup instructions for using Yet Another NewsWatcher in Japanese and Chinese language newsgroups. Note that these documents were written for older versions of YA-NewsWatcher. Some program details may have changed.
"Revision History" is a text file documenting the revision history of Yet Another NewsWatcher, indicating what changes, improvements, and fixes have been made since Yet Another NewsWatcher was first released.
The best way to maximize the use and enjoyment you get out of Yet Another NewsWatcher and minimize problems is to carefully read these documents, along with the excellent, clearly-written, and carefully-organized original NewsWatcher user guide by John Norstad.
If you've used Yet Another NewsWatcher before, and have already read the user docs, I suggest you look at the "Revision History" document to see what has changed since your current version of Yet Another NewsWatcher, then read the appropriate sections in the Yet Another NewsWatcher User Guide.
Starting Up
Like original NewsWatcher, when you start the program and an existing prefs file can't be found, you're shown the “New User” dialog that lets you create a new prefs file with the settings for the news server you wish to use. When this happens a pair of dialogs are shown which allow some essential settings to be specified, such as the news and mail server address and your email address. The program will then try to fetch the full group list from the news server you specify.
Please note that the settings you supply are just a tiny fraction of those in the various panes of the preferences dialog. For maximum satisfaction and performance you should make a point to review all the preferences settings to ensure that they're what's best for you. Many settings are described in the original or Yet Another NewsWatcher user guide. Balloon help is also available with concise descriptions of what the various settings do.
If you're using a news server that requires authentication, the initial attempt to connect to the server and fetch the full group list will fail because you have not specified your username and password for the server, nor told the program that authentication is required with this news server. You'll need to enter the necessary information into the “Authentication” pane of the prefs dialog and restart. Note that checking “Always authenticate” is usually the proper item to check when using an authenticating server.
File Types and Creators
Yet Another NewsWatcher now has its own application signature of 'YANW' instead of the 'NNTP' creator code used by original NewsWatcher. This ends the confusion of what application will be launched if you have multiple varieties of NewsWatcher on your hard disk. Double-clicking a Yet Another NewsWatcher files will only launch Yet Another NewsWatcher, and not some other version. It also means you can't accidentally corrupt a Yet Another NewsWatcher prefs file by using it with MT-NewsWatcher. An Apple Script droplet is available for changing the file creator to the new value, and back again. Also Message files are no longer of type 'TEXT' but rather 'MESS'. An Apple Script droplet is available for changing the file type and creator for old message files to the new values, and back again.
