When you need help, use the following sources of information about Yet Another NewsWatcher:
• Balloon help. Yet Another NewsWatcher has complete balloon help for all of its menus, commands, dialogs, and windows. Use the Show Balloons command in the Help menu to turn on balloon help. Then point to items on the screen to see help balloons about them.
• Help topics. For summaries of how to perform common tasks in Yet Another NewsWatcher, and for summaries of Yet Another NewsWatcher’s keyboard shortcuts, use the help documents in the Help menu. You are reading one of these help documents now, which provides a quick overview of Yet Another NewsWatcher.
• User document. The original NewsWatcher has a comprehensive user document which contains both tutorial and reference information. You should read at least the tutorial parts of the user document. See the about box for instructions on how to get a copy of the user document. Although useful, Yet Another NewsWatcher’s online help features are not a substitute for the user document. Please read the user document! Yet Another NewsWatcher has its own supplementary user guide. Read them all!
Getting Started
If you are new to Usenet, we recommend that you start by using the full group list window to browse in any of the groups which look interesting. To open a group, double-click its name, or select it and press the Return key. This opens a window listing the subjects and authors of all the current articles in the group. To open an article, double-click its line in the subject window, or select it and press the Return key.
You might like to begin by exploring some of the “comp.sys.mac” groups. Another group you should explore is “news.announce.newusers.” Your organization may have set up local groups which you also might like to explore.
Tip: The full group list is very large. To quickly find a group, use the Find command in the Edit menu.
When you read the news using the full group list, Yet Another NewsWatcher always shows you all of the available articles on your news server, whether you have already read them or not. To have Yet Another NewsWatcher keep track of which articles you have read, and only show you the new ones, you need to create a “user group list.” See the next topic Subscribing and Unsubscribing for details on how to do this.
Subscribing and Unsubscribing
Most people like to build a small list of groups which they are most interested in reading most of the time. This list is called your “user group list.” Adding a group to this list is called “subscribing.” Removing a group from this list is called “unsubscribing.”
To build your user group list, first make certain you have an “untitled” user group list window open on your screen. If you don’t have one, use the New Group Window command in the File menu to create one. Also make certain the full group list window is visible. If it isn’t, use the Show Full Group List command in the Windows menu to make it visible.
To subscribe to a group, select it in the full group list, then drag it into your user group list window. To unsubscribe to a group, select it in your user group list window and press the Delete key. To rearrange the order of the groups in your user group list window, drag the groups.
Use the Save command in the File menu to save your user group list on your hard drive or floppy disk. Give the file whatever name you wish, for example “My News.” The picture below shows what this file looks like on your hard drive or floppy disk:
In the future, when you want to read the news, double-click this file to run Yet Another NewsWatcher instead of double-clicking the Yet Another NewsWatcher program file. This runs Yet Another NewsWatcher, opens your saved user group list, and checks to see if any new articles have appeared in your subscribed groups.
Reading the News
Here’s one efficient way to read the news:
1. Double-click your saved user group list file to run Yet Another NewsWatcher.
2. Press the Return key to open the first group with new articles.
3. Use the down arrow key to advance down the list of articles until you get to
one which looks interesting.
4. Press the Return key to open the interesting article.
5. When you finish reading the article, use the Next Article command in the
News menu to advance to the next article in the thread.
6. When you get to the end of the thread, the Next Article command
automatically returns to the subject window.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 until you have read all the interesting articles in the
group.
8. When you finish reading all the interesting articles in a group, use the
Next Group command in the News menu. Yet Another NewsWatcher marks all the
articles in the current group read, closes the current subject window, and
then opens the subject window for the next group in your list which has
unread messages. This is a very convenient shortcut for rapidly going
through the news. Marking all the articles in a group read instead of
reading all of them is called “catching up.”
9. Repeat steps 3-8 until you have read and caught up with all of your
subscribed groups.
10. Use the Quit command in the File menu to quit. Yet Another NewsWatcher
asks if you want to save changes to your user group list. Click the Save
button.
Reading Old Articles
Sometimes you may want to go back and reread an article which you have already read in an earlier newsreading session. There are several ways to do this:
• Open the group from the full group list instead of from your user group list. The full group list always shows all of the available articles on your server, whether you have read them or not.
• Use the Search command in the Special menu to search for the article. This is particularly useful if you remember all or part of the author’s name or the article’s subject.
• Select the group in your user group list window. Use the Mark Unread command in the News menu to mark the entire group unread. Open the group.
• Hold down the Option key while opening a group. Yet Another NewsWatcher asks you to enter the most recent number of articles to fetch. Type a number which you think is big enough. We’ll use 50 as an example (assuming the article you want is among the most recent 50 articles posted to this group). Yet Another NewsWatcher resets the list of unread articles in your group to be the most recent 50 articles, then opens the group to show you just those 50 articles.
• If the old article is the article to which the current article is a followup, look at the beginning of the article for an attribution line which contains a “message id” in angle brackets (<...>). Hold down the key while clicking the message id. Yet Another NewsWatcher opens the referenced article.
• If the old article is an earlier article in the thread you are currently reading, try using the Open All References command in the Special menu. This command opens the article to which the current article is a followup, then the article to which that article was a followup, and so on back to the beginning of the thread.
Preferences
Yet Another NewsWatcher has a large number of preferences which let you tailor the program to fit your particular tastes and needs. Use balloon help to get more information about each of the options.
Replying to Articles
To reply to an article via a public followup posting, use the Followup via Posting command in the News menu. To reply via a private email message, use the Reply via Email command in the News menu. In either case, Yet Another NewsWatcher opens a message window which you use to compose your reply.
There are three icons at the top of the message window. To check or uncheck an icon, click it.
News icon. If this icon is checked, the message is posted as a news article.
Mail icon. If this icon is checked, the message is sent via email.
Self icon. If this icon is checked, a copy of the message is sent to yourself via email.
Yet Another NewsWatcher includes the text of the article to which you are replying, with “>” characters in front of each line. This is called “quoting.” It is a standard on the Internet for both news and mail. Add your comments to the message. You should delete any parts of the quoted text to which you are not directly replying. Your comments should immediately follow the relevant sections of quoted text.
Posting New Articles
To post a new article starting a new thread, first select the group to which you want to post the article in any group list window. Then use the New Posting command in the News menu.
Type the subject of your article in the Subject field in the message window. Then press the Tab key to advance to the body field in the message window. Type the body of your article, then click the Post button.
You can post an article to more than one group if you wish. This is called “cross-posting.” To cross-post, -click to select the groups to which you want to post the article, then use the New Posting command. You can also add groups later if you wish by typing them in the message window’s Newsgroups field separated by commas.
Use cross-posting sparingly. Cross-posting to a large number of groups is considered very rude. Yet Another NewsWatcher warns you if you try to cross-post to more than 5 groups, and it imposes an absolute limit of 20 groups for any single posting.
Saving and Printing Articles
To save an open article, use the Save command in the File menu.
You can also save articles from subject windows. You don’t have to open the articles to save them. Select one or more articles in a subject window, then use the Save command. Yet Another NewsWatcher saves all of the articles you selected in order on a single file.
To append an article or articles to the end of an existing file, use the Append command in the File menu.
To print an open article, use the Print command in the File menu.
You can also print articles from subject windows. You don’t have to open the articles to print them. Select one or more articles in a subject window, then use the Print command.
Forwarding Articles
To forward a copy of an article via email, use the Forward or Redirect command in the News menu. Yet Another NewsWatcher opens a message window containing a copy of the article. Type the address of the person to whom you wish to forward the article, add any comments to the message, then click the Mail button to send it.
The Forward command is appropriate for sending someone a copy of an article which you think they might find interesting, especially if you want to annotate the article with your own comments. The header and body of the article are copied to the new message body, with quoting. When you mail the message, it is marked as from you. If the recipient replies to the message, the reply is sent to you.
The Redirect command is appropriate for sending yourself a copy of an interesting article, or for sending someone else a copy when you want replies to go to the poster rather than to you. The subject and other header lines are copied from the article. The body of the article is copied to the new message body, without quoting. When you mail the message, it is marked as from the original poster of the article, “by way of” you. If the recipient replies to the message, the reply is sent to the poster of the article. Unlike all other messages, your signature is not appended to redirected messages.
To send yourself a copy of an article (e.g., to file it using your mail program’s filing system, or to save it to reply via email later), use the Redirect command. Uncheck the mail icon, check the self icon, then click the Mail button.
Finding and Searching
Usenet is huge, and it can often be a problem finding things. Yet Another NewsWatcher has two different features for finding information.
The first feature is the Find, Find Again, and Enter Selection commands in the Edit menu. Use these commands to locate information in Yet Another NewsWatcher windows. These commands are quite fast, since they do not involve any kind of network operation. You can use these commands to find information in group and subject list windows as well as in article and text windows. The Find command asks you to enter the string for which you wish to search. The Find Again command uses the previous search string. The Enter Selection command makes the currently selected text the search string.
Tip: To quickly find a group in a group list window, use the Find command and type just the first few characters of each part of the group name separated by periods. For example, finding “co.sy.ma.co” in the full group list quickly jumps to the group comp.sys.mac.comm.
The second feature is the Search command in the Special menu. Use this command to search one or more groups on your news server to find articles matching search criteria. This command always involves a network operation. For example, you could use this command to quickly find all the articles in comp.sys.mac.system which were posted by anyone from Apple Computer.
Opening URLs
“Uniform Resource Locators” (URLs) are a standard notation on the Internet for identifying the locations of files and other kinds of information. People often use this notation in postings to refer to a resource which is available elsewhere on the net. For example,
To access the resource referenced by a URL, hold down the key while clicking anywhere in the URL, or click anywhere in the URL and use the Open URL command in the Special menu.
In the first example above, Yet Another NewsWatcher runs your FTP program (e.g., Fetch or Anarchie) to get a copy of the file. In the second example above, Yet Another NewsWatcher runs your web program (e.g., Netscape, MacWeb, or Mosaic) to connect to the site and display the web page.
You can also -click message id references in angle brackets (<...>) to open referenced articles, and you can -click email addresses to send mail to people.
Extracting Binaries
Sometimes people attach files directly to their postings instead of referring to an FTP site. These files are commonly called “binaries.” When an article contains an attached binary, Yet Another NewsWatcher displays a small file icon in the top right corner of the article window:
To extract the binary and make a copy of the file on your hard drive, click the small file icon, or use the Extract Binaries command in the Special menu.
You can also extract binaries from subject windows. You don’t have to open the articles to extract their binaries. Select one or more articles in a subject window, then use the Extract Binaries command.
Most attached files are encoded in “BinHex” or “uuencode” format. Yet Another NewsWatcher has a built-in decoder that handles the vast majority of usenet binary attachments.
Working with Text
Yet Another NewsWatcher uses the standard Mac conventions for working with text.
To insert text, click at the location where you want the new text to appear, then type the new text.
To select text, click at one end of the text and keep the mouse button held down while moving to the other end of the text. Or click at one end of the text, then hold down the Shift key while clicking at the other end of the text.
To select a word, double-click it.
To select all the text in a window or field, use the Select All command in the Edit menu.
To delete text, use the Delete key or the Clear command in the Edit menu.
To copy and move text, use the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands in the Edit menu.
The Forward delete key on the extended keyboard deletes the next character of text—the character following the insertion point.
Text Arrow Key Shortcuts
In text, the arrow keys work as follows:
Arrow With With With
key Option and
alone key key Option keys
Left arrow Left one Left one To beginning
character word of line
Right arrow Right one Right one To end
character word of line
Up arrow Up one To start of To top To beginning
line paragraph of window of text
Down arrow Down one To end of To bottom To end
line paragraph of window of text
You can repeat these keys to advance one more unit in the same direction. You can also use the Shift key together with any of the combinations shown in the table to extend a selection.
Working with Lists
Yet Another NewsWatcher uses the standard Mac conventions for working with lists.
To select a list item, click it.
To select more than one list item, hold down the key while clicking the additional items.
To select a range of list items, click the item at one end of the range, then hold down the Shift key while clicking the item at the other end of the range.
To select all the items in a list, use the Select All command in the Edit menu.
To deselect all the items in a list, use the Deselect All command in the Edit menu, or click anywhere in the panel area at the top of the list window.
List Arrow Key Shortcuts
In lists, the up and down arrow keys work as follows:
Arrow With With
key and
alone key Option keys
Up arrow Up one To top To beginning
item of window of list
Down arrow Down one To bottom To end
item of window of list
You can repeat these keys to advance one more unit in the same direction. You can also use the Shift key together with any of the combinations shown in the table to extend a selection.
Keypad Shortcuts
Main Keyboard Shortcuts
When you turn on the Main keyboard shortcuts option in the Newsreading Options preferences topic, the following keys on the main keyboard are shortcuts:
I or N Next article.
T Next thread.
J or G Next group.
M Mark read.
U Mark unread.
; Mark others read.
W Close window.
A Select all.
Space bar Next chunk.
The space bar is very useful. It scrolls down one page at a time until you get to the end of an article, then it does a next article operation.
Drag and Drop Shortcuts
• To subscribe to groups, drag them to your user group list window.
• To rearrange groups in your user group list window, drag them.
• To move groups between user group list windows, drag them.
• To move text, select the text, then drag it to its new location.
• To add more groups to a message window, drag them to the Newsgroups field.
• To unsubscribe to groups, drag them to the Finder’s trashcan icon.
• To delete text, drag it to the Finder’s trashcan icon.
• To extract binaries, drag the small file icon from an article window to the
Finder.
• To save articles from a subject window, drag them to the Finder.
• To save text, drag it to the Finder to create a text clipping file.
• To insert a clipping in a message window, drag the clipping file into the
window.
More Shortcuts
Shift + Save, Save As, Append: Save only the selected text.
Shift + Print: Print only the selected text.
Shift + Paste: Paste as quotation.
Shift + Followup via Posting, Reply via Email, Forward: Quote only the selected
text in the followup, reply or forwarded message.
Shift + Redirect: Copy only the selected text to the redirected message.
Shift + drag text: Insert dragged text with quoting.
Option + Save: Save As.
Option + Forward, Redirect: Forward or redirect article to yourself.
Option + Extract Binaries: Present standard file dialog even if default folder
set.
Option + open group: Prompts for most recent number of articles to fetch.
Option + drag text: Copy instead of move.
Option + drag groups between two user group list windows: Copy instead of move.
Option + click attached file icon: Present standard file dialog even if default
+ 1,2 (article windows): Go backward/forward one article.
+ Period, or Escape: Cancel a long operation.
Tab: Advance to next field in dialog window.
Tab: Advance to next field or tab stop in message window.
Option + Tab: Advance to next field in message window.
Shift + Tab: Back up to previous field in dialog or message window.
Control + L: Insert spoiler character.
More Features
Yet Another NewsWatcher offers many additional features, including:
• Filtering (kill files):
Use the filter commands in the News Menu to filter or hilight articles:
You can Kill, Keep, or Hilight articles …
… based on the Subject, From, Date, Organization, or other keywords …
… that contain, start with, exactly equal, or have other relationships …
… to a specified string.
You can also specify a color and a marker character to use for hilighting articles that pass the filter. Three kinds of filters are possible. Local filters apply to a single newsgroup, and are applied last. Regional filters apply to a specified newsgroup and all its offspring newsgroups, and are applied before local filters. Global filters apply to all newsgroups and are applied first.
• Binary posting:
By clicking the Attach File icon in the message window, you can attach a file to your posting which can be optionally uuencoded or binhexed. You can also drag a file to the Attachment: header line to perform the same task.
• Sorting:
By using the Sorting menu under the View Menu, you can sort subject windows by:
article number
article subject
article author
article date
article line count
article hilight color from filtering
article score from filtering
For more information on the numerous other features in Yet Another NewsWatcher, please read the user documents that come with the program.
