Author

To open the Author preferences page, go toOptions > Preferences > Editor > Edit modes > Author.

The following options are available:

• Author default background color - default background color of the Author editing mode. The background-color CSS property set in the CSS file associated with the current edited document overwrites this option.
• Author default foreground color - default foreground color of the Author editing mode. The color CSS property set in the CSS file associated with the current edited document overwrites this option.
• Highlight elements near caret - defines the background color of the element or elements at caret position.
• Show caret position tooltip - if enabled, the caret position information tooltip is displayed. More information about the position information tooltip can be found in the section Position information tooltip. The documentation tooltip can be disabled from the Annotations preferences panel.
• Show placeholders for empty elements - when enabled, placeholders are displayed for empty elements to make them clearly visible. A placeholder is rendered as a light grey box displaying the element name.
• Show Author layout messages - if enabled, all errors reported during layout creation are presented in the Errors view.
• Show block range - if enabled, a block range indicator is shown in a stripe located in the left side of the editor. The block range indicator is displayed as a heavy line that spans from the first line to the last line of the block.
• Show comments - shows comments of the documents you edit in Author mode.
• Show processing instructions - shows processing instructions of the documents you edit in Author mode.
• Show doctype - shows doctype sections of the documents you edit in Author mode.
• Show very large images - enables the very large (bigger than 6 megapixels) images support in Author mode. Disabled by default.
  Important: If you enable this option and your document contains many such images, Oxygen XML Editor may consume all available memory, throwing an OutOfMemory error. This means that you need to restart the application after you increase the available memory limit.
• Display referred content (e.g.: entities, XInclude, DITA conref, etc.) - when enabled, the references (like entities, XInclude, DITA conref) also display the content of the resources they refer. If you toggle this option while editing, reload the file for the modification to take effect. Enabled by default.
• Format and indent - here you can set the format and indent method that is applied when a document is saved in Author mode, or when switching the editing mode (from Text to Author or vice versa):
  • Only the modified content - the Save operation only formats the nodes that were modified in Author mode.

    The rest of the document preserves its original formatting. Selected by default.

  • The entire document - the Save operation applies formatting to the entire document regardless of the nodes that were modified in Author mode.

    If the Apply also 'Format and Indent' action as in 'Text' edit mode option is enabled, the content of the document is formatted by applying the Format and Indent rules from the Editor/Format/XML option page. In this case, the result of the Format and indent operation will be the same as when it is applied in Text editing mode.

• Quick up/down navigation - speeds up navigation when using up / down keys. The cursor jumps from line to line, without stopping at intermediate positions between element tags.
• Tags display mode - default display mode for element tags presented in Author mode. You can choose between:
  • Full Tags with Attributes - this mode reveals the entire XML markup, easing the transition from a Text based editing to an Author mode editing. Tags contain element names, attribute names, and attribute values.
  • Full Tags - displays name tags that enclose block and inline elements.
  • Block Tags - displays a mix of element name tags that enclose block elements and compact tags that enclose the inline elements.
  • Inline Tags - displays only name tags that enclose the inline elements.
  • Partial Tags - displays compact tags that enclose the inline elements.
  • No Tags - no tags are displayed. This representation is as close as possible to the document published content.
• Tags background color - allows you to configure the Author tags background color.
• Tags foreground color - allows you to configure the Author tags foreground color.