The Ribbon

One of the first changes you'll notice in Author-it 5 is that menus have been replaced with Ribbons. The Ribbon brings ease of use and convenience by bringing the most popular commands to the forefront, so you don't have to hunt in various parts of the program for things you do all the time. Whether you are an Author or Designer, or if you are Reviewing or Publishing your documents, you can find the commands you need at a glance.

The Ribbons contain a series of role-based tabs for working in the Library, or in the Editor. Each tab includes commands that are grouped according to an action, for example formatting text, or inserting images, symbols, and links. Some command groups also include a Dialog Box Launcher , giving you immediate access to settings for the action you're working with.

In addition to the standard tabs, there are also context-based tabs that only display when you are completing certain actions. An example is the Layout tab that contains all of the commands for formatting tables. When the cursor is inside a table the Layout tab is accessible, when you continue working with topic text the Layout tab is hidden.