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A Proposed Standard for Motif Screen Captures
In Digital Documentation
by Ross Warner
CUIP/ASG
This document proposes a standard appearance for Motif screen
captures in Digital printed and online documentation, and de-
scribes procedures for setting display resources to enable these
screen captures.
For Digital internal use only.
17-April-1991
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Internal Use Only
Digital Internal Use Only
1 Statement of the Problem
There has been confusion in the writing community about how to
capture Motif screens for use in documentation ever since Dig-
ital decided to use the OSF/Motif windowing system for DECwin-
dows Version 3. There have also been concerns about printing
and legibility of these screen captures since January 1990, as
documented in CLOSET::UTOX Note 238.
If you are displaying Motif windows on a single-plane (black-
and-white) workstation, you have no problem creating screen
captures. You can use UTOX to create an SDML file along with
figure files for PostScript, Sixel, and FSE (Bookreader) for-
mat, and include the SDML file in your VAX DOCUMENT source file.
Black-and-white Motif windows are not as pretty as color Mo-
tif windows, but this is the appearance that many, if not most,
customers see; I believe customers buy more single-plane work-
stations that color workstations. In addition, Digital docu-
mentation will not be printed in full color in the foreseeable
future.
Writers capturing Motif windows on an eight-plane color or
grayscale display device are unsure how to capture screens for
documentation because no standard has been defined. Using the
default color or grayscale setup, they can use UTOX to capture
PostScript or Sixel screens that show Motif's 3-D appearance.
However, converting to single plane (as required for Bookreader
FSE files) loses the 3-D appearance as well as important in-
formation such as shading in check boxes and radio buttons (see
Figure 2). Bookreader FSE figures must be single-plane because
customers must be able to display the figure on a single-plane
device.
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2 Creating Guidelines for Motif Screen Captures
I suggest that CUIP adopt a documentation standard for Motif
screen captures, so that writers can create consistent, clear
Motif screen captures without having to agonize about what looks
best and fiddle with DECwindows defaults files. I propose that
this standard be single-plane screen captures for both hardcopy
and online documentation that look the same as default Motif
screens displayed on a single-plane device. Figure 1 shows an
example of such a screen capture.
Figure 1: Proposed Standard Appearance for Motif Screen Cap-
tures
Can't display screen in ASCII format; please copy
GUESS::WRITERS$1:[WARNER.PUBLIC]MOTIF_STANDARD.PSor
GUESS::WRITERS$1:[WARNER.PUBLIC]MOTIF_STANDARD.DECW$BOOK*
There are several good reasons that writers should use screen
captures of single-plane images for documentation:
o The Bookreader requires single-plane images. CUIP has ex-
pressed many times that online documentation should be
considered the default.
o Figures in online and hardcopy documentation should be sim-
ilar; I think it would be confusing and inconsistent to use
figures that look radically different.
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o Capturing eight-plane screens for hardcopy and single-plane
screens for Bookreader is time consuming, and requires manip-
ulating DECwindows defaults files and restarting DECwindows
in order to achieve the proper 3-D Motif appearance for both
figures. The process is more than twice as long.
o The figure file for a PostScript screen capture of an eight-
plane image is roughly eight times the size of the file for a
single-plane image (3500 blocks versus 440, for a capture of
the entire GPX screen). This large file size is the main
reason that the OSF/Motif Style Guide is so big, 27,761
blocks.
3 Setting Up a Multiplane Display for Default Single-Plane
Appearance
If you are using a grayscale or a color display, you need to
convert the image in the UTOX window to single plane before
saving in order to create an FSE file for the Bookreader. A
grayscale image may appear black and white, but when it is
converted to single plane all light shades turn white and all
dark shades turn black; this also occurs when converting a color
image to single plane.
As mentioned before, if you are using a single-plane display you
are ready to capture Motif screens. However, if you are using a
multiplane display you need to make changes to the DECwindows
defaults files that Motif reads when it sets up your display
environment.
The default settings for a single-plane display are best for
capturing the 3-D appearance of Motif in a black-and-white
figure. Files for these default settings are available in the
directory DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS. You need to copy these default
files and make some changes to one of them.
For a color display device, follow the directions in Section 3.1
and Section 3.3.
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For a grayscale display device, follow the directions in Sec-
tion 3.2 and Section 3.3.
3.1 Setting Up a Color Display for Screen Captures
If you are using a color display, use the following command
procedure:
$ SET DEFAULT SYS$LOGIN
$ CREATE/DIR [.MOTIF_MYSETUP] ! to store resource files
! for your color setup
$ CREATE/DIR [.MOTIF_BW] ! to store resource files
! for Motif screen captures
$ SET NOON
$ COPY DECW$SM_COLOR.DAT [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]*.*
$ COPY DECW$MWM.DAT [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]*.*
$ COPY DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]*.*
$ SET ON
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$MWM_BW.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_BW]DECW$MWM.DAT
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$XDEFAULTS_BW.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_BW]DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$SM_BW.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_BW]DECW$SM_COLOR.DAT
You can copy this command procedure as follows:
$ COPY GUESS::WRITERS$1:[WARNER.PUBLIC]COLOR_COPY.COM *.*
If any of the three files DECW$SM_COLOR.DAT, DECW$MWM.DAT, or
DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT are missing from your SYS$LOGIN directory,
use one or more of the following commands to copy them to [.MO-
TIF_MYSETUP]:
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$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$SM_COLOR.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]*.*
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$MWM_COLOR.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]DECW$MWM.DAT
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$XDEFAULTS_COLOR.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT
3.2 Setting Up a Grayscale Display for Screen Captures
If you are using a grayscale display, use the following command
procedure:
$ SET DEFAULT SYS$LOGIN
$ CREATE/DIR [.MOTIF_MYSETUP] ! to store resource files
! for your grayscale setup
$ CREATE/DIR [.MOTIF_BW] ! to store resource files
! for Motif screen captures
$ SET NOON
$ COPY DECW$SM_GRAY.DAT [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]*.*
$ COPY DECW$MWM.DAT [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]*.*
$ COPY DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]*.*
$ SET ON
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$MWM_BW.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_BW]DECW$MWM.DAT
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$XDEFAULTS_BW.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_BW]DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$SM_BW.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_BW]DECW$SM_GRAY.DAT
You can copy this command procedure as follows:
$ COPY GUESS::WRITERS$1:[WARNER.PUBLIC]GRAY_COPY.COM *.*
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If any of the three files DECW$SM_GRAY.DAT, DECW$MWM.DAT, or
DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT are missing from your SYS$LOGIN directory,
use one or more of the following commands to copy them to [.MO-
TIF_MYSETUP]:
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$SM_GRAY.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]*.*
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$MWM_GRAY.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]DECW$MWM.DAT
$ COPY DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS:DECW$XDEFAULTS_GRAY.DAT
_To: [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT
3.3 Editing DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT
On a multiplane display, the Motif window manager uses a shade
of gray for decorations such as check boxes, radio buttons,
shadows, and scroll bars. This shade is determined by the window
background color. If the window background color is too light,
this gray shade turns white instead of black when you convert
to single plane in UTOX, as does the window background, and
so become invisible. Figure 2 shows the result of this type of
single-plane conversion problem. Notice the appearance of check
boxes, scroll bars, and buttons in the figure, and compare this
figure with Figure 3.
To make the decorations dark enough to turn black instead
of white when you convert to single plane in UTOX, you need
to change the resource *Background in the file [.MOTIF_
BW]DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT to a medium color such as DECWBlue or
MediumAquamarine, as follows:
*Background: MediumAquamarine
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Figure 2: Screen Capture Showing Result of Single-Plane Conver-
sion Problem
Can't display screen in ASCII format; please copy
GUESS::WRITERS$1:[WARNER.PUBLIC]MOTIF_STANDARD.PSor
GUESS::WRITERS$1:[WARNER.PUBLIC]MOTIF_STANDARD.DECW$BOOK*
On a grayscale display, the system converts the color you spec-
ify to a medium shade of gray. This color or shade will turn
white when you convert to single plane, and the decorations will
turn black.
You may also need to change the resource *topShadowPixmap for
application windows you need to capture, by adding a line such
as the following to the file [.MOTIF_BW]DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT:
Appl_name*topShadowPixmap: 50_foreground
If the application creates additional windows, you may also need
to specify *topShadowPixmap for those windows. Ask a developer
on your project for the name to use for "Appl_name."
It is also a good idea to edit [.MOTIF_BW]DECW$SM_COLOR.DAT or
[.MOTIF_BW]DECW$SM_GRAY.DAT so that it reads as follows:
sm.display_pattern: 1
This change makes the screen background behind application
windows plain instead of patterned. You can also change the
background pattern by using the Session Manager Customize Window
dialog box and clicking on Apply.
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4 Starting A New Session Using Defaults For Documentation
Screen Captures
After copying and editing files as described in this Section 3,
use the following steps to start a new session using the default
files you have created for documentation screen captures:
1. Copy [.MOTIF_BW_DEF]*.* to SYS$LOGIN:*.*
2. End the session by choosing Quit from the Session Manager
3. Log in at the DECwindows Start Session dialog box
Now, when you convert to single plane in UTOX before saving a
screen capture, window decorations should preserve the standard
appearance, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Acceptable Screen Capture After Specifying Application-
Specific Resources
Can't display screen in ASCII format; please copy
GUESS::WRITERS$1:[WARNER.PUBLIC]MOTIF_STANDARD.PSor
GUESS::WRITERS$1:[WARNER.PUBLIC]MOTIF_STANDARD.DECW$BOOK*
To restore your normal color or grayscale display, use the
following steps:
1. Copy [.MOTIF_MYSETUP]*.* to SYS$LOGIN:*.*
2. End the session by choosing Quit from the Session Manager
3. Log in at the DECwindows Start Session dialog box
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5 Summary
CUIP should adopt a standard appearance for screen captures
in documentation. The standard I propose, capturing single-
plane screens that look the same as default Motif screens on a
single-plane display device, assures consistent, legible screen
captures that can be used for PostScript, Sixel, or online
documentation.
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