My Manual

Using the features of My Manual, you can add notes to sections of The CSE Manual Online, bookmark your favorite sections, and create style sheets to make a personalized style guide.

 

My Manual features are available to individual and group subscribers. These features can be used only in the desktop version of the ninth edition of The CSE Manual Online.

Bookmarks

 

Bookmarks allow you to flag sections of particular interest in The CSE Manual Online for easy retrieval. Bookmarks can be used only with the numbered sections of chapters 1–33. Each section can contain only one Bookmark. You can no longer add new Bookmarks to the eighth edition.

Inserting Bookmarks

To insert a Bookmark,

1. Click on the Insert Bookmark icon next to the section
2. The bookmark will appear red filled, indicating that the Bookmark has been successfully inserted.

Viewing Bookmarks

You can view the distribution of your Bookmarks in two locations:

1. Under My Manual/Bookmarks just before Part 1 in the Table of Contents. Click on Bookmarks to display a list of the sections containing Bookmarks.
2. In the expanded Table of Contents menu. For any chapter that includes Bookmarks, the Bookmark icon appears to the right of the chapter title. (If there are also Notes in the chapter, the Note icon appears to the right of the Bookmark icon.) The icon also indicates the number of Bookmarks in that chapter. When the Table of Contents for that chapter is expanded, you can also see the individual sections that contain Bookmarks.

The Bookmark icons within the Table of Contents will be updated immediately when you insert or remove a Bookmark from a section.

 

Bookmarks are not stored in folders and do not have titles separate from the titles of the sections that contain them.

Removing Bookmarks

To remove a Bookmark,

1. Click on the Remove Bookmark icon next to the section.
2. The Bookmark icon will no longer be filled, indicating the Bookmark has been successfully deleted.

Notes

 

Notes allow you to add your own comments and reminders to specific sections in the ninth edition of The CSE Manual Online. Notes may also include live links to other sections. You can no longer add new Notes to the eighth edition.

There are two types of Notes:

1. A Section Note is attached to a numbered section as a whole.
2. An Inline Note is attached to selected text within a section.

Both types of Notes can be attached only to the numbered sections of chapters 1–33. Each section can contain any combination of Section Notes and Inline Notes.

Creating Section Notes

To create a Section Note,

1. Click on the Create Note icon, which is the second icon next to the section.
2. A text-editing pane will open beneath the section, allowing you to create and format the text of your Note.
3. When you are finished creating the Note, click on the Submit button beneath the text-editing pane.
4. The Note will appear in the My Notes section beneath the section, under the heading Section Notes. It will not have a title. If you have more than Section Note attached to the section, the Notes will appear in the order in which they were created.

Creating Inline Notes

To create an Inline Note,

1. Click on the Create Note icon, which is the second icon next to the section.
2. Select the text within the section to which you wish to attach a Note.
3. A text-editing pane will open beneath the section, allowing you to create and format the text of your Note.
4. When you are finished creating the Note, click on the Submit button beneath the text-editing pane.
5. The Note will appear in the My Notes section beneath the section, under the heading Inline Notes. It will not have a title. If you have more than one Inline Note attached to the section, the Notes will appear in the order in which they were created (not in the order of the content to which they are attached).
6. The text to which the Note is attached will appear highlighted. When you roll over the highlighted text, the Note will appear in a pop-up balloon.

Formatting Notes

Within the text-editing pane, you can format all or portions of your Note using many functions common to word-processing programs.

Using the drop-down menus, you can

•     Apply one of the predefined text formats
•     Select a font and a relative font size

Using the toolbar, you can

•     Add boldface, italic, underlining, or strike-through to text
•     Change the font color
•     Highlight text
•     Change the alignment of text
•     Convert text to a numbered list or a bulleted list
•     Add or remove indents
•     Add a horizontal rule
•     Add subscripts or superscripts
•     Insert special characters
•     Insert or remove live links to external content or CSE Manual Online sections
•     Insert tables
•     Undo or redo your most recent changes, or remove all character-level formatting

Viewing Notes

You can view your Notes only on the pages of the sections to which they are attached. Each section that contains one or more Notes includes a box titled My Notes beneath the text. To view the Notes, click on the plus icon; to hide the Notes, click on the minus icon.  Section Notes appear before Inline Notes, and Notes of both types appear in the order in which they were created.

 

You can also view the distribution of your Notes (though not the Notes themselves) in two locations:

1. Under My Manual/Notes just before Part 1 in the Table of Contents. Click on Notes to display a list of the sections containing Notes. You can see how many Notes there are in each section.
2. In the expanded Table of Contents menu. For any chapter that includes Notes, the Note icon appears to the right of the chapter title. (If there are also Bookmarks in the chapter, the Bookmark icon appears to the left of the Note icon.) The icon also indicates the number of Notes in that chapter. When the Table of Contents for that chapter is expanded, you can also see the individual sections that contain Notes.

The Note icons within the Table of Contents page will be updated immediately when you create or delete a Note from a section.

Editing Notes

To edit a Note,

1. Click on the plus icon next to My Notes to view the Note.
2. Click on the Update link beneath the Note.
3. The Note will open in a text-editing pane, allowing you to edit or format the Note.
4. When you are finished editing the Note, click on the Submit button beneath the text-editing pane. If you wish to discard your changes to the Note, click on the Cancel button instead.

Searching Notes

When you are logged in to The CSE Manual Online, any Notes you have created are searchable along with the rest of the site’s contents. Search results that appear within Notes are listed under the Notes and Style Sheets tab. 

Deleting Notes

To delete a Note,

1. Click on the plus icon next to My Notes to view the Note.
2. Click on the Delete link beneath the Note.
3. When the dialogue box appears, click on OK to delete the Note or Cancel to stop the deletion.

Printing Notes

You can print a CSE Manual Online section and its associated Notes using your browser’s print function. Be sure My Notes are displayed (click the plus icon) beneath the section before you attempt to print. Notes cannot be printed individually or separately from the section to which they are attached.

Saving Notes to Your Local System

If you have attached one or more Notes to a CSE Manual Online section, you can save the whole page to your local system and view it without logging into the site. The Save To function is intended to help you preserve and access content you have created, so it is activated only in sections to which you have attached Notes.

To save a section with Notes to your local system,

1. Click on the Save link next to the section title. (This link does not appear in sections that do not contain Notes.)
2. A new window will appear within the browser, displaying the page to be saved. At the bottom of the window, click on Yes to save the page or No to cancel the save.
3. The page will be saved to your local system as an HTML file download as specified in your browser settings. Any links within the page to CSE Manual Online sections will be live, but to access the content indicated by the links, you will need to be logged into the site.

Emailing Notes

If you have attached one or more Notes to a CSE Manual Online section, you can email the whole page to one or more people. The Email function is intended to help you share content you have created, so it is activated only in sections to which you have attached Notes.

To email a section with Notes,

1. Click on the Email link next to the section title. (This link does not appear in sections that do not contain Notes.)
2. A new window will appear within the browser with the standard fields for an email message. The page to be emailed will appear as an attachment, which you can view by clicking on the link.
3. Fill in the email address(es) of the intended recipient(s) of the email message. The From field will automatically list the email address associated with your CSE Manual Online account.
4. If you wish, you may add a message in the text box, and you may also edit the subject line provided by the email feature.
5. At the bottom of the window, click on Send or Cancel.
6. The page will be sent as an HTML file. Any links within the page will be live, but to access any CSE Manual Online content indicated by the links, the recipient will need to be a subscriber and will need to log into the site.

Style Sheets

Style Sheets allow you to create your own lists of style guidelines or reminders for specific projects or other purposes. Style Sheets may include text pasted directly out of The CSE Manual Online and live links to CSE Manual Online sections as well as material you have created. Your Style Sheets may collectively contain up to 35,000 characters.

Creating Style Sheets

If you wish to create a Style Sheet from scratch, follow the instructions here. If your new Style Sheet will be based largely on another Style Sheet that you have already created, you may prefer to follow the instructions below under Copying Style Sheets.

 

1. Style Sheets are stored under My Manual/Style Sheets just before Part 1 in the Table of Contents. At the top of the Style Sheets page, click on the New Style Sheet link. A new Style Sheet will open with several editable fields.
2. In the Title field, give your Style Sheet a title. This title will be the primary identifier of the Style Sheet on the Style Sheets page.
3. In the Applies To field, list any additional information that will help you identify the Style Sheet, such as the author or title of the project to which it applies. This information, which is optional, will also appear on the Style Sheets page.
4. In the text-editing pane, create and format the text of your Style Sheet. You may also copy text directly from The CSE Manual Online and paste it into your Style Sheet.
5. When you are finished creating the Style Sheet, click on the Submit button beneath the text-editing pane. If you wish to discard the Style Sheet, click on the Cancel button instead.
6. The Style Sheet will be listed on the Style Sheets page, with the title and any other identifying information you supplied as well as the date and time when it was last edited. If you have more than one Style Sheet, the sheets will automatically be listed alphabetically by title, though you can also sort them by the Applies To and Last Edited fields by clicking on the relevant column heads.

Formatting Style Sheets

Within the text-editing pane, you can format all or portions of your Style Sheet using many functions common to word-processing programs.

Using the drop-down menus, you can

• Apply one of the predefined text formats
• Select a font and a relative font size

Using the toolbar, you can

• Add boldface, italic, underlining, or strike-through to text
• Change the font color
• Highlight text
• Change the alignment of text
• Convert text to a numbered list or a bulleted list
• Add or remove indents
• Add a horizontal rule
• Add subscripts or superscripts
• Insert special characters
• Insert or remove live links to external content or CSE Manual Online sections
• Insert tables
• Undo or redo your most recent changes, or remove all character-level formatting

Viewing Style Sheets

All your style sheets appear in a list on the Style Sheets page, which is accessed under My Manual/Style Sheets just before Part 1 in the Table of Contents.

If you have more than one Style Sheet, the sheets will automatically be listed alphabetically by title, though you can also sort them by the Applies To and Last Edited fields by clicking on the relevant column heads.

To view an individual Style Sheet, click on its title. To return to the list of Style Sheets, click on the Back to the List link at the top of the page, or use the navigation buttons in your browser.

Editing Style Sheets

To edit a Style Sheet,

1. Go to the Style Sheets page and click on the title of the Style Sheet you wish to edit.
2. Click on the Edit link on the top or bottom of the Style Sheet.
3. The Style Sheet will open in a text-editing pane, allowing you to edit or format the Style Sheet.
4. When you are finished editing the Style Sheet, click on the Submit link beneath the text-editing pane. If you wish to discard your changes to the Style Sheet, click on the Cancel link instead.
5. The Last Edited field on Style Sheets page will be updated immediately.

Copying Style Sheets

If you wish to create a Style Sheet that is based largely on one you have already created, you can copy the existing Style Sheet, save it as a new Style Sheet, and edit it as needed.

To copy a Style Sheet,

1. Go to the Style Sheets page, click on the checkbox next to the title of the Style Sheet you wish to copy, and then click on the Copy link at the top or bottom of the page. Or, click on the title of the Style Sheet you wish to copy, and then click on the Copy link at the top or bottom of the Style Sheet.
2. A new Style Sheet will open that is identical to the one copied, except that the title will read “Copy of [original title].” You can edit the title, the Applies To field, and the text of the Style Sheet as needed.
3. When you are finished editing the Style Sheet, click on the Submit link beneath the text-editing pane. If you wish to discard your changes to the Style Sheet, click on the Cancel link instead.
4. The Style Sheet will be listed on the Style Sheets page, with the title and any other identifying information you supplied as well as the date and time when it was last edited.
    

Searching Style Sheets

When you are logged in to The CSE Manual Online site, any Style Sheets you have created are searchable along with the rest of the site’s contents. Search results that appear within Style Sheets are listed under the Notes and Style Sheets tab.

Deleting Style Sheets

To delete a Style Sheet,

1. Go to the Style Sheets page, click on the checkbox next to the title of the Style Sheet you wish to delete, and then click on the Delete link at the top or bottom of the page. (You can delete more than one Style Sheet at once by checking multiple boxes.) Or, click on the title of the Style Sheet you wish to delete, and then click on the Delete link at the top or bottom of the Style Sheet.
2. When the dialogue box appears, click on OK to delete the Style Sheet or Cancel to stop the deletion.

Printing Style Sheets

You can print a Style Sheet using your browser’s print function while you are in View Style Sheet mode. Alternatively, you can save Style Sheets and print saved copies from your local system.

Saving Style Sheets to Your Local System

You can save your Style Sheets to your local system and view them without logging in to The CSE Manual Online.

To save a Style Sheet to your local system,

1. Go to the Style Sheets page and click on the title of the Style Sheet you wish to save.
2. Click on the Save link to the right of the View Style Sheet heading.
3. A new window will appear within the browser, displaying the page to be saved. At the bottom of the window, click on Yes to save the page or No to cancel the save.
4. Follow the prompts provided by your browser to save the page to your local system.
5. The page will be saved to your local system as an HTML file download as specified in your browser settings. Any links within the page to CSE Manual Online sections will be live, but to access the content indicated by the links, you will need to be logged into the site.

Emailing Style Sheets

You can email your Style Sheets to one or more people.

To email a Style Sheet,

1. Go to the Style Sheets page and click on the title of the Style Sheet you wish to email.
2. Click on the Email link to the right of the View Style Sheet heading.
3. A new window will appear within the browser with the standard fields for an email message. The page to be emailed will appear as an attachment, which you can view by clicking on the link.
4. Fill in the email address(es) of the intended recipient(s) of the email message. The From field will automatically list the email address associated with your CSE Manual Online account.
5. If you wish, you may add a message in the text box, and you may also edit the subject line provided by the email feature.
6. At the bottom of the window, click on Send or Cancel.
7. The page will be sent as an HTML file. Any links within the page will be live, but to access any CSE Manual Online content indicated by the links, the recipient will need to be a subscriber and will need to log into the site.