<chapter label="1" id="quickstart-chapter">
<title>Quickstart</title>
  <sect1 id="what-can-you-do">
  <title>What Can You Do?</title>
    <para>
    <application>Dia</application> is a diagraming application made for many 
    people.  <application>Dia</application> is easy enough to learn without
    much hassle and flexible enough to make the power users feel right at home
    with their commercial tools.  Below is an example of what five minutes of
    using <application>Dia</application> can provide.
    <figure>
    <title>Demo</title>
      <screenshot>
        <screeninfo>This is a diagram of a home network produced in under
        5 minutes using <application>Dia</application>.
        </screeninfo>
        <graphic format="PNG" fileref="graphics/home_network.png" srccredit=
	"Kevin Breit" />
      </screenshot>
    </figure>
  </para>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="starting-dia">
  <title>Starting Dia</title>
   <para>
    You can start Dia by going into the Applications section on the Main Menu
    and clicking on the Dia icon.  Or, you can type <command>dia</command> in
    a console window or xterm.
   </para>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="quickstart-intro">
  <title>Quickstart Introduction</title>
   <para>
    The Dia Quickstart is for the user who doesn't want to read a whole
    manual to make a basic diagram.
   </para>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="creating-canvas">
  <title>Creating a Canvas</title>
   <para>
    All diagrams are drawn in their own <emphasis>canvas</emphasis>.  To
    create a new canvas, select
    <menuchoice>
     <guimenu>File</guimenu>
     <guimenuitem>New Diagram</guimenuitem>
    </menuchoice>
    A new canvas window will appear.
   </para>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="making-diagram">
  <title>Making a Diagram</title>
   <para>
    A diagram is made up of objects.  Objects are shapes that can be different
    colors, shapes, and sizes.  They include everything from 2-bit images to
    full color pictures to text.
   </para>
   <para>
    To add object to the canvas, click on an object in the toolbox and click
    on the canvas.  The selected object will appear.  The object can be
    manipulated mainly by clicking and dragging on the green corner buttons.
   </para>
   <para>                                                                     
    In the toolbox, you can double-click on any object to view its advanced
    properties.  This allows you to customize the stock shape more to your
    liking.
   </para>
   <para>
    Layers create multiple-images so they are one image.
    By doing this, a user can edit one layer without worrying about affecting
    any of the other layers.
   </para>
   <para>
    Transparency allows objects to have
    transparent parts of an object, so anything behind the transparent
    section shows through.
   </para>
   <para>
    Plug-ins allow the average user to easily add new object types to Dia, to
    help extend its functionability.
   </para>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="save-print-diagram">
  <title>Saving and Printing Your Diagram</title>
   <para>                                                                           Saving your diagram and printing your diagram is as easy as creating and
    modifying your document.
   </para>
   <para>
    Dia supports saving and printing to printers.  If you have gnome-print
    installed, the printing is very easy!
   </para>
   <para>
    The print command can be found in the File menu when right-clicking on the
    canvas.
   </para>
   <para>
    Dia supports exporting to numerous formats for excellent web publishing.
    Some of them include:
    <itemizedlist>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Computer Graphics Metafile (.cgm)
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>                                                                           Encapsulated Postscript (.eps)
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Native Dia Format (.dia)
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Portable Network Graphics (.png)
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Scalable Vector Graphics  (.svg)
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
   </para>
   </sect1>
   <sect1 id="who-appeal-too">                                                     <title>Who Does Dia Appeal To?</title>
    <para>
     Dia can appeal to many people in a variety of industries.
     <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        An electrical engineer may use <application>Dia</application> to
        create a diagram to show how their circuit works.
       </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        A computer programmer may use a flow chart to show the execution path
        of their program.
       </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        A network administrator is able to create a diagram to show how their
        company network is layed out.
       </para>
      </listitem>                                                             
     </itemizedlist>
    </para>
 </sect1>
</chapter>                                              
