Thanks for your patience during our recent outage at scalar.usc.edu. While Scalar content is loading normally now, saving is still slow, and Scalar's 'additional metadata' features have been disabled, which may interfere with features like timelines and maps that depend on metadata. This also means that saving a page or media item will remove its additional metadata. If this occurs, you can use the 'All versions' link at the bottom of the page to restore the earlier version. We are continuing to troubleshoot, and will provide further updates as needed. Note that this only affects Scalar projects at scalar.usc.edu, and not those hosted elsewhere.
Scalar 2 User's GuideMain MenuGetting StartedExplains account and book creation, and some interface basics.QuickStartsA path of all QuickStart content in this user's guide.Working with MediaHow to get the most out of your use of media in Scalar.Working with ContentCreating and editing content in Scalar.Working with WidgetsWorking with StructureHow to use Scalar's many options for structuring publications.Editorial WorkflowHow to use features for performing editorial review of content.VisualizationsExploring the contents of a book visually.LensesAn introduction to lenses, a tool for searching and visualizing Scalar content.Advanced TopicsDescribing Scalar's more advanced features.Third Party Plugins and Platforms
New Ways to Navigate
12015-08-07T21:15:18-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e329633Scalar 2.0: What's Newplain2015-08-10T23:07:37-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673eScalar books are often comprised of complex structures. Scalar 2 was designed to help readers better orient themselves within these structures, including upgraded navigation systems accessed via the new Scalar header.
New Header Navigation
The header incorporates an interactive table of contents allowing users to explore a book without ever leaving the current page. At the top-left of the header bar, you'll find a series of navigation icons. Rolling over the menu icon reveals the book's table of contents, which, as in the old interface, acts as a kind of main menu for the book (and, just as in Scalar 1, authors are free to add whatever content they wish to this menu). Clicking on the title of a page within the table of contents will navigate the reader to that page. Additionally, clicking on the arrow just to the right of a page title will reveal the information tab for that page. If a page in the menu is also a path, tag, comment, or annotation, its information tab will also show its related items, which can themselves be similarly explored. In this way, the table of contents gives readers an interactive, global view of a book's structure.
New Visualization Options
The new interface also comes equipped with a more nuanced and customizable set of global visualizations. Easily accessible via the new header, readers now need only roll over the compass icon and then choose their desired visualization format. Once there, readers can limit, or otherwise define, which sets of objects and relationships within the Scalar book as a whole they’d like to see and in what graphical format. More specifically, readers can choose the "Format" for the visualization, that is, how the connections between content are visualized (choices include: Grid, Tree, Radial and Force-directed); the type of content to be visualized (choices include: All content, Table of contents, All pages, All paths, All tags, All annotations, All media, All comments, or Current page); and the type of connections to be visualized (choices include: All relationships, Parents and children or No relationships).
A More Robust Index
Finally, the new interface includes an expanded index. Users will find the index icon at the bottom of the table of contents accessed from the menu icon in the header. The new index contains a hyperlinked catalog of all content in the current book, divided for the reader's convenience into tabbed categories (Paths, Pages, Media, Tags, Annotations and Comments).
12015-05-26T11:49:00-07:00Scalar Global Visualization1Global Visualization Accessed in Scalar Headermedia/global_visualization.pngplain2015-05-26T11:49:01-07:00
12015-05-26T12:09:29-07:00Scalar Index1Main Index Accessed Via Scalar Headermedia/scalar_index.jpgplain2015-05-26T12:09:29-07:00
reveals the book's table of contents, which, as in the old interface, acts as a kind of main menu for the book (and, just as in Scalar 1, authors are free to add whatever content they wish to this menu). Clicking on the title of a page within the table of contents will navigate the reader to that page. Additionally, clicking on the arrow 
just to the right of a page title will reveal the information tab for that page. If a page in the menu is also a path, tag, comment, or annotation, its information tab will also show its related items, which can themselves be similarly explored. In this way, the table of contents gives readers an interactive, global view of a book's structure.
and then choose their desired visualization format. Once there, readers can limit, or otherwise define, which sets of objects and relationships within the Scalar book as a whole they’d like to see and in what graphical format. More specifically, readers can choose the "Format" for the visualization, that is, how the connections between content are visualized (choices include: Grid, Tree, Radial and Force-directed); the type of content to be visualized (choices include: All content, Table of contents, All pages, All paths, All tags, All annotations, All media, All comments, or Current page); and the type of connections to be visualized (choices include: All relationships, Parents and children or No relationships).
at the bottom of the table of contents accessed from the menu icon