To use EW Notator more efficiently, it is quite helpful to understand the difference between simple symbols and compound symbols. To insert simple symbols into your document, use the Simple Symbols window. To insert compound symbols, use the Compound Symbols bar.
Simple symbols are characters of a special symbol font that provides all raw symbols used in Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation. As regular text processing technology is used, simple symbols can be written only from left to right exactly like ordinary text.
All EW specific expressions are produced by creating compound symbols containing several symbol items organized vertically or horizontally. In most cases these symbol items are simple symbols, but to create some complex expressions another nested compound symbol can also serve as a symbol item. Furthermore, brackets or parentheses may enclose one or more symbol items.
When sizing or aligning a symbol it is important to know that the chosen scaling factor or alignment properties can be applied either to the symbol as a whole or to individual symbol items. Usually you should size or align a symbol as a whole to make it fit into its cell properly.
In contrast editing the properties of symbol items is a more delicate task. You should only need to modify these when you design or modify a compound symbol layout. Whenever possible, you should save these modifications in the User Symbols bar or even edit the Compound Symbol bar, in order to make it available in other documents. You can modify the individual items of a compound symbol by choosing the More button in the Size or Align tabs of the Symbol Properties window. To create a compound symbol from scratch, use the Build Symbol command.