Not Much Need to Buy SB?
 

Go to Frequently Asked Questions Specific to Free SB

If you, as an user of SB v5.9+, are hesitant to buy (authenticate, i.e., register) the free (i.e., un-registered) variety of SB, then this developer, sincerely speaking as a fellow human being, does not really see much need for the same! [Nevertheless, I would be, of course, happy if you would like to donate a small amount (even as low as US $ 3) to ESS, the publisher firm, to support them in their software-development efforts.] For your convenience, I would like to put forward the following suggestions (tutorials) for best exploiting Free-SB even for writing lengthy texts much longer than 33 lines:
 

Exploit Free-SB Tutorials:

1. May use SB just as a mine to generate the ore of skeletal text, and keep storing (preserving) only its exported form in your desired word processor (say, in Word/ WordPad/ 602Text/ PageMaker/ FrontPage/ RoughDraft etc.)! Needn't preserve any copy of the raw ore, isn't it? It is this idea that runs in the next steps below. To proceed, get ready with at least 100 lines (i.e., exactly speaking, >99 SB-size lines) of text in hand (or in your mind).

2. May always run SB to open a particular file (say, even the default i.e., pre-set file a.txt) only! Have that file deleted (yes, I'm talking sense) at the beginning of every SB-session [this deletion is best done by pressing Ctrl+Del at the OK-Not-OK window - you may also instead use the file-explorer available inside SB (obtained after clicking Not-OK, for opening/ creating files), as shown here], then proceed as usual to re-create/ create that file in SB and to fast-type text therein.

3. After fast-typing 33 lines, when Free SB refuses to proceed any further, press Shift+F12 to save & export, then click at the File menu-bar, then at the Close&Reopen File option, and when again in the OK-Not-OK window, press Ctrl+Del to delete and re-create the file similarly.

4. Open the SB5 Output file-link to (present on your Windows Desktop) copy & paste the above exported text into your desired word-processor. Minimize that word-processor window, and again fast-type another 33 lines in SB: when Free SB refuses to proceed any further, press Shift+F12 to save & export, then press ^L (Ctrl+L) to clean the slate.

5. Open the SB5 Output file-link to copy & paste the above newly exported text into (the bottom part of your document lying within) your desired word-processor, then again fast-type your next 33 lines in SB. Click at the lower X button to exit SB, then click at the Simple Save & HTML-Export Package button to export the text. Then again copy & paste this last exported (this time auto-opened) text into (the bottom part of) your document within the word-processor.

6. Delete the particular file (say, a.txt) say by using Windows Explorer, then re-run (SB had been already closed in the last step) SB to open (i.e., in this case re-create) the same file, and repeat the above four (step 2 to 5) steps till you finish typing your lengthy (more than 99 SB-lines long) text material. (If shorter in length, needn't repeat the above steps again!)

N.B. In the file-less save-free text-slates SB-variant, SB-ASTS introduced since v5.9 (Oct 2006 and beyond), writing text in the unregistered free variety becomes even more convenient. In SB-ASTS, you as a unregistered user may utilize an infinite number of such 33-line text-slates every session, each of which slate could be cleaned using ^L (Ctrl+L) similarly. Refer to the SB-ASTS documentation for details about SB-ASTS.

Frequently Asked Questions Specific to Free (Unregistered) SB:

Q1. In Free SB, sometimes I come across the discouraging message while editing text: Joining-up lines is restricted in Free SB! For God's sake, if I can't align lines, how can I finish editing my text?
In Free SB or even in Registered SB, you are not supposed to, and do not also need to, align lines in a manual painstaking way. Instead click the mid-right quasi-button Align (or press hotkey Ctrl+F11) to align (allowed in Free-SB also; note that you must not use this button or hotkey to align text containing poems). [Anyway, remembering that SB is not meant to generate the final formatted text but rather the basic skeletal series of words meant for another final destination, you may as well not bother aligning in SB itself!]

Q2. In Free SB, why I'm being prevented to access the (edit-enabled) Text-Editor more than once per session?
Sorry to do that, but it is simply because someone might have misused such a facility in order to create infinite slates per session in SB, by (saving &) exporting (to final destination document) sets of 33 typed lines again & again, deleting every set (slate) within a Text-Editor Window! (You may also use, if you wish, its 1st-time edit-enabled appearance in this way, thus activating actually 3+1 = 4 slates of 33 lines each per session!)

Q3. I've downloaded & installed Free SB yesterday evening, and I'd like to buy the full (registered) form now. Should I start the payment process to ESS right now?
No, I won't advise you that, for SB is not like most other word-processors you've used till now - it's different in some aspects. Like, in SB, the save file hotkey is not Ctrl+S but F12. By pressing Shift+LeftArrow here, you'll not select the last-typed characters but some 4-s will only appear! Similarly, by pressing Ctrl+LeftArrow here you'll arrive not at the last word, but instead delete some auto-text you've just added. So, we would suggest you do some real typing in SB for some 6-7 days, make sure you really feel at home and satisfied with SB (you'll most probably feel that, anyway), before you pay us something. [We're not interested to hear about customer grudges!]

Q4. Is all these just some transient  dream? Shall we remain able to keep legally using this sort of free form of Free SB for ever? Will Free SB last for years & decades on the internet, even when my hard disk fails?
Free SB will surely always remain this free: for you it might get better over the years, but not worse. Even when your disk fails and is replaced, a similar or better form of Free SB will remain on the internet free for you: even if it is not hosted by any renowned organization (say, for any reason), this developer and/or ESS will keep it internet-hosted in their own sites for you. You may, of course, keep a backup copy of the downloaded installer file in CDs etc. for your future use, if you so wish (however, please, don't distribute SB yourself to others, hurting the hosting organization's interest!).
 

Happy typing, happy editing! -- The Developer