When the mouse pointer hovers over a hieroglyph in the catalogue window, a pop-up will appear, as shown below.

In the pop-up, the first line indicates the sign's number, P5. The second line indicates what the hieroglyph represents (a sail) and its pronunciation (ṯ3w). The last line has comments. ('Det.' is an abbreviation for 'determinative'. 'Ideo.' is an abbreviation for 'ideogram'.)

To draw a hieroglyph, click on the hieroglyph in the Catalogue dialogue window, then click on the drawing canvas of the main program window. The hieroglyph will be transferred.

In the screenshot at right, a quail chick has been drawn. You can move a shape by clicking on it and dragging the mouse while holding the mouse button down. In this screenshot, the quail chick has been dragged to the right.

When you click on a hieroglyph, blue 'handles' appear around it. These handles can be used to adjust the size of the hieroglyph. Click on a handle, and drag it with the mouse button held down, as shown at right.

You can use keyboard shortcuts to cut, copy and paste hieroglyphs and shapes.

First, click on a shape to select it. At right, the water hieroglyph has been selected.

Next, type ctrl-c to make a copy of the shape. (Hold the control key down while typing 'c'.) Type ctrl-v to paste the copied hieroglyph under the original. Typing ctrl-v again will paste in another copy.

To remove a shape, select it and type ctrl-x.

On Mac computers, command-x, command-c and command-v also work.

To make a hieroglyph face in the opposite direction, select it by clicking on it, then click on the Reflect button, shown at right.

Some hieroglyphs may be drawn vertically or horizontally. To rotate a hieroglyph, select it, then click the Rotate button. The hieroglyph will turn 90 degrees.

Another very useful feature is the ability to create compound shapes. If you click on the Compound Shape button (shown at right), Nefertari will display the 'Choose Shapes' dialogue window (below). This dialogue prompts you to select shapes for inclusion into a compound shape.

Note: Ensure that no hieroglyph is selected when you click on the Compound Shape button. (You can click on the canvas to unselect a shape.) Otherwise, Nefertari will assume that you wish to release the shapes within the hieroglyph.

As you click on shapes, a rectangle with a broken red border will expand to include each shape which you have selected.

After selecting shapes, click on Create. The selected shapes will be joined together. Click on the new compound shape; blue handles will appear. You can now expand, shrink, reflect or rotate the new compound shape.

The names of Egyptian kings and queens were written within a loop of rope, which represents eternity. Modern Egyptologists call these royal names 'cartouches', because the shape is similar to a gun cartridge (in French, 'cartouche').

There is an empty cartouche hieroglyph in the Catalogue window when Nefertari starts up. This shape is a little different from others. Dragging the handles on the left or right will cause the shape to stretch. The other handles will increase or decrease the size of the cartouche proportionally.

After you have made an image which you wish to save, click on the Save button (circled in red) or select 'Save' or 'Save as...' from the Drawings menu.

A 'File Save' dialogue will appear. Enter a file name and extension (eg. pharaoh.nfr) and click on Save.

The file type 'nfr' can only be viewed with Nefertari or Grafikilo 16. If you want to post your drawing on Facebook or display it on a homepage, you must export it to another graphics format. Png and jpg are the best formats for sharing images.

Select 'Export' from the Drawings menu. A 'File Save' dialogue (as below) will appear. Select a location, enter a file name, eg. pharaoh.png or pharaoh.jpg, and Save.

Nefertari is a general purpose vector graphics editor. You can do a lot more with it than just draw hieroglyphs. The pages linked below describe Nefertari's graphics functions in more detail. Shapes Colours Miscellaneous