Formatting individual bits of text: To set the font of text
Stick with standard fonts when formatting. You cannot count on every computer having specialized fonts to view your page.
§ Select the text you wish to change.
§ If the Properties Window is not open, open it by selecting Properties from the Window menu.
§ Select a font from the font styles pull-down menu. Notice that several fonts are listed in the same selection. These are related fonts that the browser can substitute if the font of choice is not available.
§ If you leave the font set to "Default Font" the page will display whatever font the person viewing your page has set as the standard. Usually, but not always, this will be Times.
Formatting individual bits of text: To set the size of text
Most (but not all!) browsers are set to present text at roughly 10 point or 12 point. If you leave the Size set to "None," the text will follow whatever setting the reader has set in his/her browser. You can override these settings.
§ Select the text you wish to change.
§ If the Properties Window is not open, open it by selecting Properties from the Window menu.
§ There are two ways to specify a font size: You can either tell it an "absolute" size from very small (1) to very large indeed (7), or you can tell it a relative size (so many sizes larger (+1, +2, etc.) or smaller (-1, -2, etc.) than standard).
§ Set your font size from the pull-down menu.
Formatting individual bits of text: To set the color of text
Above you learned how to set the text color for the entire page. If you want a small bit of text to stand out from the standard color you can override the default color.
§ Select the text you wish to change.
§ If the Properties Window is not open, open it by selecting Properties from the Window menu.
§ Click on the square color box
to the right of the size pulldown.
§ Dreamweaver will present a palette of colors from which to choose.
§ Click on the color you want with the eyedropper.
ü Note that you can also use the eyedropper to select other colors anywhere on your monitor (Mac) or in any Dreamweaver window (Windows). Keep in mind, however, that these colors may not look the same on other computers.
ü It is good to use background and text colors that contrast. If your background is light use dark text colors. If your background is dark use light text colors.
§ Dreamweaver will display your color choice in the color box and will enter the corresponding hex code for the color.
Formatting individual bits of text: Adding emphasis to text
Avoid using underlines to emphasize text or to indicate the titles of books. People expect underlined text to be a link and can get frustrated if it is not. Add emphasis with bold and Italics. Use Italics to indicate the titles of books.
§ Select the text you wish to change.
§ If the Properties Window is not open, open it by selecting Properties from the Window menu.
§ Click either the B or I button to turn bolding and/or italics on.
§ To turn it off, select the text and press the button again.
Formatting paragraphs: Aligning text
§ Put the text cursor inside the paragraph that you want to align, or, if you want to format more than one paragraph, highlight all of the paragraphs you wish to change.
§ If the Properties Window is not open, open it by selecting Properties from the Window menu.
§ Click on the appropriate text alignment button (Left justified, centered, right justified).
Formatting paragraphs: Indenting text
§ Put the text cursor inside the paragraph that you want to indent, or if you want to format more than one paragraph highlight all of the paragraphs you wish to change.
§ If the Properties Window is not open, open it by selecting Properties from the Window menu.
§ Click the right indent button to move the entire paragraph to the right. You can do this repeatedly to indent multiple levels. § Click the left indent button to move the entire paragraph to the left. The text will not move further than the left margin.
Formatting paragraphs: Creating lists
§ Separate the words or sentences that will make up the list by carriage returns, such as:
Apples
Motorcycles
Computers
§ Highlight all of the paragraphs you wish to be part of the list.
§ If the Properties Window is not open, open it by selecting Properties from the Window menu.
§ Click the bullet list button to create a bullet list:
§ Apples
§
§ Motorcycles
§ Computers
§ Click the numbered list button to create a numbered list:
1. Apples
2.
3. Motorcycles
4. Computers
§ Depending on your settings you may not see numbers in the numbered list. Instead, you may see number signs (#). These will appear as numbers when the page is viewed through a web browser.
§ You can indent lists.
Formatting paragraphs: Paragraph styles
Often you can use pre-defined styles to set several text properties at once.
§ Put the text cursor inside the paragraph to which you wish to apply a style. If you want to apply the same style to more than one paragraph, highlight all of the paragraphs you wish to change.
§ If the Properties Window is not open, open it by selecting Properties from the Window menu.
§ Choose a paragraph style from the "Format:" menu. The Styles include:
ü Paragraph -- offers "plain text," single spaced within a paragraph, double spaced between paragraphs
ü Heading 1 through Heading 6 -- offer a range of large to small formats for use with different levels of titles, subtitles or other headings
ü Preformatted -- is useful when you are trying to align words or numbers since it uses courier font
§ Note that you can override the paragraph style by sub-selecting a piece of text and applying formatting to it.
§ You can apply text alignment, color, indenting, and other functions to text formatted with Paragraph styles.
