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Creating Web Pages with &brandShortName; Composer
Creating Web Pages with
&brandShortName; Composer
&brandShortName; Composer lets you create your own web pages and publish
them on the web. You don't have to know HTML to use Composer; it is as
easy to use as a word processor.
Toolbar buttons let you add lists, tables, images, links to other pages,
colors, and font styles. You can see what your document will look like on
the Web as you create it, and you can easily share your document with
other users, no matter what type of browser or HTML-capable email program
they use.
To start using &brandShortName; Composer:
Click the Composer icon in the lower-left corner of any
&brandShortName; window.
&brandShortName; Composer is an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) editor that
allows you to create and edit web pages. Composer is a WYSIWYG (What
You See Is What You Get) editor, so you can display how your page will look
to the reader as you're creating it. It is not necessary for you to know
HTML, since most of the basic HTML functions are available as commands from
the toolbars and menus.
Composer also lets you edit the HTML source if you want. To view or edit the
HTML source code, open the View menu, and choose HTML Source, or click the
<HTML> Source tab in the Edit Mode toolbar at the bottom of the
Composer window.
To create a web page, use one of the methods described below. Once
you've started a page, you can add and edit text just as you would
in a word processor.
To create a new page from the browser:
Open the File menu, choose New, and then Composer Page. A Composer
window containing a blank page opens.
To edit a page you're currently viewing in the
browser:
In the browser window of the page you're viewing, open the File
menu and choose Edit Page. You see a Composer window that contains the
page you're viewing.
To create a new page in Composer:
Click the New button in Composer's toolbar.
To start from an HTML file stored on your local drive:
Open the Window menu and choose Composer. You see the Composer
window.
Open the File menu and choose Open File. You see the Open HTML File
dialog box.
On your local drive, locate the file that you want to edit.
Click Open to display the specified file in a Composer window.
To edit a web page:
Open the Window menu and choose Browser.
Go to a web page: type the URL of the page (for example,
http://www.mozilla.org) in the Location Bar and press
ReturnEnter.
Open the File menu and choose Edit Page.
Tip: In the Composer window you can quickly open the most
recent file you've been working on by opening the File menu, choosing
Recent Pages, and then selecting the file you want from the list.
You can save Composer documents in HTML or text-only format. Saving a
document in HTML format preserves the document's formatting, such
as text styles (for example, bold or italic), tables, links, and images.
Saving a document in text-only format removes all the HTML tags but
preserves the document's text.
To save a document as an HTML file:
Open the File menu and choose Save or click the Save button on the
Composition toolbar.
If you haven't already given your page a title, Composer prompts
you to do so. Composer displays the page title in the browser
window's title bar when you view the page in the browser. The
document's page title also appears in your list of bookmarks
if you bookmark the page.
Composer then prompts you to enter a filename and specify the location
where you want to save the file. Make sure you preserve the .html
extension in the filename.
To change the filename or location of an existing HTML file:
Choose Save As and select a different filename or location.
When you save a page in Composer, all parts of the page (the HTML, images
and other files, such as sound files and style sheets), are saved locally
on your hard drive. If you only want to save the HTML part of the page, you
must change the Composer preference for saving pages. See
Composer Preferences - Composer for more information
on changing Composer's setting for saving pages.
If an image location is absolute (starts with http://) and you are
connected to the Internet, you will still see that image in the document in
Composer and the browser. However, if the image location is relative to the
page location (starts with file:///), then you won't see the
image in the local version of the document.
To save a document as a text-only file:
Open the File menu and choose Export to Text.
Enter the filename and specify the location where you want to save the
file.
Note: Images do not appear in documents saved in the
text-only format.
Tip: You can choose Revert to Last Saved from the File
menu to retrieve the most recently saved copy of the document in which
you're working. Keep in mind that your current changes will be lost.
To view your page in a browser window in order to test your links:
Open the File menu and choose Browse Page (or click Browse in the
Composition toolbar). If you have not yet saved your document, Composer
prompts you to enter a page title, filename, and location. The Composer
window remains open behind the new browser window.
To apply a format to a paragraph, begin from the Composer window:
Click to place the insertion point where you want the format to begin,
or select the text you want to format.
Choose a paragraph format using the drop-down list in the Format toolbar:
Body Text: Applies the application default font and
style for regular text, without affecting the spacing before or after
the text.
Paragraph: Inserts a paragraph tag (use this to
begin a new paragraph). The paragraph includes top and bottom
margins.
Heading 1 - Heading 6: Formats the
paragraph as a heading. Heading 1 is the highest-level heading, while
Heading 6 is the lowest-level heading.
Address: Can be used for a web page signature
that indicates the author of the page and the person to contact for
more information, for example: user@example.com
You might want to include the date and a copyright notice. This
format usually appears at the bottom of the web page under a
horizontal line. The browser displays the address format in
italics.
Preformat: This is useful for elements such as code
examples, column data, and mail messages that you want displayed in a
fixed-width font. In normal text, most browsers remove extra spaces,
tabs, and paragraph returns. However, text that uses the Preformatted
style is displayed with the white space intact, preserving the layout
of the original text.
To format text as a heading:
Click to place the insertion point anywhere within the text that you
want to format.
Using the drop-down list in the Format toolbar, choose the level of
heading you want, from 1 (largest) to 6 (smallest). Choose Heading 1
for your main heading, Heading 2 for the next level, and so
forth.
To apply a list item format:
Click to place the insertion point within the line of text that you want
to format.
Open the Format menu and choose List.
Choose the list style:
Bulleted: Each item has a bullet (dot) next to it
(as in this list).
Numbered: Items are numbered.
Term and Definition: These two
styles work together, creating a glossary-style appearance. Use the
Term tag for the word being defined, and the Definition tag for the
definition. The Term text appears flush left, and the Definition
text appears indented.
Tip: You can quickly apply a list style to a block of
text by selecting the text and clicking the Numbered List
or Bulleted List
buttons on the Format toolbar.
To change the style of bullets or numbers:
Click to place the insertion point within the text of the list item you
want to change, or select one or more items in the list if you want to
apply a new style to the entire list.
Open the Format menu and choose List Properties.
Select a bullet or number style from the drop-down list. For numbered
lists, you can specify a starting number. For bulleted lists, you can
change the bullet style.
Tip: You can also double-click on a bullet or number in a
list to display the List Properties dialog box.
To align a paragraph or text in your page, for example, centering or
aligning to the left or right:
Click to place the insertion point within the paragraph or line of text
you want to align.
Open the Format menu and choose Align; then choose an alignment
option.
Note: You can also use the Format toolbar to align
text.
Click to place the insertion point at the end of the last list item and
press ReturnEnter twice to
end the list.
To change one or more list items to body text:
Click to place the insertion point within the list item, or select the
list items.
In a numbered list, click the numbered list button (or in a bulleted
list, click the bulleted list button) in the Format toolbar.
To position indented text below a list item:
Click to place the insertion point within the list item.
Press Shift+ReturnEnterto create the hanging indent.
Type the text you want to indent.
Press Shift+ReturnEnter to create another indented paragraph, or press
ReturnEnter to create the
next list item.
Tip: You can increase or decrease the indentation of list
items by clicking anywhere in a list item and then clicking the Indent or
Outdent button on the Format toolbar. Alternatively, click anywhere in a
list item and press Tab to indent one level. Press
Shift+Tab to outdent one level.
To merge two adjacent lists:
Select the two lists that you want to merge. Be sure to select all of
the elements in both lists. Note that any text in between the two lists
will also become part of the merged list.
Click the bulleted or numbered list button in the Format toolbar to
merge the lists.
To change the style, color, or font of selected text:
Select the text you want to format.
Open the Format menu and choose one of the following:
Font: Use this to choose a font. If you prefer to
use fonts specified by the reader's browser, select Variable
Width or Fixed Width.
Note: The fonts Helvetica, Arial, Times, and
Courier generally look the same when viewed on different computers.
If you select a different font, it may not look the same when viewed
using a different computer.
Size: Use this to choose a relative font
size or select an option to increase or decrease text size (relative
to the surrounding text).
Text Style: Use this to select a style, such as
italic, bold, or underline, or to apply a structured style, for
example, Code.
Text Color: Use this to choose a color from the
color picker. If you are familiar with HTML hexadecimal color codes,
you can type a specific code or you can just type a color name (for
example, blue). You'll find the official W3C list of CSS
supported color names
here,
and another list of commonly supported color names
here.
To change the background color of the page:
Click anywhere in the page.
Click the background color block in the Format toolbar.
Choose a background color from the Block Background Color dialog
box.
Click OK.
Tip: To quickly change the color of text to the color
last used, select the text, then press Shift and click on the text color
block in the Format toolbar. This is useful when you want to use one
color for separate lines of text.
To find text in the page you're currently working on:
Click to place the insertion point where you want to begin your
search.
Open the Edit menu and choose Find and Replace. You see the Find and
Replace dialog box.
Type the text you want to locate in the Find what field. To narrow
the search, check one or more of the following options:
Match exact case: Use this to specify whether
the search is for case-sensitive text.
Wrap around: Use this to search to the end of the
page and then start again from the top or bottom, depending on whether
you are searching forward or backwards.
Search backwards: Use this to search back from the
insertion point to the beginning of the page.
Click Find Next to begin searching. When Composer locates the first
occurrence of the text, click Find Next to search for the next
occurrence.
Click Close when you are done.
To find and replace text in the page you're currently working on:
Click to place the insertion point where you want to begin your
search.
Open the Edit menu and choose Find and Replace. You see the Find and
Replace dialog box.
Type the text you want to find and then type the replacement text.
To narrow the search, check one or more of the following options:
Match exact case: Use this to specify whether
the search is for case-sensitive text. If you don't select this
option, the search will find matching text in both upper and lower
case.
Wrap around: Use this to search to the end of the
page and then start again from the top.
Search backwards: Use this to search from the end
to the beginning of the page.
Click Find Next to search for the next occurrence. Composer selects the
next occurrence of the text.
Click Replace to replace the selected text with the replacement text.
Click Replace and Find to replace the selected text and find the next
occurrence. Click Replace All to replace every occurrence in the document
with the replacement text.
Horizontal lines are typically used to separate different sections of a
document visually. To insert a horizontal line (also called a rule)
in your page, begin from the Composer window:
Click to place the insertion point where you want the line to
appear.
Open the Insert menu and choose Horizontal Line.
Setting Horizontal Line
Properties
You can customize a line's height, length, width, alignment, and
shading.
Double-click the line to display the Horizontal Line Properties dialog
box.
Edit any of these properties:
Width: Enter the width and then choose % of
window or pixels. If you specify width as a percentage,
the line's width changes whenever the Composer window's
or browser window's width changes.
Height: Type a number for the line's height
(in pixels).
3-D Shading: Select this to add depth to the line
by adding a bevel shading.
Alignment: Specify where you want to place the
line (left, center, or right).
Click Use as Default to use these settings as the default the next time
you insert a horizontal line.
To edit the properties of a horizontal line manually, click Advanced
Edit. See the section,
Advanced Property Editor,
for details.
Tip: You can select HTML Tags from the View menu to
show all the HTML elements in yellow boxes. Click any yellow box to select
everything within that HTML tag or element. Double-click any yellow box to
display the
Advanced Property Editor
dialog box for that HTML tag or element.
To insert special characters such as accent marks, copyrights, or currency
symbols:
Click to place the insertion point where you want the special character
to appear.
Open the Insert menu and choose Characters and Symbols. You see the
Insert Character dialog box.
Select a category of characters.
If you choose Accent Uppercase or Accent Lowercase, then open the
Letter drop-down list and select the letter you wish to apply an
accent to. (Note: not all letters have accented forms.) Select
Common Symbols to insert special characters such as copyright symbols
or fractions.
From the Character drop-down list, select the character you want to
insert.
Click Insert.
You can continue typing in your document (or in a mail compose window)
while you keep this dialog box open, in case you want to use it
again.
Click Close when you are done inserting special characters.
If you understand how to work with HTML source code, you can insert
additional tags, style attributes, and JavaScript into your page. If you are
not sure how to work with HTML source code, it's best not to change it.
To work with HTML code, use one of these methods:
Place the insertion point where you want to insert the HTML code, or
select the text you want to edit, and then open the Insert menu and choose
HTML. In the Insert HTML dialog box, enter HTML tags and text, and then
click Insert.
Select an element such as a table, named anchor, image, link, or
horizontal line. Double-click the element to open the associated properties
dialog box for that item. Click Advanced Edit to open the Advanced Property
Editor. You can use the Advanced Property Editor to add HTML attributes,
JavaScript, and CSS to objects.
Open the View menu, and choose HTML Source, or click the <HTML>
Source tab in the Edit Mode toolbar at the bottom of the Composer window.
(If you don't see the Edit Mode toolbar, open the View menu and choose
Show/Hide; then make sure the Edit Mode Toolbar is checked.)
Using the Advanced Property
Editor
To add HTML attributes and JavaScript to objects such as tables, images,
and horizontal lines, you can use the Advanced Property Editor.
Note: Unless you clearly understand how to add, delete, or
modify HTML attributes and their associated values, it's best not to do
so.
If you are not currently viewing the Advanced Property Editor dialog box,
follow these steps:
From the View menu (or the Edit Mode toolbar), choose HTML Tags.
Double-click the object that you want to modify to open its Properties
dialog box.
Click Advanced Edit to open the object's Advanced Property Editor.
The Advanced Property Editor has three tabs, each of which lists the
current properties for the selected object:
HTML Attributes: Click this tab to view or enter
additional HTML attributes.
Inline Style: Click this tab to view or enter
additional CSS (cascading style sheet) properties through the
<style> attribute. For more information on using CSS styles
in Composer, see
Composer Preferences -Composer.
JavaScript Events: Click this tab to view or enter
JavaScript events.
To edit a property or attribute in any of the three lists, select the
attribute you want to edit. You can then edit the attribute's name
or value using the editable Attribute and Value fields at the bottom of
the dialog box. To add a new attribute, type it in the Attribute field
at the bottom of the dialog box. The new attribute is automatically added
when you click in the Value field. To remove an attribute, select it in
the list, and click Remove Attribute.
Note: Required attributes are highlighted in the
Attribute list.
Click OK to apply your changes to the Advanced Property Editor dialog
box.
Click OK again to exit the Properties dialog box.
Composer automatically places quotation marks around any attribute text.
Before you put your document on a web server so that others can see it, you
should first check the document's HTML formatting to make sure it
conforms to web standards. Documents containing validated HTML are less
likely to cause problems when viewed by different browsers. Just visually
checking your web pages in the browser doesn't ensure that your document
will appear correctly when viewed in other web browsers.
Composer provides a convenient way for you to check that your document
conforms to W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) HTML standards. Composer uses
the W3C HTML Validation Service, which checks your document's HTML
syntax for compliance with HTML 4.01 standards. This service also provides
information on how to correct errors.
Note: You must be connected to the Internet to use this
feature.
To validate your document's HTML syntax:
Open the Tools menu, and choose Validate HTML. If you have unsaved
changes, Composer asks you to save them before proceeding.
When the W3C HTML Validation Service page appears, click Browse
and locate the file on your hard disk that you want to validate.
Typically, you won't need to change the editing mode from the default
(Normal). However, if you want to work with the document's HTML source
code, you may want to change editing modes.
Composer allows you to quickly switch between four editing modes or views.
Each editing mode allows you to continue working on your document, but
displays varying levels of HTML tags (and tag icons).
Before you choose an editing mode:
Open the View menu, choose Show/Hide, and then make sure there is a
checkmark next to Edit Mode Toolbar.
The Edit Mode toolbar has four tabs:
Normal: Choose this editing mode to see how the document
will look online while you are creating it. Choose this mode to
show table borders and named anchor icons. All other HTML tag icons
are hidden.
HTML Tags: Choose this mode to show all HTML tag
icons.
<HTML> Source: Choose this mode to view and edit
the document as unformatted HTML source code. When you save the
document, the Normal mode reappears.
Preview: Choose this mode to display and edit the
document exactly as it would appear in a browser window, except
that links and JavaScript functions will not be active.
Note: JavaScript functions, frames, links, Java,
embedded objects and animated GIF files are not active in any of
the editing modes. To display these items in their active
state, click the Browse button on the Composition toolbar to
load the page into a browser window.
This section describes how to modify properties that apply to an entire
table as well as the rows, columns, or individual cells within a table. If
you are not currently viewing the Table Properties dialog box, follow these
steps:
Select the table, or click anywhere inside it.
Click the Table button
on the
toolbar, or open the Table menu and choose Table Properties. The Table
Properties dialog box contains two tabs: Table and Cells.
Click the Table tab to edit these properties:
Size: Use this to specify the number of rows and
columns. Enter the width of the table and then choose % of
window or pixels. If you specify width as a percentage, the
table's width changes whenever the Composer window's or
browser window's width changes.
Borders and Spacing: Use this to specify, in pixels,
the border line width, the space between cells, and the cell padding
(the space between the contents of the cell and its border).
Note: Composer uses a dotted outline to display
tables with a zero border; the dotted line disappears when the page
is viewed in a browser.
Table Alignment: Use this to align the table within
the page. Choose an option from the drop-down list.
Caption: Choose the caption placement from the
drop-down list.
Background Color: Use this to choose a color for
the table background, or leave it as transparent.
To apply additional attributes or JavaScript events, click Advanced Edit
to display the Advanced
Property Editor.
Click Apply to preview your changes without closing the dialog box, or
click OK to confirm them.
To view, change, or add properties for one or more cells:
Select the row, column, or cell, then open the Table menu and choose
Table Properties. The Table Properties dialog box appears.
Click the Cells tab to edit the following properties:
Selection: Choose Cell, Row, or Column from the
drop-down list. Click Previous or Next to move through rows, columns,
or cells.
Size: Type a number for Height and Width, and then
choose % of table or pixels.
Content Alignment: Select a vertical and horizontal
alignment type for the text or data inside each cell.
Cell Style: Select Header from the drop-down list
for column or row headers (which centers and bolds the text in the
cell); otherwise choose Normal.
Text Wrap: Select Don't wrap from the
drop-down list to keep text from wrapping to the next line unless you
insert a paragraph break. Otherwise, choose Wrap.
Background Color: Select a color for the cell
background or leave it as transparent.
Note: To apply additional attributes or JavaScript
events, click Advanced Edit to display the
Advanced Property
Editor
Click Apply to preview your changes without closing the dialog box, or
click OK to confirm them.
Tip: To change the text color or background color of one
or more selected cells or the entire table, select the cells or click
anywhere in the table and then click the text color or background color
icon in the Format toolbar.
Tip: To change the color of cells to the color last used,
select the cell, then press Shift and click on the background color picker.
This is useful when you want to use one color for individual cells.
Composer allows you to quickly add or delete one or more cells, columns,
or rows in a table. In addition, you can set options that allow you to
maintain the original rectangular structure or layout of the table while
you perform editing tasks.
To add a cell, row, or column to your table:
Click inside the table where you want to add a cell (or cells).
Open the Table menu and then choose Insert.
Choose one of the cell groupings. (You can also insert a new table
within a table cell.)
To delete a cell, row, or column:
Click a row, column, or cell to place the insertion point. Or,
select neighboring cells to delete more than one row at a time. To
select neighboring cells, drag over the cells you want to select.
To select individual cells in a table, hold down the
CmdCtrl key and click
on the cells you want to select.
Open the Table menu and choose Delete.
Choose the item you want to delete.
To join (or merge) a cell with the cell on its right:
Click inside the cell on the left, open the Table menu, and
choose Join with Cell to the Right.
To join (or merge) adjacent cells:
Select adjacent cells by dragging over them.
Open the Table menu, and choose Join Selected Cells.
To split a joined cell back into two or more cells:
Click inside the joined cell, open the Table menu, and then
choose Split Cell. Composer puts the entire contents of the joined
cell into the first of the two cells.
Refer to Selecting Table Elements
for information on how to select non-adjacent cells, rows, and
columns.
Changing the Default Table
Editing Behavior
By default, when you delete one or more cells, Composer preserves the
table's structure by adding cells at the end of a row, wherever
needed. This allows you to delete one or more cells but still maintain
the table's original rectangular layout, or structure. Otherwise,
deleting cells can result in a table with empty spaces, or whose outline
appears irregular due to an uneven number of cells.
To change the default table editing behavior, begin from the Composer
window:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu, choose Preferences, and then choose
Composer.
Under Editing, set the following preference:
Make sure that Maintain table layout when inserting or
deleting cells is checked to ensure that you don't get an
irregularly shaped table.
You can use one of two ways to quickly select a table, cell, or group of
cells:
Click in the table, open the Table menu, choose Select, and then choose
an item from the submenu. For example, to select a table, click anywhere
inside the table, open the Table menu, choose Select, and then choose
Table.
Or, you can use the mouse as a selection tool:
To select a group of adjacent cells: click in a cell, and then
drag to select the cells you want. Drag the mouse left or right to
select a row; up or down to select a column.
To select non-adjacent cells: press CmdCtrl and then click inside a cell. Keep
pressing CmdCtrl
as you click to select additional cells.
To extend a selection to include adjacent cells: click inside a
cell and then drag over additional cells to extend the selection.
To select one or more adjacent columns or rows: drag up or down
to select the first column or row, and then drag left or right to
select additional adjacent columns or rows. Press Shift
and drag to the right to select an entire row. Press Shift
and drag up or down to select an entire column.
Select the text that you want to convert into a table. Keep in mind that
Composer creates a new table row for each paragraph in the selection.
Open the Table menu and choose Create Table from Selection. You see the
Convert to Table dialog box.
Choose the character Composer uses to separate the selection into
columns, or specify a different character to use. If you choose Space as
the separator for columns, choose whether or not you want Composer to
ignore multiple space and treat them as one space.
Leave Delete separator character checked to have Composer remove
the separator character when it converts the text into a table. If you
don't want Composer to delete the separator character, uncheck this
option.
Click OK.
Note: Text formatting is removed when the selected text
is converted to a table.
You can insert GIF, JPEG, BMP, and PNG (Portable Network Graphics) images
into your web page. You can also use them to
create links. When you insert an image,
Composer saves a reference to the image in your page.
Note: If you plan to publish your pages to the web,
it's best not to use BMP images in your pages.
Tip: It's best to first save or publish your page
before you insert images into it. This allows Composer to automatically
use relative references to images once you insert them.
To insert an image:
Click to place the insertion point where you want the image to
appear.
Click the Image button
on the toolbar, or open the Insert menu and choose Image. You see the
Image Properties dialog box.
Type the location and filename of the image file, or click Choose File
to search for an image file on your hard drive or network.
Type a simple description of your image as the alternate text that will
appear in text-only browsers (as well as other browsers) when an image is
loading or when image loading is disabled.
Alternatively, you can choose not to include alternate text.
If needed, click other tabs so you can adjust the settings (for
example, alignment) in the
Image Properties dialog box.
Tip: To quickly insert an image: Drag and drop it onto
your page.
Tip: To insert a line break after all images in a
paragraph, choose Break Below Images from the Insert menu.
Once you've inserted an image into your page, you can edit its
properties and customize the layout in your page, such as the height,
width, spacing, and text alignment. If you are not currently viewing
the Image Properties dialog box, follow these steps:
Double-click the image, or select it and click the Image button
on the toolbar
to display the Image Properties dialog box.
Click the Location tab to edit these properties:
Image Location: Type the filename and location of
the image file. Click Choose File to search for an image file on your
hard drive or network.
URL is relative to page location: If checked,
Composer converts the URL to be relative to the page's location.
This is especially useful if you plan to publish your pages on a web
server so that others can view them. Using relative URLs allows you
to keep all your linked files in the same place relative to each other,
regardless of their location on your hard disk or a web server.
Unchecking this box causes Composer to convert the URL to a full
(absolute) URL. You typically use absolute URLs when linking to
images on other web servers (not stored locally on your hard
disk).
If you have never saved or published the page, you must first save
the page in order to enable this checkbox. (This checkbox is not
available if you open the Image Properties dialog box in a message
compose window.)
Attach this image to the message: If checked,
the image is attached to the message you are sending. If unchecked, a
link to the image location is inserted instead. (This checkbox is only
available if you open the Image Properties dialog box in a message
compose window.)
Alternate Text: Enter text that will display in
place of the original image; for example, a caption or a brief
description of the image. It's a good practice to specify
alternate text for readers who use text-only web browsers or who have
image loading turned off.
Don't use alternate text: Choose this option
if the image does not require alternate text or if you don't want
to include it.
Click the Dimensions tab to edit these properties:
Actual Size: Select this option to undo any changes
you've made to the dimensions and return the image to its original
size.
Custom Size: Select this option and specify the new
height and width, in pixels or as a percentage. This setting
doesn't affect the original image file, just the image inserted
in your page.
Constrain: If you change the image size, it's
a good idea to select this in order to maintain the image's aspect
ratio (so that it doesn't appear distorted). If you choose this
option, then you only need to change the height or width, but not
both.
Click the Appearance Tab to edit these properties:
Spacing: Specify the amount of space surrounding
the image; between the image and adjoining text. You can also put a
solid black border around the image and specify its width in pixels.
Specify zero for no border.
Align Text to Image: If you've placed your
image next to any text, select an alignment icon to indicate how you
want text positioned relative to the image.
Image Map: Click Remove to remove any image map
settings.
Click the Link tab to edit these properties:
Enter a web page location: If you want to define
a link for this image, enter the URL of a remote or local page, or
select a named anchor or heading from the drop-down list. Click Choose
File to search for a file on your hard drive or network.
URL is relative to page location: If checked,
Composer converts the URL to be relative to the page's location.
This is especially useful if you plan to publish your pages to a web
server so that others can view them. Using relative URLs allows you to
keep all your linked files in the same place relative to each other,
regardless of their location on your hard disk or a web server.
Unchecking this box causes Composer to convert the URL to a full
(absolute) URL. You typically use absolute URLs when linking to files
on other web servers (not stored locally on your hard disk).
If you have unsaved changes, you must first save the page in order
to enable this checkbox. (This checkbox is not available if you open
the Image Properties dialog box in a message compose window.)
Show border around linked image: If checked,
displays the link highlight color around the image.
To apply additional attributes or JavaScript events, click Advanced Edit
to display the
Advanced Property Editor.
Inserting a
Mathematical Formula into Your Web Page
&brandShortName; Composer allows you to write mathematical formulas, encoded
in your web page as MathML and
generated from a convenient
LaTeX-like syntax.
To insert a formula:
Click to place the insertion point where you want the formula to
appear.
Open the Insert menu and choose Math. You see the Math Insert dialog
box.
Enter your LaTeX source code, for example \frac{\sqrt{\pi}}{3}
to write
.
In order to help you, a preview of the formula as well as a panel of
predefined constructions are available. For details, see
Editing the LaTeX source.
Choose the style for your formula:
Inline mode: If selected, the formula is inserted
inside the current paragraph of text and rendered in a way that
minimizes its height as much as possible. This mode is typically used
for small expressions. For example this is an expression in inline mode:
.
Display mode: If selected, the formula is inserted
in its own block and uses the standard rendering. This mode is typically
used for large expressions. For example this is an expression in display
mode:
Choose the overall direction of your formula:
Left-to-right direction: If selected, the formula
will be laid out from left to right, e.g. .
This is the standard orientation in most countries.
Right-to-left direction: If selected, the formula
will be laid out from right to left, e.g.
.
This is the standard orientation in some Arabic countries.
Verify that the LaTeX source does not contain any syntax error and click
Insert to create your new formula.
To modify a mathematical formula, move the insertion point inside it.
Then open the context menu and choose Advanced Properties to
edit the LaTeX source again.
Alternatively, you can open the Insert menu and choose Math.
Note: &brandShortName; Composer attaches the LaTeX source to
the generated MathML expressions so that they can be edited again. In
general it is currently not possible to edit an arbitrary MathML expression
unless it has a LaTeX expression associated that is supported by
&brandShortName; Composer.
Editing the LaTeX Source
The Insert Math box contains a text field where you can enter mathematical
expressions using a LaTeX-like syntax.
If you are not familiar with LaTeX, here are the basics:
Use standard plain text notations for simple expressions:
x_1 + 2^y generates
.
Use braces to define groups: 2^x+y generates
while 2^{x+y} generates
Use LaTeX commands of the form
\commandname[option1,option2,...] argument1 argument2 ... to define
complex expressions: \gamma, \frac a b, \sqrt x
and \sqrt[3]x generate
,
,
and
respectively.
Use LaTeX environments
of the form \begin{environmentname} ... \end{environmentname}
to define blocks with a special syntax. This is typically used for arrays:
\begin{matrix} a & b & c \\ d & e & f \end{matrix}
generates
.
Use special commands to escape characters:
\backslash \& \{ \} generates
.
There exists a large collection of LaTeX commands and there is not any
finite and well-defined list of them. &brandShortName; Composer only supports
the TeXZilla commands
which are themselves based on the itex2MML commands
and should cover the most popular constructions. One of the nice features of
TeXZilla is that it accepts arbitrary characters as input so that
\left⌊α^2\right⌋ is equivalent to the more verbose
\left\lfloor\alpha^2\right\rfloor and generates
.
You do not need to know all the LaTeX commands to edit formulas. Instead, a
panel of predefined expressions is available. Click any of the panel buttons
to insert the corresponding LaTeX expression. Arguments in LaTeX expressions
are represented by ellipses. You can just edit the LaTeX source to
replace them with the actual content you want.
Tip: If you select a subexpression in the LaTeX source field
and use the construction panel to insert a LaTeX expression with at least one
argument, that subexpression will be used as the first argument of the
new expression.
Use the Page Properties dialog box to enter properties such as the title,
author, and description of the document you're currently working on.
This information is useful if you plan to use the page on a website, since
search engines use this type of information to index your page. You can view
this information from the browser window by opening the View menu and
choosing Page Info.
Open the Format menu and choose Page Title and Properties.
Edit any of the following properties:
Title: Type the text you want to appear as the
window title when someone views the page through a browser. This
is how most web search tools locate web pages, so choose a title
that conveys what your page is about.
Author: Type the name of the person who created the
document. This information is helpful to readers who locate the
document by using a web search tool to search on name.
Tip: If you enter the Author name in
Composer's preferences, then
you won't have to enter it each time you create a new page.
Description: Enter a brief description of the
document's contents.
You can change the background color or specify a background
image for the page you're currently working on. These choices
affect the way text and links in your page appear to people viewing
the page through a browser.
To set the colors and background for the current page, begin
from the Composer window:
Open the Format menu and choose Page Colors and Background.
Edit any of the following properties:
Reader's default colors: Select this if you
want your page to use the color settings from the viewer's browser
for text and links.
Use custom colors: Select this if you want to
specify the colors of text and links. For each element, select a color
from the Color selection dialog. Sample output for each type of link
appears in the pane on the right.
Background image: Select this if you want the
background of your page to be an image. Type the name of the image
file or click Choose File to locate the image file on your hard
drive or network.
Note: Background images are tiled and override
background color selections.
URL is relative to page location: If checked,
Composer converts the URL to be relative to the page's location.
This is especially useful if you plan to publish your pages on a web
server so that others can view them.
Using relative URLs allows you to keep all your linked files in
the same place relative to each other, regardless of their location
on your hard disk or a web server.
Deselecting this option causes Composer to convert the URL to a
full (absolute) URL. You typically use absolute URLs when linking
to images on other web servers (not stored locally on your hard
disk).
If you have unsaved changes, you must first save the page in
order to enable this checkbox.
Note: To apply additional attributes or JavaScript events,
click Advanced Edit to display the
Advanced Property
Editor.
To create a link within the same page, for example a link that the reader
can use to jump from one section to another, you must create an
anchor (target location), and then create a link that points to the
anchor. Anchors are also called named anchors. To create an anchor,
follow these steps:
Click to place the insertion point at the beginning of a line where you
want to create an anchor, or select some text.
Open the Insert menu and choose Named Anchor. You see the Named Anchor
Properties dialog box.
Type a unique name for the anchor in the Anchor Name field (up to 30
characters). If you include spaces, they will be converted to underscores
( _ ). If you selected some text in step 1, this box already contains a
name.
Click OK. An anchor icon appears in your document to mark the
anchor's location:
To create the link on which readers can click to jump to the object:
Select the text or image that you want to link to the anchor.
Click the Link button or open the Insert menu and choose Link. You see
the Link Properties dialog box.
If you're creating a link to an HTML file on your computer,
click Choose File to locate it.
If you're creating a link to a named anchor (target), select
it from the list of the anchors currently available in the page.
If you're creating a link to a level heading (for example,
Heading 1 - Heading 6), select it from the list of headings currently
available in the page.
Click OK.
Note: To test the link you just created, open the File
menu and choose Browse Page, then click the link.
Tip: If you did not first create named anchors, you can
use the Link dialog box to create links to headings that already occur in
the page.
You can create links from your page to local pages on your own computer or
on your workplace's network, or to remote pages on the Internet.
Tip: It's best to first save or publish your page
before you create links to other pages. This allows Composer to automatically
use relative references for links once you create them.
To create a link to another page:
Click to place the insertion point where you want to create a link, or
select the text or image that you want to link to the anchor.
Click the Link button. You see the Link Properties dialog box.
Define your link:
Link text: If you've already selected an image
file or text before clicking the Link button, the selected text or
file will be entered here. Otherwise, you must enter the text that you
want to use as the link.
Link Location: Type the local path and filename or
remote URL of the page you want to link to. If you're not sure of
the path and filename for a local file, click Choose File to look for
it on your hard disk or network. For remote URLs, you can copy the URL
from the browser's Location Bar. Alternatively, you can select a
named anchor or a heading in the current page that you want to link
to.
URL is relative to page location: If checked,
Composer converts the URL to be relative to the page's location.
This is especially useful if you plan to publish your pages to a web
server so that others can view them. Using relative URLs allows you to
keep all your linked files in the same place relative to each other,
regardless of their location on your hard disk or a web server.
Deselecting this option causes Composer to convert the URL to a full
(absolute) URL. You typically use absolute URLs when linking to pages
on other web servers (not stored locally on your hard disk).
If you have unsaved changes, you must first save the page in order
to enable this checkbox. (This checkbox is not available if you open
the Link Properties dialog box in a message compose window.)
Attach the source of this link to the message: If
checked, the source of the specified link is added as an attachment to
the message you are sending. If unchecked, just a link to the location
is inserted instead. (This checkbox is only available if you open the
Link Properties dialog box in a message compose window.)
To apply additional attributes or JavaScript events, click Advanced Edit
to display the
Advanced Property Editor.
Click OK.
To test the link you just created, click the Browse button and then click
the link to make sure it works as expected.
Tip: You can copy a link quickly by clicking and dragging
the link from another window and then dropping it onto your page. For
example, you can click and drag a link from a web page, bookmark, or Mail
window and drop it onto your page. You can also right-click
or, if you have a one-button mouse, Ctrl-click a link on a
web page and choose Copy Link Location from the menu. Then you can paste the
link location into the Link Location field in the Link Properties dialog
box.
You can make images, such as JPEG, GIF, or PNG files, behave like links in
your pages. When the reader clicks a linked image, the browser window
displays the page that the image is linked to.
To make an image behaving like a link:
Select an image on your page.
Click the Link button
on the toolbar, or open the Insert menu and choose Link.
If your pages exist only on your local hard disk, you can browse your pages,
but no one else can. Composer lets you publish your pages to a remote
computer called a web server.
When you publish your pages to a web server, Composer copies (uploads) your
pages to a computer that lets others browse your pages. Most ISPs provide
space on their web servers for web page publishing. To find a web server
where you can publish your pages, ask your ISP, help desk, or system
administrator.
Tip: It's best to first save or publish your page
before you insert links or images into it. This allows Composer to
automatically use relative references for links and images once you insert
them.
To publish a document:
Open the HTML document that you want to publish, or create a new Composer
document.
When you're ready to publish the document remotely, click the
Publish button.
If you have published this document before, Composer remembers the
document's publishing settings and starts publishing the document.
While publishing is in progress, Composer displays a publishing status
dialog box.
If you have never published this document before, Composer displays
the Settings tab in the Publish Page dialog box so you can enter
information about the document's remote publishing location. See
Publish Page - Settings for more
information. When you're done entering information, click Publish.
If you have never saved the document, Composer displays the Publish
tab in the Publish Page dialog box, so you can enter the
document's filename. See
Publish Page - Publish for more
information. After entering the filename, click Publish.
To browse your published page, click the Browse button. Test the
page's links and make sure there are no missing images.
Continue editing the page as necessary. When you're ready to update
the remote page with your changes, click the Publish button.
When you publish a document for the first time, Composer changes the
document's file:/// URL to an http:// URL to indicate
that you are now editing the published document. If you want to save the
document locally (on your computer's hard disk), click the Save button.
You'll be prompted to choose a filename and location on your hard disk
for the document.
Make sure your Composer filenames end with the .html or .htm file
extension. Make sure your image filenames end with the .JPG, .GIF, or .PNG
file extension. Don't use spaces or other special symbols in your
filenames. Keep your filenames short and only use lowercase or uppercase
letters and numbers.
If your images appear as broken links when you browse a document on the
web server, you may have forgotten to include the images when you
published. Open the File menu, and choose Publish As to display the Publish
Page dialog box. In the Publish tab, make sure you check Include images
and other files and then click Publish.
In a Composer window, open the File menu, and choose Recent Pages, then
select the document from the list.
Alternatively, browse to the location
of the document you want to update by entering the document's HTTP
address (the document's web address) in the browser's
Location Bar.
Edit the document as necessary.
When you're ready to update the remote page with your changes, click
Publish in Composer's toolbar.
Tip: To delete a page or image you've published on a
web server, you must use an FTP (File Transfer
Protocol) program. You also must use an FTP program if you want to create
subdirectories or to rename files on the web server. Ask your service
provider if they recommend a particular FTP program. You can usually find
information on FTP programs in the Help or Support sections of your service
provider's website. FTP programs are also available from shareware sites
such as ZDNet Downloads.
To change a document's filename or publishing location:
In a Composer window, open the File menu, and choose Recent Pages, then
select the document from the list.
Alternatively, browse to the location of the document you want to update
by entering the document's HTTP address (the document's web
address) in the browser's Location Bar.
Edit the document as necessary.
Open Composer's File menu and choose Publish As. Composer displays
the Publish tab in the Publish Page dialog box.
Enter a different page title, if necessary.
Enter a different filename for the page, if necessary.
From the Site Name list, choose the publishing location you want to use.
To set up a new publishing location, click New Site. See
Publish Page - Settings for more
information.
Click Publish to save the document to the new location.
If you plan to publish documents to more than one remote location, you can
set up Composer to save the publishing information for each remote site you
use, so that you don't have to enter it each time you want to
publish.
To create a new publishing site, begin from a Composer window:
Open the Edit menu and choose Publishing Site Settings. Composer
displays the Publish Settings dialog box.
Click New Site.
For Site Name, enter the nickname by which you want to refer to
this publishing site.
For example, if you will use the new site to publish documents
related to the Meteor project, you might want to use the site
name Meteor. Site names remind you about the types of documents
you publish at each site.
For Publishing address, enter the complete URL provided to
you by your ISP, system administrator, or web hosting service. This
URL must begin with either ftp:// or http://.
The publishing address specifies the location where documents are
published (uploaded) at this site. If you are not sure what to enter,
ask your ISP or system administrator.
For HTTP address of your home page, enter the complete URL
that you would enter in the browser to view pages at this
site. Do not include a filename or subdirectory as part of the URL.
This URL must always begin with http://. In some cases,
this URL is the same as the publishing address. If you are not sure
what to enter, ask your ISP or system administrator, or else leave
it blank.
For user name, enter the user name you use to log in to your ISP
or web hosting service.
For password, enter the password for your user name.
Select Save Password to save your password securely using
Password Manager so that you don't have to enter it each time you
publish pages at this site.
If you have set up more than one publishing site, but you typically use
only one site for most of your publishing needs, you can designate the site
you use most often as the default publishing site. Composer will use the
default publishing site for all documents that you publish, unless you
specifically choose an alternate site.
Regardless of how many sites you've set up, you can always publish a
document to a different site by choosing Publish As from Composer's
File menu. See
Changing the Filename
or Publishing Location for more information.
To choose the default publishing site, begin from a Composer
window:
Open the Edit menu, and choose Publishing Site Settings.
Composer displays the Publish Settings dialog box.
Select a publishing site from the list.
If you only have one publishing site set up, Composer uses that
one as the default site.
If one or more of your files fail to publish, the Publishing
Status dialog box displays an error message that can help you
determine what went wrong and how to fix it.
If you are still unable to publish a file, save the file to your
hard disk by opening Composer's File menu, and choosing Save. You
can then open the file at a later time to try to publish it. To
quickly locate the file later, open Composer's File menu, and
choose Recent Pages.
Close the Publishing Status dialog box, if it is open.
Open the Edit menu and choose Publishing Site Settings.
In the Publish Settings dialog box, confirm that the site settings are
correct for the site you are trying to publish to. If you're not
sure, check with your ISP or web hosting service.
Verify that you correctly entered the publishing
settings: You may have accidentally mis-typed one of the
settings.
Verify that you entered the correct publishing
address: Web hosting services or ISPs may refer to the
publishing address as the server name, the hostname, or
the server/host. They often specify the publishing location as
ftp.myisp.com/username, where username is your
user name.
For the publishing address to be correct, you must precede the
publishing location with either ftp:// or http://.
For example, the correct publishing address for the above-mentioned
site would be ftp://ftp.myisp.com/username.
Checking Your Filenames
Examine the names of any files that failed to publish. Make sure that the
filenames:
Use only numbers or lowercase or uppercase letters. While it's
acceptable to create filenames that use uppercase letters, you can avoid
potential errors in later locating the published file if you only use
lowercase letters in your filenames.
When you publish files to a web server, filenames become
case-sensitive on the web server. It may be harder for you to remember
files names that use only uppercase letters or that use a mix of
uppercase and lowercase letters.
For example, when you try to locate a published file by typing the
filename's web address into the browser's Location Bar, you
must enter the filename exactly as you created it, using the same
combination of uppercase and lowercase letters.
Don't use punctuation characters or spaces. Underscores ( _ )
or hyphens ( - ) are OK.
End with .html or .htm (for Composer filenames).
Use less than 32 characters.
Fixing Publishing Errors
If one or more of your files fails to publish, look at the messages
Composer displays in the Publishing Status area of the Publishing dialog box.
You can use these error messages to help determine what went wrong and what
to do to fix the problem.
Error Description: One or more image files or CSS files
failed to publish because Composer could not find them. Some typical
reasons might be:
The file location you typed is incorrect.
The file's location on the web is not accessible.
The file's location was changed or the file was deleted or
moved to another location.
Possible Solutions:
Look for broken images in the page you are trying to publish. Broken
images will appear with this icon
in the
page. To correct the image's address, double-click the broken
image to display the Image Properties dialog box so you can enter the
correct address.
Remove the broken image from the page by selecting it (click once on
the image), and then pressing Backspace or Delete
on your keyboard.
If the image is unavailable because the server where the image resides
is inaccessible, try publishing the page at a later time.
If the missing file is a CSS file, you must first verify the correct
location of the CSS file. To fix the file's address in Composer,
click the HTML Source tab and edit the file's location in the HTML
source code. You should only edit the HTML source if you are familiar
with HTML tags.
Error Message:
The subdirectory directory name doesn't exist on this
site or the filename filename is already in use by another
subdirectory
or
The filename filename is already in use by another
subdirectory
Error Description: You specified the name of a remote
subdirectory that does not exist at the publishing site. Composer can only
publish to a remote subdirectory that already exists at the publishing
location. Or, you specified a filename that is identical to the name of an
existing subdirectory at the publishing site.
For example, in the Publish Page dialog box, under the Publish tab:
for Site subdirectory for this page, you may have typed the name
of a subdirectory that does not exist at the publishing location.
you checked Include images and other files, and then you typed
the name of a subdirectory that does not exist at the publishing
location.
one of the files you are attempting to publish has the same name as a
subdirectory at the publishing site.
Possible Solutions:
Use a separate FTP program if you want to create, rename, or delete
subdirectories at the publishing site. Ask your service provider if they
recommend a particular FTP program. You can usually find information on
FTP programs in the Help or Support sections of your service
provider's website. FTP programs are also available from shareware
sites such as ZDNet Downloads.
Don't use subdirectory names that end with .html or
.htm. Only your Composer filenames should end with .html
or .htm.
Subdirectory names are case-sensitive, so be sure to enter a
subdirectory name exactly as it appears at the publishing location.
Error Message:
The server is not available. Check your connection and try again
later.
Error Description: This error can have many causes. For
example:
Your publishing site settings may not be correct.
Your Internet connection may have been lost.
Your modem or other equipment that you use to connect to the Internet
might not be functioning correctly.
The web server that you are trying to publish to might be unavailable
due to a technical problem or to an unknown circumstance.
Your ISP or web hosting service may be experiencing technical
problems.
Possible Solutions:
Verify that your publishing settings are correct and that you entered
them correctly. See
Verifying Your Publishing
Settings for more information.
Make sure your Internet connection is working by attempting to view a
web page using the browser. For example, confirm that you can
successfully view the page http://www.mozilla.org.
If your Internet connection is not working, verify that all hardware,
telephone connections, modems, and network connections are functioning
properly.
Use the browser to try to view a page at the website you are
attempting to publish to. If you can successfully view other websites but
cannot view a page at the publishing site, your ISP or web hosting
service may be experiencing technical problems.
Try publishing again later. Your ISP, web hosting service, or the web
server may be experiencing temporary technical difficulties.
Error Message:
You do not have permission to publish to this location.
Error Description: You are attempting to publish to a
location that you are not authorized to use. You can only publish to sites
where you have been granted access by your ISP or web hosting service.
Possible Solutions:
Verify that you entered the correct user name and password in the
Publishing Site Settings dialog box, or in the Publish tab of the
Publish dialog box.
Contact your ISP to find out where you can publish your pages at their
site.
Find a web hosting service that you can use to publish your pages. In
the browser, search for web hosting.
Error Message:
You are currently offline. Click the icon near the lower-right corner
of any window to go online.
Error Description: You are attempting to publish, but
your &brandShortName; Internet connection is currently in the
offline state. Your Internet connection must be in the online
state (connected to the Internet) in order to publish your pages.
Verify that your Internet connection is currently offline by looking at
the online/offline icon in the lower right corner of any &brandShortName;
window. If you are currently offline, the icon appears as
.
Possible Solutions:
Click the online/offline icon to go online. In the online state, the
icon should look like this:
.
Make sure your Internet connection is working by attempting to view a
web page using the browser. For example, confirm that you can
successfully view the page http://www.mozilla.org.
Error Message:
There is not enough disk space available to save the file
filename.
Error Description: The remote web server's hard
disk is full, or you may have exceeded the amount of disk space allocated
to you by your ISP or web hosting service.
Possible Solutions:
Use a separate FTP program to delete unnecessary files at your
publishing site. Ask your service provider if they recommend a
particular FTP program. You can usually find information on FTP programs
in the Help or Support sections of your service provider's website.
FTP programs are also available from shareware sites such as ZDNet
Downloads.
Find out from your ISP or web hosting service about increasing your
disk space allocation, or switch to a different service that can satisfy
your needs.
If the web server is located at your company or school, contact the
network administrator to find out if you can publish to a different
location that has more disk space, or if you can request that
additional disk space be allocated to your current publishing
location.
Error Message:
The filename or subdirectory name is too long.
Error Description: The number of characters in the
filename or the subdirectory name is not supported by the web server
computer that you are trying to publish to.
Possible Solutions:
Limit the length of your filenames and subdirectory names to less than
32 characters. Some operating systems do not support names longer than 32
characters.
The Publish Page - Publish tab lets you specify where you want
to publish a document. These settings apply to the current
document.
If you are not already viewing the Publish Page - Publish tab,
follow these steps:
Open the File menu and choose Publish As. The Publish Page
dialog box appears.
Click the Publish tab.
Site Name: Lists all the publishing sites you've
created, so you can choose the site that you want to publish to. To
create a new site, click New Site.
Page Title: Specifies the document's page title as
it appears in the browser window's title bar when you view the page in
the browser. The document's page title also appears in your list of
bookmarks if you bookmark the page.
Filename: Specifies the document's filename. Make
sure you include the .html or .htm extension in the filename.
Warning: If a file on the remote site you're
publishing to has the same filename as one you're uploading, the
newly uploaded file will replace the existing one. You will not be
asked to confirm the action.
Site subdirectory for this page: If you leave this
blank, Composer publishes the page to the main (root) publishing
directory at this site. If you want to publish the page to a remote
subdirectory that resides underneath the main publishing directory
at this site, enter the name of the subdirectory or choose it from
the list. Composer keeps track of the locations you type here, so
you can select from a list of remote locations you've previously
used. Keep in mind that subdirectory names are case-sensitive.
Note: The site subdirectory you choose must
already exist at the remote server.
Include images and other files: If checked,
Composer publishes any images and other files referenced by this
page. You can choose to publish these files to the same location as
the page, or else you can choose to publish these files into a
remote subdirectory that exists underneath the main publishing
directory.
Tip: To create remote subdirectories or delete
published pages or images, you must use an FTP (File Transfer
Protocol) program. Ask your service provider if they recommend a
particular FTP program. You can usually find information on FTP
programs in the Help or Support sections of your service provider's
website. FTP programs are also available from shareware sites such
as ZDNet Downloads.
The Publish Page - Settings tab lets you specify your login information for
the remote publishing site, as well as the publishing settings for the remote
site. These settings apply to the current document and any other files you
publish to this location.
If you are not already viewing the Publish Page - Settings tab, follow
these steps:
Open the File menu and choose Publish As. The Publish Page dialog box
appears.
Click the Settings tab.
Site Name: Specifies the nickname you want to use for
this publishing site. Enter a short name that will help you identify this
publishing site.
Publishing address: Specifies the complete URL provided
to you by your ISP or system administrator. This URL should begin with
either ftp:// or http://. This name is often referred to
as the host name or the host server name.
The publishing address specifies the location where documents are
published (uploaded) at this site. If you are not sure what to enter,
ask your ISP or system administrator.
HTTP address of your home page: Specifies the complete
address of your publishing home directory. This is the web address of the
home page at your website. Do not include a filename or subdirectory as
part of the URL.
This URL must always begin with http://. In some cases, this
URL is the same as the publishing address. If you are not sure what to
enter, ask your ISP or system administrator, or else leave it blank.
User name: Specifies the user name you use to log into
your ISP or network.
Password: Specifies the password for your user
name.
Save Password: Select this to encrypt and save your
password securely using Password Manager so that you don't have to
enter it each time you publish pages at this site.
The Publish Settings dialog box lets you create, edit, and
delete publishing site settings, and also lets you set the default
publishing site.
If you are not already viewing the Publish Settings dialog box,
follow these steps:
Open the Edit menu and choose Publishing Site Settings.
Composer displays the Publish Settings dialog box.
New Site: Lets you specify settings for a new publishing
site. Composer adds the name of the new publishing site to the list
of available publishing sites.
Set as Default: Sets the selected publishing site as the
default publishing site. Typically, the default publishing site is
the remote location that you most often use for publishing
documents. All documents you create or edit will be published to
the default publishing site, unless you specifically choose an
alternate site in the Publish Page dialog box.
To publish a document to a different remote location, open the
File menu and choose Publish As to choose a different publishing
destination.
Remove Site: Removes the selected site and its settings
from Composer.
Site Name: Specifies the name by which you want to refer
to this publishing site.
Publishing address: Specifies the complete URL provided
to you by your ISP or system administrator. This URL should begin
with either ftp:// or http://.
The publishing address specifies the location where documents
are published (uploaded) at this site. If you are not sure what to
enter, ask your ISP or system administrator.
HTTP address of your homepage: Specifies the HTTP
address of your publishing home directory. Do not include a
filename or subdirectory as part of the URL.
This URL must always begin with http://. In some cases,
this URL is the same as the publishing address. If you are not sure
what to enter, ask your ISP or system administrator, or else leave
it blank.
User name: Specifies the user name you use to log in to
your ISP or network.
Password: Specifies the password for your user
name.
Save Password: Select this to save your
password securely using Password Manager so you don't have to enter
it each time you publish pages at this site.
Composer preferences allow you to specify settings for saving files and for
table editing. These settings apply to every document you create.
If you are not already viewing the Composer preferences, follow these
steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Click the Composer category.
Maximum number of pages listed: Specify the maximum
number of pages that are listed under Recent Pages in the File menu.
Preserve original source formatting: Select this if you
want to preserve the original white space (extra lines, tabs, etc.) in the
HTML source code. Deselect this if you prefer Composer to indent and add
linebreaks to the code in order to make it more readable. This
preference does not affect how your pages appear in a browser
window.
Save images and other associated files when saving
pages: If checked, all images, JavaScript (JS), Cascading Style
Sheet (CSS), and other associated files are saved in the same location as
the document when the document is saved for the first time or when the
document is saved to a new location. If unchecked, only the HTML file is
saved.
For example, when editing a remote page, this setting ensures that all
related files associated with the remote page will be saved locally when
you save the page to your hard disk.
Always show Publish dialog when publishing pages: If
checked, Composer always displays the Publish Page dialog box when you
click the Publish button or choose Publish from the File menu. If not
checked, Composer only displays the Publish Page dialog box if it needs
more information in order to publish the page.
Maintain table layout when inserting or deleting cells:
Select this if you want Composer to always preserve the table's
layout (that is, keep it in a rectangular shape) by adding cells where
needed. If you deselect this option, when you delete one or more cells,
Composer removes the cell border as well, which can result in a table with
empty spaces, or an outline that appears irregular due to an uneven number
of cells.
Use CSS styles instead of HTML elements and attributes:
Enables the use of Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) formatting in your Composer
documents. With this preference enabled, Composer generates HTML 4.01
formatting with CSS inline styles for elements.
If this preference is not enabled, Composer generates HTML 4.01
formatting, but does not use CSS styles.
Compared to HTML, HTML with CSS formatting is more portable, more
maintainable, and more compatible when viewed with different browsers.
If you enable this preference and then edit a document created without
CSS, Composer replaces the edited elements with CSS styles.
If you enable CSS styles, you can choose a text highlight color for
selected text using the text highlight color button on the Format
toolbar. You can also choose a color background for any element on the
page. (These features are not available if this preference is not
enabled.)
ReturnEnter in a
paragraph always creates a new paragraph: If selected, a new
paragraph will be added everytime you press the Return
Enter key inside a paragraph. If
deselected, a linebreak will be added when you press the ReturnEnter key.
New page preferences allow you to specify settings for colors and
background images that apply to every document you create.
If you are not already viewing the New Page Settings, follow these
steps:
Open the &brandShortName;Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Double-click the Composer category and click New Page Settings.
Author: Enter your name. This will add your name to the
HTML source code for each new page you create.
Reader's default colors: Select this if you always
want your pages to use the color settings from the viewer's browser
for text and link elements.
Use custom colors: Select this if you always want to
specify the colors that are applied to text and link elements. Then for
each element, select a color by clicking the color button next to each
element.
Background image: Type the location and name of an image
file, or click Choose File to locate the image file on your hard disk or
network.
Note: Background images are tiled and override
background color.
To change the author name for an individual page: Open the Format menu and
choose Page Title and Properties.
To change the page colors and background image for an individual page: Open
the Format menu and choose Page Colors and Background.
or Bulleted List
buttons on the Format toolbar.
on the
Composition toolbar. The Insert Table dialog box appears.
on the toolbar, or open the Insert menu and choose Image. You see the
Image Properties dialog box.
on the toolbar, or open the Insert menu and choose Link.
in the
page. To correct the image's address, double-click the broken
image to display the Image Properties dialog box so you can enter the
correct address.
.
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