jump to navigation

Creating CSS Styles In Dreamweaver August 27, 2009

Posted by Interesting Stuff in : Sofware and Computers , comments closed

Cascading Styles Sheets (CSS) are a recommendation of the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) and offer web designers precise control over the formatting and layout of web pages. They enable you to set up default formatting rules which the browser will automatically apply to headings, paragraphs and any other elements on a web page. CSS allows web developers to separate the content of their web pages from the style and formatting information. This means that the HTML code is not cluttered with style information and will be processed more quickly by browsers, leading to faster download times. Also, since style definitions are normally stored in external files to which all HTML pages are linked, the entire site can be updated by modifying the CSS file(s), without even having to open any of the HTML pages.

You can use CSS in your web pages in three different ways. Firstly, it can be placed inside an HTML document, in the HEAD area of the page. Secondly, CSS can be placed in an external file with a “.css” file extension. Thirdly, CSS can be placed inline; that is to say, inside HTML tags. The three methods are not mutually exclusive. A typical website may have one or more external style sheets, combined with internal CSS on certain pages and a few smatterings of inline CSS within certain HTML pages. In general, the closer the CSS is to the HTML element it controls, the higher its precedence. Thus inline styles normally take precedence over internal CSS, which, in turn, takes precedence over external CSS definitions.

Adobe’s Dreamweaver CS4 offers a number of sophisticated features for creating and editing CSS. To create internal CSS rules in Dreamweaver, simply open the HTML page then display the CSS Styles panel by choosing CSS Styles from the Window menu. Next, choose New from the CSS Styles panel menu. At the bottom of the New CSS Rule dialog, Dreamweaver invites you to “Choose where your rule will be defined”. Choose “This document only” from the drop down menu. If, instead, you choose “Create New Style Sheet”, the new CSS rule will be placed in an external file. (Dreamweaver will allow you to specify where the file is placed.) If you would like to link an existing CSS file to an HTML page, choose “Attach Style Sheet” from the CSS Styles panel menu and click on the Browse button; locate the file then click “OK”.

Once a CSS source, whether internal or external, is associated with a given HTML file, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 will display the name of the CSS document in the CSS Styles panel whenever the HTML file is open. If the CSS is being stored internally, the rules will be grouped under the heading “style”, indicating that it has been defined within a style element in the HEAD area of the current page.

The author of this article works for an independent computer training company offering Dreamweaver and Adobe Flash CS4 training classes in London and all over the United Kingdom.

How To Collaborate On Documents With InDesign CS4’s Book Command August 26, 2009

Posted by Interesting Stuff in : Sofware and Computers , comments closed

You have probably noticed that whenever you choose New from the File menu in Adobe InDesign CS4, you may have noticed the option to create a new book without ever knowing exactly what a book is. Well, in fact, books are a fairly nifty feature: they allow you to take a series of related Adobe InDesign CS4 document and treat them as a single entity; a book. All documents in the book can then share resources such as paragraph and character styles, colour swatches, master pages, sections and page numbering.

Once you have created a book, by choosing File-New-Book, the Book panel is displayed. It features a panel menu with all the necessary Book options. Your first task is to add documents to the book: from the Book panel menu, choose “Add Document” and select the documents you want to be treated as part of the book.

There is also some useful feedback about the status of each chapter in the book by displaying an icon next to the name of each chapter. The “Available” icon indicates that the book may be opened by one member of the team of people using the book. The “Open” icon indicates that you have the book open and that no one will be able to use it until they have finished with it. The “In Use” icon will appear when someone else has that chapter open; this means that you have to wait until they have finished with it before you can use it. The “Modified” icon shows that changes have been made to the book since last time you opened it. And, finally, the dreaded “Missing” icon indicates that the InDesign document associated with that chapter has been moved from its original location.

As soon as the book file is saved, the book becomes a separate entity to the documents it contains and the documents in a book do not have to reside in the same location as the book or as each other. To save a book, choose Save Book in the Book panel menu.

It is possible to replace an existing chapter of a book with another InDesign document by simply selecting an existing book chapte and choosing Replace Document from the panel menu. Next, navigate to the replacement document and double-click to select it. InDesign will then replace the selected chapter with the new document. Deleting chapters from a book is equally straightforward. Just highlight the chapter(s) and choose Remove Document from the panel menu, or click the Remove Document icon at the bottom of the Book panel.

You must also choose which of the documents in the book will be treated as the style source. The document elected as the style source will be used as the master document in the process known as synchronization whereby InDesign replaces the colour swatches and styles of all documents in the book with those in the style source document.

To customize page numbering across the whole book, choose Book Page Numbering Options in the Book panel menu. The default is “Automatically Update Page & Section Numbers”: this will cause InDesign to number pages in the documents within the book according to the order in which they are listed in the Book panel.

The Book panel can also be used as a navigation aid or launch pad from which you can open any InDesign document which has been specified as a chapter of the book. To work on any chapter of a book, simply double-click the name of the chapter in the Book panel. The chapter will open like any regular InDesign document and can be closed when you have finished editing without it being removed from the book.

InDesign books are a great tool for division of labour since the fact that a document is part of a book does not stop it from being a regular InDesign document. If a book contains five documents, five different people can work on each of those documents and then, at the end, the whole book can be preflighted, printed and output as PDF as a single unit.

Both indexes and tables of contents can also be generated for an entire book as well as for a single document. Simply design and create the table of contents or index in the normal way but activate the option “Include Book Documents”.

The writer is consultant and software trainer with a computer training company who carry out Adobe InDesign CS4 classes all over the UK.

Getting To Know The Pages Panel In InDesign August 23, 2009

Posted by Interesting Stuff in : Sofware and Computers , comments closed

Adobe InDesign is a key element within Adobe Creative Suite CS4. The Pages panel is used in InDesign to work with document pages as well as master pages. It allows you to create pages, whether blank or based on a particular master. You can also move, copy and delete pages as well as retrospectively applying a master. It also provides an excellent method of navigating through longer documents. To make the Pages panel visible, choose Window – Pages or press Control+F12 on the keyboard.

The display of pages in the Pages panel is determined by whether or not Facing Pages is being used. This option is normally specified when the document is first created and controls whether the document will consist of individual pages or spreads. If Facing Pages is active, pages will be laid out side by side (two-up) in the Pages panel. If the Facing Pages option is inactive, pages appear single (one-up) in the Pages panel. Additionally, the default master of documents with Facing Pages active will consist of two pages while documents without this option will have a single default master page.

To insert pages within your document, choose Insert Pages from the Pages panel menu to display the Insert Pages dialog. Here you can specify the number of pages to be added, the position at which the new pages will be inserted and whether they will be based on a master page. A shortcut method is to drag one of the master page icons into the bottom area of the Pages panel, which represents the document pages. This will create a page based on the master in question.

Whenever you are deleting, moving or duplicating pages in the Pages panel, you may either work with a single page or select several pages. To select several pages, click on the first then hold down Control (Command on a Mac) and click on each of the others. This technique allows you to select a non-contiguous range of pages. To select a block on pages, click on the first page then hold down Shift and click on the last.

To move a page or several pages to a new location within the document, simply drag the selected pages up or down. A bold vertical is displayed as you drag to indicate the new position that the page or pages will occupy. To copy the selected pages, do exactly the same thing but hold down the Alt key on your keyboard. Similarly, to delete the pages, just click on the wastepaper basket icon at the bottom of the Pages panel or choose Delete Spread or Delete Pages from the Pages panel menu.

The author is a software consultant with an IT training company offering Adobe InDesign training courses in London and the UK.

Cut, Copy And Paste Tips In Excel August 20, 2009

Posted by Interesting Stuff in : Sofware and Computers , comments closed

The Cut, Copy and Paste commands are a feature of almost all computer software and allow users to transfer data from one location to another via the clipboard. As with most programs, Microsoft Office Excel uses the clipboard in two ways: it allows you to manipulate standard data, such as text and graphics, and also data which is unique to Excel, such as formulas.

MS Excel uses four main commands to manipulate data via the clipboard in Excel: Cut, Copy, Paste and Paste Special. The most commonly used combinations are Cut or Copy followed by Paste or Paste Special. Whenever the operation starts with the Cut command, information will be transferred from one location to another; if Copy is used instead, information will be duplicated at the destination. Regardless of which operation is being performed, there are a few tips which every Excel user should be aware of.

For a start, when using the copy and paste commands, you may paste once or paste repeatedly. If you only want to paste the information once, then having made your selection and used the Cut or Copy command, simply position the cursor in the top left cell of the area where you want to data to go (you don’t have to select multiple cells) and press the Enter key. This will paste the data and exit Copy mode; i.e. the flashing border will disappear from the selected cells. If you want to paste the data repeatedly in different locations, then use the Paste command. This pastes the data at the specified location but keeps you in Copy mode.

It is even possible to make several discontiguous selections and paste the copied or cut data into each of them simultaneously. Imagine, for example, you have a worksheet containing product information which includes a column headed “Product Status”. You select a cell in that column which contains the text “Obsolete but for sale” and copy it. You now want to copy this text into several other cells in that same column. To do this, you can click on the first cell that needs this text, hold down Control and click on each of the others. Next, simply press the Enter key to paste the copied text into each of the selected cells and exit Copy mode.

Each time you copy a formula, Excel will change all relative cell references (those without dollar signs; such as “A5″, as opposed to “$A$5″). Most of the time, this is quite useful. However, occasionally you want to copy the exact same formula in a cell. The way to do this is edit the cell containing the formula and copy the formula while in Edit mode. To copy, highlight the formula and right-click Copy or type Control-c. When you paste the formula into another cell, it will be identical to the original formula.

Paste Special is a very versatile variation of the Paste command. One of its most useful function is to “freeze” volatile or dynamic data; i.e. data which is being generated by formulas. Simply copy the data including all of the formulas and then with the data still highlighted, choose Paste Special; activate the option “Values” and click the OK. Any formulas in the original selection will be permanently replaced with their current values.

If you would like to learn more about Excel, why not attend one of our Microsoft Excel training classes.

Character And Paragraph Formatting In Word August 15, 2009

Posted by Interesting Stuff in : Sofware and Computers , comments closed

Microsoft Office Word 2007 is sometimes criticized by designers for not affording them the accuracy provided by DTP software such as InDesign and QuarkXpress. However, over the years, the features available for formatting text and paragraphs in Word have been gradually enhanced. Today, there are features to control just about every aspect of your text.

A key distinction is between character and paragraph formatting. Character formats can be applied to any text you care to select; anything from a single character upwards. Paragraph formats apply to entire paragraphs; a paragraph being any text between two carriage returns. A second distinction is the way in which text is formatted: manually or through the use of styles. Manual formatting, where you specify the formatting attributes you want to apply to your text one item at a time, is suitable for short documents; especially those which will not be repeated at some stage.

Styles are best used when creating longer documents. Here, text formatting is encapsulated into a series of named styles, each with its own associated series of formatting attributes. To format one’s text, one simply assigns a particular style to it. If the attributes associated with a particular style are modified, all of the text which has been formatted with that style is updated and inherits the new attributes.

If formatting is being done manually, character formats are obtained in the Font group of the Home Tab of the Word ribbon. Character formats include such attributes as the typeface, size and color. Paragraph formats are found in the Paragraph group of the same Tab and include such attributes as the space between paragraphs, alignment and indentation.

If you decide to take the styles route for formatting, you can use Word’s built-in styles, your own styles or a combination of both. Here too, there is a distinction between character styles and paragraph styles. However, it is important to note that while character styles include only character attributes, paragraph styles include both character and paragraph attributes. Paragraph styles are used far more frequently than character styles and most people will be happy to use Word’s built-in styles (especially “Heading 1″, “Heading 2″ etc.) rather than reinventing the wheel and creating their own. The good thing about these styles is that you can modify the attributes associated with them simply by right-clicking on the name of a style and choosing “Modify”.

Character styles are not used that often but they can be quite handy. Suppose you are creating a promotional document about a service offered by your company and you want the name of the service to stand out wherever it occurs. No problem: simply create a character style and use it to format the text in question. If you are doing this as an afterthought, MS Word will even allow you to use the Replace command to apply the formatting.

You can learn more about Word formatting features on our Microsoft Word 2007 training courses.