&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 Navigator 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 browsing in
Navigator:
In the Navigator 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 OK to display the specified file in a Composer
window.
To edit a web page:
Open the Window menu and choose Navigator.
Go to a web page by typing the URL of the page (for example,
http://home.netscape.com) in the Location Bar and pressing
Enter (Return on Macintosh OS).
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 Navigator. 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 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 Navigator
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. Navigator 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 Enter (Return on Macintosh OS) 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-Enter to create the hanging indent.
Type the text you want to indent.
Press Shift-Enter to create another indented paragraph, or
press Return 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: Not all fonts installed on your computer appear.
Instead of specifying a font that may not be available to all who
view your web page, it's generally best to select one of the fonts
provided in the menu since these fonts work on every computer. For
example, 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 a handy color code converter
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 upper/lower 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 upper/lower 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 "Show All 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 Show All
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.
Composer always checks the spelling starting from the beginning
of your document, regardless of where you place the insertion
point.
To check the spelling of your page:
Click the Spell button on the toolbar, or open the Edit menu
and choose Check Spelling.
Use the Check Spelling dialog box to correct misspellings and
to edit or add words to the current spelling User Dictionary. Click
Close when you are done.
Recheck Page: Click to reset the spell checker and
recheck words. Recheck Page is primarily useful if you switch
languages and then want to re-check the document's spelling.
Check Word: Click to check the spelling of any word you
type in the "Change to" field.
Replace and Replace All: Click to replace the
word, or all occurrences of the word.
Ignore and Ignore All: Click to continue checking
without changing the word, or all occurrences of the word.
Add Word: Click to add the word to your Personal
Dictionary, so that Composer recognizes the word instead of
highlighting it as a misspelled word.
Edit: Click to add, replace, and remove words from the
User Dictionary.
Language: Choose the language that you want the spell
checker to use.
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
Navigator 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.
Show All 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, 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.
Tip: To resize a table, click it once to display resize
handles. Click and drag a handle to make the table smaller or
larger.
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 Ctrl key
(Command key on Macintosh OS) 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 Edit menu, choose Preferences, and then choose
Composer.
Under Table 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 Ctrl
(Command on Macintosh OS) and then click inside a cell. Keep pressing
Ctrl (Command on Macintosh OS) 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.
Open the Table menu, choose Select, and then choose
Table.
To copy or move the table: Use the Edit menu's cut, copy, and
paste options.
To delete the table: Open the Table menu again, choose Delete,
and then choose Table.
Converting Text into a Table
To convert text into a table:
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.
Tip: To resize an image, click it once to display resize
handles. Click and drag a handle to make the image smaller or
larger.
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:
To edit the properties for a selected image:
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.)
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 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 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
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. (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.
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 web site, 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 drop-down list. 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.
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
anchor:
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 location field. 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.
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 (Control+click on Macintosh OS) 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.
Select an image on your page.
Click the Link button on the toolbar, or open the Insert
menu and choose Link.
Tip: Drag and drop a linked image from the Navigator
window into a Composer window to copy both the image and the
link.
Note: To remove the blue border on images used as links,
open the Link Properties dialog box, click the Link tab, and
uncheck "Show border around linked image".
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 Navigator browser's Location field.
Open the File menu, and choose Edit Page.
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 web site. 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 Navigator browser's Location field.
Open the File menu, and choose Edit Page.
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 Navigator 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. Click the
Troubleshooting button in the Publishing Status dialog box to get
help on solving your publishing problem.
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 Navigator's Location field, 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 web site. 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 Navigator browser. For example, confirm
that you can successfully view the page
http://home.netscape.com.
If your Internet connection is not working, verify that all
hardware, telephone connections, modems, and network connections
are functioning properly.
Use the Navigator browser to try to view a page at the web site
you are attempting to publish to. If you can successfully view
other web sites 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 Navigator browser, search for "web hosting".
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 Navigator browser. For example, confirm
that you can successfully view the page
http://home.netscape.com.
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
web site. 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
web site. 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 web 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.
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 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.
Retain original source formatting: This option preserves
line breaks and the page's original formatting for the HTML source
code. Select this if you want to preserve white space (extra lines,
tabs, etc.) that makes the HTML source code more readable. This
preference does not affect how your pages appear in a browser
window.
Reformat HTML source: This option reformats the HTML
source code to make it more readable, by inserting line breaks and
indentation. 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.)
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 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.