Incorporating Microsoft Office Documents into Your Site


Contribute offers a number of avenues for users to put Office documents online:

  • Selected material can be copied in Office and then pasted into Contribute.

  • Windows users can import Word and Excel files directly into their Web pages.

  • Any Office document can be linked from a Web page.

Note

A fourth optionConvert to FlashPaperis covered inLesson 6 .


In the first two instances, Contribute translates the content from its original format to HTML. Like Dreamweaver, Contribute does a fairly good job of stripping away extraneous XML markup. Moreover, Contribute applies any existing styles for the standard heading tags (<h1>, <h2>, and so on) to the corresponding Office styles: Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on. With the proper setup, Contribute can effortlessly translate your Word document into an integrated part of your overall Web site.

Note

Certain Word styles, notably Heading 2 and Heading 4, are italicized by default. Contribute currently italicizes any such styles applied to imported text, whether your style sheet uses italics or not.


In this exercise, you'll see how to set the appropriate styles for a Web page so that any inserted Office content conforms to your existing design.

Note

You must have Word installed to complete the Contribute portions of this exercise.


1.

In Dreamweaver's Files panel, navigate to the report folder and expand it. Double-click the file annual_report.htm to check it out and open it. Locate the bg_ct.css file in the css folder and, if necessary, check it out as well.

The annual report HTML file is a placeholder file waiting for content to be added. Such situations are common as two or more teams are working toward a common goalin this example, publishing the annual report.

2.

From the CSS Styles panel, expand the attached stylesheet (bg_ct.css) if necessary, and select the H1 tag. Click the Edit Style button to open the Style Definition dialog box for the H1 style. In the Type category of that dialog box, in the Color field, enter #666666. Click OK to confirm your modification.

3.

Select the H2 tag in the CSS Styles panel and select Edit Style. In the Type category of the Style Definition dialog box for the h2 style, enter #666666 in the Color field. Click OK when you're done. Choose File > Save All to store the open files; then select the two files in the Files panel and click the Check In button.

With the Dreamweaver setup complete, you're ready to move to Contribute to verify that the proper role settings are in place and check the import.

4.

In Contribute, choose Edit > Administer Websites > Bounty General to open the Administer Website dialog box. In that dialog box, make sure that the Administrator role is highlighted and click Edit Role Settings. Under the Styles and Fonts category, make sure that neither the Allow Users to Apply Fonts and Sizes option nor the Allow Users to Apply Font Color and Background Color option is checked. Click OK to close the Edit Role Settings dialog box and then click Close to complete the Administer Website dialog box.

The role settings are tied to the various styles imported. By deselecting the Allow Users to Apply Font Color and Background Color option, you are preventing any additionally applied color from appearing in the imported content. Similarly, turning off the option to give users control of fonts and sizes sets up the CSS-defined fonts and sizes to appear properly.

5.

Click Choose on the toolbar; in the Choose File on Website dialog box, navigate to the report folder in the site root, expand it, and open the annual_report.htm file. Click Edit and delete the opening instructional paragraph. Keep your cursor at the top of the page.

The next steps are different for the Macintosh and Windows users because the capability to import a Microsoft Office document is supported only in Windows.

6.

Windows users only: Select Insert > Microsoft Office Document from the Contribute menu. In the Open dialog box, locate the report folder in the site and choose the Word file Annual Report.doc. You'll be given the option to insert the document in a number of ways; choose Insert the Contents of This Document into the Page and click OK.

After a few moments, the imported document appears in the Contribute editing window. The time it takes to convert the Word document to HTML varies according to the length and complexity of the document, the speed of your processor, and other system-related factors.

7.

Macintosh users only: Using Finder, locate the Annual Report.doc file in the report folder and double-click it to open the file in Word. When the file opens, choose Edit > Select All and then select Edit > Copy. Switch to Contribute and choose Edit > Paste.

As in Windows, the conversion might take a moment or two. The same Word-to-HTML conversion takes place whether the file is imported or pasted into Contribute.

8.

Place the cursor in the first paragraph under each heading and choose firstParagraph from the Style drop-down list.

Only standard styles, such as Normal and Heading 1, are converted and applied. Custom styles such as firstParagraph need to be applied manually.

Tip

If your company's or client's browser requirements permit advanced CSS selectors, an adjacent sibling selectorH2 + pdefined with the same attribute and value as the .firstParagraph class will have the desired affect automatically.

9.

Click the Publish button to transfer your draft to your Web server.

Key points to communicate to Contribute users incorporating Office documents:

  • Whenever possible, format your Office document using standard headings (Normal, Heading 1, Heading 2, and so on) and avoid customizing with additional colors, fonts, or text decoration.

  • Certain limitations exist for the different Office programs. In Excel, only simple spreadsheet data can be imported or copied; no charts are converted, and only bold and/or italic formatting is applied to the cell contents. PowerPoint presentations as a whole can be linked only to the Web page or converted with FlashPaper; sections of PowerPoint slides can be copied and pasted, and graphic bullets are retained as images.

  • When an Office documentor any external fileis linked to a Web page, Contribute places a copy of the original document on the Web server. Any changes made to the source file are not reflected on the Web unless the original link is deleted and a new link to the source file is created.



Design and Deploy Websites with Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 and Contribute 3(c) Training from the Source
Design and Deploy Websites with Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 and Contribute 3: Training from the Source
ISBN: 032128884X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 130
Authors: Joseph Lowery

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