Tools for Dressing Up Your Text


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Choosing the Style of a Paragraph

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In Design view, click anywhere within the paragraph you want to format. (You do not need to select the paragraph.)

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Click the down arrow on the right end of the Style box on the Formatting toolbar to open the Style list.

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In the Style list, click the name of the style you want to apply.

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The style is applied to the selected text.

INTRODUCTION

The most important step in controlling the appearance of text is choosing the text's paragraph style from the Style list. There are many styles to choose from, but the most important are the six different Heading styles (from big Heading 1 to little Heading 6), Normal style (for ordinary, everyday paragraphs), and the List styles (see the task "Creating a Simple List" later in this part).


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Changing the Style of Multiple Paragraphs

To apply a style to multiple, consecutive paragraphs all at once, click anywhere in the first paragraph and drag down through the paragraphs to anywhere in the last paragraph. Then choose your style.


Indenting a Paragraph

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Click anywhere within the paragraph you want to indent. (You do not need to select the paragraph.)

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Click the Increase Indent button on the Formatting toolbar. (To indent farther, click the Increase Indent button multiple times.)

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The paragraph is indented.

INTRODUCTION

To indent a paragraph is to push it inward from the margin to make it stand out on the page and to better show that the indented text is a part of the heading or other text above it. Indenting selected paragraphs can give your page structure and visual variety.


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Indenting Multiple Paragraphs

To indent multiple, consecutive paragraphs at once, click anywhere in the first paragraph and drag down through the paragraphs to anywhere in the last paragraph. Then click the Increase Indent button.


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Removing Indents

To remove the indent, click anywhere in the indented paragraph, and then click the Decrease Indent button on the Formatting toolbar.


Aligning Paragraphs on the Left, Right, or in the Center

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Click anywhere within the paragraph you want to align. (You do not need to select the paragraph.)

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Click one of the four alignment buttons on the Formatting toolbar: Align Left, Center, Align Right , or Justify .

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The paragraph is aligned (here, center-aligned).

INTRODUCTION

You can align any paragraph in any of four different ways: tight up against the left side of the page (left alignment), centered on the page (center alignment), hard up to the right side of the page (right alignment), or justified (spread evenly from margin to margin, like a newspaper column).


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Aligning Multiple Paragraphs

To align multiple, consecutive paragraphs, click anywhere in the first paragraph and drag down through the paragraphs to anywhere in the last paragraph. Then click the alignment button you want.


Making Text Bold, Italic, or Underlined

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Select the exact characters you want to format.

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Click the Bold button, Italic button, or Underline button to format the selected characters.

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The text effect is applied to the selected text (in this example, the text is made bold).

INTRODUCTION

Just as in any letter or report you might create, bold , italic , and underlining are valuable tools in a Web page for making text stand out or for making it match editorial standards (such as setting book titles in italics). They're easy to use, but use them sparingly; too much of this stuff makes text busy and hard to read.


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Removing Bold, Italic, or Underlining

To remove bold, italic, or underlining, select the text and click the button again. For example, to de-bold some bold text, select the text and click the Bold button.


Choosing a Font for Text

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Select the exact characters to which you want to apply a new font.

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Click the down arrow to the right of the Font box in the Formatting toolbar to open the Font list.

INTRODUCTION

The best way to control the appearance of text is to choose an appropriate style ("Choosing the Style of a Paragraph" earlier in this part), especially if you use a theme. But beyond styles, you can dress up text even more by choosing a particular typeface ”or font ”for it.


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Character Formatting Changes Only What You Select

Fonts are a form of character formatting, not paragraph formatting, so they affect only the exact characters you select. To apply a font to a whole paragraph, you must select the whole paragraph. The same is true of other character formatting, such as size, bold, italic, underlining, and color .


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Click the font you want to apply.

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The font you chose is applied to the selected text. Click anywhere in your page to deselect the text.

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Not All Browsers Support Your Font Choices

Some browsers (especially unusual or older ones) don't support fonts, although nearly all browsers support a standard list of basic fonts that includes Times New Roman, Arial, and Courier. If you've used fonts, visitors using those browsers will still see your text, but they might not see it styled exactly the way you intend.


Making Text Bigger or Smaller

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Select the exact characters you want to make bigger or smaller.

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Click the down arrow to the right of the Font Size box in the Formatting toolbar to open the Font Size list.

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Choose a size, from 1 (smallest) to 36 (largest). Alternatively, choose Normal to allow the applied paragraph style to determine the font size.

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The selected font is resized. Click anywhere in your page to deselect the text.

INTRODUCTION

The paragraph style you choose determines the size of the text within that paragraph. For example, if text set in Heading 3 style looks too small to you, change it to a bigger style, such as Heading 2 or Heading 1. You can fine-tune the size of selected text easily when the size chosen by the style isn't exactly what you want.


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"Point" Sizes Are a Little Arbitrary

Next to each size in the Font Size list is a point size (8 pt., 10 pt., and so on). In publishing, points measure the height of capital letters (72 pt. = 1 inch). The points are shown to help you estimate the size, but they're not particularly meaningful, because the exact size of text depends on the screen dimensions of the computer monitor on which it is viewed .


Choosing the Color of Text

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Select the exact characters for which you want to choose a color.

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If the color shown in the Font Color button is what you want, click the button to apply the color. For a different color, click the down arrow on the Font Color button.

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Click the colored square containing the color you want to apply. (To allow the paragraph style to determine the color, click Automatic .)

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The color is applied to the selected text. Click anywhere in your page to deselect the text.

INTRODUCTION

If you choose a theme or create your page using a template, text colors have already been selected to go well with one another and to contrast properly with any colored background. So you might never need to choose text colors. Still, you might find yourself wanting to give a heading or other selected text its own unique color.


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More Color Options

If you don't like any of the colors in the box that drops down from the Font Color button, click More Colors . A palette appears, showing hundreds of color choices. Click a color and then click OK .


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Browsers Can Trump Your Colors

Users can configure their browsers to reject "custom" text and background colors. Users who do this will not see the text colors you choose, but will see the text itself just fine.


Giving Text a "Highlight" Color

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Select the exact characters you want to highlight.

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If the color shown in the Highlight Color button is what you want, click the button to apply the color. For a different color, click the down arrow on the Highlight Color button.

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Click the colored square containing the color you want to apply. (To allow the paragraph style to determine the color, click Automatic .)

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The highlight color is applied to the selected text. Click anywhere in your page to deselect the text.

INTRODUCTION

A highlight color lays a bar of transparent color over selected text, creating the same effect you get when you mark printed text with a highlight marker. Used sparingly, a highlight color is a fun and effective way to make text stand out.


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Expanded Choices for Highlight Colors

If you don't like any of the colors in the box that drops down from the Highlight Color button, click More Colors . A palette appears, showing hundreds of color choices. Click a color and then click OK .


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Keep Your Text Legible

When choosing font colors, highlight colors, and a background (see Part 6, "Adding and Formatting Pictures"), be careful that all the colors contrast well enough to make the text readable.


"Painting" the Formatting

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Click in the paragraph whose formatting you want to copy.

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Click the Format Painter button on the Standard toolbar. (When you move your pointer onto the work area, it becomes a paintbrush to show it is active.)

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Select the entire paragraph to which you want to apply the formatting.

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The formatting is applied. Click anywhere in the page to deselect the paragraph.

INTRODUCTION

Suppose that you have two paragraphs that you want formatted the same. FrontPage features a Format Painter that lets you easily copy all paragraph formatting (style, alignment, indent) and character formatting (font, size, color, bold, and so on) from one paragraph to another so that the two paragraphs are formatted identically.


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Painting Just Characters

To copy a character formatting (without any paragraph formatting), select some text formatted the way you want (but not a whole paragraph), click the Format Painter button, and then select the exact characters to which you want the character formatting applied.


Finding the Advanced Text-Formatting Options

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Select the exact characters you want to format.

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Open the Format menu and choose Font .

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Choose from the lists and check the check boxes on the tab. When the Preview area shows the formatting you want, click OK .

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The formatting is applied. Click anywhere in the page to deselect the characters.

INTRODUCTION

The use of most other, more advanced formatting options ”such as strikethrough , superscript/subscript, and small caps ”can make your page too busy and hard to read, and they're not supported in some browsers. But just in case you feel ambitious, here's how to apply a variety of different advanced formatting options.


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Changing Character Spacing

To change the spacing between characters in selected text, complete steps 1 and 2 in this task to open the Font dialog box, click the Character Spacing tab, and select from the options offered there.


Creating a Simple List

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Type the list items, pressing Enter after each so that each list item is its own paragraph.

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Select the entire list by clicking anywhere in the top item, holding down the mouse button, and dragging to anywhere in the last item.

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Click the Numbering or Bullets button on the Formatting toolbar.

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The selected text is formatted as a list (in this example, a bulleted list). Click anywhere in the page to deselect the characters.

INTRODUCTION

Lists come in two types: numbered and bulleted. In a numbered list , the items in the list are preceded by consecutive numbers ; in a bulleted list , each item in the list is preceded by a symbol, a "bullet" character, to give the list a little jazz. Lists are a great way to organize content while at the same time give your page more style.


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You Needn't Select Every Character

List formatting is paragraph formatting, so you can select a list by running a selection from anywhere in the top item to anywhere in the bottom item. Don't worry if all items aren't selected.


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Numbered or Bulleted ”How to Choose

When the order of the items in the list is important, as in step-by-step instructions, use a numbered list. When the order doesn't matter, use a bulleted list.


Changing the Bullet or Numbering Style of a List

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Select the list by clicking anywhere in the top item, holding down the mouse button, and dragging to anywhere in the last item.

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Open the Format menu and choose Bullets and Numbering .

INTRODUCTION

You can make a good-looking list just by clicking a button, as you did in the previous task. But you don't have to settle for what you get. You can easily modify the appearance of a list, choosing the numbering style (A, B, C; I, II, III; and so on) or bullet symbol.


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Changing Bullets in a Theme

If your page has a theme, the theme might put cool, graphical bullets on your bulleted lists, and you won't see the bullet options shown in this task. Instead, you'll get a different tab on which you can click a Browse button to replace the bullets with another bullet-size image of your choice.


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The List Properties dialog box opens. To choose a bullet style, click the Plain Bullets tab, and click the box showing the type of bullets you want.

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To choose a number (or consecutive letters) style, choose the Numbers tab, and click the box showing the type of numbering you want.

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Click OK to close the List Properties dialog box.

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The selected text is formatted using the bullet or number scheme you selected. Click anywhere in the page to deselect the characters.

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More List Options

On the Other tab of the List Properties dialog box, you can choose from a few kinds of lists other than bulleted and numbered. These aren't used often, so I won't show them here ”but if you're curious , try them out.


Nesting Items in a List

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Create the list as a simple, unnested list. (Do not indent any items yet.)

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Select a group of items to be nested.

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Click the Increase Indent button on the Formatting toolbar twice.

INTRODUCTION

A complex, or nested , list contains some items indented under others. This book's Table of Contents is an example; the tasks are nested beneath each part heading. You can create such lists on your Web pages, going several levels deep and even changing the bullet or number style for nested objects to help them stand out.


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Bullet Styles in a Nested List

Besides varying the number style for each level in a numbered list, you can also dress up a bulleted list by varying the bullet style with each level.


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The selected text is indented, or nested. Click anywhere in the page to deselect the text.

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To change the bullet or number style for the nested items, select them and then choose a style as described earlier in "Changing the Bullet or Numbering Style of a List."

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To create each deeper level of nesting, select the items to be moved to the next level, and click Increase Indent twice.

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Changing Where Numbering Begins

In a numbered list, the numbers in each nested portion are numbered independently, starting at 1 (or a, or I, and so on). That's the way outlines and other nested lists are usually structured. If you want to change where the numbering begins in any part of the list, select that part, open the Format menu, and choose Bullets and Numbering ; then choose your desired starting number under Start At .


Creating a Collapsible List

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Create a simple list, pressing Enter after each so that each list item is its own paragraph. (Don't nest anything yet.)

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Select the list by clicking in the top item, holding down the mouse button, and dragging to anywhere in the last item.

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Open the Format menu and choose Bullets and Numbering .

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The Bullets and Numbering dialog box opens. Click the Enable Collapsible Outlines check box to place a check mark there.

INTRODUCTION

A really long list is a problem in a Web page; it forces the visitor to scroll too much, and it makes finding headings in the list difficult because of all the nested detail. The answer is a collapsible list , a nested list in which only top-level items show ”at first. When the visitor clicks any top-level item, all nested items beneath it appear.


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Tell Visitors the List Is Collapsible

Some folks on the Web need a little coaching on collapsible lists. Near the list, it's usually a good idea to add "Click any item to see more detailed choices," or words to that effect.


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Click the Initially Collapsed check box to place a check mark there. That way, the nested items will be hidden when the visitor arrives at the page.

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Click OK to close the List Properties dialog box.

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Nest items as described in the "Nesting Items in a List" earlier in this part, save the page, and then click a main level item while previewing the page in your Web browser.

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The nested items are revealed.

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Seeing Your Results

The collapsing effect of a collapsed list does not show up in the Normal tab of FrontPage's Page view. To see your list do its thing, save your page, and then click the Preview tab or preview the page in your browser. Clicking a list item displays items nested beneath it; clicking it again hides them.




Easy Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
Easy Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
ISBN: 078972961X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 74
Authors: Ned Snell

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