TIP 61: Changing View Profiles

The View palette in GoLive offers a plethora of options that many users don't know about. Using the View palette you can simulate what your page would like in a number of browsers or based on a specific profile.

Start by opening the View palette from the Window menu and opening a Web page in the Layout Editor. Notice that there are pull-down menus labeled Basic Pro.le and User Pro.les. Nested in these lists are subcategories. Choose a browser pro.le from the Basic Pro.les list, and your page will simulate that browser. Five recently used pro.les are listed at the top of the menu (Figure 61a).

Figure 61a. Choose from the options in the Basic Profiles menu to simulate how your page would look with various browsers, platforms, or handheld devices.

This is helpful if you want to see how a page will look in a very old browser, such as those that don't support CSS, or how the page will look on another device such as a mobile phone.

Choose an option from the User Profiles list to view the page in a particular wayfor instance, to see how your page would appear at a particular size or with no images. We find the Plain Text Only option valuable when we need to edit text and don't want a lot of other clutter in the way. Again, the five most recently used options will be listed at the top of the menu (Figure 61b). You can have multiple User Profiles enabled at the same time.

Figure 61b. The User Profiles offer a number of helpful views, including a quick way to see only the text on your page.

Flat Menu Option

If you prefer, you can change the way the profile menu appears by selecting Flat Menu from either the Basic or User Profiles menus. You'll get all the same options as in the Structured menu, but they'll be in one long list instead of in submenus.

Note

The View options are not a replacement for testing your pages with real browsers! They're great in a pinch, but don't get lazy. Test, test, test on multiple browsers and across platforms.