WIT 2003

Text Designs

OK, you've successfully opened a new page in Composer. Now what? Start designing! Read through the information below to get an idea of what can be done with your text. Each of the topics listed in the following table will keep you on this same page, so don't worry about getting lost! After you have an idea, try the activities to see how you're doing.

Body Text

When Composer is set on body text, your text is set in the default font and style for regular text. If you pull down the menu you will see the following options:

• Paragraph: Use this feature to begin a new paragraph. The paragraph includes top and bottom margins
• Heading 1-6: You can format your paragraph as a heading. Heading 1 is the largest, heading 6 the smallest. Be aware that headings include some space before and after each paragraph
• Address: This 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. The text will appear in italic print
• Preformat: This is useful for elements such as code examples, column data and mail messages that you want displayed in a fixed-width font

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Font/Text sizes:

Note: Designing web pages is not like using a word processor. In word processing software, such as Microsoft Word, you have almost absolute control over fonts. In building web pages, even if it looks right to you on your machine, it might look different on any given web browser. That's why we recommend using the standard fonts in your web pages

• Font: When you begin typing, Composer will automatically type your work in size 12, variable width font. If you prefer to use fonts specified by the reader's browser, use variable width or fixed width. You may notice that all of the fonts available on your computer do not show in Composer. The reason for this is that not all browsers support all fonts. It is best to stick with the basic fonts available, as these are compatible with all computers. If you want to use a specific font, highlight the text you want changed, and click on Format, then Font and select the desired font.

• Text Size: Composer types all font in the standard size 12. If you would like to make your font bigger or smaller relative to the surrounding text, you can do so by pressing the buttons on your toolbar. Alternatively, you can highlight the text you want to change, go to Format, then Size to see all of the choices available

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Text Color:

• Using the toolbar you can select the color of text and the color of the background page you desire. On the toolbar the top color is the text color, and the bottom color is your background color. You can access these options also by clicking on Format then Text Color and Page Colors and Backgrounds

Tip: Be very careful about the text color/background color combinations. Remember, your page should be easy for everyone to read

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Text Style:

• Your toolbar has basic style components such as bold, italics and underline.
• Be careful when using underlined text. Some people may confuse these with links
• If you would like to use other style components, click on Format, then Text Styles

• If you apply different text styles and decide you do not want them, highlight the text, click on Format, the Remove All Text Styles.

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Working with Lists

Indenting: The toolbar offers a feature that allows you to indent your text in small increments. Once text has been indented it can also be moved back to the original position by clicking on the "left" icon

• You can also find this feature under Format, Increase Indent or Decrease Indent

Outlining: Located on the toolbar are two options for organizing your text. You can use the bullet format or order your text by numbers

• You can change the way your bullets and numbers look by going to Format, then List Properties. Illustrated is an example of the options available for numbers

• Under Format, then List, are the options of term and definition. The two styles work together to create a "glossary-style" appearance. Use the "term" feature for the word being defined, and the "definition" feature for the definition. The Term text appears left aligned, and the Definition text appears indented

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Alignment:

The toolbar makes it easy to align your text. The four choices available are left justified, center justified, right justified or align justified, which most resembles a newspaper and how text is justified to fit the space provided.

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Activities:

Play, play, play! The best way to become familiar with the text designs of Netscape Composer is to just try a little of everything! Follow the activities below or choose your own.

1. Type the following: Welcome to my practice page! Highlight and copy the text. Paste the text 8 times. Practice applying various body text options to your work
2. Using one of your lines from above, highlight the text and apply different size fonts. Practice changing the color of the text and the background page to test different combinations
3. Apply various text styles to your work, thinking about when each would be appropriate to use.
4. Try indenting your text, then moving it back again. Do the same with the various alignments
5. Type some new information. Make your information bulleted by highlighting all of the text and clicking on the bullet icon. Now change it to numbers. Go to list properties and try changing the look of the bullets or go from numbers to roman numerals

Click here to proceed to Saving your pages