adobe dreamweaver cs5 on demand part 16 docx

ptg
96 Chapter 5
In word processing you have all the letters of the alphabet, and you
have special characters. Special characters help to further define what
you're saying. For example, you could say that your Web site has a
copyright date of 2007, or you could use a special character, and say it
this way: ©2007. HTML only allows one space between characters. If
you want to add more, you can use the Non-Breaking Space command
on the Special Characters submenu. The Special Characters submenu
also allows you to insert other characters, such as character with
accents and other international characters. However, the visitor's
browser must support the "other" character inserted for it to be visible
to the user; therefore testing is essential. In addition to special charac-
ters, you have the ability to add things like the current date and even
the time, and have the date/time items automatically update with the
passage of time. When you use the Insert Date option your pages will
always reflect the correct date.
Inserting Special
Characters and the
Date
Insert a Special Character
Open the Web page you want to
insert special characters.
Click to place the insertion point
where you want to insert text.
Choose one of the following
options:
◆ Click the Insert menu, point to
HTML, point to Special
Characters, and then select a
special character from the

available options.
◆ Select the Text tab on the
Insert bar, click the Characters
button, and then select from the
available special character
options.
Dreamweaver places the special
character at the insertion point.
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Did You Know?
You can add space between charac-
ters.
Press Control+Shift+Spacebar
(Win) or Option+Spacebar (Mac).
Special Characters vs Decorative Fonts
Special characters are not to be confused with decorative fonts. Some
fonts, like Zapf Dingbats, and Symbols, are designed to give you small
graphics (like a pointing finger, or smile face) in place of the letters of
the alphabet. Special characters are actually coded into the HTML
document, so that they produce exactly the symbol requested.
For Your Information
From the Library of Wow! eBook
ptg
Chapter 5 Working with Web Page Text 97
Insert Other Characters
Open the Web page you want to

insert other characters.
Click to place the insertion point
where you want to insert text.
Click the Insert menu, point to
HTML, point to Special
Characters, and then click Other.
Select a character from the
available list. A copy of the HTML
code used to display the character
appears in the insert box in the
upper left.
Click OK.
Add the Date and Time
Open Dreamweaver, and then
open a Web document.
Click to place the insertion point
where you want to insert text.
Choose from the following options:
◆ Click the Insert menu, and then
click Date.
◆ Select the Common tab on the
Insert bar, and then click the
Date button.
The Insert Date dialog box opens.
Select the format you want the day
and date to display.
Select a format for the time
(optional).
Select the Update Automatically
On Save check box to update the

date/time every time the page is
saved.
Click OK.
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From the Library of Wow! eBook
ptg
98 Chapter 5
Like any other application that process text, Dreamweaver needs a que
from you as to what you want to do. If you plan to make a change to the
current text, you need to inform Dreamweaver of that fact by making a
selection. There are several ways that you can select text in
Dreamweaver. The first thing to notice is that Dreamweaver does not
have a specific text tool. That's because the cursor is sensitive to the

area it's hovering over. For example, if you hover over an image, and
click your mouse, Dreamweaver selects the image; however, if you're
hovering over a section of text and click your mouse, Dreamweaver
turns into a text tool, and create an insertion point into the text. That's
why Dreamweaver doesn't have that old familiar Toolbox, like you see
in applications such as: Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash because it's
the position of the cursor in the document that automatically deter-
mines what happens. Of course, once the text is selected, it can be
modified, deleted, even copied.
Selecting Text
Standard Selection Techniques
◆ Single Click. Creates an
insertion point within the body
of text.
◆ Double Click. Selects a single
word (separated by spaces or a
paragraph return).
NOTE
If the word ends with
punctuation (period, comma, etc),
they will not be selected.
◆ Triple Click. Selects one
paragraph (all text between
two paragraph returns;
including any punctuation).
◆ Click and Drag. Click within a
body of text and drag the
mouse to select a group of text.
Release the mouse and the
dragged text remains selected.

◆ Click release Shift Click. Click
once within the body of text
and release. Then move to
another area, hold the shift key
and click once. All the text
between the two mouse clicks
is selected.
Selected text
From the Library of Wow! eBook
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Chapter 5 Working with Web Page Text 99
Select Using the Status Bar
Click to place the insertion point
where you want to select text, and
then look at the Status bar.
The tags for the area you've
selected appear on the left side of
the Status bar.
Click the specific tag you want in
the Status bar to select the tag
within the code.
For example, when you click the
<p> (paragraph) tag, all the text
associated with that tag appears
selected.
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Text selec te d us in g
tags on the Status bar
Did You Know?

The tag selector is not just for text.
For
example, if you choose an image <alt>
tag, the corresponding image within
the document will be selected. This is
a quick and easy way to make selec-
tions within complex Web documents.
You can use the Select All command
to select all of the text within the
selected body.
Click once within the
text body, click the Edit menu, and then
click Select All, or press Ctrl+A (Win)
or A+A (Mac).
From the Library of Wow! eBook
ptg
100 Chapter 5
If you cut or copy text from a file in any other application (word proces-
sor, spreadsheet, or database), Dreamweaver inserts the copied text at
the insertion point of the cursor. Understand that the default Paste
command has limited control over the formatting of text: It can only
paste plain, unformatted text; bold, italic, or other formatting options
are not carried over with the text… unless you're using Microsoft
Word. By default, performing a copy/paste command from MS Word
retains most font formatting. Unfortunately, unless you change the
Preferences of the Paste option, the Copy/Paste commands have lim-
ited control over text. For example, you have a heavily formatted sec-
tion of text in Microsoft Word and you want to bring the text into
Dreamweaver without any formatting because you plan to use a Style
Sheet to do all the document formatting. That's where the Paste

Special command comes into play. With Paste Special, you can control
what formatting options are used when pasting the text.
Copying and Pasting
Text
Copy and Paste
Open a text document within your
word processor (i.e. Microsoft
Word).
Select the text that you want to
paste into Dreamweaver.
Click the Edit menu, and then click
Copy, or click the Copy button on
the Standard toolbar or Home tab
(Vista).
Open Dreamweaver, and the Web
page you want to add the text.
Click to place the insertion point
where you want to insert text.
Click the Edit menu, and then click
Paste.
Dreamweaver pastes the copied
text at the insertion point.
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Did You Know?
You can access the copy/paste prefer-
ences directly from the Paste Special
dialog box.
When you select the Paste
Special command, simply click the
Paste Preferences button, and you can
make your changes permanent.
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From the Library of Wow! eBook
ptg
Chapter 5 Working with Web Page Text 101
Copy and Paste Special
Open a text document within
Microsoft Word.
Select the text that you want to
paste into Dreamweaver.
Click the Edit menu, and then click
Copy, or click the Copy button on
the Standard toolbar or Home tab
(Vista).
Open Dreamweaver, and the Web
page you want to add the text.
Click to place the insertion point
where you want to insert text.
Click the Edit menu, and then click
Paste Special.
Select from the following options:
◆ Text Only. Pastes text without
formatting.

◆ Text With Structure
(paragraphs, lists, tables, etc.).
Pastes structured text without
formatting.
◆ Text With Structure Plus Basic
Formatting (bold, italic). Pastes
structured text and simple
HTML formatting.
◆ Text With Structure Plus Full
Formatting (bold, italic, styles).
Pastes structured text, HTML
formatting, and CSS styles.
◆ Retain Line Breaks. Select this
option to keep line breaks.
◆ Clean Up Word Paragraph
Spacing. Select this option if
you've chosen Text With
Structure, or Text With
Structure Plus Basic
Formatting, and want to
eliminate extra spacing
between paragraphs.
Click OK.
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Working with Word Processing Programs
To assi st i n gen er at in g te xt on m y Web pa ge s, I wo rk wi th M ic ro so ft
Word and Adobe Dreamweaver open at the same time. This way I'm
able to type text in an application I'm comfortable with (MS Word), and
quickly drag from my word processor directly into my Dreamweaver
Web page. If you're copying text that contains multiple paragraphs,
make sure your paragraphs are separated by two returns. When
pasted into Dreamweaver, the paragraph breaks are preserved. If you
just have a single return between paragraphs, Dreamweaver converts
the paragraphs to line breaks.
For Your Information
From the Library of Wow! eBook