CSS and FrontPage 2000

L

laura

Hello,

I wonder if someone can give me some pointers and advice. I am in the
process of trying to come to grips with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). I have
done some tutorials on CSS (but not using FP). I now want to transfer my
knowledge and creative skills combining FrontPage 2000, Windows XP with
Style Sheets, but I cannot figure it all out.

The first problem I had was that I could not edit the Style Sheet using FP
as it kept crashing out - I am told this is a bug in FP. I then created the
Style Sheet using a HTML editor - that's fine - but how do I combine them? I
have imported (if that is the right word) the .css file into my FP website
and made a reference to it in the <head></head> section as I should. I am
able to refer to all my styles "IF" I go into the HTML side of FP and refer
to each style manually - surely this cannot be right as it is tedious and
slow. I have tried following the instructions to click on Format/Style, but
I do not see any of the styles in my own "mystyle.css" file. Where are they
meant to be and how am I mean to use them?? I feel like I am going around in
circles - trying to use the styles, but unable to 'see' them. Am I doing
something wrong, or are there more bugs in FP?

Thanks
Laura TD
 
S

Steve Easton

For the first part, set Notepad to be the default editor for .css
in FrontPage 2000.
On the FrontPage toolbar click Tools > Options > Configure Editors
scroll down to .css and click it once, then click modify and in the field
labeled Command: enter: notepad.exe Click OK, and OK to close

Then for an external style sheet to be effective on a page, all of the
formatting
on the pages must be removed as it will over ride an external style sheet.

So, with your web and a page open, Click Format on the Toolbar
and then select Remove formatting...
Save the page and then refresh it.

hth

--
Steve Easton
MS MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed..................
...............................with a computer
 
L

laura

Steve,

Thank you - followed your instructions - but I still do not know how to find
and use the styles I have created... sorry.. I need the basics as I must be
missing something. I did all you suggested, and Refreshed. Now I have my
page and I want to use, for example, font.smallblue {font-size: 8pt; color
: Navy; } - how do I do that in FrontPage without going onto the HTML page?
I click on Format/Style, but still cannot see the css definitions I created.

Laura TD
 
S

Steve Easton

Click folder view.
Right click on your .css file and click Edit ( or Select )
and it will open in notepad.

You have to assign the font to the elements in the page like this:

p, td, th, div {
font: smallblue;
font-size: 8pt;
color: Navy;
}

Make sure the font name is correct as far as upper case and lower case.
Example: if it is SmallBlue using smallblue might not work.
Also if the font is two or more words enclose it in quotes
like this "Comic Sans MS"
And also, you need to use a font that is common to all computers,
as fonts are not embedded in a web page.

hth

--
Steve Easton
MS MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed..................
...............................with a computer
 
L

laura

Steve,

I have done all you suggested - it's how to use these things in my website
that I am not clear about.

Once I am in my FrontPage 'Normal' view - how do I use something that has a
class - for example
font.smallblue {font-size: 8pt; color: Navy; }
do I have to click on the HTML page and type that in? Naturally if I set H1
to a different font size and color, every time I use H1 it will reflect my
selection - that is easy because I can select H1 from the little dropdown
box at the top left of my window. However, I am not sure how to insert the
classes etc. I'm going round in a tiny circle here, knowing how to do it in
HTML, but not in FrontPage. Again - have I missed something?

Laura TD
 
S

Steve Easton

First you have to create the class "name" in the style sheet.
It can have any name.

.myclass {
font: smallblue;
font-size: 8pt;
color: Navy;
}

and then asign the class to the element in the
page you want to use it in.

Example, right click a table or cell, select
Table Properties or Cell Properties which ever applies
and then click the Style tab In the Class: box type: myclass
and then click Ok and OK again. Save the page and refresh.

Note that a leading period is used to define the class in the style sheet,
but it is *not* used when assigning the class to the table or cell element.
 
L

laura

AHA STEVE!! Thank you - at last....

That's the important bit I was missing - I had grasped the rest and had been
able to implement it by physically typing it into the HTML, but did not know
how to incorporate it in the 'Normal' window.

Two other things - if that's ok - Why doesn't a table inherit the font set
in the BODY tag - it seem to revert to some other 'default' font - never
been able to figure that one out before. (CSS should help with that
problem).

Secondly, doesn't it make it a little more difficult to work with FrontPage
and CSS as suddenly it's not WYSIWYG any more? Seems we have to click on
preview more often to get the overall effect - would I be right in saying
that?

I presume I am doing the 'right thing' by persevering with CSS?

Many thanks again for your help.
Laura TD
 
S

Steve Easton

Whatever you apply using the body tag in the style
sheet should apply to the entire web page, unless
you specified a different font within the page,
or in the actual body tag on the page <body font:....

Anything specified in the page over rides the style sheet.
That's why I said earlier to remove *all* of the formatting in
the page.
Make sure you have highlighted the entire page to remove
the formatting.

More difficult, in the beginning yes, but later definitely not.
When I'm am working with a style sheet ( I always use notepad )
I save my changes and minimize notepad, and then click refresh
on the toolbar in preview mode. You can also just hit Refresh if
you are previewing in the browser after you have saved the style
sheet.

The payoff when using style sheets comes when at some point
in the future you want to change a font or a page background
for an entire web. Change one style sheet and the whole web
is updated, instead of editing 2 or 3 hundred pages.


--
Steve Easton
MS MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed..................
...............................with a computer
 
L

laura

Dear Steve,

Once again, many thanks to you. I appreciate all your encouragement and
comments also. Sometimes new things can seem daunting and one wonders if it
is going to be worth the effort in the long run, but I understand what you
say. I probably would have given up on CSS had it not been for your help - I
didn't seem to be getting anywhere - either that, or I would have gone back
to writing in HTML, which is ok, but time consuming. Thanks for the tip
about refreshing - seemed to do the trick.

Thank you
Regards
Laura TD
 
S

Steve Easton

You're very welcome.
You're absolutely correct it does seem
daunting at first.
After you experiment with it a little bit, it
will "click" and you'll use a style sheet in every
web you make.

You might also want to learn how "Include pages"
work. They are another time saver if you have a
section of content that is identical in every page.

Here is an example of an include page, not a definitive
"how to" by any means, but an example of what they do
It is the left "Topics" navigation panel that shows
here: http://www.95isalive.com/
and in every one of the "main" pages.
The include page that creates it is here:
http://www.95isalive.com/nav.htm

obtw, the style sheet for the site is:
http://www.95isalive.com/95.css

hth

--
Steve Easton
MS MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed..................
...............................with a computer
 
L

laura

Dear Steve,

Thanks for the pointers - I had a swift look at your site and will look more
closely tomorrow. The date last amended or updated is hard for someone in
the UK (where I am) to understand - 02/01/04 would be 2nd January, 2004
whereas I think in North America it's February 01, 2004.

When you said to look at "Include pages" I did not understand - I looked in
the help and found nothing. Did you mean "Shared Borders"? Is it the same
thing? I did look at them once and wondered if they would be reliable on
browsers since they do not seem to be standard HTML. I just looked on
Google.. and found a tutorial about Include pages and will look tomorrow -
thanks, so grateful, and I'll pick through your site also.

Laura TD
 
S

Steve Easton

You're welcome.
It's actually called an Include page.

It's extremely hard to find in the FrontPage Help,
but to include a page click Insert > Web Component
and then select Included content.
The included content is actually an htm page
that you have created
that is "included" in another page.

Good luck.
;-)


--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed............
........................with a computer
 
L

laura

Steve,

I'm beavering away looking at your nav.htm etc and wondering at the same
time - is this "include page" one of the "FrontPage Extensions" or would it
work on any type of hosting?

Laura
 
S

Steve Easton

Includes do not require extensions and
they will work on any kind of hosting.


--
Steve Easton
MS MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed..................
...............................with a computer
 

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