Adding and Formatting Text - New Perspectives on Adobe Dreamweaver CS5, Comprehensive - page 114

Adding Text to a Web Page
Text is included in almost every Web page. In Dreamweaver, you can add text to a page
simply by typing in the workspace of the Document window. This is a good method for
adding small amounts of text or text that will be heavily formatted. You can also copy
existing text from another fi le (whether a text document or a Web page) and paste it
into the workspace. This method is good for adding a great deal of text to a site; most
word-processing programs have better spelling- and grammar-checking features as well
as a built-in thesaurus. However, errors—such as extra spaces, oddly positioned text, or
misinterpreted symbols—sometimes appear in the Web page when text is imported from
another program. Whenever you copy text from another source, it is important to read
the text and correct any errors that were introduced.
Dreamweaver provides two commands for pasting items into a page: Paste and Paste
Special. The Paste command places only the text from the other document without any
of the formatting but sometimes includes characters and styles. The Paste Special com-
mand enables you to choose the level of formatting that will be retained with the pasted
text. Most often, you'll use the Paste Special command. You can also import content from
programs such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel.

Written Communication: Communicating Effectively with Text Elements
Almost every Web page includes text elements. In fact, text is the basis of most Web sites.
To ensure maximum readability, the text you add to a Web page should be clearly written
and free from spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. Well-written Web content is
concise, effectively communicates the point, and is written with the end user in mind. By
the time you are ready to add the content to a Web site, you will already have the infor-
mation architecture, which specifies what to include in each page. You will also have all
the raw materials, including the text and the graphics, so that you are not composing on
the fly. In addition, you will have set the page properties for the pages so that basic text
formatting attributes are set. Logically placed headings, subheadings, lists, and indentions
provide the structure that visually guides the user through the page. Font size and font
color are visual indicators of information hierarchy and should be used consistently.

You will use the comps and the site plan you developed during the planning phase as
you create heading and subheading styles so that they match the look and feel of the site.
Gage typed the text that he wants you to add to the home page of the NextBest Fest
site into a Word document.

To add text to the home page:

◗

1. Open the NextBest Fest site you modified in Tutorial 2, reset the workspace
to the Designer configuration, and then set the Files panel to Local view , if
necessary.
Trouble? If you are working on a different computer than you did in Tutorial 2,
you need to re-create the site definition (both the local site setup and the live
server setup) on your present computer.

◗

2. In the Files panel, double-click index.html to open the home page in the
Document window, and then click the Design button on the Document toolbar, if
necessary, to switch to Design view.

◗

3. Type NextBest Fest Home . The text appears in the Document window. See
Figure 3-1.