[Index]

Overview of the Smart Button
The Smart Button Wizard
Editing Smart Buttons
Using the Smart Buttons for the First Time
Implementing Smart Buttons
Using Resizable Image Components
Using Bitmapped Image Components

The Smart Button Wizard

Namo WebEditor 4 features a graphical element design tool called the Smart Button Wizard. You can use it to create colorful, vector-based images, such as buttons and banners, that can be resized with no loss of sharpness and edited at any time.

To use the Smart Button Wizard, first place the insertion point at the location in the current document where you want the graphical element, and then open the Smart Button Wizard by doing one of the following:

  • Use the Insert > Theme Components > Smart Buttons command.
  • Click img47.gif Insert Smart Button on the Standard Toolbar.
  • Click img47.gif Insert Smart Button on the Image Toolbar.

There are three steps in the Smart Button Wizard:

Step 1: Select a basic shape
First, you select a basic shape. The basic shapes are categorized by their intended use; categories include buttons, banners, dividers, etc.

img45.gif

Select a basic shape category in the selection box on the left. The shapes in that category will be shown in the selection box on the right. Select a shape and then click Next.

<Tip> Once you create a Smart Button, you can save in the My Smart Buttons category in the Export Area step.

Step 2: Edit the Smart Button
Graphical elements created with the Smart Button Wizard can have three kinds of components: resizable images, bitmap images, and text components. Each basic shape has at least one image component and one text component (except for bullets and some dividers, which have only an image component.)

To edit a component, first select it by clicking it in the preview area or by clicking one of the items in the component selection box. A dashed rectangle is drawn around the currently selected component.

Components can overlap. To control the front-to-back order of components, use the commands in the Arrange submenu of the Editing Tools menu.

You can rotate or flip a component using the commands in the Rotate/Flip submenu of the Editing Tools menu.

You can add additional components using the Insert commands in the Editing Tools menu.

To delete a component, select it and then press <Delete>.

Each component has a certain set of properties, depending on its type. These property sets are represented by the tabs at the top of the properties editing area. Resizable image components have five sets of properties: Layer, Fill, Stroke, Bevel, and Shadow. Text components have, in addition to those five, a set of Text properties. Bitmap components have Layer, Bitmap, Bevel, and Shadow properties.

Step 3: Defining the export area

In the last step of the Smart Button Wizard, you select the portion of the graphical element that will actually be visible in the document--this is called the export area. By default, the export area is just large enough to contain the whole element, but you can reduce or enlarge it if you wish.

To adjust the size of the export area, click and drag the resize handles on the dotted rectangle in the image preview. You can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the export area one pixel at a time. Use the arrow keys in combination with the <Ctrl> key to grow or shrink the export area one pixel at a time.

To automatically adjust the export area to exactly fit the entire graphical element, click Default Area.

If Enable auto positioning is selected, you can select automatic horizontal and vertical alignments for the export area using the available controls.

If you plan to reuse the current graphical element in other documents, click Save In My Smart Buttons to save the graphical element in the My Smart Buttons folder on your hard drive. Saved smart buttons appear in the My Smart Buttons category in the Select Shape step of the Smart Button Wizard.

Once you've finished adjusting the export area, click Finish to close the Smart Button Wizard and insert the graphical element into your document.

 

Namo Interactive Inc.

This document was created using Namo WebEditor 4 on November 27, 2000.

 

© 2001 Namo Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.