The Format Paragraph Dialog aids you in constructing webpages that are well structured. This tutorial will show some of the features of the Format Paragraph Dialog.
Assuming you have started HotDog, close all the open documents.
From the Window menu, select "Close All".
Now, start afresh by creating a new document by doing one of the following:
Pressing <CTRL> + N.
Click
on the "File" toolbar.
Enter a block of text between the body tags in your document.
Using the mouse, select the text.
From the Format Menu, click on "Paragraph".
Click "OK".
This creates a simple paragraph. However, other paragraphs are commonly used - such as headings.
Highlight your text (including the <P> tags) using the mouse.
From the Format Menu, click on "Paragraph".
From the Paragraph Style box, choose "H1".
Click "OK".
Now preview your paragraph - it will appear as a heading.
The advanced features of the Format Paragraph Dialog use Inline Styles. Inline styles are special instructions with the paragraph tag you are using telling the browser to render the tag in a different way from normal.
Highlight your text (including the <H1> tags) using the mouse.
From the Format Menu, click on "Paragraph".
From the "Format Paragraph" dialog - click "Font".
From within the "Font" window choose a text color (red say) and a new font (Arial).
Click "OK".
Preview your webpage again - and if you are using a browser that supports style sheets (and most do now days) your text will appear red and in a different font. Your HTML text should appear something like:
<H1 STYLE="{font-family : Arial; color : red;}">this is ma paragraph</H1>
Now we are going to add some borders to the text.
Highlight your text (including the <H1> tags) using the mouse.
From the Format Menu, click on "Paragraph".
From the "Format Paragraph" dialog - click "Borders".
From with in the borders window, select a style of solid, a padding of 5 pt and a color of purple.
Click "OK".
If you preview your text again, you will discover that you have created the most hideous looking title ever - but we have demonstrated the power of inline styles at least.
In preparation for Step 5, create a few more paragraph blocks - they can be any paragraph type (i.e., H1-H6, P etc).
Now use the mouse to highlight every paragraph you have created.
From the Format Menu, click on "Paragraph".
From the "Format Paragraph" dialog - click "Paragraph".
From within the "Paragraph" window choose a new paragraph alignment - say center.
Click "OK".
Now preview your document. Note that all your paragraphs have been centered but your original paragraph still retains its original settings.