What's New in Style Master 1.2?

Style Master 1.2 builds on the powerful, easy to use set of features of the original version, rounding existing features out and adding new functionality to make for more efficient and intuitive style sheet editing. Here we explain what's happened.

Enhancements

Editing Statements in the Style Sheet Window

Up to now, you could only select one statement in the style sheet window, then copy, duplicate, drag or paste this. If you wanted to move more than one statement, you had to drag each one individually. If you wanted to duplicate several, you had to duplicate them individually, and so on. Now you can select several statements at once, and cut, copy, paste, clear or drag them simultaneously.

For example, you could copy all of the statements in a style sheet and paste them into a new style sheet. How?

To select more than statement from the list

1. hold down the shift key and click the first statement you want to select

2. click the last statement you want to select

style master selects all the statements between the first and last clicked.

To select discontinuous statements (rather than a block of them)

1. command click each statement you want to select

To deselect one selected statement (keeping the rest of the current selection)

1. command click the statement you want to deselect

To select all of the statements in the list

1. choose Select All from the Edit menu

To cut, copy, paste, clear or duplicate statements in the list

1. select the statement or statements you want to edit

2. choose the operation from the Edit menu

Note you can use the standard keyboard shortcuts

Editing Properties in Properties Editors

In Style Master 1.0, editing the value of a property in one of the property editors was easy, but a little too involved. We've kept it just as easy, only made it a little less time consuming.

The new value editor allows you to set the value for a property with two or three clicks. Firstly, rather than two popup menus, (one for selecting the type of value, length, pixel or keyword) and a second for selecting the unit itself, these are combined in one. Click the popup menu to choose the unit, the keyword, or percentage (depending on what is appropriate for this property). Then enter the value in the text field, and a + or - sign if necessary (you don't need a + sign as positive is the default value).

This should make editing properties much less time consuming.

Browser Compatibility Guide

We've greatly expanded the browser compatibility warnings, which now cover both Mac and Windows versions of Internet Explorer (4.0x, 4.5 (Macintosh)and 4.0x (Windows)) and 4.0x and 4.5 for Windows and Macintosh of Netscape Navigator. We hope these are ever more helpful. In an upcoming version we'll have a new feature that allows you to download new modules that add more details, and even to write your own (and share them too) plug in modules.

New Features

Editing Selectors in the Style Sheet Window

Once you've got the hang of editing selectors, you might find yourself often wishing that there was a quicker way than using the editors, especially when its something like a list of headings. Now you can edit selectors directly in the style sheet window.

To edit a selector in the style sheet window

1. select the statement whose selector you want to edit from the list of statements on the left of the style sheet window

2. click in the field labeled Selector

3. type the selector, or paste a selector you've copied elsewhere into this field

4. when you exit this field (by clicking the list of statements, or switching to another window) the edited selector is placed in the list of statements

Be careful here, this is a power feature. If you use a selector editor, you won't make syntax errors, but if you use this feature, the selector you create might be incorrect, which can cause havoc with your style sheets. Only use it if you are sure that the selector is correct. Style Master will try to make it correct, but it can't read minds.

Editing Properties in the Style Sheet Window

Just as you might find it tedious to have to use editors for selectors every time, it can be tedious to edit properties with editors, especially when you might want to just copy and paste from another style sheet. Now you can edit properties directly in the style sheet window, saving time and effort.

To edit the properties of a statement in the style sheet window

1. select the statement whose properties you want to edit from the list of statements on the left of the style sheet window

2. click in the field labeled Properties

3. type the property or properties, or paste a properties you've copied elsewhere into this field

4. when you exit this field (by clicking the list of statements, or switching to another window) the edited properties become the properties for this statement

Be careful here, this is a power feature. If you use a property editor, you won't make syntax errors, but if you use this feature, the properties you create might be incorrect, which can cause havoc with your style sheets. Only use it if you are sure that the property is correct. Style Master will try to make it correct, but it can't read minds.

Link Site

Style Master lets you link a web page to your style sheets, but linking whole sites is currently tedious. You have to do each page individually. Not anymore. Now you can link an entire site to a style sheet at once. Here's how

To link an entire site to a style sheet

1. open the style sheet you want to link to and make it the front window

2. choose Link Site... from the File menu (you can also control click the style sheet window to open a contextual menu and choose Link Site... from there, if you have MacOS 8.0 or later)

3. the open dialog box opens. In it, choose any HTML file at the top level of the site you want to link, and click Open. Style Master will link any HTML files at this level, and search any folders (and their subfolders etc.) contained in the folder containing the file you selected.

Online Help

Style Sheets Info

Style sheets can be a little tricky at times, and continually referring to a reference can be a pain. So we've integrated our style sheets reference into Style Master. In the various property editors you'll notice info buttons beside every property. Simply click one to open an info window which provides information on that property. You'll wonder how you did without it.

Style Master Help

Style Master help is now easier to access than before. In the Help menu, you'll now find entries for each of the sections of the manual.

To open a section of the manual

1. choose the name of the section you want to open from the Help menu

2. Style Master opens the section in a web browser