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The property inspector

The property inspector (or toolbar), like many tools in Dreamweaver, at first seems more complicated than it really is. It is a diverse tool with varying functions depending on whether you're editing text or images. Key components of Dreamweaver's property inspector for text are highlighted directly below. Scroll down the page for details on using the property inspector with images.


Property inspector (text)

Editing your Web site with Macromedia Dreamweaver is much easier with the help of Dreamweaver's text properties toolbar. It is just one more reason that Macromedia Dreamweaver is such a powerful Web design application and the choice of Web designers and professional Web programmers.

Key points

  • In most cases, it's better to specify font face, color, and size in your style sheet rather than on the properties toolbar.
  • If you have a small portion of text that you wish to override, it's OK to do it here. For example if all paragraph text is defined as 12pt arial, but you want to make a sentence larger for emphasis, override the font size on the properties toolbar.
  • If you override text size, you relative references (+ or -) rather than specifying a fixed size. That way if you change sizes in your style sheet (such as to 14pt in the example above) the overridden text will stay proportionally the same.

Property inspector (images)

The properties toolbar helps you edit image properties in your Web site. Macromedia Dreamweaver is much easier with the help of Dreamweaver's text properties toolbar. It is just one more reason that Macromedia Dreamweaver is such a powerful Web design application and the choice of Web designers and professional Web programmers.

Key points

  • If the width and/or height of the image is listed in bold, it means you are overriding the actual image size (and may be degrading image quality).
  • Using "ALT" text helps you in three ways:
       1. It assist users with disabilities, or those with images turned off
       2. It's search engine friendly, and may help your search engine  placement.
       3. It will help you get better targeted ads if you're using AdSense.
  • Only have your hyperlinks open a new window if there's a reason. Too many open windows may confuse visitors to your Web site.

 

 
 
      
 

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