Inserting Text

Dreamweaver lets you add text to web pages by typing the text directly into a page, copying and pasting text from another document, or dragging text from another application. Typical document types that web professionals receive with text content that needs incorporating into web pages include ASCII text files, rich format text files, and Microsoft Office documents. Dreamweaver lets you take text from any of these document types, and incorporate it into a web page.

When you paste text into a Dreamweaver document, you can use either the Paste or the Paste Special command. The Paste Special command lets you specify the format of pasted text in different ways. For example, if you wanted to paste text from a formatted Microsoft Word document into your Dreamweaver document, but wanted to strip out all of the formatting so that you could apply your own CSS style sheet to the pasted text, you could select the text in Word, copy it to your Clipboard, and use the Paste Special command to select the option that lets you paste text only.

To Add Text to Your Document:

• Type text directly into the Document window.
• Copy text from another application, switch to Dreamweaver, position the insertion point in the Design view of the Document window, and select Edit > Paste or Edit > Paste Special. When you select Edit > Paste Special, a dialog box provides you with several paste formatting options. For more information, click the Help button in the dialog box.

You can also paste text using the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Paste - Control+V
• Paste Special - Control+Shift+V

Back to top

Aligning Text:

You align text on the page using the Property inspector or the Text > Align submenu. You can center any element on a page using the Text > Align > Center command.

To align text:

Select the text you want to align or simply insert the pointer at the beginning of the text. Click an alignment option (Left, Right, or Center) in the Property inspector, or select Text > Align and select an alignment command.

To center elements: Select the element (image, plug-in, table, or other page element) you want to center. Select Text > Align > Center. NOTE You can align and center complete blocks of text; you cannot align or center part of a heading or part of a paragraph.

Back to top

Indenting Text:

Using the Indent command applies the blockquote HTML tag to a paragraph of text, indenting text on both sides of the page. To indent text and remove indentation:

• Place the insertion point in the paragraph you want to indent.
• Click the Indent or Outdent button in the Property inspector, select Text > Indent or Outdent, or select List > Indent or Outdent from the context menu. NOTE You can apply multiple indents to a paragraph. Each time you select this command, the text indents further from both sides of the document.

Back to top

Adding Paragraph Spacing:

Dreamweaver works similarly to many word processing application: you press Enter to create a new paragraph. Web browsers automatically insert a blank line of space between paragraphs. You can add a single line of space between paragraphs by inserting a line break.

To add a paragraph return:

• Press Enter.

To add a line break, do one of the following:

• Press Shift+Enter.
• In the Text category of the Insert bar, select Character and click the Line Break icon.
• Select Insert > HTML > Special Characters > Line Break.

Back to top

To Add a Bulleted, Numbered, or Definition List:

• Place the insertion point where you want to add a list.
• Click either the Bulleted or Numbered List button in the Property inspector or select Text > List and select the type of list desired--Unordered List, Ordered List, or Definition List.

• The leading character for the specified list item appears in the Document window.
• Type the list item text, then press Enter to create another list item.
• To complete the list simply click the bulleted or numbered button to turn it off.

To create a list using existing text:

• Select a series of paragraphs to make into a list.
• Click the Bulleted or Numbered List button in the Property inspector, or select Text > List and select the type of list desired--Unordered List, Ordered List, or Definition List.

To create a nested list:

• Select the list items you want to nest.
• Click the Indent button in the Property inspector, or select Text > Indent. Dreamweaver indents the text and creates a separate list with the original list’s HTML attributes.
• Apply a new list type or style to the indented text by following the same procedure used above.