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1.3 Property Inspector

Use the Property inspector (PI) to display or edit properties of the currently selected element. There are several ways to open the Property inspector (if it is already open, most of the gestures close it):

  • Select Window figs/U2192.gif Properties or Modify figs/U2192.gif Selection Properties.

  • Press Ctrl+F3 (Windows) or Cmd+F3 (Macintosh).

  • Double-click on an HTML element (this gesture does not open the Property inspector for some element types, such as text, and opens the file selection dialog box for other element types, such as images).

  • Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) and choose Properties from the contextual pop-up menu.

Figure 1-5 shows the Property inspector's appearance when a text object within a table is selected. The upper half of the Property inspector is the same for all text objects, but the lower half may differ. You can show or hide the lower half of the Property inspector using the Expand/Contract button indicated in Figure 1-5, or simply by double-clicking an unoccupied area within the Property inspector.

Table 1-3 lists the properties that are most commonly needed and available from the Property inspector at almost all times (and are also available via menu choices).

To create a hyperlink, highlight an item, such as a piece of text, in the Document window and specify the destination document in the Link field of the Property inspector. You can drag-and-drop a file into the Link field or select a file using the Browse icon in the Property inspector.

Figure 1-5. The Property inspector
figs/dwn_0105.gif

We'll cover properties that modify images, layers, tables, and frames in later chapters. See Chapter 7 for coverage of the Quick Tag Editor (QTE), which is accessible from the Property inspector.

Table 1-3. Property inspector options

Menu option

Windows

Macintosh

Description

Window figs/U2192.gif Properties

Ctrl+F3

Cmd+F3

Opens or closes the Property inspector

Help figs/U2192.gif Using Dreamweaver

F1

F1

Provides context-sensitive help

Text figs/U2192.gif Paragraph Format

Ctrl+Shift+P

Cmd+Shift+P

Sets paragraph formatting

Text figs/U2192.gif Font

Alt-T, N

N/A

Selects font, reverts to default font, or adds a new font to the menu

Text figs/U2192.gif Style

Alt-T, S

N/A

Selects bold, italic, emphasis, or code style

Text figs/U2192.gif Color

Alt-T, R

N/A

Opens the Color dialog box to set text color

Text figs/U2192.gif Style figs/U2192.gif Bold

Ctrl+B

Cmd+B

Bolds selected text

Text figs/U2192.gif Style figs/U2192.gif Italic

Ctrl+I

Cmd+I

Italicizes selected text

Text figs/U2192.gif Align figs/U2192.gif Left

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L

Cmd+Opt+Shift+L

Left-aligns text

Text figs/U2192.gif Align figs/U2192.gif Center

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C

Cmd+Opt+Shift+C

Centers text

Text figs/U2192.gif Align figs/U2192.gif Right

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+R

Cmd+Opt+Shift+R

Right-aligns text

Text figs/U2192.gif List figs/U2192.gif Unordered List

Alt-T, I, U

N/A

Formats text as bulleted list

Text figs/U2192.gif List figs/U2192.gif Ordered List

Alt-T, I, O

N/A

Formats text as numbered list

Text figs/U2192.gif Outdent

Ctrl+Alt+[

Cmd+Opt+[

Removes any existing indentation

Text figs/U2192.gif Indent

Ctrl+Alt+]

Cmd+Opt+]

Indents text

Modify figs/U2192.gif Quick Tag Editor

Ctrl+T

Cmd+T

Edits tag for current element

Modify figs/U2192.gif Make Link

Ctrl+L

Cmd+L

Creates a hyperlink

Modify figs/U2192.gif Link Target

Alt-M, G

N/A

Changes a link's target. Specify target frame name, or _blank, _parent, _self, or _top

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