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Netscape Page Composer Notes

Contents:

Starting a new web page
Editing an existing web page
Inserting images
Fixing missing images
Making links
Linking to targets within a web page
Linking to target
Working with tables

Nesting Tables
Background colour
Text Alignment
Cell Padding

Using Ws-FTP

Screen Dumps
Screen Capture

Starting a New Web Page

1	Start Netscape. Double the Netscape icon on the desktop,
	or use the Start button... Start \| Programs \| Netscape Communicator Professional Edition \| Netscape Navigator

2	Select File \| New \| Blank Page.
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Editing an existing web page

	Start Netscape. Double the Netscape icon on the desktop
	or use the Start button... Start \| Programs \| Netscape Communicator Professional Edition \| Netscape Navigator

1	Select File \| Open Page...

2	Select Composer.
3	Press Choose File...

4	Select the file you want to modify.
5	Press Open.

6	Press Open again.
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Inserting Images

Before inserting images into web pages make sure that the image file is saved to the J:\ drive.

1
Click the Image button on the toolbar. Press the Image button on the toolbar.

2
Click Choose File...

3
Select the file you want to insert. Select a file and press Open

4
Press the Open button.

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Fixing Missing Images

Theory:

The most common cause of missing images is forgetting to FTP the image file(s) along with the HTML file.
Other causes of missing images are using spaces in image file names or FTPing the wrong image file.

The first step in fixing a missing image is to find out the name of the missing image file.
It is easy to do this with Netscape.

See Golden Rule number 2.

Missing image

1 Right Click the mouse on the missing image. Right click on the missing image

2
If you are running Netscape Communicator you will see a pop-up menu appear.
Note the name of the missing image file.
In this example the missing image is image0.gif.

3
Start up Ws-FTP, locate the missing file - usually this will be on the J:\ drive -
and send it across to the web.

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Another common reasons why images may appear as missing is using spaces in file names.

To fix this problem rename the image file removing the space, then delete the missing image and reinsert it.

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Another reason why images go missing is pasting images into composer.
This is not a good idea, if you copy an image and paste it into Netscape Composer Netscape creates a random file name for the image.
In this case the name Netscape created is image9QV.JPG because you did not create this file yourself you did not realise that you had to FTP the file image9QV.JPG when you FTP'd the html file.
To fix this problem locate the file image9QV.JPG and send it to the www folder using FTP. See Inserting Images for the preferred way to insert images into composer.

Click on the animation to view fill screen.

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Making Links

Theory:

Links are what turns the web into a Web - links are the fabric of the web.
There are two parts to every link, the part that people see, and the part that the computer uses.
The part that people see is usually text but can also be a picture.
The part that the computer uses is know as an address or URL - Uniform Resource Locator.

As long as the address is valid then the link should work. The MAIN reason links fail is because they point to an invalid address. The main cause for invalid addresses is spaces in file names, so when making links DON'T USE SPACES IN FILE NAMES
See: Golden Rule number 1.

To create a link to another webpage using Netscape Composer

1
Move the cursor to where you want the link to appear in your webpage.

2
Press the Link button on the toolbar.

3
Type the text you want to display for a new link in this example we are going to type Golden Rules. Enter text

4
Press the Choose File... button.

5
Select the file you want to link to

Selext the file to link to

6
Click Open

7
Click on OK Click OK

You should see your new link

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Theory:

Before your link will work you must save the web page, and FTP the web page and the file that you made the link to, see the Webpage life-cycle
Always check your links to make sure they work.
The most reliable way to test a link is to ask a friend to check it for you. This will ensure that anybody within the university community can use your link.

Linking to targets within a web page
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Using Targets

Theory:

Use targets when you want to link to a specific place in a webpage.

If you want to a link at the bottom of a page to go back to the top of the page, place a target at the top of the page and a link at the bottom of the page that points to the target.

In Netscape targets look like this:

You only see targets in composer, you can only test targets in a browser like Netscape or IE

Links that point to targets use the # – hash symbol– The following link points to a target at the top of this webpage: top

To create a target

1
Move the cursor to where you want the target.

2 Press the Target button on the toolbar.

3

Enter a name for the target:

4

Keep names short and descriptive or use numbers. e.g., top, bottom, 1, 2, 3. Don't use spaces.

Press OK

5 You should see a target appear in your web page

6
If you place the cursor over a target the name of the target will appear in a pop-up box.

Flash movie demonstrating the use of targets to create a table of contents.

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Making a link to a target

1	Move the cursor to where you want the link to appear in your webpage.
2	Press the Link button on the toolbar.

3	Type the text you want to display for a new link in this example we are going to type Top of Page
4	Select the target you want to link to, in this example there is only one target in the page.
5	Press OK

6	You should see the link in the webpage. Before you can test the link link you must save the page and FTP it to the Web. You can only check links with a browser.
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Working with Tables

Tables are wonderful they give you lots of control over the layout of your web page.

To insert a table into your web page use the table button on the toolbar,

or choose Insert | Table | Table... from the menu,

The following dialogue box appears:

Click on OK you will see a table with 1 row and 2 columns appear in composer.

If you want a table with more than 1 row or 2 columns enter the appropriate values before pressing OK.

Click on OK you will see a table with 4 rows and 3 clouds appear in composer.

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You can put text or pictures into tables.

This is cell has text in it.

Mandelbrot Set

This cell has both text and an image in it.

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Nesting Tables

You can even put tables inside tables, this is called nesting tables.

This is cell has a table inside it

This cell has a table inside it

a table inside it

side it

it

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Background colour

Tables can have a background colour

Each cell can have a deferent colour.
To modify the properties of a cell right click within a cell and choose Table Properties.

But remember
Just because you can do something does not mean that you should... because some colours do not go well together!

The default table has equal width columns and takes up the whole page width, it also has visible borders, you can turn off any of these attributes when you create the table. Experiment with different table properties, there are lots to choose from.

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Text Alignment

Horizontal Alignment Default	Vertical Alignment Default
Horizontal Alignment Left	Vertical Alignment Top
Horizontal Alignment Center	Vertical Alignment Center
Horizontal Alignment Right	Vertical Alignment Bottom

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Cell Padding

Cell padding is often best set between 5 - 15 pixels
To change the cell padding right click inside the table and choose table properties,

then choose Cell padding

Experiment with different cell padding values to obtain the look you are after.

Cell padding 1	Cell padding 1
Cell padding 1	Cell padding 1
Cell padding 1	Cell padding 1
Cell padding 1	Cell padding 1

Cell padding 15	Cell padding 15
Cell padding 15	Cell padding 15
Cell padding 15	Cell padding 15
Cell padding 15	Cell padding 15

Cell padding 5	Cell padding 5
Cell padding 5	Cell padding 5
Cell padding 5	Cell padding 5
Cell padding 5	Cell padding 5

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Cells with no contents do not appear as you would expect them to in Netscape:

Cells that have no contents do not appear as you might expect them to. If you want an "empty" cell to appear with a normal border put one or more spaces in it.

The above cell has nothing in it. Notice how it has collapsed and does not look like a cell at all.

The above cell has a single space in it. The above three (3) cells have no contents.

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Created: October 18, 2001
Last modified: December 3, 2003

URL: http://www.rupert.id.au/tutorials/netscape/index.html

APA Citation:
Russell, R. (2003, December 3). Netscape page composer notes. Retrieved December 3, 2003, from
http://www.rupert.id.au/tutorials/netscape/index.html

1	Click the Image button on the toolbar.

2	Click Choose File...

3	Select the file you want to insert.
4	Press the Open button.
	Contents

1	Right Click the mouse on the missing image.

2	If you are running Netscape Communicator you will see a pop-up menu appear. Note the name of the missing image file. In this example the missing image is image0.gif.

3	Start up Ws-FTP, locate the missing file - usually this will be on the J:\ drive - and send it across to the web.
	Contents

1	Move the cursor to where you want the target.

2	Press the Target button on the toolbar.

3	Enter a name for the target:

4	Keep names short and descriptive or use numbers. e.g., top, bottom, 1, 2, 3. Don't use spaces. Press OK

5	You should see a target appear in your web page

6	If you place the cursor over a target the name of the target will appear in a pop-up box.

	Flash movie demonstrating the use of targets to create a table of contents.
	Contents

Cells that have no contents do not appear as you might expect them to.	If you want an "empty" cell to appear with a normal border put one or more spaces in it.

The above cell has nothing in it. Notice how it has collapsed and does not look like a cell at all.

The above cell has a single space in it.	The above three (3) cells have no contents.