KompoZer User Guide

 1 - Introduction

 2 - Quick start

 3 - Using KompoZer

 4 - Stylesheets

 5 - Scripts

 6 - Inserts

 7 - Templates

 8 - Site Manager

 9 - Preferences

• Preferences
• Defaults
• Editing Preference
• General
• Fonts
• New page settings
• Advanced
• Toolbars
• Customising Toolbars
• Menu alternatives

10 - Publishing

      Appendices

KompoZer User Guide - Section 9

9    Setting preferences

9.1    Preferences

You can set up a number of features in KompoZer according to personal preferences. Several of the options are grouped under the Tools > Optons menu. In addition you can customise toolbars via the View > Show/hide menu.

Defaults

The defaults set by KompoZer will generally be found satisfactory. 

Menu selection		Nvu default	Kz Default
Tools > Options > General	Maximum number of pages	10	10
	Retain original source formatting	Cleared	Checked
	Reformat HTML Source	Checked	Cleared
	Save images when saving pages	Checked	Cleared
	Always show publish dialog	Cleared	Cleared
	Maintain table layout	Checked	Checked
	Use CSS styles	Checked	Checked
	Always open a document in a new tab	Checked	Checked
Tools > Options > Fonts	Allow documents to use other fonts	Checked	Checked
	for others see text
Tools > Options > New Page settings	Author	Blank	Blank (see below)
	Reader's default colors	Checked	Checked
	Background image	Blank	Blank (see below)
	Language	Blank	Blank (see below)
	Writing direction	No direction …	No direction …
	Character set	ISO-8859-1	ISO-8859-1
Tools > Options > Advanced	Set up Proxies	Direct connection	Direct connection
	Markup - Language	HTML 4	HTML 4
	Markup - DTD	Transitional	Strict
	Return in paragraph always creates new	Checked	Checked
	Underline misspelled words	Checked	Checked
	Output the following characters	HTML4 Special characters	Only & < > and non …
	Don't encode '>' outside attribute	Cleared	Cleared
	Don't encode special characters	Cleared	Cleared

9.2 Editing preferences

KompoZer can be customised in several ways through the Menu selection Tools > Options mechanism.

All the options may be set at any time. All take effect immediately except for 'New page settings' which do not apply to any existing page.

General group

Retain original source formatting/Reformat HTML Source

If you reformat the source some tags will be indented for easier reading but extra blank lines will be inserted. Note that the source view and the actual file content do not agree exactly.

Save images and other associated files when saving pages.

When saving a file to a new location using 'Save as ..' if this box is checked the images and style sheets will be saved to the same folder as the page. This may be useful occasionally but, where a site is structured with different kinds of files in different folders, that structure will not be preserved.

Warning. Not only will the files not be copied to the file structure specified in the source file but the new saved file will be altered to reflect the new (flat) structure. If you wish to use more complex structure on your site, checking this box will inflict considerable damage to your file necessitating a lot of rework. The original file in the original location will however remain as designed.

Always show publish dialog when publishing pages

If checked, KompoZer always displays the Publish Page dialog box when you Publish a page. If not checked, KompoZer only displays the dialog box if it needs more information in order to publish the page.

Maintain table layout when inserting or deleting cells

Tables are normally created as a regular matrix i.e. every row has the same number of cells. With this box checked inserting a cell in one row should also insert cells in other rows to maintain regularity. With KompoZer 0.7.10 this does not work.

Use CSS styles instead of HTML elements and attributes attributes

Originally HTML formatted pages using elements and attributes. Many of these are not allowed when using strict doctypes but CSS provides alternatives and greater flexibility.

Always open a document in a new tab

When opening pages KompoZer normally creates a new tab to hold it. If this box is checked when a page is opened using Site Manager a new instance of KompoZer is created to open the page. The previous instance remains available. This does not apply when pages are opened by other means.

Fonts

In the absence of a definition of the font to be used a browser will make a choice on some basis built in to the browser. KompoZer acts in the same way and this area allows customisation of the choice made. If the box 'Allow documents to use other fonts' is checked KompoZer will use the font specified in the style or other means. If the box is unchecked KompoZer will not respect styles and will use a font from the list specified on the upper part of this window.

The boxes specifying sizes and screen resolution appear not to work.

New page settings

These define several of the settings used when creating new pages. (Others will be found on the 'Create a new document or template' window which appears via the File > New menu.)

Author's name - Set this if you want the author's name to appear in the head section of all pages. (For a specific page this may be set using Format > Page Title and Properties.)

Readers default colors - Leave this checked. The alternative of 'Use custom colors' allows the colours of links to be specified but uses deprecated attributes which are not permitted for pages using strict doctype. CSS styles provide alternative means of doing the same thing. (Section 4.2.5.2).

Background image - Set this if you want a particular background for all pages.

Language - The main language for the page should be set to facilitate use by automated tools, for instance speech synthesisers. Many languages offer regionalisation alternatives, either select one of these or use the generic.

Writing direction - Usually this may be left at the default of 'No direction specified'. Setting the language defines the writing direction.

Character set - Normally for western languages leave this set to the default of ISO-8859-1.If in doubt set to UTF-8. You can find more about choice of encoding in Appendix 6.

Note This is badly entitled. It should read 'Character encoding'. Though it sets a 'charset' parameter it dos not define a character set.

Advanced

Set up Proxies - For most people click 'Connection settings' and check that 'Direct connection' is checked. if you need to set up proxies refer to KompoZer Help.

Markup - The Markup language and doctype may be set as desired. I have recommended the use of Strict HTML.

Note Properly this should be included under New page Settings. NB It does not alter an existing page.

Return in paragraph always creates new paragraph - The action of the Return (Enter) key in or at the end of text objects is described in the following table.

	Return in paragraph	Return at end of paragraph	Return in heading	Return at end of heading
Box checked	New paragraph	New paragraph	New heading	Body
Box cleared	New line	New line	New heading	Body

When the box is checked it is possible to create a new line in or at the end of a paragraph or heading by pressing Shift + Enter.

When the box is cleared it is possible to escape from a paragraph by pressing the Return key twice. This creates a new paragraph but also leaves a line break at the end of the previous paragraph. Most people will prefer to leave the box checked.

The action of the return key in other circumstances depends on the context, for instance in a table cell it generates a new line, in a list it creates a new list item.

Underline misspelled words - When set this is a useful reminder to poor spellers or typists who forget to run the spell checker separately, however it consumes resources which may slow the system, in particular the time taken to switch between views may become excessive. It is usually better to clear this setting.

Output the following characters as entities - In normal use this should be set as recommended. No setting will damage a file but other settings are intended for use only during development of pages.

Don't encode '>' outside attribute - Set as recommended.

Don't encode special characters as entities - Set as recommended.

9.3    Toolbars

Buttons on Composition toolbar
New file	Open file	Save file	Publish	Browse	Undo
Redo	Insert or edit named anchor	Insert or edit Link	Insert or edit Image	Insert or edit table	Insert or edit Form
Open CaScadeS
Buttons on Format 1 toolbar
Emphasise	Strong emphasis	Numbered list	Bulleted list	Indent text	Outdent text
Definition term	Definition description
Buttons at extreme right of toolbar
Layer	Bring forward	Send back
Buttons on Format 2 toolbar
Text and background colour	Highlight colour	Make text larger	Make text smaller	Bold text	Italic text
Underline text	Align text left	Align text centre	Align text right	Justify text
Buttons not normally installed
Cut	Copy	Paste	Print page	Find	Insert horizontal line
Check Spelling
Borders	Left to right	Right to left	Glue to left border	Stay in centre	Glue to right border
Glue to top border	Stay in middle	Glue to bottom

Customising Toolbars

The list above shows the buttons, and the corresponding icons, available on KompoZer toolbars. The buttons are normally located on the toolbar indicated. A button may not be installed by default in which case the bar may be customised to make it available.

You can view or hide the toolbars. On the Menu Bar select View > Show/hide then check which toolbar you wish to display. You cannot hide the menu bar.

You can customise the toolbars to change which items appear on them. To do so right-click on the bar and select ‘Customize’ then drag an item to or from the toolbar.

As you customise a toolbar you can select whether you wish to display small or large icons. This selection is specific to each bar.

When customising toolbars three additional symbols will be found. ‘Separator’ provides a vertical bar to separate sections on a toolbar, ‘Space’ provides an invisible space of fixed size. ‘Flexible space’ provides a space which will expand to fill any space available.

Menu alternatives

Since the Composition Toolbar is often the simplest way of carrying out a function this guide has generally assumed that buttons available for that bar are visible. If you have disabled the Composition or Format toolbar or a button, functions may be still accessed via the Menu bar. The corresponding selections are shown in the table opposite. If there is a shortcut key (with control key) it is also listed.