Editing Styles

There are hundreds of tasks that you can perform in Flare by using styles. Following are some common tasks that you might perform when editing styles.

• Auto-numbers
  • Formats Auto-numbering can be used when you want to create content where certain portions are numbered automatically. This can be accomplished through the use of auto-number formats. See Creating Auto-Number Formats for Styles.
• Breadcrumbs
  • Look After you create breadcrumbs for online output by using the breadcrumbs proxy, you can modify the look of those breadcrumbs by using styles. There are numerous ways that you can change the look of breadcrumbs. See Using Styles to Determine the Look of Breadcrumbs.
• Footnotes
  • Border You can modify the default border that is added above footnote comments. You can change the border thickness, color, style, and other settings. You can also remove the border altogether. See Editing the Border Above Footnotes.
  • Comment font settings You can modify the font in a footnote comment. This includes changing the font family, size, color, case, and more. See Editing Footnote Comment Font Settings.
  • Comment position You can change the location where a footnote comment is placed in the output (e.g., end of page, document, chapter, section, book). See Editing Footnote Comment Position.
  • Comment spacing You can modify the spacing for the footnote comment text. This includes the ability to change the spacing above or below the comment text, the white space between words or characters, or the indentation before the number and text. See Editing Footnote Comment Spacing.
  • Number format By default, a decimal number (e.g., 1, 2, 3) is used when you insert a footnote. However, you can select a different format. For example, you can change the format to uppercase alpha (e.g., A, B, C) or lowercase Roman (e.g., i, ii, iii). You can also replace the number with a symbol, such as an asterisk. See Editing Footnote Number Formats.
  • Number - look You can change the look of the footnote numbers (both in-text and in-comment), by creating and modifying <span> style classes. Alternatively, you can use the <MadCap|footnote> style or a class of it to modify the look of both the in-text and in-comment footnote numbers. The difference is that the <span> style lets you change the look of one or the other, rather than both at the same time. See Editing the Look of Footnote Numbers.
  • Restart numbering When you insert footnotes, the numbers are incremented throughout your manual. However, you can restart the numbering at a certain location (e.g., at the beginning of the next chapter or section). See Restarting Footnote Numbering.
• Glossaries

  • Look of generated glossary You can use styles to change the appearance of a glossary in print-based output. You can modify the look of individual elements within the glossary, as well as the entire container holding the glossary. See Using Styles to Change the Look of a Glossary.

    Note: If you want to change the look of glossaries in online output, you can do so by modifying styles within your skin. See Editing Skin Settings, Specifying Style Settings for WebHelp Output, and Specifying Style Settings for HTML Help Output.

• Help controls
  • Concept links You can edit the style (e.g., font, color, wording) of a concept link. When you edit the style for a concept link, the style changes for all concept links in any topics in your project. See Editing Concept Links.
  • Keyword links You can edit keyword links that you have inserted into topics. See Editing Keyword Links.
  • Related topics links You can edit Related Topics links that you have inserted into topics. See Editing Related Topics Links.
• Indexes

  • Look of generated index for print output If you incorporate a generated index into your printed output (see Creating a Topic for a Print Index), you can customize the way the index entries look in the output. This includes adjusting properties such as font family and size, word space, and space above/below. You can also change the look of the entire container holding the generated index. See Determining the Look of Your Print Index.

    Note: If you want to change the look of indexes in online output, you can do so by modifying styles within your skin. See Editing Skin Settings, Specifying Style Settings for WebHelp Output, and Specifying Style Settings for HTML Help Output.

• Links
  • Cross-references You can edit the style settings (e.g., format, font, color) of cross-references. This includes the ability to incorporate page numbers and context-sensitivity into a cross-reference format. See Editing Cross-Reference Style Formats and Editing Text for Context-Sensitive Cross-References.
  • Drop-down text You can edit drop-down effects that you have inserted into topics. See Editing Drop-Down Text.
  • Expanding text You can edit expanding text effects that you have inserted into topics. See Editing Expanding Text.
  • Text hyperlinks You can edit the style settings (e.g., font, color) of text hyperlinks. See Editing Text Hyperlinks.
  • Text popups You can edit the style (e.g., font, color) of the hotspot or the popup body in text popups. See Editing Text Popups.
  • Togglers You can edit the style (e.g., font, color) of the hotspot for togglers. See Editing Togglers.
  • Topic popups You can edit the style (e.g., font, color) of the hyperlink for topic popups. See Editing Topic Popups.
• List of concepts
  • Look After you use the concepts proxy to create a list of concepts, you can change the look of that list by using styles. You can modify the look of individual entries in the list, as well as the entire container. See Using Styles to Determine the Look of a List of Concepts.
• List of elements
  • Look After you use the list-of proxy to create a list of elements (such as a list of figures or tables), you can use styles to determine the look of the generated list. See Using Styles to Determine the Look of a List of Elements.
• Lists
  • Alignment You can format lists or items within them so that the text is aligned right, left, centered, or justified. See Aligning Lists.
  • Background You can set a background color and/or image on lists or items within them. See Setting the Background for Lists.
  • Borders You can add borders around lists or items within them. Borders can be added on any side (left, right, top, bottom), or all around. See Setting Borders for Lists.
  • Images for bullets You can change the image used for bullets in lists. For example, if you have a small check mark icon that you want to use instead of round bullets, you can select your image. See Selecting Images for List Bullets.
  • Indentation You can indent lists or items within them so that they start or end at a certain distance from the left or right side of the window or page frame. See Indenting Lists.
  • Line spacing You can specify the amount of spacing between lines of text in a list. See Setting Line Spacing for Lists.
  • Page and column breaks You can apply a page or column break to lists or items within them. You might do this if you want a list to end with a particular item on one page and begin with another list item on the next page or column. For example, you could create a class of the <li> style tag and you could call it something like "PageBreakBefore" (li.PageBreakBefore). For most items in a list, you could use the parent <li> tag, but if you want a page break to occur on a particular list item, you could apply your li.PageBreakBefore style to it. This feature is used for print-based output.  See Setting Page and Column Breaks for Lists.
  • Spacing above/below You can specify the amount of spacing above and below lists or items within them. See Setting Spacing Above and Below in Lists.
  • Type You can specify the type of list (e.g., circle, square, decimal, upper alpha) for a style. See Specifying a List Type for a Style.
• Mini-TOCs
  • Look of mini-TOC in online output You can use the <MadCap|miniTocProxy> style to modify the look of mini-TOCs in your online output. See Using Styles to Determine the Look of an Online Mini-TOC.
  • Look of mini-TOC in print-based output For generated mini-TOCs, you can use styles to adjust properties such as font family and size, indentation, word spacing, spacing above/below, TOC width, page number alignment, and leader settings (e.g., the dots between the headings and the numbers). The headings in the mini-TOC will take on the settings that you specify. You can also modify the look of the entire container holding the generated mini-TOC. See Using Styles to Determine the Look of a Print Mini-TOC.
• Paragraphs
  • Alignment You can format a paragraph so that the text is aligned right, left, centered, or justified. See Aligning Paragraphs.
  • Background You can set a background color and/or image on a paragraph. See Setting the Background for Paragraphs.
  • Borders You can add borders around a paragraph. Borders can be added on any side of a paragraph (left, right, top, bottom), or all around it. See Setting Borders for Paragraphs.
  • Drop caps/initial caps You can create an effect on a paragraph so that the initial letter is different than the others and drops down to the lines below. See Creating Drop Caps Effects and Creating Initial Caps Effects.
  • Hyphenation You can specify whether words at the end of a line in a paragraph should be hyphenated before continuing to the next line. You can also determine minimum word and character settings to be used for hyphenation. See Setting Hyphenation.
  • Indentation You can indent paragraphs so that they start or end at a certain distance from the left or right side of the window or page frame. See Indenting Paragraphs.
  • Line spacing You can specify the amount of spacing between lines in a paragraph. See Setting Line Spacing.
  • Page and column breaks You can apply a page or column break to a paragraph or heading. For example, you might do this if you want the paragraph or heading to start at the beginning of the next page or column. This feature is used for print-based output. See Setting Page and Column Breaks.
  • Positioning After you add a paragraph or heading to a topic, you can adjust its positioning on the page. For example, you can float it to the left of the page layout frame to create a side heading. You can do this by applying a positioning setting on the style used by the paragraph. See Positioning Paragraphs and Heading Examples.
  • Short line elimination You can use this feature to automatically adjust word spacing if the last line of a paragraph is only a certain number of characters long. Therefore, the spacing may be widened to make the last line longer, or the spacing may be narrowed to bring the words in the last line up to the previous line. See Setting Short Line Elimination.
  • Spacing above/below You can specify the amount of spacing above and below paragraphs. See Setting Paragraph Spacing Above and Below.
  • Widow and orphan control You can use widow and orphan control to avoid instances where "leftover" lines from a paragraph are shown at the top or bottom of a page or column. See Setting Widow and Orphan Control.
• Pictures
  • Resize You can resize many images at once by using the <img> style tag in the Stylesheet Editor. See Resizing Pictures.
• Rulers (horizontal lines)
  • Edit After you insert a ruler ("horizontal line") in a topic, you can edit its settings (e.g., size, color, position) by modifying the <hr> style in the Stylesheet Editor. See Editing Rulers.
• Search
  • Look of highlighted search terms When users perform searches in your online output, the keywords that are found are highlighted in the topics. The background for each term found in a topic is highlighted in a different color. In Flare, you can create styles for this purpose and change not only the color background, but other settings as well (e.g., font style, text decoration). See Using Styles to Change the Look of Highlighted Search Terms.
• Tables
  • Using table style sheet You can modify the look and feel of multiple tables at once by editing the properties in a custom table style sheet. These table style sheets let you easily and quickly create patterns and different looks for tables. See How to edit styles in a table style sheet.
  • Using topic style sheet You can modify the look and feel of multiple tables at once by editing standard HTML table tags (e.g., <table>, <th>, <td>, <tr>) in your topic style sheet. For example, you might use these styles in order to control the look of the text that appears in your table headings (<th> style) or within the cells (<td> style). See Editing Table Styles in Topic Style Sheets.
• Tables of contents
  • Heading levels When creating print-based output, you can determine which topic headings will be displayed at which level in the generated TOC. For example, even though all of your topics may use a heading style of <h1>, you might want some of those topic headings to display at the first level in the print TOC (acting as an <h1>), others at the second level (acting as an <h2>), and still others at the third level (acting as an <h3>). See Using Styles for Print TOC Heading Levels.
  • Look For TOCs in print-based output, you can use styles to adjust properties such as font family and size, indentation, word spacing, spacing above/below, TOC width, page number alignment, and leader settings (e.g., the dots between the headings and the numbers). The headings in the print TOC will take on the settings that you specify. You can also modify the look of the entire container holding the generated TOC. See Using Styles to Determine the Look of a Print TOC.

  Note: If you want to change the look of your TOC in online output, you can do so by modifying styles within your skin. See Editing Skin Settings, Specifying Style Settings for WebHelp Output, and Specifying Style Settings for HTML Help Output.

• Text
  • Bold You can apply a bold weight to text. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to highlight the text and click the Bold button . However, you can also change the properties of a different tag so that it uses a bold weight. See Setting Bold Text.
  • Case You can change the case of text so that it is all uppercase or all lowercase. You can also specify that the first letter of each word in the selected content should be capitalized, while the other letters are lowercase. See Setting the Case of Text.
  • Color of background You can set a background color for text. See Setting the Background Color for Text.
  • Color of text You can select a color for text. See Setting the Color for Text.
  • Font family You can select a font family (e.g., Arial, Verdana) for text to change its look. See Setting the Font Family for Text.
  • Italics You can apply italics to text. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to highlight the text and click the Italic button . However, you can also change the properties of a different tag so that it uses italics. See Setting Italic Text.
  • Italic correction You can correct the spacing in a line when italic formatting is involved. Often, when you italicize a word in the middle of a sentence, the last letter of that word has less space between it and the following word (due to the fact that it is italicized and the following word is not). Using italic correction, you can increase this space between the italicized word and the non-italicized word. See Setting Italic Correction.
  • Letter spacing You can specify the amount of spacing between letters in text. See Setting Letter Spacing.
  • Overline You can specify that a horizontal line should be placed above text (opposite of underlined text). See Setting an Overline on Text.
  • Size You can specify the size of text, choosing from many different units of measurement. See Setting the Font Size.
  • Smallcaps You can specify that text should be displayed in all capital letters, but in a small size. See Setting Smallcaps on Text.
  • Strikethrough You can specify that a horizontal line should be added through the middle of the text, providing the effect of content that has been "striked through." See Setting a Strikethrough Effect on Text.
  • Subscript You can apply a subscript effect to topic text, where some text appears below the level of the other characters (e.g., H₂O). Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to highlight the text and then click the Subscript button . However, you can also change the properties of a different tag so that it appears as subscript text. See Setting Subscript Text.
  • Superscript You can apply a superscript effect to text, where some text appears above the regular text (e.g., X²). Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to highlight the text and click the Superscript button . However, you can also change the properties of a different tag so that it appears as superscript text. See Setting Superscript Text.
  • Underline You can easily underline text. See Setting Underlined Text.
  • Word spacing You can specify the amount of spacing between words. See Setting Word Spacing.
• Text boxes
  • Background After you insert a text box, you can add background settings to the text box. This includes the ability to specify a color, an image, and a repeating pattern for the background image. See Adding Backgrounds to Text Boxes.
  • Borders After you insert a text box, you can add borders around it, specifying the border size, color, and type. See Adding Borders to Text Boxes.
  • Hyphenation After you insert a text box, you can adjust the way that the text within it is hyphenated. See Setting Hyphenation in Text Boxes.
  • Margins After you insert a text box, you can adjust the margins around it so that there is extra space above, below, to the right, or to the left of it. See Adding Margins to Text Boxes.
  • Padding After you insert a text box, you can add padding (i.e., extra space) between the text box's border and the text within it. See Adding Padding to Text Boxes.
  • Positioning After you insert a text box, you can adjust its positioning on the page. This includes the ability to float text boxes to the left or right, or even outside of page frames. See Positioning Text Boxes.
  • Size After you insert a text box, you can adjust its width and height. See Specifying the Size of Text Boxes.
• Topics
  • Background color You can change the background color for topics by using the <body> style or classes of that style. If you want the background color to be applied to all topics using a particular style sheet, you can use the main <body> style. If you want to change the background color for only some topics, create and use a class of the <body> style. See Applying Color to the Background for Topics.

Following are the basic steps for editing styles in a topic style sheet.

How to edit styles in a topic style sheet

1. Open the topic style sheet that you want to modify.

2. Complete one of the following sets of steps, depending on whether you want to use the Simplified view or Advanced view in the Stylesheet Editor.

   • Simplified The Simplified view is better for new users. It provides an easier way to apply properties to styles, with format options available from a toolbar (similar to the way one would use the Text Format toolbar to change the look topic content without a style). In many cases, only the most common property options are available in the Simplified view (e.g., font, letter/word spacing, paragraph alignment/indentation, auto-numbering format, borders, background). One advantage of the Simplified view is that you can apply a property to multiple styles at the same time. You can also click a check box to hide the properties in the editor, allowing you to see only the styles.
   • Advanced The Advanced view displays style classes and properties in hierarchical tree structures. It is not as quick as using the Simplified view, but it allows you to edit a great deal more settings than are available in the Simplified view.

Warning: When editing styles, make sure the proper medium is selected in the Stylesheet Editor before you begin (you can do this from the Medium drop-down list). Flare remembers the last medium that you used when working in the style sheet, so it may or may not be the one that you want to use the next time around. (If you are not using different mediums, you do not need to worry about selecting one when you edit styles.) See About Style Sheet Mediums.

If using the Simplified view:

1. In the local toolbar, make sure the first button displays (which means that the Simplified view is currently shown in the editor). If the button displays instead, then click it.
2. (Optional) You can click in the Show Styles field in the upper-left corner of the Stylesheet Editor to limit which styles are shown in the editor. For example, if you select Show All Styles, then all styles will be displayed. If you select Show Paragraph Styles, only paragraph styles will be displayed. If you select Show Table Styles, only table styles will be displayed.
3. From the grid in the bottom portion of the Stylesheet Editor, select a style.
4. In the local toolbar of the editor, click . The Properties dialog opens.
5. Use the Properties dialog to change values for the style's properties.

   

6. In the Properties dialog, click OK.

If using the Advanced view:

1. In the local toolbar, make sure the first button displays (which means that the Advanced view is currently shown in the editor). If the button displays instead, then click it.
2. (Optional) You can click in the Show Styles drop-down list in the upper-left corner of the Stylesheet Editor to limit which styles are shown in the editor. For example, if you select Show All Styles, then all styles will be displayed. If you select Show Paragraph Styles, then only paragraph styles will be displayed. If you select Show Table Styles, then only table styles will be displayed.

3. In the Styles section of the editor, select the style that you want to edit.

   Note: If you want to limit the list of styles to only those that you tend to use in your project, you can disable the styles that you do not want to see. This does not delete those styles; it merely hides them from view. See Disabling Styles.

4. From the Show Properties drop-down list on the upper-right side of the editor, select any of the options shown to determine which properties are displayed below. This is simply a way to find the appropriate property as quickly as possible.
   • Assorted Relevant Properties Displays the property groups that are used most often for the selected style type.
   • Property Groups Displays all the different groups holding the properties for the selected style. Property groups are simply a way to organize the properties so that they are easy for you to find. If you want to see the values for a given property group, click the plus button next to it.
   • Alphabetical List Displays all of the properties for the selected style in alphabetical order.
   • Set Properties Displays all properties that have been set for the style.
   • Set (Locally) Properties Displays properties that have been set for the selected style directly in one or more topics. In other words, the global setting for that particular style has been overruled in some topic(s) within the project. For more information, see Local Formatting.



5. In the Properties section, locate the specific property that you want to change.

   The property name is shown in the left column. The right column is used for selecting and entering values for the property.

   

6. Click in the value column on the right side. Depending on the type of property, you can either type the value, select it from a drop-down list, or complete the values in a dialog or popup box.

   If you completed values in a popup, click OK at the bottom of the box.

   

   As you make changes to a property's values, you can see how the changes look in the Preview section at the bottom of the editor.

   

3. Press CTRL+S or click to save your work.

Following are the basic steps for editing styles in a table style sheet.

How to edit styles in a table style sheet

1. Open the table style sheet that you want to edit.
2. In the Table Style Editor, set the options for the table style on the tabs available.
   • General tab This tab lets you set border, padding, and margin properties for the entire table style.
     • Outer Borders Click in any of the individual fields (Left, Right, Top, Bottom) to specify the settings for the table border in the style sheet. If you click the down arrow to the right of all the fields, the settings will be applied to all of the border fields. When you click that down arrow or in one of the individual fields, a small popup displays. Use the lower-left area of the popup to enter a number for the thickness of the border. Use the lower-middle area to select a unit of measurement (e.g., point, pixel, centimeter) for the number you entered. See About Units of Measurement. Use the upper-right area to select a color for the border. And use the lower-right area to select a line type (e.g., solid, double, dashed) for the border. When you are finished, click OK in the small popup.
     • Cell Padding Click in any of the individual fields (Left, Right, Top, Bottom) to specify the settings for the cell padding (the amount of space between the edge of the table cell and the content in the cell). In the left side of the field, enter a number for the amount of padding. In the right side of the field, select a unit of measurement (e.g., point, pixel, centimeter) for the number you entered. See About Units of Measurement. If you click the down arrow to the right of all the fields, the settings will be applied to all of the cell padding fields. When you click that down arrow, a small popup displays. Use the lower-left area of the popup to enter a number for the amount of padding. Use the lower-right area to select a unit of measurement.
     • Cell Border Collapse Select whether you want to collapse the cell borders in the style sheet. If you collapse the cell borders, the row and cell borders of a table are joined in a single border. If you do not collapse the cell borders, the row and cell borders of a table are detached.
     • Cell Border Spacing Use this area to increase or decrease the amount of spacing for a cell border.
     • Table Margins Click in any of the individual fields (Left, Right, Top, Bottom) to specify the settings for the table margins (the amount of space around the table). In the left side of the field, enter a number for the amount of padding. In the right side of the field, select a unit of measurement (e.g., point, pixel, centimeter) for the number you entered. See About Units of Measurement. If you click the down arrow to the right of all the fields, the settings will be applied to all of the table margin fields. When you click that down arrow, a small popup displays. Use the lower-left area of the popup to enter a number for the amount of margin. Use the lower-right area to select a unit of measurement.
   • Rows, Columns, Header, and Footer Tabs These tabs let you set properties for the various elements of the table. For any of these elements, you can add multiple repeatable patterns with different colors and text properties. Following are descriptions for the fields that appear on each tab.

     • Patterns Displays the patterns for the row, column, header, or footer in the style sheet. Each line represents a different pattern and how many times it is repeated in a table before the next pattern occurs.

       example

       Let's say you want to create a patter for rows. "Pattern 4" means that it is the fourth pattern in the style sheet. "Repeat=3" means that the pattern repeats for three rows in a table before either "Pattern 5" displays (if there is one) or "Pattern 1" starts the cycle over again.

     • Add Adds a new pattern. The new pattern is initially set to repeat just once, but you can change that using the "Repeat" field below.
     • Remove Removes the selected pattern from the list.
     • Repeat Select a pattern from the section above and then click the up or down numbers to increase or decrease the number of times the pattern occurs in a table before the next pattern is displayed.
     • Background Select a pattern from the section above. Then click this field and select a color to be used in the background of the table rows for that pattern.
     • Text Select a pattern from the section above. Then click this field to open a small popup, which lets you set properties for the text.
     • Bold Click the check box to display the text in a bold font.
     • Italic Click the check box to display the text in an italic font.
     • Color Click this field and select a color for the text. For advanced color options, select More colors and use the fields in the Color Picker dialog.
     • Size In the top field, select Length. Then in the lower-left field enter a number for the size of the text, and in the lower-right select a unit of measurement (e.g., points, pixels, centimeters) for the number. See About Units of Measurement.
     • Family Click in this field and select a font family (e.g., Arial) for the text.
     • OK Click this button to accept the settings.
     • Cancel Click this button to close the popup without accepting the settings.
     • Ruler Select a pattern from the section above. Then click this field to open a small popup, which lets you set properties for a ruler (i.e., horizontal line) between the rows or columns in the pattern. In the lower-left field enter a number for the size of the ruler. In the lower-middle field, select a unit of measurement (e.g., points, pixels, centimeters) for the number you entered. See About Units of Measurement. In the upper-right field, select a color for the ruler. In the lower-right field, select a type of line (e.g., solid, double, dashed) for the ruler. Then click OK to accept the settings, or click Cancel to close the window without accepting them.
     • Separator Select a pattern from the section above. Then click this field to open a small popup, which lets you set properties for a separator (i.e., a horizontal line) between the final row or column in the pattern and the first row or column in the next pattern. In the lower-left field enter a number for the size of the separator. In the lower-middle field, select a unit of measurement (e.g., points, pixels, centimeters) for the number you entered. See About Units of Measurement. In the upper-right field, select a color for the separator. In the lower-right field, select a type of line (e.g., solid, double, dashed) for the separator. Then click OK to accept the settings, or click Cancel to close the window without accepting them.
     • Vertical Alignment Select an option for aligning text in the row or column vertically.
     • Top The text aligns at the top of each cell.
     • Middle The text aligns in the middle of each cell.
     • Bottom The text aligns at the bottom of each cell.
     • Alignment Select an option for aligning text in the row or column horizontally.
     • Left The text aligns at the left edge of each cell.
     • Center The text aligns in the center of each cell.
     • Right The text aligns at the right edge of each cell.
     • Justify The text aligns both at the left and right edges of each cell.

     Pattern Example:

     Let's say you want the rows in the table to alternate between having no background color and a green background color. To do this, you would complete the following steps:

     1. Select the Row tab.
     2. In the Patterns section, click the Add button. Now there should be two patterns (Pattern 1, repeat=0 and Pattern 2, repeat=1). This means that the first row will not repeat, but the second row will repeat once until the next pattern.
     3. Select Pattern 1, repeat=0.
     4. Set the Repeat field to 1. Now it should display Pattern 1, repeat=1. This means that the first row will repeat just like the second row. However, both rows have the same properties, so it is impossible to tell that they are alternately repeating.
     5. Select Pattern 2, repeat=1.

     6. In the Background field, select a green color.

The Preview section at the bottom of the editor lets you see how the table elements look as you make changes.

3. Press CTRL+S or click to save your work.