Free Form Text Page Wizard: Version 9.3 Think of the free form page as a word processing document. You can do almost anything with it, including custom designed pages and native HTML documents. The Free Form Page Wizard can be used for any number of pages that do not require pre-formatted layouts. With a free form page you can design nearly any type of web page, once you get the hang of it. The most common use is a page with lots of paragraphs of text on it. You can copy the text from Word and paste it in, or you can create the page by simply typing in the text.
Text with Images Any place you like you can insert an image and have text wrap around the image. For more information on working with photos and images visit the Working with Images help page. Be sure any photo does not exceed 500 pixels in width or it will cause errors in the layout of your web page when viewed. If you want the photo to appear on the left or right of the text, with the text wrapping around it, right click on the image and choose Format - Image. When the dialog box appears enter in a text description of the photo in the Comments box. This is to insure compliance with ADA guidelines. Then choose the Alignment drop down menu and select either Left or Right alignment. Working with Tables This type of page is often set up when the layout of our most common pre-formatted page wizards (2 Column Links, 4 Column Table and Table of Contents) simply do not meet your requirements. This type of page layout is also handy when you want more than one link in any of the rows of a table. Be sure any table does not exceed 500 pixels in width or it will cause errors in the layout of your web page when viewed. Simply insert a table that meets your requirements, then create or copy and paste text into the appropriate cells. You can edit the colors of text and the background of cells easily. See the Formatting Tables documentation for more help. Native HTML Pages: Advanced The free form page can be used when you need to use HTML code within your site for any variety of reasons. For instance, on the Town of Davie website they have a map of the different voting districts, and each one has a link to another page with a biography of the councilor representing that district. This functionality is available to those clients that know how to create HTML pages. When you have already created the native HTML page view the source code, then copy the text and paste it into the free form page. If you want the resulting page to look like your website, with your banner and navigation, you will need to delete the headers of the HTML source code and only leave the text that is between the <BODY> and </BODY> tags. Once you have completed this select all the text and from the main menu choose Format - Style - Literal HTML.
It is not necessary to name the page with the.html extension. The VTH FirstClass server will automatically render your code as HTML. Formatting & Page Layout Whether you have copied and pasted text or just started typing in the free form area your options are pretty much the same. Lower Toolbar Formatting Undo - Reverts to the state of the page prior to your last action. Redo - Reverts to the state of the page prior to your last Undo. Plain Text - Removes all formatting on the selected text. Bold - Makes the selected text bold. Italics - Makes the selected text italicized. Underline - Underlines the selected text. We do not recommend using underlines for emphasis on a web page since the underline is frequently used to indicate a link to another page. Increase indent - Indents the entire paragraph by 5 spaces. Decrease indent - Decreases the indentation of the current paragraph by 5 spaces. Bulleted Paragraphs (New in version 9) - If you have copied bulleted paragraphs from Word then your pasted selection should retain your bullets and your hanging indent. Format Selection - Allows you to change the Font, Size, Color, Alignment and other characteristics of the selected text in one window. Format Paragraph - Allows you to change the formatting of a paragraph, including the space between lines, first line indents, left and right indents, etc. Make Link - Allows you to create a link out of the selected text or image.
Paste from Clipboard - Paste any text or image from your Windows clipboard in the location of the cursor. Select All - Selects all the content from within the free form area to copy to your clipboard or to delete or reformat. Reset to Default - Resets all the formats of your selected text to your default. Insert Signature - Inserts your signature from your preference setting in the location of the cursor. Spell check - Checks the spelling of your selected text or all the text on the page if no selection is made. (NOTE: Moved to the upper toolbar in version 9) Font - To change the font of any text select the text then click on the Font Selector on the left hand side of the lower tool bar. Font Size - Choose the size you would like your text to be. Font color - Select the color you would like. With custom color selections you can use the specific HTML or RGB color values as the rest of your site if you like. Alignment - Choose left, center or right alignment for your text and images. Insert - Allows you to insert web images, tables, horizontal lines, links, markers and background images into your page. Keep in mind that background images make it difficult for the visually impaired to read your text. It may not be in full compliance with ADA requirements. See Working with Images and Formatting Tables for more help.
Customizing your toolbars NOTE: If your toolbar does not look like the above image you can Add and Delete formatting shortcuts very easily. With a New Document Special open, simply click View - Toolbars - Customize Toolbars. Select the appropriate Category from the drop down menu. Then you can choose the different shortcuts and drag them to your lower or upper toolbar to Add. To Delete simply drag a shortcut icon from your toolbar to the Customize Toolbars dialog box and drop them. No need to worry where, just drop them! Close the dialog box when complete.