Character Objects

To insert many of HTML's special characters such as ®, £, or å, Composer (v4.5) provides a Java add-on which hasn't worked well for me (it's slow & sometimes crashes Netscape). A quicker and more reliable way (which works with earlier versions, as well) is to highlight and copy from the special character page, and paste where needed.

After selecting some text (hold down the L-mouse button and sweep it across some characters), most character properties can be seen and modified through these controls on the Formatting Toolbar. From left to right, these controls specify typeface, size, color, boldface, italics, & underline; the final icon is used to erase all styles from selected characters.

Properties of Characters

property	options	examples
typeface Avoid named fonts, since there is no way to know what fonts are installed on other computers that download the web page.	variable	variable width font
	fixed	`fixed width font`
	named fonts, e.g., New Times Roman, Garamond, Arrus, ...
size Fonts can be specified by 7 relative sizes (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3, +4), where 0 is the browser's default text size, or by 7 listed point sizes (shown here by 7, 9, ..., 36 - but these numbers depend on a browser's default settings). Avoid picking sizes outside the standard seven, because other systems may not display them.	-2 -or- 7	smallest
	-1 -or- 9	small
	0 -or- 12	normal
	+1 -or- 14	somewhat larger
	+2 -or- 18	larger
	+3 -or- 24	yet larger
	+4 -or- 36	largest
color Avoid blue & purple text, since that color is the typical default color for hyperlinks.	pick from the system's color menu	red green orange
style Bold, Italic, and Underline styles can be applied to selected text by these buttons on the Formatting Toolbar; the fourth button removes all styles from any selected text. The other styles can be chosen from the Menubar: `Format`, select `Style`, & select the appropriate option.	boldface	example text
	italics	example text
	underline	example text
	strikethrough	~~example text~~
	superscript	normal^superscript
	subscript	normal_subscript
	blinking	please don't blink
	nonbreaking	(see following note)

Note on the nonbreaking style:

The font size and window width of a reader's web browser can never be known in advance, so the lines breaks in a paragraph can be anywhere. In some places, line breaks may may be inappropriate, or confusing to the reader. In the example below, a line break in the name or date may be somewhat awkward. Resize the browser window as you read this to break the line there:

Example #1: "In particular, for more specifics please refer to Mr. S. Nathaniel's letter of 19 August on the engine failure..."

Example #2: "In particular, for more specifics please refer to Mr. S. Nathaniel's letter of 19 August on the engine failure..."

Since it is difficult to anticipate where awkward line breaks may occur, it is good practice to view a web page at a variety of web browser widths before publishing it.

Adding Characters to a page

L-Click on the page where the characters are to be placed;
Type in the characters. Special characters may need to be cut & pasted.

Note that characters added in the middle of other text will pick up the properties (size, color, style) of the text immediately to the left of the insertion point.

Deleting Characters from a page

Select the characters to delete

Use the DELETE key, or CUT it out.

Changing the properties of Characters

After selecting some text (hold down the L-mouse button and sweep it across some characters), most Character Properties can be seen and modified through the controls on the Formatting Toolbar. Additionally, there are Font, Size, Style, and Color options in the Format selection of the Menubar.

All character attributes (style, color, ...) can by removed from a selection by clicking the Erase All Styles icon. All characters in the selection revert to plaintext style in the default font, size, and color.

All attributes of selected characters can be viewed and modified through the Character Properties window:

Select the characters to modify

R-Click in the selected text: select Character Properties -or-

Format

select

Character Properties

Then, modify the values of the Character Properties