Text size and preferences

Question

I'm not sure exactly how to phrase the question as what I've
tried so far is not proving to provide the answer. Even if this is
a really obvious answer, I'm hoping someone will help me??? Or, if
the question is oblique, let me know!!! Please??
When designing pages prior to upgrading to DW8 (used DW4), I
had font sizes to choose from that were 1, 2, 3, and so on. In DW8,
when working on a page, my font sizes are 9, 10, 11 etc., similar
to when designing a print item, or they are small, x-small or
xx-small. Now, when I've designed a page to display the font in 10
or x-small and publish, it's relative to a 1pt the old way. But,
I've also noticed that when I make the font an 11 or 12, or small,
then the size is inconsistent in browsers - FF vs. IE 7 (which
makes it more like a medium or almost large).
QUestion is how to get my font sizes back to 1,2,3, turning
on the text type (to points, pixels etc.) drop down which is now
grayed out. Before, I knew that a font size 2 was consistent across
browsers and have been unable to find a way to get back to it,
short of manually going into the code, removing the <span> or
<span class> and reverting to <font size=2 face=Arial>
Anyone???? I can't find this in help, as like I said, I may not be
asking the right question. I've set the pages up to be be Xhtml
trans. would that have something to do with it?
Also, how do modify the seemingly intuitive CSS that is
created for everything text? It appears to be adding considerably
more code to a page and I'm certain that there's a cleaner more
expedient way to format this. New to CSS as well and am
tutorializing myself on it - but meanwhile, the code view is full
of 'intuitive' css!!

Answer 1

designonthefly wrote:
> I'm not sure exactly how to phrase the question as what
I've tried so far is
> not proving to provide the answer. Here's the sitch
--> I'm new to DW 8 and
> used DW 4 up until recently.
>
> When designing pages, I had font sizes to choose from
that were 1, 2, 3, and
> so on. In DW8, when working on a page, my font sizes are
9, 10, 11 etc.,
> similar to when designing a print item, or they are
small, x-small or xx-small.
> Now, when I've designed a page to display the font in 10
or x-small and
> publish, it's relative to a 1pt the old way. But, I've
also noticed that when I
> make the font an 11 or 12, or small, then the size is
inconsistent in browsers
> - FF vs. IE 7 (which makes it more like a medium or
almost large).
>
> QUestion is how to get my font sizes back to 1,2,3,
turning on the text type
> (to points, pixels etc.) drop down which is now grayed
out. Before, I knew that
> a font size 2 was consistent across browsers and have
been unable to find a way
> to get back to it, short of manually going into the
code, removing the <span>
> or <span class> and reverting to <font size=2
face=Arial> Anyone???? I can't
> find this in help, as like I said, I may not be asking
the right question. I've
> set the pages up to be be Xhtml trans. would that have
something to do with it?
>
> Also, how do modify the seemingly intuitive CSS that is
created for everything
> text? It appears to be adding considerably more code to
a page and I'm certain
> that there's a cleaner more expedient way to format
this. New to CSS as well
> and am tutorializing myself on it - but meanwhile, the
code view is full of
> 'intuitive' css!!
>
1. DW8 has evolved and adapted to current web design
standards, CSS is becoming omnipresent and you
need to start learning some if you're serious about web
design.
2. the <font> tag is deprecated, and it is replaced by
CSS. CSS is by far the best way to deal with
your font styles (as well as many other things), you won't
look back once you get used to it.
3. There is no more consistency bewteen font size in
deifferent browsers using <font size="2"> than
using css such as:
.someClass{
font-size:12px;
or:
.someClass{
font-size:1em;
In all cases the size will be slightly different from browser
to browser.
Right now you are applying font styles via the Property
inspector (bottom of your screen), therefore
Dreamweaver creates many unique styles on the fly. That's the
'intuitive' way as you call it, but
it's not the best way at all.
Consider instead creating an external style sheet (open CSS
panel, create a new style, select
external style sheet, then link your style sheet to all your
pages). This will actually save you a
lot of code and make it easier to update/change your styles
across your entire web site.
You can find lots of css tutorials on the web, and lots of
info in Dreamweaver HELP, looking for css
or styles.
seb ( [email protected])
http://webtrans1.com | high-end web
design
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