Working with Documents
WebDesign provides many features to make working with HTML as well as other languages a whole lot easier. All of the features listed above can be enabled or disabled for the current document by using the Text button in the document window (second button at the top of each Document Window with the big 'A') or you can use the 'Document Settings' from the Edit menu. If you want to change the default features of WebDesign's text editor you can go to the Preferences->Edit Modes. See Customizing WebDesign's Editor and Document Modes section for more details.
- To make your code easier to read, WebDesign provides syntax coloring to help separate code, such as HTML tags and attributes, with normal text in your document. Syntax coloring is very customizable and is available all supported languages of WebDesign. You can customize the Syntax coloring under the 'Edit Modes' tab of the Preferences or refer to the technotes section for details on creating Syntax Files for custom keyword coloring.
- To keep HTML looking organized and to make sure it is easy to read, WebDesign provides an Auto Indent feature. This feature will allow you to start each line at the same offset as the last line when entering a line break. So, for example, if the current line begins with two (2) tabs, when you press return, the new line will begin with two (2) tabs as well.
- Some HTML documents can contain lines that go on forever. This forces you to have to scroll horizontally back and forth when you want to find certain text or code. WebDesign's text editor provides a soft wrapping option which will cause the text to be wrapped at a specified width, or if you like, cause it to always go to the end of the page.
- Most of the time it is hard to notice how many places there are between words. If you accidentally make more than one space in between a word, WebDesign's show invisible characters will allow you to quickly see the spots that have two or more spaces inbetween by placing a small dot in each space. It will also show the position of each line break so you can tell if there are any extra white spaces at the end of each line. (note: currently show invisible characters can not be used while tabs are enabled, tabs will be disabled when show invisible characters is enabled and vice-versa)
- Many scripting languages or even HTML validators will report syntax errors on a certain line in your document. WebDesign allows the ability to show the line numbers on the left hand side of your document so that you can easily go to the line containing the error. It also provides a Goto line feature which can be access from Text menu. You may also want to show the current position of the cursor in the bottom left hand corner. By clicking the cursor position info, the Go To Line window will be opened.
- When working with large documents you may want to remove a certain part temporarily that may just be causing confusion or unneeded searching for certain code in your document. WebDesign provides a condense text feature which can condense any amount of selected text into a small picture. Select the text you want to condense and go to Text->Condense Text (command-E). The text can be extended by double clicking it or by going to Text->Extend All Condensed Text (shift-command-E).
This is also useful if you would like WebDesign to skip some text when using the search and replace feature, applying the HTML tools such as converting the tag case or converting from HTML to XHTML or even checking your document syntax. If you use javascript or any other scripting language which WebDesign's syntax checker does not support, it is recommended to condense this text so that you do not get many unwanted errors.
- If you aren't happy with the default font or the font size, you can easily change the font and font size to fit your needs by using the Font submenu under the Edit menu.