Netscape Composer Tutorial/Reference

(Short version)


Netscape Composer is a component of the Netscape 4.x Communicator program. It allows users to create simple web pages without learning any web coding (HTML). It is available for free to ALL users at: http://home.netscape.com/download/index.html

For the full Composer tutorial: http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/consultants/lcomptut.html

Create a www folder/directory and save often

Save your work to a disk in a folder or directory folder you name www. Keep all the associated image files (i.e. rule.gif ) and linked documents in this www directory or a sub-directory of www (i.e. images) to avoid broken image links.

Create a new web page
1.) Open Communicator
2.) File > New > Blank Page

or

Continue editing a page after you have closed it

Use File > Open Page in Communicator to re-open a page you wish to continue working on from your disk.

Image size problems when you begin editing? Composer may resize your images incorrectly. To fix this, double click on the Image to bring up the Image Dialog. Click the Original Size button in the Dimension section to fix this.

Properties: Color, Title, Text color, etc

Select Format > Page Colors and Properties

Command Reference

New: Create from Blank Page, Template or Open a Local (text) File
Open: Select a local text or html document off the disk or hard drive
Save: Saves the document to current location. (File/Save As will let you change the location.)
Preview: Shows the Netscape version of the current composer document
Cut: Move selected text/images off the Page to the clipboard
Copy: Make a copy of the selected text/images to the clipboard
Paste: Puts selection on the clipboard, at the location of the cursor on the page
Print: Prints to an attached or networked printer
Find: Finds text on the current page
Link: Makes selected text or image clickable. In the Link To: type in
            The URL: http://www.yahoo.com  Filename: resume.html (if applicable)
            Or clickable email address: mailto:abc1234@rit.edu
Target: Invisible section marker in a page to link to: resume.html#job experience
             where job experience is the target section of the document.
Image: Place a link to a .GIF or .JPG image file. Set dimensions and format
           Note: You must keep the image file in the same location
H. Line: Horizontal line used as sectional split. Click and drag to resize it.
Table: Create tables of designated rows and columns. Place text, images or links in
            the table cells. (Can be difficult to format complex tables)
Spelling: Built in spell checker, it can learn terms and knows many Internet terms.
 

 Style               Font                 Size     Color
Bold Text
  • Bulletted list Item 1
  • Bulletted list Item 2
Italic Text
  2. Numbered list Item 1
  3. Numbered list Item 2
Underlined Text Indent 
Outdent
No Style: to remove unwanted styles
left 
center
right
Created by Marion French, Rochester Institute of Technology, 4/2/1999
Edited for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation by Bill Lawrence, 7/3/1999
Original page can be found at: http://wally2.rit.edu/instruction/web/composer/composerref.html