New Style Dialog Box, Box

The Box category of the New Style and Modify Style dialog boxes enables you to define cascading style sheet (CSS) style rules for a box containing a Web page element. You can apply these style rules directly to HTML elements or add them either to the current page or to an external style sheet.

To define a CSS box style rule for UI elements on the current page

  1. Open the page in either Design view or Source view.

  2. Optionally, select the text or HTML elements to apply the style to.

  3. In the Format menu, click New Style.

    The New Style dialog box is displayed.

  4. In the Category pane, select Box.

    The box style selections are displayed in the right pane.

When you apply styles to selected text in Design view, style attributes are inserted inline into the HTML markup for the page. Switch to Source view to review the new style attributes.

To add box attributes to a CSS style rule defined in an external style sheet

  1. Open an existing external style sheet.

  2. Put the cursor inside the braces of the style rule to be modified.

  3. In the Styles menu, click Build Style.

    The Modify Style dialog box is displayed.

    Note

    The Styles menu appears when you open an external CSS style sheet for editing. On the Styles menu, the Build Style option becomes available when you put the cursor inside the braces that follow the selector for a style rule.

  4. In the left pane, click Box.

    The box style selections appear in the right pane.

You can apply a CSS style class to an element in the Web page or to the body element itself by setting the element's class property to the name of the class selector.

The following tables list options that are available under the Box category in the New Style and Modify Style dialog boxes.

Box Options

  • padding
    The padding for an element. The padding defines the amount of white space inside the element's border, if one exists. You can set the padding for each side (top, right, bottom, or left) independently. If you specify a value for any side, you can select units in the list. To make the padding the same for all sides, specify a value in top and then select the Same for all check box.

  • margin
    The margins around an element. A margin defines the amount of white space outside the element's border, if one exists. You can set the margin for each side (top, right, bottom, or left) independently. If you specify a value for any margin, you can select units in the list. To make the margins the same for all sides, specify a value in top and then select the Same for all check box.

  • CSS box model reference
    Displays the meaning of CSS box terminology, such as margin, border, padding, and top.

Other UI Elements

  • Selector
    (New Style dialog box only) Enables you to type a class name or click an HTML element to apply the style to. Class names must begin with a period (.). You can also select (inline style), which causes the style to be applied inline to the selected text or HTML elements.

  • Define in
    (New Style dialog box only) Enables you to specify where to write the definition of the style rule. Values are as follows:

    • Current page   The style rule is written to a style element in the current page.

    • New style sheet   A new CSS style sheet is added to the project and the rule is written in it.

    • Existing style sheet   The style rule is added to the CSS style sheet that you specify by using the URL list.

  • URL
    (New Style dialog box only) Enables you to select an existing CSS style sheet. This option is enabled only when Define in is set to Existing style sheet.

  • Apply new style to document selection
    (New Style dialog box only) Specifies that the style is applied to the selected text, class, or HTML element.

  • Preview
    Displays an example of how the style rule will appear when it is applied.

  • Description
    Shows the CSS definition of the style rule.

See Also

Concepts

Working with CSS Overview