Unwanted margin-top and margin-bottom styles

[John Geddes]

Editing a template-based page in Contribute CS3, there is no List Properties
option (Help file says "Note: This option is not available for template-based
pages or in tables.")

So how do I specify a class for a [BULLET] entry?

If I create the text first with a chosen class, then convert to "Bulleted
List", I end up with:

<ul style="margin-top: 0;">
[LI]<span class="reversed" style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;">

- which is not what I want (I want to set a non-zero bottom margin, for
example).



I am using an external CSS file, and there is no UL or LI entry in the list of
HTML styles that can be chosen in Contribute. Should there be?

Is there some way of setting default styles for these tags in the dwt template?

John Geddes

[ThinkInk]

Check the Users and Roles section under Administer websites (menu: Edit, Administer Websites). Find the Styles settings and adjust them to your liking.

[John Geddes]

Even where the user is allowed to apply styles, Contribute adds the code:

style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;"

INSIDE the <p> or [LI] tag, AFTER the user's style choice - thus making sure
that it is Contribute's zero values that apply, whatever the user's preference.

[I think I have seen just the Margin-Top value applied at the beginning of an
edited section, and just the Margin-Bottom value applied at the end of a
section, but I haven't had the time to work out exactly when this happens]

The only workaround I have found is to redesign all styles to use Margin-Top:0
and Margin-Bottom:0 anyway. Otherwise a user edit to a paragraph that has been
authored with a plain <p> or [LI] tag results in vertical spacing being mucked
up.

I've so far managed to cope with this, but I am sure others can think of
stylistic effects that can only be achieved by adjusting the Margin-Top and
Margin-Bottom values, so a proper solution to this apparent "nasty" would still
be welcome.

But even if there is no solution, why on earth is the documentation so quiet
about this?

[ThinkInk]

You really have to play around with the Styles settings for your users in
Contribute, cause the answers to your problems are there. The best way to get
to know these setting is to play around with them in your own role and then
apply the settings you want to the user-roles.

Specific wishes according to styles you can implement in a seperate css-file
that you make available to you users (also done in the Users and Roles
settings), instead of letting them apply styles f.i.

Also keep in mind the difference when you use 'dreamweaver style editing' or
'ms-word style editing'. The code you don't want to be added looks a lot like
the code that Contribute adds to fake the MS-word editing experience (I refer
to: style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0)

[richsky]

From what I know, in Contribute their is a lot of element you can't apply style
on.

Typical are <div> and [BULLET], mainly because you can't create them or select
them. Only the CSS can give style to these elements and have to be defined by
the website admin/deisgner.

A trick is to have a class style defined in the CSS and a template element
that users can apply the style.

For exemple putting a div in a table cell in you editable region in your
template will allow users to apply the class style to the selection (the table)
and the cascade will apply the style to the div.

CSS.

[senortim]

Thanks John and Rick for that answer. I fixed this problem in my site by just
setting "margin: 0" for those styles. (And of course there is also
* { margin: 0; }
to set it for all styles.

ThinkInk: I see where you're headed -- that CS3's settings will control the
injection of these styles -- but I don't see where. I have looked through all
my settings and toggled every option that looked like it might have bearing on
Word-like editing with no luck. Do you have a specific solution?

Thanks,
Tim

[ThinkInk]

What I ment is:

1. in the main menu go to Edit>Administer Websites>Users and Roles
2. Pick your role, click Edit Role Settings
3. go to Editing
4. go to paragraph spacing

Now when you simply toggle between the two options there (text-editor like or
dreamweaver like) the result is like this when you put in some paragraphs by
hitting the Enter-btn:

Text-editor like:
<p>New text</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0;">New text</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0;">more</p>
<p style="margin-top: 0;">more</p>

Dreamweaver style:
<p>New text</p>
<p>New text</p>
<p>more</p>
<p>more</p>