Dreamweaver MX: The Missing Manual

Style Properties

Cascading Style Sheets are a powerful and complex technology, providing many more formatting options than HTML alone, whose formatting options are few enough to fit, for the most part, onto the Property inspector. In fact, Dreamweaver lets you set 71 different CSS properties using the Style Definition window. The following pages cover each of the eight Style Definition categories and the properties available from each. (If you’d prefer an online reference, don’t miss the built-in CSS reference available from the Window→ Reference command; it’s described more completely on page 288.)

Tip

As noted earlier, not all Web browsers can display the many different formatting options available through Cascading Style Sheets. Dreamweaver, in its zeal to give you access to as many options as possible, actually lets you set properties that don’t work in any browser at all (such as the Page Break property described on page 262.) It can be frustrating to find a really cool style sheet property, only to realize that it doesn’t work in most Web browsers.

There is hope, however. //Webreview.com’s invaluable Master Compatibility Chart saves you from groping around in the dark. This frequently updated Web page lists which CSS properties work on which browsers, broken down by Mac, Windows, and browser version. You’ll find this indispensable guide at http://www.webreview.com/style/css1/charts/mastergrid.shtml.

Type Properties

As the name implies, the Type category of the Style Definition ...