getting styles to show in styles dropdown (dw mx)

[futureknight]

I use dreamweaver mx...my writers are going to be applying styles by highlighting and choosing a style from the style dropdown in the properties window... The only styles that show up there, however, are classes I've created, ie my p.note style shows as note in this style dropdown...how can I get the standard paragraph style to show in this dropdown?

I know I can create p.p style so it would show, in a sense, but that is creating double styles...and I don't want to do that for all my headings styles and everything else...there must be an easier way...

thanks

[caine]

Hi futureknight,

i'm not sure that you can do it without creating another style for paragraph's, and pulling it when you need it.

If i am way of the mark, please repost, as i am struggling to get my head around what you have said and what exactly you are asking!

[pageoneresults]

How can I get the standard paragraph style to show in this dropdown?

I believe the word Normal would appear in the dropdown menu with a ¶ in front of it. So it might appear like this...

¶ Address
¶ Bulleted List
¶ Defined Term
¶ Definition
¶ Directory List
¶ Formatted
¶ Heading 1
¶ Heading 2
¶ Heading 3
¶ Heading 4
¶ Heading 5
¶ Heading 6
¶ Menu List
¶ Normal
¶ Numbered List

That is what my CSS dropdown menu looks like in FP. The ¶ tells you that it is a block level style. I think DW also has ¶ Normal in its dropdown.

[futureknight]

thanks for the replies, guys. I think I'm just going to have double up in my css and create classes for normal things. The writers I am create this css for aren't comfortable with going behind the scenes to use <p> tags and the like..

I've checked the styles dropdown and nothing like normal or paragraph appears. The only listings that appear are the classes I've created (I've created some different types of ordered lists such as ol.ol_2 and in this styles dropdown I can see a listing for ol_2).

I guess what I'm asking is how can I get all the default, basic styles such as ol, ul, p, etc..to show in the styles dropdown?

thanks for your assistance

[pageoneresults]

Just fired up DW2 (that is the last version I have on my system). I figured I'd go to the help files and see why default styles do not show in the sytle menu. Here is what the help file says...

Use the Style palette to apply custom styles to the current selection. The Style palette displays custom (class) styles only; HTML tag and CSS selector styles do not appear in the Style palette because they are automatically applied to any text controlled by the specified tag or selector.

Did some fishing around and you can modify the default styles through the style menu. When you select New from the options, you have three choices...

• Make Custom Sytle
  
• Redefine HTML Tag (default styles)
  
• Use CSS Selector

The Redefine HTML Tag is where you can modify your default styles.

Mind you, this is DW2 so I'm not sure if the options are the same in DWMX.

More information here at Macromedia...

Macromedia Dreamweaver
Using Cascading Style Sheets in Dreamweaver 3 and 4: Creating a tag style [macromedia.com]

[pageoneresults]

You know, this one really bugs me! ;)

Where are all of our DW experts when you need them? If this were a FrontPage topic, they would surely be participating to tell you that DW does it better. ;)

Have you tried just specifying your

p

styles in the external style sheet?

p{margin:15px 0;}

Does the p then appear in the styles menu?

[futureknight]

It is an interesting quandry, no doubt.

I do have my paragraph style specified in the css, but it doesn't show up in the styles dropdown. I think what you wrote is right on the money (regarding default styles not showing up). I'll play around and see what mx says about it. I don't know if it will help to redefine the standard html tags though..isn't that what I'm doing just by defining it in the css?

Anyway, I get the feeling that I'm going to have to create classes that are merely copies of the default styles to get them to show up.

I appreciate the help.

[stever]

DWMX user pokes his head up for a bashing....

Why would you need the standard style in a dropdown?

If it's a <p> anyway then you don't need to do anything to apply the style, do you? Or am I missing something deeper that you are asking here?

If you are trying to apply the style to something other than a <p> then you should make a class, in which case it would show up in the dropdown.

Incidentally, you may find it easier to right-click on the bold tag under the window to apply classes - then you can also apply and remove IDs as well if necessary.

[benihana]

not sure if i this is what your getting at but, next to the styles dropdown is a format drop down with p, h1-h6 etc etc

[futureknight]

well don't I feel stupid now, lol. Yep, you're right. there is a standard formatting dropdown right next to it.Doesn't show lists there, but I can show them how to use the menus. I'm so used to coding it myself. Thanks for your assistance everyone.