The Interface of Composer

Once the Navigator is open, you have two common ways to open Composer. Do this now!! (Remember to come back to the lesson here).

• Choose Communicator from the menu bar and choose Composer

• Click the Composer icon on the Communicator Component bar (at the bottom-right corner).

You will see a new blank window like the following. This is the Composer interface. Move your cursor over each button or formatting tool to learn its features. Here the tools that are available to you are shown, without going into detail. If you don't understand, don't panic. You will learn how to use these tools by the time you complete the tutorial.
 
 

If you are new to Composer, please pay special attention to the distinction between Navigator and Composer and learn how to switch back and forth.

Viewing vs. Editing
Netscape Communicator (v. 4.x) is actually a collection of programs.  You may have used only Netscape Navigator to surf the net.  Navigator is a VIEWER - we use it to look at web pages, but we cannot change them by typing in them or adding pictures.  The icon for the browser (Netscape Navigator) is a ship's wheel: .

A second component of Communicator is Netscape Composer. This program allows you to  create your own web pages. Here is an analogy: You use Word to edit your papers. Similarly, you use Composer to create and edit Web pages. The icon for Netscape Composer is a pad and pen:  .

Moving Back and Forth
When you create a web page, you will need BOTH Netscape Navigator and Netscape Composer.  You will create your masterpiece in Composer and then view the results in Navigator.

If both the Navigator and Composer are open, you will see their icons on the Windows status bar as shown below. You can move from one to the other simply by clicking on their icons.  Click on the pen icon and Composer will be activated and allow you to edit your page. Click on the wheel icon will switch you back to the browser mode.

Handy Operations

Note:
Except for the Reload button, the following instructions happen in Composer, not in the screen you are looking at now as you read this sentence. You may need to switch to the Composer window to play around and then switch back to the lesson.

Save and Reload

It is a good practice to save (press the Save button) your file frequently. You can then view the results in Navigator by pressing the Preview button .  Each time you add to or change your web page in Composer, switch to Navigator to view it. You will need to click on the Reload button (in Navigator) to view the changes. Unfortunately, even if you hit the Reload button, Navigator does not always display the change you have made to the images (text is OK). So, don't worry if you made some changes to the images and they just don't appear they way you want. If you really want to view the change you made, you may have to close Netscape completely and reopen Netscape.

Nothing is carved in stone.  If you try something and not happy with the results, you can "undo" what you just did by choosing Edit > Undo from the menu bar.  However, you must invoke this command immediately after the goof.  "Undo" will only undo the last operation.

• Choose Help --> Help Contents or simply hit F1 on your keyboard.
• On the left side of the Help window, click on Creating Web Pages.
• Scroll down and click on the topic you are interested in.

• Click on the round button beside Index on the top left corner.
• Type in the key word(s).
• The related topics will show up beneath the key words.
• Click on the topic you are interested in.

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