Usually, you will maximize the StudioLine program window to have the most workspace available. It does make
sense to run smaller program windows whenever you need to exchange information between multiple windows.
ln the folder pane, click the button "New Folder (see below).
Enter "Tutorial Recipes", and click "OK.
StudioLine creates a new Image Archive folder.
ln the folder pane, double-click on the newly created folder "Tutorial Recipes to open it.
lf the StudioLine Explorer "My Computer is not already open, click the "Explore My Computer button on the
toolbar (see below).
StudioLine Explorer
The StudioLine Explorer panel is a key function of StudioLine. Here is where you access and organize your files
and documents. It manages your image archive, StudioLine internal objects (sites, layouts, templates, pages,
etc.) and regular files located on your computer or the network.
On the left is the folder pane, showing sites, folders, hard disks or removable drives depending on the type of
StudioLine Explorer that was opened.
On the right is the content pane, showing images, layouts, templates, pages or whatever objects may be
appropriate in the current context.
It is possible to open several StudioLine Explorer panels simultaneously. This is helpful when moving objects
between folders. You may also open different types of StudioLine Explorers, e.g., one Explorer panel for the
Image Archive, another one showing pages. Check the title bar to see the type of a StudioLine Explorer.
Double-click the CDROM drive with the StudioLine CD to access the folder list. Then open the folders
"Tutorial, "lmages and "01 with a double-click.
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The StudioLine Explorer should now appear as shown below. lf the content pane looks differently, then click
repeatedly on the "Switch View button (see below) until your Explorer panel matches the sample below.
Select the first image ("Background.tif even a plain line is an image!), by clicking on the image once.
Click and hold the left mouse button on the image. While holding the mouse button, drag the image from the
StudioLine Explorer to the gray workspace of the lmage Base content pane. Note how the mouse pointer
changes (to include a "+ in a little square) as soon as it reaches the workspace.
Release the mouse button. lf this is the first time that images were loaded off the StudioLine CD, a prompt
"New CDROM will appear, as shown below. Click "OK to continue. You now have added your first image to
the lmage Archive.
Drag and Drop
The technique you just applied is referred to as "Drag and Drop. It simply means that you use mouse actions to
insert, move or copy images, text blocks or even settings. StudioLine relies heavily on this timesaving technique.
After a little practice, you'll quickly realize how intuitive and efficient this method is.
Select all remaining images. Click the next image ("Carciofi e Pisellini alla Romana 1.tif"), scroll the content
pane to the bottom, then hold the Shift key while clicking on the last image in the list ("Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e
Pepperoncino 3.jpg").
Drag the selected images to the lmage Archive workspace, while clicking and holding the left mouse button.
Image File Formats
The sample images are stored on the CDROM in a variety of file formats (TIFF, BMP, JPEG). When images are
added to the Image Archive, they are automatically converted to a format that is compatible with web browsers.
Close the StudioLine Explorer.
Break
To take a break, simply close StudioLine. Choose "Exit Program from the "File menu.
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1. The First Page (approx. 35 minutes)
Resume
To resume after a break:
- start StudioLine
- from the opening panel choose "work on sites and pages
- maximize the StudioLine program window
StudioLine is now in Page Editor mode.
ln case you never took a break and had closed StudioLine, then simply choose "Page Editor from the mode
selector (see below).
Mode Selector
The mode selector allows you to switch between four distinct StudioLine modes, each with a specific purpose.
You will become familiar with the various modes, as you proceed through this tutorial.
ln the panel "Work on Sites and Pages choose the option "Create new site.
Enter "ltalian Recipes as the name for the site and click "OK.
ln the panel "Choose Default Layout Template, check the location bar (see below) to verify that you are
currently viewing the folder "Layout Templates\Basic.
lf you are currently in a different folder, click the "Up One Level button (see below) until the location bar
indicates "Layout Templates and you can see the folder "Basic in the left folder pane. Click the folder "Basic.
ln the content pane, click the layout template "Blank and click "OK".
You just created a new StudioLine site. The first page is automatically called "Home, which is appropriate in
many cases. That name can be changed at any time but it actually is just fine for our purpose.
On the menu bar, open the Help menu and click "Help (F1)".
Online Help
The StudioLine help window opens. It explains all program functions, techniques and panels in StudioLine. You
may also press the F1 key to access help. For speedy access to information about a specific panel, click on its
title bar to make it the current panel (the title bar should be blue), then press the F1 key. The appropriate chapter
for the current panel will open in the help window.
Take some time to familiarize yourself with the StudioLine help. Then close the help window.
To become familiar with the StudioLine user interface, you will now learn how to place images and text on a page.
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From the toolbar, choose "Explore lmage Archive (see below).
Click on the "Tutorial Recipes".
Select the image Gamberetti alla Salvia 3".
Drag the image (while holding the left mouse button depressed) from the StudioLine Explorer onto the while
work space of your home page.
Release the mouse button. You just placed your first image on the page.
To avoid having to open and close the StudioLine Explorer panel, just click the "Minimize Window button on
the panel (see below).
Any panel with this button can be minimized to save space on the StudioLine workspace.
The image you just placed still has the selector frame making it the current object. To deselect the image,
simply click the white workspace background.
To re-select the image, click on it. Drag the image (while holding the left mouse button depressed) anyplace on
the workspace and release the mouse button.
That's how images are positioned freely anywhere on a page.
Repeat the above step except this time hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard while dragging the image.
This time, the image movement is restricted to horizontal or vertical movements.
Select the image, then click the cursor keys on your keyboard. (The cursor keys are usually a block of four or
eight keys with arrows pointing in different directions, typically located between the letter keys and the numeric
keypad.)
Each time you press a cursor key, the image moves one pixel in the appropriate direction. (A pixel is one "dot on
your screen.)
Now, hold down the Shift key while pressing the cursor keys.
The image now moves ten pixels at a time.
On the toolbar, locate and click on the button "Undo Move Picture (see below).
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Undo
The image jumps back to its previous position.
The Undo button allows you to take back any steps when you don't like the outcome of a function. You may
reverse more than just one step. StudioLine remembers a list of your actions, starting with the most recent and
going further back from there. Each time you press the Undo button, a more preceding action in the action list will
be reversed. The yellow pop-up help will always display what type of action would be reversed next.
Redo
If you pressed the Undo button and change your mind, then you can reinstate the action that had been reversed.
Simply use the Redo button to the left of right of the Undo button.
Choose "New Text Object from the "Text Processing menu.
The mouse pointer turns into an "I-Beam text insertion marker.
Click on the white workspace.
Text Processing
The text editor panel opens. You may just start typing or paste text from the clipboard.
To copy text on the clipboard, select a text passage in any application, then hold the Ctrl key while pressing the
"c key. To paste text from the clipboard, click the mouse pointer at the desired insertion point, then hold the Ctrl
key while pressing the "v key. This technique is referred to as "Copy and Paste.
For now, we'll go back to the basics and simply compose some text of our own.
Type "Welcome to Our Kitchen!"
Select the text you just typed, using either the mouse or by holding the Ctrl key and pressing "a. Then click on
the Fonts button (see below).
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The panel "Font Properties will open (see below). Select the font "Verdana, the size of 10, and the style
"Bold.
The "Verdana" font is provided by Microsoft with Windows. If this font should not be available on your PC, then
you may use the font "Arial whenever this tutorial calls for the use of "Verdana. Of course, your page would have
a slightly different appearance than samples shown in this tutorial.
Close the panel "Font Properties and deselect the text editor by clicking elsewhere on the workspace.
Click on the text object once and drag it elsewhere on the page.
By clicking once on the text object, the text is selected and can be dragged as if it was an image. Use the two
sizing handles on the left and right border of the text object to change the width.
Double-click on the text object.
Double-clicking on a text object will open the text editor, enabling you to make changes.
Select the image you previously place on your page, by clicking on it.
Choose "lmage Toolbox from the "Edit menu. Click on the icon for "Scalable Backdrop (see below).
Image Toolbox
This panel offers functions to reduce, enlarge, crop, rotate and otherwise manipulate images. Images can be
optimized, by correcting color, saturation or contrast. Even special effects are available, such as drop shadows,
buttonizing and many other creative options.
Use the settings shown below:
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Click the button for "Color.
Choose Color
This panel will open whenever colors can be selected. It is used by some of the image tools, the text editor and
for backgrounds.
Use the vertical color slider to choose a primary color tone, then drag the cross-hair icon inside the large square
to control brightness and saturation. The chosen color is shown in the vertical rectangle on the left side of the
panel the upper half shows the current (old) color, the lower half shows the selected (new) color.
You may also define exact color values by using the input fields for red, green and blue, which are the three basic
colors of the RGB color palette. Any color on your monitor is created by mixing these three basic colors.
To match the appearance of our sample, you will be using exact color values.
Define the exact color values as show in the above "Choose Color sample.
Close the "Choose Color and the "Scalable Backdrop panels.
With the help of the "Scalable Backdrop tool, you created a dark-red border around the image.
Minimize the panel "lmage Toolbox.
Position the text and image so that it approximates the sample page shown below. Use the techniques you've
learned before: Select an object and use the mouse to drag it to the desired position.
Click "Save on the toolbar (see below).
You just created a page, albeit simple. Before we move on to more elaborate pages and how to link them to
create a web site, let's preview our first page in a browser.
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From the "Publish menu, choose "Render.
StudioLine will render your page in standard HTML format, which is compatible with web browsers.
Once rendering is complete, StudioLine will display a prompt. Click the button "browse a preview (the other
button will simply close the prompt.)
The rendered HTML page will open in your default web browser. This way you can verify the appearance of your
work, even before it is published to the Internet.
Close the web browser.
Break
To take a break, simply close StudioLine. Choose "Exit Program from the "File menu.
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2. Creating a Home Page (approx. 50 minutes)
Resume
To resume after a break:
- start StudioLine
- from the opening panel choose "work on sites and pages
- from the panel "Work on Sites and Pages, choose "Open page Home (lf this choice is not available,
you may have been working on a different site in the meantime. Choose "Switch to a different site,
select the site "ltalian Recipes and open the page "Home.)
- maximize the StudioLine program window
- from the "Edit menu choose "lmage Toolbox, then minimize the lmage Toolbox
- click "Explore lmage Archive on the toolbar, then minimize the StudioLine Explorer panel
At this point we could simply fill up the page by arbitrarily placing additional images and text. However, this would
not meet our objective of creating a professional looking site. Instead, we should take a moment and design a
layout for our page just like it is done for flyers or newsletters.
The paper size and format is the key factor for designing printed publications. For web publishing, the size of the
browser window plays an equally important role. Nowadays, most computers are set to a screen size of 800 by
600 pixels and more, so it makes sense to layout our pages for that size.
Pixels
Here some information for those who are curious about "pixels and other units of measure within StudioLine.
"Points are the standard measure for font sizes. Linear measures (such as inches or centimeters) are unsuitable
for screen displays, because the physical size of a screen object is a factor of the screen size and resolution. For
that reason, screen objects are simply measured in pixels the little dots on the screen that together form a
picture.
From the "Page menu, choose "Margins.
ln the "Margins panel, define the settings shown below.
Margins
A blue vertical dotted line marks the rightmost margin of our page. It defines the content area visible in a
maximized browser window on a screen with the resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. By looking at the horizontal ruler
you will note, that the margin is actually at a position less than 800. StudioLine reserves some space for the
scrollbar, which Windows will display if a page length exceeds the height of the browser window.
Locate the vertical ruler on the right edge of the StudioLine workspace. Click on the vertical ruler, hold the
mouse button and drag it a good bit onto the workspace. Then release the mouse button.
Guides
A guide line appears at the location where you released the mouse button. Guides are helpful tools during the
layout phase and will only be visible on the StudioLine workspace. They won't appear on the rendered web page.
Use the mouse to drag the image near the guide line you just created.
Notice, how the image snaps to the guide line, once an edge or the center of the image is in the vicinity of the
guide. This makes it easy to align objects along a guide line. To deactivate this behavior, choose "Guides from
the "Page menu and turn off the "Magnetic option.
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Drag another guide lines from the ruler and drop it on the workspace.
If you position your mouse pointer over a guide line, the mouse pointer changes and you will be able to drag the
guide line to a new location. Near the mouse pointer, information is provided about the current position if the
guide line and the distance to its neighbors, if any.
To delete a guide line, simply drag it back to the ruler. To delete all guide lines, choose "Guides from the "Page
menu and press the "Clear button.
Layouting
Take a look at the sample page shown at the beginning of this tutorial. You notice, how the page uses a three-
column layout of equal width. Since our available page width is 780 pixels (the position of the right margin), we
simply divide that number by three to determine a column width of 260 pixels.
Drag one of the guide lines to position 260. (Remember that positioning information is displayed next to the
mouse pointer, once it is located over the guide line.)
Drag the other guide line to position 520; the distance information should indicate 260 pixels to the left.
If our text and images would occupy the entire column width, then they would butt against objects in the
neighboring column. Therefore, we need to add some spacing.
Drag additional vertical guide lines 10 pixels to the right and left of the existing two guide lines.
Drag another vertical guide line to position 10.
Drag yet another vertical guide line from the ruler. Then click the right mouse button while the mouse pointer is
resting over the newly created guide.
Context Menus
Clicking the right mouse button over the background, guide lines and other objects opens a special context menu.
Context menus provide quick access to functions that presently apply to the current object. This saves time over
having to locate the same function somewhere on the menu bar.
From the context menu, choose "Position.
Enter "770 and click "OK.
Once you are ready to design your own pages, you are free to place guide lines anywhere you choose.
For our sample page, we will also need a few horizontal guide lines. To match the look of our sample page,
simply use the values we are providing you.
Drag five guide lines from the horizontal ruler and place them at the following positions: 17, 108, 285, 462 and
639.
Open the context menu for one of the guides, choose "Settings. Turn off the option "Guides on Top (the
green light in the center of the button should be dimmed).
You may also use the "Color button to choose a different color for the guide lines. Whatever color you choose
should contrast well against the predominant colors on your page. The default color cyan works equally well on
dark and light pages and is seldom used for page content.
On the panel "Guides, click the button "Save.
Enter "Recipe Home, click "OK and close the "Guides panel.
You have now saved the current arrangement of guide lines. This comes in handy, if you need to switch back and
forth between different arrangements.
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Drag the image to the exact location shown below.
Click on the sizing handle at the bottom right corner of the image. Drag the sizing handle while you pressing
the mouse button the image is resized.
Sizing Handles
The sizing handles at the four corners of an object maintain the current proportions. Height and width are resized
at the same time. The proportional (corner) sizing handles can only be used against one image at a time.
The sizing handles in the center of the four sides affect only the object height or width, respectively. This distorts
the image proportions.
After experimenting with the height or width handles, use the Undo as often as necessary to restore the image
proportions.
Scale the image, so that it fits perfectly between the vertical guide lines of our center column (see below). The
"magnetic feature of the guide lines is in effect during scaling operations as well.
Restore the StudioLine Explorer panel "lmage Archive (see below).
From the folder "Tutorial Recipes, select the images "Carciofi e Pisellini... 3, "Dolce di Ricotta3 and
"Spaghetti Aglio... 3. (lf you can't read the full name of the picture files, then simply widen the StudioLine
Explorer panel by dragging its sizing handle as shown below.)
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To select more than one image at the same time, click on the first image, then press and hold down the "Ctrl key
while clicking on the additional images.
The "Ctrl key allows you to select additional objects that are not consecutively listed.
Drag the images (by pressing and holding the mouse button) to the workspace. Minimize the StudioLine
Explorer panel.
Select the very first image that we had placed on the page (Gamberetti alla Salvia 3). Click the right mouse
button to open the context menu.
From the context menu, choose "Active lmage Tools, which will display the active tools list as shown below.
Active Image Tools
This panel lists the image tools, which have been applied against the selected image. Click on any of the tools in
the list to view or change its settings. To remove the effect entirely, drag the tool from the list (by holding down the
mouse key) to the trash can (to the right of the toolbar). To restore a deleted tool, simply use the Undo button on
the toolbar.
Select the other three images, either by dragging a selection frame around them, or, by clicking on each of
these images while holding the CTRL key for the last two images.
ln the Active lmage Tools list locate the "Copy button, which is the button in the top left corner of the panel
(see below). Click the "Copy button, then close the panel. Click the mouse anywhere on the background to
deselect the three images.
Copy Button
The image tools and their settings for the first image are copied to the other three images. The "Copy button can
be found on many StudioLine panels. It allows you to apply the same tools and consistent settings to several
objects at the same time.
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One image at a time, select the three newly placed images and drag them to their final position as shown
below.
Choose "Font from the "Preferences menu.
Turn off the option "lgnore font and size. the green light inside the button should be dimmer. Click "OK.
Text Processing (continued)
The prior chapter introduced us to the text editor and how to create new text by typing. In this chapter, we'll learn
to use "Drag and Drop.
Open a Windows word processor, such as WordPad or Microsoft Word. From the StudioLine CDROM open
the file "Recipes.rtf", located in the folder "Tutorial\EN\04 Build a Website". (Normally, WordPad can be found
in the Windows Start menu, under "Programs, "Accessories. lf Microsoft Word is installed, it usually can be
found in the Start menu under "Programs.)
lf the program window of your word processor is occupying the entire screen then click on its "Restore button.
The "Restore button is the center of the three buttons located in the top right corner of the program window.
You should now be able to see your word processor's window floating on top of the StudioLine workspace. lf
necessary, resize and move the word processor's window.
ln the document "Recipes.rtf", highlight the first line below "Home Page. We will make "My ltalian Recipes the
Headline.
Click the selected line, click and hold the mouse button and drag it to the StudioLine workspace. Release the
mouse button.
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StudioLine adds the selected text to a new text object, using the same font and formatting as used in the word
processing document.
Repeat the steps with all five text passages of the section "Home Page (see below). Once you're finished, you
should have created five text objects inside StudioLine. (We are omitting the line "Welcome to Our Kitchen.
We had already created this text passage manually, when we practiced using the StudioLine text editor.)
Keep the Word Processor window open. We will be needing other text passages later.
Click anywhere in the StudioLine program window, to raise it to the foreground.
Choose "Text Width from the "Text Processing menu.
One at a time, click on each text object and enter the appropriate width from the following list:
My ltalian Recipes = 750
Welcome to Our Kitchen = 750
Do you like to cook? = 230
all remaining text objects = 240
Close the "Text Width panel.
Select the text objects "My ltalian Recipes and "Do you like to cook?. Open the "lmage Toolbox and click on
the "Scalable Backdrop tool. Use the settings shown below. As a color, set 246 for red, 208 for green and 131
for blue.
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Close the "Scalable Backdrop tool and minimize the "lmage Toolbox.
Drag the various text objects to align with the appropriate guide lines, as shown below.
Next we'll position the text "Welcome to Our Kitchen half way between the text objects above and below.
Select the three text objects and click the button "Align objects on the toolbar (see below).
On the drop-down icon list, click the icon "Balance objects vertically (see below).
The alignment functions allow you to quickly align objects without requiring guide lines or other layout aids.