MS Publisher

Let's begin with getting one thing straight. MS Publisher is not an html editor of any sort. Publisher will not allow you to add HTML code to your page (although there is a method for making 'links'). Publisher will not allow you to add counters or javascripting. Nor can you have animated graphics or java applets. It is basically a quick method for publishing to the web the sort of information that is usually published on paper.

So, if you plan on building a web site Publisher is definitely not the right tool to use. But if you just want to 'throw up a page' it may be good enough.

The way Publisher works is to automatically create a group of images (gifs) that constitute a 'page'. The images will behave much like tables... they may not necessarily display on someone else's computer the way you made them on your page in your computer. To keep a page looking like it did in your computer when it's displayed on the Internet, it may be necessary to surround everything with the box tool (looks like a frame).

The images below show part of Publisher's toolbox options that apply to every document you create. To add anything, first create a 'box' for it to go in - using the box tool (left image below). Then to add TEXT, choose the text tool (middle image below) and paste in any text you have copied .... to add an IMAGE, choose the image tool (right image below) and paste in the image you have copied.

Make a box

Add text

Add image

And how do you paste?? Place your cursor in the box you have just created, click on EDIT, then click on PASTE.

All of the images you add to your page will be converted to gif format, no matter what the original format. Try to chose images with lots of detail, as images with flat, even coloured, surfaces may come out looking like countour maps, or solarized images (that's a photographic term).

A major problem with Publisher is that you can not insert HTML in the older versions (95,97,98). To get around this, you can make text and image links using the Insert Hyperlink tool or the hotspot tool (shown later on this page)

Select INSERT from the main menu, and then choose HYPERLINK

Enter the address to which you want to link .... this will produce the standard underlined hyperlink text.

Unfortunately, you cannot 'paste' into that address box as the normal edit/copy/paste menu is not available. But you can paste to that URL window by using the Windows shortcuts for copy and paste - use the Ctrl+C keys together for copy and then the Ctrl+V keys together for paste.

hotspot If you do not want to use text as a clickable link, then you need to link an image on your page to somewhere. Publisher allows you to select a 'hot spot' on the page that will become a clickable link. The 'hot spot' tool is at the bottom of the standard menu (left side of page).

After choosing the 'hot spot' tool, simply box around the part of your page that you want to be 'clickable' .. (example opposite) and the hyperlink entry box will pop up as soon as you have finished 'boxing' your hot spot.

Again, as above, enter the address in the address box.

This page would not have been possible without the generous assistance of David Silvercloud from Vancouver, B.C. who prepared the original text and images which were edited to produce this page.

Visit David's site at www.the-drive.com