Select Define Styles to create new text styles or change, rename, or delete existing styles. Each text style can consist of a combination of formatting attributes such as size, font style, and color. Named styles can't contain paragraph attributes such as margins, indents, and tabs.
Text styles can contain interactivity attributes. If you apply a text style with interactivity attributes to text, you can then create a hyperlink between that text and any page in the piece. While you can apply formatting attributes directly to selected text without creating a text style, the interactivity attributes must be part of a text style.
To apply styles you've created, use the styles list on the toolbar or select Apply Styles from the Text menu to display the Styles palette.
The list of styles contains all text styles that you've created for the piece. To display the formatting and interactivity attributes assigned to a style, select it in the list.
At the end of the list appear unnamed style combinations of the formatting attributes you've applied by using the Font, Size, and Style commands. You can create named styles based on these unnamed styles. (This is particularly useful for files created with previous versions of Authorware.) Authorware automatically creates descriptive titles for these combinations, such as Helvetica Size 14 Bold. If the attributes include a color other than black or white, which are listed as such, the title includes Color. To see the specific color, click the Text Color box.
Unnamed styles do not appear in the Styles palette or the styles list in the toolbar until you name them. To name an untitled style, select it, enter a style name in the Text field, and click the Modify button.
In the Text field enter a name for new or selected text.
Use Modify to modify an existing style. First select a text style in the list and change its attributes or enter a new name. Then click Modify to confirm the change.
To create a new style, click Add and enter a name in the field. Select the formatting and interactivity attributes you want and click Add or OK.
Click Remove to delete a style you've selected. Deleting unused styles keeps the Styles palette and the toolbar styles list easy to use. The Remove button is dimmed if the text objects in the piece use the style you select.
Click References to display a dialog box that lists the icons that use the style you selected. This dialog box also shows the number of icons that use the style.
Show Icon Goes to the icon you selected in the list. Authorware highlights that icon on the flowline.
Click Done to save any changes and close the dialog box.
Use the Formatting attributes options to define each text style. The Font and Size options define the default font and size of text, which applies to all text objects until you change it.
If the check box for an attribute contains a check mark, the attribute is part of the style. If the check box is empty, the attribute isn't used. You can use different formatting attributes in combination (except for the Subscript and Superscript attributes).
The sample shows how text with the selected combination of attributes will appear.
Use the Interactivity attributes options to create text styles that turn text into hot text.
Hot text is text that works like a button: You set up a hyperlink between the hot text and a page that's attached to a framework icon, and when the user clicks the hot text, Authorware goes to the linked page.
Use the following options to set the interactivity attributes for a text style.
None The named style isn't interactive.
Single Click Sets the hot text so that the users can click it once to activate the link.
Double Click Sets the hot text so that the user can double-click it to activate the link.
Cursor Within Sets the hot text so that the user can move the cursor over or within the text to activate the link.
Turn on the Auto Highlight option to display an inverse image of the hot text when the user activates the link. This action appears as a flash to the user and provides visual feedback that something is happening.
Turn on Cursor and press and hold the mouse button down on the Cursor button to display the cursor types you can select. The selected cursor appears when the user positions the pointer over the hot text. For more information, see Cursors.
There are two ways to set up a hyperlink between hot text and a destination page:
To make the definition of the hyperlink part of the definition of the style, turn on the Navigate To option and click Navigate Icon. The Navigate Style Properties dialog box appears. Select the settings you want to specify the destination of the hyperlink. For more information about hyperlinks, see Creating a hot text style.
To copy text styles between files, paste text, an icon, or a model that contains the styles into the new file. The styles for the pasted item appear automatically in the Define Styles list, in the Styles palette, and in the styles list in the toolbar.
When you copy icons that contain text into a file, Authorware copies any text styles into the piece. If a copied style has the same name as one that is already in the piece, but the styles have different attributes, Authorware displays a dialog box in which you can determine whether to keep both styles.