User Section

Overview

The User Section contains stylesheet rules called User Styles that can be used to customize HTML elements created by Second Site. By entering a CSS selector value, the user can indicate which elements should be styled. Some User Styles have a set of properties to control a set of commonly-used CSS parameters. Others are simpler, and only include a simple "other" textbox which can contain any CSS parameters.

User Styles with Parameters

User Styles 1 to 5 include more than a dozen properties for controlling common CSS parameters. Use one of these User Styles when you are defining a few parameters to style text that you supply.

Example

For example, let's assume you have some text in one or more event memos and you want to style that text with a border and italic text. You are willing to add HTML to these memos because you only include the event in Second Site output.

Here's how to enter the text in the event memo:

<p class="u1">The event memo text.</p>

Here's how to set the properties in User Style 1:

Property	Value and Comment
selector	`.u1` Selector terms that start with a period apply to any HTML element that is assigned the class specified. In this case, the rules in this section will be applied to any HTML element with `class="u1"`.
border-width	`1` Setting a border-width that is greater than zero will add a border to the element.
font-style	`Italic` Sets the text to italic.

Property

Value and Comment

selector

.u1

Selector terms that start with a period apply to any HTML element that is assigned the class specified. In this case, the rules in this section will be applied to any HTML element with class="u1".

border-width

1

Setting a border-width that is greater than zero will add a border to the element.

font-style

Italic

Sets the text to italic.

After you rebuild your site, the event memo text will be in italics and in a paragraph with a border.

User Styles without Parameters

User Styles 6 to 20 include a selector and an "other" box. You can enter whatever CSS parameters you requires. Use one of these User Styles when you are overriding CSS created by Second Site or when you want to supply CSS that you cannot specify via Second Site's style property controls.

Example

Let's assume you would like to change the appearance of any H2 tags that appear in the content of the User Pages Page Set. Custom pages, for example, are in the User Pages Page Set.

Let's make the H2 tags use white text on a blue background.

Here's how to set the properties in User Style 1:

Property	Value and Comment
selector	`#userpages #content h2` Selectors that start with a pound-sign (#) apply to any HTML element that is assigned the ID specified. When multiple terms are specified in sequence, the terms restrict the rule by selecting nested elements in the same sequence. In this case, reading right to left (reverse order), the rules in this section will be applied to h2 elements inside an element with ID "content", and that has to be inside an element with ID "userpages". The "userpages" ID only applies to pages from that Page Set, and id="content" is only used for the main content of a page. As a result, the rule only applies to H2 elements in the main content portion of User Pages.
other	`background-color: #0000ff; font-style: italic;` When you use the "other" box to enter CSS statements, you must follow CSS syntax rules. (With flexibility comes responsibility.) That's a little harder than using Second Site's property controls, but you can enter whatever CSS you need. Use the Edit Window to edit the "other" textbox so you can enter multiple lines of text.

Property

Value and Comment

selector

#userpages #content h2

Selectors that start with a pound-sign (#) apply to any HTML element that is assigned the ID specified. When multiple terms are specified in sequence, the terms restrict the rule by selecting nested elements in the same sequence. In this case, reading right to left (reverse order), the rules in this section will be applied to h2 elements inside an element with ID "content", and that has to be inside an element with ID "userpages". The "userpages" ID only applies to pages from that Page Set, and id="content" is only used for the main content of a page. As a result, the rule only applies to H2 elements in the main content portion of User Pages.

other

background-color: #0000ff; font-style: italic;

When you use the "other" box to enter CSS statements, you must follow CSS syntax rules. (With flexibility comes responsibility.) That's a little harder than using Second Site's property controls, but you can enter whatever CSS you need.

Use the Edit Window to edit the "other" textbox so you can enter multiple lines of text.

If you are not comfortable with CSS, but you would like to make a style change that you can not do using the Second Site style property controls, ask for Help on the SecondSite-L mailing list.