Automatic layout checking (Web Publishing mode only)

The Layout Checker searches your website for common layout problems relating to site navigation and text formatting, and reports detected problems accordingly. A wide variety of commonly encountered problems can be located but typical problems include:

  • non-Websafe fonts.

  • text formatting, e.g. stretching, cropping, rotating, applied gradient or bitmap fills or transparencies.

  • invalid Anchors or Hyperlinks.

  • pages without a navigation link.

  • hyperlinks that are hidden or overlapped by other objects.

  • overflowing text frames.

If problems are found, the Layout Checker reports each problem in a problem list along with options to fix.

PagePlus can attempt to either manually fix selected problems or fix all listed problems automatically. Primary and Secondary fixes may be offered—these represent PagePlus’s recommended first- and second-choice solutions to layout problems. For example, detected text which has been assigned non-Websafe fonts may be rasterized (primary choice as it maintains the overall look and feel) or its font replaced with a Websafe version.

  • Several other format attributes can cause problems during web page conversions, but are beyond the scope of the Layout Checker. These include: Dropped or raised caps, tab indents, text that goes off the page, and large graphic objects.

If you’re not concerned with certain problem types or you would like to postpone resolution to a later date you can use Problem filtering.

To run the Layout Checker:

  1. Choose Layout Checker… from the Tools menu. The Layout Checker Wizard is launched.

  2. (Optional) Select whether to view problems for All Pages or a specific page from the Page drop-down list.

  3. In the Type drop-down menu, choose to view All Site Problems or selectively choose to view problems relating to Site Navigation or Text Formatting.

  4. (Optional) To exclude/include specific problem types, click the Filter button and from the dialog, uncheck/check problem types accordingly. The button changes to report the number of filter types now disabled.

  5. Click the Start button to begin the search for problems, which will be listed automatically in the list window.

By default, resources are listed according to the Page column order, but the contents of any column can be reordered by clicking its column header.

  • Click on an individual problem entry in the list to view any suggested Primary or Secondary fix (shown in lower text box).

To fix multiple problems automatically:

  1. Check the Page check box at the top left of the problem list to select all problems.

  2. Click the Fix All cell at the bottom right of the list. The row will show multiple problems selected (e.g. 6/6 Selected).   

  3. From the Apply Multiple Fix dialog, click a button to apply either a Primary fix (most recommended) or Secondary fix. Problems that can be resolved automatically will be fixed and removed from the problem list once the appropriate button is clicked.

  4. Click Close to exit Layout Checker.

To fix selected problems manually:

  1. Double-click the Fix cell at the end of a specific problem list entry.

  2. From the dialog, follow the displayed instructions as recommended, using the Display button to jump to the problem object (e.g. form) or page.

  3. If the Edit button isn’t grayed out, it can be clicked to launch the appropriate dialog needed to remedy the problem. If grayed, just follow the instructions for resolution.

  4. Click Close to exit.

  • If you want to temporarily (or permanently) ignore specific problems, click Ignore Problems Of This Type.

Filtering layout problems

Creating web sites is a complex business, so for the first time you create your website you may have a variety of problems which need to be resolved. The Layout Checker will report all problems with text formatting or page navigation so, if you would like some problems of a certain type to be left for resolution later, it’s possible to temporarily ignore them by filtering either before or after problems have been listed.   

To filter problem types from the list:

  1. In Layout Checker, double-click Fix at the end of a problem list entry that you want to ignore.

  2. Click the Ignore Errors Of This Type button (the dialog closes automatically). You’ll notice that the Filter button changes to indicate that some filtering has been applied—the text changes to, e.g. “Filter (1 Problem Disabled)”.

To change or restore the Problem Filter:

  1. In Layout Checker, click the Filter button.

  2. Click on the options that you want to change.
    – or -
    Click Restore Defaults to restore all options.

Automatic layout checking