Editing Horizontal Rules

After you insert a rule ("horizontal line") in a topic, you can edit its settings (e.g., size, color, position) by modifying the hr style in the Stylesheet Editor.

If you want to have different rules for your topics, you can open add new style classes for each different horizontal line. For example, if you want a short rule, you can create a new style class based on the hr style and name it "short." The full name for you new style would be hr.short. You can then adjust the style property settings for hr.short to meet your needs.

How to Use a Style to Edit a Horizontal Rule

  1. From the Content Explorer, open the stylesheet that you want to modify.
  2. Complete one of the following sets of steps, depending on whether you want to use the Simplified view or Advanced view in the Stylesheet Editor.

    • Simplified The Simplified view displays styles in a grid view and is often best for brand new users.

      This view provides an easy way to apply properties to styles, with format options available from a toolbar and dialogs (similar to the way one would use an interface such as Microsoft Word). In some cases, only the most common property options are available in the Simplified view (e.g., font, letter/word spacing, paragraph alignment/indentation, autonumbering format, borders, background). One advantage of the Simplified view is that you can apply a property to multiple styles at the same time. You can also click a check box to hide the properties in the editor, allowing you to see only the styles.

    • Advanced The Advanced view displays styles in a tree structure, and despite the name, is user friendly for authors of all levels.

      For the properties, you can toggle between a grouped display and an alphabetical display. The Advanced view of the Stylesheet Editor lets you edit more settings than are available in the Simplified view. In addition, the Advanced view lets you see and apply settings to multiple mediums and media queries at the same time.

  3. If Using Simplified View

    1. In the local toolbar, make sure the first button displays The button to change the stylesheet to the simplified view. (which means that the Simplified view is currently shown in the editor). If the button displays The button to change the stylesheet to the advanced view. instead, then click it.
    2. In the upper-left of the editor, make sure the drop-down field is set to Use the drop-down filter for "all styles" to view in the stylesheet..
    3. From the grid in the bottom portion of the Stylesheet Editor, find and select the hr style (or a class if you have created one).
    4. In the local toolbar of the editor, click Display properties for the selected item.. The Properties dialog opens.
    5. Use the tabs and fields in the Properties dialog to change values for any of the style's properties.

      For more information see Styles and Stylesheets, as well as Editing Styles in a Regular Stylesheet.

    6. In the Properties dialog, click OK.

    If Using Advanced View

    1. In the local toolbar, make sure the first button displays The button to change the stylesheet to the advanced view.. If the button displays The button to change the stylesheet to the simplified view. instead, then click it.
    2. In the upper-left of the editor, make sure the drop-down field is set to Use the drop-down filter for "all styles" to view in the stylesheet..
    3. On the left side of the Stylesheet Editor, find and select the hr style (or a class if you have created one).
    4. From the Show drop-down list on the upper-right side of the editor, select Show drop-down set to display all properties in styles..
    5. (Optional) You can use the toggle button in the local toolbar to show properties below in a group view Stylesheet local toolbar button to show properties in a group view. or an alphabetical view Stylesheet local toolbar button to show properties in an alphabetical view..
    6. Locate the property you want to change.
    7. The area to the right of the property is used for selecting and entering values. If you know how to enter the information correctly, you can click in the value field and type it directly. Otherwise, click the ellipsis button Display more options. to the right of the property. Depending on the type of property, the appropriate controls and options display, allowing you to choose or enter values (e.g., select from a drop-down list, click a button, complete fields in a dialog or popup). If you completed values in a popup, click OK at the bottom of the box.

  4. Click Save the active file. to save your work.

Note Although the hr tag is supported in all browsers, it may render differently from browser to browser. For a more consistent look across all browsers, it is a good idea to set both the color and the background-color properties of the hr tag.

What’s Next?

After editing a style, you can apply it to content in a topic or snippet. See Applying Styles to Content.