WebPlus Essentials User Guide - Serif

50 Developing Sites and Pages
Using layout aids
Layout guides are visual guide lines that help you position layout elements,
either "by eye" or with snapping turned on. When the snapping feature is turned
on, objects you create, move, or resize will jump to align with nearby, visible
layout guides. WebPlus provides a variety of layout guides to assist you: page
margins, row/column guides and ruler guides.
• Page margin settings are fundamental to your layout, and usually are
among the first choices you'll make after starting a site from scratch.
Narrow margins around the perimeter are a good starting point for
clean page design. The page margins are shown as a blue box which is
actually four guide lines—for top, bottom, left, and right—indicating
the underlying page margin settings. If you like, you can set the
margins to match your current printer settings.
• Row and column guides act as an underlying layout aid, separating
your page into multiple rows or columns shown with dashed blue
guide lines.
• Ruler guides are free-floating "sticky" red guide lines that are great
for aligning objects vertically or horizontally.
To define layout guides:
• Click Layout Guides on the Default context toolbar.
The Margins tab lets you set guide lines for page margins, rows, and columns.
You can set the left, right, top, and bottom margins individually. The dialog also
provides options for balanced margins (left matching right, top matching
bottom).
Use the Row and Column Guides section to define guides for rows and
columns with an optional in-between gutter (gap). If you want rows or columns
of uneven width, first place them at fixed intervals, then later drag on the guides
to reposition them as required.
The Guides tab lets you fine-position ruler guides by specifying absolute pixel
positioning (guides can also be dragged onto the page from WebPlus rulers; see
Creating ruler guides on p. 51).