Skip to main content
Chaplain Dale
Chaplain Dale
Inspiring
February 23, 2023
Answered

Is there a way to create a keyboard shortcut to align text in Design view?

  • February 23, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 991 views

It seems that Dreamweaver deprecated the "Left" "Center" and "Right" keyboard shortcuts that were there in CS4-CS6.  Is there a way to create a keyboard shortcut in Design view to align text like there used to be before?

Currently, to align text, you have to go to the "Properties" panel, click "CSS" and then select one of the alignment icons.

I used to have my mouse set up with these shorcuts.  A mouse click is way, way easier!

I've tried the "snippet" route to no avail.  I need the shortcut to work in "Design" view, not code view. 

I have even tried to create a keyboard shortcut with the "keyboard shortcuts" dialog box.  If the shortcut doesn't exist in this dialog box, you can't create a new one from scratch.

Dreamweaver has made life more difficult for me by deprecating this simple feature.  Somebody on the Dreamweaver team must know how to give me this simple functionality back.  That is if there is one.  All of my apps (Photoshop, Animate, Illustator, etc.) have 2023 updates.  Dreamweaver does not. 

Thanks...       

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Nancy OShea

    No.  HTML web standards deprecated the ALIGN property. 

    You should be using CSS to style content.

     

    CSS PROPERTY:

    text-align: center | right | left | justify;

    https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_text_text-align.php

     

    Example:

    .center {text-align: center}

     

    <p class="center">This paragraph is centered.</p>

    <p>This paragraph is not centered.</p>

     

    Hope that helps.

     

    2 replies

    P
    Paul-M
    Legend
    February 24, 2023

    HI - Design View was abandoned by Adobe a long time ago, you need to set up CSS classes, then you can apply th class to an element, paragraph for example. from the Class menu in the properties panel.

     

     

    Paul-M - Community Expert
    Nancy OShea
    Community Expert
    Nancy OSheaCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    February 23, 2023

    No.  HTML web standards deprecated the ALIGN property. 

    You should be using CSS to style content.

     

    CSS PROPERTY:

    text-align: center | right | left | justify;

    https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_text_text-align.php

     

    Example:

    .center {text-align: center}

     

    <p class="center">This paragraph is centered.</p>

    <p>This paragraph is not centered.</p>

     

    Hope that helps.

     

    Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
      Chaplain Dale
      Chaplain DaleAuthor
      Inspiring
      February 24, 2023

      Thanks for your help Nancy!  I had no idea of the HTML police deprecating that function.  I've been using CSS to align elements on my pages as you've suggested.  It's just a pain to have to split my screen, type in in the code and then refresh.  I created a "class" to align the text in CSS Designer, for the Design view but it's just not working for me. The icons for aligning text in the Properties panel work sometimes to align text, but not all  of the time.  When they don't work, I end up splitting the screen and coding again.  Maybe someday I'll figure out how to make it just one mouse click.  Thanks again!  

      Nancy OShea
      Community Expert
      Nancy OSheaCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 24, 2023

      Alternatively, switch to Code panel, type class= inside your tag. Dreamweaver's code hints and auto-code completion features will assist you.  Working with code is faster than panels, a bit like keyboard shortcuts but without the memorization.

       

       

       

       

       

       

      Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices