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Format, CSS, Text Editor, Options Dialog Box

  • Article

This dialog box makes it possible for you to change the default formatting settings for the CSS Editor.

To access this dialog box

  1. In Microsoft Visual Web Developer, click Tools, and then click Options.

    The Options dialog box opens.

  2. In the left panel, expand the Text Editor node, expand the Format node, and click General.

    If you have configured your environment settings for Web development, this element is not available unless you select the Show all settings check box. For more information about environment settings, see How to: Change Select Settings.

Note

Additional cascading style sheet (CSS) options can be found under the HTML Designer node, which is visible if the Show all settings check box is selected.

For more information about style sheets, see Cascading Style Sheet Editing (Visual Studio).

Tasks

UI Elements

The following UI elements are available in this dialog box. A Preview box is provided to show you an example of the results of your selections.

Style

  • Compact rules
    Formats text according to the compact rules. The selector and declaration are positioned on the same line, as shown.

    Style Sheet Compact Format

  • Semi-expanded
    Formats text according to the semi-expanded rules. The selector and initial brace ({) are positioned on the same line, declarations are indented on subsequent lines, and the closing brace (}) is aligned with the matching opening brace, as shown.

    CascadingStyleSheetSemiExpanded screenshot

  • Expanded
    Formats text according to the expanded rules. The selector and initial brace each appear on their own lines, declarations are indented on subsequent lines, and the closing brace is aligned with the matching opening brace, as shown.

    Style Sheet Expanded Format

Capitalization

The following options cause the HTML view, CSS, and XML editors to apply a default case format to the names of CSS attributes and properties during automatic formatting.

  • As entered
    Properties remain exactly as entered in HTML view.

  • Lowercase
    Properties are formatted as lowercase as they are entered in HTML view.

  • Uppercase
    Properties are formatted as uppercase as they are entered in HTML view.

Note

Choosing the Lowercase or Uppercase option causes all properties in your HTML markup to be reformatted to the case specified. Setting a default case for attribute and property names can have a significant impact on how your HTML markup interacts with XML, which is case-sensitive.

See Also

Reference

Tabs, CSS, Text Editor, Options Dialog Box

General, CSS, Text Editor, Options Dialog Box

Format, HTML, Text Editor, Options Dialog Box

CSS Editor