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Changing the Look of Documents in Author Mode Using the Styles Menu

The Author mode renders the content of the XML documents visually, based on CSS stylesheets associated with the document.

Oxygen XML Author provides a Styles drop-down menu on the toolbar that allows you to select one main (non-alternate) CSS style and multiple alternate CSS styles. This makes it easy to change the look of the document as it appears in Author mode.

The list of CSS styles that are available in the Styles menu depend on the framework (document type).

Figure 1. Styles Drop-down Menu in a DITA Document

You can use the Styles drop-down menu to select a main css style that applies to the whole document and then select one or more alternate css styles that behave like layers and are merged sequentially with the main style. Each of the styles that are listed in this drop-down menu have a corresponding CSS file that defines how your documents are rendered in Author mode and in the output. Also, the selections from this drop-down menu are persistent, meaning that Oxygen XML Author remembers them when subsequent documents are opened.

Main CSS Styles

The main styles are listed in the top section and each of their corresponding CSS files contain all the styles associated with the XML elements for the particular type of document. You can only select one main style at a time.

Alternate CSS Styles

The alternate styles are listed in the bottom section and their corresponding CSS files contain additional styling for certain XML elements and are merged with the selected main styles. You can select as many alternate styles as you wish (they are applied sequentially as layers). If you are unsure about how each of the styles with change the look of your documents based solely upon their name, there is no harm in selecting them to see the difference. You can simply deselect them to revert to the previous look.
Note: If you deselect the Enable multiple selection of alternate CSSs option in the CSS subtab of the Document Type configuration dialog box, the alternate styles are treated like main CSS styles and you can only select one at a time.
Tip: For information about configuring the Styles drop-down menu, see Configuring and Managing Multiple CSS Styles for a Framework.