You are here: Features > Topics > About Layout Modes

About Layout Modes

There are two views to choose from in the XML Editor when you edit topics and snippets—"Web Layout mode" and "Print Layout mode."

Web Layout mode This mode is useful for seeing how the topic will look online. It displays your content without showing any headers or footers from a page layout.
Print Layout mode This mode lets you see how the pages will look with a page layout applied to it. In other words, it lets you see how the page will look when you generate print-based output. This means that you will be able to view the actual page size and orientation, as well as the margins and any header or footer content.

Note: Although the Print Layout mode is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment, you also need to consider any condition tags when you are viewing pages in this mode. For example, let's say you have applied a condition tag to an entire paragraph on a page. When you are viewing the topic in the XML Editor, you will see this paragraph, but if you generate a target where you have elected to exclude that condition tag, the paragraph will not be displayed in the output, and the other paragraphs will shift to compensate for its absence. Therefore, what you see in the Print Layout mode is what you get, except possibly for certain conditions that may be present on a page.

Note: Different operating systems render text differently in the XML Editor. For example, if you are using Microsoft Vista, the text may look a bit smaller than it does in Microsoft XP. Therefore, if you and another author are looking at the same topic from the same project, but you have different operating systems, the topic may look differently for you than it does for the other person.

Note: If you set a table to a specific height, that height may not be represented accurately if you are viewing the topic in Print Layout mode.

You can toggle between the two views in the XML Editor by clicking the Layout Mode button: or .

If you double-click on a topic page in Print Layout mode (outside the flow of the main body text), the associated page layout will open in the Page Layout Editor.

As you add more and more content to the topic, pages are added below. A navigation toolbar at the bottom of the editor lets you see how many pages are in the topic and quickly navigate to any of them as necessary.

For more information see XML Editor and About Page Layouts.