Basic Configuration

So you've installed HTML Kit and you're familiar with the program interface. Now let's do some basic configurations of which the idea will be to make more space, less clutter and to alter the appearance of certain components to give special focus to the Editing Window. I also want to make several obvious changes including setting HTML Kit to work in HTML instead of XHTML and engaging word wrap. (I don't know why so many HTML editors come with word wrap turned off by default. To me this is insane. Maybe they ship better with word wrap turned off or something, I don't know... *chuckle*...)

For your convenience, here is...

A List of All My Basic Configurations

Overall Appearance

• Modify the appearance of the Main Menu, Workspace and Message Window
• Close the Workspace, Message Window, Tabs bar and Toolbars
• Move and dock Task Bar at the top (Moving other stuff)
• Turn Off Tooltips

Shortcuts and Startup

• Windows Integration (Creating Shortcuts to HTML Kit in Windows).
• Put "Edit with HTML Kit" on IE 5+ Drop-down File menu
• Make HTML Kit open with no file loaded
• Make 'Create a New File' Button open a blank document
• Limit Recent Files list to 10 files

Editing Window

• Maximize the Editing Window and configure the Task Bar
• Engage word wrap, remove the gutter and the right margin line.
• Configure HTML Kit to use HTML format instead of XHTML
• Modify the Editing Window font
• Tags Reminder and Auto-Complete
• Allow Undo after save
• Reload files modified by other programs
• Setting Tabs to 4 spaces and turning off Auto Indent

There are a couple of ways you can do any or all of this:

1. You can run through the whole tutorial and follow all my instructions without question which will, in effect, acclimatize you to configuring HTML Kit in very short order. All the configurations are reversible and with this guide you'll have a record of what you did so don't worry about it.
2. You can pick and choose which effects you wish to apply by browsing through them all and/or clicking on the appropriate link above to jump to that section of the tutorial.

Either way, if you're not sure what to do then check out the added details which will pop up whenever you click on these buttons:



The pop-up details box will explain the whys and the wherefores of what I did.

Preferences dialog

You'll soon come to realize that most of the basic configurations in HTML Kit are made using the 'Preferences' dialog. Let's open it now and take a quick gander. You can access it by either clicking on Edit » Preferences ('Preferences' is way down at the bottom) or you can click on the sixth icon from the left in the Toolbars section.




So... Got the Preferences dialog up and running?


...... ... ..

...Uhhh... heh heh... I'll just give you a moment or two to recover...


Okay, ready to go?

Let's do this thing...

Oh wait a minute. One more thing. If you make any extra configurations that I don't describe here, I highly recommend that you TAKE NOTES. There are literally hundreds of configuration options on the Preferences dialog alone and it is very easy to forget where some of them are. That being said, don't feel bad if you have to hit the PANIC BUTTON and start over. (I have and it's a good feeling...)

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PANIC BUTTON: Be advised that if you inadvertently create a setting that you don't like and then forget how you did it —thus rendering it difficult or even impossible to reverse the process— you always have what I call the PANIC BUTTON at your disposal. First of all, shut down HTML Kit. Now, assuming that you used the default start menu settings during installation, start from your Windows task bar and click on:

Start » Programs » HTML-Kit » Reset Settings

This will essentially revert everything back to Step 9 of the installation process. (HTML Kit will still be installed but you'll have to answer the Confirm screen questions again.) After getting HTML Kit up and running again, you can just go back to my list of basic configurations and start anew.

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Okay now let's do this thing...