Useful formatting suggestions

The transparent backstyle lets you see what is behind a control. The opaque backstyle covers what is behind a control or colors a control. For more information and examples, seeApplying transparent or opaque backstyles to controls.

Borders, including 3D effect and drop shadows, set off or define a control. Use a 3D effect to make a control appear three-dimensional, like a button. Use a drop shadow to "float" a control on top of the background. For more information and examples, see Applying a 3D effect and Applying drop shadows to controls.

Gradient colors allow you to blend two colors in a gradual color change in the background of a control. For more information and examples of gradient colors, see Applying gradient colors to controls.

Tooltips display pop-up text when a user positions the cursor over a control in MicroStrategy Web. Tooltips can provide extra information, such as the full company name in the tooltip of the company logo. For more information and examples of tooltips, see Creating pop-up tooltips in controls.

You can display text in a text field vertically (up and down the page) rather than horizontally. Vertical text is displayed in PDF view, in all MicroStrategy Web display modes, and when the document is exported to Excel. For more information and examples of vertical text, see Displaying text vertically.

You can hide a control, which allows you to display information to other document designers in Design View (MicroStrategy Developer) and Design Mode (MicroStrategy Web) but not to users viewing the document in other MicroStrategy Developer views and MicroStrategy Web modes. For instance, you could include a note in a hidden text field about the source of data. For more information and examples, see Hiding controls.

Add a title bar to display title text for a Grid/Graph, panel stack, or selector, or to allow users to minimize and maximize a Grid/Graph when the document is displayed in MicroStrategy Web. This is also referred to as portal grid mode. For instructions, see Adding title bars to Grid/Graphs, Displaying title bars in panel stacks, or Displaying title bars in selectors.

Copy and paste formatting to quickly and easily copy formatting between controls of the same type.