Web-published Visio drawings already include full support for
embedded hyperlinks along with rich navigation and search capabilities.
However, you don’t necessarily need all of those capabilities in every
Visio-generated website, so it is convenient to be able to change the
publishing options.
In addition, you might want to change the format in which Visio
creates your website. By default, Visio 2013 creates webpages using the
Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML), which is a different format from Visio 2007 and earlier versions. XAML requires that you install Microsoft
Silverlight on your computer to view Visio-created websites. If you
prefer a different webpage format that doesn’t require Silverlight, you
can select one of the five alternatives described later in this section.
In this exercise, you will use the Publish button in the Save As dialog box to customize Visio webpage output.
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On the File tab, click Export, and then click the Change File Type button.
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In the Other File Types section, click Web Page (*.htm), and then click the Save As button. The lower portion of the Save As dialog box includes two buttons for customizing webpage output.
Tip
Visio defaults to saving webpages in the folder that contains your Visio drawing file.
You can click the Change
Title button to modify the text that will be displayed in the title bar
of the web browser. The default page title is the file name of the Visio drawing.
The Publish button offers multiple options that you will explore in subsequent steps.
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In the Save As dialog box, click the Publish button. The Save as Web Page
dialog box opens.
The Save as Web Page dialog box provides various ways to customize your website:
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In the Pages to publish
section, you can select a subset of the diagram’s pages to include in the web-published output.
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In the Publishing options section, you can select which navigation pane options, and which reports, if any, should be included in your website.
Important
The only way to view reports in your web-published drawing is via the Go
To Page navigation panel. Consequently, if you include reports as part
of your website, you must leave the Go To Page check box selected.
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When Visio creates a website from your drawing, it automatically opens it in your browser. You can clear the Automatically Open Web Page In Browser
check box in the Additional Options section to prevent this from occurring.
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By default, Visio creates a folder to store the majority of website files. You can clear the Organize Supporting Files In A Folder
check box in the Additional Options section to have Visio store all website files in a single folder.
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In the Additional Options section, you can type a different title in the Page Title text box. (This is an alternate method to using the Change Title button mentioned in step 2.)
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In the Publishing Options section of the Save as Web Page dialog box, clear the Details (shape data) and Search Pages
check boxes.
Tip
Visio remembers the settings for these options; the same settings will appear the next time you save a drawing as a webpage.
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In the Publishing Options
section of the Save as Web Page dialog box, select the Report: Milestones by Start Date
check box. If your Visio drawing includes more than two reports, use the scroll bar in the Publishing Options section to view the full list of reports.
Tip
Visio does not remember
the settings for the reports you choose; none of the report check boxes
will be selected the next time you save a drawing as a webpage.
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Click OK. One or more progress indicators will appear before your browser displays your new website.
The result of the navigation pane choices you made in step 4 appear
on the left side of the browser window. Only the Go to Page and Pan and
Zoom panels are visible.
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In the Go to Page section, click the arrow next to Project Schedule. The Go to Page list includes entries for each page in the diagram and for each report you selected.
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To view the milestone report, click Milestones by Start Date
in the drop-down list, and then click the green button containing the white arrow.
Tip
To view other reports or to return to viewing the drawing pages, use
the Go to Page list. You can also click the browser’s back button to
return to the previous page.
Note
CLEAN UP Save your changes to the Timeline diagram drawing, and then close it.
You may have noticed in step 3 that the Save as Web Page dialog box includes a second tab labeled Advanced.
The Advanced tab provides additional customization options, such as the following:
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In the Output formats section, you can use the drop-down list to select one of the alternate webpage formats.
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VML is the webpage format created by versions of Visio
prior to Visio 2010. The features of VML websites are very similar to
websites created with XAML but only provide all features when viewed
with Internet Explorer.
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SVG is a specialized format
that is supported by some but not all browsers. Like the three image
formats described in the following bullet point, SVG websites display
fixed-size pages with no Pan and Zoom panel.
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GIF, JPG, and PNG
provide fewer capabilities than either VML or XAML. For example, the
viewing window for these formats is a fixed size and does not include
the Pan and Zoom panel in the left navigation pane. However, websites
produced in these formats retain all hyperlinks and are likely to be
compatible with a wider range of web browsers. (Note that you can have
the best of both worlds—full navigation functions in Windows Internet
Explorer and support for older browsers; refer to the following bullet
point.)
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If you select XAML, VML, or SVG as the output format, Visio defaults to selecting the Provide alternate format for older browsers
check box. You can use the drop-down list under this heading to select
GIF, JPG, or PNG output as a backup to your primary choice.
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In the Display Options section, you can use the Target Monitor, Host In Web Page
, and Style Sheet
settings to
further customize your webpages. The second and third settings, in
particular, are intended to help you integrate a Visio-created website with another existing website.
