Text Editing and Formatting

Owned by David Schmidt
Last updated: Dec 17, 2018
4 min read



Table of Contents





Text Editing and Formatting

Some of the editor fields are plain text fields and some are WYSIWYG fields.

  • Plain Text - All special formatting is removed and many special characters such as ampersands (&) cannot be displayed.

  • WYSIWYG - Acronym for "What You See Is What You Get." A WYSIWYG field displays content exactly how a user will see it on the live site.

You can enter text directly into the editor fields or you may copy and paste the text from another application such as Microsoft Word.

WYSIWYG Editor



The WYSIWYG editor fields allow formatting of text, including options like bold, italics, application of heading levels, and application of alternating row styles for tables.

Note, some formatting elements may appear in the editor as expected, but will not display on the web page as expected. Certain elements are overridden by the global template style set for the website, in order to maintain a consistent look and feel throughout the USD website. 

WYSIWYG Editor Reference – http://www.hannonhill.com/kb/WYSIWYG/

Some elements listed in the WYSIWYG editor reference may not appear in the toolbar you see when editing. The WYSIWYG editor reference includes elements from previous versions of Cascade Server.

The very bottom of the editor will display which formatting is currently selected. In the screenshot above, the cursor is located in text set to Heading 2, and is also a hyperlink. Hyperlink formatting is denoted by the letter "a."

Headings

Headings are used to structure content on a web page, like levels in an outline. Headings should be used for hierarchy and not for formatting style. To apply a heading style, select the text you need to apply the heading level to and use the Format menu and select the heading level. For accessibility reasons, always use headings in sequential order. For example, you should not skip from your main page title (which is already Heading 1) to a Heading 3.
 

Inline

Clicking the Formats button will display traditional formatting options appear under the Inline option. Bold, italicize, underline, strikethrough, superscript, subscript, or change the font to look like "code."





Lists

Bulleted or numbered lists can be created using the WYSIWYG editor. To start a list, click on the Insert/Remove Bulleted List or Insert/Remove Numbered List icon.
 



You can create nested lists with the Tab key within a list. To end a nested list use Shift + Tab until there is no longer a bullet or number before the cursor. To end a list that does not contain nesting, hit Enter twice to escape the list. 

Cascade Server automatically hyperlinks URLs (website addresses) when they are entered into the editor. To hyperlink specific text, select the text and click the Insert/Edit Link button.

The Insert/Edit Link dialog box will display. The first link highlighted in the screenshot is used when you want to insert a new link. The second icon is used when you want to remove a link that already exists in the content.
 

  • Internal (link to any page within any site in Cascade Server) or External (link to a page or site not in Cascade Server). Typically, links to another page within the USD website will be Internal links. Whenever possible, use the Internal Link function to help prevent broken links if a page within the Cascade Server is moved to another location. Internal links are critical for our web functionality. Workflows submitted with links that could be internal which aren't will be returned for editing.

  • For an Internal link, click Search to search for an asset or click the Browse button to move throughout the file system to select the page for the hyperlink.

  • For External links, enter the full URL (web address) of the page you want to use for the hyperlink. Be sure to include http:// or https:// before the website address or the link will be broken. For accuracy a preferred approach is to first visit the link in a separate browser window and then copy and paste it into the link field.

  • Use this method for creating email links, too. For an email link, type in mailto: (no spaces!) then add the email address. For example: mailto:usd@sandiego.edu.

  • You can set the hyperlink to open in a new window by choosing New Window from the Target menu. In most cases, you should leave the Target set to None to open the link in the same browser tab.

When browsing the Cascade Server system, the starting point is the current location.



If you needed to use or reference an asset on a different site, click the Browse button, then use the Site Selector to locate the desired site. Navigate to the asset you want to hyperlink to and click on it in the Slider Pane to select it. Click Choose to confirm your selection and return to the Insert/Edit Link dialog.

Leave the Title field blank and the selection on the Class menu and click Insert to create the hyperlink" to " Leave the Title field blank and the Class field as "None", and click the OK button to create the hyperlink.

For more specific directions on how to create a reference or link to another asset, see the How to Select a Placement Folder guide.