Content formatting

Different content formatting options are available:

• standard text editing – used when no formatting is expected or needed
• intermediate text editing – user needs to adopt a simple markup syntax
• full-blown WYSIWYG [1] editing

The process of deciding which content formatting model will be implemented is based on what kind of content is expected. For example, let’s say your news item consists of a title, intro text and content. Intro text should probably be left as plain text since several news items (title and corresponding intro text) are displayed one below another, and it would be inconsistent if different abstracts were formatted differently (large red text in one, small brown text in another, and so on). Standard text editing will probably be used here.

On the other hand, actual news content could contain tables, images, bulleted lists etc. Actually, it probably should and will contain these. In this case a full-blown WYSIWYG editor will be used (or an intermediate editor, in specific cases). The visual editor allows you to apply different styles to the text you’re editing, to insert and position any of the linked images, create and format tables, bulleted list etc. It looks and feels much like the ever-so-popular MS Word, so you’ll probably feel right at home. The option of editing the HTML source directly is available as well, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Take a look at the screenshot.

On site editing is a term we use for direct editing links which are shown to administrators on the live site. You don’t need to fire up the administration console and search for that article. It’s sufficient to find the article you want to edit on your web site and click the edit link. It streamlines the editing process.

¹ What You See Is What You Get – a visual editor, displaying content as it will appear on screen