The Formatting Toolbar

Formatting text for the web is as easy as using the built-in buttons to select the desired effect just like your typical word processor. However, the full toolbar is initially hidden from view.

In this video, we expand the formatting toolbar and look at what the various buttons do and how to use them. Among formatting options we also look at adding links to other pages within your site, links to other sites and proper net-etiquette and keeping the synopsis short using the continue reading button.

Crib Sheet

  1. Hovering over any of the buttons will give you a tool tip as to what the button does.
  2. Most of the buttons work like toggles.
  3. Block Quotes are intended to be used when you’re quoting someone else.
  4. When creating a link to an external web site — in other words, not to a page that exists on your own site — it’s considered proper etiquette to open the page in a separate browser tab or window for two reasons:
    1. Easier for your visitor to remain on your site
    2. Privacy settings do not propagate to other sites, so you want to be sure that your visitor is not mislead into believing that your setting apply to someone else’s site.
  5. Use headings in a coherent, rational order and do not use them to pick a style for your text. If you need a specific heading to have a particular look, this is a change request to your administrator.
  6. Heading numbers (as in heading 1, heading 2, etc.) are searched by browsers in ascending order of importance for search results.
  7. The pre tag is primarily used for mono-spaced, courier text for computer blogs representing coding.
  8. The address tag is to be used only to identify the owner information of the post.
  9. Pasting text in is covered in the next video.

Leave a Reply