Penn State University Libraries - Text Editors

There are three rich text editors in CQ: PSUL Text & Image, PSUL Text, and PSUL List. 

• PSUL Text & Image: allows you to create blocks of formatted text and/or an image. 
• PSUL Text: allows you to create blocks of formatted text only; can be used in narrow columns where there is not enough room for a corresponding image.
• PSUL List has limited rich text editor functionality, but allows you to create styled bulleted or numbered lists
  

The Text tab is a means for inputting textual content into CQ. The WYSIWYG editing dialog provides a wide range of functionality:

Basic Character Formats

Here you can apply formatting to characters you have selected (highlighted); some options also have short-cut keys:

• Bold (CTRL+B)
• Italic (CTRL+I)
• Underline (CTRL+U)
• Subscript
• Superscript

All operate as a toggle, so reselection will remove the format.

Predefined Styles and Formats

PSUL Text and PSUL Text & Image can include predefined styles and formats. These are available with the Style and Format drop down lists and can be applied to text that you have selected.

A style can be applied to a specific string of text (a style correlates to CSS).  A style can be removed; place the cursor within the text to which the style has been applied and click on the remove icon.

Caution: Do not actually reselect any of the text to which the style has been applied or the icon will be deactivated.

Whereas a format is applied to the entire text paragraph (a format is HTML-based).  A specific format can only be changed: Paragraph (default), Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, Heading 4, Heading 5, and Heading 6.

Cut, Copy, Paste

The standard functions of Cut and Copy are available. Several flavors of Paste are provided to cater for differing formats.

• Cut (CTRL+X)
• Copy (CTRL+C)
• Paste

This is the default paste mechanism (CTRL+V) for the component; when installed out-of-the-box this is configured to be "Paste from Word".

• Paste as Text: Strips all styles and formatting to paste only the plain text.
• Paste from Word: This pastes the content as HTML (with some necessary reformatting).

Undo, Redo

CQ keeps a record of your last 50 actions in the current component, held in chronological order. These actions can be undone (and then redone) in strict order, if required.

• Undo (CTRL+Z)
• Redo (CTRL+Y)

Caution: The history is only held for the current edit session; it is started anew each time you open the component for editing.

Alignment

Your text can be either left, center or right aligned.

Indentation & Lists

The indentation of a paragraph can be increased, or decreased. The selected paragraph will be indented, any new text entered will retain the current level of indentation.

Both bulleted and numbered lists can be created within your text. Either select the list type and start typing or highlight the text to be converted; in both cases a line-feed will start a new list item.  Nested lists can be achieved by indenting one, or more, list items. 

Tip: If you'd like to change the list style, use the PSUL List component instead.

Text Style

PSUL List can be used to apply formatting lists. It is available with the Text Style drop down list and can be applied to text that you have selected.  Only one Text Style can be used per PSUL List component.  (See the Style Examples for styles that are currently available.)

Links

A link to an URL (either within your website or an external location) is generated by highlighting the required text then clicking the Hyperlink icon

A dialog will allow you to specify the target URL; also whether it should be opened in a new window.  You can:

• type in a URL directly
• use the site map to select a page within your website
• enter the URL, then append the target anchor; e.g. www.wikipedia.org/page#AnchorName
• enter an anchor only (to reference "the current page"); e.g. #anchor
• add an email link by preceding a full email address with mailto:
  

Note: The URI can be prepended with any of the protocols configured for our installation. In a standard installation these are http://, ftp://, and mailto:. Protocols not configured for your installation will be rejected and marked as invalid.

To break the link position the cursor anywhere within the link text and click the Unlink icon.

Anchors

An anchor can be created anywhere within the text by either positioning the cursor, or selecting some text. Then click on the Anchor icon to open the dialog.

Enter the name of the anchor then click OK to save.  The anchor is shown when the component is being edited and can now be used within a target for links.

Find and Replace

CQ provides both a Find and a Replace (i.e., find and replace) function.

After the first instance of the specified string is found, a Find next button appears in both the Find and Replace features to search the open component for the next instance of the specified text. You have the option to specify whether or not to match the case (upper/lower) of the text you enter.  The search will always start from the current cursor position within the text. When the end of the component is reached a message will inform you that the next search operation will start from the top.

The Replace option allows you to Find, then Replace an individual instance with the specified text, or to Replace all instances in the current component.

Spelling Checker

Not available.

Tables

In the PSUL Text & Image component, table functionality is available via the context menu (usually the right-mouse-button) clicked within the table.

The table-specific functions are:

• Table Properties
• Cell Properties
• Add or Delete Rows
• Add or Delete Columns
• Selecting Entire Rows or Columns
• Merge Cells
• Split Cells
• Nested Tables
• Table Properties

The basic properties of the table can be configured, before clicking OK to save:

• Width: The total width of the table.
• Height: The total height of the table.
• Border: The size of the table border.
• Cell padding: This defines the white space between the cell content and its borders. (This value has been preset to 5 pixels.)
  
• Cell spacing: This defines the distance between the cells.

Note: Width, Height and certain cell properties can be defined in either:

• pixels; for example 400
• percentages; for example 100%

Caution: We strongly recommend that you define a Width for your table.

The properties of a specific cell, or series of cells, can be configured:

• Width
• Height
• Horizontal Align (Left, Center or Right)
• Vertical Align (Top, Middle, Bottom or Baseline)
• Cell type (Data or Header)
• Apply to (Single cell, Entire row, or Entire column)

Rows can be added either above or below the current row. Columns can be added either to the left or right of the current column. The current row or column can also be deleted.

When you select the entire current row or column, specific actions (e.g. Merge) are then available:

• If you have selected a group of cells you can merge these into one.
• If you have have only one cell selected then you can merge it with the cell to either the right or below.

Select a single cell to split it:

• Splitting a cell horizontally will generate a new cell to the right of the current cell, within the current column.
• Splitting a cell vertically will generate a new cell underneath the current cell, but within the current row.

Creating a nested table will create a new, self-contained table within the current cell.

Note: Certain additional behavior is browser dependent:

• Windows IE: use CTRL+primary-mouse-button-click (usually left) to select multiple cells.
• Firefox: drag the mouse to select a cell range.

Special Characters

Special characters can be made available to your rich text editor; these might vary according to your installation.  Use mouseover to see a magnified version of the character, then click for it to be included at the current location in your text.

Source Editing Mode

The source editing mode allows you to see and edit the underlying HTML of the component.

Caution: When leaving source mode CQ makes certain validation checks (for example, ensuring that the text is correctly contained/nested in blocks). This can result in changes to your edits.

The Image tab displays an image and accompanying text according to the specified parameters. Drag and drop an image from the Content Finder.

• Image: You can drag an image from the content finder. Do not load any images unless they are already in the DAM. After the image is loaded, you can create a clickable image map, crop the image, rotate it, or delete it. To zoom in and out of the image, use the slide bar beneath the image (above the OK and Cancel buttons)
• Map: To map an image, click Map. You select how you want to create the image map (rectangle, polygon, and so on) and specify where the area should point to.
• Crop: Click Crop to crop an image. Use your mouse to crop the image.
• Rotate: To rotate an image, click Rotate. Click Rotate repeatedly until the image is rotated the way you want it.
• Clear: Remove the current image.
• Advanced: These tools include the title, description, and the size.
• Title: The title of the image.
• Description: A description of the image.
• Size: Sets the height and the width of the image.

• Alt Text (required) alternative text for accessibility purposes.  Please refer to the PSU Accessibility page for best practices when creating alt text.  If no image is used, you will need to add a blank in the alt text field.
  
• Style: set alignment to Left (default), Right, Top or Center Tip: If you do not have an image, set alignment to Right so that you can view your PSUL Text & Image component without the empty placeholder image icon in the way.
  
• Description: add a description below the image
• Link to: makes the image a hyperlink
• Width X Height: set width or height to resize image
• Title: additional metadata for the image