CMS Tip Sheet — Formatting, spacing, and fonts
The CMS editor looks a lot like Microsoft Word, so it is easy to think of it as a word
processing program. But in reality, the system is taking the content we put in it and
converting it into a format that can be turned into a web page.
And that sometimes means we aren’t speaking the same language.
Here are a few tips and tricks to help us better understand one another.
Copying text from other sources
It is very important that you only copy plain text into the content management system.
If you copy text directly from Word or another word processing program or from a
website, it will bring HTML coding with it that will cause problems on your page.
Copying text using a PC
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Copy the text from the original source into Notepad. Copy the text from Notepad
into the CMS.
Or use the “Paste Plain Text” or “Paste from Word” functions in the tool bar in
the CMS. (Note: These functions do sometimes add extra spacing between
paragraphs. Try both methods and see what works best for you.)
Copying text using a Mac
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•
Copy the text from the original source into TextEdit. Copy the text from TextEdit
into the CMS. Make sure your TextEdit is set to plain text by looking under the
“Format” tab. One of the menu items should be “Make Rich Text”. If it says,
“Make Plain Text”, click on it to change to plain text before copying into the
CMS.
Use the “Paste Plain Text” or “Paste from Word” functions in the tool bar in the
CMS. (Note: These functions do sometimes add extra spacing between
paragraphs. Try both methods and see what works best for you.)’
1 Spacing
What you see is not what you get in the content editor, which can be frustrating when you
think you have single spaced copy and it turns out double or vice versa.
Things to keep in mind:
• Hitting “Enter” gives you a double space, even though it appears as a single space
in the editor.
• Shift+Enter will give you a single space.
• Checking in the content provides you with a view of the true spacing, if in doubt.
Tip
•
If the spacing is correct in TextEdit or Notepad, the editor usually will maintain
the same spacing when you copy the text in.
What to do when you have too much space between paragraphs
The easiest fix for this is to delete the empty space, then hit either Enter or Shift+Enter in
order to get the spacing you want.
To do this:
• Place your cursor after the last letter of the last word before the space you want to
get rid of.
• Holding down the Shift key, use the keyboard arrows to highlight all of the empty
space.
• Hit the Delete key.
• Now hit Enter or Shift+Enter to get the proper spacing.
Paragraph markers
The editor displays little round dots as paragraph markers. If you find they are making it
difficult for you to judge spacing at the beginning of a paragraph, you can make them
disappear by clicking on the little dot icon in the tool bar.
2 Fonts
If you notice that parts of your page have odd-sized or different fonts, this usually means
there is a problem in the HTML coding.
To avoid this in the first place:
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Make sure you do not copy text directly from Word or another web page.
First copy your text into a plain text editor (TextEdit – make sure it is set to Plain
Text – for a Mac or Notepad for a PC) or use the “Paste Plain Text” or “Paste
from Word” function in the CMS. Note: these functions sometimes seem to add
extra spaces between paragraphs. Test and see what works best for you.
If you are on a Mac, avoid Safari like the plague.
If you have done all of the above and you are still having issues, or you find problematic
text on an existing page, contact Aloma Jardine, communications officer
([email protected]; 939-6104) or Nadine LeBlanc, web communications officer
([email protected]; 364-2393) for help in fixing it.
Using subtitles and callout fonts
The subtitles and callout fonts help to make your page easier for users to read, but they
aren’t always straightforward to use.
From time to time:
•
When using one of the callout titles, the text changes colour, but does not show up
as callout title text. (In this case, the page will usually display properly, but in the
editor it does not look right.)
•
You highlight a few words and whole paragraphs – or the whole document – end
up in the callout or subtitle font.
3 What to do
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Take care when highlighting the text to which you want to apply the callout or
subtitle style. Errors are more likely to occur when you have highlighted (and then
apply the style to) more than you meant to.
•
If an error occurs, highlight the problematic text and choose “Clear style” from
the Apply Style drop down menu. Note: this sometimes will clear the style from
the whole page, not just the section you have highlighted, so…
•
If you are building a page that has multiple callout/subtitles, save often. If an
error happens, you can then exit the page without saving by using the back arrow
next to the “Publish” button without losing your work.
•
If all else fails, leave the page without saving by using the back arrow next to the
“Publish” button. You will lose any unsaved work.
•
If you apply the callout title to your text and it changes the font but does not show
the proper callout font (as in the example above), DO NOT highlight it and apply
the style again. This will apply the style to your text twice, and make it twice as
big. Try one of the tips above to clear the style and start again. (Or, as long as it is
displaying properly when you preview your page, just leave it as is.)
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