Walk Through and Jump to Points in Video

Getting familiar with the Text Editor

• To begin adding text, double-click the Primary Content field or click Show Editor.
• A new dialog box will open. This is where your Primary Content goes.  
• This will be referred to as the Text Editor.

• This is where you will create and edit your page content.
• You will see there are many similar icons to your typical text program like Microsoft Word.
• You can type directly into this field and adjust your text with these familiar icons.

Pasting Content

• At the top there are different options for pasting content.

• You do not want to directly copy and paste into this window.
• Use these clipboards to paste whatever content you have created in an external document program.

• Copy the content and then just click the icon to paste.
• You do not need to press "Ctrl-V" or paste. Just use the clipboards.
• The first clipboard icon will paste whatever you have copied into the primary content field.
• This also means it will paste all links and formatting.
• This is helpful if you are copying and pasting from another similarly formatted website.
• However, maintaining formatting isn’t always a good thing, especially if you are copying content from Microsoft Word.
• The second clipboard is for pasting from Word.
• Word has its own formatting issues and you want to use this clipboard to avoid any weird word formatting in your page build.
• You will still have the links and any bold or italics or whatever you created in your Word document; it will just get rid of extraneous incompatible formatting.
• The third clipboard will paste whatever content you have copied from Word or any other text program with no formatting.

Format Stripping

• If you still seem to have formatting issues after pasting your text you will want to click the paint brush icon next to the clipboards at the top of the page. 
• This is the Format Stripper.

• When you click this, a menu will drop down, showing various ways you can selectively strip formatting from the content.
• At the top of this menu you have All HTML Formatting.
• Select this and all coding in the document will be removed, which will leave you with a huge block of text.
• You can then go in and reformat the text using the text editing icons. 
• The next option on the format stripping list is remove Microsoft Word Formatting.
• As we mentioned before Word can sneak in some strange formatting so clicking here can remove any of the weirdness you may see.
• Our next format stripping option is to remove Cascading Style Sheets.
• It takes care of any HTML code issues that may be hiding in your build.
• If you are still having issues try removing Font Tags.
• This will take away any HTML tags that are creating different fonts on your page.
• Uniformity is always a good thing.
• And if you still see something wonky with your text try removing Span Tags. 
• If you notice sometimes your font size will change without you doing anything, that is just Sitecore trying to tell you what to do.
• Don’t let it boss you around, remove those span tags.

Fun with Formatting and Headers

• Now that you have removed any formatting issues you can freely edit your text within the text editor.
• To the far right we have another menu we can use to format text.
• Find the word Normal
• Clicking on this word will bring a menu down, and you’ll see a variety of heading styles and text formatting options.

• Feel free to play around with these while you familiarize yourself with Sitecore but don’t over do it on your final build. It can look cluttered with too many formats. 
• To adjust something in your text highlight the text you want to format and then scroll down in this menu to change the formatting.
• If you choose to make something a Heading 2 make sure it really relates to the Heading 1 or page Title.
• Making a bunch of subheadings for your page can make it look sloppy and will also adversely affect your searchability if they are not actually related to your Heading 1.
• For instance on a page with the page title Puppy Faces, proper Heading 2s would be Round Puppy Faces, Fluffy Puppy Faces and Pointy Puppy Faces.
• Much like in a page titled Business School, Heading 2s might be Programs, Faculty and History.
• See the relation? Excellent.
• Whatever you do, don’t try to make a Heading 3 without having made a Heading 2 and don’t try to make a Heading 4 without having made a Heading 3 and so on and so forth.
• These headings nest into the larger subheadings and it will cause formatting issues which can make your page unpublishable.

It's All the Same!

• You will note that the same editing features are available for each of the content sections.
• We strongly suggest familiarizing yourself with all of your editing and formatting options before you finalize your content.
• Fool around with it a bit, see what you feel comfortable with, and have some fun.

FAQ

Why can't I change the color and size of my text?

Continuity is key and we are trying very hard to make all the pages within McCombs look similar, for branding purposes.

But I really want to change the color of the text, can I just use the headings options to do this?

No! Please don't. Headings are actually more for SEO purposes than aesthetics. You must make sure your headings relate to each other and that there are no subheadings without headings above that. If you start using Heading 5s because you like the font, you better have Headings 4s in there somewhere and they should all relate to each other.

Can't I just cut and paste from the old site into the new one?

Sure, if you want a formatting nightmare on your hands and want to run the risk of not being published. Please use the formatting tools. The more you familiarize yourself with them, the easier things will be for you.

This other site I saw has a cool header and some tabs and stuff I want on my page. How do I do that?

Look into the Add-ons section. There are lot's of fun things there.

Best Practices

• Write what you know and use an engaging voice.
• Update your pages regularly with fresh content to keep users coming back for more.
• Be an expert but use language that non experts can understand.
• Always use the clipboard tools to paste text.
• Don't overuse your Headings and make sure they are concise, focused and content related.
• Use strong active verbs.
• Avoid run on sentences.
• Check your grammar and spelling.
• More than anything, SEO depends on people wanting to engage with the content of your page. Create text that is smart and entertaining.