Whether you're writing a blog post or a text block on a page, you're always using the same editor. Just start typing, as in a word processor. The site itself decides how headings, spacing and colours look.
The toolbar
The toolbar sits above your text. From left to right, it has:
- Undo and Redo
- Element and Text style
- Width, Alignment and Tilt
- Bold, Italic, Underline, Superscript and Link
- Line break, Bulleted list, Numbered list, Quote and Stanza
- Clear formatting
Hover over any button to see its name and keyboard shortcut. Inside a list, Indent and Outdent appear too, and lists go up to three levels deep.
Element and text style
These two dropdowns look alike but do different jobs. Element says what a block of text is: a Paragraph, or Heading 1 to Heading 6. Text style only changes how it looks, such as Poster, Lead, Small or Overline. Default leaves the look to the element. So a Heading 2 can look larger or smaller while your page's outline stays tidy.
The "/" menu
Everything you can insert lives behind the slash. Type "/" at the start of a line or after a space, and the Insert menu opens. Keep typing to narrow the list: "image" takes you straight to Image. Use the arrow keys to choose and Enter to confirm.
You'll find Button, Icon, Image, Document, Video or audio and Callout, plus small helpers such as Middle dot, Non-breaking space and Horizontal rule.
Typing instead of clicking
You can also type your formatting. At the start of a line, these work when followed by a space:
- One hash makes a Heading 1, "## " a Heading 2, and so on up to six hashes.
- "- " starts a bulleted list.
- "1. " starts a numbered list.
- "> " starts a quote.
- "---" and a space makes a horizontal rule.
Words turn bold between two asterisks on each side, and italic between single underscores.
Didn't mean to? Press Backspace straight away: the line goes back to plain text with your characters still there. Numbers other than 1 stay as text anyway, so a line like "2. Corinthians" or "3. October" doesn't become a list. Only the next number of a list further up continues it.
Keyboard shortcuts
On a Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl, and Option instead of Alt for headings. The tooltips always show the right version for your computer.
- Bold, Italic, Underline: Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, Ctrl+U
- Link: Ctrl+K
- Numbered list and Bulleted list: Ctrl+Shift+7 and Ctrl+Shift+8
- Line break: Shift+Enter
- Heading 1 to Heading 6: Ctrl+Alt+1 to 6, and Paragraph with Ctrl+Alt+0
- Clear formatting: Ctrl and the backslash
Links and buttons
Web and email addresses turn into links by themselves as you type. To make your own link:
- Select the text and press Ctrl+K, or click Link.
- Under Target, choose Page (with a Section if you like), Document, Address, Email or Phone.
- Click Apply.
Quicker still: paste a copied address over selected text, and it becomes the link. Click any link to change it or Remove it.
A button works the same way, but it comes from the "/" menu. It also has Icon before, Icon after, a Variant (Primary, Secondary, Ghost, Glass) and a Size. Add a second button on the same line and the two sit side by side.
Images, sized and shaped
Upload new pictures first, under Images in the Media group. Then choose Image in the "/" menu, pick your picture and click Apply. It starts at the size Large.
Clicking the image opens Edit image. There you can set the Width (Full width, Small, Medium, Large), the Alignment and the Shape: Original, 16:9, 3:2, 4:3, 1:1 or 3:4. The crop follows the focal point you set on the image itself. Leave Caption empty if the one from the media library suits.
Callouts and quotes
Write your text, type "/" at the end of it, choose Callout, then pick its kind: Info, News, Success or Warning. Click the box's icon later to change the kind, or choose Remove box to take the box away.
For a Quote, put the cursor in the line or select several lines and click Quote in the toolbar. Each line keeps its own style, so a Bible verse can stand out with its reference beneath it in the Caption style.
To get out of a box or quote, press Enter twice at the end.
Stanzas
For songs and poems, use Stanza in the toolbar. Long lines wrap neatly, and the Enter key works differently:
- Enter once starts a new line in the same stanza.
- Enter on an empty line starts the next stanza.
- Enter in an empty stanza ends the song, and you're back to normal text.
Video, audio and documents
Choose Video or audio in the "/" menu and paste the YouTube or Spotify link, most easily copied from the "Share" button on the video or episode. The Title is required and names the player for screen readers. On the site, nothing loads from YouTube or Spotify until someone clicks Play.
For a file to download, choose Document and pick it from the list. Documents are PDFs uploaded beforehand under Documents in the Media group. They're public, so keep anything confidential out.
Pasting from Word or Google Docs
Just paste your text in. The editor tidies up as it goes: colours, fonts, font sizes, indents, strikethrough and highlighting all drop away, while Bold, Italic, Underline, Superscript and links stay. Check your headings and lists afterwards, and add images through the "/" menu.
Full or simple
Not every text field can do everything. The full editor appears where you're shaping content, such as a blog post's Text and the text blocks on your pages.
Shorter texts use a simple version: the Description of events, recurring activities and sermons, an announcement's Text, a person's Bio or an image's Caption in the media library. These offer only paragraphs, lists, Bold, Italic, Underline and links, with no "/" menu. If you paste in something richer, headings become paragraphs, and images or buttons drop out. That keeps your events and profiles looking consistent.