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Rich Text Editor Overview

The rich text editor is a core component of Small Farm Central because it allows you to type information about your farm, format the text, and behind the scenes, this software translates your text in the language of the web: HTML.

The following topics are covered in this help file:

  1. Creating Hyperlinks
  2. Uploading & Inserting Photos
  3. Wrapping Text Around Photos
  4. Pasting from Microsoft Word

The Text Editor

You will see the rich text editor throughout the control panel; it looks a bit like this: 

Creating Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are words usually underlined and shown in blue that represent a link to another page in your site or on the Internet (there is more explanation of how to create them here). It can sometimes be difficult and time-consuming to figure out where you want your link to lead, so we have added a new feature to the editor: the "link list." This is a list of every page on your Small Farm Central site; simply click on the page you want to link to and the URL will be automatically populated.

To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Select the text or photo you want to link
  2. In the rich text editor, find the "insert/edit link" button which is on the second row near the right. It looks like a link in a chain -- fine metaphor there.
  3. When the "insert/edit image" window pops up, find the drop down menu labeled "Link List." When you expand that drop-down, you will see a list of all the pages on your site. Simply choose the page you want to link to and click on it. You will see the "Link URL" text box above automatically populate.
  4. Complete the link by clicking "Insert" in the lower-left corner. Your text should turn blue to indicate is has been linked. (Always remember to save your changes when you are done editing!)

Photo Uploads and Insertion

You have probably already found that you can upload images into your site by navigating in the control panel to:

Create Content / Gallery / Upload Photo

There is an alternate way to upload photos into your site, directly through the rich text editor. Follow these steps:

  1. Find the "insert/edit image" button. It is in the 2nd row on the right and looks like a photo of a tree. Click that button to bring up the insert/edit image window.
  2. To select an image from your photo gallery or to upload a new photo, click the "Browse" button which is just to the right of the Image URL text box. This screenshot shows where the browse button is:
  3. Once you click the browse button, another window will pop-up that shows you thumbnails of images that are in your gallery. To insert these images into your page, you could click on any of these images. But let's stay with uploading for a minute.
  4. In the upper right corner of this window, you will see a button labeled "Upload." Click that button now. A further window will pop up that allows you to choose files to upload to your site. 
  5. Click on "Choose Files" and browse your computer for the photo you want to upload. Although the Small Farm Central software will automatically resize the photos to a size that makes sense for the web, due to upload times it may be smart to resize your photos first.
  6. After you have chosen your photo, you may upload multiple photos at a time by clicking on the "Add More" link which is below the photo you have chosen. When you are ready to upload, click "Upload to Server" and off they go.
  7. Once the photos are uploaded, they will be added to the list of thumbnails. It can sometimes be a chore to find the thumbnail of the photo you just uploaded once you start to have a lot of photos on your site. Remember, they are listed in alphabetical order.

Wrapping Text Around Photos

Once your photo is in your page, you will wonder about how to make it look like it belongs inside the page. You want to wrap the text around the photo in a natural way. Follow these steps:

  1. Select a photo that is in your page by clicking on it. White boxes will appear in all the corners of the photo to signify that it is selected.
  2. Find the "insert/edit image" button again (2nd row, near the right) and click it to open the insert/edit image window. Now click on the "Appearance" tab at the top of the insert/edit image window. You will see options like this:
  3. Using the alignment drop-down, you will see lots of options such as Baseline, Top, Bottom, Left, Right, and more. The most useful alignment options will be "Left" and "Right" which will float your image either to the right or left of the page and allow the text to float around the image. When you choose an alignment option, you will see a preview on the right.
  4. You will also want to have space between your text and the image so they do not look cramped together. To do this, use the "Vertical Space" and "Horizontal Space" options; a value of 10 is a good start. Again, this change will be reflected in the preview box.
  5. Once you have made your changes, click "Update" in the lower left hand part of the menu and watch your text float around your image.

Pasting Text From Microsoft Word

It is often advisable to create your content in a word processor like Microsoft Word and then paste into the text editor to ensure that you do not lose the work you are doing. One issue is that Microsoft Word will add extraneous code to your text and can cause problems in certain web browsers. The rich text editor will help you will this problem by using the "Paste From Word" button. 

The "Paste from Word" button can be found in the 2nd row of buttons near the left. When you click it, a window will pop up that asks you to paste your content into the window. The text editor will then do the work to strip out the wonky code. Then click insert to get your text into the text editor.