The HTML Area is available to as a rich text editor for HTML, allowing you to enter rich text or HTML without knowing the HTML language. It offers many features similar to a word processor, but it is not a full word processor, due to the limitations of Internet browsers. Advanced users may switch to edit HTML directly. HTML Area fields may contain images which are pasted into the field from the user's clipboard. Likewise, entire files may be embedded. Embedded files are represented by an icon, once they have been placed within the field.
As you enter text / images into an HTML Area field, it will grow in height to allow you to see as much of the information as possible, to a maximum height which is set to be a little less than most screens.
As set by your administrator, one of three available toolbars will be displayed, or you may customize a toolbar solely for your company's use. The built-in toolbars are shown in the following screenshots. Your administrator may have cofigured the toolbar with a different set of buttons for your site. The HTML Area utility makes use of scripts that run within the browser, and according to the security settings of the browser, you may need to acknowledge that it is OK to run these scripts. If you are using a mobile client, only the basic toolbar is initialized, to conserve space on the screen.
The use of the HTML Area field is intuitive. Just enter text and use the buttons on the toolbar to provide the formatting.
Note that there are some limitations when entering and updating text within the utility. A key limitation is that you cannot click on a link when the field is being updated. This functionality only works when the field is in read-only mode.
The available toolbar buttons are:
Basic | Standard | Full | Button | Function |
---|---|---|---|---|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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Toggle bold on and off for the selected text |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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Toggle italic text on and off for the selected text |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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Toggle underlined text on and off for the selected text |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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Remove text formatting from the selected text |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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Toggle a numbered list for the selected text |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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Togle a bulleted list for the selected text |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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Add a link to the selected text |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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Remove the link from the selected text |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
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Print the contents of the HTML Area |
✓ | ✓ |
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Toggle the display mode between "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" and HTML source views | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Cut the selected text to the clipboard | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Copy the selected text to the clipboard | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Paste the text from the clipboard to the cursor position | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Paste the text, as plain unformatted text, from the clipboard to the cursor position | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Paste text from Microsoft Office documents - this will remove the obscure formatting that Microsoft Office documents often contain | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Undo the last operation | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Redo the last operation that was undone | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Use a style from the list. Note that there are interdependencies with the Style, Format, Font and Size lists. Not all combinations work with all computers, as your browser, or computer operating system may not support the combination you choose | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Format the text from the selections within the list. Note that there are interdependencies with the Style, Format, Font and Size lists. Not all combinations work with all computers, as your browser, or computer operating system may not support the combination you choose | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Select a font from the selections within the list. Note that there are interdependencies with the Style, Format, Font and Size lists. Not all combinations work with all computers, as your browser, or computer operating system may not support the combination you choose | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Set a size for the text from the selections within the list. Note that there are interdependencies with the Style, Format, Font and Size lists. Not all combinations work with all computers, as your browser, or computer operating system may not support the combination you choose | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Set a color for the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Set a background color for the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Mximize / Restore the size of the HTML Area within the browser | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Strikeout the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Subscript the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Superscript the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Outdent the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Indent the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Place the selected text in blockquotes | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Place the selected text in an HTML DIV | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Left-justify the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Center-justify the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Right-justify the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Full-justify the selected text | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Insert an HTML text anchor tag | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Insert an image | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Insert a table | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Insert a horizontal rule | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Insert a smiley face | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Insert a character symbol | |
✓ | ✓ |
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Insert an HTML Iframe | |
✓ |
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Search for text within the HTML Area field | ||
✓ |
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Search and replace text within the HTML Area field | ||
✓ |
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Select all the text within the HTML Area field | ||
✓ |
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Text direction goes from left-to-right (the default) | ||
✓ |
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Text direction goes from right-to-left | ||
✓ |
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Insert a page-break for printing |