Rich Text Editor rich-text-editor
The Rich Text Editor is a basic building block for inputting textual content into AEM. It forms the basis of various components, including:
- Text
- Text Image
- Table
Rich Text Editor rich-text-editor-1
The WYSIWYG editing dialog provides a wide range of functionality:
In-Place Editing in-place-editing
In addition to the dialog based Rich Text Editing mode, AEM also provides the in-place editing mode, which allows direct editing of the text as it is displayed in the layout of the page.
Click twice on a paragraph (a slow double-click) to enter the inplace editing mode (the component border will now be orange).
You will be able to directly edit the text on the page, instead of inside a dialog window. Just make your changes and they will be automatically saved.
Currently, the Inplace Editing mode is enabled for page elements generated by the Text and Title components.
Features of the Rich Text Editor features-of-the-rich-text-editor
The Rich Text Editor provides a range of featues, these depend on the configuration of the individual component. The features are available for both the touch-optimized and classic UI.
Basic Character Formats basic-character-formats
Here you can apply formatting to characters you have selected (highlighted); some options also have short-cut keys:
- Bold (Ctrl-B)
- Italic (Ctrl-I)
- Underline (Ctrl-U)
- Subscript
- Superscript
All operate as a toggle, so reselection will remove the format.
Predefined Styles and Formats predefined-styles-and-formats
Your installation can include predefined styles and formats. These are available with the Style and Format drop-down lists and can be applied to text that you have selected.
A style can be applied to a specific string (a style correlates to CSS):
Whereas a format is applied to the entire text paragraph (a format is HTML-based):
A specific format can only be changed (the default is Paragraph).
A style can be removed; place the cursor within the text to which the style has been applied and click the remove icon:
Cut, Copy, Paste cut-copy-paste
The standard functions of Cut and Copy are available. Several flavors of Paste are provided to cater for differing formats.
-
Cut (Ctrl-X)
-
Copy (Ctrl-C)
-
Paste
This is the default paste mechanism (Ctrl-V) for the component; when installed out-of-the-box this is configured to be Paste from Word. -
Paste as Text: Strips all styles and formatting to paste only the plain text.
-
Paste from Word: This pastes the content as HTML (with some necessary reformatting).
Undo, Redo undo-redo
AEM keeps a record of your last 50 actions in the current component, held in chronological order. These actions can be undone (and then redone) in strict order, if necessary.
Alignment alignment
Your text can be either left, center or right aligned.
Indentation indentation
The indentation of a paragraph can be increased, or decreased. The selected paragraph will be indented, any new text entered will retain the current level of indentation.
Lists lists
Both bulleted and numbered lists can be created within your text. Either select the list type and start typing or highlight the text to be converted. In both cases a line-feed will start a new list item.
Nested lists can be achieved by indenting one or more list items.
The style of a list can be changed by simply positioning the cursor within the list, then selecting the other style. A sublist can also have a different style to the containing list. This can be applied once the sublist has been created (by indentation).
Links links
A link to a URL (either within your website or an external location) is generated by highlighting the required text then clicking the hyperlink icon:
A dialog will let you specify the target URL; also whether it should be opened in a new window.
You can:
- Type in a URI directly
- Use the site map to select a page within your website
- Enter the URI, then append the target anchor; for example,
www.TargetUri.org#AnchorName
- Enter an anchor only (to reference “the current page”); For example,
#anchor
- Search for a page in the content finder, then drag and drop the page icon into the Hyperlink dialog
https://
, ftp://
, and mailto:
. Protocols not configured for your installation will be rejected and marked as invalid.To break the link position the cursor anywhere within the link text and click the Unlink icon:
Anchors anchors
An anchor can be created anywhere within the text by either positioning the cursor, or selecting some text. Then click the Anchor icon to open the dialog box.
Enter the name of the anchor then click OK to save.
The anchor is shown when the component is being edited and can now be used within a target for links.
Find and Replace find-and-replace
AEM provides both a Find and a Replace (find and replace) function.
Both have a Find next button to search the open component for the text specified. You can also specify whether you need the case (upper/lower) to be matched.
The search will always start from the current cursor position within the text. When the end of the component is reached a message will inform you that the next search operation will start from the top.
The Replace option lets you Find, then Replace an individual instance with the specified text, or to Replace all instances in the current component.
Images images
Images can be dragged from the content finder to add them to the text.
Spelling Checker spelling-checker
The spelling checker will check all the text in the current component.
Any incorrect spellings will be highlighted:
en
branch will be checked for English and the de
branch for German.Tables tables
Tables are available both:
-
As the Table component
-
From within the Text component
note note NOTE Although tables are available in the RTE, it is recommended to use the Table component when creating tables.
In both the Text and Table components table functionality is available via the context menu (usually the right-mouse-button) clicked within the table; for example:
The table specific functions are:
Table Properties table-properties
The basic properties of the table can be configured, before clicking OK to save:
-
Width: The total width of the table.
-
Height: The total height of the table.
-
Border: The size of the table border.
-
Cell padding: This defines the white space between the cell content and its borders.
-
Cell spacing: This defines the distance between the cells.
Cell Properties cell-properties
The properties of a specific cell, or series of cells, can be configured:
- Width
- Height
- Horizontal Align - Left, Center or Right
- Vertical Align - Top, Middle, Bottom or Baseline
- Cell type- Data or Header
- Apply to: Single cell, Entire row, Entire column
Add or Delete Rows add-or-delete-rows
Rows can be added either above or below the current row.
The current row can also be deleted.
Add or Delete Columns add-or-delete-columns
Columns can be added either to the left or right of the current column.
The current column can also be deleted.
Selecting Entire Rows or Columns selecting-entire-rows-or-columns
Selects the entire current row or column. Specific actions (for example, merge) are then available.
Merge Cells merge-cells
- If you have selected a group of cells you can merge these into one.
- If you have have only one cell selected then you can merge it with the cell to either the right or below.
Split Cells split-cells
Select a single cell to split it:
- Splitting a cell horizontally will generate a new cell to the right of the current cell, within the current column.
- Splitting a cell vertically will generate a new cell underneath the current cell, but within the current row.
Creating Nested Tables creating-nested-tables
Creating a nested table creates a self-contained table within the current cell.
- Windows IE: Use Ctrl+primary-mouse-button-click (usually left) to select multiple cells.
- Firefox: Drag the pointer to select a cell range.
Remove Table remove-table
Use the option to remove the table from within the Text component.
Special Characters special-characters
Special characters can be made available to your rich text editor; these might vary according to your installation.
Use mouseover to see a magnified version of the character, then click for it to be included at the current location in your text.
Source Editing Mode source-editing-mode
The source editing mode lets you see and edit the underlying HTML of the component.
So the text:
Will looks as follows in source mode (often the source is much longer, so you will have to scroll):