You are here: Documentation / HTML Editor - User Guide

HTML Editor User Guide

What is FCKeditor?

WEBfast uses FCKeditor, a lightweight text editor to be used in web pages.

It provides most of the commonly used functions from desktop editors like Word to the web. By using FCKeditor you can write text, format it, create tables and much more. The editor doesn't need any kind of installation on your computer. The only thing you need to work with FCKeditor is a compatible Internet browser, like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Opera.

Compatible browsers

Browser
 Windows Mac Linux
Internet Explorer 5.5+ YES N/A N/A
Firefox 1.5+ YES YES YES
Safari 3.0+ YES YES N/A
Opera 9.5+ YES YES YES
Netscape 7.1+ YES YES YES
Camino 1.0+ N/A YES N/A

Incompatible browsers

If you use a browser which is a lower version of the browsers listed in the table above or your browser doesn't appear in the table, FCKeditor will work with limited features or won't work at all. You will only see the editing area where you can write in the HTML code. The toolbar wont appear at all.

If you want to work with all of FCKeditor features install one of the compatible browsers and than run the editor.

 

Back to Top

 

Quick Reference

In this section you can have a quick overview about all functions available in the default FCKeditor toolbar.

Common Toolbar Functions

Toolbar Element Function
Image:Source.gif View or edit the document source code (for advanced users).
Image:New.png Removes all contentes, creating a new blank page.
Image:Save.png Saves the page you were editing.
Image:Preview.gif Preview what the HTML page will look like for users.
Image:Templates.gif Select a layout template. See Templates
Image:Cut.gif Cut the highlighted text to the clipboard.
Image:Copy.gif Copy the highlighted text to the clipboard.
Image:Paste.gifImage:Pastetext.gif Paste the data copied to the clipboard (with or without formatting).
Image:Pasteword.gif Paste content copied from Microsoft Word or similar applications.
Image:Print.gif Print the current document.
Image:Spellcheck.gif Spell check the text in the document.
Image:Undo.gifImage:Redo.gif Undo or redo the most recent action taken.
Image:Find.gif Find a word or phrase within the document.
Image:Replace.gif Find and replace a word or phrase within the document.
Image:Selectall.gif Select the entire text in the document.
Image:Removeformat.gif Remove the formatting from the highlighted text.
Image:Bold.gifImage:Italic.gifImage:Underline.gifImage:Strikethrough.gif Applies bold, italic, underscore or strikethrough formatting to the highlighted text.
Image:Subscript.gifImage:Superscript.gif Superscript or subscript the highlighted text.
Image:Insertorderedlist.gifImage:Insertunorderedlist.gif Creates numbered or bulleted lists.
Image:Outdent.gifImage:Indent.gif Increase or decrease the text indentation.
Image:Blokquote.png Format a block of text to identify quotations (text provenient from other sources).
Image:Justifyleft.gifImage:Justifycenter.gifImage:Justifyright.gifImage:Justifyfull.gif Sets the text alignment (left, centered, right or justified).
Image:Link.gifImage:Unlink.gif Converts or removes the text in hyperlinks. It may also by used to manage file uploads and links to files on the web server. See Links, E-Mails and Anchors.
Image:Anchor.png Inserts or modifies a link anchor. See Links, E-Mails and Anchors
Image:Image.gif Inserts images into the document. See Inserting Images.
Image:Flash.png Inserts a Adobe Flash element into the page.
Image:Table.gif Creates a table with the defined number of columns and rows.
Image:Inserthorizontalrule.gif Inserts a divider line (horizontal rule).
Image:Smiley.gif Inserts an emoticons image (smiley faces, email icon, lightbulb, etc.).
Image:Specialchar.gif Inserts symbols & special characters (accented characters, trademark, currency symbol, etc.).
Image:Pagebreak.gif Inserts a printing page break. Only impacts printed version.
Image:FCK_style.gif Styles & formatting determine the appearance and semantic value of your document. You may use the drop down boxes to apply styles, set the font, its size, etc. To remove the applied style select the style name again.
Image:Textcolor.gif Changes the color of the text.
Image:Bgcolor.gif Changes the background color of the text.
Image:Maximize.png Maximizes the editor size inside the browser.
Image:Show_blocks.png Shows where the block elements boundaries in the text.
Image:About.png Shows information about the FCKeditor.

Form Functions

Toolbar Element Function
Image:Form.png Creates a new form block into the page.
Image:Checkbox.png Inserts a checkbox to the page.
Image:Radiobutton.png Inserts a radio button to the page.
Image:Textfield.png Inserts a text field into the page.
Image:Textarea.png Inserts a multi-line text area into the page.
Image:Selection_field.png Inserts a selection field into the page.
Image:Button.png Inserts a form button into the page.
Image:Button_image.png Inserts an image into the page, which behaves much like form button used to submit forms. Do not use it to insert plain images into the document.
Image:Hidden.png Inserts a hidden field into the page.

 

 

Back to Top

 

Interface

FCKeditor provides a clean and simple user interface which should be familiar to users who worked on common desktop text editors like.Microsoft Word or Open Office. It consists of four distinct elements:

  • Toolbar - the area at the top of the editor, which contains many different buttons. You will use these buttons to activate the programs functions.
  • Editing Area - the area below the toolbar. This is the place where you type your text in.
  • Context Menu - a menu with functions which appears when you click the right button of the mouse inside the editing area.
  • Dialogs - small windows that appear when some of the functions are activates, used to provide the necessary information to accomplish that function.

Toolbar

The Toolbar is the area in FCKeditor where you can activate most of the editor features. Each button in the toolbar access a different function. There are simple functions for basic text formatting and more advanced features like creation of links and tables.

The FCKeditor Toolbar
The FCKeditor Toolbar

To use the buttons in the toolbar you must move your mouse pointer over the button. The button will highlight and a message with the information about the button function will appear. Click on the button to execute its function. With more experience you will have full control over all FCKeditor features and you won't have to read the discription of the buttons. You will just use them intuitively.

Besides the toolbars buttons there are also toolbar combos (drop down boxes). The combos are the white areas with a little arrow on its side. They can be easily accessed by clicking on the white area or the little arrow. Once clicked the menu will expand so you can choose from one of its available options. To execute one of them, simply click on it.

Editing Area

The Editing Area is the space where you will type in your text and format your document.

The FCKeditor Editing Area

If your document will be longer than the available space in the Editing Area, an scrollbar will appear. The scrollbar will allow you to go up and down through your text. You may also move inside the text by using your keyboard keys, for example PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN, HOME, END and ARROW KEYS.

Another important function while editing is the text selection (text highlight). To select the text, press your mouse left button, hold it and go to the direction you want to highlight the text. Just release the button and the text will remain selected.

Context Menu

Once you start working with text, the context menu becomes very useful. It's a menu which will appear when you click the right button of your mouse anywhere inside the editing area or on an existing object.

Example:

Image:Contextmenu2.png

As it names indicates the menu is context sensitive, which means that the available items depend on the place you click. For example, the following options may appear if you click inside a table:

Image:Table_context2.png

It's enough to click the menu item to execute its function. Some of the functions maybe disabled. For example, the cut and copy options will be disabled if there is no text highlighted.

Back to Top

 

Common Tasks

In this section you will find most of the common tasks used in FCKeditor. The instruction how to use them will guide you step by step so your word processing will be easier.

You can access all the common tasks specification from this page as well as from the main page

Templates

A template is a function will allow you to change the page layout and style and to organize your document better.In order to activate it press Image:Templates.gif button on the toolbar. A popup window called "Content Templates" will appear:

Image:Templates_context.png

  • Image and Title: one main image with a title and text that surround the image.
  • Strange Template: a template that defines two columns, each one with title, and some text.
  • Text and Table: a title with some text and a table.

If you chose a template double-click on it and it will appear in your document.

Example:

Image:Template_example.png

Links, E-Mails and Anchors

Links and E-mails

To insert a link to an URL address, anchor or an e.mail press Image:Link.gif button on the toolbar. A popup window called "Link" will appear.

Image:Link_URL.png

  • Link Type: specifies the type of link you want to put in the document. You can choose from "URL", "Link to anchor in the text" or "E-mail". Depending on which option you will choose different options and bookmarks will appear in the window. We will start from the Link Type: URL.

URL

Link Info

If you chose Link Type: URL the same option as in the above picture will appear.

  • Protocol: specifies the type of protocol you want to use for your link. You can choose from "http://", "https://","ftp://", "news://" or "".
  • URL: specifies the address you want your link to refer to.

Press "OK" and the link will appear in your document.

Target

The second bookmark of the window refers to "Target":

Image:Link_URL_target.png

  • Target: set's the target of your link. Specifies in what kind of a window a link will appear. You may choose from "", "New Window" ( _blank ), "Topmost Window" ( _top ), Same Window ( _self ), Parent Window ( _parent).
  • Target Frame Name: in this window you will find the name of the option you have selected in "Target"

In "Target" you may also choose the option. After clicking it you will find that the options in the bookmark have changed:

Image:Link_URL_target_popup.png

  • Popup Window Name: specifies the name of your popup window.
  • Popup Window Features: you can check or uncheck several option regarding to the appearance of the popup window. Some of the options are depending on which browser you're using.
  • Width: specifies the width of the window the linked address will appear in.
  • Height: specifies the width of the window the linked address will appear in.
  • Left Position: sets the horizontal position of the window the linked address will appear in, starting from the left side of your screen.
  • Top Position: sets the vertical position of the window the linked address will appear in, starting from the top of your screen.

Pressing "OK" will insert the link in your document.

Upload

The third bookmark refers to "Upload":

Image:Link_URL_upload.png

  • Upload: specifies the location of the file you want to upload. If you don't want to type it manually press "Browse...".
  • Send it to Server: sends the file you specified in "Upload" to the server.

 

Link to anchor in the text

If you chose Link Type: Link to anchor in the text new options will appear in the Link Info bookmark.

Image:Link_anchor.png

You may select the link to the anchor in two ways.

  • By Anchor Name: selects the anchor by name you have previously specified in anchor properties.
  • By Element Id: selects the anchor by Id.

Pressing "OK" will insert the link in your document.

E-mail

If you chose Link Type: E-mail new options will appear in the Link Info bookmark:

Image:Link_email.png

  • E-mail Address: specifies the e-mail address to which you want the link to refer to.
  • Message Subject: specifies the subject of the message which will be sent to the e-mail address.
  • Message Body: specifies the text of the message which will be sent to the e-mail address.

Press "OK" to insert the link in your document.

Advanced options

Whatever Link Type you will choose one bookmark will remain the same. It is the last bookmark called "Advanced":

Image:Link_advanced.png

  • Id: specifies the ID of the link.
  • Language Direction: sets the language direction from left to right ( LTR ) or from right to left ( RTL ).
  • Access Key: sets up an access key to the link.
  • Name: specifies the link name.
  • Language Code: defines the code of the language e.g. en, pt, pt
  • Tab Index: defines the tab index.
  • Advisory Title: specifies the description of the target object.
  • Advisory Content Type: specifies the MIME type of the target object.
  • Stylesheet Classes: specifies the name of the CSS class.
  • Linked Resource Charset: specifies the charset of the target object.
  • Style: defines the style

Press "OK" to insert the link.

Anchors

To insert an anchor in the text place your cursor before the text or section you want to the anchor to refer and press Image:Anchor.png button on the toolbar. A popup window called "Anchor Properties" will appear:

Image:Anchor_popup.png

  • Anchor Name: specifies the anchor name. You will be referring to this name while linking to the anchor.

Press "OK" and the anchor will appear in your document.

Inserting Images

Inserting Images in FCKeditor is very simple. Just press the Image:Image.gif button on the toolbar. A popup window called "Image Properties" will appear. It includes four bookmarks:

Image Info

Image:Image_properties.png

The first bookmark refers to the "Image Info"

  • URL: defines the URL address of the image. You may also use the "Browse Sever" in order to browse the files.
  • Alternative Text:puts the descriptions of the image if you want it to be different than the image name.
  • Width: specifies image width.
  • Height: specifies image height.

You may lock the image proportions by pressing Image:Lock_image.png or you can return to the original image size by pressing Image:Image_return.png.

  • Border: specifies the size of the border you want to place around the image.
  • HSpace: defines the size of the  horizontal gap.
  • VSpace: defines the size of the vertical gap.
  • Align: specifies the alignment of the image. You can choose from: Left, Abs Bottom, Abs Middle, Baseline, Bottom, Middle, Right, Text Top or Top.

Pressing "OK" inserts the image with the specified properties.

Link

The second bookmarks regards to "Link":

Image:Image_link.png

  • URL: defines the URL address of the image. You may also use the "Browse Sever" in order to browse the files.
  • Target: defines the target of the image (for advanced users). You can choose from New Window ( _blank ), Topmost Window ( _top ), Same Window ( _self ) or Parent Window        ( _parent ).

Upload

The third bookmark is the "Upload" section:

Image:Image_upload.png

  • Upload: specifies the location of the image file on your local hard drive. You may also use "browse" if you don't want to type the location manually.

Pressing "Send it to the Server" sends the image to the server.

Advanced

This bookmark is only for advanced users:

Image:Image_advanced.png

  • Id: specifies the ID of the image.
  • Language Direction: sets the language direction from left to right ( LTR ) or from right to left ( RTL ).
  • Language Code: specifies the language code e.g. en, pt, pl.
  • Long Description URL: specifies the description of the page.
  • Stylesheet Classes: specifies the name of the CSS class.
  • Advisory Title: specifies the description of the target object.
  • Style: specifies the style.

Tables

Creating a table

If you want to create a table in FCKeditor you must press the "Insert/Edit Table" Image:Table.gifbutton on the toolbar.

After that a popup window called "Table Properties" will appear.

Table properties

  • Rows: in this field you specify how many rows do you want to have in your table .
  • Columns: in this field you specify how many columns do you want your table to have.
  • Border size: sets the thickness of the tables border.
  • Alignment: specifies the alignment of your table. You can set it to left, center or right.
  • Width: sets the width of you table in pixels or percentage. E.g. if you choose 40 percent the table will take 40% of the editing area width.
  • Cell spacing: specifies how thick will the cells border be.
  • Cell padding: sets the hight of the cell.
  • Caption: specifies the title of your table. The title will appear in the top of the table.
  • Summary: sets a comment on the table. The comment will not appear in the table. It is only for usage.

Not all of the options are required to build a table. You have to fill only Rows and Columns. Rest of the fields are optional and you may use them depending on your needs.

Working with the table

If you created your table you may change its properties. Point your mouse on the table press the right button and a context menu will appear.

Image:Table_context.png

In order to change the tables properties press "Table Properties" and a popup window will appear. It's the same windows that you used for creating the table.

If you want to delete you table simply press "Delete Table".

The other three options are Cell, Row and Column. If you point your mouse cursor on one of them a new context menu will appear.

Cell

The cell context menu

  • Insert Cell Before: inserts a new cell before the cell your cursor is currently in.
  • Insert Cell After: inserts a new cell after the cell your cursor is currently in.
  • Delete Cells: deletes the cell your cursor is in. You may also highlight more cells and than delete them.
  • Merge Cells: merges cells you have highlighted into a one cell.
  • Split Cell Horizontally: splits a cell in two.One cell is split in two colums.
  • Split Cell Vertically:splits a cell in two.One cells is split in two rows.
  • Cell properties: if you click the cell properties a new popup window called "Cell Properties" will appear:

 

Image:Cell_properties.png

  • Width: sets the cell width in pixels or in percentage of the table width.
  • Height: sets the height of the cell.
  • Word Wrap: turns on/off word wrapping.
  • Horizontal Alignment:determines the horizontal alignment of the text in your cell. It can be set to Left, Center or Right.
  • Vertical Alignment: determines the vertical alignment of the text in your cell. It can be set to Top, Middle, Bottom or Baseline.
  • Rows span: extends vertical rows.
  • Columns span:extends cells on a horizontal row (left and right).
  • Background color: sets the background color of your cell. You can either select a color or type it manually.
  • Border Color: sets the color of your cells border. You can either select a color or type it manually.

Row

Image:Row_context.png

  • Insert Row Before: inserts a new row before the row your cursor is currently in.
  • Insert Row After: inserts a new row after the row your cursor is currently in.
  • Delete Rows: deletes highlighted rows or the row your cursor is currently in.

Column

Image:Column_context.png

  • Insert Column Before: inserts a column before the column your cursor is currently in.
  • Insert Column After: inserts a column after the column your cursor is currently in.
  • Delete Columns: deletes highlighted columns or the column your cursor is currently in.

Cut, Copy and Paste

Cut

To begin cutting the text you should firstly highlight the fragment you want to cut. After highlighting there are three methods to cut.

  1. by pressing the Image:Cut.gifbutton on the toolbar.
  2. by pressing the right mouse button on the highlighted area. A context menu will appear. Choose cut.
  3. by pressing the combination of CTRL+X keys.

Copy

You can copy a highlighted area in three ways.

  1. by pressing the Image:Copy.gifbutton on the toolbar.
  2. by pressing the right mouse button on the highlighted area. A context menu will appear. Choose copy.
  3. by pressing the combination of CTRL+C keys.

Paste

There are three options to paste into the text:

  1. by pressing the combination of CTRL+V keys or pressing Image:Paste.gif on the toolbar. This option will paste data from your clipboard. However there's a possibility that because of your security settings placed in your browser the editor will be enable to paste the data directly from your clipboard. If that happens a popup window will appear with instruction what to do next

    Image:Paste bsetting.png
     
  2. by pressing Image:Pastetext.gif. This option pastes a plain text which you should first paste inside the following box by using the combination of CTRL+V keys.
    Image:Paste plain.png
     
  3. by pressing Image:Pasteword.gif. This option pastes a text previously written in MS Word editor. By using this option you may paste the text from Word ignoring the Font Face definitions or removing Styles definitions.To paste the text just press CTRL+V key combination on your keyboard.
    Image:Paste word.png
Back to Top

 

Other Tasks

Find and Replace

Find

To find a phrase/word in the text you should firstly press Image:Find.gif button on the toolbar. After that a popup window called "Find and Replace" will appear:

Image:Find_popup.png

  • Find what: in this field you place the phrase/word you want to find.
  • Match case: if you check this option the program will find only the text with the exact cases like e.g. aLberT
  • Match whole word: if you check this option the program will only look for a whole word. It won't look for a phrase.

After deciding what options you want to use just press "Find" and the program will highlight the phrase/word it found. If you press "Find" again the program will find the next phrase/word matching to your request.

Replace

To replace a phrase/word in your text press Image:Replace.gif button on your keyboard. A popup window will appear:

Image:Replace_popup.png

  • Find what: in this field you place the phrase/word you want to find
  • Replace with: in this field you place the phrase/word you want to replace your text with.
  • Match case: if you check this option the program will find only the text with the exact cases like e.g. aLberT
  • Match whole word: if you check this option the program will only look for a whole word. It won't look for a phrase.

If you want to replace only one phrase/word press "Replace". The program will firstly find your text and highlight it. Than you should press the "Replace" button again in order to go on with the replacement.

If you want to replace all the phrases/words press "Replace All".

Undo and Redo 

Undo

The undo function is very useful in a situation where you have made a mistake and you want to correct it fastly.e.g. you've written your whole text and you have erase it by mistake.

You can activate the undo function in two ways:

  1. by pressing the Image:Undo.gifbutton on the toolbar.
  2. by pressing the combination of CTRL+Z on the keyboard.

After you activate the function it will go to the last thing you have made so for example: you've wrote a whole chapter in your text and you've highlighted it and than deleted it by mistake. You activate the "Undo" function and it goes to the moment when the chapter was highlighted but before the deleting. You may of course go many steps back, not just one step.

Redo

The redo function is the exact opposite of the undo function. If you used the undo function and than for any reason decided to go back to the state before the undo you must use the redo function. To activate it press Image:Redo.gif on the toolbar.

Back to Top

 

 

Source Editor

FCKeditor offers you a possibility to view to the text you have written in the editing area in the HTML code. In order to view the HTML code press Image:Source.gif button on the toolbar.

Example:

Image:Source_example.png

After pressing Image:Source.gif button we can see the HTML code:

Image:Source_example2.png

If you want to go back to the normal text just press Image:Source.gif again.

Editing the code in the HTML language is a very difficult feature and it should only be done by advanced users. If you don't have experience in HTML type the text normally.

Keyboard Keystrokes

Many functions in the FCKeditor have their keyboard keystrokes. They make the work with the editor faster and easier. Below you will find an alphabetical list with all of the keyboard shortcuts:

  • CTRL+A highlights the whole editing area
  • CTRL+B changes your font to bold.
  • CTRL+C copies the highlighted area to the clipboard.
  • CTRL+I changes your font to italic.
  • CTRL+L opens the Link window.
  • CTRL+SHIFT+S saves the document.
  • CTRL+U changes your font to underlined.
  • CTRL+V or SHIFT+INSERT pastes the data from the clipboard
  • CTRL+X or SHIFT+DELETE cuts the highlighted area.
  • CTRL+Y or CTRL+SHITF+Z starts the redo function.
  • CTRL+Z starts the undo function.
  • CTRL+ALT+ENTER fits the editor in the browsers window.

 

Back to Top