Editing Items Using Rich Text Editor(RTE)

Student Plans

Editing Items using Rich Text Editor(RTE)

Before using Rich Text Editor Option consider:

Rich Text Editor (RTE) was designed to look very similar to basic word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word. RTE has many of the same text formatting functions common to word processors; such as changing font styles, bolding text, making bullet lists, etc. However, RTE is a much simpler tool than full featured word processing programs.

RTE and popular word processor programs format text very differently. RTE uses a subset of HyperText Markup Language (HTML) tags to format text. Microsoft Word uses an extensive proprietary set of control codes and tags to format text. For example, Information reported by Parents looks like this in HTML: <p> <strong<font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Information reported by Parents</font</strong> </p> <p> <strong<font face="Arial"</font</

Copying highly formatted text from a word processing program to a RTE document will not produce the desired results. This document will demonstrate basic strategies for using the RTE successfully with different browsers and computer operating systems.

Before RTE is deployed across the district there should be a deployment strategy in place taking into consideration the type of computers, browsers and word processing programs that are available to use with the Student Plans RTE.

Using RTE Editor

Select a document that needs to be created or edited
Copying and pasting can be done from an existing word processing document or from documents within Student Plans
For example: Daniel Espinoza is missing his LRE explanation. Joe Johnson’s IEP was recently completed and his LRE explanation is similar.
Go to Joe’s IEP and use copy icon to copy explanation. /
Highlight text on Joe’s LRE that is going to be copied to Dan’s LRE
Click COPY icon
Return to Dan’s IEP, LRE section /
In Daniel’s LRE, put cursor where text will be pasted
If copying is done within Student Plans, you may click on PASTE icon, right-click – select paste or CTRL-V to paste text.
If copying is from a Word document you must click the PASTE FROM WORDicon to paste text.
If copying is from another word processing application, click PASTE AS TEXTicon to paste text. /
Next, a table needs to be inserted after the text that was pasted in the document.
Click INSERT TABLE icon
Go to full screen mode to edit document
Click FULL SCREEN toggle /
Click on TABLE CELL PROPERTIES icon to set the table size /
Width 20 = 20 characters
Adjust horizontal and vertical alignment as necessary
Click UPDATE to save and close table cell property window. If this change applies to all cells, change Update current cell in drop down menu to All cells in row, column or table /
After editing, click FULL SCREEN TOGGLE to return to normal screen.
Click SUBMIT to save editing changes /
NOTE: If X (close window button) is clicked, the window will close and all editing changes will be erased

Rich Text Editor New Features

(see Notes about RTE tools for more information)
/ bold / / underlne
/ italic / / strikeout
/ left justify / / center
/ right justify / / full justify
/ cut / / copy
/ paste / / paste as text
/ paste from Word / / find
/ find and replace text / / spell check
/ standard bullet list / / standard number list
/ indent / / un-indent
/ undo changes / / redo changes
/ cleanup HTML code / / edit HTML code
/ Emergency(fix and strip formatting / / Magic wand(fix formatting)
/ insert date / / insert time
/ select text color / / add table
If no table, table tools will be grayed out and inactive
/ table delete / / table cell properties
/ table insert row before / / table insert row after
/ table delete row / / table insert column before
/ table insert column after / / table remove column
/ insert horizontal ruler line / / insert special characters
/ non-breaking characters / / toggle full screen

Select format style, font face and size with drop down boxes

Notes about various RTE tools

Cleanup HTML code
/ Data can come from many different sources or different applications may bring along extra formatting that the PDF cannot support.
Every browser has a built in HTML rendering engine. Cleanup HTML code button will remove the formatting without losing the data. The HTML tool will allow editing of HTML code.
This tool lets your browser assemble the HTML code and rewrites the code based on how the browser interprets it. For example, if the copy and paste forgets to put an end code for an underline formatting paragraph, this button corrects the code and rewrites the correct code. Every time you click SUBMIT this feature will run. It will look at the entire document.
Edit HTML code
/ For troubleshooting, technical staff may ask you to click on the Edit HTML code icon. Clicking on this tool will let you view the actual HTML format tags being used and stored on your text by the RTE.
Technical staff may ask you to copy these HTML tags and text and send it to them for trouble shooting unexpected formatting problems. Normally you will NOT use this unless you need to see actual HTML formatting being used.
Close the window to return to normal format.
Full Screen Toggle
/ This will resize the editor to a full screen and will match your windows size. After done editing, be sure to toggle back to normal screen.
Do not close the screen by clicking X in upper right corner of screen.
You can only submit your document in normal screen mode.
Line Bar Tool
/ Line Bar tool can be used to separate sections of your report documents.
In certain types of reports that are output to EasyPDF Writer, using TWO consecutive Line Bar Separators will be interpreted as a command to force a page break in the document.
Spell Checker Tool
/ The spell checker tool is a simple addition to the RTE that allows you to do simple spell checking of your documents. It may take a few seconds to start.

Text Color Tool
/ Caution: If text color is applied and then printed on a non-color printer, the result will likely be a variety of different shades of gray text.
Table Icon Tools
table cell properties
table row properties
Must select a table before you can use the table functions
Table cells or rows are dynamically sized unless the width or height is specifically set. /

Basic HTML Tags

The RTE formats data using HTML tags like a webpage. HTML lets you format text and save it all as a text file that any computer can read. The key to HTML is in the tags, keywords enclosed in less than (<) and greater than (>) signs that indicate what kind of content is coming up. Most elements have start tags and end tags. The start tag is the element name surrounded by angle brackets: <p>, <font>, <u>. The end tag is the element name proceeded by a / (called a forward slash), surrounded by angle brackets: </p>, </font>, </u>.

<p> / Paragraph Open: Starts a new paragraph, words inside will wrap to fit the available space on the screen or paper. Must have a matching </p> at end.
</p> / Paragraph Close: Ends a paragraph. Must have a matching <p> before it
<b> / Bold Open: Starts a segment of bolded text, everything inside will be bold. Must have a matching </b> at end. Same as <strong>
</b> / Bold Close: Ends a segment of bold text. Must have a matching <b> before it. Same as </strong>
<strong> / Bold Open: Starts a segment of bolded text, everything inside will be bold. Must have a matching </strongat end. Same as <b>
</strong> / Bold Close: Ends a segment of bold text. Must have a matching <strong> before it. Same as </b>
i / Italics Open: Starts a segment of italic text, everything inside will be italic. Must have a matching </i> at end. Same a <em
</i / Italics Close: Ends a segment of italic text. Must have a matching <i> before it. Same as </em
em / Italics Open: Starts a segment of italic text, everything inside will be italic. Must have a matching </em> at end. Same a <i
</em / Italics Close: Ends a segment of italic text. Must have a matching <em> before it. Same as </i
<u> / Underline Open: Starts a segment of underlined text, everything inside will be underlined. Must have a matching </u> at end.
</u> / Underline Close: Ends a segment of underlined text. Must have a matching <u> before it.
<center> / Center Open: Starts a segment of text that will be at the center of the document or table cell. Must have a matching </center> at end.
</center> / Center Close: Ends a segment of centered text. Must have a matching <center> before it.
del / Strikethrough Open: Starts a segment of strikethrough text, everything inside will have a line through it. Must have a matching </del> at end
</del / Strikethrough Close: Ends a segment of strikethrough text. Must have a matching <del> before it.
<sub> / Subscript Open: Starts a segment of subscript text, everything inside will be lower than the surrounding text. Must have a matching </sub> at end.
</sub> / Subscript Close: Ends a segment of subscript text. Must have a matching <sub> before it.
<sup> / Superscript Open: Starts a segment of superscript text, everything inside will be higher than the surround text. Must have a matching </sup> at end
</sup> / Superscript Close: Ends a segment of superscript text. Must have a matching <sup> before it.
<font> / Font Open: Opens a segment of text to be a specified size and/or font, everything inside will have that size or font. Must have a matching </font> at end.
</font> / Font Close: Closes a segment of font size or type text. Must have a matching <font> before it.
br / Line Break: Causes a hard return in the document. There is no ending tag, can also be shown as <br /> or <br/>
hr / Horizontal Line: Inserts a horizontal line through the document. There is no ending tag, can also be shown as <hr /> or <hr/> Plans will interpret 2 of these <hrhr> in a row as a page break.
<table> / Table Open: Starts a table, must have a matching </table> at end. A table tag by itself is invalid and cannot contain text, it must have a <tbody> tag inside.
</table> / Table Close: Ends a table. Must have a matching <table> before it.
<caption> / Table Caption Open: Starts the caption of a table, must have a matching </caption> at end. A <caption> tag is invalid outside of a <table> tag and will always be displayed at the top of a table.
</caption> / Table Caption Close: Ends the caption of a table, must have a matching <caption> before it.
tbody / Table Body Open: Starts the body of a table, must have a matching </tbody> following. A <tbody> tag is invalid outside of a <table> and cannot contain text, it must also have a <tr> tag inside.
</tbody / Table Body Close: Ends the body of a table. Must have a matching <tbody> before it.
tr / Table Row Open: Starts the row of a table, must have a matching </tr> at end. A <tr> tag is invalid outside of a <tbody> and cannot contain text, it must also have a <td> or <th> tag inside.
</tr / Table Row Close: Ends the row of a table, must have a matching <tr> before it.
th / Table Heading Cell Open: Starts a cell in a table row, must have a matching </th> following. A <th> tag is invalid outside of a <tr>. It is the same as a <td> except text inside will automatically be centered and bolded.
</th / Table Heading Cell Close: Ends a heading cell in a table, must have a matching <th> before it.
<td> / Table Cell Open: Starts a cell in a table row, must have a matching </td> at end. A <td> tag is invalid outside of a <tr>.
</td> / Table Cell Close: Ends a cell in a table, must have a matching <td> before it.

Example:

<table>

<tbody

<tr

<td>

This is the first cell first row of a table

</td>

<td>

This is the second cell first row of a table

</td>

</tr

<tr

<td>

This is the first cell second row of a table

</td>

<td>

This is the second cell second row of a table

</td>

</tr

</tbody

</table>

cmERDC (Central Minnesota Educational Research and Development Council)

(RTE training guide.doc)