The Content Editor in Blackboard

The Content Editor is a key tool used throughout Blackboard.  Whenever you need to:

• create content, or
• other pages,
• create messages, or otherwise
• post text

the content editor will be the tool you use.

Besides text, you can insert images, add web links, and many other features a word processor or web editor would allow. On the editor, there is a tool bar filled with icons, and when you roll your mouse pointer over an icon, a tool tip will appear to identify the icon.To prevent the loss of work, it is good practice to type your information offline in a simple text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit , and copy and paste into the Content Editor. To paste copied text into the Content Editor, you will need to use the "old-school" keyboard short cut: Ctrl -V (the mouse option does not work).

There are two views of the Content Editor:

• Advanced Mode: This presents the full toolbar of icons indicated by the upward pointing double arrow.  Click on that icon to reduce the number of rows of icons in the view. This will bring you to the Simple Mode and offer more screen real estate. 
• Simple Mode: Minimal set of icons featuring the most commonly used formatting functions. Click on the downward facing arrow to access more icons. 

For the most part, the Content Editor functions much like a word processor or any editor on the web.  Some of the most common functions you will use include:

• Formatting text.  The top left part of the bar have most formatting features.  Remember to use the Headings feature to identify headings.  It improves the accessibility of your work.
• Bullets and Numbers.  These are excellent for formatting web content. 
• Remove Formatting:  Have wonky formatting?  Is something not right?  Sometimes it is best to strip all the formatting and start again.  This can help.
• Indenting/Outdenting: This is excellent for formatting content for the web and accounting for whitespace.
• Insert/Edit or Remove Link:  Add hyperlinks to your documents to harness the power of the web.  Add context to the link with a brief description. 
• Insert Image:  This tool allows you to insert images.  You should be sure to
  • Consider copyright issues
  • Include a Title and Description (for accessibility)
  • Consider its position on the page
  • Be sure to use an image with the appropriate size and resolution
• The Mashups tool.  This will allow you to search and embed web 2.0 technology including images from Flickr and Videos from YouTube. 
• The HTML Editor: This tool lets you "look under the hood" at the HTML code that makes your page.  While this may intimidate some, this tool can be very powerful and allow you to embed useful interactive tools. 

Remember  to title the pages you create and hit submit.

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Helpful Tips:

• Functions that are grayed out are not currently available 
• You must select text to format text. 
• Click on the Full Screen icon in the toolbar to expand the working area in the Content Editor. You cannot save (submit) the page when in Full Screen. Click on the icon to reduce the screen, and the "submit button appears. 
• Click on the Preview icon in the toolbar to see the page as it will appear to the end user. 

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Credit to Open SUNY, Using the Content Editor.  Be sure to see the Open SUNY Student Orientation for more tips.