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{{Editing text}}
{{Editing text}}
The text editor (sometimes referred to as the 'HTML editor' or even 'TinyMCE') has many icons to assist the user in entering content.  Many of these icons and functions should be familiar to anyone who uses a word processor.  Some examples of where you will see the text editor include: Editing Section headings, description of an activity, writing an answer to a quiz question or editing the content of many blocks.
==Using a text editor==


'''Note:''' It's possible to disable the TinyMCE editor and only use a plain text editor from ''Administration>Site administration>Plugins>Text editors>Manage editors.''
The text editor (sometimes referred to as the 'HTML editor') has many icons to assist the user in entering content.  Many of these icons and functions should be familiar to anyone who uses a word processor.


==Collapsing and expanding the editor==
Some examples of where you will see the text editor include: Editing Section headings, description of an activity, writing an answer to a quiz question or editing the content of many blocks.
{{New features}}
The TinyMCE editor first appears with just one row of buttons. Clicking the icon top left will expand it to three rows.


{|
The default text editor in Moodle is the Atto editor, built specifically for Moodle. There is also a version of the [[TinyMCE editor]] and a plain text editor.
|[[File:26tinymce1.png|250px|thumb|Collapsed view]]
 
|[[File:26tinymce2.png|250px|thumb|Expanded view]]
Text editors can be enabled, disabled or a different one set to default from ''Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Text editors > Manage editors''. The order of priority may also be specified here.
|}
 
If more than one text editor is enabled, users can select their preferred editor via their preferences page in the user menu (top right).
 
==Atto HTML editor==
 
{{MediaPlayer | url = https://youtu.be/GzOOWM8UdEc | desc = }}
 
===Displaying the HTML code===
{{MediaPlayer | url = https://youtu.be/EpceMkMpfCs | desc = }}
 
==Atto editor toolbar layout==
 
[[File:Attotopline1382.png]]


==Toolbar buttons==
Atto Row 1
For those who are not familiar with the tool bar, here are the buttons as grouped in their rows. Remember that the site administrator can edit or provide additional buttons.


Row 1
{|
|[[File:26tinymcerow1.png|400px|thumb]]
|}


{| class="nicetable"
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
|-
|-
| 1:Expand
| 1:Expand
| 2.Formatting
| 2.Style
| 3.Bold
| 3.Bold
| 4.Italic
| 4.Italic
Line 34: Line 39:
| 8.Unlink  
| 8.Unlink  
|-
|-
| 9.Stop auto linking
| 9.Add image
| 10.Add image
| 10.Add smiley (if enabled)
| 11.Add emoticon
| 11.Add media
| 12.Add media
| 12.Record audio
|-
|-
| 13.Manage embedded files
| 13. Record video
|  
| 14. Manage embedded files
|
| 15. H5P {{New features}}
|  
   
|}
|}
Row 2


{|
|[[File:26tinymcerow2.png|400px|thumb]]
|}


{| class="nicetable"
 
[[File:Attobottomline.png]]
 
Atto Row 2
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
|-
|-
| 1:Undo
| 1. Underline
| 2.Redo
| 2. Strikethrough
| 3.Underline
| 3. Subscript
| 4.Strikethrough
| 4. Superscript
|-
|-
| 5.Subscript
| 5. Align left/centre/right
| 6.Superscript
| 6. Decrease/increase indent
| 7.Align left
| 7. Equation editor
| 8.Align centre
| 8. Special character
|-
|-
| 9.Align right
| 9. Table
| 10.Decrease indent
| 10. Clear formatting
| 11.Increase indent
| 11. Undo/redo
| 12.Text colour
| 12. Accessibility checker
|-
| 13.Background colour
| 14.Left to Right
| 15.Right to Left
|
|-
|-
| 13. Screenreader helper
| 14. HTML/code view
|
|}
==Manage embedded files==
This allows users to add, delete or override files embedded in the current text area, for example in a label or topic summary. (It complements the [[Embedded files repository]])
[[File:26embeddefiles2.png|thumb|400px|center]]
===Image drag and drop===
If your browser allows it (and if it does, you will see a message at the top of your screen when the editing is on) you can add images into the Atto editor simply by dragging them from your computer:


|}
[[File:Attodragdrop29.png|thumb|600px|center|Drag an image directly into the editor]]
Row 3


{|
===Autosave===
|[[File:26tinymcerow3.png|400px|thumb]]
|}


{| class="nicetable"
Text typed into the Atto editor is automatically saved if you leave the page. The default of 60 seconds may be changed by the administrator in ''Site administration>Plugins>Text editors>Atto HTML editor>Atto toolbar settings.'' If the user accidentally closes the tab or otherwise leaves the form without submitting, the text in the editor will be restored next time he opens the page. To discard  a restored draft, the  user needs to cancel the form or press the "Undo" button in the editor.
|-
[[File:AtttoAutosave.png|thumb|600px|center]]
|-
| 1:Font family
| 2.Font size
| 3.Edit HTML
| 4.Find
|-
| 5.Find/replace
| 6.Insert non-breaking space
| 7.Insert special character
| 8.Insert table
|-
| 9.Clean up messy code
| 10.Remove formatting
| 11.Paste as plain text
| 12.Paste from MS Word


|-
===Accessibility checker===
| 13.Toggle full screen
|-
|}


===Colour pickers===
One of the tools available in the text editor is an automated [[Accessibility|accessibility]] checker which checks for some common errors in the text. These are usually things in the way the text is constructed that can prevent all users from having equal access to information and functionality. The list of problems that the accessibility checker looks for is:
*[[Image:26colourpickers.png]]
There are four levels of selecting a font or background colour,
*A quick pick 5x8 matrix of colours
*"More colours" that links to Picker, Pallet and Named tabs
<gallery>
Image:HTML_editor_color_selector_basic_1.png|A quick pick 5x8 matrix of colors
Image:HTML_editor_color_selector_more_picker_1.png|A rainbow color picker tab
Image:HTML_editor_color_selector_more_pallet_1.png|A Pallet tab with a 18x12 matrix of colors
Image:HTML_editor_color_selector_more_named_1.png|A Named tab with custom pallets
</gallery>


====Insert table====
* Images with missing or empty alt text (unless they have the presentation role)
<gallery widths="300px">
* Contrast of font colour and background colour meets [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Content_Accessibility_Guidelines WCAG AA guidelines]
Image:HTMLeditor_Insert_Table_general_1.png|General tab
* Long blocks of text are sufficiently broken up into headings
Image:HTMLeditor_Insert_Table_advanced_1.png|Advanced tab
* All tables require captions
</gallery>
* Tables should not contain merged cells as they are difficult to navigate with screen readers
* All tables should contain row or column headers


'''To add borders to a table'''
===Screenreader helper===


Cell borders are crucial for helping readers to follow the rows across the screen. If they aren’t showing already you can add them as follows:
Screen readers basically treat a content editable region like a text box - which is wrong, because it can contain images, links and more.


#In the Wiki page containing your table, click its Edit tab
The screen reader helper provides additional information about the currently selected text (e.g. is it bold), as well as a listing of any images or links in the text.
#Carefully select all the cells of the table
#Then right click (Macs: Command+click or Ctrl+Click) over any part of your selection to get a context menu; from it select Cell > Table Cell Properties; the cell properties dialog box then loads.
#Click on its Advanced tab, set Border Color to black (for instance), then click Apply, and then click Update.
#Click Save; the Wiki page containing your table will then load displaying its borders.


==Site administration settings==
==Equation editor==


===Manage editors===
If either the [[MathJax filter|MathJax]] or the [[TeX notation filter|TeX notation]] filters are enabled (in ''Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Filters > Manage filters'') then an equation editor button is provided in the toolbar for launching the equation editor.


A site administrator can enable / disable text editors in ''Settings > Site administration > Plugins > Text editors > Manage editors''. By default the TinyMCE HTML editor and plain text area are enabled.
In Moodle 3.0 onwards, extra buttons are provided for square roots, fractions and vectors.
[[Image:30equationeditor.png|thumb|center|Equation editor]]


===TinyMCE editor settings===
==Table editor==


The TinyMCE  HTML editor has its own settings page ''Administration>Site administration>Plugins>Text editors>TinyMCE HTML editor>General settings'' with the following options:
If the administrator has enabled the extra settings for the Atto table editor (see below) then border styling, sizing  and colours are available when creating a table:


====Plugins====
[[File:AttoTableRevised.png|center|thumb|center]]
*Buttons for equations, emoticons,images, media, automatic linking, and  legacy spell-checking may be enabled, disabled or uninstall here by clicking on their eye.
*Additionally the equation, emoticon and spell check buttons have links to their Settings screens.


[[File:26tinymceplugins.png |thumb|none|upright=2.0|alt="The TinyMCE editor plugins screen" | The TinyMCE editor plugins screen]]
==Keyboard shortcuts==


=====Manage embedded files=====
The following keyboard shortcuts will work in the Atto text editor in most browsers. Note that for many of these commands to work you need to either click in the text editor or select content in the text editor.
{{New features}}
This plugin allows users to add, delete or override files embedded in the current text area, for example in a label or topic summary. (It complements the [[Embedded files repository]])


{|
{| class="wikitable"
|[[File:26embeddedfiles1.png|thumb|The Manage files button]]
|-
|
! Windows Command
|[[File:26embeddefiles2.png|thumb|Managing embedded files from within TinyMCE]]
! Mac Command
! Function
|-
| Ctrl + c
| ⌘ + c
| Copy
|-
| Ctrl + v
| ⌘ + v
| Paste
|-
| Ctrl + Shift + v
| ⌘ + Shift + v
| Paste without formatting (very useful)
|-
| Ctrl + x
| ⌘ + x
| Cut
|-
| Ctrl + z
| ⌘ + z
| Undo (careful - can undo a lot of text and doesn't always work)
|-
| Ctrl + y
| ⌘ + y
| Redo
|-
| Ctrl + a
| ⌘ + a
| Select all
|-
| Double-click
| Double-click
| Select word
|-
| Triple-click
| Triple-click
| Select line
|-
| Ctrl + f
| ⌘ + f
| Find on page
|-
| F3
| F3
| Find next
|-
| Shift + F3
| Shift + F3
| Find previous
|-
| Ctrl + b
| ⌘ + b
| Bold
|-
| Ctrl + i
| ⌘ + i
| Italics
|-
| Ctrl + u
| ⌘ + u
| Underline
|-
| Ctrl + k
| ⌘ + k
| Insert/edit link
|-
| Ctrl + Right arrow
| ⌘ + Right arrow
| Move to the end of the next word
|-
| Ctrl + Left arrow
| ⌘ + Left arrow
| Move to the end of the previous word
|-
| Ctrl + Shift + Right arrow
| ⌘ + Shift + Right arrow
| Select the next word or letter
|-
| Ctrl + Shift + Left arrow
| ⌘ + Shift + Left arrow
| Select the previous word or letter
|-
| Ctrl + Shift + Home
| ⌘ + Shift + Home
| Select from the cursor to the beginning of the page
|-
| Ctrl + Shift + End
| ⌘ + Shift + End
| Select from the cursor to the end of the page
|-
| Ctrl + Home
| ⌘ + Home
| Move to the beginning of the page
|-
| Ctrl + End
| ⌘ + End
| Move to the end of the page
|-
| Ctrl + Backspace
| ⌘ + Backspace
| Delete word or letter to the left
|-
| Ctrl + Delete
| ⌘ + Delete
| Delete word or letter to the right
|-
| Ctrl and +
| ⌘ and +
| Zoom in (not specific to the editor, but very useful)
|-
| Ctrl and -
| ⌘ and -
| Zoom out (not specific to the editor, but very useful)
|-
| Ctrl and 0
| ⌘ and 0
| Reset zoom (not specific to the editor, but very useful)
|}
|}


=====Insert equation=====
<span style="font-size:80%">Source: [https://confluence.royalroads.ca:8443/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=47778173 Jason 1keddie, Royal Roads University (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike)]</span>


Accessed from ''Administration>Site administration>Plugins>Text editors>TinyMCE HTML editor>Edit equation'', this allows you to enable or disable the  TeX filter in the editor context and thereby display the Dragmath button. If you have a global custom TeX filter, then disable this setting.
==Site administration settings==
 
===Toolbar settings===


=====Insert emoticon=====
The administrator can specify which plugins to display and in which order from ''Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Text editors > Atto HTML editor > Atto toolbar settings''.
Accessed from ''Administration>Site administration>Plugins>Text editors>TinyMCE HTML editor>Insert emoticon'', this allows you to enable or disable the emoticon filter in the editor context and thereby display the emoticon button.
[[File:atto-plugins.png|thumb|center|450px|Atto Plugins]]


===== Legacy spell checker=====
====Toolbar config table====
The legacy spell checker is visible in IE9 and lower only, but not in other browsers. If you want to disable it and and rely on browser spell checker functionality instead, you can do this by disabling the ''legacy spellchecker'' plugin by clicking its eye in ''Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Text editors > TinyMCE HTML editor > General settings''
The toolbar is split into groups of related buttons. The format for the config setting is:


To spell-check via your browser, type your word (which if incorrectly spelt will have red lines under it) and press right click + CTRL
groupname1 = button1, button2, button3
{|
groupname2 = button1, button2, button3
|[[File:Browserspellcheck.png|thumb|Right-click+CTRL for browser spellcheck]]
|}


'''NOTE:'''
The group names on the left have no effect on how the toolbar works; they just need to be different for each button (and no spaces please). The list of buttons says which button goes in which group and in what order. The exact word to insert here for each button is listed in the "Toolbar config" column above.
While the default spell engine is Google spell which  can be changed in ''Administration>Site administration>Plugins>Text editors>TinyMCE HTML editor'', this is no longer supported by Google and will not work. (Note that it is only visible in IE9 and lower) It is due to be removed. See MDL-38867. In browser spell check is recommended.


If PSpell is selected then aspell 0.50 or later must be installed on your server and the path to aspell set in Administration > Site administration > Server > System Paths.
The reason there are names for the groups is that it helps to make you think about how to group the buttons sensibly and not just stick new buttons in random locations. Ie. all the buttons in the "files" group interact with the file picker in some way


===Adding extra buttons===


You can select a different spell engine from ''Administration> Site administration > Plugins > Text editors > TinyMCE HTML editor>Check spelling'' 
Extra plugins from the list (for example 'Font color') may be added by typing the toolbarconfig term into the toolbar config table.


[[File:toolbarconfig.png]]


{|
Here for example are the available colours when 'fontcolor' is added:
|[[File:Spellengine.png|thumb|Choosing a different spell engine]]
|}
According to: http://php.net/manual/en/book.pspell.php


"As of php 5.3. Pspell is no longer supported/bundled. Instead you can use the enchant which is bundled by default in 5.3."
[[File:fontcolor.png]]


If PSpell is selected then aspell 0.50 or later must be installed on your server and the path to aspell set in Administration > Site administration > Server > System Paths.
The icons are displayed in related groups and the administrator can decide how many groups to display in the default collapsed state of the toolbar (that is, how many groups to display on Row 1).


===Customising the editor toolbar===
====Autosave frequency====
Text is automatically saved at regular intervals so it may be restored when the user returns to a form they had previously left. This setting allows the administrator to specify the time between autosaves. The default is one minute.
==== Non default Atto plugins ====
Not all plugins are enabled by default and the administrator of each site should give careful thought as to which plugins they choose to enable for their users. Here are some things to consider before enabling the non-default plugins:


An administrator can remove or add buttons to the TinyMCE editor toolbar by altering the Editor toolbar box in ''Administration>Site administration>Plugins>Text editors>TinyMCE HTML editor>General settings'' as demonstrated in the screencast [http://youtu.be/vTW1DImro9c Customise the text editor in 2.4]
===== Background colour / Font colour =====
While these are very popular plugins, there are downsides to enabling their use on a site. Firstly - user specified colours may conflict visually with the site colours chosen by the theme designer. Even if the colours of the content do not conflict with the colours of the current theme, if the theme is changed in future, or the content is reused on a different site conflicts may be introduced. There are 2 possible types of conflicts, the first is just a visually unappealing combination of colours, the second is a combination of colours that may produce text that is hard to read for some people. It is preferable if the theme designer uses some interesting colours that meet the accessibility standards required for the site in the theme for the site, and the person creating the content simply uses the proper heading levels (for example) to make use of those styles.


{|
===== Emoji picker =====
| [[File:editortoolbar.png|thumb|The Editor toolbar box]]
{{New features}}An emoji picker button may be added by typing 'emojipicker' into the toolbar config table.
|[[File:horizontalrule.png|thumb|Example of  toolbar with added horizontal rule button]]
[[File:toolbar with emoji picker.png|thumb|Toolbar with emoji picker button]]
To add the emoji picker button to the top row:


# Enter the line <code>emoji = emojipicker</code> under the line <code>files = image, emoticon, media, managefiles, recordrtc, h5p</code>
# Go to 'Collapse toolbar settings' and change 'Show first (n) groups when collapsed' to 6 and save changes.


|}
===== Emoticons =====
The emoticon plugin inserts text representations of the emoticons in the content. The emoticon filter is responsible for converting these text sequences into proper smiley images. The emoticon filter is not enabled by default, which is why the emoticon plugin for Atto is not enabled by default.


====Available fonts list====
===== No-auto link =====
In general, the more plugins are added to the Atto toolbar, the harder it becomes to find specific plugins. Because the no-auto link plugin is not felt to be widely used it is not enabled by default.


In addition to the default fonts, a site administrator can add extra fonts by typing their name and string in the box in ''Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Text editors > TinyMCE HTML editor>General settings'' as demonstrated in the screencast [http://youtu.be/udP7Bnur30Y How to add extra fonts].
===== Right to left =====
Because this plugin is only useful for courses where text needs to be written in a mixture of both "left to right" and "right to left" languages, it is not enabled by default.


{|
==== Moodle plugins directory ====
|[[File:comicsans.png|thumb|Example of custom font]]
|}


====Custom configuration====
There are more plugins available for Atto than just those included in a default install.
See the [https://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=category&id=53 Moodle plugins directory] for additional plugins.
Some example plugins include the following:


A setting in  ''Administration>Site administration>Plugins>Text editors>TinyMCE HTML editor>General settings'' provides  a box in which an administrator can apply custom formats. See MDL-37186 for more details with examples, and see also the [http://www.tinymce.com/wiki.php/Configuration:formats TinyMCE configuration page]
===== Cloze editor for Atto=====
[[Cloze editor for Atto|This]] is a plugin for easily making [[Embedded Answers (Cloze) question type]] questions inside the standard Moodle Atto text editor.


{|
===== Toggle preview =====
|[[File:bottomtoolbar.png|thumb| Example 1:Toolbar at the bottom]]
This plugin allows you view the content as it would be seen by a reader.
|[[File:customstyles.png|thumb| Example 2: Custom styles]]
|}


*Example: Moving the toolbar to the bottom:
===== Chemistry plugins =====
There are a number of chemistry plugins that support chemistry equations and structures.


Add the following:
===== Text import plugins =====
{"theme_advanced_toolbar_location" : "bottom"}
There are a number of plugins that support importing text from other sources.
The [https://moodle.org/plugins/view/atto_pastespecial Paste special] plugin minimises the amount of superfluous HTML markup
included when pasting content from an external editor such as Microsoft Word.


*Example: Adding your own custom styles.
The [https://moodle.org/plugins/view/atto_wordimport Word Import] plugin (beta) supports importing an entire Word document,  
(This might be useful for example if you want a "house style" for important notes, key points or similar)
including embedded images.
In the editor toolbar, enter "styleselect" and then in the custom box add the following code, changing it to suit your purposes:
{"style_formats" : [
  {"title" : "Bold text", "inline" : "b"},
  {"title" : "Red text", "inline" : "span", "styles" : {"color" : "#ff0000"}},
  {"title" : "Red header", "block" : "h1", "styles" : {"color" : "#ff0000"}} ]}


The following will let you use bootstrap CSS classes if you use a bootstrap based theme:
===Equation editor settings===


    {"style_formats" : [
Equation editor commands may be removed, added or reordered in ''Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Text editors > Atto HTML editor > Equation editor settings''.
        {"title" : "Well", "block" : "div", "classes" : "well"},
        {"title" : "Label", "inline" : "span", "classes" : "label"},
        {"title" : "Label - success", "inline" : "span", "classes" : "label label-success"},
        {"title" : "Label - warning", "inline" : "span", "classes" : "label label-warning"},
        {"title" : "Label - important", "inline" : "span", "classes" : "label label-important"},
        {"title" : "Label - info", "inline" : "span", "classes" : "label label-info"},
        {"title" : "Label - inverse", "inline" : "span", "classes" : "label label-inverse"},
        {"title" : "Button", "inline" : "a", "classes" : "btn btn"},
        {"title" : "Button - primary", "inline" : "a", "classes" : "btn btn-primary"},
        {"title" : "Button - info", "inline" : "a", "classes" : "btn btn-info"},
        {"title" : "Button - success", "inline" : "a", "classes" : "btn btn-success"},
        {"title" : "Button - warning", "inline" : "a", "classes" : "btn btn-warning"},
        {"title" : "Button - danger", "inline" : "a", "classes" : "btn btn-danger"},
        {"title" : "Button - inverse", "inline" : "a", "classes" : "btn btn-inverse"}
    ]}


*Example: Enabling copy of rich content with styles from MS Word (tm) and paste into TineMCE without removing important styles:
[[File:equationeditor.png]]


{"paste_retain_style_properties" : "margin, padding, width, height, font-size,
===Table editor settings===
  font-weight, font-family, color, text-align, ul, ol, li,
Styles, colours and sizes for tables and their borders may be enabled from ''Administration > Site administraton >Plugins > Test editors > Atto HTML editor > Table settings.''
  text-decoration, border, background, float, display"}


==See also==
==See also==
 
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBx0O9cQzBA Moodle HQ screencast demonstrating Atto editor]  
===Screencasts===
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m2xkm2EyXA&feature=share&list=SPxcO_MFWQBDe8RRnGjoUDqbcm9PSlIoWn&index=4 TinyMCE text editor improvements.]
===Other===


* [[Text editor FAQ]]
* [[Text editor FAQ]]
* [[Embedded files repository]]
* [[Embedded files repository]]
* [[Word count quick guide]] - Word count is a plugin for the [[Text editor|Atto text editor]] which is used to create content within Moodle.  This plugin enables the author of text, such as a student,  to check how many words and letters are in a  piece of text.


[[Category:Site administration]]
[[Category:Site administration]]
[[Category:Language teaching]]


[[de:Text-Editor]]
[[de:Text-Editor]]
[[es:Editor de texto]]
[[es:Editor de texto]]
[[fr:Éditeur de texte]]

Latest revision as of 15:12, 10 August 2021

Using a text editor

The text editor (sometimes referred to as the 'HTML editor') has many icons to assist the user in entering content. Many of these icons and functions should be familiar to anyone who uses a word processor.

Some examples of where you will see the text editor include: Editing Section headings, description of an activity, writing an answer to a quiz question or editing the content of many blocks.

The default text editor in Moodle is the Atto editor, built specifically for Moodle. There is also a version of the TinyMCE editor and a plain text editor.

Text editors can be enabled, disabled or a different one set to default from Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Text editors > Manage editors. The order of priority may also be specified here.

If more than one text editor is enabled, users can select their preferred editor via their preferences page in the user menu (top right).

Atto HTML editor

Load video
YouTube

Displaying the HTML code

Load video
YouTube

Atto editor toolbar layout

Attotopline1382.png

Atto Row 1


1:Expand 2.Style 3.Bold 4.Italic
5.Bulleted list 6.Numbered list 7.Add link 8.Unlink
9.Add image 10.Add smiley (if enabled) 11.Add media 12.Record audio
13. Record video 14. Manage embedded files 15. H5P New feature
in Moodle 3.8!



Attobottomline.png

Atto Row 2

1. Underline 2. Strikethrough 3. Subscript 4. Superscript
5. Align left/centre/right 6. Decrease/increase indent 7. Equation editor 8. Special character
9. Table 10. Clear formatting 11. Undo/redo 12. Accessibility checker
13. Screenreader helper 14. HTML/code view

Manage embedded files

This allows users to add, delete or override files embedded in the current text area, for example in a label or topic summary. (It complements the Embedded files repository)

26embeddefiles2.png

Image drag and drop

If your browser allows it (and if it does, you will see a message at the top of your screen when the editing is on) you can add images into the Atto editor simply by dragging them from your computer:

Drag an image directly into the editor

Autosave

Text typed into the Atto editor is automatically saved if you leave the page. The default of 60 seconds may be changed by the administrator in Site administration>Plugins>Text editors>Atto HTML editor>Atto toolbar settings. If the user accidentally closes the tab or otherwise leaves the form without submitting, the text in the editor will be restored next time he opens the page. To discard a restored draft, the user needs to cancel the form or press the "Undo" button in the editor.

AtttoAutosave.png

Accessibility checker

One of the tools available in the text editor is an automated accessibility checker which checks for some common errors in the text. These are usually things in the way the text is constructed that can prevent all users from having equal access to information and functionality. The list of problems that the accessibility checker looks for is:

  • Images with missing or empty alt text (unless they have the presentation role)
  • Contrast of font colour and background colour meets WCAG AA guidelines
  • Long blocks of text are sufficiently broken up into headings
  • All tables require captions
  • Tables should not contain merged cells as they are difficult to navigate with screen readers
  • All tables should contain row or column headers

Screenreader helper

Screen readers basically treat a content editable region like a text box - which is wrong, because it can contain images, links and more.

The screen reader helper provides additional information about the currently selected text (e.g. is it bold), as well as a listing of any images or links in the text.

Equation editor

If either the MathJax or the TeX notation filters are enabled (in Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Filters > Manage filters) then an equation editor button is provided in the toolbar for launching the equation editor.

In Moodle 3.0 onwards, extra buttons are provided for square roots, fractions and vectors.

Equation editor

Table editor

If the administrator has enabled the extra settings for the Atto table editor (see below) then border styling, sizing and colours are available when creating a table:

AttoTableRevised.png

Keyboard shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts will work in the Atto text editor in most browsers. Note that for many of these commands to work you need to either click in the text editor or select content in the text editor.

Windows Command Mac Command Function
Ctrl + c ⌘ + c Copy
Ctrl + v ⌘ + v Paste
Ctrl + Shift + v ⌘ + Shift + v Paste without formatting (very useful)
Ctrl + x ⌘ + x Cut
Ctrl + z ⌘ + z Undo (careful - can undo a lot of text and doesn't always work)
Ctrl + y ⌘ + y Redo
Ctrl + a ⌘ + a Select all
Double-click Double-click Select word
Triple-click Triple-click Select line
Ctrl + f ⌘ + f Find on page
F3 F3 Find next
Shift + F3 Shift + F3 Find previous
Ctrl + b ⌘ + b Bold
Ctrl + i ⌘ + i Italics
Ctrl + u ⌘ + u Underline
Ctrl + k ⌘ + k Insert/edit link
Ctrl + Right arrow ⌘ + Right arrow Move to the end of the next word
Ctrl + Left arrow ⌘ + Left arrow Move to the end of the previous word
Ctrl + Shift + Right arrow ⌘ + Shift + Right arrow Select the next word or letter
Ctrl + Shift + Left arrow ⌘ + Shift + Left arrow Select the previous word or letter
Ctrl + Shift + Home ⌘ + Shift + Home Select from the cursor to the beginning of the page
Ctrl + Shift + End ⌘ + Shift + End Select from the cursor to the end of the page
Ctrl + Home ⌘ + Home Move to the beginning of the page
Ctrl + End ⌘ + End Move to the end of the page
Ctrl + Backspace ⌘ + Backspace Delete word or letter to the left
Ctrl + Delete ⌘ + Delete Delete word or letter to the right
Ctrl and + ⌘ and + Zoom in (not specific to the editor, but very useful)
Ctrl and - ⌘ and - Zoom out (not specific to the editor, but very useful)
Ctrl and 0 ⌘ and 0 Reset zoom (not specific to the editor, but very useful)

Source: Jason 1keddie, Royal Roads University (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike)

Site administration settings

Toolbar settings

The administrator can specify which plugins to display and in which order from Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Text editors > Atto HTML editor > Atto toolbar settings.

Atto Plugins

Toolbar config table

The toolbar is split into groups of related buttons. The format for the config setting is:

groupname1 = button1, button2, button3 groupname2 = button1, button2, button3

The group names on the left have no effect on how the toolbar works; they just need to be different for each button (and no spaces please). The list of buttons says which button goes in which group and in what order. The exact word to insert here for each button is listed in the "Toolbar config" column above.

The reason there are names for the groups is that it helps to make you think about how to group the buttons sensibly and not just stick new buttons in random locations. Ie. all the buttons in the "files" group interact with the file picker in some way

Adding extra buttons

Extra plugins from the list (for example 'Font color') may be added by typing the toolbarconfig term into the toolbar config table.

toolbarconfig.png

Here for example are the available colours when 'fontcolor' is added:

fontcolor.png

The icons are displayed in related groups and the administrator can decide how many groups to display in the default collapsed state of the toolbar (that is, how many groups to display on Row 1).

Autosave frequency

Text is automatically saved at regular intervals so it may be restored when the user returns to a form they had previously left. This setting allows the administrator to specify the time between autosaves. The default is one minute.

Non default Atto plugins

Not all plugins are enabled by default and the administrator of each site should give careful thought as to which plugins they choose to enable for their users. Here are some things to consider before enabling the non-default plugins:

Background colour / Font colour

While these are very popular plugins, there are downsides to enabling their use on a site. Firstly - user specified colours may conflict visually with the site colours chosen by the theme designer. Even if the colours of the content do not conflict with the colours of the current theme, if the theme is changed in future, or the content is reused on a different site conflicts may be introduced. There are 2 possible types of conflicts, the first is just a visually unappealing combination of colours, the second is a combination of colours that may produce text that is hard to read for some people. It is preferable if the theme designer uses some interesting colours that meet the accessibility standards required for the site in the theme for the site, and the person creating the content simply uses the proper heading levels (for example) to make use of those styles.

Emoji picker

New feature
in Moodle 3.8! An emoji picker button may be added by typing 'emojipicker' into the toolbar config table.

Toolbar with emoji picker button

To add the emoji picker button to the top row:

  1. Enter the line emoji = emojipicker under the line files = image, emoticon, media, managefiles, recordrtc, h5p
  2. Go to 'Collapse toolbar settings' and change 'Show first (n) groups when collapsed' to 6 and save changes.
Emoticons

The emoticon plugin inserts text representations of the emoticons in the content. The emoticon filter is responsible for converting these text sequences into proper smiley images. The emoticon filter is not enabled by default, which is why the emoticon plugin for Atto is not enabled by default.

No-auto link

In general, the more plugins are added to the Atto toolbar, the harder it becomes to find specific plugins. Because the no-auto link plugin is not felt to be widely used it is not enabled by default.

Right to left

Because this plugin is only useful for courses where text needs to be written in a mixture of both "left to right" and "right to left" languages, it is not enabled by default.

Moodle plugins directory

There are more plugins available for Atto than just those included in a default install. See the Moodle plugins directory for additional plugins. Some example plugins include the following:

Cloze editor for Atto

This is a plugin for easily making Embedded Answers (Cloze) question type questions inside the standard Moodle Atto text editor.

Toggle preview

This plugin allows you view the content as it would be seen by a reader.

Chemistry plugins

There are a number of chemistry plugins that support chemistry equations and structures.

Text import plugins

There are a number of plugins that support importing text from other sources. The Paste special plugin minimises the amount of superfluous HTML markup included when pasting content from an external editor such as Microsoft Word.

The Word Import plugin (beta) supports importing an entire Word document, including embedded images.

Equation editor settings

Equation editor commands may be removed, added or reordered in Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Text editors > Atto HTML editor > Equation editor settings.

equationeditor.png

Table editor settings

Styles, colours and sizes for tables and their borders may be enabled from Administration > Site administraton >Plugins > Test editors > Atto HTML editor > Table settings.

See also

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