Editing in Text Mode vs. HTML Mode

Hi folks -- hope you all had a good weekend. I just wanted to get in a last tutorial before Editor Jeff takes over.

Of course, the tutorial I wanted to do is how to edit hyperlinks, which means I really need to do this one first -- the difference between editing your Journal in Text View vs. HTML View.

(I've mentioned this in a bunch of earlier entries, but I've never given it the standalone entry it deserves.)

When you create or edit entries in Journals, there are two editing views -- Text view (actually Rich Text view), where your entry mostly looks the way it would after you hit Save; and HTML view, which exposes the usually-invisible HTML tags.

(HTML is the language that controls the way a Web page looks and acts. It ranges from the really simple tags, like <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i> tags, to tags that make hyperlinks clickable and insert pictures, to more complicated tags to add CSS styles, create tables and more.)

AOL Journals shows you the Text view by default (which means it hides the HTML from you). Editing in Text view is quick and easy (plus you can use the other formatting buttons on the toolbar) and is just fine for most people.

So why would you want to switch to HTML view? Editing the HTML directly gives you more options and more control, and it lets you do some stuff you just can't do in Text mode.

For example, if you want to add a table or an IFRAME, or add some styles using CSS, you need to be in HTML view. If you try to paste in HTML when you're in Text mode, Journals won't recognize the HTML code as code, and it will just show up in your page all ugly-like.

So, to switch to HTML mode, look in the formatting toolbar, and change the pulldown menu  from "View as Text" to "View as HTML" (see the animation below):

Notice how the buttons grey out in HTML view. You can't use the toolbar buttons when you're in HTML view.

Here's what it looks like with some HTML example code. First, here's the Text view:

Then, when I switch to HTML view using the pulldown menu, it reveals the invisible HTML tags:

So, that's it in a nutshell. Text view = Easier. HTML view = More control. Just be careful -- if you're not too sure about HTML, try creating a test Journal to play around with, so you don't mess up the layout of your real Journal.

(In fact, here's one use for HTML view -- sometimes, people will copy-and-paste something from another Web page into their blog. What they don't realize, though, is sometimes they're also copying invisible HTML table or CSS style tags. Occassionally, this can really screw up the layout of your Journal, in really unpredictable and odd ways. If this happens, looking at your entries in HTML view can sometimes reveal the culprit.)

I'm not going to do an HTML tutorial here -- since HTML has been evolving for over 10 years, there's a lot to talk about. Fortunately, most people (including me) can get by with knowing a relatively small amount of HTML.

Here's a mostly current list of the HTML tags that you can use in AOL Journals.

If you want some basic HTML resources, try this Webmonkey page: The HTML Basics.

Also, here is the Open Directory's listing of beginner HTML tutorials.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: aol journals, aol journals tips, aol journals how to, html vs text