Create a headline, a paragraph, a glossary, and more. The Text widget adds content without requiring a response from students.
The Text widget is just for text and so it is the most commonly used content tool in Stile. It does not provide space for students to answer a question, and images cannot be uploaded to it. You can, however, customize the formatting, colour, and more. You can also use it within the Side-by-side widget to place your text next to other media such as an image or video.
Protip: You can copy a block of text from another source, such as a website or text file, and paste it directly into a blank Stile Lesson using your keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+V for Windows or Cmnd+V for Mac). Stile will recognize it as a text block and create a fresh Text widget for you!
Text in Stile is automatically narrated for accessibility, and the text can easily be identified by screen readers.
The text is equipped with a rich text toolbox, which offers the following:
- Undo and redo;
- Hyperlinks to other Stile pages or websites;
- Horizontal break;
- Special characters;
- Block quote;
- Mathematical notation;
- Subscript and superscript;
- Text alignment;
- Emphasis: Bold, italic, and strikethrough;
- Bullets and numbered lists;
- Text formatting and colours.
Undo and redo
The left-pointing and right-pointing curly arrows will allow you to undo and redo recent changes to your work.
Hyperlinks to other Stile pages or websites
Click the chain link button to add links to your text. You may want students to access an activity or resource on another website, or link to another Stile Lesson. If you link to a Lesson, make sure that Lesson is released to your students so they can access it.
Horizontal break
The Horizontal break button, which looks like a skinny burger, adds a thin grey line between lines of text. This is a great way to break up big blocks of text or call attention to a specific section of text.
Special characters
The Omega (Ω) button reveals a character map that includes special characters commonly used in scientific notation and mathematics. Click on the character you want to use and it will be added to your text.
Block quote
The block quote formatting option is a great way to make a selection of text stand out, especially if you want to include a relevant passage from a book or a quote from a famous scientist or engineer. The block quote indents the selected text and shades it a light grey, and a vertical bar is added to the left side.
Mathematical notation
The square root button opens up a math editor, which allows you to write equations either using the provided characters or by inputting your own formulae using LaTeX. You can find a more in-depth tutorial on how to use this editor here.
Subscript and superscript
These buttons allow you to quickly add subscript and superscript to your text, such as "H₂0" or "A² + B² = C²."
Text alignment
Choose how you want your text to be justified. Left alignment is the default.
Emphasis: Bold, italic, and strikethrough
These are your standard formatting buttons for emphasis. The Tø button removes all formatting from your selected text.
Bullets and numbered lists
These are your list buttons. Create indented lists with either bullet points or numbers.
Use the increase indent and decrease indent buttons to add extra levels to your list. These are helpful when creating outlines of your content or adding materials lists to your practical activities.
Text formatting and colours
The last two buttons are both dropdown menus. The left menu offers a selection of pre-formatted text options: Normal; Heading 1; Heading 2; Heading 3; and Monospace. Normal is your standard paragraph format. The three Headings offer three larger sizes of text for your titles, subtitles, and section headers. Monospace is most commonly used for blocks of sample code.
The right menu offers a small selection of colours to apply to your text. The Stile content writers use light blue for our titles and section headers.
When creating your own Lesson, it's best to choose a style combination you like (e.g. Heading 2, Bold, dark grey for section headers) and stick to it throughout the whole Lesson.
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