Create a headline, a paragraph, a list, instructions, 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, add maths or chemical formulae, 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;
- Text formatting, colour, and emphasis;
- Text alignment;
- Mathematical notation;
- Bullets and numbered lists;
- Subscript and superscript;
- Horizontal break;
- Block quote;
- Hyperlinks to other Stile pages or websites;
- Insert code (monospace);
- Clear formatting.
Undo and redo
The left-pointing and right-pointing curly arrows will allow you to undo and redo recent changes to your work. These also react to the standard keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+Z / Cmnd+Z for Undo and Ctrl+Shift+Z / Cmnd+Shift+Z for Redo.
Text formatting, colour, and emphasis
The left menu offers a selection of pre-formatted text options: Normal (default); Heading 1; Heading 2; and Heading 3. Normal is your standard paragraph format. The three Headings offer three larger sizes of text for your titles, subtitles, and section headers. Heading 1 is most commonly used for titles. Heading 2 works well for section headers and Heading 3 is suited for subsections and extra emphasis.
The next three buttons give you the emphasis options of Bold, Italics, and Strike (Strikethrough).
The underlined A menu offers a selection of colours to apply to your text. The Stile content writers use cornflower blue (1st row, 6th column) 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.
Text alignment
Choose how you want your text to be justified. Left alignment is the default. Click the icon to select left, centre, or right alignment.
Mathematical notation
The maths button swaps your text toolbar for a maths toolbar, which allows you to write equations either using the provided characters or by inputting your own formulae using LaTeX. Use these tools for writing chemical equations, too. You can find a more in-depth tutorial on how to use this editor here. Go back to the text toolbar by pressing the Escape key on your keyboard.
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. These buttons will remain greyed out until you have a bulleted or numbered list to work with.
Subscript and superscript
These buttons allow you to quickly add subscript and superscript to your text without using the full maths editor, such as "H₂0" or "A² + B² = C²."
Horizontal break
The Horizontal break button, which looks like an em dash icon, adds a thin grey line between blocks of text. This is a great way to break up big blocks of text, call attention to a specific section, or indicate a change of topics.
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.
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.
Insert code (monospace)
The code button formats your text using a monospace font instead of the standard font used for paragraphs and headers. This does not embed working code into the page! You can upload HTML files to your Lesson using the Share file widget.
Clear formatting
The last button on the toolbar will strip all formatting from your selected text, bringing it back to the default selections.
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