Writing a post: Advanced editing tips

This page explains how to insert figures, tables, and other objects into your posts. When you are editing your post, you will see an editing bar that looks something like this above the text area:

That bar might have an extra row in it, depending on whether you’ve clicked the right-most button on the top row. If you don’t see an editing bar like that, then you’re probably using the advanced (HTML) editor instead of the visual editor. To get back into the visual editor, look for a “visual” link to the upper-right of the text area.

To make text bold, italic, a bulleted list, etc., highlight the relevant text and then click one of those formatting buttons. To insert a link, highlight the relevant text and then click on the picture of a chain link. Note that there’s also a spell check button. Hovering your mouse over any button will cause a description of that button to appear.

To insert an image, video, or other media file, look for the “upload/insert” links at the top of the editing area. You’ll see four little icons. If you hover your mouse over one of them, you’ll see a description of what that icon does. For example, click the first icon to upload an image file (such as a graph).

Please don’t upload huge files. Although we’ve got plenty of space on the web server, it will fill up quickly if you upload lots of large files. Rather than uploading a high-resolution version of your figures, please upload a smaller version.

To insert a table, click on the left-most icon on the bottom row. You’ll get a popup asking you for all sorts of information. Ignore all the options. All you need to do is specify how many rows and columns you want. Just leave the rest of the settings at their default. Once you’re editing a table, all those other icons on the bottom row will become active. Hover your mouse over each one to see a description of what it does.