Formatting issues can make a simple website project take a long time to complete. It can lead to frustration and workarounds that take even more time. You may have struggled with the following scenarios too:

• When creating a document in Word and then pasting the doc into another program, the format looks funky.
• Once you create a document with a bulleted list and paste into a website editor, the list is distorted with the bullets and spacing inconsistent.

I utilize a variety of web services to promote the library. Sometimes those web services are not as user-friendly when creating a text document as Google Docs, Word, or Pages. However, when copying the document text into such web service like Canvas, Libguides, or WordPress, it does not look the same. Random spacing occurs, bulleted items do not look proper, and the font sizes may change.

Solution: A Plain Text Editor

Mac Users: Open Text Edit, a free program automatically installed on your device.

Windows Users: Open Notepad, a free program available on your device.

Chromebook Users and Everyone: Open a web browser to Editpad, a free website for plain text.

A plain text editor removes all hidden formatting from Word or other programs. It strips all formatting from the text making it easy to copy into a web-editing service without formatting problems. Of note, the plain text editor also removes any hyperlink text created. To help this, I usually include the URL in the Word document and then create hyperlink text once the text moves to the web editing program.

Additional Plain Text Editors Available on the Web

CollabEdit: http://collabedit.com/

MyTextEdit: http://www.mytextarea.com/

WriteBox: https://write-box.appspot.com/

Author: Becca Munson

Becca Munson, Librarian, is a National Board Certified Teacher with over 23 years of experience in education. She is currently a school librarian at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park, KS. Becca continues to find ways to positively impact student learning with literacy initiatives, technology integration, and building rapport with students and staff. Follow her on Twitter to view the library in action @bvwlibrary and @beccamunson .

Categories: Blog Topics, Professional Development, Technology

Tags: library web site, technology