VisualEditor

What is VisualEditor?

One of the most important tools for inserting and formatting content in BlueSpice is VisualEditor. This visual editor is based on the MediaWiki extension VisualEditor. With this sophisticated editor pages can be quickly and clearly filled with a variety of content.

When creating or editing a page, you're in visual edit mode right now. If you are familiar with the code language of MediaWiki ("WikiText"), you can easily switch over using the "Switch Editor" function:

Text editing

Typical text formatting such as bold, italics, or textcolour are already possible during text input. When you format text with the mouse, you will see a mini menu with the most important formatting elements. With one click the desired formatting can be selected. This is especially fast, if you want to change the text color, for example:

The mini menu appears only in the text flow, not when an entire paragraph is highlighted. For example, note for bullet points, that you select only the text itself and not the whole line. Otherwise, paragraph formatting will be selected "behind the scenes" and the mini menu will not appear.

If you want to apply multiple formatting at the same time, shortcuts are often the quickest. For example, to show bold and italic text, highlight the text and press Ctrl+b (for English, "bold") and Ctrl+i (for "italics"). Even a link can be quickly pasted via Ctrl+k. Pressing Ctrl+b again will cancel the bold. Multiple formatting can be removed after text selection using Ctrl+M combined.

All editor functions for which there are keyboard shortcuts are marked accordingly:

Insert external content

Many typical page elements such as images, files and tables can be integrated into your page via the "Insert" menu.

If you want to learn more about inserting these elements, go to the appropriate help page:

• Images
• Files (PDF, xls, doc, ...)
• Tables
• Templates

Typical Wiki!

Some functions in the "Insert" menu are little known from traditional word processing, but are quite typical for working with a wiki. Therefore, you will be briefly introduced here. You can immerse yourself deeper on the individual pages:

• Comment: Add comments to the page. These are only visible in the source code.
• Magic word: Wiki features such as signature, word counter, category tree or even process diagrams with draw.io can be integrated as a "magic word".
• Your signature: Only works on pages that allow signatures. Pages in the Namespace "Pages" are not included.
• Gallery: A simple picture gallery can meaningfully support many process flows.
• Codeblock: Programming code is displayed here in clean code blocks, optionally with lines.
• Itemization list:
• Chemical formula:
• Math formula: An editor opens for entering a mathematical formula. More info on MediaWiki

MediaWiki Reference

Since the visual editor is a standard MediaWiki extension, you can also read a complete documentation of functionality on MediaWiki.

Here in the BlueSpice Helpdesk we give only short hints and tips for using the editor.

Hints and Tips

The visual editor is optimized for editing web pages. That's why it has exactly those features that are needed to create a wiki page again and again. The uniform formatting by VisualEditor thus supports the readability of your wiki content.

The BlueSpice Editor offers the following options:

Text formatting

Text formatting
Undo function	Left arrow: Undo last action (greyed out: there is no last action yet) Right arrow: Restore last action (greyed out: there's nothing to restore yet)
Paragraph formatting	Here text can be defined as heading or specific paragraph type. Note: If you work in a table, the options will change accordingly (content cell and header cell):
Character formatting	If no text has been selected before clicking on the " A" button and on a button, the text will be formatted from the current position of the cursor. (More Info on MediaWiki)
Insert hyperlink	If no text was selected before the hyperlink dialog was opened, the link will be generated with a number: [1] To subsequently change the hyperlink description, just click on the link to open the edit menu. In a table, you may need to double-click the cell first and then click the hyperlink again.
quote	The citation menu is used to insert references (also called itemizations or footnotes) within the text.
Block formatting

Insert special content

Paste Special Content
Insert menu	Use the "insert" menu to insert various media (images, videos) and text formats:
media	Inserting pictures and videos (Details on MediaWiki)
templates	Include Template in the page.
tables	Tables are an important tool for formatting pages in an appealing way. We have many Tips for Using Tables Properly.
comment	Comments are not visible to readers, but only in edit mode. A comment can be inserted anywhere on a page. The comment can be edited by clicking on it. And this is what a comment looks like:
Gallery
Magic word	With a "magic word" you can include certain variables or so-called behavioral switches in your page. For example, you can display the word count: Learn more about the magic word". Overview of all Magic Words in the visual editor.
Your signature	This option can only be used in discussions. Hereby at any point of a discussion the own signature can be added.
Code block	With code block various code examples can be entered, like e.g. in HTML syntax. The code is then displayed properly formatted: 1 <span style="color: red">red text</span>
Itemization list
Chemical formula
Math formula	It opens an editor for entering a mathematical formula. More info on MediaWiki
Special Characters

Page options

Page Options
Options menu	The options menu allows editing of all page settings.
options	This button allows the page settings and page information to be updated simultaneously within a dialog box.
Categories	Here you divide the page into the desired Categories. The page will appear accordingly on all linked category pages.
Page Settings	Page redirection: When the page is redirected, the content of the page is no longer displayed, but the target page is loaded directly. This setting can also be used to display or remove the table of contents at the top of the page. The table of contents is automatically generated by the headings on the page. Starting with three headings, the table of contents appears automatically by default.
Advanced Settings
languages
Used templates
View as right-to-left	Support for languages that are read from right to left. Clicking this button right-side formats the page text. Click again to set the text flush left.
Search and replace	Words or characters can be searched and replaced directly on the page. The "Undo" button can be used to cancel the change.

Troubleshooting: Visual editing is disabled

If you only see code editing, please contact an administrator of your wiki. The following settings must be checked in this case:

• Global setting via the configuration manager
• Namespace management settings
• Parsoid service on the server