The majority of systems that we build websites on use the TinyMCE Text Editor, such systems include the Joomla CMS and our own systems Ballyhoo Commerce and Ballyhoo Refresh. Other content management systems like WordPress use the same tools albeit in a slightly different order and layout.

Capital Letters

Firstly, do not use all capitals for article titles. Use the following format: ‘This Is An Example Article Title’.

Do not use all uppercase sentences anywhere in your pages. If you are trying to make something stand out from the rest of your text make the sentence bold. If you are trying to denote a new section of the page use a Heading 2.

Copying & Pasting Text

If you are adding text to your site from another source do not simply copy and paste the text into the text box. Other websites and applications like Word have a lot of hidden code that is carried across and can affect your website.

If there is a Paste as Plain Text button (a clipboard with a T) in the text editor, click on this to paste text into your page. An alternative would be to click on the HTML button (at the end of the second row of tools in TinyMCE) and paste the article text into the box that appears and click Update. If editing an article paste the text at the end of the text block in the HTML view.

Adding text in this way will strip out any code or poor formatting from the source allowing you to format the text correctly for your website.

Formatting Text

Use only the formats that are available in the text editor, the style of your headings and paragraphs have been specially styled to fit the design of your website.

The TinyMCE text editor works similarly to other word processors, just highlight the text you want to change and select the appropriate format from the drop-down menu on the first row of tools.

Please do not add coloured text to the page, this will invariably make the page look dated and amateur.

If you are making lists be sure to make use of bullets and numbers – the icons for these tools are fairly obvious.

Adding Images

If adding an image to an article, make sure that it is of high-quality and that it is the correct size for the page you are adding it to. Poor images will reflect badly on you even if they have been provided to you by an organisation.

Adding Links

This doesn’t strictly affect the look of your page but it is an important point to note:

If adding a link to an article ensure that you add a title for the link and set the target as ‘Open link in new window’ (in modern browsers the link will open in a new tab). The same rule applies when adding items like PDFs.

This ensures that the user doesn’t lose their place in your site and can continue their browsing experience when they have finished looking at the other web page/PDF.

Proof Reading

Always proof read and check the spelling of the content you are about to add to your website. Some mistakes are instantly noticeable (lack of full stops for example) and others are found through reading the page.

Poorly constructed sentences and incorrect grammar or punctuation are the sign of a poor site and may confuse the reader, or in some cases offend them, making them leave the website.

It has also been reported that Google’s latest search algorithm takes into account well written content so, for the sake of your search engine rankings, make sure your website content is the best it can possibly be. Hire a copywriter if you are not confident in your writing abilities.

Summary

In conclusion, remembering the following points will help you make inviting and attractive text pages every time:

• Do not add anything in ALL CAPITALS.
• Paste text as plain text to strip unwanted code.
• Use the text formats provided.
• Do not add coloured text.
• Only add high-quality images.
• Set links to open in a  new window.
• Proof read and spell check text.

Help

If you are in any doubt when adding or editing an article, email us at support@ballyhoo.ltd.uk and we will be happy to assist you.

In some cases it may be more expedient to ask us to add the item in question for you, we are fully trained and experienced at adding items to websites and formatting them correctly so what may take you half an hour may only take us 5 minutes. Any updates we carry out for you are charged at our usual hourly rate of £40 and updates are timed to the minute (e.g. a 15 minute job will cost only £10).

As a general rule the internet doesn’t appreciate spaces or a mix of upper and lower case characters in filenames. While these may work perfectly well on your computer, it is wise to rename your files before you upload them to your website.

• Change all the characters in the file name to lowercase, for example computer file.pdf instead of Computer File.pdf
• If there are any spaces in the file name you can replace these with underscores or hyphens, for example computer_file.pdf or computer-file.pdf

Making these changes should ensure that you have no problems uploading files to your website. However, if you still experience difficulty there could be an underlying issue so please get in touch for assistance.

How do I do this?

Go to the Start menu then select the Run program.

In the text field copy and paste the following command:

ipconfig /flushdns

You will now be able to view the latest version of your website.