Much of the content editing in Squarespace 5 is done in pop-up windows called WYSIWYG editors. WYSIWYG (pronounced wi-zee-wig) is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get. WYSIWYG windows allow you to modify text and other content without using HTML code, and to see style changes as you make them. This type of editing is sometimes called rich text format.
WYSIWYG editors typically contain a content field and formatting options, similar to what you would see in Microsoft Word and other word processing programs. They also include controls to insert images and videos, perform spell check, undo or redo changes, and more.
Open the WYSIWYG
To open the WYSIWYG for an existing HTML page or blog post, enter Content mode and click the Edit or Modify annotation.
WYSIWYG options
WYSIWYG editors vary depending on what you’re editing.
Here’s the WYSIWYG editor for an HTML page. Use the controls in the top-right corner to format the text and other content. Use the icons in the top-left corner to add a link, image, video, code block, or gallery slideshow.
The WYSIWYG editor for a blog post looks similar, but it has a Title field and icons in the top-right corner that determine what type of blog post you’re creating.
Change the editor type
To change the preferences for your default editor, open the Website Management bar and click Website Settings under Structure. Then click the Editing/Commenting tab.
In the Content Editing Preferences section:
- Editing System - Use the drop-down menu to change the default type of editor from WYSIWYG to HTML, Textile, or Markdown.
- Syntactic Education - Use the Smarty Pants system to convert ASCII punctuation. For example, straight quotation marks will convert to "curly" quotation marks.
- Override Style Colors in WYSIWYG - Uncheck this to display the colors from your site's style in the WYSIWYG. For example, if your body text is set to white, the text in the editor will be white. This option doesn't work with some styles and layouts.
When you're done, click Update Information.
Next steps
Visit our other guides for more help adding content with WYSIWYG editors: