Formatting Content

Formatting using the Blackboard Editor

Blackboard contains a "what you see is what you get" (WYSIWYG) text editor. It enables you to add text, insert various effects, objects and multimedia content when working with: blogs, journals, a discussion board and wikis.

WYSIWYG implies that the text editor will give a fairly accurate indication of the how the content will look when it is published.
However complex content (like multimedia and hyperlinks) may not display or be active while editing your content. You can use the preview button to test this content. The content will be rendered and will display correctly once you publish or save your work.

Editor Tools

See Blackboard help materials for the text editor.

Inserting Files

To insert a file via a downloadable link in your blog post:

Click the Attach File button

Click Browse My Computer

Locate and select the file

Add a description in the Alternative (Alt) Text field
Click Submit

The File will be available as a text link (as displayed below).

Inserting Images

To insert an image in your blog post:

Click the Attach Image button

Click Browse My Computer

Locate and select the image

Add a description in the Alt Text field
Optionally: hyper link the image by pasting a URL in the Image Target field
Optionally: Set the width and/or height
Click Submit

You can also select the image and click and drag the resize handles to adjust its size. The image will appear as demonstrated below.

Insert Movie: MPEG or AVI

To insert MPEG/AVI movie content into your blog post:
Note: to link to YouTube content, see Inserting a Mashup below.

Click the Add MPEG/AVI content button

Click Browse My Computer
Locate and select the file
(Steps described in Inserting File and Image above)
Provide a description in the Alt Text Field
Click Submit

Viewing the Movie

Note: the movie content will not be properly rendered until you publish your post. As you can see - it is displayed as a line in the text editor indicating the order of the content. You can also use the Preview button in the editor to check the content is working before publishing it.

As noted above: the image will be viewable once the post is published.

Insert Quicktime content

See Inserting MPEG/AVI content above. The process is similar.

Insert Mashup

A web mashup involves combining data from multiple sources in one place.

You are able to add media from YouTube, Flickr, Documents, Voice Recordings and Slidshare presentations.
YouTube, Flickr and Slideshare all use the same process described below.

Inserting YouTube Content

To insert a YouTube movie:

Click Add Mashup > YouTube Video

Search using a movie title or keywords
Click Go

From the search results:

Click Select to choose a movie

Update the movie details (where applicable):

The title
How the movie should be displayed in the blog post
Click Submit

The movie will be inserted into the blog post
If on campus you will need to be signed into the UQ Internet Traffic Management System or Eduroam wireless to access non-UQ content.

Flickr Photo

The process is similar to inserting a YouTube video (above)
Search for and insert a Flickr photo from the Add Mashup button

Paste from Word

When pasting from MS Word is it preferable to use the Paste From Word mashup rather than pasting content directly. The markup that MS Word uses to define formatting may be copied over if you paste directly making your Blackboard text editor content difficult to edit.

To paste from MS Word:

Copy the content you wish to paste from Microsoft Word
Click Add Mashup > Paste from Word

Hold CTRL + V (CMD + V on MAC) to paste your content into the text box
Click Submit

Formatting changes you can expect

The original word document:

The Blackboard equivalent pasted via "Paste from Word":

Only headings styled in MS Word using inbuilt Heading Styles will be maintained. Any manually styled text which looks like a heading will be changed to Normal text in the editor with a bold text effect.
Regular text in MS Word will be pasted normally
Various text effects like Bold, Italic, Underline, and ^Superscript will be translated normally
Provided there is a corresponding tool in the Blackboard text Editor
Other custom formatting maybe stripped off and replaced with normal text.

Voice Recording

To insert a voice recording:

Click Add Mashup > Voice Recording

You require a Java add-in for your web browser. If it is not present you will receive an error:

Important: Save your post as a draft before proceeding.

To get Java:

Click the Help menu within Blackboard

Follow the like to UQ Information Technology Services downloads in the Software and Plugins section
Install the add-in
Reload your web browser and return to your blog post