When using D2L to create files and assignments for your course, you will use the HTML editor at one point or another. While it might look intimidating, there is an easy way to navigate and get comfortable with the different tools and buttons in the editor.

Let's say that you have a new assignment, a new file, in a module in your course. If you were to edit this file's HTML, found by clicking the drop-down menu next to the title and clicking 'Edit HTML,' you'd see the following screen:

Now, you have the option of editing the HTML directly, you will see a table of symbols that look like this:

Starting with the text formatting options:

If you click on the 'Format' menu, you can choose different types of headings. Clicking on the 'Font' menu, you can change the different types of fonts to customize your course page. Clicking on the pixel (#px) menu, you can change the size of the font that you will write, or change the font size of font/text that you've already written.

You can click on the 'paragraph style' button to change where the paragraph is situated. You can also add bullet points, numbered lists, and increase or decrease the indent for a paragraph.

You can also bold, italicize, underline, and 'select color' of the text within the HTML.

Next, the miscellaneous  items:

The 'Insert Stuff' button inserts files, links, and much more! The 'Insert Quicklink' button will let you insert a link to a source within the text of the HTML page. The 'Insert Image' button will let you insert an image you choose. The 'Equation' button gives you different equations to insert into the text, and the 'Table' button will insert a table. The 'plus' symbol gives you more options of inserts.

The 'Format Painter' symbol will take what you have currently selected (formatting wise) and paint it to selected text. The Accessibility checker checks for accessibility issues and notifies you of its findings. 'Word Count' and 'Preview' show you how many words are in the HTML and what it will look like when you press 'Save and Close,' respectively.

'Source Code' will take you to the source code of the HTML, if you want to try and insert code or fix code via coding route (it is useful for copying/pasting links from websites/videos if those links are broken, or to correct 'same window' tabs).

Finally, the 'Undo' and 'Redo' buttons will undo or redo the actions you made while creating the HTML!

Great job! You now know all about the HTML editor navigation bar and what each icon does! It is important to feel comfortable using these so you can best use them to your advantage.