Text formatting

Introduction

Input fields in Discover, such as question text and list items, support text formatting.

Larger text boxes like those for question text and list items display formatting options when you click into the text field.

A pencil icon on a list item text field is highlighted.

For smaller inputs like labels, options are available by clicking the pencil icon in the field.

The pencil icon is outlined in the

The following are the supported formatting options:

  • Bold (⌘B or Ctrl+B)
  • Italic (⌘I or Ctrl+I)
  • Underline (⌘U or Ctrl+U)
  • Text color
  • Alignment
  • Bulleted list
  • Numbered list
  • Links
  • Images
  • Tooltips

If you want to undo a modification, highlight the formatted text and click the Clear formatting button (Eraser – Clear Formatting), repeat the keyboard shortcut (⌘B or Ctrl+B to remove bold formatting).

Dialog showing the icons and the formatting options they represent.

Text color

Most survey text is a shade of black by default. Use the color picker to choose a new color or insert a HEX code to use whatever you wish. Clicking the Clear formatting icon (Eraser) will reset the text to its original color. 

Dialog of the color picker. Choose a color or type in a HEX value.

Bulleted and numbered lists

Both these list types have the same behavior. Click either one of the icons (Bulleted list iconNumbered list icon) to start a new list. After inserting some text, typing the Enter key on your keyboard inserts a new bullet or the next number. You can also start a numbered list by typing “1.” and then entering text. To exit a list, click the icon again, or hit Enter on your keyboard twice.

If you need respondents to view something on a different website, you can insert a hyperlink. Hyperlinks will open a new tab, so as not to disrupt the survey.

Dialog of the insert link formatting.

There are two ways to insert a link:

Highlight existing text

  1. Highlight the text you want the respondents to click
  2. Click the link icon (Link icon).
  3. The dialog below opens and the text you selected is inserted in the second field.
  4. Enter the URL you want to direct respondents to. Be sure to check that the link is formatted correctly and uses the proper capitalization, as links can be case-sensitive.
  5. Click insert.

Insert new text

  1. Click the link icon (Link icon).
  2. Enter the URL you want to direct respondents to.
  3. Enter the text you want to display as a button for respondents to click.
  4. Click Insert. 

Images

Insert images to help clarify items or add visual interest. If an image is too large, it will be automatically scaled down to fit properly into the area where they are being used.

Dialog with an uploaded image. The file name is shown as well as a field to insert alt text.

BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TGA, and TIFF files up to 50MB in size can be uploaded.

Before uploading an image, ensure that the filename is descriptive, so it can help you in MaxDiff analysis. If you insert the file “image_1.jpg” into a MaxDiff item, the filename “image_1.jpg” will appear in the analysis. A filename such as “Arizona.jpg” is much more helpful.

Alt text

Sometimes, respondents use screen readers to take surveys. In such cases, alt text (or alternate text) is essential to describe images for people using these tools. When a screen reader encounters an image, it reads aloud the alt text.

For instance, using "Arizona" as alt text for the image below would be ambiguous and unhelpful. A clearer alternative would be: "Woman standing on the edge of Camelback Mountain overlooking Phoenix, Arizona." This description provides specific details that make the image understandable to all survey participants.

The image used to illustrate alt text.

Tooltips

Add further context to text or images without cluttering the screen by adding tooltips.

To add a tooltip:

  1. Select the text or image you want to annotate.
  2. Click on the tooltip button in the rich text editor (Tooltip).
  3. Enter the explanatory text and click Insert.