When writing in Chorus, you'll be able to choose from a variety of styling and formatting options. In addition to adding visual polish, proper formatting makes your writing more accessible. Read on for just a few examples of ways to customize your story, as well as some best practices.
Blockquotes
Blockquotes are a great way to call attention to longer quotes or excerpts in your story. Add a blockquote from the Styles menu of the toolbar.
Hit enter twice to continue writing your story.
Curly quotation marks and apostrophes
Quotations marks and apostrophes are formatted as smart quotes by default in Chorus.
To change a smart quote or apostrophe into a straight mark, hit ⌘+Z (or ctrl+Z on a PC) after adding it to your story.
Drop caps, end marks, and larger text styles
Drop caps and larger text can add emphasis to the start of your story, or signal the beginning of a new section. An end mark is a small visual touch that typically follows the last paragraph and closes out the story.
Apply drop caps, end marks, or make text large on the Layout screen screen by selecting the Modify (pencil icon) button.
Emoji
Much as we love them, emoji don’t play well with Chorus. You can publish embeds with emoji (e.g., tweets or Instagram posts), but otherwise they won’t display for audiences.
Headings and subheadings
Section headings help create structure within an article. Choose a heading style from the Headings menu, or use a keyboard shortcut.
For accessibility, keep headings in order. For example, don’t go from h1 to h4 to h2 and back to h4.
Horizontal rules
Add a horizontal rule to your story by selecting Insert > Horizontal rule.
Remove a horizontal rule by selecting it and hitting delete or backspace. Cut and paste to adjust the placement of a horizontal rule in your story.
Hyperlinks
To add a link to a story:
- Enter your link text.
- Select the text.
- Hit the Link icon in the toolbar, or use a keyboard shortcut: ⌘ + K or ctrl + K
- Paste in the URL.
- Hit Done.
Setting links to open in new windows is not supported in Chorus. Usability testing shows that experienced users understand how to open a link in a new window, and are annoyed when a site makes that choice for them. Inexperienced users, on the other hand, are frequently confused by new windows because it breaks their back button. This is especially true on mobile.
Inline comments
You can add comments on the Compose screen to suggest edits, explain changes, or leave notes for future updates. These comments are visible in the story editor, but won’t be published with the story.
Add inline comments to stories from the Styles menu, or by selecting the text of your comment and using the keyboard shortcut ⌘ + Shift + U on a Mac, or Ctrl + Alt + U on a PC.
Note: for maps, inline comments are available in the Description box.