# Rich Text Editors ### About this export | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | **content_type** | lesson | | **platform** | contentstack-academy | | **source_url** | https://www.contentstack.com/academy/courses/creating-and-managing-content/rich-text-editors | | **course_slug** | creating-and-managing-content | | **lesson_slug** | rich-text-editors | | **markdown_file_url** | /academy/md/courses/creating-and-managing-content/rich-text-editors.md | | **generated_at** | 2026-05-04T05:36:51.628Z | > Part of **[Creating and Managing Content](https://www.contentstack.com/academy/courses/creating-and-managing-content)** on Contentstack Academy. **Academy MD v3** — structured for retrieval; no quiz or assessment keys. #### Video details #### At a glance - **Title:** Rich Text Editors - **Duration:** 2m 59s - **Media link:** https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/TQW4P84x - **Publish date (unix):** 1757641341 #### Streaming renditions - application/vnd.apple.mpegurl - audio/mp4 · AAC Audio · 113668 kbps - video/mp4 · 180p · 180p · 169718 kbps - video/mp4 · 270p · 270p · 210363 kbps - video/mp4 · 360p · 360p · 249356 kbps - video/mp4 · 406p · 406p · 280803 kbps - video/mp4 · 540p · 540p · 379982 kbps - video/mp4 · 720p · 720p · 557784 kbps - video/mp4 · 1080p · 1080p · 1116231 kbps #### Timed text tracks (delivery) - **thumbnails:** `https://cdn.jwplayer.com/strips/TQW4P84x-120.vtt` #### Transcript When you create content in ContentStack, you'll often be typing into a text editor, but not all editors are the same. Some content models are set up with traditional HTML editors, while others use a JSON-rich text editor. Let's use our Mexico City example to see the difference, why it matters, and how they differ. In our Compass travel site, the Mexico City entry is using the HTML editor. You can see I pasted in our content about the attraction. Notice there are paragraphs, headings, and rich formatting. This editor looks familiar to anyone who's written a blog post. You can style text, add links, insert images, and even switch into source view to hand-edit the HTML. The HTML editor is quick and easy, but what you're really storing here is raw markup, the exact formatting instructions for the browser. That makes it great for websites, but less flexible if you want the same content to power a mobile app or a voice assistant. Now let's contrast that with a JSON-rich text editor. At first glance, it feels similar. You can still add paragraphs, headings, lists, and media. But behind the scenes, instead of raw HTML, it's storing your content as structured JSON. Here's the exact content, written once in HTML and once in JSON. Look how different they look under the hood. With HTML, you're storing how the content should look. With JSON, you're storing what the content is, in a way that developers can render consistently across any channel. The HTML editor is the best if your team is focused on a traditional website. Authors get full control, it's quick to format, and no developer support is needed. The trade-off is that the content isn't as reusable. The JSON-rich text editor is the opposite. It's structured, portable, and ready for omnichannel publishing, web, mobile, APIs, even kiosks or voice apps. But it does rely on developer effort to render it properly, and authors might feel it's a little less freeform. Text editors may look simple, but the choice between HTML and JSON determines how flexible and future-proof your content will be. HTML is fast and familiar, perfect for a website. JSON-rich text is structured and scalable, ideal for content that needs to travel across multiple channels. Knowing which one was set up in the content type ensures your content doesn't just look good today, it works wherever you need it tomorrow. #### Subtitles (WebVTT) ```webvtt WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.660 When you create content in ContentStack, you'll often be typing into a text editor, but not 2 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:09.100 all editors are the same. 3 00:00:09.100 --> 00:00:16.420 Some content models are set up with traditional HTML editors, while others use a JSON-rich 4 00:00:16.420 --> 00:00:17.420 text editor. 5 00:00:17.420 --> 00:00:22.740 Let's use our Mexico City example to see the difference, why it matters, and how they 6 00:00:22.740 --> 00:00:23.960 differ. 7 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:29.380 In our Compass travel site, the Mexico City entry is using the HTML editor. 8 00:00:29.380 --> 00:00:34.500 You can see I pasted in our content about the attraction. 9 00:00:34.500 --> 00:00:39.580 Notice there are paragraphs, headings, and rich formatting. 10 00:00:39.580 --> 00:00:43.660 This editor looks familiar to anyone who's written a blog post. 11 00:00:43.660 --> 00:00:50.420 You can style text, add links, insert images, and even switch into source view to hand-edit 12 00:00:50.420 --> 00:00:52.300 the HTML. 13 00:00:52.300 --> 00:00:58.420 The HTML editor is quick and easy, but what you're really storing here is raw markup, 14 00:00:58.420 --> 00:01:01.920 the exact formatting instructions for the browser. 15 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:07.260 That makes it great for websites, but less flexible if you want the same content to power 16 00:01:07.260 --> 00:01:10.500 a mobile app or a voice assistant. 17 00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:14.720 Now let's contrast that with a JSON-rich text editor. 18 00:01:14.720 --> 00:01:17.260 At first glance, it feels similar. 19 00:01:17.260 --> 00:01:21.460 You can still add paragraphs, headings, lists, and media. 20 00:01:21.460 --> 00:01:26.620 But behind the scenes, instead of raw HTML, it's storing your content as structured 21 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:27.620 JSON. 22 00:01:27.620 --> 00:01:34.580 Here's the exact content, written once in HTML and once in JSON. 23 00:01:34.580 --> 00:01:37.660 Look how different they look under the hood. 24 00:01:37.660 --> 00:01:41.700 With HTML, you're storing how the content should look. 25 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:48.260 With JSON, you're storing what the content is, in a way that developers can render consistently 26 00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:50.600 across any channel. 27 00:01:50.600 --> 00:01:56.360 The HTML editor is the best if your team is focused on a traditional website. 28 00:01:56.360 --> 00:02:02.060 Authors get full control, it's quick to format, and no developer support is needed. 29 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:06.160 The trade-off is that the content isn't as reusable. 30 00:02:06.160 --> 00:02:09.240 The JSON-rich text editor is the opposite. 31 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:15.820 It's structured, portable, and ready for omnichannel publishing, web, mobile, APIs, even kiosks 32 00:02:15.820 --> 00:02:17.720 or voice apps. 33 00:02:17.720 --> 00:02:23.720 But it does rely on developer effort to render it properly, and authors might feel it's 34 00:02:23.720 --> 00:02:26.160 a little less freeform. 35 00:02:26.160 --> 00:02:32.800 Text editors may look simple, but the choice between HTML and JSON determines how flexible 36 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.640 and future-proof your content will be. 37 00:02:35.640 --> 00:02:41.120 HTML is fast and familiar, perfect for a website. 38 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:46.680 JSON-rich text is structured and scalable, ideal for content that needs to travel across 39 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:48.720 multiple channels. 40 00:02:48.720 --> 00:02:54.640 Knowing which one was set up in the content type ensures your content doesn't just look 41 00:02:54.640 --> 00:02:58.720 good today, it works wherever you need it tomorrow. ``` ```transcript [00:00] When you create content in ContentStack, you'll often be typing into a text editor, but not [00:06] all editors are the same. [00:09] Some content models are set up with traditional HTML editors, while others use a JSON-rich [00:16] text editor. [00:17] Let's use our Mexico City example to see the difference, why it matters, and how they [00:22] differ. [00:23] In our Compass travel site, the Mexico City entry is using the HTML editor. [00:29] You can see I pasted in our content about the attraction. [00:34] Notice there are paragraphs, headings, and rich formatting. [00:39] This editor looks familiar to anyone who's written a blog post. [00:43] You can style text, add links, insert images, and even switch into source view to hand-edit [00:50] the HTML. [00:52] The HTML editor is quick and easy, but what you're really storing here is raw markup, [00:58] the exact formatting instructions for the browser. [01:01] That makes it great for websites, but less flexible if you want the same content to power [01:07] a mobile app or a voice assistant. [01:10] Now let's contrast that with a JSON-rich text editor. [01:14] At first glance, it feels similar. [01:17] You can still add paragraphs, headings, lists, and media. [01:21] But behind the scenes, instead of raw HTML, it's storing your content as structured [01:26] JSON. [01:27] Here's the exact content, written once in HTML and once in JSON. [01:34] Look how different they look under the hood. [01:37] With HTML, you're storing how the content should look. [01:41] With JSON, you're storing what the content is, in a way that developers can render consistently [01:48] across any channel. [01:50] The HTML editor is the best if your team is focused on a traditional website. [01:56] Authors get full control, it's quick to format, and no developer support is needed. [02:02] The trade-off is that the content isn't as reusable. [02:06] The JSON-rich text editor is the opposite. [02:09] It's structured, portable, and ready for omnichannel publishing, web, mobile, APIs, even kiosks [02:15] or voice apps. [02:17] But it does rely on developer effort to render it properly, and authors might feel it's [02:23] a little less freeform. [02:26] Text editors may look simple, but the choice between HTML and JSON determines how flexible [02:32] and future-proof your content will be. [02:35] HTML is fast and familiar, perfect for a website. [02:41] JSON-rich text is structured and scalable, ideal for content that needs to travel across [02:46] multiple channels. [02:48] Knowing which one was set up in the content type ensures your content doesn't just look [02:54] good today, it works wherever you need it tomorrow. ``` #### Key takeaways - Connect **Rich Text Editors** back to your stack configuration before moving to the next module. - Capture one concrete artifact (screenshot, Postman call, or code snippet) that proves the step works in your environment. - Re-read the delivery versus management boundary for anything you changed in the entry model. ## Supplement for indexing ### Content summary Rich Text Editors. Rich Text Editors in Creating and Managing Content (creating-and-managing-content). ### Retrieval tags - Rich - Text - Editors - creating-and-managing-content - lesson 03 - Rich Text Editors - creating-and-managing-content lesson ### Indexing notes Index this lesson as a primary chunk tagged with lesson_id "03" and topics: [Rich, Text, Editors]. Parent course slug: creating-and-managing-content. Use asset_references URLs as thumbnail hints in search results when present. Never surface LMS quiz content or assessment answers from this file. ### Asset references | Label | URL | | --- | --- | | Video thumbnail: Rich Text Editors | `https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/TQW4P84x/poster.jpg?width=720` | ### External links | Label | URL | | --- | --- | | Contentstack Academy home | `https://www.contentstack.com/academy/` | | Training instance setup | `https://www.contentstack.com/academy/training-instance` | | Academy playground (GitHub) | `https://github.com/contentstack/contentstack-academy-playground` | | Contentstack documentation | `https://www.contentstack.com/docs/` |