Visual Instructions Editor

Closed Beta

This feature is currently in a closed beta. To request access for your organization, please reach out to your account executive. If you are unsure who your Account Executive is, please contact Skillable Support.

Lab Instructions are written for hands-on labs, for learners to follow while working in the lab environment. This document will discuss the features available in the Instructions Editor and explain how to use them. The Skillable Studio Visual Instructions Editor is a versatile and powerful Markdown editor. It supports both Markdown (Code) mode and Visual mode, making it easy to switch between writing in plain text and a more visual format.

Editor Key Features

  • Visual Mode: You can write documents in Visual mode with ease using common editing tools. There is no need-to-know Markdown, to create great lab content.

  • Markdown Code and Visual Modes: You can write in Markdown and see a live preview of the formatted text.

  • Syntax Highlighting: Helps you easily read and write code.

  • Scroll-Sync: Keeps your editor and preview in sync as you scroll.

  • Spell Checker: Visual mode has a spell check option that can be enabled from the editor settings menu.

  • Drag and drop: You can simply drag and drop tokens, variables, and Activities right into the Editor.

  • Clickable content objects in Visual Mode: You can double click action objects to edit action objects in a modal dialog without needing to learn any complex markdown. Let the dialog write the markdown for you.

The Visual Editor is a great tool for anyone who needs a robust editor for writing lab instructions.

Switch to the Visual Instructions Editor

To access the Visual Editor, select the "Visual Editor" button located at the top of the existing Markdown instructions editor.

  1. Edit an Instruction Set.

  2. Select the "Try the new Instructions Editor Preview!" button at the top of the editor to switch to the Visual Instructions Editor.

  3. After selecting the button, you will be using the Visual Instructions Editor.

Switch Back to the Legacy Editor

In the Visual Editor there is a "New Editor" toggle in the top toolbar. Disabling this toggle will switch to the legacy editor.

Features of the Visual Instructions Editor

NewInstructionsEditor

  1. Ribbon Bar: This contains general formatting, layout, paragraph formatting, and power tools.

  2. Left Action Panel:  This panel is used to effortlessly work with all of the Skillable specialized features such as Lab Tokens, Lab Activities, Replacement Tokens, and Swap Text.

  3. Top Menu Bar: This controls the editor tab, activities tab, access to help, the settings menu, Managing Instruction Sets menu, and the toggle for the New Editor.

  4. Bottom Bar: This shows the current editor mode, editor toggle, and the autosave toggle.

  5. Learner Preview: The learner preview (if enabled in the Editor Settings), will show the live preview of the instructions as it would show for a learner.

Ribbon Bar Features

General Formatting

RibbonBar-GeneralFormatting(1)

Button

Item

Description

Key Combo

btn-Bold

Bold

Adds bold emphasis to selected text. Use this to emphasize important words or phrases.

Ctrl+B

btn-Italic

Italic

Adds italic emphasis selected text. This is often used for emphasis or to denote titles of works.

Ctrl+I

btn-Strike

Strike

Adds a strikethrough to selected text. This can be useful for showing deletions or changes.

Ctrl+Shift+X

btn-Heading

Heading
btn-HeadingExpand

Changes the selected text to a heading. Headings are used to organize content into sections.

btn-Blocks

Blocks
btn-BlocksExpand

Formats the selected text as a block element, such as a blockquote or Skillable special formatting. Special formatting is predefined when you select (Alert, Note, Help, Hint, and Knowledge blocks).

btn-Links

Links

Adds a hyperlink to the selected text. This is useful for linking to external resources or other parts of the document.

Ctrl+K

btn-Code

Code
btn-CodeExpand

Formats the selected text as code.

Code Sample: Typically used for multi-line code with syntax highlighting based on the defined language that is being used.

Inline Code Sample: Used to designate a small snippet as a code element with no syntax highlighting.

Code Sample:
Ctrl+Shift+P

Inline Code Sample:
Ctrl+Shift+C

Layout and Paragraph

RibbonBar-Alignment&Tables(1)

Button

Item

Description

Key Combo

btn-BulletedList

Bulleted List

Formats the selected text with a bullet list style. Each line in a multi-line selection will have a bullet.

Ctrl+U

btn-NumberedList

Numbered List

Formats the selected text with a numbered list style. Each line in a multi-line selection will be numbered starting from 1.

Ctrl+O

btn-Task

Task List

Formats the selected text with an unordered task list style. Each line in a multi-line selection will have a task checkbox. Task lists can be created by first creating an ordered (numbered) list, then highlighting the list and then selecting the Task list button from the ribbon bar.

btn-DecreaseIndent

Decrease Indent

Outdents the selected sub-elements one level within the context of a Bulleted List, Numbered List, or Task List. Multiple clicks allow only one level outdent from its parent.

Shift+Tab

btn-IncreaseIndent

Increase Indent

Indents the selected sub-elements one level within the context of a Bulleted List, Numbered List, or Task List. Multiple clicks allow only one level indent from its parent.

Tab

btn-Insert

Insert
btn-InsertExpand

Inserts page-level objects like Page Break and Horizontal Rule at the current cursor position.

Horizontal Rule: Ctrl+L

btn-Table

Table
btn-TableExpand

Opens the table menu for inserting tables.

Powertools

RibbonBar-Powertools

Button

Item

Description

btn-AI

AI
btn-AIExpand

AI Menu: Provides a chat prompt with options to teach, show steps, quiz, or find resources on a topic, using AI.
AI Chat: Offers a chat-style interface based on the provided topic.
AI Generated Content: Introduces four tags (ai-teach, ai-show, ai-quiz, ai-resources) for AI-generated content. These content tags generate specific content types directly, simplifying the creation process.

btn-TypeText

Type Text

Inserts Type Text tokens at the cursor’s current position, streamlining the content creation process. There are three variations:

Type Text: The text is typed directly into the user environment.
Copyable Text: The text is copied to the user’s clipboard.
Copy and Type Text: The text is both typed into the user environment and copied to the user’s clipboard.

btn-InputField

Input Field

Allows inserting various input field types as tokens within the Visual Instructions Editor.

Input Types

Text Box: Inserts a text box token.
Essay Text: Inserts an essay text box token, with a draggable corner to adjust the number of visible lines, the default number of lines to reveal is user definable using the Modal.
Masked Text Box: Inserts a masked text box token for sensitive information.
Dropdown List: Inserts a dropdown list token with predefined options.

btn-AuthorComment

Author Comment

Inserts a comment section. Whether text is selected or not, the modal popup provides an intuitive interface for adding comments, preserving existing content.

btn-IncludeInstructions

Include Instructions

Providing a more versatile approach to incorporating external instructions into your lab content. This will allow for external instructions to be included or referenced instructions that are defined in the current instruction set.

btn-UploadMedia

Upload Media

Easily insert images, videos, and audio without pasting them into the editor. The dialog box supports drag-and-drop for multiple files and offers options to display files inline or as links, and to overwrite existing files.

Additional AI Information

AI Menu: Provides a chat prompt to the user with instructions. Commonly used to wrap text with syntax that serves as a topic. The text of the link will be the topic (e.g., Azure Storage Accounts). Selecting the link displays a menu with four options:

  1. Teach me: Generates a text response designed to teach the learner about the provided topic.

  2. Show me: Generates a list of steps on how to perform the topic. Useful if the topic text starts with a verb, such as "Create an Azure Storage Account."

  3. Quiz me: Generates multiple choice questions on the topic. Attempts to process responses interactively, providing "Correct" or "Sorry, try again." feedback based on the answer.

  4. Find Resources: Generates a list of links to web resources about the topic.

AI Chat

AI Chat: Provides a chat-style interface to the user based on the provided topic.

AI Generated Content

Overview: Expands on AI features with four new tags that leverage AI to respond to a given topic and format the output according to the specified format:

  • ai-teach

  • ai-show

  • ai-quiz

  • ai-resources

AI Content Tags: These new tags (ai-teach, ai-show, ai-quiz, ai-resources) are designed to generate specific types of content directly, without needing an intermediary selection menu. They allow content creators to specify the type of AI-generated content required at any point in their documents, simplifying the creation process.

Left Actions Panel

LeftBar

Button

Item

Description

btnTokens

Tokens

Tokens are dynamic text placeholders that enhance your lab's interactivity and personalization.

btnActivities

Activities

Activities provide ways for interaction with lab instructions and environments when used for scoring.

btnVariables

Variables

Variables empower you to personalize and fine-tune your lab like never before.

btnTextSwap

Text Swap

Text Swap empowers you to seamlessly change what users see in your lab without altering the actual content.

Functions within Left Actions Panel

Item

Description

Text Search

Allows users to easily start typing and search text within the token name or description and present the corresponding token cards.

Filter

This operates as a quick filter to quickly filter based on available groups.

Search Results

Displays a results message to the user to indicate how many cards are filtered of the total available.

Drag Icon

Allows a user to drag and drop the token card into the editor.

Hovering over Card

Hovering over the token card will highlight in the instructions where the token is inserted.

Top Menu Bar

TopMenuBar

Button

Item

Description

TopMenuBarEditor

Editor

Displays the Editor screen.

TopMenuBarActivities

Activities

Displays the Activities Manager screen.

TopMenuBarHelp

Help

Allows users to easily navigate to the Help documentation.

TopMenuBarSettings

Settings

Allows users to set Editor Settings and Lab Options. Editor Mode context is now supported (Code Editor specific settings only visible when in Code Editor). For more information, see the section for Editor Settings.

TopMenuBarInstructionSets

Instruction Sets

Allows user to easily switch between different Instruction Sets while staying in the Editor. There is also an option to Manage Instruction Sets.
TopMenuBarInstructionSetsExpand

TopMenuBarEditorToggle(1)

Use Legacy Editor

Sets the Users preference for the Editor of choice. Selecting the button Use Legacy Editor will switch the default editor back to the legacy editor. NOTE: This will stay active until the user changes the Editor.

TopMenuBarClose

Close

Closes the Instructions editor.

Bottom Bar

BottomBar

Button

Item

Description

BottomBarEditorMode

Editor

Allows users to easily switch between Visual mode and Code editor mode.

BottomBarAutosave

Autosave

Default = ON when editing and will auto save the changes. Once toggled to OFF, it will allow the user to select the Save Changes button.

BottomBarSaveChanges

Save Changes

Default = OFF when editing. Once Autosave is toggled to OFF, it will allow the user to select the Save Changes button to save any changes to the instructions.

Editor Settings

Setting

Description

Word Wrap

When this is enabled, this allows text to wrap to the next line when the text reaches the end of a line.

Preview

When this is enabled, a preview of the lab instructions will be displayed next to the code view and updated in real time as changes are made to the lab instructions.

Sync preview location

When this is enabled, the position of the code view and position of the preview view of the lab instructions will be synced while scrolling in the lab instructions editor.

Autosave

When this is enabled, this allows the lab instructions to be automatically saved while being edited.

Editor zoom

Adjusts the zoom level while viewing the editor.

Track task progress

When this is enabled, a progress bar will be shown at the bottom of the lab instruction window with the total number of tasks the lab user has to complete. When they check a task, the progress bar will reflect their progress.

Require tasks to be completed in order

When this is enabled, this requires lab users to complete tasks in the order that they appear in the lab instructions.

Auto-check previous tasks

When this is enabled, this allows a lab user to select a task in the lab instructions and all previous tasks will be automatically checked as completed.

Learner Preview

The Learner Preview, if enabled, will display a pane to the right of the Editor representing the instructions as viewed within the Lab Client. This is what a typical user will see when they launch a lab. By providing a live preview, it speeds up the content creation process.

To enable or disable Learner Preview:

  1. Select the Gear icon at the top of the editor, to enter the settings menu.

  2. Select the toggle to enable or disable Learner Preview.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens when I add in some markdown that the Visual Editor can not render?

Some times there are certain markdown patterns that the user can add into the Code mode that the Visual mode cannot display properly and there will be a popup displayed to the user that the Visual Mode is currently disabled which this pattern is still in the code mode. No worries, you will be directed back to the Code mode directly and the Visual Mode will be disabled so you do not have any issues with editing. You will always have an editor that will allow you to work effectively.

VisualEditorNotAvailable

Can I Change My Default Editor?

If your lab has some advanced or unique patterns that the Visual Editor cannot render properly, you can change the Default editor mode.

You may also prefer to write your lab instructions in Markdown, at which your preference is to have the Code Editor as the first editor to use when editing instructions. In the settings menu, select the toggle for “Set Code Editor as Default”.

Enabling this setting will set the Code Editor as your default editor. To reset to the visual editor, use this toggle to change the default.

SettingsCodeEditorAsDefault

What are Tokens?

Tokens, also known as Replacement Tokens, are dynamic text placeholders that enhance your lab's interactivity and personalization. By inserting structured text (of the format @lab.TokenName) into instructions or scripts, it will dynamically be replaced in each lab launch with personalized text or interactive components like user-specific names, unique identifiers, questions, or dropdown menus. Tokens empower you to create engaging, personalized, and ever-changing lab experiences, fostering interaction and customization for a more immersive skills journey. For more information about Replacement Tokens, read our Replacement Tokens documentation.

TokensPane

What are Activities?

Activities provide ways for users to interact with lab content. Activities also allow authors to assess how well a user is doing in their lab. Activities can consist of interactive questions, automated scripts, or even groups of multiple activities.

You can reference activities in your instructions by using the activity's Alias. For example, if you have a question with the alias "q1", you can reference it in your instructions like this: @lab.Activity(q1). When a learner reaches this point in the instructions, they will see the question you created. For more information about Activities, read our Activities documentation.

What are Variables?

Variables empower you to personalize and fine-tune your lab like never before. Think of them as dynamic settings that you control, allowing you to tailor each launch to your exact needs. While some variables could be as simple as 'Personalized: Yes/No,' others might be complex like SSH keys or completely unique identifiers. This customization injects dynamism into your lab, making every instance distinctive and precisely suited to your requirements. For more information about Variables, read our Variables documentation.

What is Text Swap?

Text Swap empowers you to seamlessly change what users see in your lab without altering the actual content. Just like using find/replace in documents, Text Swap allows you to transform visible text elements while keeping the original text unchanged. For instance, you can transform 'Sign in to the environment' to 'Login' for users, while preserving the original wording for backend operations. Whether you need case-sensitive changes, case-insensitive adjustments, or even more intricate transformations using regular expressions (Regex), Text Swap provides a user-friendly solution to enhance the user experience.