Scalar 2 User's Guide

Adding Media and Links

This section describes functionality in Scalar's page editor, which is accessed by clicking the Media icon icon (if creating new content) or the Media icon icon (if editing existing content) in your Scalar header bar.

 

Adding Links to Media

Adding media to your page is done through links in the page editor--by selecting a relevant bit of text and then linking it to the media you want to reference. When Scalar shows the page, it finds all of these links and turns them into media players. Because the media is referenced indirectly through links instead of directly through the kind of embed code you would use to add a YouTube video to a blog, Scalar is free to change the layout of the text and media on the fly, making your content much more flexible.

You can add media links to your content by selecting the text you want to link and then using one the following blue buttons seen at the top of the text editor in its Visual mode:

  • Media icon Inserts a link to a media file that's already been imported into Scalar. This is probably the type of link you'll use most often.

  • Annotation icon Inserts a link to a media annotation. The media will be embedded on the page and automatically cued up to the start point of the annotation (for temporal media).

The kind of links created above allow maximum flexibility in the layout of your text and media--Scalar can rearrange them as needed depending on the current view. If, however, you want to embed your media in the page at a specific location in the more traditional style, you can use these options:

  • Inline media icon Inserts an inline reference to a Scalar media file that will be embedded in the page at the selected location.

  • Inline media icon Inserts an inline reference to a media annotation, which will likewise be embedded in the page and cued.
To ensure images are accessible, Scalar automatically uses the image's description as its alt text.

Adding Other Kinds of Links

The remaining link buttons in the View mode of the text editor work as follows:

  • Note icon Inserts a note-style link to Scalar content. When rolled over, this link will display the contents of the linked page in a pop-up window. Similar to footnotes.

  • Scalar link icon Inserts a link to Scalar content. The title and description of the content will be displayed when rolled over, but no media will be embedded on the page.

  • Link icon Inserts a conventional hyperlink to whatever URL you choose.

Creating Relationships with Other Content

For more on this topic, visit the Working with Structure section of the documentation.

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