Hey there! Welcome to our weekly mini series where we, the Connect Moderators, share tips and tricks on how to enjoy the redesigned Connect to the fullest. Every Thursday, we will focus on one new feature or functionality to help you feel more at home.
Hi, I’m Falguni! I’m a foodie and a Connect Moderator from India, now calling Canada home. I love contributing reviews and photos, which is why you’ll find plenty of mouthwatering food photos on my phone!
This week, I’ll be diving into some styling tips and tricks for your Connect topics. Whether you’re sharing travel or food stories, or any other experience, these tools will help your posts stand out.
Let’s start with creating a new topic. Click on the blue Create button on the homepage and select New topic. Choose the right category and tags and add a location if needed. The next step is to write a good title — make it short and clear to help others know what you’re sharing.
In the composer box below the title, where you’ll write your story, you’ll find many options for styling your text. Read on for some quick and more advanced formatting tricks.
Tip: Click on “Show Preview” while writing your topic to see how it will appear to others once published.
Quick formatting tricks and when to use them
- Use B to make words or sentences bold (shortcut: ** your text **, without spaces). This is great for headings and highlighting important parts of your post.
- Use I to make words or sentences italic (shortcut: * your text *, without spaces). This is for emphasizing and differentiating some information from the rest.
-
Use the Hyperlink button to share links to places and to your Google Maps review of those places. This makes it easy for others to find the locations and save them on Maps. If you are writing a series, the hyperlink comes in handy as you can add links to your previous topics in the new one.
Caption: A screenshot that shows how hyperlinks appear in the composer box and preview mode. -
Use the Upload button to make your posts more attractive by adding relevant photos and other media. You can select up to 5 photos at a time. Add captions by following these steps and read why captions matter here.
-
Use the Bulleted List and Numbered List options to make different items stand out. Lists are perfect if you are sharing a travel topic with different locations or things to do, or a food topic where you describe different dishes.
- Use the Emoji icon to express more with your text. Search for the emoji you want to add, like arrows, smileys, and so on.
Some more advanced formatting tricks
You can play around with Markdown or use the additional options in the three-dot menu next to the Emoji button to add more fun things to your topics.
- Add headings and different levels of subheadings (in different text sizes) by using # (space) your text. The more #’s you type, the smaller the heading will be.
- Add horizontal lines with < hr > (without spaces). These are great at the start of your topic or when your topic consists of two parts.
- Use < mark > your text < /mark > (without spaces) to highlight words or sentences and draw attention to something you want everyone to read.
- Unable to decide what to do for your next meet-up? Ask other Local Guides by building a poll!
- Add an element of surprise to your topics with the Hide Details and Blur Spoiler options.
- Write your text as usual and use Blur Spoiler to hide some part of it. Readers can see it only after tapping on the blurred bit.
- Hide Details is great for longer topics. You can hide information that is not so important, but you want it in the post. When you use this option, a black arrow and the word “Summary” (you can change that) will show up, and Local Guides will have to click on them to read the hidden details.
For more formatting suggestions, check out this tutorial by @MortenCopenhagen.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this quick introduction! You can find more information about how to use Connect in the Community guidelines section where this mini series also lives. If there’s a specific feature you want to learn more about, let us know below, or check out the rest of the topics in the series:
- Make your Connect profile shine
- Translate what others share into your language
- Get answers from the community with polls
- Stay updated on the content you care about
- Reach Local Guides on and off Connect
- Style your posts to make them stand out (this post)
- Host successful virtual meet-ups
- Host successful in-person meet-ups
- Write engaging meet-up recaps
