Your CMS rich text editor isn't a word processor

Rich text editors create markup, not documents

Every time you paste formatted text from Word, select a custom font size, or manually adjust spacing with line breaks, you're embedding presentational decisions directly into your content's HTML. Those decisions will conflict with your CSS, break on mobile viewports, and create migration nightmares when you inevitably change platforms.

Your CMS's rich text editor generates semantic markup—or at least it should. The heading dropdown creates <h2> tags with class hooks for your stylesheet. The bold button wraps text in <strong> tags that screen readers emphasize. The bullet list button produces proper <ul> and <li> elements that respond to your design system's spacing rules.

When you override these with manual formatting—dragging font sizes, adding extra paragraph breaks for "breathing room," or pasting styled text—you bypass the semantic layer entirely. You get inline styles, non-breaking spaces, and presentational markup that your templates can't control.

Paste as plain text, then apply structure

If you're copying content from anywhere—Word docs, Google Docs, emails, PDFs—use "Paste as Plain Text" or "Paste and Match Style." Strip all formatting at the paste boundary. Then rebuild structure using only the editor's semantic tools: heading levels, lists, blockquotes, links.

Yes, this takes three extra seconds per paste operation. It also means your content will render correctly across devices, survive theme updates, and export cleanly when you migrate CMSs in two years. The formatting you preserve from Word isn't helping anyone—it's technical debt masquerading as visual fidelity.

Learn which buttons actually matter

Most rich text editors offer 20+ formatting options. You need maybe six: heading levels, bold/italic, unordered/ordered lists, and links. Everything else—font families, text colors, alignment buttons, indent controls—should be disabled in your editor configuration or simply never touched.

If your content requires different typography, that's a template decision. If you need colored text for warnings or highlights, that's a component decision. If you want special spacing around a section, that's a CSS decision. None of these belong in the rich text editor.

Set character limits before users hit them the same way you limit formatting options—configure the editor to prevent mistakes rather than relying on editorial discipline.

Empty paragraphs aren't spacing tools

I see this constantly: editors hitting Return three times to add vertical space between sections, or using line breaks (<br> tags) to create artificial paragraph separation. Your CSS controls spacing. If paragraphs feel too close together, adjust the margin in your stylesheet. If sections need more breathing room, add proper section containers or use heading elements to signal hierarchy.

Manual spacing breaks responsive design. Those three empty paragraphs might look fine on desktop, but they'll create enormous awkward gaps on mobile. Worse, they're invisible in the editor's HTML view, so the next person editing the content won't understand why spacing is inconsistent.

Source view is not optional

If your CMS offers a "source" or "HTML" view toggle, learn to use it. Check what's actually in your markup after paste operations. Look for inline styles, empty tags, non-breaking spaces, and nested formatting that shouldn't exist.

You don't need to be a developer to spot bad markup. Look for style= attributes—those are inline styles that override your CSS. Look for multiple nested <span> tags—that's usually a sign of pasted formatting. Look for   entities stacked in groups—those are manual spacing hacks.

Clean markup reads almost like plain text with light HTML wrapping. Dirty markup looks like a garbage disposal accident.

Configure the editor before anyone uses it

The best rich text editor is one where bad choices aren't available. Disable font selection. Remove color pickers. Hide alignment buttons. Restrict heading options to only the levels your content model actually uses.

Most CMSs let you customize the toolbar. If yours doesn't, that's a selection criterion for your next platform. Editorial discipline fails at scale—tooling prevents mistakes before they happen.

Your rich text editor is a structured content interface, not a desktop publishing tool. Treat it that way and your content will outlive your current design, your current CMS, and your current idea of what "good spacing" looks like.