Text Input Widget

Use text input when the learner should type a word, phrase, or short answer rather than choose from visible options. Text input is for short answers. Long answer takes longer prose, but it isn't graded yet.

Where the settings live

Select the text input on the canvas and click the floating ⚙ Configure button to open its setup dialog — the placeholder, the accepted answers, and grading all live there, next to a live preview. The right sidebar keeps only Style & Layout (font, colors, border radius, size and position).

Settings to know

In the ⚙ Configure dialog:

• Placeholder sets the hint shown before the learner types.
• Correct Answers and Case Sensitive are the answer key (see Grading setup). They stay in the dialog even with Scoring off, because an ungraded text input still knows whether the answer is right.

Sizing a text input

A text input's height comes from its font size, and its width is up to you — the same way text boxes size:

• Drag a corner to scale the whole field — the text and its padding grow together, and a badge shows the text size as you drag.
• Drag a side handle to set how wide the field is. Width is the useful signal here: a short box says "one word", a long one invites a phrase.
• Height is automatic. A text input is one line tall at its text size, so changing the Font Size setting resizes the field. It never gets smaller than a comfortable tap target, so learners on tablets can always hit it.

The field never changes size while a learner types — what you lay out is what they see. For longer written responses, use long answer instead.

Text, Button, Submit Button, Checkbox, Text Input, Dropdown, Number Input, Score, and Timer all size themselves this way. Other widgets still resize freely in both directions.

Fields you made before this update keep their exact size until you resize one or change its font size. When you do, the field settles into its automatic height right under your pointer — one undo puts it back. If a row of fields should match, select them all and drag one side handle so they update together.

Grading setup

Text input supports grading, and the whole answer key lives in the ⚙ Configure dialog beside the placeholder it grades.

• Scoring (the On/Off switch at the top of the section) turns grading on or off for the response.
• The widget's name is the readable label for this answer in results and conditions. Rename it at the top of the properties panel — see Widgets and widget settings.
• Points sets how much the response is worth.
• While Scoring is on, the response counts toward both the scene score and the lesson score.
• Group lets you include the response in a custom grading group.
• Case Sensitive controls whether capitalization must match.
• Correct Answers are the accepted answers.

Extra spaces never cost a student the point: spaces before or after an answer are ignored, and two spaces in a row count as one. So "evaporation " (the trailing space tablet autocomplete often adds) matches "evaporation". Spaces inside a word still matter — "evap oration" is not a match.

Use Add Correct Answer in the dialog when more than one response should count, such as "mitosis" and "cell division". Each answer gets its own row, and the trash icon beside a row removes it.

If grading is on but every accepted answer is still blank, the dialog says so — a reminder, not a block, so you can lay the field out first and come back to the answers. A new text input starts that way. Publishing is stricter: if the scene moves on only when its questions are answered correctly, a graded text input with no accepted answer can never be answered correctly, so students would be stuck and publishing is blocked until you add one (or turn its grading off).

How students answer

A student's answer counts when they press Enter or leave the box. If a submit arrives while they are still typing — say a timer checks answers when it runs out — whatever is in the box is what gets checked. Clicking into the box and leaving it empty doesn't count as an answer.

The box turns off the tablet keyboard's automatic capital letter and autocorrect, so what the student types is exactly what gets checked. That matters most with Case Sensitive on: an iPad would otherwise capitalize the first letter or "fix" a spelling word on its own.

How to set up the content

Write the placeholder as a cue, not the answer. "Type the capital city" is better than "Paris". If you want exact spelling, keep grading case-sensitive off unless capitalization really matters.

Useful setting combinations

• Multiple accepted answers + Case Sensitive off:

Best for short answers where capitalization should not matter.

• One accepted answer + Case Sensitive on:

Best for spelling, conventions, or exact vocabulary checks. Tablet autocorrect and auto-capitals are off in the box, so the check sees exactly what the student typed.

• Hidden feedback text + condition based on correctness:

Best for immediate coaching after a typed response. Step-by-step: Ask a short-answer question that coaches a wrong try. This works with Scoring off too: On Correct behaviors still run on an ungraded text input, and they stay listed in the Behaviors section as long as it has any.

• Text input + audio:

Best for dictation, transcription, or listening comprehension. Step-by-step: Give a spelling test students listen to.

Strong use cases

• Vocabulary recall.
• One-word math or science responses.
• Reflection starters when you do not want grading enabled.

Great pairings with other widgets

• Pair text input with button so learners submit only when ready.
• Pair text input with text to reveal model answers after checking.
• Pair text input with score for quick self-check scenes.
• Pair text input with audio when students listen first, then type what they heard.