The Stanza Composer offers two distinct editor modes, each designed for different writing styles and needs. Understanding when to use each one will make your writing experience significantly better.
Standard Mode: The Rich Text Editor
Powered by Tiptap (an open-source editor framework), Standard Mode gives you a familiar WYSIWYG experience. What you see is what readers get.
What You Get
- Formatting toolbar — Bold, italic, headings, and lists at your fingertips
- Visual formatting — See your poem styled as you write it
- Rich text output — Your formatting is preserved exactly as you create it
Best For
- Prose poetry where visual flow matters
- Free verse with intentional formatting
- Experimental layouts and concrete poetry
- Casual writing where you want formatting flexibility
If you have used Google Docs, Notion, or any word processor, Standard Mode will feel immediately familiar.
Advanced Mode: The Poet’s Editor
Powered by CodeMirror (a code editor), Advanced Mode strips away visual formatting and focuses entirely on the text itself.
What You Get
- Line numbers — Displayed alongside every line of your poem
- Character count — Running total at the bottom of the editor
- Line count — See exactly how many lines you’ve written
- Clean interface — No formatting distractions, just you and your words
Best For
- Sonnets — See all 14 lines numbered at a glance
- Haiku — Character counts help with syllable-constrained forms
- Villanelles — Track repeated lines easily with line numbers
- Any structured form — Where knowing your line and character count matters
Advanced Mode saves as plain text. Standard Mode saves as HTML. The Composer automatically converts between formats when you switch modes, so no work is lost.
Switching Between Modes
Toggle between modes at any time using the mode selector at the top of the Composer. Your content is automatically converted:
- Standard → Advanced: HTML is stripped to clean plain text
- Advanced → Standard: Plain text is wrapped in paragraph tags
Switch freely based on what the poem needs. Some poets start in Advanced to nail the structure, then switch to Standard for final formatting touches.
Shared Features
Both modes share the full metadata panel:
- Poetic Form — Sonnet, Haiku, Free Verse, Villanelle, Ode, Limerick, Ghazal, Ballad, and more
- Style — Contemporary, Classical, Romantic, Confessional, Experimental
- Tags — Free-form labels for discoverability (up to 50 characters each)
- Presentation Settings — Background color, background image (16:9), and ambient music
- Privacy — Five levels from Public to Private
- Interaction toggles — Enable/disable comments and reactions per submission
Our Recommendation
Start with Standard Mode if you’re new to Stanza. It’s the most intuitive. Switch to Advanced Mode when you’re working on structured forms or when you want the distraction-free purity of a plain text editor.
The best mode is the one that gets out of your way and lets you write.
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