# Editing formatting elements

> Formatting elements control how content inside your articles and posts looks—callouts, blockquotes, code, lists, tables and interactive elements like tabs and accordions.

Source: https://www.zenplates.co/documentation/visual-builder/editing-formatting-elements (Visual builder › Designing your theme)

The content your team writes inside articles and community posts deserves to look as good as the rest of your help center. The **Formatting elements** panel lets you style the building blocks that appear within that content, so every article is consistent and on-brand without authors needing to think about design.

## What you can style

Formatting elements cover the styles your authors apply using the Zendesk [article editor](https://www.zenplates.co/documentation/overview/applying-custom-styles):

| Group           | Elements                                                                                                  |
| --------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Basic**       | Summary blocks, blockquotes, info, warning, error and tip callouts, code, lists, styled lists and tables. |
| **Interactive** | Accordions and tabs.                                                                                      |

![Styling a callout in the Formatting elements panel](https://www.zenplates.co/assets/images/documentation/visual-builder/formatting-elements.webp)

## A consistent reading experience

Because these styles are defined once at the theme level, every article automatically picks them up. When an author adds a warning callout or a code block, it looks exactly the way you designed it—no per-article styling required.

The interactive formatting elements—[accordions](https://www.zenplates.co/documentation/overview/creating-accordions) and [tabs](https://www.zenplates.co/documentation/overview/creating-tabs)—are styled here too, so collapsible and tabbed content matches the rest of your help center.

These styles apply to the native [callouts](https://www.zenplates.co/documentation/overview/creating-callouts), accordions and tabs that authors add from the Zendesk article editor's **Article components** menu and the [blockquotes](https://www.zenplates.co/documentation/overview/creating-blockquotes) they add with its **Block quote** button, as well as to the legacy class-based elements used in earlier versions of our themes.

To see how authors apply these styles when writing, refer to the [Using the article editor](https://www.zenplates.co/documentation/overview/applying-custom-styles) guides.