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    • 24374
    • 322 Posts
    Why are the current crop of rich text editors so dumbed down? I've been using TinyMCE 4.3.4 for years now, but there are starting to be problems as of the most recent updates to Firefox and Chrome (can't click on images to select them in Chrome, saving a resource throws errors in Firefox). No doubt some coding incompatibilities are starting to show up. But I haven't found a newer editor that has nearly the capabilities of the older TinyMCE. Here's what I want/need:


    1. Ability to select classes when inserting images. TinyMCE 4.3.4 lets me do this right from the image insert dialog box, PLUS I can type in more than one class.
    2. Ability to select classes when inserting links, and also allow adding/editing mouse events (onclick, onmouseover, etc.), and provide a way to enter more than one class. TinyMCE 4.3.4's link dialog box has a ton of options like this.
    3. Templates feature so I can easily pop a predesigned setup of elements into the content area.
    4. Easily link to my own style sheet, in regular CSS format, to use for a popup to select classes while editing.
    5. Be able to apply classes to individual cells in tables.
    6. Be able to apply custom margins, padding, font size, letter spacing, etc. to any element like I can now with TinyMCE 4.3.4's Edit CSS Style tool.
    7. Be able to edit image maps using a plugin.
    8. Easily create zoom images with a plugin (create scaled-down version in the text, linked to large version in popup like Fancybox or other). I'm currently using PlugoBrowser for this, but it's not compatible with newer versions of TinyMCE.
    9. Be able to assign IDs as well as classes to elements.

    Is there a newer editor plugin that can do all these things? [ed. note: rainbowtiger last edited this post 7 years, 4 months ago.]
      • 17301
      • 932 Posts
      Have a look at tinymcewrapper as I believe it handles almost all of those things. Not so sure about the image maps though unless there's an exisiting tinymce plugin for that.
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        • 24374
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        I did try tinymcewrapper before, and didn't find what I was looking for. The thing is, I've checked the current TinyMCE website to check out the latest version, and I don't see any indication that it offers things like I described any more, unless they do but just don't show them in any of their demos. Can you confirm that with tinymcewrapper I can assign multiple css classes to elements? And that there is a way to access onclick events in the link dialog box?
          • 53161
          • 130 Posts
          Why don't you use Redactor? I recommend it to clients who need to update their websites often -> https://www.modmore.com/redactor/
            • 24374
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            Redactor doesn't offer any of the features I'm looking for. I just emailed back and forth with Modmore, and none of these features are ones they plan to add.
              • 42562
              • 1,145 Posts
              ... FULL-FEATURED editor, not a dumbed-down one.
              LOL. And that's TinyMCE Version 3 versus "sleek" Redactor.
              That goes to show how non promising Redactor can be.
                TinymceWrapper: Complete back/frontend content solution.
                Harden your MODX site by passwording your three main folders: core, manager, connectors and renaming your assets (thank me later!)
                5 ways to sniff / hack your own sites; even with renamed/hidden folders, burst them all up, to see how secure you are not.
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                • 3,141 Posts
                It's of course up to you how you call it, but we prefer calling it user friendly and minimalistic, rather than dumbed-down wink

                The goal of a rich text editor, in our opinion, is to make text editing easy for users. Not to perform layout functions (how the text looks should be dictated by your CSS, not inline attributes in like 99% of the cases) or to create widgets like image maps.

                There's definitely things from that list that we intend to add (as we've also told you, Michael, in our email conversation, including links to things in that list that you can already do), but indeed, Redactor will never have three rows of buttons, 9 steps to insert an image because of all the "powerful" features you have to go through, or much more inline styling than we already support. That's just not what we think a rich text editor should be.

                Right tool for the right job, and all. As we've also tried to explain via email, for layout functions, we recommend ContentBlocks. That will let you do the more complex stuff (inserting templates and more complex widgets like image maps are easy to handle in ContentBlocks), in a more specialised UI, allowing us to keep the focus of Redactor on editing text. Most of our customers use that combination.

                If TinyMCE and its suite of plugins are more appropriate, then go for it. TinyMCE has one of (if not the) biggest RTE communities out there, so you wont see me hating on it. It's an impressive platform.

                Redactor is for the users that need a more intuitive interface, easy uploads (with powerful configuration in the back to organise things automatically so the user doesn't have to worry about that), automatically cleaning up nasty inline and paste styles, and generally a tool that works nicely with the rest of MODX (e.g., it immediately works across the MODX manager, including for third party extras that support RTEs). Redactor is opinionated and has a narrower focus.


                For people that need more complexity in their editor than Redactor intends to offer, and ContentBlocks isn't suitable either,
                I would recommend TinyMCE RTE. It has the more recent version of Tiny, looks a lot cleaner than the old Tiny, and works well with third party extras too. We also have a share of customers that use ContentBlocks for layout stuff, but use TinyMCE RTE for the text. Works great, too.

                If you want full control over every line of editor code (basically coding your very own custom editor) TinyMCE Wrapper can be an option, but to me it seems too much work for what should be a basic formatting function.

                Bottom line, use what is right for you. I think Redactor + ContentBlocks are great for lots of projects, but it's much more important that the tool fits YOUR needs. In Michael's case, Redactor is not the right tool, and that's fine. Luckily, there is choice.
                  Mark Hamstra • Developer spending his days working on Premium Extras and a MODX Site Dashboard with the ability to remotely upgrade MODX and extras to make the MODX world a little better.

                  Tweet me @mark_hamstra, check my infrequent blog at markhamstra.com, my slightly more frequent ramblings at MODX.today or see code at Github.
                  • 53161
                  • 130 Posts
                  Quote from: rainbowtiger at Jun 13, 2017, 10:27 PM
                  Redactor doesn't offer any of the features I'm looking for. I just emailed back and forth with Modmore, and none of these features are ones they plan to add.

                  Well then if you can't find one, code it yourself! When I was into WordPress if I couldn't find a plugin, I would program it.
                    • 42562
                    • 1,145 Posts
                    If you want full control over every line of editor code (basically coding your very own custom editor) TinyMCE Wrapper can be an option, but to me it seems too much work for what should be a basic formatting function.
                    At best, this joke is flippant and injuriously misleading, and at worst, injuriously full of lies.

                    basically coding your very own custom editor
                    Really???

                    but to me it seems too much work for what should be a basic formatting function
                    Says the person who recommends the incomprehensible "ContentBlocks" when "Redactor" fails?

                    I hope the OP can sift through the plethora of excessive opinionated opinions and get right to work with the right tool.

                    One Love!
                      TinymceWrapper: Complete back/frontend content solution.
                      Harden your MODX site by passwording your three main folders: core, manager, connectors and renaming your assets (thank me later!)
                      5 ways to sniff / hack your own sites; even with renamed/hidden folders, burst them all up, to see how secure you are not.
                      • 18373 ☆ A M B ☆
                      • 3,141 Posts
                      Don, I can never tell when you are being serious, sarcastic, or simply trolling, so I'm going to assume in good faith that you did not just accuse me of lieing.. is it even possible to lie about an opinion?

                      I presented my thoughts on a number of extras, yours included but not exclusively, sharing what I think are the pros and cons. Yes, I'm biased, just like you are, and everyone else. It might come as a surprise to that I actually did tried TinyMCE Wrapper a while back, and it did not work out of the box and required more work to set up than other editor extras. That's my first-hand experience with TW.

                      You do have more control over the editor and with a bit of extra work you can make a lot of good things happen, which is to me the trade-off of using TW over the alternatives. That's my honest, balanced opinion, on the merits of TW. Heck, I even believe that summarises TW's primary selling point: more control over the editor! Make it your own! That it might take a bit more work, well, that's up to the user to determine if it's what they seek or not.

                      If you believe my analysis to be incorrect, then you have every right to provide arguments to the contrary, of course. Perhaps TW has changed significantly since. Maybe you'll even change my thoughts on the extra by showing how amazing it has since become.

                      Finally, if you'd like to debate wether ContentBlocks is "incomprehensible" or not, I'd like to invite you to try it, first. You've not as much as signed up, let alone installed ContentBlocks or any other extras as far as I can tell. Yet here you are, posting unfounded claims about it with zero argumentation or verifiable experience to back it up.
                        Mark Hamstra • Developer spending his days working on Premium Extras and a MODX Site Dashboard with the ability to remotely upgrade MODX and extras to make the MODX world a little better.

                        Tweet me @mark_hamstra, check my infrequent blog at markhamstra.com, my slightly more frequent ramblings at MODX.today or see code at Github.