Recep Baltaş
Well-known member
I really can't believe no one has suggested this but a native table support is a must!
Upvote
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Implemented Native Table Support
- Thread starter Recep Baltaş
- Start date
Alpha1
Well-known member
Google now uses table code to display data snippets in google search results.
For example if I add a table in a thread, page, resource with the following information:
________________________________
|_Forum Software | XenForo_|
|_Version__________|_1.5.16a__|
Then Google will display this data in search results as:
Forum Software: XenForo
Version: 1.5.16a
This gives extra visibility of your site in Google search. Tables are valuable not only for the obvious usability.
More information here: https://serpstat.com/blog/html-tables-as-google-rich-snippets/
For example if I add a table in a thread, page, resource with the following information:
________________________________
|_Forum Software | XenForo_|
|_Version__________|_1.5.16a__|
Then Google will display this data in search results as:
Forum Software: XenForo
Version: 1.5.16a
This gives extra visibility of your site in Google search. Tables are valuable not only for the obvious usability.
More information here: https://serpstat.com/blog/html-tables-as-google-rich-snippets/
Recep Baltaş
Well-known member
Been more than 3 years... Shouldn't take this long, really.
Recep Baltaş
Well-known member
Tables, Blogs, AMP... I love XenForo but they need to speed up.
dethfire
Well-known member
Or you could explain why the hesitation over several years or confirm it's seriously being considered for say 2.1
Look at when this thread was posted, pretty much when XF2 started to be under way, and then consider what our aims for XF2 were. That explains why. Not least to mention the point that there's a comparatively small minority who would like tables where as the majority don't seem too fussed.
We have to focus our time, mostly, on what the majority of our customers tell us they want. There's many suggestions that have been around for a lot longer, with many more pages of support and discussion with many more first post likes than this one. Of course those will be prioritised.
It's also worth noting that it's not as if there isn't already a custom BB code system where you could make the table BB code yourself, or even add-ons that do a fine job of allowing tables.
Is it being considered for XF 2.1? As much as any other suggestion is, but there's definitely some much bigger and arguably more important features we'd like to work on first.
We have to focus our time, mostly, on what the majority of our customers tell us they want. There's many suggestions that have been around for a lot longer, with many more pages of support and discussion with many more first post likes than this one. Of course those will be prioritised.
It's also worth noting that it's not as if there isn't already a custom BB code system where you could make the table BB code yourself, or even add-ons that do a fine job of allowing tables.
Is it being considered for XF 2.1? As much as any other suggestion is, but there's definitely some much bigger and arguably more important features we'd like to work on first.
Alpha1
Well-known member
The Table in the Fraola editor is really amazing! I have not seen a better table implementation anywhere on the net.
Check out how easy it is to add a table, columns, rows: https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor
Its really a breeze to work with. Add a table in a second and then expand it, add rows. No bbcode needed. All very simple User Interface.
You can click on a table cell and add all kinds of properties to a cell, highlight it, etc, etc. Fully responsive and your grandma can do it.
You've gotta admire that genius simplicity!
Check out how easy it is to add a table, columns, rows: https://www.froala.com/wysiwyg-editor
Its really a breeze to work with. Add a table in a second and then expand it, add rows. No bbcode needed. All very simple User Interface.
You can click on a table cell and add all kinds of properties to a cell, highlight it, etc, etc. Fully responsive and your grandma can do it.
You've gotta admire that genius simplicity!
It is very good, but then most RTEs have a decent table tool. But don't get too excited about all of the shiny features it has. Bear in mind that we'd only be able to support the functionality that we can reasonably support within a BB code. Remember, the editor generates HTML and then we have to convert it to BB code. Similarly we then have to convert it back to HTML. There's nothing really off limits in terms of what BB codes can support (see the quote tag as a slightly more complex example) but we wouldn't want it to be too complicated.
Alpha1
Well-known member
Yes, I can see why that is a reason to hesitate on this matter. Please do know that the absence of Table support is one of the major pain points I have with XF. I feel the importance of table code is is often underestimated. Its a suggestion that has been discussed in various HYS threads, but strangely enough not in a dedicated suggestion thread.
Seems like XF would have to translate BB code back and forth all the time. Doesn't that tell you maybe it's time to port XF native format to HTML instead of BB code? Seems inevitable. Understand it's a major re-architecture, but seems like it would get you a lot closer to modern content management systems, allowing folks to have Xenforo only sites, and not have to mess with WordPress for fuller-feature content. Would love to see XF3 take on CMS head on (E.g. introduce the concept of a "content page" without all the chrome of a post, with discussions below). Tables are a small part of that much broader capability, but a critical step to even consider hosting content in XF for content-focused sites.
For various reasons, full HTML support is pretty much never going to happen. We’d rather know that every single possible bit of user input is 100% secure. There are libraries that can help with this but whether it’s converting HTML to BB code and back or converting potentially dangerous HTML to safe HTML there’s still work there and both come with their own challenges.
RobinHood
Well-known member
You can add tables and html right now using this add on, not tried the html part yet though.
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/kl-editor-manager.5657/
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/kl-editor-manager.5657/
dethfire
Well-known member
Addon's for bbcode can be trouble over time. If not continually supported over years the posts with the addon bbcode will be messed up.
Alpha1
Well-known member
Yes, that's especially true for table bbcode. Once you are using one addon and the addon becomes unsupported its likely to be stuck on the xf version that is compatible with the addon. Worse is when its abandoned and a vulnerability is discovered. Unless another addon comes along supporting the exact same bbcode scheme you have a serious problem. Disabling an addon that turns thousands of posts into tables is disastrous. Often sticky threads contain tables.
RobinHood
Well-known member
So, to clarify, does that add on only work then because @katsulynx has implimented the BBcode side of things himself to talk to the Froala buttons and there's no standard?
Looking at the resulting bb code it reads very well and seems to correspond pretty sensibly to normal html tables. It's just a load of TABLE, TR, TH, TD etc. tags exactly where you'd expect them, so the format seems sensible.
If you're that desperate for tables at least it's an option and working now. It doesn't sound like you should hold your breath for native implementation as it doesn't sound like it's a priority. If you ever need to convert it to another format I'm sure you can commission someone to write a conversion script.
Looking at the resulting bb code it reads very well and seems to correspond pretty sensibly to normal html tables. It's just a load of TABLE, TR, TH, TD etc. tags exactly where you'd expect them, so the format seems sensible.
If you're that desperate for tables at least it's an option and working now. It doesn't sound like you should hold your breath for native implementation as it doesn't sound like it's a priority. If you ever need to convert it to another format I'm sure you can commission someone to write a conversion script.
Alpha1
Well-known member
We have thousands of posts with tables. These have a certain format. Updating all that to a new format would require significant work. We would need an importer/converter for this. And afterwards we will probably need to clean up some manually. For argument sake, lets say we put in the work build a converter and update most of those tables. Some mess will be left behind as this is inevitable. Now the Table addon dies and the next one comes along. Then we can start over again. All the while leaving an increasingly bigger mess. Which not only hurts the sites usability, but also the Google ranking. Google likes hot messes as much as I do.
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