XF 2.2 Text editor and attachment manager improvements

Central to the experience of interacting with forum software is the interface through which visitors will create their content. This is usually done through the text editor and attachment manager, so keeping these systems fresh and inspiring is very important to us.

From the outset, XenForo has employed a rich text editor (RTE) to allow visitors to compose their messages in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) interface, so that bold text is shown emboldened, large text is appropriately large etc., rather than working directly with the underlying BB code in order to take the guesswork out of message editing. We've always built a custom implementation on top of what we consider to be the best-in-class tools, and through the life of the XenForo we have already made major switches to completely new libraries twice, moving from TinyMCE to Redactor and then to Froala.

With XenForo 2.2, we have made another major change to our implementation. We continue to build upon Froala, but we have improved every aspect of our system.

We'd love you to read what we've put down here, but if you're pushed for time...

tl;dr​

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[HJW]

New rendering abilities​

One major change you are bound to notice in XenForo 2.2 is that hitting Reply on a message now includes a rendered version of the quoted text in your editor, rather than seeing the raw [QUOTE] tags.

View attachment 227942​

We're having a push to remove as many BB codes from the view of users as possible, and this one has been a long time coming.

Probably a silly question, but rendering the quote is the only feature of 2.2 that would really benefit me.

I don't have the time now to test and redo all my custom code to upgrade. But in theory would it be possible and not too painless to implement the 2.2 quote in 2.1?

 

[Orit]

Button manager​

The layout of controls for the RTE has been customisable with a convenient drag-drop interface through the admin control panel since XenForo 2.1, but with XenForo 2.2 and the additional complexity of button groups and their associated options, we have overhauled the button manager too.

Is it possible to force the editor to be XS in specific templates?

 

[otto]

I don't have the time now to test and redo all my custom code to upgrade. But in theory would it be possible and not too painless to implement the 2.2 quote in 2.1?

Yes - with a update zu XF 2.2