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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[021]

Adding some styling to it would be amazing so the people who likes the (ugly) gradient version could have it and those who prefer a minimalistic aproach could achieve it easily too.

.already in style properties (Rich text editor)

the editor in general should be customizable

The problem is that this is the default design. And by default it is deprecated.
It’s just that everyone goes from a convex design to a flat one, and XF does the opposite. This is strange.

Gradients for creating volume are an obsolete design and XF should have abandoned such things since XF 2.0

 

[Masetrix]

Gradients

We love gradients, other not.
You shouldn't argue about taste, it's a fast-paced fashion thing. As long as everyone can adapt to their wishes, I don't understand the discussion.
What the designers of XF choose is up to them.
I liked the style of xf 1.x better in some cases. So what?

 

[Zentral]

.already in style properties (Rich text editor)

Hello,

Then I will shut up and agree with @Masetrix here. As long as it’s easily customizable, what XenForo developers decide to go with as a default style will be fine. Not everyone has the same taste and, although I agree that we are in a minimalistic era and gradients don’t really fit with the rest of the forum default style (minimalistic as well), it’s not that big of a deal. I’ll suck it up I guess.

Regards,
Zentral.

 

[021]

We love gradients, other not.
You shouldn't argue about taste, it's a fast-paced fashion thing. As long as everyone can adapt to their wishes, I don't understand the discussion.
What the designers of XF choose is up to them.
I liked the style of xf 1.x better in some cases. So what?

.these are not tastes. Developers do not make a product for themselves; they sell it. This is not about tastes.

There is such a thing as standards. Flat design is the standard right now.

I'm not saying that gradients are bad. I say that using them to create volume is an outdated technique.

Here's how gradients are used now: https://rgb.wiki/blog/top-web-trends-for-2020-and-why-they-are-coming#gradients-everywhere

 

[Mr Lucky]

Given the transient nature of content on the web, I'd always recommend that people attach their images rather than hot-link them

i may be wrong but I was under the impression that hot linking is the only legal way to represent on your site an image that has someone else’s copyright.

But you are right that it becomes annoying if the images is removed so I’d also agree linking maybe not best as the default .

 

[Mr Lucky]

Though I've also had users starting new threads asking how to post a reply ...

We get people replying via the report button

 

[BassMan]

We get people replying via the report button

Yeah, same here.

 

[Stuart Wright]

Very nice, chaps.

 

[Kirby]

i may be wrong but I was under the impression that hot linking is the only legal way to represent on your site an image that has someone else’s copyright.

Currently this is correct (in Germany), however that will change soon.
But if you do so you run into problems with GDPR which does require the website to give detail information about how personally identifiable information of is being made available to others.
As PII does include the users IP address, this would mean you would have to give information about every website that is used for hotlinking images - this is impossible

We get people replying via the report button

Yes, that happens as well.

 

[Mr Lucky]

i may be wrong but I was under the impression that hot linking is the only legal way to represent on your site an image that has someone else’s copyright.

Currently this is correct (in Germany), however that will change soon.

Also may be moot with proxy images,wouldn't they legally count as uploaded rather than linked/embedded?

 

[Kirby]

Also may be moot with proxy images,wouldn't they legally count as uploaded rather than linked/embedded?

Yup. That why I said you get legal issues with both

 

[Max]

Also may be moot with proxy images,wouldn't they legally count as uploaded rather than linked/embedded?

You can turn off proxy images and check for https only image links and warn users when they post http image links.
Almost all image hosting sites and reputable sites have https now. So users will not get that warning under normal circumstances.
Simple but very effective solution for mixed content warning

 

[Max]

Currently this is correct (in Germany), however that will change soon.
But if you do so you run into problems with GDPR which does require the website to give detail information about how personally identifiable information of is being made available to others.
As PII does include the users IP address, this would mean you would have to give information about every website that is used for hotlinking images - this is impossible
Yes, that happens as well.

GDPR not requiring such things, even someone created such argument you can defend it more easily than hosting those copyright images your self on your own server.
Hosting copyrighted stuff in your own server makes you more liable and responsible. Its a direct copyright violation all around the world for ages now.
Owner can email your hosting provider and take your site down. No legal process at all.

Talking about our real life scenario, we got over 10 per month DMCA requests, Google search index removal requests etc.. when we enable image proxy. But now none after we remove the image proxy and went with the above mod.
Currently we have thousands of images hot linked by users, but no one complains.

 

[Kirby]

This is getting OT, so this will be my last reply on the legal issues.

GDPR not requiring such things

It surely does

Owner can email your hosting provider and take your site down. No legal process at all.

We don't even have a hosting provider.

 

[Max]

We don't even have a hosting provider.

Every other forum does, so it mattes to everyone else.

 

[Aivaras]

@Kier,

Any chance to add highlighting to BB code tags in the plain text editor? That would take quite some of strain off one's eyes when editing longer and more densely formatted (tagged) texts.

 

[Chris D]

These look like nice changes.

Have fixes been implemented for the issues reported with posting on mobiles? Cursor jumping around and the like?

There is an improvement in some cases but not all.

Hello,

Will this issue be fixed?:



Seems directly related to Froala and how XenForo handles the editor with js, as @Mike found a workaround for part of the issue explained in the thread.

Regards,
Zentral.

Unlikely. There is good reason we strip most formatting; but especially colour.

If we retained the colour information then it causes issues with sites that use multiple styles or copying and pasting from other sites with different colour schemes.

Very easy to get in a situation where you have near white text posted on a near white background because couloirs have been brought over via a copy paste.

Ultimately the copy/paste behaviour is the same.

This is getting OT, so this will be my last reply on the legal issues.

Good idea (everyone).

 

[Chris D]

@Kier,

Any chance to add highlighting to BB code tags in the plain text editor? That would take quite some of strain off one's eyes when editing longer and more densely formatted (tagged) texts.

That’s quite an additional challenge because the BB code editor is supposed to be just a plain text text area. It’s not something we’re aiming for (likely ever).

We’d probably just be aiming for WYSIWYG and the editor functionality to be improved so you don’t need the raw BB code as much.

 

[Aivaras]

[…] so you don’t need the raw BB code as much.

This approach does not take into account sufficiently the reality of custom BB codes though, of which there may be an abundance (as is in our case). The plain text editor, in such a case, will continue being heavily used. Hence, a need for BB code syntax highlighting.

 

[Chris D]

As I said, it’s unlikely and not a simple thing.

You can post it as a suggestion if there isn’t one already.