A better text editor, on Forum and Blog posts[LIVE]

[Emily]

For Ning Creators and members alike, adding content is an essential part of any Ning Network. When it comes to adding text, the text editor members rely on should be as easy to use as possible. Starting tomorrow afternoon, adding and editing text on Ning will become even easier.

Previously, all text editors on a Ning Network allowed members to add photos, add links and format text. But using those tools produced HTML code that many non-technical Internet users didn't understand. So a few weeks ago, we rolled out a new, WYSIWYG editor to the forum, while still keeping an "HTML" tab so that advanced users could still edit HTML as they always had.

WYSIWYG stands for "what you see is what you get", and it means that when you're doing something like making text bold, you'll actually see bold text, instead of code for <b>bolded text</b>. In the last few weeks, we heard feedback that the WYSIWYG editor wasn't as easy to use as it could be. And so we're rolling out a number of improvements to make it an even better experience editing forum discussions on Ning, while also rolling out this editor to the blog feature:


The major improvements include:

• More space: 400 pixels of vertical space to edit the text, instead of the previous, 160 pixels
• Smaller font: A smaller font, so more text can fit in the text editor
• Resized images: Even though images in the forum and blog can't be any wider than 721 pixels (the full width of the forum and blog), they weren't being resized while editing. Now, any image added wider than 721 pixels will be resized to 721 pixels.
• Edit image: Previously, once you'd added an image to a text editor, you couldn't change the size, alignment or link unless you knew HTML. Now, in "Rich Text" mode, you'll be able re-open the Image dialog.

When working on these updates, we also realized we made an oversight when adding the WYSIWYG editor to the forum. We accidentally omitted the "Options" drop down, which allows you to customize images that you add to text. We've brought back the Options drop down, with rewritten, clearer text and the ability to customize images even if you add them via URL, not your computer.

Here's what it will look like:



All of these improvements should make editing forum discussions or writing blog posts a breeze. And we'll continue to take your feedback and improve text editors in the future.

Copying pasted text

One note about copying text from other programs or Web sites. One of the nice parts of a WYSIWYG editor is that you can copy and paste not just text, but also links, images, tables and more into your forum or blog post. However, when a WYSIWYG editor tries to maintain all those items, the outcome isn't always perfect. If you're looking to paste text and nothing more, try using the "HTML" tab, and no special formatting will be pasted.

You can usually copy and paste content into the WYSIWYG editor with good results, but the "HTML" tab is a good bet if you're just looking to copy only text.

[John]

Great news.. Thanks!

[J.Wings]

Great changes guys. I think this will really help non-administrators and non-html savvy users make beautiful posts on Ning.

Now, how about a screencast on how to make a great post using some of the WISIWYG features?

[Jason Davis]

Thanks for this.

You know what else would be great? if on the forum section as it is displayed on the front page, allow the network creator to choose multiple forum sections to display but not others. It would solve so many issues I am having now and i bet other sites with substantial content generation would also find it helpful.

I think you are doing an amazing job with all of this. Thanks.

[Tom]

Will the new editor allow javascript code?

Will this new editor be rolled out to the Notes and Pages features at any point?

Thanks

[Brian Floe]

Exactly what needed to be done. Thanks :)

[William Douglas]

Another good step forward. Thank you.

I endorse the request for something similar for Notes and Pages.

And it would be good to resolve the javascript issue.

[Hazrat Amin]

Thank you. I hope you add categories option to blogs so admin can limit categories of posts. Forum have this option, PLEASE add to blogs too.

[Evan]

Hey Hazrat,

This release is focused on improving the text editing experience, and making it easier to use.

/Evan
Ning Product Manager

[Hazrat Amin]

Evan,

I posted this few days ago for Emily and in help section, but I guess they are not able to reply to this yet. The issue on my site with the new editor is that now all blog posts have different fonts and different spacing. This looks wiered for my site and brand. I wanted to keep Helvetica font only but now I am unable to. How do I restrict people from changing fonts and font sizes in blogs? Thank you.

[Jayne]

Great news, when will we be able to send pictures from our pc's via messages plus text docs through messages without having to use code?

[Evan]

Hey Treasure,

Not really sure what you mean. Can you elaborate?

/Evan
Ning Product Manager

[Jayne]

When I send a message to people I can't hit the camera icon because there isn't one in the message part, I can if I get a code, but a lot of times I just want to send something from my own pc. hope this is clearer for you Evan.