Rad Editor is great tool, but there are some important defincincies that I believe Telerik really needs to address before it can be used as true content editor.
1) The content the user creates and "sees" on the screen does not necessarily match the html markup generated by rad Editor and therefore does not match the appearance of the content in other environments. If a user specifies some content should be styled with a particular class.. and that class is not defined anywhere on the partiuclar page the content gets displayed in, then obviously the style will not appear as it does when the use saved the content. This behavior is totally expected. On the other hand, if the user creates some content and on screen it shows "verdana" as the font, it may not actually be set to verdana in the markup, and the content will therefore not look like it does in the editor. For example, when the editor first loads, the FontNames dropdown accepts the default font from the browser and the realFontSize dropdown does the same. So, as the user creates content, this is the font name/size which is used in the editor content area by default. The user assumes that their content will look like this when they save it. However, the Verdana font name and size are not actually applied to the content. They are only what is used in the content display area of the editor. and so you have users creating content that they think will look one way, when it actually looks like something else. This can be a nightmare when creating content which can be used in multiple environments.. (web, print, email, phone, etc.). Ideally, when rad editor loads, we should be able to specify the default font name/size (as well as other parameters, like color, styling, etc.). This is the default font which appears in the rad editor content area AND, when the user types in some content, these font styles will also be applied in the markup generated by Rad Editor. Since the user assumes what they see on screen is what the content will look like, there must always be a font name/size selected and applied in the generated markup. Only in this way can users be sure what they see in rad Editor is what they'll get when the content is saved.
2) It has been mentioned in other threads and I assume Telerik is working on this, but the xhtml markup which rad editor generates does not conform to the styling requirements of some email clients... most notably Outlook. This is particularly true when it comes to image declarations. As someone who need to build email content editors, this is an important feature that should be implemented.
1) The content the user creates and "sees" on the screen does not necessarily match the html markup generated by rad Editor and therefore does not match the appearance of the content in other environments. If a user specifies some content should be styled with a particular class.. and that class is not defined anywhere on the partiuclar page the content gets displayed in, then obviously the style will not appear as it does when the use saved the content. This behavior is totally expected. On the other hand, if the user creates some content and on screen it shows "verdana" as the font, it may not actually be set to verdana in the markup, and the content will therefore not look like it does in the editor. For example, when the editor first loads, the FontNames dropdown accepts the default font from the browser and the realFontSize dropdown does the same. So, as the user creates content, this is the font name/size which is used in the editor content area by default. The user assumes that their content will look like this when they save it. However, the Verdana font name and size are not actually applied to the content. They are only what is used in the content display area of the editor. and so you have users creating content that they think will look one way, when it actually looks like something else. This can be a nightmare when creating content which can be used in multiple environments.. (web, print, email, phone, etc.). Ideally, when rad editor loads, we should be able to specify the default font name/size (as well as other parameters, like color, styling, etc.). This is the default font which appears in the rad editor content area AND, when the user types in some content, these font styles will also be applied in the markup generated by Rad Editor. Since the user assumes what they see on screen is what the content will look like, there must always be a font name/size selected and applied in the generated markup. Only in this way can users be sure what they see in rad Editor is what they'll get when the content is saved.
2) It has been mentioned in other threads and I assume Telerik is working on this, but the xhtml markup which rad editor generates does not conform to the styling requirements of some email clients... most notably Outlook. This is particularly true when it comes to image declarations. As someone who need to build email content editors, this is an important feature that should be implemented.