3 Answers, 1 is accepted
One of the key differences between our editor an editor used in a ready-made CMS is that theirs knows where the content goes. Ours needs to be generic and create HTML snippets that can go anywhere - from a corporate landing page, to a CMS widget, to creating entire product pages.
Thus, we focus on being an HTML editor, and not a rich text editor that mimics things like paging, page layouts, and other features of a rich text editor that are often used for hardcopy preparation.
Nevertheless, RadEditor offers a number of features that you can use to create layouts:
- there are the align buttons (left, center, right, justify), which use inline CSS rules to align the content
- the editor automatically takes the stylesheets from the form it resides on, or it can also receive a custom set of stylesheets. This allows you to have its content immediately look like it will look in the place where it will be used.
- this is facilitated by the inline editing feature which lets you edit content where it is placed on the page.
- you can prepare HTML templates with the desired styling and classes for your users that will result in the desired layout (e.g., even include some CSS classes/rules for responsive design that you users don't even need to know about). See the template manager file dialog.
That said, I would encourage you to browse the already existing feature requests for RadEditor and/or add your own: https://feedback.telerik.com/aspnet-ajax?listMode=Recent&categoryId=574&typeId=2. The more traction an idea gets with the community, the better chances it has of getting implemented.
Regards,
Marin Bratanov
Progress Telerik
Rank 1
Not asking for look like the live site. That wouldn't be good. What the biggest complaints we have :
1. Say you have six images on the screen (3 per row). Users don't like to cut/paste, cut/paste, and a final cut/paste.
2. Other editors are super easy to make two columns
3. You can easily add videos (YouTube, Vimeo, locally, etc) and see the preview right there.
4. way to incorporate "widgets" (insert your nerd speak here) where you can say insert quotes and a specific set of divs, tables, fonts, etc. will surround the text.
5. Easily drag and drop text up/down that stored in paragraphs
None of these are things that shouldn't be there. I agree you can't account for every template, etc. In fact, I prefer to not include, headers, footers, etc. I just want the editing window to be efficient and effective.
Users are lazy and development is all about making their lives easier.
To each point:
1. Say you have six images on the screen (3 per row). Users don't like to cut/paste, cut/paste, and a final cut/paste.
I am not sure what you mean by this and how you would prefer users to insert images. RadEditor provides the Image Manager dialog to help users put site assets in the content and they can also cut/copy/paste content. In case you want to predefine something, you can either use the Template Manager, or the Code Snippets dropdown.
2. Other editors are super easy to make two columns
A code snippet or template that provides the desired layout can be defined by the developer so it matches the layout and classes in the destination. You can even put it in the Content property of the editor if it is empty when initializing the page. There are many ways to create a two column layout (for example, floating div elements, flexbox, table, absolute positioning) and so it is up to the developer to choose how this is to be done. You can even create a custom button that will insert the desired HTML together with its styling in the cursor position (see the second button in the Custom Tools demo and the .pasteHtml() method of the editor).
3. You can easily add videos (YouTube, Vimeo, locally, etc) and see the preview right there.
You can add a video with RadEditor too. The Insert External Video dialog supports YouTube and Vimeo and offers previews as well (generated upon blur of the URL box, together with the embed settings). It's the 6th button in the 2nd toolgroup in the Built-in Dialogs demo.
4. way to incorporate "widgets" (insert your nerd speak here) where you can say insert quotes and a specific set of divs, tables, fonts, etc. will surround the text.
This can be done through a template or a custom code snippet - you as the developer can define the necessary HTML that will produce the desired styling. If it is just about a CSS class (e.g., for quotation marks/backgrounds/indent), you can do this with the Css Styles dropdown.
5. Easily drag and drop text up/down that stored in paragraphs
Drag and drop is a feature of the browser. If the user selects some text and drags it around, the browser will move it. If dragging starts over non-selected content, a new selection is to be generated, as this is how text editing should work.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Marin Bratanov
Progress Telerik