Free WYSIWYG editor for websites and CMS + file manager for it
I want to present to the public one of our products, released under an open source license.
elRTE and elFinder is a free WYSIWYG editor for websites and content management systems (CMS) and a file manager for it.
Project website: elrte.ru | Sourceforge project: sourceforge.net/projects/elrte
I will tell you, in general, why we took it up and what we did. In our CMS we used FCKEditor. Why did you decide to write your own editor? It is hard to say. The decision matured for quite some time. An important role has had the love of developers to start projects from scratch and reinvent the wheel. But it is - emotions.
Objective deficiencies of existing editors are the following:
● lack of an interface for working with css for the "uninitiated". For example, it is not possible to set indents for each image separately for each direction - instead, non-valid hsize and vsize are created.
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● Invalid code (align, border, etc.), which becomes useless when using css frameworks with its own reset'ami
● Lack of simple but necessary trifles. For example, you can create a picture floating in the text, but there is no way to stop swimming in the right place without knowing html.
Trifle of course, but try to explain to the secretary what to do so that the illustrations in the news do not crawl over each other.
● A bunch of different templates for dialog boxes, etc. ... You will not find the ends, if you need to "file" something
— Bugs that wander from version to version, while the editor itself is cluttered with stupid bows.
For example - FCKEditor, being placed in floating divas, when unfolded into a full window, simply disappears from the screen, but now it has new icons.
● Heavyness and sluggishness at the start.
● Ugly, I apologize for the sharpness, file managers with an incredible logic of storing files by type and an uncomfortable interface.
All these reasons separately are insignificant, but together they created the critical mass that pushed us to get involved in such a hopeless enterprise.
Although I spoke rather sharply about existing editors, I have a great respect for the developers of FCKEditor and TinyMCE. I borrowed a number of ideas from these projects. But from the very beginning I gave up the idea of making an application independent of other libraries.
All the routine work on working with selectors, ajax, creating dialogs, etc. was given to jquery jquery-ui. I understand that this may limit the number of users, but still I think this decision is correct.
If everything is simple and clear with the editor interface, then everything is more complicated with the file manager. I wanted it to be as close as possible to desktop applications. When you select files in the file manager, you don’t do it with checkboxes. This is the interface we tried to do. Select files with a simple mouse click. You can select a group of files with Ctl / Command / Shift. And then - as you are more used to - use the icons on the toolbar or the context menu or keyboard shortcuts (Ctl + C / Ctl-V).
The second goal we pursued in developing elFinder, as we defined it for ourselves, is the minimum necessary functionality. No indication of thumbnail size or other unnecessary settings. Only what is needed for work. That is why he received such a name - elFinder. It is very limited, but it does its job as expected. I think we coped with the tasks.
Although the editor is still in the second release of the candidate, he already possesses 80% of the capabilities of his older fellows, not counting his own unique capabilities. It is much easier - 139kb elRTE + elFinder in one file (minimized without code code). Initialization occurs noticeably faster than FCKEditor. elFinder - it just works and that's it.
Although the editor was developed for our management system, we decided from the very beginning to make it open. In the near future - try to integrate it into Joomla.
PS The text is written by Dmitry dio , who is the technical director and developer of the project. Published at his request. I personally have no relation to this project. All questions, respects and advantages in karma to him.
elRTE and elFinder is a free WYSIWYG editor for websites and content management systems (CMS) and a file manager for it.
Project website: elrte.ru | Sourceforge project: sourceforge.net/projects/elrte
I will tell you, in general, why we took it up and what we did. In our CMS we used FCKEditor. Why did you decide to write your own editor? It is hard to say. The decision matured for quite some time. An important role has had the love of developers to start projects from scratch and reinvent the wheel. But it is - emotions.
Objective deficiencies of existing editors are the following:
● lack of an interface for working with css for the "uninitiated". For example, it is not possible to set indents for each image separately for each direction - instead, non-valid hsize and vsize are created.
')
● Invalid code (align, border, etc.), which becomes useless when using css frameworks with its own reset'ami
● Lack of simple but necessary trifles. For example, you can create a picture floating in the text, but there is no way to stop swimming in the right place without knowing html.
Trifle of course, but try to explain to the secretary what to do so that the illustrations in the news do not crawl over each other.
● A bunch of different templates for dialog boxes, etc. ... You will not find the ends, if you need to "file" something
— Bugs that wander from version to version, while the editor itself is cluttered with stupid bows.
For example - FCKEditor, being placed in floating divas, when unfolded into a full window, simply disappears from the screen, but now it has new icons.
● Heavyness and sluggishness at the start.
● Ugly, I apologize for the sharpness, file managers with an incredible logic of storing files by type and an uncomfortable interface.
All these reasons separately are insignificant, but together they created the critical mass that pushed us to get involved in such a hopeless enterprise.
Although I spoke rather sharply about existing editors, I have a great respect for the developers of FCKEditor and TinyMCE. I borrowed a number of ideas from these projects. But from the very beginning I gave up the idea of making an application independent of other libraries.
All the routine work on working with selectors, ajax, creating dialogs, etc. was given to jquery jquery-ui. I understand that this may limit the number of users, but still I think this decision is correct.
If everything is simple and clear with the editor interface, then everything is more complicated with the file manager. I wanted it to be as close as possible to desktop applications. When you select files in the file manager, you don’t do it with checkboxes. This is the interface we tried to do. Select files with a simple mouse click. You can select a group of files with Ctl / Command / Shift. And then - as you are more used to - use the icons on the toolbar or the context menu or keyboard shortcuts (Ctl + C / Ctl-V).
The second goal we pursued in developing elFinder, as we defined it for ourselves, is the minimum necessary functionality. No indication of thumbnail size or other unnecessary settings. Only what is needed for work. That is why he received such a name - elFinder. It is very limited, but it does its job as expected. I think we coped with the tasks.
Although the editor is still in the second release of the candidate, he already possesses 80% of the capabilities of his older fellows, not counting his own unique capabilities. It is much easier - 139kb elRTE + elFinder in one file (minimized without code code). Initialization occurs noticeably faster than FCKEditor. elFinder - it just works and that's it.
Although the editor was developed for our management system, we decided from the very beginning to make it open. In the near future - try to integrate it into Joomla.
PS The text is written by Dmitry dio , who is the technical director and developer of the project. Published at his request. I personally have no relation to this project. All questions, respects and advantages in karma to him.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/75865/
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