The Rise and Fall of the WYSIWYG
Posted By Ross

When I announced the introduction of the WYSIWYG editor I had high hopes for what it could do and what it would bring to vForums. However things did not go smoothly from the start with one issue arising as soon as another was fixed. At first I was sure that these were teething problems and that after a little time users would adapt to the new interface and the core code would be adapted to work how the users expect. However it was not to be.

I admit now that I was wrong, something that I suspect other hosting providers would not do. The WYSIWYG editor was not to be. It was just not suited to the forum enviroment.

However the WYSIWYG experience was not wasted. We have been able to see what aspects were well received and what aspects weren’t. This is valuable information which we’ve used to develop a new system. It’s not a visual editor, but neither is it plain text. It’s what I like to think of as being in the middle ground. Giving enough tools to be user fiendly, but remaining light weight and error free.

This new system will be going live on the support forum this week and will be rolled out to all forums over the weekend. This may seem like a very quick implementation, and that’s because it will be But surely that is a good thing?

As always, I appreciate your thoughts, comments & questions.

Ross McLellan
vForums.co.uk Owner