Well, WYSIWYG or What You See Is What You Get is an editor that lets you preview the end results before the interface or document goes live. In simple words, WYSIWYG editors instantly display the content live on the web in the same way as in the preview. So whatever edits you are making to your web content will look the same on generating the final output.
Isn’t it amazing?
It is, and this is the reason for its rising popularity. There are a lot of WYSIWYG editors available on the market that can be useful in creating dynamic web pages, blogs, and so on
Apart from this, many advanced WYSIWYG editors let you upload images, flash movies files to the web server, and so on.
You might be wondering: Why should I go with WYSIWYG Editors?
WYSIWYG editors are one of the most excellent tools for beginners. They help to quickly create web pages and put them on the internet without any coding knowledge. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know HTML coding at all; you can still create visually appealing websites without any difficulty.
To understand this, let’s go through some of the benefits it offers over standard text editors.
Benefits of WYSIWYG Editors
- Better code navigation
If you have used a traditional coding text-based editor, you must be aware of searching through lines of code to find out the desired thing. Although it is not a big deal, sometimes it irritates while editing templates.
WYSIWYG editors don’t have such issues. You can use your editor navigation feature to locate specific elements quickly on your page. You can also make the changes accordingly. Some of the advanced WYSIWYG editors like Froala come with instant preview features that let you see how changes will affect the final output.
- Copy/Paste from MS Word/OpenOffice Writer
WYSIWYG editors allow you to copy and paste text from MS Word/OpenOffice Writer into your website. Some of the advanced editors like Froala allow you to copy/paste from both Microsoft Word and Excel.
This feature is going to save a lot of time, especially when you have to copy long chunks of text and images. The thing that makes the difference is whether the pasted text matches the site’s format or not, as WordPress sites do not use blank spaces for paragraphs.
- Auto formatting
What makes WYSIWYG HTML editors better than the traditional coding text-based editors is their ability to automatically format the codes, ensuring that all tags are in place. This will prevent you from messing up with tedious editing sessions in order to clean up the mistakes.
- No language barrier
WYSIWYG HTML editors allow you to work on your content in any language you need. It means if your website is based in Russia and is translated into Russian, you can write directly into your content management system. You don’t need to worry about the displayed content in Russia.
Note: Some of the advanced WYSIWYG HTML editors like Froala simply work in any language (including East Asian languages). This is why it is used all over the world in more than 100 countries.
- Creative headings with ease
With WYSIWYG HTML editors, you need not worry about writing formatting code. You can quickly write eye-catching headings with a click of a button. Apart from this, you will get infinite possibilities to experiment with headings. This is going to save you both time and cost.
- Markup assistance
WYSIWYG HTML editors let you create content without extensive coding knowledge. It presents you with a visual representation of the content. This enables you to make changes on the page based on the aesthetics and layout rather than getting involved in the technical constraints. This will give you more time to work on the design rather than getting involved in the coding.
- Seamless hyperlinking
There is no match to the WYSIWYG HTML editors when it comes to hyperlinking between pages. Traditional coding text-based editors demand precision with links placements. If the links were not placed close enough to the intended targets, the chances are low your readers will ever notice them. As a result, no desired action will be performed from the user end. But with WYSIWYG HTML editors, highlighting the text followed by a click will do the job.
- Rapid changes
In earlier days, there were no advanced editors, so you had to make some changes in the code, and then you had to publish it on the server to see the end result. But with WYSIWYG editors, you need not go through this hassle. All you need to do is make changes in the content management system, and you can instantly see the changes once you save them.
- High-performance
WYSIWYG editors are specifically designed to keep performance in mind. Some editors like Froala can even withstand the most rigorous tests and offer smooth performance even during heavy tasks. It is capable enough to initialize in less than 40ms. Blazing fast, isn’t it?
- Accessibility
When it comes to accessibility many of the standard text editors fail to cope with growing needs. Lightweight editors like Froala offer rich text editing under various conditions. It is compliant with Section 508, WCAG 2.0, and WAI-ARIA to offer unbeatable access under various scenarios.
After going through these benefits, you must be curious enough to give it a try, won’t you?
Well, who stops you? Just add it to your site and see the results yourself.
How to Add a WYSIWYG Editor to Your site?
Well, when it comes to adding a WYSIWYG editor to your site, there are many options for the same. This guide is about adding a Froala WYSIWYG editor to your site.
You might be wondering why Froala?
As a developer-friendly editor, it offers you the ability to extend its capabilities further. Froala comes with more than 30 plugins out of the box. The good thing about Froala is the optimization that lets you use it on various platforms like desktops, laptops, tablets, and so on. Moreover, it doesn’t matter whether you are using an Android or iOS platform; Froala is compatible with both.
But, the thing that makes it unique is easy integration. You can integrate it with WordPress, react, or any frontend technologies without any difficulty.
Let’s add it to your site by following a few easy steps.
Step 1: Install
When it comes to installing the Froala editor, there are many ways to do so. Here NPM is used. It is one of the best and easiest options to go with.
For NPM, type in the command given below.
| npm install froala-editor |
Once the installation process is completed, embed the below-given code into your HTML file.
| <link href=”node_modules/froala-editor/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” /> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”node_modules/froala-editor/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js”></script> |
Note: You can also use CDN as an alternative.
| <link href=”https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” /> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js”></script> |
Step 2: Create
You can initiate the Froala editor on any DOM element, but it is recommended to use a DIV element.
Add an empty <div id=”example”></div> element that will be turned into a rich text editor.
Step 3: Initialization
Initialize the Froala editor on the previously created empty element.
| var editor = new FroalaEditor(‘#example’) |
Step 4: Display Content
Include the below-given CSS files for preserving the look of the edited HTML outside of the rich text editor.
| <!– CSS rules for styling the element inside the editor such as p, h1, h2, etc. –> <link href=”../css/froala_style.min.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” /> |
Do not forget to put the edited content inside an element with the fr-view.
| <div class=”fr-view”> Here comes the HTML edited with the Froala rich text editor. </div> |
Here is a complete example form showing the integration of Froala WYSIWYG HTML editor with a site.
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| <html> <head> <link href=”https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” /> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js”></script> </head> <body> <div id=”example”></div> <div class=”fr-view”> Here comes the HTML edited with the Froala rich text editor. </div> </body> <script> var editor = new FroalaEditor(‘#example’) </script> </html> |
Here’s how the form will finally look. You can now use it to edit or create the type of rich content you want. Just type or insert the text and perform operations to see the results yourself. You can also take the help of documentation. It will give you an easy approach to using Froala to its full potential.
Whether text or graphics, Froala lets you edit the content more precisely as compared to the standard text editors. It allows you to experiment with the layout, colours, and formatting of the content without any need for coding skills. This is why people from around the world are opting for this editor. Then why not be one among them and use the opportunity in your favour.
Final Takeaway
There are many WYSIWYG editors available in the market to choose from, but what matters the most is their ease of implementation and use. Froala is one such next-generation WYSIWYG HTML editor that has gained much popularity as it offers both in a single place. This guide has shown you the integration of a Froala WYSIWYG HTML editor with the site. All you need to do is to implement the given steps in the same order to enjoy the benefits of an advanced WYSIWYG editor.
