Preview the New Post Editor

Methodical Management

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Huddler has a few modifications planned for the rich text editor found on the desktop version of our site.  The new editor is intended to address some common frustrations with the existing product and provide a more customized experience.  Users will be able to choose between a streamlined editor with only the essential editing tools, or an advanced editor with shortcuts to some additional functions not included in previous versions.  The editor's also received a bit of a visual makeover as well, resulting in a more subdued, monochromatic look.  In all, this will be the most significant interface change our site has received since the introduction of the mobile site last fall.  

The updated editor is scheduled for release in the very near future, but we wanted to give you the chance to provide feedback before it goes live.  As content creation lies at the heart of the community experience, it's essential to get this right.

Huddler has prepared a preview of the editor, which you can access through the use of their test site.  Please bear in mind that the test site is shared by Huddler's other communities, so try to represent NikeTalk well if you submit any posts.  They WILL be seen by others.  

How to check it out:

1. Visit the live preview site at: http://sandbox.huddler.com

2. You will see a login dialog prompt. Enter:

name: sand

password: boxes

3. Register an account on the sandbox site so you can sign in and post. Or just use:

username: neweditor

password: neweditor

4. We want your feedback! Post in this thread if you have any comments, questions, or find any problems. 

http://sandbox.huddler.com/t/105594/welcome-to-the-rich-text-editor-sandbox

If you're curious about what's in store for the post editor, here's a detailed explanation of the planned changes from Huddler's VP of Product:
http://

 
     Quick Links:  What's Changing? 

    Toolbar Basics

    New Functions

    Right Click Tools Menu
 
The Huddler platform has just upgraded to the newest version of CK Editor which powers the Rich Text Editor here. 

This upgrade brings a new look and some new features. The BBCode Editor' functionality is not changing here, these are upgrades to the Rich Text Editor only. 

Let's jump into what's new!

http://
[h2]Toolbar Basics[/h2]
The first thing you'll notice is that the default toolbar is more compact. Frequently-used items are displayed in a streamlined toolbar that saves you vertical space and makes the most commonly needed buttons easier to find at a glance. If you need something you don't see, just click "More" to expose the full kit.

LKoi5rx.png


Here's the fully expanded toolbar. 

t4k5QVr.png


You may find this extra click annoying if you want the full toolbar all the time. Don't worry! The Editor will remember how you last left it. Expand the toolbar once, and the next time you come back, it will still be expanded. Compact it, and it'll stay compacted until you expand it again. You don't need to set any preference checkboxes for this. It'll just work. 

Note that you can expand and contract the toolbar at any time without losing the post you're working on. 

http://
[h2]
New Functions[/h2]
You've probably noticed some new toolbar buttons, especially in the expanded view. Here's the rundown what they do:

LfCUgnw.png


Bold, italic, and underline and strikethrough but also [sup]superscript[/sup] and [sub]subscript[/sub] for mathematical expressions & footnote annotations.

bclD1Tj.png


Link, Unlink, and Anchor. You probably know all about links. Placing an anchor allows you to link directly to a specific place within a post. When you link to an anchor, people who click that link will scroll directly to your anchor point. This is especially handy in long posts. For example, the table of contents in this post was constructed with the insert anchor button. 

To insert an anchor:

1. Highlight the text you want to be the anchor, or just place your cursor where you want the anchor point to be.

2. Click the anchor button and give your anchor a name (spaces are not allowed!).

3. Link to the page URL where your anchor appears, like so:"#user_[anchorname]"

The system adds "user_" as a prefix to your anchors to make sure they don't collide with other anchors already in the page (like post permalinks). 

ycXT9O7.png


You know about lists: numbered and bulleted. Finally, there's a button for "indent" that allows you to create multi-level lists. Like so:
  1. Fruits
    • Apples
      1. Fuji
      2. Pink Lady
      3. Granny Smith
    • Bananas
    • Grapes
  2. Vegetables
    • Potatoes
    • Carrots
    • Celery
The Increase/Decrease  Indent buttons allow you to manage the levels. You can also mix & match bulleted & numbered lists however you like. 

kABrian.png


Insert: Image, Video, Table, Horizontal Rule, Special Character, Smiley, Quote Block, Attachment, Spoiler

The new function here is "Insert special character." It's handy for a few things like accented characters like ñ ö é and some symbols ? [emoji]169[/emoji] ½ » 

For some odd reason... it doesn't actually offer an Omega symbol  -_-

R6JLI1s.png


The icon with the "T" is Paste as Plain Text. If you've copied formatted text from somewhere and you don't want any of the formatting to come through, this button will do a complete reduction-to-text before pasting. Just paste into the dialog that pops up and click "OK."

The icon with the "W" is Paste from Microsoft Word  and will make a best attempt to preserve formatting intelligently when you paste from Microsoft Word.  Just paste into the dialog that pops up and click "OK."

The Undo and Redo arrows should be familiar already. 

9oQYgGW.png


These two are:

Search for text

and

Find / Replace text

tTQmIwp.png


Last but not least is Maximize, which will allow the editor to take over your entire window. This is really helpful when editing a big post as it gives you a large, resizable canvas to work on. Very cool. 

You can maximize and minimize without worrying about losing the post you're working on.

REMEMBER: when you're ready to submit your post, you need to first Minimize to exit the fullscreen view, and then press the "Submit" button!

http://
[h2]Right Click "Tools" Menu[/h2][h2]You may not always get what you expect when you right-click inside CK Editor. When you right-click inside the editor's textarea, you may see the editor's tools menu instead of your browser's own context menu. [/h2]
Here's an example of trying to right-click on a misspelled word. You may have seen this happen:

jhtey0R.png


Good news. When the toolbar is collapsed, and the editor is in its compact mode, this will no longer occur. You will be able to use your browser's built-in spellchecker, as shown below, by right-clicking in the textarea. 

GQ0ps69.png


However, when the toolbar is expanded, and the editor is in kitchen-sink mode, CK Editor will still show its tools menu when you right-click.

That's because this menu is the only way that CK Editor can expose some important function, such as table editing. For example, as shown below, the only way to add a row to a table is to right-click and select "Insert Row" from the CK Menu. 

5lrUvYk.png


Summary:
  1. toolbar collapsed: you can use your browser's right click menu freely
  2. toolbar expanded: CK Editor will show its tools menu instead when you right-click
JatPPVK.png
 TIP: You can always disable the CK Editor context menu by holding down the Control key when you right-click (use the Command key on a Mac). 
[h2]Happy Editing![/h2]
This up to date version of CK Editor also comes with many small bug fixes and optimizations. We hope you find it an improvement. 

Just to repeat; the BBCode editor is not changing or going away! If you have set your preference to BBCode, it will stay that way :)
Please note that this applies to the desktop version of our site only.  If you sign in using the mobile site, you won't notice any difference.  

I hope you enjoy the preview and look forward to the update. 
 
Any plans to bring back the white background anytime soon?

Thanks for continue to improve site
 
  • You have ADHD.
  • You felt intimidated by a post that included more than five lines of text and left.
  • You clicked on another thread (hopefully one with lots of pictures) and we all moved on with our lives. 
Any plans to bring back the white background anytime soon?
That's still something we'd really like to do, but it's not imminent and unfortunately I have no specific timetable to share right now. 
 
Last edited:
Did I see spell check? :eek

I always get rustled when I right click something and there are no options to fix my spelling. This looks like a good editing change, and I'll have to check it out on my laptop later.



  • You have ADHD.
  • You felt intimidated by a post that included more than five lines of text and left.
  • You clicked on another thread (hopefully one with lots of pictures) and we all moved on with our lives. 

:rollin
 
Last edited:

  • You have ADHD.
  • You felt intimidated by a post that included more than five lines of text and left.
  • You clicked on another thread (hopefully one with lots of pictures) and we all moved on with our lives. 

Any plans to bring back the white background anytime soon?

That's still something we'd really like to do, but it's not imminent and unfortunately I have no specific timetable to share right now. 
Thanks for the answer.
 
I hope this doesn't affect my mobile posting. I hate the mobile site so I use the standard desktop version on my iPhone 5. It's flawless.
 
View media item 556202
LOL WUT?

Looks good.

I'm mainly on my iPad or phone, but I use the desktop since I don't like the mobile. Although I can't post pics from the desktop version on my phone or iPad. I have to switch to mobile and then back..
 
I personally like the new post editor.

Are we gonna adopt all those emoticons too?
 
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Prays that this loads in Internet Explorer 7 because the current one does not.
 
Is this a mandatory update to all huddler sites or can we keep the OG rich text editor?

I just tried it out and I'm good.
 
I personally like the new post editor.

Are we gonna adopt all those emoticons too?
No.  The sandbox just has a bunch of placeholder data taken from other Huddler communities - including the custom emoticon set.  We'll be keeping the emoticons we have now. 
Prays that this loads in Internet Explorer 7 because the current one does not.
You can try it for yourself on the sandbox site, but not much is changing "under the hood."  The post editor is a third party product called the CK editor.  Huddler's team is simply modifying that product. 
Is this a mandatory update to all huddler sites or can we keep the OG rich text editor?

I just tried it out and I'm good.
If you have specific feedback to improve the revised editor, that can potentially be incorporated into a future release.  Different Huddler communities utilize different options, but the core functionality is the same.  It's not like development for our site can branch off and become a completely different product, nor can we "opt out" of system updates.  We tried the whole "technical stagnation for 13 years" thing, remember?  We weren't overly pleased with it.  

Unless there's some compelling reason to delay the release, the changes you see here could be implemented as early as Thursday.  Further improvements can be made from there as needed.

We just want to make sure that we put it through its paces and gather as much feedback as possible before it's released to our community as a whole.
 
Its probably better that it doesnt, NT not working properly at work makes me actually work.
 
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