TinyMce vs Visual Formatter

We are starting to explore the usage of TinyMce within TS 6.7.1...

To avoid re-researching the wheel on this topic - has anyone completed or posted a comparison of Tinymce vs Visual Formatter?

It would help questions such as when would it be optimal to use Tinymce or VF?

Also we are interested in knowing how customizible Tinymce is compared to VF as we like to change some of the standard settings, etc.

Thanks in advance to those who reply.

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nipper

I do not know of a comparison, however here are a couple of points to ponder. VFE is a Win app, it must run on a Windows box. TinyMCE is a java app & can run on other platforms.

VFE can be called from an inline callout. So you can have a field and see the HTML and have a popup to start VFE. It *appears* you cannot do that with TinyMCE

While both have been around a while, VFE is much more well known in IWOV circles, so there is more experience customizing VFE than there is TinyMCE.

HTH

Andy

tejul

With TinyMce, i was not able to add any custom button. You can only configure the bar to deplay or not the items.

gzevin

I do not know of a comparison, however here are a couple of points to ponder. VFE is a Win app, it must run on a Windows box. TinyMCE is a java app & can run on other platforms.

VFE can be called from an inline callout. So you can have a field and see the HTML and have a popup to start VFE. It *appears* you cannot do that with TinyMCE

While both have been around a while, VFE is much more well known in IWOV circles, so there is more experience customizing VFE than there is TinyMCE.

HTH

Andy

It's not java, but javascript. Also, are you talking about inline callout or rather CGI one?

Aryan

TinyMCEEWebEditProJavaScript basedActive X basedWork on any Operating SystemWorks only on WindowsNo Installation RequiredInstallation Required

This is what I have on VF vs TinyMCE. Just wanted to share it however trivial or well know the above info already is.

Frederik

This is what I have on VF vs TinyMCE.

Euhm, perhaps it would have been fair to quote your sources here ;-)

Technote 58784 [support.interwoven.com]: Major Difference Between TinyMCE and EWebEditPro

Of course, when I first saw that title of the technote and clicked through on it, I was filled with a mixture of huge frustration and disappointment... This kind of comparison is cool to print in a management/sales document, but offensive (IMHO) to put in a support site for technical personnel.

I'd hate to think I'm doing your research, but you might also want to look at the following technotes (all of which seem unavailable from devnet, so go via support)

Knowledge Base Article: 57705 : Determining Which Editor to Use: TinyMCE Advantages and Disadvantages
Knowledge Base Article: 58468 : TeamSite 6.7.1 Known Issue: TinyMCE onItemChange Methods Failing to Invoke
Knowledge Base Article: 56969 : TeamSite 6.7.1 Release Product Limitations "(Bug 68054)"
Knowledge Base Article: 56728 : TinyMCE - Configuring the toolbar and custom styles

On top of the above, our in-house testing also came up with following shortcomings of TinyMCE:

impossible/difficult to separate different projects in TinyMCE, as it works with only 1 file for configurations (OK-ish, different configs possible) and 1 file for *all* the CSS classes (name conflicts inevitable!) to use in all projects in your TS server -> Feature request 71519 to make separation per project possible (as seen in Visual Format)
TS 6.7.1 TinyMCE limitation: language detection for TinyMCE goes wrong if the user's language (browser preferences) is not on the list of 6 iwov-supported languages: en, de, fr, ja, zh_tw, zh_cn. Buttons and labels in the interface are showing a technical code like {$lang_insert_image_width_label} instead of getting replaced by something that makes sense. Filed as bug (bug id 71771)
TinyMCE: poorly documented, rather limited configurations possible
TinyMCE has no equivalent for the VisualFormat configuration of "continueparagraph" (which makes that the first paragraph is not surrounded by < P > tags, but all next paragraphs are). Our website depends on this...
TinyMCE as integrated with TS: impossible to use plugins (extensions) that exist for TinyMCE, e.g. enhanced link dialog, etc.
you can choose to use TinyMCE in a cgicallout, but then you lose certain integrations, like browse in workarea for URL or IMG.

As you might sense, I'm slightly frustrated by some of the technical limitations that we've encountered with TinyMCE, and that go against the sales pitch (that my managers get to hear) of how there is now a WYSIWYG editor with TS 6.7.1 that needs no client-side install :-/

EDIT: added missing info: bug id 71771

Migrateduser

Thanks for the replies - this is what we are looking for.

We will continue to test TinyMce and VF ourselves. Its possible that there can be scenarios where VF may be a better choice than Tinymce and vice versa.

One of my contacts thinks Tinymce does a better job of cleaning up MS-Word text copied and pasted text into VF. But again, VF offers that option to clean out MS's code (dont remember the command at the moment)...

If there are any other considerations and comparisons, we'd like to hear about them so we can share with our other developers.

Thanks!

Frederik

We will continue to test TinyMce and VF ourselves. [...]
If there are any other considerations and comparisons, we'd like to hear about them so we can share with our other developers.

Reversely, I'm also very interested in what you and your developers find out, in terms of comparison points, weaknesses, workarounds... Feel free to share in the best P2P spirit Smiley Wink

scandorph

@tejul: Support for custom plugins was introduced only in SP1.