User Interface Please provide us with a Full Size Texteditor in this product
 

Taken from this discussion:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...ize-suggestion

Please see that discussion for views on how the current vB texteditor is limiting us in our workprocess. Really* the wishes for a more flexible sizing texteditor have been voiced more then 3 years ago and now with the CMS released I would have expected a more professional solution by now. I still can't construct large rich textpostings in an easy userfriendly way when I am using the Advanced Editor!

I am just gonna quote my own postings (because I can edit them and then copy/paste much more easily compared to posting of fellow customers... thanks to the annoying fact that the old vBulletin Suggestions and Feedback forum is now closed :mad:). So sorry to repeat myself again* but it's IB counter-productive decision to completely close down the old Suggestions Forum.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Grover http://vb.ma7room.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob B
When deciding upon the width of the text area the developers have to take into account those using 800x600 and smaller size monitors. It is very easy for people on larger monitors to forget about that.


I get your point* but I don't forget about smaller (or higher for that matter) resolutions : that's the reason why I suggested using a Large Edit Box in the first place. At the moment VBulletin controls the width of the Advanced TextEditor. It's a fixed value* decided so that people on 800x600 (640x480 works also* just the smiley-box is not visible) can use it without breaking the layout* like you correctly pointed out.

But this is in fact what's wrong with it. The decision to make it a fixed width (based on 800x600 screenresolution ?) is not very beneficial when you are working on larger screenresolutions. I mean... I work on a 19"-20" TFT for a reason. What am I doing most of my day? ... (yes I am addicted to this fantastic software :) ) : I write/edit postings on VBulletin Forums using the Advanced Editor.

What I find strange is that the Quick Edit Mode seems to be more 'advanced' on this matter then the Advanced Edit Mode itself. ;) When using Quick Edit the TextEditor does use the available screenwidth. Whereas the Advanced Mode does not. You would expect an advanced editmode to at least support this aswell : it's called advanced for a reason* isn't it? :)

Quote:
For those who run sites where members post a lot of long posts* I would recommend editting the template to get rid of the smiley box to the right of the text area and make users use the smiley drop down menu. Then* adjust the width of the text area in the template to fill the space left behind.

This maybe a useable workaround* but I would definately prefer a liquid solution* just like the Quick Edit Mode functions. At the moment VBulletin decides for me how comfortable (uncomfortable in this matter) it is for me* my mods and my users to construct (rich) postings using the Advanced Editor. I don't want this. I -as a user- want to be in control. Imagine using Microsoft Word and then Word restricts you to a tiny little fixed textarea* based on 800x600 resolutions... is this realistic... is this workable? Word does not provide us with Increase Size and Decreaze Size arrows for the height of it's textarea* thankfully. Because it isn't needed.

Forum-Texteditors are becoming more sophisticated (finally!). We've got great WYSIWYG-functionality now. Those editors we use on forums and other internet-applications more and more resemble real-life offline applications like Word nowadays and certainly in the years to come.

Because of the WYSIWYG-tools we have now at hand* it becomes so much more easy for the novice user to contruct rich textpostings on our forums. Therefor I find it rather strange that the (Advanced) WYSIWYG Editor does not seem to provide the user with an actual workable/flexible environment so that he/she can fully enjoy the benefits of the WYSIWYG-tools.

To fully illustrate what I would like to see in VBulletin* here is a workable example : http://www.fckeditor.net/demo/

Click on the blue 'monitor'-icon (between the spellchecker-icon and about-icon): this will Maximize the TextEditor. Fantastic. You see that the WYSIWYG-Toolbar is also fixed at the top of the screen* (just like it functions in Word). One of the great things about such an implementation is that you can stay focussed on your text* like I explained earlier here : Fixed VB Toolbar.

Alright* I will stop. I can go on and on about this* but I will repeat myself even more then. ;)

(PS : here Wayne explains that IE6 does not support fixed position* but the FCKEditor seems to work without a problem in IE6. I am not a technical person (I have more insight on the user side of things)* so I don't know about any browser-issues. But I certainly wish for VBulletin to provide it's users with a more flexible Advanced TextEditor in the nearby future).


Quote:
Originally Posted by Grover http://vb.ma7room.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grover http://vb.ma7room.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif
But this is in fact what's wrong with it. The decision to make it a fixed width (based on 800x600 screenresolution ?) is not very beneficial when you are working on larger screenresolutions. I mean... I work on a 19"-20" TFT for a reason. What am I doing most of my day? ... (yes I am addicted to this fantastic software :) ) : I write/edit postings on VBulletin Forums using the Advanced Editor.

What I find strange is that the Quick Edit Mode seems to be more 'advanced' on this matter then the Advanced Edit Mode itself. ;) When using Quick Edit the TextEditor does use the available screenwidth. Whereas the Advanced Mode does not. You would expect an advanced editmode to at least support this aswell : it's called advanced for a reason* isn't it? :)


Well* today I found a very nice example that backs my issues with the vBulletin TextEditor. It cleary shows that things can be improved* following the suggestions I have made above.

And here it is.... coincidentally I visited the Invision Power Board forums* because I was checking out their Blog feature (something Jelsoft still has to come up with). I never liked Invision much* but today I checked out their most recent software on their site and I have to be honest : I really like the TextEditor they have come up with. At least from a user-point-of-view. One of the reasons I like it* is this.....

Compare the vBulletin Advanced Editor Mode* shown here:
Attachment 20856

... to the Invision Advanced Editor Mode* shown here:
Attachment 20857

Screenshots taken from a 1280x1024 resolution setup.

You notice the big difference? It almost completely solves the issues I experience with the vBulletin Editor in Advanced Mode. The Invision Editor stretches to the right* thus making use of the resolution you are working on. The bigger your resolution* the bigger textarea Invision provides you.

And really* this is how it is supposed to be* like I pointed out in all the postings above. Why o why does vBulletin use a fixed width for the Advanced Editor? The comparison between Jelsoft's offering and Invision's solution clearly shows my point. I am a BIG fan of vBulletin* but I have to be honest : Invision shows that they know what USER-friendlyness is* at least on this matter.

Please give us the same flexibility as Invision offers in vBulletin 4.0


Quote:
Originally Posted by Grover http://vb.ma7room.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif
Amazingly* Invision even supports Full Screen Mode (more or less)! I have been enthusiastically suggesting this over and over* overhere.

They provide you with a button called [Toggle Side Panel] and this... you've guessed it....displays or hides the side panel (smilies and stuff) on the left. Hiding this side panel in combination with using the Resize higher arrows (Increase Size on vBulletin) gives you..... a Full Screen Editing Mode!

Brilliant. Here it is:

Attachment 20858

Resized to make FULL use of my 1280x1024 resolution.


The only difference between their solution and my suggestions is that it doesn't provide the user with a fixed toolbar* so you have to browse upwards to reach your Editor Toolbar. But losing your focus almost never happens when you increaze the hight of this Editor to match your vertical screen-resolution* so even that is not an issue at all most of the time!

But I have to hand it to them : they have developed their editor in such a way that it solves nearly all my issues. It puzzles me why Jelsoft does provide a liquid width with their QuickEditor* but NOT with their Advanced Editor... very strange. Please* Jelsoft follow this Invision route aswell!


Quote:
Originally Posted by Grover http://vb.ma7room.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif
Well* I just opened my test-blog at Wordpress.com again* after not having visited it for about a year and to my suprise they updated the userinterface. I have to say I never quite liked the Wordpress Blog user-interface* but with all the improvements (apparantly) : now I do. Much better!

Don't know if this was already in* but Wordpress offers the same functionality in their texteditor as Invision Board (see postings above) does : yup* Full Screen editing mode that is.

Here is the texteditor...

Attachment 26020

.... on top there's the fullscreen-button. Something else : in the bottom-right corner you see that you can drag the window. It's possible to resize the textwindow just by dragging it up or down with your mouse. Great. Is that intuive or what? :cool:

And here's my text in Full Screen Mode:

Attachment 26021

I hope the suggestion of shex from 2 years ago will be fullfilled by vBulletin 4. Preferably by giving us a Full Screen editing mode.


Please support this suggestion by rating it* as explained overhere. vBulletin has become a publishing solution instead of only a forum* so by all means... please provide us with the tools to make working on this platform easier.