IPB, BBCode, and concerns about it's future

[Darksbane0]

As has been explained, the bugs you see with our implementation are not related to CKEditor. Switching to another editor is not the solution. Using TinyMCE or any of the half-dozen other editor solutions does not change the fact that we are pushing bbcode support into a WYSIWYG rich text editor, which is where virtually all of the bugs end up stemming from.

I'm curious, wouldn't it be much easier to just let the BBCode and WYSIWYG live side by side? I don't know but all this talk sounds like most of the problems comes from converting BBCode to the WYSIWYG version but would it really be so bad if I typed in [ b] to bold and then used the button to bold something different and it produced the same results. Then when it is time to edit it displays the BBCode where they entered BBCode and WYSIWYG where they used the buttons?

[broni]

Are you still experiencing issues with our editor? If so, please report them to our bug tracker so that we can fix them

I'm afraid we're going circles.

If I report a bug in 3.2.3 editor I'll hear "update" to 3.4.x

The only reason I'm not updating is the fact that 3.4.x has even more bugs than 3.2.3.

I'm using 3.4.x editor every day at Bleepingcomputer and it's horrible.

...and again I can't seem to get an answer to a very simple question or my question is being avoided for whatever reason:

why other boards are not having same issues?

For instance at TechSpot: http://www.techspot.com/community/ they use mceEditor, it has all functions I need including all kinds of BBCode and it works perfectly fine

[Grimace`]

If I report a bug in 3.2.3 editor I'll hear "update" to 3.4.x

The only reason I'm not updating is the fact that 3.4.x has even more bugs than 3.2.3.

I do not agree with the fact 3.4.x has more bugs than 3.2.3, What version are Bleepingcomputer using? They could be using 3.4.2 for all you know..

[broni]

I believe they're using the latest version.

[grinler]

I do not agree with the fact 3.4.x has more bugs than 3.2.3, What version are Bleepingcomputer using? They could be using 3.4.2 for all you know..

I can't speak for 3.2.3, but the editor was deadly for support sites in 3.4.2/3.4.3.

With the bug tickets that have been resolved for 3.4.4, I am hoping third times the charm.

[Grimace`]

I can't speak for 3.2.3, but the editor was deadly for support sites in 3.4.2/3.4.3.

Yeah the editor was fairly buggy in those versions but it is now alot more stable I have noticed along with many others.

[bfarber]

...and again I can't seem to get an answer to a very simple question or my question is being avoided for whatever reason:

I don't use the sites in question, but the one you linked to appears to be run by Xenforo. Just a quick search shows up these high-visibility bugs which are marked can't/won't fix.

Can't always paste text from Word correctly: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/xenforo-not-playing-well-from-text-pasted-from-word.6114/#post-471875

Spaces around links are often lost: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/editor-is-losing-blank-space-before-links.34164/#post-388935

CTRL+Z in editor does not work correctly: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/ctrl-z-in-the-editor-reply-box-removes-all-of-your-post-text-not-just-the-last-word-edit.33482/

Cannot always access first line/character in the editor: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/edit-post-no-access-to-very-first-character.19262/#post-322157

Editor can crash Chrome: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/wysiwyg-editor-triggering-an-aw-snap-error-in-chrome.27841/

Now let's be clear - I have no idea how many of those are still valid, and I'm not trying to compare our editor to any other software's editor. I'm just pointing out that as a regular user on a site you often go through and post a few things, maybe bold or italicize something, maybe add a link or an image, etc. and you're on your way. As a non power-user it's easy to never hit a bug with an editor, as they tend to surface once you get into more complex formatting scenarios. All I am pointing out is that every editor has its quirks and bugs.

I will say, however, that we take all reports of issues with our editor seriously and are dedicated to resolving any issues that are reported. :) This is why I've not wanted to compare our editor to <insert site x here>, but rather simply encourage you to report any issues you encounter to our tracker so that we can address them. We are using the latest release here, so this is a good place to start. If you post something on our site and it doesn't work correctly, let us know.

[broni]

I'm just pointing out that as a regular user on a site you often go through and post a few things, maybe bold or italicize something, maybe add a link or an image, etc. and you're on your way. As a non power-user it's easy to never hit a bug with an editor

With all due respect I have 38,315 posts at TechSpot so I'm extremely familiar with their editor.

[bfarber]

With all due respect I have 38,315 posts at TechSpot so I'm extremely familiar with their editor.

That's fine. :) I'm not saying you aren't familiar with any given editor (obviously I don't know you well enough to know what sites you use, what editors you use, how technically inclined you may be, and so forth). I'm also not trying to compare our software to any other software, in reality.

I only wanted to say that the average user who posts typically uses basic formatting and doesn't run in to issues. As you start to expand into more advanced usage, it's possible to run in to more specific issues (in any software). Admittedly the first few release of IP.Board 3.4.x had some visible bugs that were easier to be affected by. We have worked hard over the last few releases to resolve all reported issues, and only a handful of newly reported bugs are now present in our tracker (not all of which are yet confirmed). We are dedicated to resolving any issues that are reported and encourage users who run into a problem using our editor (or anywhere else in our software suite for that matter) to let us know so that we can fix that problem.

[broni]

OK, I took a dive and I upgraded to 3.4.4.

It looks like less bugs than in 3.4.3 so I'm more happy.

Two bugs which are still there are:

1. After quoting someone cursor remains inside quote box instead of jumping beneath

2. When right clicking inside empty reply box (sometimes) I'm getting browser context menu instead of text box context menu

Right clicking again or typing something first helps.

[Ryan Ashbrook]

2. When right clicking inside empty reply box (sometimes) I'm getting browser context menu instead of text box context menu

Right clicking again or typing something first helps.

This is a browser quirk. The editor field is technically an iframe, so with no text, it's just a blank html page. The reason the text box context menu appears when you right click on text, is because the browser detects that specific portion of the HTML as Content Editable. It does this on the CKEditor Demo as well, if you clear all of the example content out.

[broni]

Understood by why it doesn't happen all the time?

[Wolfie]

OK, I took a dive and I upgraded to 3.4.4.

:blink:

Okay a few questions.

1. Did hell freeze over?
2. Do pigs fly now?
3. Are politicians being honest and caring about those they represent?

I really wanna know because it sounds like the impossible just happened. :o

Just kidding with you dude. Glad to hear that you're mostly happy with the results. :smile:

[broni]

You know, impossible happens...lol

Seriously...I've been checking all previous upgrades and I kept saying "hell, no, too many bugs".

Even in 3.4.3.

But I did some testing here on 3.4.4 version and I was happier so I decided to give it a go...

[Ryan Ashbrook]

Understood by why it doesn't happen all the time?

It all depends on what the browser detects as editable.

[bfarber]

Understood by why it doesn't happen all the time?

This has been a long-time annoying quirk, and it's different in different browsers too. Basically, the browser looks to see if where you right clicked is actually "editable", and some browsers don't detect that right away with an empty editor box (Firefox in particular I notice this with). As mentioned, it even happens on the demos, because it's just how the browser reacts to the setup.

[broni]

Fair enough :)

[crabpaws]

I'm on 3.4.5 now. Three issues with the editor I'm seeing are:

- Runs in links with text, rendering the links inoperable.

- Poor handling of BBcode LIST tags. Editor throws additional item code and end tags in.

- Upon saving, sometimes doesn't retain returns as blank lines between paragraphs, whether the returns are made in the WYSIWYG editor or text editor.

I do not see that these bugs were addressed in 3.4.6, although http://community.invisionpower.com/resources/bugs.html/_/ip-board/editing-then-re-saving-an-html-post-results-in-duplicate-nomediaparse-attributes-on-links-r42508 demonstrates a bug similar to the link bug I described above.