Admins NEED to be able to access/edit HTML on posts in v.5, just like we could in v.4. Members should not be able to access HTML, of course, but admins do - period.

1. It's much more difficult to troubleshoot now when something's not right or even adjust formatting for copy/pasted posts I'm prepping; in the past, I could simply flip to HTML in most cases and see at a glance what was going on or format things how I want them. 

2. More importantly, now I have absolutely no way to use little widgets and embedded content that we really need when we hold events, such as countdown timers. In the past, I could create a customized countdown clock (to show the deadline for a timed event, or to show when an event will start) and embed it into my forum post by flipping to HTML. The reason I need to use countdown timers (other than the fact that participants love them because they make things so easy) is that the way time/timezone conversion is handled in Invision is extremely confusing (see my other post linked below). Obviously, I can no longer embed countdown clocks or other content, and it's going to be a problem.

See also:

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts! HTML in forum posts is not something we’ll be bringing back and the decision to remove it, I assure you, was not taken lightly. While it may seem like a convenient feature, it was in fact a source of client breaches in the past. Allowing direct HTML injection left communities exposed to cross-site scripting (XSS), session hijacking, and data exfiltration.

Even when restricted to admin roles, the risk didn’t disappear. Compromised accounts, reused passwords, or simple internal mistakes often turned raw HTML access into persistent exploits that impacted every member who visited the community. Beyond the immediate security exposure, this created a poor impression of community management and, more importantly, lent an unfair perception that the platform itself was insecure. That’s not something we’re willing to reintroduce.

For those reasons and more, we removed the ability to post raw HTML and replaced it with safer formatting tools and the editor suite. These provide rich content creation while ensuring the security of your community. You will find, apart from a few legacy platforms, most modern solutions do not provide a mechanism for injecting or modifying raw HTML in posts.

We know some community managers liked the extra flexibility, but protecting client data and community integrity has to come first. If you can outline your specific use case(s) maybe we can point you in a more secure direction. We also always welcome feedback on enhancing the embedding functionality to get you closer to the outcome you want while being safe in doing so.

Please note that while we encourage the use of third-party solutions to customize and enhance your community if you so desire, we cannot permit promotion of modifications that weaken the security of the platform. For this reason, the link has been removed. Thank you for your understanding.

@Lindy I appreciate the thorough explanation.

Since HTML will not be coming back, please address the timezone/scheduling issues in my other post. And because we can no longer supplement on our own, we're going to need tools to make business events/sales run smoothly, such as built-in countdown clock widgets that can be automatically displayed on categories or posts.

An example of a great countdown counter widget for reference: https://promofeatures.com/

You MUST be able to specify the exact time, including timezone. Even most good WordPress themes include countdown calendars with multiple options, so I wouldn't think this would be a difficult thing to provide for this suite.

(Hopefully it's okay to post that link - I did look around but did not see posted rules about that.)

2 hours ago, Kirill Gromov said:

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It's a very strange decision to remove the link to the application, considering that you yourself implemented a similar tool in ips4.

31 minutes ago, Kirill Gromov said:

It's a very strange decision to remove the link to the application, considering that you yourself implemented a similar tool in ips4.

Lindy outlined why we removed HTML editing going from version 4 to 5 and it very much is the same story for your third-party customization which restores this functionality in version 5. I understand and appreciate that you're only trying to help others but us stating it is a very real security risk and then allowing a link to your customization is even more a strange decision as that would be contradicting ourselves.

Hope that you understand that and again, appreciate you trying to help others.