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Posted on • Originally published at froala.com

React HTML Editor: It’s Not as Difficult as You Think

Web developers rarely use a single tool when working on a web project. A lot of effort goes into selecting the right mix of tools and frameworks to create a splendid final result.

Most web development veterans advise dedicating time and effort to researching all the options and selecting the best assortment of tools.

However, many use cases require choosing tools radically different from each other. They can differ in terms of architecture, features, and working logic.

A typical example is using an HTML editor to manage your website’s primary codebase while integrating it with a premier front-end technology like React.

Both tools have significantly different responsibilities. At first glance, you might think they probably won’t incorporate very well. However, that isn’t always the case with a good HTML editor.

You won't have much trouble choosing a reliable HTML editor that emphasizes seamless integration with other development technologies.

This is especially true for an HTML editor that supports all major development frameworks, including React. It enables you to create your project with tools that work smoothly in unison and provides a seamless development experience.

This article will try to answer all the essential questions when you seek an HTML editor to work closely with React.

What Advantages Could You Get Through A React HTML Editor?

React is a pretty self-sufficient front-end development framework in itself. When it comes to creating dynamic and responsive components that help deliver a satisfying user experience, React can be a top option.

However, a powerful tool like React requires good programming and front-end development skills. Therefore, using an HTML editor alongside it can significantly simplify the process.

If you choose a solid HTML editor for your React project, here are some of the benefits you can expect:

  • Better Content Experience: With the inclusion of an inline WYSIWYG HTML editor, your content design gets much better. If it’s a feature-loaded option, you can easily include rich, dynamic content and appealing static content. You can format the content further and customize it to go well with your front-end.
  • Modular Development: Integrating an HTML editor allows you to focus separately on your front-end user experience and content design. React can handle the former, while a reliable HTML editor can handle the latter. In the end, this makes for a better overall development experience.
  • Little To No Added Complexity: Adding another tool to an existing one would logically add technological complexity. However, choosing a robust yet lightweight HTML editor keeps its presence simple. You can treat the editor like an object and import content with a few lines.
  • Event-based Changes: React owes its famed responsiveness to an architecture heavily reliant on events and methods. An advanced HTML editor understands this and follows suit. Thus, you need to find an editor that lets you invoke content changes based on certain events that trigger specific methods.

These are only a few advantages of a good React WYSIWYG HTML editor. Integrating an editor filled to the brim with features will significantly boost your productivity. Using such a powerful tool with React can only mean opening doors for a unique website creation experience.

What Characteristics Should The Ideal React HTML Editor Have?

Pairing an HTML editor with React to create your web project has clear advantages. But to ensure you’ll get all those, you need the right HTML editor.

After all, you don’t want to miss out on all the advantages due to a rushed selection. This means you need to know what to look for when scouring the available options for a robust HTML editor.

While there are many details that you should keep in mind, here is where you definitely can’t compromise:

Does it have Strong Integration With React?

Because your HTML editor will be working with React, it needs to have a robust integration mechanism. You should be able to switch seamlessly between the two technologies.

This means that your data exchanges should also be smooth. Most products have a flimsy back-end implementation. Unfortunately, it is often too late to realize that your HTML editor doesn’t work as closely with React as you hoped.

You need to ensure that you can import your chosen editor as a package into your React application so that you can start using it after configuration. In addition, you should be able to pass off data to the editor and import the content it generates.

That smooth development experience saves you crucial time that you can direct towards creating a better product.

Are there Considerable Customization Options?

A rigid HTML editor with fixed options that work in a particular way does you no good. This is a fact, especially when your other technology is as flexible and responsive as React.

Therefore, you should ensure your HTML editor offers significant customization options. This way, you can modify and tailor your development experience for maximum productivity.

Having a sufficiently customizable editor means you can customize both your content and the editor itself.

Some details you should be able to customize include fonts, themes, toolbars, and buttons. You should also be able to move around things to fit your development style and make content exactly as you require.

Does it have Significant Security Features?

Bringing in another tool can also mean opening up your project to vulnerabilities. An inadequate HTML editor could become a doorway for hackers to get into your website’s codebase and wreak havoc.

Therefore, ensure that your choice is trustworthy and its architecture is well-secured. While we all want better productivity and product quality, you cannot afford to be casual with cybersecurity.

Find a solution that understands all your apprehensions about security and ensures that the HTML editor is backed up with rigorous security detail.

For instance, it greatly helps to have an editor with mechanisms to fight XSS attacks. Even so, you should also make additional security checks on your side.

Is there Extensive Software Support?

You wouldn’t want to choose an HTML editor that leaves you hanging when you need support. Tools often have learning curves, and you could need help overcoming hurdles in integrating or using the product.

Therefore, choose an editor that has dedicated and dependable customer support. Additionally, the tool should have extensive documentation covering each feature so you always have a handy reference.

Thankfully, the world’s leading HTML editors provide you with every kind of support you may need. Most are documented with live code examples and provide direct customer support.

In addition, choosing an industry favorite with a helpful developer community will keep you from being lost when starting with the editor.

Many HTML editor options you encounter in your search for the right one to use with your React project may promise everything we have discussed here.

However, very few can reliably deliver on all fronts. That’s why you should look for a WYSIWYG editor that doesn’t force you to commit without knowing its capabilities fully.

Instead, pick a popular, feature-rich, fast, and clean editor, download a free trial, and test it out. And once you find it easy to integrate and use, that’s when you know you have the right one to breathe new life into your React application.

Also published here.

Photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

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