Rich Text Editor: How To Choose

A React-rich text editor allows you to edit the content of your web app effortlessly. However, there are situations when you need to reinvent it.

For example, it is slow to boot up and doesn’t look good on mobile devices. So how can you reinvent the React-rich text editor to fix the issues? In this post, you will find all the details.

What Is A React-Rich Text Editor?

A React-rich text editor is a tool that provides your JavaScript web application with rich editing capabilities. You can use it to create blog posts or forum posts. It allows you to edit the content with a rich set of tools easily.

You can change the format and alignment of the text.

Also, you can insert images, videos, and links. However, you don’t have to write any HTML or CSS code. However, you can do everything visually.

Why Should You Consider Reinventing React Rich Text Editor?

Do I Need A Super-Fast Rich Text Editor?

You don’t want to wait long for the text editor to boot up. It can affect the user experience. It would help if you had a super-fast React-rich text editor that can initialize in milliseconds. It will enable your web app users to get into the tool quickly.

As a result, they can edit the content in no time. For example, Froala is a super-fast editor. It can initialize in less than 40 milliseconds. In other words, it is six times faster than the blink of an eye. Therefore, your web application user will love to use it.

Do I Need A Text Editor With Mobile Support?

Mobile support is another critical factor. People no longer edit the content on only PCs and laptops. They also use smartphones and tablets. That’s why you need a React text editor that offers mobile support. It will enable the users to edit the content on the go.

Froala provides full mobile support. Its formatting controls appear the same on all devices, including desktops, laptops, and smartphones. Also, it allows you to resize images and videos on mobile devices. It is the first React text editor to support these features.

Do I Need A React Text Editor With RTL Support?

Some languages, like Arabic or Hebrew, are read from right to left. They are quite different from English, which is read in the opposite direction.

For example, if your React app supports one of those languages, you need to get an editor that offers RTL functionality. It will enable the users to type from right to left.

Froala supports RTL functionality. Whenever you select the Arabic language, the toolbar shifts and adjusts itself automatically; as a result, you can naturally type from right to left.

Froala looks like this when the typing direction is set to RTL:

Do I Need To Extend The Capability Of My Rich Text Editor?

There are times when you need to add advanced features to your editor. For example, your web app users need to insert mathematical and chemical equations.

However, your rich text editor doesn’t offer any similar functionality. You don’t want to develop the feature from scratch. It will cost you a lot of time and money.

You need a React-rich text editor that supports highly-effective plugins. It will allow you to integrate advanced features quickly. For example, Froala supports 30 out-of-the-box plugins, like Mathtype, Embedly, Special Characters, etc. You can utilize them to extend its capability effortlessly.

How Can I Integrate Froala Into React Application?

The process of implementing Froala into React web apps is straightforward. You need to follow these steps:

1) First, you need to import Froala’s CSS files. Also, you have to import the editor component.

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';

// Require Editor CSS files.
import 'froala-editor/css/froala_style.min.css';
import 'froala-editor/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css';

import FroalaEditorComponent from 'react-froala-wysiwyg';

2) You can render the Froala Editor Component with this line:

ReactDOM.render(<FroalaEditorComponent tag='textarea'/>, document.getElementById('editor'));

3) Now, you can go to your HTML file. You can add the editor to UI by passing ID to HTML element.

<div  id="editor">
</div>

That’s how you integrate Froala into your React web application. As you can see, the process is straightforward. It involves writing just a few lines of code. There is no hassle.

However, ensure you have the correct Webpack settings for loading the CSS files. If you are using Webpack 4, the settings will be like this:

var webpack = require("webpack");

module.exports = {
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /\.jsx$/,
        use: {
          loader: 'babel-loader',
          options: {
            cacheDirectory: true,
            presets: ['react','es2015', 'stage-2']
          }
        }
      }, {
        test: /\.css$/,
        use: [
          'style-loader',
          'css-loader'
        ]
      },
      {
        test: /\.woff(\?v=\d+\.\d+\.\d+)?$/,
        use: "url-loader?limit=10000&mimetype=application/font-woff"
      }, {
        test: /\.woff2(\?v=\d+\.\d+\.\d+)?$/,
        use: "url-loader?limit=10000&mimetype=application/font-woff"
      }, {
        test: /\.ttf(\?v=\d+\.\d+\.\d+)?$/,
        use: "url-loader?limit=10000&mimetype=application/octet-stream"
      }, {
        test: /\.eot(\?v=\d+\.\d+\.\d+)?$/,
        use: "file-loader"
      }, {
        test: /\.svg(\?v=\d+\.\d+\.\d+)?$/,
        use: "url-loader?limit=10000&mimetype=image/svg+xml"
      }
    ]
  },
  resolve: {
    modules: ['node_modules']
  }
};

Source Code:

You can get the source code right here.

Photo by Maayan Nemanov on Unsplash