Should the forum text editor be BBCode first, or WYSIWYG first?

[Melooon]

??? Back in 2023 based on community feedback at the time, the forum defaulted to BBCode, however some of the astute among you may have noticed that the file icon at the end of the toolbar switching you into WYSIWYG mode.

In WYSIWYG mode you can visually plan your posts more clearly and some styling is easier, however its also prone to producing junk tags. In a way its possibly more fun though.

BBCode on the other hand is much more classic and more direct. In a way its more like HTML, although it can also be a pain sometimes, particularly with lists. Its more traditional.

Give it a try and let me know what you think, what do people want today?  

(Also other editor feedback is welcome!)

[pepper]

Personally, I prefer the BBCode style only because it feels more intentional. I am writing a post that I intend to be rendered on a webpage, and I personally enjoy seeing the exact [i]tags[/i] that I want to use.

Also, given that a central focus of the forum is on web crafting and sharing our own personal websites, I feel that encouraging the use of a markup language as a default mode of communication here is good practice!

Although it may be a good idea to make it more obvious that the WYSIWYG button exists? I didn't even know it was there until this topic. I did give it a try when writing this but I just like seeing the BBCode.

• even when
• using list.
• its not that bad!

One piece of feedback I'll give though! I don't know if its the theme or what but the

Code

code

block and the

ascii art

tags don't work well for larger ascii art pieces. I've only been able to get my larger art to display correctly by explicitly changing the font to something monospace like this:

[font=Courier New] art [/font]

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[larvapuppy]

I like the current bbcode editor. I find it easy to use as someone who used/uses other forums. We can use the icon-buttons to inject the bbcode, so it's not like there's a need to memorize anything. Plus, I think using bbcode fits better with the "theme" of the forum than using WYSIWYG. But maybe you can add a "default to WYSIWYG" setting within user settings for those who would prefer it.

[Watanabe_1994]

Personally Im used to using BBCode for forums but I think WYSIWYG would be good as a second option for accessibility. For people who don't know allot of HTML markup (since its allot like HTML markup).

Maybe have some sort of switch you can toggle so that new people can have WYSIWYG and more experienced people can switch it to BBCode (I know that sounds like a dumb idea but I think it would be great )


(I also never heard the term WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) outside of janky old FrontPage )

But maybe you can add a "default to WYSIWYG" setting within user settings for those who would prefer it.

Jinx! (sorta)

[Dan Q]

I hadn't even noticed the WYSIWYG button. I might use it as a quicker/local version of "Preview", but otherwise I probably shan't. BBCode is fine (apart from a few annoyances, like how a font tag is automatically ended by a code block, so if I want two paragraphs of text separated by a code example, I need two separate font blocks... and the even more-annoying issue that if I use a bulleted or numbered list then every single item in the list needs its own font tag too: argh!).

Personally, my preference would be (a) a subset of HTML (after all; it's becoming HTML in the end anyway!); failing that (b) BBCode, a superset of Markdown, or some other simplified markup language; failing that (c) a WYSIWYG editor. As it exists, the WYSIWYG editor is already... not-WYSIWYG (e.g. a text art "tart" tag isn't shown in a WYSIWYG way), and I think that's fine... because WYSIWYG is an optional extra, not the default.

[John]

I'm for keeping the BBCode as default, mostly because that's the classic forum experience for me and I'm here for the nostalgia ... : P

But also with regards to:

I think WYSIWYG would be good as a second option for accessibility. For people who don't know allot of HTML markup (since its allot like HTML markup).

I'd argue that you don't need to be able to write the code to click a button that will write the code for you, BUT that seeing the code might teach you the basics of how to write the code. I agree it doesn't hurt to have it as a second option! I'm just suggesting that it might be especially beneficial for people who don't know a lot of HTML markup.