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Advanced Integrations for an AI Content Analyzer

In the last post, we introduced our internal content analyzer. That tool is great for a high-level score, but its “input-process-output” model is just the beginning. The real opportunity is to build a more dynamic and integrated experience.

This article is for developers who saw that analyzer and thought, “What’s next?” We’ll explore three practical ways to evolve a content analysis tool using the Froala editor’s deeper API features.

Key Takeaways

  • Embed AI suggestions directly into the editor text using html.set().
  • Use the official Froala Filestack plugin to handle direct .docx file uploads.
  • Leverage the plugin’s events to create a custom document-to-HTML workflow.
  • Use the editor’s contentChanged event to create a “live linting” experience.
  • Debounce editor events to ensure optimal application performance.

Embed Feedback Directly into the Text

A common limitation of analyzer tools is the separation of feedback from the content itself. We can fix this by putting the AI’s suggestions right where they belong, transforming static text into interactive annotations.

The API Implementation

After your application gets a response from the AI, it can parse the suggestions and programmatically rewrite the editor’s content. By wrapping the targeted text in a custom <span> tag using html.set(), you can highlight the area and use a title attribute to show the AI’s note on hover.

 

/**
 * A hypothetical function after receiving AI feedback.
 * Applies suggestions to the Froala Editor's content,
 * highlighting the original text with feedback as a tooltip.
 */
function applySuggestions(suggestions) {
  let modifiedContent = froalaEditor.html.get();

  // Your logic to find and replace text would go here
  suggestions.forEach(suggestion => {
    modifiedContent = modifiedContent.replace(
      suggestion.originalText,
      `<span class="suggestion" title="${suggestion.feedback}">${suggestion.originalText}</span>`
    );
  });

  froalaEditor.html.set(modifiedContent);
}

 

Integrate a Document Upload Workflow

Writers work in document editors. A professional tool should handle .docx files directly, not force a copy-paste workflow. Instead of building a custom uploader, we can use the official Froala Filestack plugin to handle this.

The goal is to use the plugin to upload a .docx file, but instead of inserting a link to that file, we will intercept the upload, convert the document to HTML on our backend, and then load that HTML into the editor.

The API Implementation

This approach relies on using the plugin’s built-in filestack.uploadedToFilestack event. We configure the plugin with our API key and then use the event to trigger our custom conversion logic.

  • The user clicks the ‘Insert File’ button, which is now powered by Filestack.
  • They upload a .docx file using the Filestack picker.
  • The filestack.uploadedToFilestack event fires, providing the URL of the uploaded file.
  • Our custom logic sends this URL to a backend service for conversion.
  • The editor’s html.set() method is called to insert the final, converted HTML.

 

/**
 * Initializes the Froala Editor with the Filestack plugin,
 * configured for a custom DOCX workflow.
 */
new FroalaEditor('#editor', {
  // Ensure the 'insertFile' button is available in the toolbar.
  toolbarButtons: ['bold', 'italic', '|', 'insertFile'],

  // Basic Filestack plugin configuration.
  filestackOptions: {
    filestackAPI: 'YOUR_FILESTACK_API_KEY', // Replace with your actual Filestack API key.
    pickerOptions: {
      accept: ['.docx', '.doc'] // Only allow .docx and .doc files to be picked.
    }
  },

  events: {
    // This plugin event is crucial for our custom workflow.
    // It triggers after a file has been successfully uploaded to Filestack.
    'filestack.uploadedToFilestack': function (response) {
      // The plugin has handled the file upload; now we take over.
      const fileUrl = response.filesUploaded[0].url; // Get the URL of the uploaded file.
      const editorInstance = this; // 'this' refers to the Froala editor instance.

      // This would be your function that calls a backend service
      // to convert the document at the given URL into HTML.
      convertDocxToHtml(fileUrl).then(html => {
        // Once the HTML is received, set it as the editor's content.
        editorInstance.html.set(html);
      });

      // Return 'false' to prevent the default behavior of the Filestack plugin,
      // which would typically insert a link to the uploaded file.
      return false;
    }
  }
});

 

 

Build Real-Time Analysis with Editor Events

A manual “Analyze” button is useful, but we can provide more immediate value with real-time feedback. The goal is to create a “live linting” experience that offers suggestions as the user writes.

The Froala Events API is the foundation for this feature.

The API Implementation

You can listen for the contentChanged event to trigger actions whenever the user types. To avoid performance issues, you must “debounce” this event so your analysis function only runs after the user has paused typing for a moment.

 

// Assumes you have a debounce utility function from a library like Lodash.
// This function delays the execution of 'updateRealtimeFeedback'
// until 1.5 seconds after the user stops typing or making changes.
const debouncedAnalysis = debounce(() => {
  let currentContent = froalaEditor.html.get();
  // Run your lightweight, real-time content analysis here.
  updateRealtimeFeedback(currentContent);
}, 1500); // 1.5 second delay

// Attach the debounced analysis function to the 'contentChanged' event of the editor.
froalaEditor.events.on('contentChanged', debouncedAnalysis);

 

Wrapping up the improvements

A basic content analyzer is a great start, but it’s just one possibility. These examples show how a rich editor with a deep API is not just an input field but a platform for building integrated and powerful applications. By using the API to handle content manipulation, custom UI, and events, you can move beyond simple analysis and create tools that actively improve a writer’s workflow.

What Is A WYSIWYG Editor? A Complete Guide

Introduction

Maybe you were scrolling on a web page and have seen the abbreviation “WYSIWYG editor” and wondered what it means. Well, I’m here to tell you exactly what it means and why you might be interested in it even more especially if you’re a developer. Basically, a WYSIWYG editor is a software tool that allows users to create and edit content visually, without needing to have a deep understanding of coding or markup languages. WYSIWYG editors are easy but may limit design control compared to manual coding. However, with that in mind, the advantages of a WYSIWYG editor might still interest you despite its downsides. So today, we will explore WYSIWYG editors, their pros and cons, and tips for using them effectively.

 

What Does WYSIWYG Stand For?

So what is a WYSIWYG editor?  WYSIWYG stands for “What You See Is What You Get”. WYSIWYG is a term that software applications or user interfaces use to allow users to see the final output before producing, printing, or publishing it. People commonly use WYSIWYG in word processing, computer programming, desktop publishing software, and web design, among other applications.

person-sitting-on-bench-with-cat

How Does a WYSIWYG Editor Work?

The user creates and edits content visually using a WYSIWYG editor, instead of writing code or using markup languages. Here are the general steps involved in how a WYSIWYG editor works:

  1. User Interface: The WYSIWYG editor presents a graphical user interface that is similar to what users might see in a typical word processor, with familiar tools such as formatting options, menus, and buttons for adding or manipulating images, links, tables, and other elements. Instead of typing code, the developer can use this user interface.
  2. Real-time Content Creation: Users can create or edit content directly in the WYSIWYG editor by typing or pasting text, adding images or multimedia elements, and using formatting tools to adjust the appearance of the content. As they work, users can see the content rendered in real-time on the screen, as it will appear in the final output.
  3. Behind the Scenes: The WYSIWYG editor operates behind the scenes to generate code or markup language (such as HTML, CSS, or XML) based on the user’s input. Developers create the final output, such as a web page or document, using this code.
  4. Preview and Publish: Most WYSIWYG editors provide a preview mode that allows users to see how their content will look in its final form before it is published or printed. The user can publish or export the output, including the WYSIWYG-generated code, after ensuring the content and appearance are satisfactory.

Examples of Popular WYSIWYG Editors

WYSIWYG editors ease content creation and editing for non-technical users. Therefore, using one might interest you. There are many editors out there such as Froala, CKEditor, TinyMCE, Redactor, QuillJS and many more. Hopefully these could help you choose the best WYSIWYG HTML editor for your needs.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using a WYSIWYG Editor

WYSIWYG editors have benefits in ease of use and speed but lack complexity and control. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of using a WYSIWYG editor.

Pros:

  1. Ease of Use: One of the primary advantages of using a WYSIWYG editor is its ease of use. Users can create and edit content visually, without needing to have a deep understanding of coding or markup languages. It widens accessibility for new web or document creators.
  2. Speed: WYSIWYG editors help users create content more quickly than if they had to write code manually. Users can create layouts and designs quickly using templates and drag-and-drop tools.
  3. Consistency: Because the editor generates code based on user input, it can help ensure consistency across different pages or documents. Maintaining a consistent style and formatting is useful for larger projects with multiple contributors.

Cons:

  1. Limited Customization: Though these editors are easy to use, they probably do not provide as much control as coding manually would. Developers may find it difficult to edit the code generated.
  2. Bloated Code: The code generated could be bloated and may contain unnecessary elements. This could lead to slower web pages, which is be problematic for websites.
  3. Compatibility Issues: Not every code generated are compatible with every platform. Users would need to test their output and make edits to make sure it is compatible.

Tips for Using a WYSIWYG Editor Effectively

  1. Understand the Code: While you don’t need to be an expert in coding or markup languages, it’s still important to understand the basics of HTML and CSS. Having basic knowledge ease design and troubleshooting.
  2. Use Templates: Many editors come with pre-built templates that you can use as a starting point for your project. Templates ensure consistent design and save time on multiple pages.
  3. Use Stylesheets: Stylesheets are a powerful tool that can help you maintain consistency in the design and layout of your work. Using stylesheets defines element styles and applies them consistently across content.
  4. Keep It Simple: While it can be tempting to add lots of flashy design elements to your content, it’s important to remember that simplicity is often best. Avoid clutter with multiple fonts, colors, or design elements.
  5. Test and Preview: Before publishing your work, make sure to test it across multiple platforms and devices to ensure that it looks and functions as intended. Use the preview mode in your WYSIWYG editor to check that your content appears as you expect it to.

Effective use of these editors require code knowledge, use of templates, simplicity, and testing. With these tips in mind, you can create high-quality work.

Key Takeaways

  • A WYSIWYG editor gives your users a familiar UI to edit content so you don’t have to build one.
  • Users can format text, manage images, and change layouts without creating a support ticket for you to handle.
  • The editor lives inside your application. Its output must be clean HTML that respects your existing CSS.
  • Integrating a rich text editor shouldn’t be a project in itself. It should drop into your app with minimal configuration.
  • Froala is built for this, letting you ship the feature and get back to your actual product

Conclusion

WYSIWYG editors can be a great tool for creating and editing content quickly and easily, especially for those who are new to web design or document creation. However, WYSIWYG may not offer full control and browser/device compatibility. By understanding the code, using templates and stylesheets, keeping designs simple, and thoroughly testing aid content quality. Hopefully, this has helped you understand more about this editor and if we’ve inspired you to try it for yourself, then why don’t you try the Froala WYSIWYG HTML editor which is lightweight but can be heavily customized to your liking with our plugins.

 

Download Froala Editor

 

 

HTML Code Writer with Iframe Isolation and How to Inject Styles

HTML Iframe

Looking to seamlessly integrate a rich text editor into your web application without disrupting your existing design or compromising security? Leveraging the power of iframes, the Froala WYSIWYG editor offers a robust solution for achieving just that. This approach provides a clean, isolated environment for the editor, preventing style conflicts and potential security vulnerabilities.

This article delves into the advantages of loading your Froala editor within an iframe, exploring the benefits of content isolation and enhanced customization options. We’ll provide a clear, step-by-step guide on how to effectively embed the Froala editor in an iframe, and discuss techniques for injecting custom styles to maintain brand consistency and a polished user experience.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Using an iframe to embed the Froala WYSIWYG editor provides content isolation, preventing style conflicts between the editor and the main website. This ensures a consistent editing experience regardless of the surrounding website’s CSS.
  2. Froala’s iframe mode allows developers to inject custom styles directly into the iframe, enabling precise control over the editor’s visual presentation to maintain brand consistency.
  3. Embedding the Froala editor in an iframe is a straightforward process.

HTML Code Writer

The Benefits of Using HTML Iframe with Froala Editor

Understanding the Advantages of Iframe Content Isolation

Iframes offer a powerful way to embed external content seamlessly within your web pages while maintaining a clean separation from your core site’s structure and styling. Think of them as miniature windows displaying content from other sources.

With the Froala WYSIWYG editor, utilizing iframe mode provides significant advantages, primarily centered around content isolation. This iframe editor customization ensures that the styling of your Froala editor, embedded within the iframe, won’t clash with the CSS of your main webpage. This is particularly crucial when dealing with complex website designs or when integrating third-party content. This isolation prevents conflicts and ensures a consistent editing experience within the Froala editor, regardless of the surrounding website’s styles.

Furthermore, iframe content isolation enhances security by limiting the impact of potentially malicious scripts within the embedded content, protecting your website’s integrity. Using iframes with the Froala editor allows for a more controlled and predictable integration, contributing to a smoother user experience and simplified development process.

The Froala editor embedding process is straightforward and designed to enhance both UX and DX, aligning perfectly with Froala’s mission to create exceptional editing experiences.

Enhancing Your WYSIWYG Editor with Iframe Customization

The ability to set default styles for framed WYSIWYG editors’ content is particularly beneficial for maintaining brand consistency and ensuring seamless visual integration.

How do you achieve this level of iframe editor customization? It’s simpler than you might think. Injecting styles into the framed Froala editor allows you to precisely tailor the look and feel to match your brand’s guidelines. This precise control extends to fonts, colors, button styles, and virtually every aspect of the editor’s visual presentation.

With Froala’s focus on intuitive design and developer experience, customizing your framed editor becomes a powerful tool for creating a visually appealing and user-friendly editing experience within your web application.

How to Embed Froala Editor in an Iframe Effectively

The Froala WYSIWYG editor, known for its clean design and developer-friendly integration, provides a dedicated iframe mode, further enhancing its versatility and customization capabilities.

First, include the Froala library in your project. Then, when initializing the editor, set the iframe option to true. This creates a contained environment for the editor, preventing style conflicts with the surrounding webpage.

new FroalaEditor('div#froala-editor', {
  iframe: true
})

This isolation is especially beneficial when dealing with complex website designs, ensuring the Froala editor renders perfectly regardless of existing CSS. This method offers several advantages, including iframe content isolation and enhanced iframe editor customization.

How To Inject Styles Inside Froala WYSIWYG Editor

Enabling Froala’s iframe mode brings us to the matter of styling the framed editor. Because of the inherent content isolation, simply adding CSS to your main stylesheet won’t affect the editor within the iframe. This is where the Froala core.injectStyle(style) method comes into play.

This method is used to inject styles directly into the iframe’s document. This approach allows precise control over the editor’s visual presentation within its contained environment, overcoming the limitations posed by iframe SEO impact and ensuring consistent styling regardless of the parent page’s CSS.

For example, by default, the standard browser’s font-size for the H1 tag is 32px. This is the font size that will be automatically applied to H1 elements inside the Froala editor when used in iframe mode. However, you may want to change this default to match your brand’s style guide – for instance, setting the H1 font-size to 40px. In this case, you can use core.injectStyle(style) method like this:

let editor = new FroalaEditor(
  "div#froala-editor",
  {
    iframe: true,
  },
  function () {
    // Call the method inside the initialized event.
    editor.core.injectStyle("h1{font-size: 40px}")
  },
)

The code above sets the font-size for any H1 tags inserted within the Froala editor to 40px, ensuring the editor’s appearance matches your brand’s design guidelines.

With this technique, developers can achieve seamless iframe editor customization while leveraging the benefits of iframe content isolation and enhanced security. This allows for a streamlined user experience that makes Froala a favorite among developers worldwide.

FAQ

1. What are the benefits of using HTML iframe for embedding the Froala Editor?

Using an iframe for the Froala Editor offers several key benefits: content isolation (preventing style conflicts with your main website and enhancing security), enhanced customization (allowing precise control over the editor’s appearance through style injection), and a cleaner separation of content which can potentially improve page load times and thus, SEO. It creates a contained environment, simplifying development and ensuring a consistent editing experience.

2. How can I customize the Froala Editor when loaded in an iframe?

Customize the framed Froala editor by injecting styles directly into the iframe’s document using the core.injectStyle(style) method. This allows precise control over fonts, colors, button styles, and more, ensuring brand consistency.

Conclusion

Embedding the Froala editor within an iframe offers a compelling blend of design flexibility, enhanced security, and improved site stability. While iframe implementation requires careful consideration of SEO implications, the benefits of content isolation and styling customization often outweigh the challenges. By understanding the nuances of iframe integration and leveraging Froala’s intuitive design, developers can create a seamless and visually appealing editing experience that enhances user satisfaction and development workflow. So, take the leap and explore the power of iframe embedding with Froala – you might be surprised at how easily it elevates your web application’s editing capabilities.

Setting Up and Customizing a Dark Mode Text Editor

Dark mode text editor

The demand for dark mode interfaces has been steadily rising in modern UI/UX design trends. Users actively seek out applications and tools that provide a visually pleasing and comfortable dark mode experience.

Froala, a popular rich text editor, empowers developers to easily customize the user interface and experience, including a captivating dark mode option.

Key Takeaways

  • Dark mode can improve user experience by reducing eye strain, enhancing readability, and creating a more immersive environment.
  • Implementing dark mode can benefit developers by meeting user expectations and improving accessibility.
  • Froala makes it easy for developers to customize the editor’s appearance, including enabling a dark mode theme.

Froala's dark mode

The Benefits of Dark Mode

Enabling Froala’s dark mode offers several advantages for both users and developers.

From a user’s perspective, a dark mode can:

  • Reduce eye strain – The dimmer interface is easier on the eyes, especially in low-light conditions.
  • Improve readability – The high-contrast colors make text more legible.
  • Create a more immersive experience – The dark theme establishes a focused, visually appealing environment.

For developers, implementing a dark mode option can:

  • Enhance the overall user experience – Users increasingly expect and appreciate dark mode functionality.
  • Increase accessibility – The improved contrast benefits users with visual impairments.

By providing a well-designed dark mode, you can deliver a more comfortable and accessible text editing experience for your users.

Step-by-step guide to setting up Froala’s dark mode

Let’s set up a dark mode text editor.

Step 1: Get started

Follow the Froala installation guide to set up your preferred framework. For a simple webpage using Froala’s CDN links, you can use the following code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, height=device-height, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0">
    <link href='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="example"></div>
    <script type='text/javascript' src='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js'></script>
    <script>
      var editor = new FroalaEditor('#example');
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

If you prefer hosting Froala locally, you can download it and start a free trial.

Step 2: Include the theme CSS file

Froala offers several built-in themes, including Black, Gray, and Royal. You need to include the CSS file for the Dark theme to use it in your project.

https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/css/themes/dark.min.css

Step 3: Set the theme in the configuration

To enable editor dark mode, configure the theme option when initializing the Froala editor:

new FroalaEditor('div#eg-dark-theme', {

  theme: 'dark'

});

This will add the dark-theme class to the Froala .fr-box element, allowing the CSS rules defined in the Dark theme to be applied without conflict with other CSS on the page.

Step 4: Run your app

When you run your app, you should see Froala in the dark mode. 

Note: To use Froala in a production environment, don’t forget to get a valid API key.

Dark mode text editor

Customize Your Editor Theme

Froala’s built-in Dark theme only changes the color of the top toolbar. To make the entire editor interface darker, you can add custom CSS rules.

Here’s an example of CSS rules to turn the editor’s editing area and bottom toolbar into a darker color:

.dark-theme.fr-box.fr-basic .fr-element {

  background: #4e4d4d;

  color: #f0efef;

}

.dark-theme .fr-second-toolbar {

  background: #353535;

}

These rules will make the editor’s content area and bottom toolbar adopt a darker background color, with the text displayed in a lighter shade. This creates a more consistent dark mode appearance throughout the editor.

Froala custom theme

By leveraging the flexibility of CSS, you can further customize the Froala editor’s appearance to match the overall branding and design of your application.

Create Your Own Theme

Froala allows developers to create their own custom themes. This empowers you to tailor the editor’s appearance and branding to match your application or website.

To create a custom theme:

  1. Write your CSS rules in a separate file, e.g. “awesome.css”.
  2. Start each CSS rule with “.awesome-theme” to avoid conflicts with other styles.
  3. Place the “awesome.css” file in the themes folder on your server.
  4. Add a link to your theme in your application.

Once you’ve defined your custom theme, you can apply it to the Froala editor by setting the theme option when initializing the editor. For example:

new FroalaEditor('div#eg-dark-theme', {

  theme: 'awesome'

});

This allows you to fully customize the appearance of the text editor, including colors, fonts, and other visual elements. By aligning the editor’s design with your application’s branding, you can create a cohesive and visually appealing user interface.

Detecting User Preferences and Adjusting Themes

You can also detect the user’s system mode (light or dark) and automatically adjust the editor’s theme accordingly. This provides a seamless transition between light and dark modes without requiring the user to manually switch settings.

Using CSS

When creating a new theme, you can use the prefers-color-scheme media query in your CSS. This media query allows you to detect the user’s preferred color scheme and apply different styles based on that preference:

/* Light mode styles */

.custom-theme .froala-editor {

  --text-color: #333;

  --background-color: #fff;

}

/* Dark mode styles */

@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {

  .custom-theme .froala-editor {

    --text-color: #f1f1f1;

    --background-color: #333;

  }

}

The default styles are set for a light mode interface. When the media query detects the user’s system is in dark mode, it overrides the text and background colors to create a visually pleasing dark mode experience.

Using JavaScript

Alternatively, you can use the window.matchMedia("(prefers-color-scheme: dark)") expression to check the user’s system mode and set the appropriate theme:

new FroalaEditor('div#eg-dark-theme', {
  theme: window.matchMedia("(prefers-color-scheme: dark)").matches
    ? "dark"
    : "royal"
});

Auto switch between dark and light mode

By leveraging these techniques, you can ensure that Froala’s dark mode is seamlessly integrated into your application, providing users with a consistent and comfortable experience regardless of their system preferences.

Best Practices for Dark Mode in Rich Text Editors

When it comes to best practices for using dark mode in rich text editors like Froala, it’s important to consider factors such as contrast, readability, and accessibility.

Ensuring that the text and background colors provide sufficient contrast, while maintaining legibility, is crucial for providing a comfortable and usable experience for all users. Avoid using low-contrast color combinations, as this can make the text difficult to read and strain the user’s eyes.

Additionally, consider the accessibility implications of your dark mode implementation. Ensure that the color choices and contrast levels meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards to support users with visual impairments or other accessibility needs.

When designing a dark mode theme for your Froala editor, pay close attention to the following:

  • Contrast Ratio: Aim for a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 between the text and background colors to ensure readability.
  • Font Legibility: Choose fonts and font sizes that are easily readable, even in low-light environments.
  • Consistent Styling: Maintain a consistent visual style throughout the editor, including the toolbar, menus, and other UI elements.
  • Accessibility Considerations: Ensure that your dark mode theme meets WCAG guidelines for color contrast, text resizing, and other accessibility requirements.

By following these best practices, you can create a dark mode experience in your Froala editor that is not only visually appealing but also accessible and comfortable for all users.

Conclusion

Froala’s UI customization features, such as creating custom themes, empower developers to deliver a cohesive, visually appealing dark mode experience. By exploring Froala’s dark mode capabilities and implementing best practices, you can create text editors that not only meet the growing demand for dark mode but also enhance the overall user experience and accessibility.

As users increasingly seek out applications with thoughtful dark mode support, incorporating a well-designed and accessible option in your Froala-powered text editor can be a valuable differentiator. It’s a great way to improve the user experience and set your application apart.

So why not try editor dark mode today? Enable it with just a few lines of code and see how it can transform your text editing interface. Provide your users with a comfortable, focused, visually appealing dark mode experience they’ll love.

FAQ

Is dark mode better for your eyes?

Yes, dark mode can be better for your eyes in certain situations. The dimmer interface and higher contrast between text and background can reduce eye strain, especially in low-light environments. The reduced brightness and blue light exposure can also help minimize headaches and fatigue associated with prolonged screen time. However, it’s important to ensure that the dark mode implementation follows accessibility best practices to maintain readability and comfort for all users.

What are the benefits of dark mode on a computer?

Using dark mode on a computer can provide several benefits:

  • Reduced eye strain: The lower brightness and contrast can be easier on the eyes, especially in low-light conditions.
  • Improved battery life: Dark mode can reduce the power consumption of OLED and LCD displays, leading to longer battery life on laptops and mobile devices.
  • Enhanced focus and productivity: The dimmer interface can create a more immersive and focused work environment, helping to minimize distractions.
  • Aesthetic appeal: Many users find dark mode visually appealing and prefer the sleek, modern look it provides.

This explains why dark mode is better than normal mode in many cases. By leveraging the advantages of dark mode, you can create a more comfortable and efficient computing experience for your users.

Why is dark mode bad in some cases?

While dark mode can offer several benefits, it’s important to consider that dark mode may not be suitable for all users or all situations. Some potential drawbacks of dark mode include:

  • Reduced Contrast: In some cases, the high contrast between dark backgrounds and light text can make it difficult for users with visual impairments or certain eye conditions to read the content.
  • Increased Power Consumption: On non-OLED displays, dark mode may not provide significant power savings and could even increase power consumption in some cases.
  • Difficulty Adapting: Users who are accustomed to light mode interfaces may find it challenging to adjust to a dark mode environment, especially if they need to switch between the two modes frequently.
  • Compatibility Issues: Certain websites or applications may not be designed with dark mode in mind, leading to visual inconsistencies or rendering problems.

When implementing dark mode, it’s important to carefully consider the potential drawbacks and ensure that the design provides a comfortable and accessible experience for all users, regardless of their preferences or needs.

Can I create my own custom theme for Froala’s dark mode?

Yes, Froala allows developers to create their own custom themes. This empowers you to tailor the editor’s appearance and branding to match your application or website. You can define your own CSS rules and apply the custom theme when initializing the Froala editor.

How We Built Our Internal E-E-A-T Content Analyzer with Froala

Our team launched the E-E-A-T & Helpful Content Analyzer a few weeks ago. You might have noticed it’s built with the Froala editor. We made this key technical decision immediately (and it was a no-brainer).

Our content team needed to move away from subjective, manual content reviews. We wanted an automated tool to check our work against Google’s standards. This project also serves as a great example of how easily Froala integrates into modern, AI-powered applications.

This article details the technical thinking behind the tool. We’ll cover why we built it and how its components, including Froala and the DeepSeek API, work together to provide a seamless experience.

Key Takeaways

  • For AI content analysis, a <textarea> is insufficient; preserving HTML structure with an editor like Froala provides essential context.
  • Getting structured data from an LLM requires strict instructions; embedding formatting rules directly into the prompt is non-negotiable for a predictable response.
  • A simple html.get() method call is all that’s needed to pull clean, complete HTML from the Froala editor for processing.
  • You don’t need complex parsers for LLM responses if you enforce a consistent format; a simple regular expression can extract the data you need.
  • Focus your engineering effort on the core problem—in this case, the AI prompt—not on rebuilding commodity components like a rich text editor.

The Need for an Objective Tool

Our team used to manually check an article against Google’s E-E-A-T and Helpful Content guidelines. It was slow and, worse, subjective. One person’s interpretation of “authoritativeness” could easily differ from another’s.

We needed an objective, automated tool to give us structured feedback. The goal wasn’t to replace our writers but to give them a consistent feedback loop. The tool had to do three things well.

  1. Accept rich text with all its formatting.
  2. Analyze it against specific E-E-A-T criteria.
  3. Present structured, actionable feedback.

How the Analyzer is Structured

The analyzer is a simple two-column layout. Input on the left, results on the right. There’s no need to over-engineer the UI when a clean workflow is the priority. We used basic CSS Flexbox to keep it responsive and straightforward.

 

.main-layout {
    display: flex;
    flex-grow: 1;
    padding: 20px;
    gap: 25px;

}

.column {
    flex: 1;

}

.input-column {
    order: 1;
}

.results-column {
    order: 2;
}

This keeps a clear, logical separation between the user’s content and the AI’s analysis.

Why a <textarea> Wasn’t Enough

For the content input, a standard <textarea> element was a non-starter. Modern articles depend on headings, lists, links, and other formatting. These structural elements are critical for readability and are a key signal in Google’s “Helpful Content” evaluation. If you send plain text to an AI for analysis, you lose half the context.

This is where we plugged in the Froala editor. It’s designed to handle complex, structured content out of the box. This is all the code required to embed the editor and configure its toolbar.

 

document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
    try {
        new FroalaEditor('#editor', {
            placeholderText: 'Paste your article HTML or text content here...',
            heightMin: 150,
            toolbarButtons: ['bold', 'italic', 'underline', '|', 'align', 'formatOL', 'formatUL', '|', 'insertLink', 'undo', 'redo'],
        });
    } catch (e) {
        console.error("Froala Editor initialization failed:", e);
    }
});

 

With the editor in place, all the important structural elements of an article are preserved. When it’s time to send the content for analysis, grabbing the complete, clean HTML is a single method call.

 

let content = FroalaEditor.INSTANCES[0].html.get();

This line provides the complete HTML content, which is ready for analysis.

Engineering a Predictable AI Prompt

Getting a consistent, structured response from a large language model requires giving it precise instructions. Anyone who has worked with an LLM API knows the pain of getting back unstructured, unpredictable text. We solved this by creating a very strict system prompt that commands the AI’s behavior and a user prompt that injects the article content.

The system prompt tells the AI to act as an expert content analyst and defines the exact output structure, including the use of Markdown and specific Score: and Priority: formats. This formatting is the most critical part. It turns the AI’s free-form response into something we can reliably parse.

Our buildAnalysisPrompt function wraps the article content with these instructions.

 

function buildAnalysisPrompt(content) {
    // The user prompt includes strict formatting instructions.
    return `Please analyze the following article content based on Google's E-E-A-T and Helpful Content guidelines.

    Follow these formatting instructions precisely for each category:
    1. Provide a clear Markdown heading (e.g., "## Content Quality").
    2. Assess the content for that category.
    3. Offer specific, actionable recommendations.
    4. Include the score line EXACTLY as: "**Score: [score]/10**"
    5. Include the priority line EXACTLY as: "**Priority: [High/Medium/Low]**"

    --- START ARTICLE CONTENT ---
    ${content}
    --- END ARTICLE CONTENT ---`;
}

 

The system prompt is a detailed instruction set telling the AI to act as an expert content analyst. It defines the exact output structure, including the use of Markdown headings and the specific Score: and Priority: formats. This strict formatting is crucial because it allows our application to parse the AI’s response and display it in a structured way, like the score table.

The Output: Displaying Actionable Insights

After the analysis is complete, the results are formatted and displayed. The raw Markdown response from the API is processed to create a score table and a detailed feedback section.

We use a regular expression to find and extract the score from each category in the Markdown text.

 

const scoreRegex = /\*\*Score:\s*(\d{1,2})\/10\*\*/;

 

This allows for the automatic creation of a summary table. The detailed text feedback is then converted from Markdown to HTML for clear presentation, providing the specific recommendations that make the tool useful.

A Real Tool for a Real Problem

We built the analyzer to solve an internal bottleneck. It’s a practical example of how a robust front-end component like Froala is critical for building useful, AI-driven tools. By combining a solid editor with a capable API, we created a workflow that helps our team produce better content. It’s not about finding shortcuts; it’s about using the right tools for the job so you can focus on the actual work.

 

Three Ways For Uploading Images in Froala: Which One Should You Use?

Uploading Images in Froala

As a developer, you understand the importance of seamless image uploads in WYSIWYG editors. Froala, a popular rich text editor, offers three distinct methods for handling image uploads.

The right approach depends on your application’s requirements and the level of control you need over the image upload process.

In this article, we’ll explore the pros and cons of the default image uploader, the File Manager, and the Filestack integration, and when you might want to use each one, helping you determine which one best suits your project’s needs.

Key Takeaways

  • The default image uploader is a straightforward option for basic image upload needs, but it requires server-side setup and management.
  • The Froala File Manager offers a more robust and user-friendly image upload experience, with the ability to upload multiple images at once.
  • The Filestack integration provides the most comprehensive set of features, including cloud-based storage, advanced image transformation, and AI-powered image analysis. This makes it the best choice for projects with sophisticated image management requirements.
  • All methods support integrating with cloud storage providers like Amazon S3 to offload image storage from your own server.

Images Upload

The Default Image Uploader

The default image uploader in Froala is a straightforward option. When you click the image icon in the toolbar, you can easily drag and drop an image or browse your local files to select a file. This inserts the image directly into the editor as a BLOB (Binary Large Object).

The image plugin manages this default image upload functionality. Developers can customize various properties of the inserted images, such as the default width, display settings, and more.

To use the default image uploader, you’ll need to set the imageUploadURL option. This tells Froala where to send the uploaded image for processing. You’ll also need to handle the image upload on your server and return the URL of the uploaded image, which Froala can then use to display it in the editor.

Froala provides server-side SDKs to simplify this server-side implementation, making the default image uploader relatively easy to set up.

It also supports integrating with cloud storage providers like Amazon S3 and Azure. This lets you store your uploaded files on external cloud platforms, rather than your own server.

You can filter accepted image file types by setting the imageAllowedTypes option. This is useful if you want to restrict the types of images users can upload. Additionally, you can set maximum file size limits using the imageMaxSize option.

new FroalaEditor("#froala-editor", {
  toolbarButtons: [
    "insertImage",
    "bold",
    "italic",
    "underline",
    "|",
    "undo",
    "redo"
  ],
  pluginsEnabled: ["image"],
  imageUploadURL: "/upload_image",
  imageUploadMethod: "PUT",
  imageAllowedTypes: [
    'jpeg', 
    'jpg', 
    'png'
  ],
  imageMaxSize: 1024 * 1024 * 3
});

Default uploader
Pros:

  • Simple and easy to use
  • No additional costs

Cons:

  • Requires you to set up server-side logic to handle image uploads and storage.
  • Images are stored directly on your own server, which could impact performance and storage management.

Overall, the default image uploader is a straightforward option that works well for basic image upload needs. However, if you require more advanced features, you may want to consider the other options Froala provides, such as the File Manager or Filestack integration.

The File Manager

Froala’s File Manager offers a more robust and user-friendly image upload experience. It allows users to browse, upload, and manage files directly within the editor.

The File Manager utilizes several plugins, including file, image, imageTUI, and video. These plugins need to be enabled in your Froala configuration.

When uploading images, the File Manager leverages specific settings from the image plugin, such as imageDefaultWidth, imageResizeWithPercent, imageDefaultDisplay, and imageDefaultAlign. This allows you to customize the appearance and behavior of the uploaded images.

The File Manager also supports integrating with cloud storage providers like Amazon S3 and Azure. This lets you store your uploaded files on external cloud platforms, rather than your own server.

Additionally, you can use the Froala server SDKs to simplify the server-side implementation. However, keep in mind that this may require more setup and configuration since the File Manager can handle various file types, not just images.

One of the key benefits of the File Manager is its ability to upload multiple images at once. Users can easily browse their local files and select several images to upload in a single action.

Moreover, the File Manager provides a direct way to insert images into your content. Users can browse the available files and simply click to insert the desired image into the Froala editor.

new FroalaEditor('#froala-editor', {
   toolbarButtons: ['insertFiles', 'bold', 'italic', 'underline', '|', 'undo', 'redo'],
   pluginsEnabled: ["filesManager","image", "video","file","imageTUI"],
   filesManagerUploadURL: '/upload_file',
   filesManagerAllowedTypes: [
      'application/pdf', 
      'application/msword',
      'image/png'
   ], 
});

The File Manager

Pros:

  • Offers a user-friendly interface for managing images
  • Supports uploading multiple images at once.

Cons:

  • Requires enabling multiple plugins, which can increase the overall plugin size.
  • Still requires some server-side implementation to handle file uploads and storage.

Filestack Integration

Froala offers seamless integration with Filestack, a powerful file hosting and image upload API service. Filestack allows you to upload images and other file types directly to their cloud storage, relieving your server of the burden of image storage.

Filestack provides an intuitive user interface with over 20 integrated sources, enabling users to upload files from a wide range of platforms, including local devices, cloud storage services, and social media. This makes the file upload process more convenient and versatile.

Beyond images, Filestack supports the upload of various file types, and it allows users to upload multiple files simultaneously. The service’s Content Ingestion Network (CIN) ensures reliable and fast uploads, delivering a 100x improvement in reliability compared to traditional file uploads.

Once an image is uploaded, Filestack instantly generates a CDN-backed URL, ensuring lightning-fast delivery across the web. This eliminates the need for any server-side code to handle image storage, as Filestack manages the entire process on its cloud infrastructure.

Filestack also offers robust image transformation capabilities, allowing you to resize, crop, and apply various effects to your images using their powerful processing API. Additionally, Filestack’s AI features can scan uploaded images for viruses, detect tags and attributes, and perform advanced image analysis, providing valuable insights about your visual content.

Filestack provides developers with a variety of configurations to control the image upload experience. For example, they can limit accepted image file types by setting the Filestack Picker’s accept option.

     var editor = new FroalaEditor('#editor', {
       filestackOptions: {
            /*
            To get your Filestack API, create a free Filestack account
            https://www.filestack.com/signup-free-froala/
            */
            filestackAPI: "**************",
            uploadToFilestackOnly: false,
            pickerOptions: {
                accept: [
                    ".pdf",
                    "image/jpeg",
                    "image/png",
                    "image/*",
                    "video/*",
                    "audio/*"
                ],
                fromSources: [
                    "local_file_system",
                    "url",
                    "facebook",
                    "instagram"
                ]
            },
            transformationOptions: {
                filters: {
                    enabled: [
                        "blackWhite",
                        "sepia"
                    ]
                },
                adjustments: {
                    enabled: [
                        "brightness",
                        "noise"
                    ]
                }
            }
        }
    });

Pros:

  • Offloads image storage to a dedicated cloud service
  • Provides advanced image transformation and optimization tools
  • Offers robust file management capabilities, including support for multiple file types.
  • Delivers fast, CDN-backed image delivery
  • Includes features like virus detection and image analysis powered by Filestack AI

Cons:

  • Requires signing up for a Filestack account.
  • May incur additional costs depending on the Filestack pricing plan.

Overall, the Filestack integration in Froala offers a comprehensive and streamlined solution for managing file uploads, storage, and optimization, freeing you from the hassle of implementing these features on your own server.

Side-by-side comparison

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the three image upload methods in Froala to help you identify similarities and differences and make informed decisions.

Default Image Uploader The File Manager Filestack Integration
Support multi-image uploads
Support drag and drop image upload
Upload files other than images  
Require server-side setup
Delivery Depends on your server setup. Depends on your server setup. Fast, with CDN link instantly generated
Secure Depends on your server setup. Depends on your server setup. Yes
Image editing Through third-party integration (TUI plugin) Through third-party integration (TUI plugin) Filetsack Transformation UI
Image conversion Images can be converted to different formats using the Filestack Processing API.
Virus Detection
Image tags and AI features
S3 upload (Default)
Additional cost     Free trial

Conclusion

When choosing the best image upload method for your Froala-based application, consider your specific requirements, the level of control you need, and the trade-offs between ease of implementation, performance, and cost. While the default image uploader is a simple option, the Filestack integration offers the most comprehensive set of features and capabilities, making it the best choice for projects that require advanced image management and optimization.

FAQ

Can I restrict the types of images users can upload in Froala?

Yes, you can restrict the types of images users can upload in Froala. For the default image uploader, you can set the imageAllowedTypes option to specify the allowed file extensions. For the Filestack integration, you can set the accept option in the Filestack Picker to control the accepted file types.

Does Froala support uploading multiple images at once?

Yes, the Froala File Manager and the Filestack integration both support uploading multiple images at once. This can be a useful feature for users who need to quickly add several images to their content.

Can I store my uploaded images on a cloud platform like Amazon S3?

Yes, all upload methods support integration with cloud storage providers like Amazon S3 and Azure. This allows you to offload the storage of your uploaded images to a dedicated cloud platform, rather than managing it on your own server.

What features does the Filestack integration offer beyond basic image uploads?

The Filestack integration provides a range of advanced features, including robust image transformation capabilities, virus detection, and image analysis powered by Filestack’s AI. These features can be particularly useful for projects that require more sophisticated image management and optimization.

Important Considerations When Choosing a Rich Text Editor for Framework Integration

A cube that encompasses all important considerations when choosing a rich text editor for framework integration.

Plaintext by itself isn’t enough for most user interactions in modern web applications. Whether it’s composing emails, writing articles, or chatting with a friend, a rich text editor often plays a central role. These editors allow users to format content with bold text, bullet lists, images, and more, bridging the gap between raw text and meaningful interactions.

However, when using React, Angular, Vue, or other frameworks, you should always ensure seamless integration between it and your editor. An editor might appear suitable on its own, but integrating it into your application can potentially cause performance, state management, or compatibility issues. Thus, you should always choose a rich text editor that smoothly integrates with your chosen framework.

This guide will help you determine what to look for when evaluating rich text editors for framework integration. From architecture and extensibility to performance, security, and accessibility, you’ll explore essential considerations that help ensure effortless implementation.

Key Takeaways

  • A rich text editor must integrate smoothly with modern front-end frameworks like React to avoid disrupting state management or causing rendering issues.
  • Lightweight editors with modular design and lazy loading support improve performance.
  • Good rich text editors must allow both pre-built and custom plugins to extend functionality.
  • Security is critical, and accessibility should not be optional.
  • Cross-platform responsiveness ensures usability.

Why Framework Compatibility Is Crucial

Modern front-end frameworks like React, Angular, Vue, and Svelte each come with their own design and architecture philosophies. For instance, these frameworks revolve around components, reactive data binding, and virtual DOMs.

An image of puzzle pieces, representing the importance of compatibility between rich text editors and front-end frameworks.

Now, imagine that you have a rich text editor that assumes control over the DOM or operates outside your framework’s reactive system. This means that the editor directly manipulates the website’s structure without informing your front-end framework about the changes. In such cases, your app may fail to detect or respond to updates in the editor.

When a rich text editor has poor integration with modern front-end frameworks,

  • The UI might not re-render correctly when the application state updates.
  • Accessing or modifying the editor’s content programmatically becomes more difficult.
  • Performance might suffer due to duplicate re-renders or lack of lazy loading.

Conversely, if you select an editor that has a modular, framework-friendly architecture,

  • Your editor slots naturally into the app’s component structure.
  • State updates flow cleanly between the editor and the app.
  • You can customize faster and better through props, bindings, and lifecycle methods.

Choosing a framework-friendly rich text editor can reduce complexity and ultimately lead to a smoother development experience.

Key Features to Look for during Integration

Aside from a rich text editor’s core features, there are several more that directly contribute to how well it integrates with modern front-end frameworks. If you’re using these frameworks, the following features are almost non-negotiable (i.e., ensure that your editor has these):

Lightweight and Modular Design

A good rich text editor should avoid bloating your application. Editors that are modular (i.e., you can use parts of them individually) let you include only what you need. For instance, if you need just basic formatting and images, modular editors can pull those without loading the entire toolkit.

Furthermore, good rich text editors generally have a minimized bundle size. This lets the editor load faster and without disrupting the UX. Additionally, lazy loading support lets you hold off on loading the editor until your user needs it, improving initial loading.

A modular design, small bundle size, and lazy loading all align with modern frameworks’ principles, which is important for SPAs (single-page applications).

API Accessibility

A good rich text editor offers easy-to-use APIs, not just in plain JavaScript but also through integrations for modern frameworks. These APIs let developers insert custom content, connect to app state, respond to user changes, and extend functionality without rewriting the core editor.

Hence, look for an editor that lets you use event listeners, built-in and custom commands, and hooks with little difficulty. Doing so will let you integrate it into your app and adapt it to your specific needs more easily.

Plugin and Extension Support

An image of an electrical plug reaching into a socket, representing plugin support of rich text editors.

Many applications require custom functionality. Pre-built plugins contain functionality that you can integrate and use in your apps right away. Usually, to add these plugins, you would only need to include them on the toolbar.

Custom plugins, on the other hand, are tools you build yourself and integrate into the editor. You might resort to building these when you need something that the editor doesn’t support out of the box.

For example, a pre-built plugin might let users insert tables, emojis, or an image with a single click. But if you need something more specific, such as an AI proofreader, for example, you’d usually create a custom plugin.

A good rich text editor should make both options easy. It should have enough flexibility to let you plug in ready-made tools quickly without extensive configuration. It should also let you build or extend plugins, ideally without needing to modify the core source code.

Reactive State Management

Two-way data binding is one of the biggest challenges with rich text editors in frameworks like React or Vue. As stated earlier, these editors usually maintain their own state outside the framework’s reactive system. This could lead to UI bugs, inconsistent content, incorrect rendering, performance issues, or unpredictability.

A capable editor will allow you to:

  • Control its state using framework-native tools like useState.
  • Reflect external changes in the editor (e.g., loading drafts from a database, such as in emails).
  • Sync content with form inputs or global stores in real time (e.g., live previews, collaborative editing, or other autosaved content).

Frameworks rely on a reactive architecture, and your editor should respect that by making content synchronization straightforward and efficient.

Note: Two-way data binding refers to a framework feature that synchronizes data between the view and model in both directions. In other words, any changes in the model will also update the corresponding view (and vice versa).

Rich Text Editor Customization and UX Control

Beyond core functionality, customization is key to making the editor feel native to your application. Ensure that your editor lets you:

  • Modify the toolbar to only show the tools that your users need. Additionally, it should allow you to create your own toolbar buttons through custom plugins and arrange the buttons accordingly.
  • Style the editor to match your app’s design, including fonts, colors, and themes.
  • Support keyboard shortcuts.
  • Toggle between Markdown, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), and even HTML or code view modes.
  • Configure permissions to hide or disable features based on user roles (e.g., a contributor can’t insert HTML).

An editor that has most or all of these features will further improve the user experience while making framework integration smoother.

Performance, Security, and Accessibility

Users of modern applications will almost always seek performance, security, and some form of accessibility. Most frameworks strive to provide this to developers, but you should also ensure that your rich text editor does the same.

Load Time and Performance Optimization

A visual representation of tree shaking, a practice that involves deleting unutilized code. In the image, a tree is shown to have some of its leave falling, representing the deleted lines of unused code.

Framework-based applications must be fast. On slower networks or lower-end devices, it should remain functional. Thus, your rich text editor should:

  • Support CDN (content delivery network) for faster access and caching.
  • Work with tree shaking to reduce bundle size.
  • Work with lazy loading to speed up initial page load.
  • Perform well even when handling large documents, many blocks, or complex content structures.

A heavy editor can drag down your app’s performance. So, look for one that works for both initial load and sustained usage.

Note: Tree shaking refers to the process of removing unused code. This can drastically reduce the bundle size of your application, potentially improving performance.

Security Compliance

Any editor that handles HTML must implement strong sanitization policies to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) and other vulnerabilities. Some key security features include

  • HTML sanitization when loading or saving content.
  • Support for sandboxed iframes or controlled embeds (e.g., YouTube, social posts)
  • Disabling unsafe tags or scripts during copy-paste from external sources.

Note: Whatever application you’re building, security is non-negotiable. And while some editors offer protection against XSS, you should always fortify your security through the back end. Check for valid file types and sizes, parameterize your queries, and follow other security best practices.

Accessibility Standards

A modern rich text editor must also support accessibility features. For instance, you should support screen readers through ARIA roles. Furthermore, your users should have the ability to navigate through your editor’s toolbar using the keyboard.

Localization and RTL (right-to-left) language support are just as important. Having an editor that has these features ensures usability across different regions and devices. And following WCAG guidelines allows you to serve your app to everyone, regardless of ability.

Cross-Platform and Device Responsiveness

We all know it. Modern applications need to be cross-platform and responsive as much as possible. Today, people use laptops, 4k resolution 34-inch screens, mobile phones, and tablets, among others. Your rich text editor should:

  • Provide a touch-optimized interface for tablets and phones.
  • Offer responsive layouts that adapt to narrow screens.
  • Work seamlessly across major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge) and platforms (iOS, Android, Mac, Linux, Windows).

Having a cross-platform and responsive editor out of the box will significantly lighten the load for your team. Furthermore, testing the editor across environments helps you catch layout bugs or pitfalls early on. Check if everything looks and feels the same using different devices, browsers, platforms, and even network conditions.

Documentation, Support, and Community

A group of developers sitting down and discussing things, forming a community around the rich text editor.

Even the most feature-rich editor can cause some frustrations without good developer support. You have to ensure that your team won’t get stuck implementing or integrating the editor into your application. So, before committing, check:

  • Whether the documentation is clear, complete, and up-to-date.
  • If there’s an active community, support forum, or GitHub issues where the rich text editor’s team can address issues.
  • If it has dedicated product support for your team.
  • If it has helpful interactive or extensive demos on its website or GitHub.
  • Whether the project has a visible roadmap and consistent release cycles with clear improvements and bug fixes.
  • If you can find webinars, YouTube series, and other non-documentation content that you can use to learn about the editor.

Good support not only accelerates development but also ensures your app doesn’t break after a future update.

Conclusion

Choosing a rich text editor for framework integration isn’t just about ticking boxes. It’s about finding a balance between features, performance, security, developer experience, and long-term reliability.

A capable editor should feel like a natural part of your front-end stack, not an add-on that is forcefully nailed onto it. From state syncing and plugin extensibility to performance and accessibility, every element counts.

Looking for an editor that checks all the boxes? Explore how Froala simplifies framework integration.

Inserting merge tags in the Froala editor is easy – find out how?

Insert merge tags

As a developer, you know the importance of creating engaging and personalized content for your users. One powerful way to achieve this is by leveraging merge tags – dynamic placeholders that can be replaced with unique information for each user or recipient. The Froala WYSIWYG editor provides seamless integration with the Tribute JavaScript library, allowing you to easily enable merge tags and provide a delightful content creation experience for your users.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of implementing merge tags in the Froala editor. You’ll learn how to display a dropdown list of predefined tags, allow users to select and insert them as non-editable elements, and ensure the tags are easily identifiable within the content. By the end of this article, you’ll have the knowledge to add personalization to your applications.
Insert merge tags in the editor

Key Takeaways

  1. Merge tags are dynamic placeholders that can be replaced with unique information for each user or recipient. This allows you to create highly personalized content and experiences.
  2. Froala WYSIWYG editor integrates seamlessly with the Tribute.js library to enable merge tag functionality. This allows users to easily insert predefined merge tags into the content they create.
  3. Protecting merge tags as non-editable elements is crucial to ensure consistent personalization. By setting the contenteditable="false" attribute, you can prevent users from accidentally modifying or deleting the merge tags.
  4. Merge tags can be leveraged in a variety of applications, including email marketing, CRM systems, e-commerce, and content management. This makes them a powerful tool for enhancing personalization and user engagement.

What are merge tags?

Merge tags, also known as personalization tokens or mail merge fields, are dynamic placeholders that can be replaced with unique information for each user or recipient. These tags are commonly used in email marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and other applications where personalization is crucial for engagement and conversion.

When a user or recipient interacts with content that contains merge tags, the tags are replaced with the corresponding data, creating a tailored experience. For example, a merge tag like {{first_name}} might be replaced with the recipient’s first name, resulting in a message that feels more personal and relevant.

Implementing merge tags in the Froala WYSIWYG editor can significantly enhance the content creation process. Users can easily insert predefined tags, ensuring consistent and accurate personalization across all generated content.

Integrating Tribute.js with Froala

The Froala WYSIWYG editor provides seamless integration with the Tribute.js library, which enables the display of a dropdown list of predefined tags. Tribute.js is a lightweight, customizable autocomplete library that allows users to easily select and insert tags into the editor.

To get started, you’ll need to include both the Tribute.js and Froala libraries in your web application. You can do this by adding the following script tags to your HTML file:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/tribute.js"></script>

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>

Next, add an HTML element where Froala will initialize:

<div id="froala-editor">

  <p>Froala WYSIWYG Editor can easily be integrated with the awesome <a href="https://github.com/zurb/tribute" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tribute.js library</a>. Type an @ to display the autocomplete list.

  </p>

</div>

Then, initialize the Froala editor and configure the Tribute.js integration:

var tribute = new Tribute({
  collection: [
  
    {
      values: [
        { key: "Phil", value: "pheartman" },
        { key: "Gordon", value: "gramsey" },
        { key: "Ethan", value: "ethan" },
        { key: "Emma", value: "emma" },
        { key: "Isabella", value: "isabella" },
      ],
      selectTemplate: function (item) {
        return (
          '<span class="fr-deletable fr-tribute">' +
          item.original.key +
          "</a></span>"
        )
      },
    },
    {
     trigger: '{',
  selectClass: 'mytag',
      values: [
        { key: "username" },
        { key: "email"},
        { key: "sender.phone" },
        { key: "Address" },
        { key: "Date" },
        
      ],
      selectTemplate: function (item) {
        return (
          '<span class="fr-deletable fr-tribute">{{' +
          item.original.key +
          "}}</span>"
        )
      },
    },    
  ],
})

new FroalaEditor("#froala-editor", {
  events: {
    initialized: function () {
      var editor = this

      tribute.attach(editor.el)

      editor.events.on(
        "keydown",
        function (e) {
          if (e.which == FroalaEditor.KEYCODE.ENTER && tribute.isActive) {
            return false
          }
        },
        true,
      )
    },
  },
})

In this example, we’ve set up the Tribute.js integration to display two types of dropdown lists. One list is for user mentions, triggered by typing the @ character. The other list is for merge tags, triggered by typing the { character.

The values array contains the available tags for each dropdown. The selectTemplate function defines how the selected tag will be inserted into the editor. For merge tags, it will insert the tag surrounded by {{ and }}.

Finally, we attach the Tribute.js instance to the Froala editor’s element using the tribute.attach(editor.el) method.

Protecting Merge Tags

Once the user has selected a merge tag from the dropdown, the tag should be inserted into the Froala editor as a non-editable element. This ensures that the tag is easily identifiable and cannot be accidentally modified.

To achieve this, you can edit the custom HTML representation of the inserted tag in the selectTemplate function. Here’s an example:

      selectTemplate: function (item) {
        return (
          '<span class="fr-deletable fr-tribute fr-merge-tag"  contenteditable="false">{{' +
          item.original.key +
          "}}</span>"
        )
      },

In this code, the selected tag will be inserted with a custom HTML element (<span class="fr-deletable fr-tribute fr-merge-tag" contenteditable="false">{{' + item.original.key + "}}</span>).

The contenteditable="false" attribute ensures that the inserted merge tag cannot be accidentally modified by the user.

Additionally, this custom HTML element includes a merge-tag class which you can use to style and interact with the merge tags in your application.

Styling Merge Tags

To make the merge tags visually distinct within the editor, you can style the custom HTML elements using CSS:

.fr-merge-tag {

  background-color: #f0f0f0;

  border: 1px solid #ddd;

  border-radius: 4px;

  color: #333;

  display: inline-block;

  font-weight: bold;

  padding: 2px 6px;

  margin: 0 2px;

}

This will apply a subtle background color, border, and padding to the merge tag elements, making them stand out from the regular text.

By combining the power of Froala’s WYSIWYG editor and the Tribute.js library, you can create a seamless and user-friendly merge tag experience for your content creators. This will not only make it easier to insert personalization tokens but also ensure the final content is visually appealing and easy to maintain.

Experience Merge Tags for yourself

Play with this interactive demo to see how it can improve your app’s content creation, editing, and publishing experiences.

Use Cases for Merge Tags

Merge tags can be leveraged in a variety of applications to enhance personalization and improve user engagement. Here are some common use cases:

  1. Email Marketing: Merge tags are widely used in email marketing campaigns to personalize subject lines, greetings, and email content. Email merge tags help to increase open rates, click-through rates, and overall engagement.
  2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): CRM systems often utilize merge tags to personalize customer communications, such as welcome messages, invoices, and support inquiries. This creates a more personalized experience for customers.
  3. E-commerce and Retail: Merge tags can be used to personalize product recommendations, order confirmations, and shipping notifications in e-commerce and retail applications. This can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty.
  4. Content Management Systems (CMS): Merge tags can be integrated into CMS platforms to allow content creators to easily insert personalized elements, such as the user’s name or location, into their content.
  5. Web Applications: Merge tags can be used in web applications to personalize user dashboards, account settings, and other user-specific content, enhancing the overall user experience.

A Practical Example of Merge Tags in Email Marketing: Mailchimp Merge Fields

One well-known example of merge tags are the merge fields used in email marketing platforms like Mailchimp. Mailchimp provides a variety of predefined merge fields, such as *|FNAME|* for the recipient’s first name, *|LNAME|* for the last name, and *|EMAIL|* for the email address.

These Mailchimp merge fields can be inserted into email subject lines, body content, and other areas of an email campaign. When the email is sent, Mailchimp will replace the merge fields with the corresponding data for each recipient, resulting in a personalized message.

Integrating Mailchimp merge fields with the Froala WYSIWYG editor can be a powerful way to create highly personalized email content. By allowing users to easily insert these predefined merge tags, you can streamline the email creation process and ensure consistent personalization across all your email campaigns.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I customize the appearance of the merge tag dropdown?

You can customize the appearance of the merge tag dropdown by modifying the CSS styles applied to the Tribute.js elements. In the example code, we’ve applied some basic styles to the .fr-merge-tag class, but you can expand on this to match the branding and design of your application.

What happens if a user accidentally deletes or modifies a merge tag?

By setting the contenteditable="false" attribute on the merge tag elements, you can prevent users from directly editing or deleting the tags. However, if a user does manage to remove or modify a merge tag, you can implement additional safeguards, such as:

  • Providing a way for users to “undo” their changes and restore the original merge tag.
  • Validating the content before saving or publishing and alerting the user if any merge tags are missing or altered.
  • Automatically replacing any missing or modified merge tags with default values or placeholders.

How can I integrate merge tags with a CRM or user database to enhance personalization?

To take merge tags to the next level, you can integrate them with a customer relationship management (CRM) system or user database. This allows you to pull in dynamic data, such as a user’s name, email, or other personalized information, directly into your content.

When a user interacts with content that contains these merge tags, your application can retrieve the corresponding data from the CRM or database and replace the tags accordingly. This creates an even more personalized experience for your users.

By integrating merge tags with a CRM or user database, you can dynamically populate your content with user-specific information, ensuring each interaction is tailored to the individual. This can lead to increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and an overall more satisfying user experience.

How can I use merge tags to generate personalized documents?

Merge tags can be utilized to generate personalized documents, such as invoices, contracts, or reports. By embedding merge tags within the document template, you can dynamically populate the content with user-specific information, ensuring each document is tailored to the recipient.

This can be particularly useful for automating the creation of custom documents, reducing the manual effort required and ensuring consistency across all generated materials.

Conclusion

In this article, you’ve learned how to enable merge tags in the Froala WYSIWYG editor by integrating the Tribute.js library. You’ve seen how to configure the Tribute.js integration and render and display the merge tags.

By implementing merge tags in your Froala-powered applications, you can empower your users to create highly personalized and engaging content, leading to increased user satisfaction and conversion rates. Remember to continue exploring the vast capabilities of the Froala editor and the Tribute.js library to unlock even more powerful content creation features for your users.

Happy coding!

 

Guide to DeepSeek API Integration: What It Is and How to Get Started

The fast-paced AI environment today enables developers to construct applications through large language models (LLMs) and multimodal APIs, which produce intelligent chatbots and advanced content generation tools. DeepSeek stands as a powerful innovation that is gaining momentum in the rapidly advancing field of AI development.

So what’s behind the buzz? The DeepSeek platform provides developers with open, high-performance models, including DeepSeek-Coder and DeepSeek-VL, which offer a scalable alternative for intelligent AI-driven features. The DeepSeek API enables developers to access powerful capabilities that are specifically designed for practical applications when working with text, images, or code.

This guide provides information about DeepSeek and its comparison to other leading APIs, as well as a step-by-step process for project integration. This walkthrough provides step-by-step instructions to help beginners start their first AI application development while showing them how to replace OpenAI or Claude with confidence.

Key Takeaways

  • DeepSeek API integration gives access to open-source models for text, code, and image tasks.
  • Includes DeepSeek-Coder for code generation and DeepSeek-VL for multimodal input.
  • Offers a fast, scalable alternative to APIs like OpenAI and Claude.
  • Easy to use with Python, Postman, or curl via OpenAI-compatible endpoints.
  • No hard rate limits on the official API, but usage may vary with traffic or third-party hosts.
  • Free access available via Hugging Face; hosted use via OpenRouter or Together.ai.
  • Follow best practices: secure your API key, cache responses, and optimize prompts.
  • Can be embedded into apps like Froala Editor for AI-assisted content creation.

3D illustration of a robot assembling blocks with a magnet, representing DeepSeek API integration and AI-powered application building.

What is DeepSeek?

DeepSeek operates as an open-source AI project that develops large language and vision models for developers, researchers, and tech enthusiasts. DeepSeek presents itself as a clear and fast API solution that provides open access to its capabilities while encouraging community involvement and state-of-the-art functionality.

The project foundation rests on its two main models:

DeepSeek-Coder functions as an LLM (Large Language Model) that specializes in code generation, completion, and understanding of multiple programming languages. The system proves beneficial for software development automation, code review support, and the development of AI-based developer tools.

DeepSeek-VL functions as a strong vision-language model that accepts multiple input types, including images, charts, documents, and text, to support applications such as visual question answering, caption generation, and document comprehension.

The models within DeepSeek provide users with a wide range of AI application possibilities, including:

  • Coding assistance
  • Research and data analysis
  • Workflow automation
  • Multimodal applications combining text and images

The open-source community supports DeepSeek as a flexible platform that serves developers who want to implement AI-driven development and users who need intelligent visual interfaces.

Key features of the DeepSeek API

DeepSeek stands apart from other AI APIs through its distinctive features in the expanding AI API market. The DeepSeek API stands out through these distinctive features, which make it an attractive option for developers and researchers:

Advanced language and vision understanding

DeepSeek models surpass traditional LLMs through their ability to merge natural language processing with visual understanding capabilities. DeepSeek delivers state-of-the-art performance through accurate context-aware outputs when you need to analyze code or generate text, or interpret image-text combinations.

Open-source friendly

The open nature of DeepSeek distinguishes it from proprietary alternatives because it promotes open collaboration among developers. The developer-friendly ecosystem of DeepSeek enables open environment development, model auditing, and contribution and extension through its supportive framework for innovation and trust.

Scalable and high-performance

DeepSeek operates at high speeds and maintains low response times, which makes it appropriate for projects ranging from solo work to large enterprise implementations. The robust architecture of this system enables smooth handling of traffic and load regardless of the number of users it serves.

Competitive edge over other APIs

DeepSeek provides distinct advantages compared to proprietary APIs like OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, and Google Gemini through its unique strengths:

  • Open-source architecture with fewer usage limitations
  • Multimodal capabilities available out of the box (e.g., image + text tasks)
  • A developer-friendly platform with scalable performance

While each API has its strengths, DeepSeek stands out as a flexible and transparent solution, especially for those looking to build with open tools, experiment freely, or fine-tune for specific use cases.

Getting access to the DeepSeek API

The process to integrate DeepSeek API with your system remains simple, whether you are new to AI development or building it into an existing system.

Sign up for an account

The first step involves visiting deepseek.com or the official GitHub page to obtain registration or access instructions. DeepSeek models that are open on Hugging Face platforms do not require direct registration with DeepSeek unless you use their hosted API service.

Sign up for the DeepSeek API

Generate your API key

If you’re using an official DeepSeek-hosted API endpoint (or accessing via a third-party provider like Together.ai or OpenRouter), you’ll typically need to sign up and retrieve an API key from your dashboard. This key is used to authenticate your requests and track usage.

DeepSeek dashboard
DeepSeek dashboard

Pricing and free access

DeepSeek-Coder and DeepSeek-VL models are openly available on platforms like Hugging Face for free use in research and many commercial applications, depending on the license terms (typically Apache 2.0). If you’re using the models via hosted APIs (e.g., Together.ai or OpenRouter), pricing will vary by provider and usage volume. DeepSeek’s open-source approach makes it a budget-friendly option for testing, development, and even production use when self-hosted.

DeepSeek Models & Pricing

Documentation and resources

The official API documentation provides a centralized reference for DeepSeek API integration. It includes:

  • Quick start guides
  • Input/output formats
  • Supported endpoints
  • Model capabilities
  • Sample scripts and integration examples

You can also find additional resources and real-world usage patterns on platforms like GitHub, Hugging Face model cards, and community forums. These sources offer valuable implementation tips and troubleshooting insights shared by developers.

Understanding the API basics

Before diving into implementation, it’s important to get familiar with the core components of the DeepSeek API. This section walks you through the base URL, authentication process, and any rate limits you should be aware of.

Base URL and endpoint structure

The DeepSeek API is accessible via:

https://api.deepseek.com

(For OpenAI‑compatible clients, you may also use `https://api.deepseek.com/v1`; this “v1” namespace is for compatibility, not model versions.)

Endpoints follow a consistent RESTful structure. For example:

POST /chat/completions – For generating text completions using models like deepseek-chat or deepseek-coder

Each request typically includes a `model` parameter, a `messages` array, and hyperparameters such as `temperature`, `max_tokens`, `frequency_penalty`, etc.

Authentication methods

Authentication is handled via API keys. Once you create an account or access DeepSeek via a third-party provider (like OpenRouter), you’ll receive a token.

To authenticate a request, include the following header:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Never expose your key in client-side applications. Store it securely and rotate it regularly if needed.

Rate limits and usage caps

DeepSeek’s official API does not enforce a rate limit on user requests. Their infrastructure is designed to serve as many requests as possible, even under heavy traffic.

During periods of high load:

  • Non-streaming requests may return continuous empty lines.
  • Streaming requests may return keep-alive events (e.g., : keep-alive) until a full response is ready.

If a response cannot be completed within 30 minutes, the server will automatically close the connection.

⚠️ If you’re using DeepSeek through a third-party API provider (like OpenRouter or Together.ai), rate limits may apply depending on your plan.

And if you’re self-hosting (e.g., via Hugging Face), usage is only limited by your compute power (e.g., GPU/CPU/memory).

For up-to-date behavior, check the official DeepSeek API docs or your provider’s dashboard.

Step-by-step integration guide

Let’s learn to integrate the DeepSeek API step by step.

Prerequisites

Before you begin your DeepSeek API integration, make sure you have the following:

  • Basic programming knowledge in a language like Python or JavaScript
  • Access to an API client such as:
    • Postman
    • curl (command-line tool)
    • A language-specific HTTP library like requests (Python) or fetch (JavaScript)
  • An API key from DeepSeek or a third-party provider (e.g., OpenRouter)

Making your first request

Let’s walk through a basic “Hello World”-style text generation request using the /chat/completions endpoint.

Python example:

import requests

url = "https://api.deepseek.com/v1/chat/completions"

headers = {

    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY",

    "Content-Type": "application/json"

}

data = {

    "model": "deepseek-chat",

    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello to the world!"}],

    "temperature": 0.7

}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, json=data)

print(response.json())

cURL example:

curl https://api.deepseek.com/v1/chat/completions \

  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \

  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \

  -d '{

        "model": "deepseek-chat",

        "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello to the world!"}],

        "temperature": 0.7

      }'

Response format:

The response will be a JSON object with a choices array. You can extract the generated text like this:

{

  "choices": [

    {

      "message": {

        "role": "assistant",

        "content": "Hello, world!"

      }

    }

  ]

}

Step-by-step setup in Postman

You can run the equivalent of the above request code in Postman by setting up a POST request with the correct headers and JSON body.

Here’s how to do it step by step in Postman:

1. Set the request method to POST

URL:

https://api.deepseek.com/v1/chat/completions

2. Set the headers

Go to the “Headers” tab and add:

Key Value
Authorization Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type application/json

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual DeepSeek API key.

Setting HTTP Headers for DeepSeek API Call in Postman
Setting HTTP Headers for DeepSeek API Call in Postman

3. Set the request body

Go to the “Body” tab → Select “raw” → Choose JSON (from the dropdown).

Paste the following JSON:

 

{

  "model": "deepseek-chat",

  "messages": [

    {

      "role": "user",

      "content": "Say hello to the world!"

    }

  ],

  "temperature": 0.7

}
Example JSON Body for a DeepSeek Chat Completion API Request
Example JSON Body for a DeepSeek Chat Completion API Request

4. Send the request

Click the “Send” button.

5. View the response

You’ll get a JSON response like:

{

  "choices": [

    {

      "message": {

        "role": "assistant",

        "content": "Hello, world!"

      }

    }

  ]

}

Example DeepSeek API Response for Chat Completion
Example DeepSeek API Response for Chat Completion

 

Handling errors and debugging

When working with any API, it’s important to know how to handle errors gracefully.

Common error messages:

  • 401 Unauthorized: Check if your API key is missing or incorrect.
  • 400 Bad Request: Often due to malformed JSON or missing parameters.
  • 402 Payment Required: Your account has insufficient balance to process this request.
  • 429 Too Many Requests: Applies only if you’re using a third-party API provider.
  • 500 Internal Server Error: May occur under heavy load or internal issues.

Retry strategies:

  • Use exponential backoff for retrying failed requests (especially 429 or timeout errors).
  • Avoid retrying 400 or 401 errors unless corrected.

Logging best practices:

  • Log the full request payload and response body (excluding API keys).
  • Tag logs with timestamps and response status codes for traceability.

A quick note on Froala integration

Because DeepSeek is an API-based service, it can be embedded into various applications, including our very own Froala WYSIWYG Editor. While we won’t go deep into this here, the potential is exciting: AI-assisted content suggestions, intelligent grammar corrections, or auto-generated text snippets—all triggered live within the editing interface.

Imagine building a rich-text editor that not only formats your content but also helps generate it. That’s the kind of seamless experience developers can create by combining the Froala Editor with DeepSeek API integration.

For example, you could build a note-taking or documentation app where DeepSeek autocompletes sentences or summarizes content directly inside Froala’s editor frame.

DeepDive: Example use cases

Let’s explore how DeepSeek’s models perform in real-world scenarios—from writing clean code to understanding multimodal content.

Code completion or generation with DeepSeek-Coder

DeepSeek-Coder is optimized for software development tasks such as autocompletion, refactoring suggestions, and generating functions from plain-text prompts.

Input/output sample:

Input prompt:

 

{"role": "user", "content": "Write a Python function to check if a number is prime."}

Output:

def is_prime(n):

    if n <= 1:

        return False

    for i in range(2, int(n**0.5) + 1):

        if n % i == 0:

            return False

    return True

This makes DeepSeek-Coder ideal for coding assistants, educational platforms, and documentation generators.

IDE plugin (if available):

While there’s no official IDE plugin from DeepSeek at the time of writing, developers can integrate DeepSeek-Coder with code editors (like VS Code) using custom scripts or API wrappers, similar to how GitHub Copilot operates.

Multimodal tasks with DeepSeek-VL

DeepSeek-VL enables models to process both visual and text inputs, making it useful for applications involving documents, images, and diagrams.

Example input:

  • Image: A scanned document or screenshot
  • Text prompt: “Summarize the key points from this image.”

The model interprets the visual content and responds with a meaningful summary or extracted data.

Sample application:

  • Caption generation: Upload an image and receive an accurate caption like:
    “A group of engineers reviewing a circuit board schematic on a table.”

 

  • Document Q&A: Upload a PDF and ask:
    “What is the main clause in paragraph 3?”
    → DeepSeek-VL reads the image-based document and extracts answers.

 

These use cases show how DeepSeek API integration can power next-gen apps across development, education, productivity, and visual understanding.

Best practices for working with DeepSeek API

To get the most out of your DeepSeek API integration, follow these best practices for security, performance, and cost-efficiency.

Token management & security tips

  • Never expose API keys in frontend code or public repositories.
  • Use environment variables or secret managers to store keys securely.
  • Rotate keys periodically and revoke them immediately if compromised.
  • Consider using IP whitelisting if supported by your API provider.

Optimizing input prompts

  • Keep prompts clear and context-rich, especially when working with coding or multimodal tasks.
  • Avoid unnecessary verbosity—it can waste tokens and reduce model accuracy.
  • Test prompt variations to identify the most efficient phrasing for consistent results.

Example:

Instead of saying:

“Please can you help me by writing a function that checks whether a number is prime?”
Try:
“Write a Python function to check if a number is prime.”

Caching strategies for repeated calls

  • If your app sends the same or similar requests frequently, implement caching at the application level.
  • Cache both input-response pairs and processed outputs to reduce token consumption and latency.
  • Use hash keys of prompt strings as identifiers for quick retrieval.

Rate limiting and efficient usage

Although DeepSeek’s official API does not enforce hard rate limits, usage can still be impacted by:

  • Server congestion
  • Timeout thresholds (e.g., 30-minute max response window)

To ensure efficient usage:

  • Batch smaller queries when possible
  • Use streaming mode for faster response delivery
  • Implement retry logic with exponential backoff for handling transient errors

By following these practices, you’ll build more stable, secure, and scalable applications while keeping your DeepSeek usage optimized and cost-effective.

Conclusion

In this guide, we explored everything you need to know about DeepSeek API integration—from understanding its models and features to setting up your first request and handling advanced use cases. Whether you’re building with DeepSeek-Coder for code generation or experimenting with DeepSeek-VL’s multimodal capabilities, the API offers flexibility, speed, and open accessibility for modern AI development.

Now it’s your turn. Start small with a simple prompt, or go big by integrating DeepSeek into your next project. There’s a lot to discover—and even more to build.

How to Quickly Add Rich Text Editing Capabilities to Your React Application

A visual representation of a rich text editor for React applications.

Most modern web applications revolve around content creation and sharing. Whether you’re building a blog, messaging app, or learning management system (LMS), you’ll need features that allow users to create and format text and media. That’s where rich text editors come in.

For React developers, the demand for intuitive, flexible, and seamless text editing capabilities has never been higher. For instance, most users expect features like bold text, embedded links, inline media, and responsiveness. They also expect to use these features with as little effort as possible.

That’s why in this article, we’ll explore how to quickly add a rich text editor for React that meets modern standards. You’ll also learn about what to consider when choosing one and how to avoid common pitfalls.

Key Takeaways

  • Rich-text editors enhance user interaction and boost UX.
  • When choosing an editor, strike the balance between cost, extensibility, features, and performance.
  • Mobile responsiveness is almost always non-negotiable, and accessibility should be another priority.
  • Always sanitize editor output to prevent XSS attacks.
  • Avoid over-customization in the early stages of development by building an MVP first and then refining it later.

What is a Rich Text Editor?

Showcasing the difference between plaintext and rich text. The image with rich text contains a snippet of a rich text editor for React that has capabilities for font styling, images, emojis, Markdown, and so on. The plaintext snippet, as the name suggests, contains only plaintext.

A rich text editor is a UI component that allows users to input and format text content beyond plain characters. While a basic <textarea> HTML element only lets you input plaintext, a rich text editor enables users to:

  • Bold, italicize, or underline text
  • Add hyperlinks and email links
  • Insert images and videos (some even allow for editing media files)
  • Create bulleted or numbered lists
  • Insert emojis or Markdown
  • Add custom elements

If you’ve ever used Google Docs, WordPress, or even messaging apps, you’ve likely used a rich text editor. Here are some common use cases for them:

  • Content Management Systems (CMS): For writing blog posts or product descriptions
  • Email Builders: For composing formatted newsletters, marketing, and other emails
  • Chat and Messaging Apps: To support emojis, attachments, and message styling
  • Internal or Productivity Tools: For note-taking, task management, issue tracking, etc.

Rich text editors are great tools for any user of a content-heavy web application. But do you really need them in React applications? Let’s explore this in the next section.

Why Use a Rich Text Editor for React?

React’s declarative and component-based architecture makes it easy to embed a rich text editor and manage its state using hooks like useState and useEffect. This encourages developers to manage UI behavior and state through clearly defined components rather than relying on low-level DOM manipulation. For example, you can sync the editor’s content with your app state in real time or trigger autosave logic without manually touching the DOM.

Using a rich text editor for React leads to many benefits. For instance, it helps users express themselves more clearly through an enhanced user experience and a variety of features. In turn, it boosts engagement and productivity, delighting (and most likely retaining) users.

Furthermore, rich text editors are essential in building dynamic UIs. Users expect to format content visually (WYSIWYG) or structurally (via Markdown) without writing raw HTML. Whether it’s for a blog, message, or other content, offering intuitive formatting tools makes content creation more accessible and engaging.

Note: A “declarative” architecture means you describe what the UI should look like based on the current state. Then, React takes care of rendering it correctly.

Note: “Component-based” means that you build your app from small, reusable building blocks. Examples include building a full app from reusable components like buttons, forms, or, in this case, rich text editors.

Key Features to Consider before Choosing an Editor

When finding a rich text editor for React, you should make your choice based on your requirements, budget, and user base. And although all rich text editors offer similar benefits and features, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Here are a few critical considerations:

A depiction of a person trying to find the right editor for their use case.

Licensing and Cost

Some editors are open-source and free to use. On the other hand, others offer commercial licenses with premium features. Always check whether the license aligns with your project’s scale and purpose. For example, an enterprise SaaS app might benefit more from a commercial license, while a small blog might get by with a free tool.

Some even offer demos or a free trial, allowing you to take the rich text editors for a test drive. This could prove beneficial, especially if you want to quickly test out each editor for your React application.

Plugin support and extensibility

Not all rich text editors for React offer the same level of flexibility when it comes to extending functionality. Some are simpler and self-contained, while others allow for deep customization through plugin support or APIs. This extensibility is essential if you plan to allow users to embed rich media, code snippets, or even real-time collaboration.

An extensible editor also allows you to build or integrate custom components, helping the editor scale with your application’s needs. For example, do you need built-in AI suggestions in your editor as your users type? A great React rich text editor should allow you to integrate your own custom AI plugin.

Mobile responsiveness

Today, users expect a consistent experience whether they’re editing content on a desktop or a mobile device. A mobile-responsive editor ensures that the interface adapts seamlessly to different screen sizes and input types.

For instance, users should find it easy to tap or click toolbar items and use the editing area without awkward scrolling or zooming. If you plan to release your React app across multiple platforms and devices, prioritizing mobile responsiveness is the key. Hence, you should choose an editor that’s already mobile-optimized and responsive.

Markdown or HTML output

Different editors produce different types of output, such as HTML or Markdown. HTML is ideal for displaying content in web browsers directly. On the other hand, Markdown is lightweight and often the choice for developer-focused or documentation-heavy applications (e.g., GitHub).

Your choice should ultimately reflect how you plan to store, retrieve, and render content. This is especially true if you need the editor to interact with a database, API, or custom front-end component.

Image and File Upload Capabilities

Allowing users to insert images or attach files directly within the editor adds significant value, but it also introduces extra technical challenges. Some editors offer built-in support for file uploads, image previews, and in-editor media management (e.g., cropping, filters, text, borders, etc.). Others require you to handle file uploads yourself, including setting up the backend, handling storage, and returning accessible URLs.

Either way, you’ll need to consider performance (e.g., compression), security (e.g., file type checking), and content sanitization. Your choice of editor should align with how much media content you’re storing, processing, and delivering in your React app. Of course, having solid image and file management features is almost always better in content-centric apps.

Best Practices for Using a Rich Text Editor in React

In the image, icons for security, styling, performance, and accessibility represent the components of the best practices for using a rich text editor in React.

Integrating a rich-text editor for React applications doesn’t stop after importing the component. To ensure a robust, seamless, and user-friendly experience, consider the following best practices:

Security

Rich text editors usually produce HTML output, which can serve as an entry point for cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. To counter this, always sanitize your editor’s output before storing it. Libraries like DOMPurify help prevent this, but there are a few editors that already help with combating XSS out of the box.

Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks also threaten React applications by exploiting upload vulnerabilities, saturating resources, and downing your application or server. You can help prevent this by imposing file upload limits. Additionally, you should always check and limit the file types of your users’ uploads to avoid harmful scripts, executables, or disguised malware.

Plenty more web application security risks exist, but for the purpose of keeping this article brief, we’ll stop here for now. If you want to learn more about the most infamous risks, you should check out this OWASP Top Ten list.

Performance

Heavy editors can affect your app’s performance, especially if you’re rendering them on every keystroke or in large lists. So, you should use the React.memo component to avoid unnecessary re-renders. Moreover, you should consider lazy loading the editor component if it’s not used immediately.

Note: Lazy loading refers to the technique in which you hold off on loading non-critical resources (e.g., images, videos, or JS) until they’re needed. This practice lets you improve initial page load times and performance by avoiding loading everything in one go. Note, however, that lazy loading might be limited in terms of browser support, especially in legacy versions.

Styling

Most rich text editors for React are highly customizable. Leverage this to match the look and feel of your app through theming and deep customization. Whether you use Tailwind CSS or a custom design system, consistent styling enhances the user experience.

Accessibility

Most modern web applications don’t forget about users who rely on on-screen keyboards and screen readers. Ensure your chosen editor supports ARIA roles, implements proper tab navigation, and complies with Section 508 and the like.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

An image of a pitfall trap that signifies the common mistakes to avoid when integrating a rich text editor for React.

Even though integrating most rich text editors for React is easy, developers can still make avoidable mistakes:

  • Not Sanitizing Output Content: As said earlier, always sanitize the editor’s output to help prevent security attacks like XSS. Never trust user input, especially if it goes beyond plaintext.
  • Over-customizing before MVP: Avoid diving into extensive customization before you validate whether users actually need those features. This could cost you plenty of time that you could’ve used for other tasks. Like most of the time, attain an MVP (minimum viable product) first.
  • Ignoring Mobile Responsiveness and Accessibility: If your rich text editor doesn’t feel consistent on mobile or different browsers, you’re alienating a significant number of users. The same thing happens if it doesn’t support screen readers or screen keyboards. Make testing across devices and input methods an early priority or consideration.
  • Skipping Integration with Backend Storage Formats: Your editor might output rich content, but where does it go? Plan for how you’ll store, retrieve, and render that data. Ensure you handle storing data to a database table on a server, an Amazon S3 bucket for files, and so on.

Conclusion

Adding a rich text editor for React is a task you can do in minutes with the right library. Whether you’re looking for simplicity or a full-featured WYSIWYG experience, you’ll find a tool out there that fits your needs. However, don’t just plug in the first one you find.

In the end, you should choose the editor that best fits your app’s goals. Evaluate the trade-offs, test some integrations, and prioritize the features that your users need the most. Moreover, as said earlier, some editors offer demos, interactive documentation, and free trials, allowing you to explore their features before fully committing.

By following best practices and avoiding common pitfalls, you’ll empower your users to create rich, expressive content. All while maintaining performance, security, and usability in your React application.

Building a Responsive Website with a Bootstrap Editor: A Step-by-Step Guide

The digital world demands responsive web design as an essential requirement. Users access websites from phones, tablets, or desktop computers. Your website must deliver a smooth experience no matter the screen size. 

The solution is Bootstrap. The front-end framework Bootstrap provides developers with a comprehensive set of tools that accelerate and simplify responsive website development. The developer-friendly nature of Bootstrap may not appeal to users who prefer to avoid manual coding. Bootstrap editors serve as the perfect solution for users who need to create responsive websites.

The drag-and-drop interfaces and coding flexibility of Bootstrap editors allow users to build stunning responsive layouts without starting from scratch.

This guide provides a comprehensive pathway to build responsive websites with Bootstrap editors, covering everything from selecting the right tool to layout design and interactive additions, and concluding with live deployment.

What is Bootstrap, and why use it?

Bootstrap is a popular front-end framework originally developed by Twitter in 2011. It was built to help developers create consistent, responsive designs more efficiently. Today, it powers millions of websites and is currently in its fifth major version (Bootstrap 5), offering modern features and a mobile-first approach.

Key features

  • Grid System: Bootstrap’s 12-column layout makes it easy to create responsive page structures.
  • Components: Prebuilt elements like buttons, navbars, cards, and modals speed up development.
  • Utility Classes: Apply spacing, colors, alignment, and more directly in HTML.
  • Mobile-First Design: All components are designed to look great on small screens first.

Why choose Bootstrap?

Bootstrap stands out for its ease of use and flexibility. You can build sleek, functional websites without starting from scratch or writing a lot of custom CSS.

Pros:

  • Fast prototyping with reusable components.
  • Built-in responsiveness.
  • Strong community and documentation.
  • Easy to integrate with most editors and tools.

Cons:

  • May include more code than needed for small projects.
  • Customizing deeply can be challenging.
  • Websites can look similar if not styled further.

Overall, Bootstrap is a solid choice for building responsive sites quickly, especially when paired with a visual editor to simplify the process.

Check out all the Bootstrap classes here.

Overview of Bootstrap editors

When building responsive websites with Bootstrap, many developers also want to offer live editing capabilities — whether it’s for a content management system, admin panel, or inline content editing experience. That’s where WYSIWYG Bootstrap editors come into play.

These are not standalone site builders — instead, they are embeddable editors that integrate into your Bootstrap-based website, allowing users to edit content directly on the page while preserving Bootstrap’s layout and styling.

What is a Bootstrap-compatible WYSIWYG editor?

A Bootstrap-compatible WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor is an embeddable content editor that works seamlessly with Bootstrap’s grid system, components, and utility classes. These editors let users update text, images, media, and layout blocks inside a live Bootstrap site without breaking responsive design.

WYSIWYG vs. Code-based editors

  • WYSIWYG editors like Froala are designed for non-technical users or content editors who need to make real-time updates without writing code. They’re often integrated into CMSs, admin dashboards, and SaaS applications.
  • Code-based editors, in contrast, are used by developers to manually write and maintain HTML/CSS/JS. They’re ideal for full-code control but aren’t suitable for non-technical content editing.

Bootstrap-compatible editors to consider

Here are some WYSIWYG editors that integrate well into Bootstrap-based websites:

  • Froala – A clean, lightweight, and highly customizable WYSIWYG HTML editor. Froala is Bootstrap-aware, supports inline editing, offers a responsive UI, and can be embedded directly into any Bootstrap project. It also supports custom toolbars, image uploads, code view, and works well in modern JavaScript frameworks.
  • TinyMCE – Another popular embeddable WYSIWYG editor that can be styled to match Bootstrap. Offers plugin-based customization and responsive layouts.
  • CKEditor – A rich editor that integrates with responsive frameworks, including Bootstrap. It has collaboration features and enterprise-ready tooling.

Note: Tools like Bootstrap Studio or Pinegrow are layout builders, not embeddable editors for Bootstrap websites. They are great for prototyping, but they don’t offer live, in-browser editing like Froala does.

How to choose the right WYSIWYG editor

When picking an editor for your Bootstrap website, consider:

  • Bootstrap Compatibility – Does the editor respect your existing layout and CSS classes?
  • Ease of Integration – Can it be easily embedded with minimal setup?
  • Responsiveness – Does it adapt across devices like your Bootstrap site?
  • Customizability – Can you extend or modify its UI and features?

If you’re looking to add live, responsive content editing to your Bootstrap website, Froala offers one of the smoothest and most developer-friendly integrations available.

Preparation: setting up your project

Before we dive into building our website, we need to set up a clean development environment. In this tutorial, we’ll create a dog adoption agency website to demonstrate how you can embed a WYSIWYG editor like Froala, use Bootstrap for layout and responsiveness, and integrate Filestack for handling images.

These tools work seamlessly together:

  • Bootstrap handles layout and design.
  • Froala provides inline content editing.
  • Filestack simplifies uploading and managing media.

Choosing a bootstrap-compatible editor

For this guide, we’re using Froala Editor. It’s a lightweight, embeddable WYSIWYG editor that fits perfectly into modern responsive websites. Froala is Bootstrap-aware — it respects your layout, classes, and components — and it allows users to edit content directly inside styled elements like cards, columns, or even modals.

Creating a new project

Start by organizing your files with a simple directory structure:

/bootstrap-froala-site

  ├── index.html

  ├── /css

  │   └── style.css

  ├── /js

  │   └── script.js

  └── /assets

      └── images/

This setup makes it easier to manage your code, styles, scripts, and media as your site grows.

Overview of bootstrap file structure

When building with Bootstrap 5, the core files you’ll need are:

  • bootstrap.min.css – for responsive styling and layout utilities.
  • bootstrap.bundle.min.js – includes Bootstrap’s interactive JavaScript components (like modals and dropdowns) and dependencies like Popper.js.

In addition, we’ll include:

  • Froala CSS/JS – to enable rich-text editing.
  • Filestack SDK – to enable media upload and processing.

Importing Bootstrap, Filestack, and Froala

Below is the basic HTML skeleton you can use. Notice that we’ve included Bootstrap, Filestack, and Froala scripts. These files enable you to leverage Bootstrap for responsive layout, work with Filestack for image handling, and embed Froala for live content editing:

index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">

<head>

    <meta charset="UTF-8">

    <title>Dog Adoption Agency</title>

    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <!-- Bootstrap CSS -->

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css">

    <!-- Froala Editor CSS -->

    <link href='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css' rel='stylesheet'

        type='text/css' /> <!-- Filestack JS and CSS (Picker, Drag-and-Drop, Transforms) -->

    <script src="https://static.filestackapi.com/filestack-js/3.32.0/filestack.min.js"> </script>

    <script

        src="https://static.filestackapi.com/filestack-drag-and-drop-js/1.1.1/filestack-drag-and-drop.min.js"> </script>

    <script src="https://static.filestackapi.com/transforms-ui/2.x.x/transforms.umd.min.js"> </script>

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://static.filestackapi.com/transforms-ui/2.x.x/transforms.css" />

    <!-- Froala Editor JS -->

    <script type='text/javascript'

        src='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js'> </script>

</head>

<body> <!-- Content goes here --> <!-- Bootstrap JS -->

    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js"> </script>

</body>




</html>

With this setup, you’re ready to start building your dog adoption agency website with embedded editing, responsive layout, and modern media capabilities.

Step-by-step: Building your responsive website

With our project environment set up and Bootstrap, Froala, and Filestack integrated, let’s start building the dog adoption agency website section by section. We’ll walk through how to structure the layout, embed interactive components, and bring the site to life using Bootstrap’s utility classes and JavaScript components — all while enabling rich content editing and image uploads.

Step 1: Build a sticky navbar

Start with a Bootstrap sticky navbar that stays fixed to the top as users scroll. It contains anchor links that smoothly guide users to each section of the page.

index.html – inside the <body> tag

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-dark bg-dark sticky-top">

  <div class="container-fluid">

    <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">DogAdopt</a>

    <button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target="#navbarNav">

      <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>

    </button>

    <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarNav">

      <ul class="navbar-nav ms-auto">

        <li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link active" href="#">Home</a></li>

        <li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#adopt">Adoptable Dogs</a></li>

        <li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#pricing">Pricing</a></li>

        <li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="#comment">Comment</a></li>

      </ul>

    </div>

  </div>

</nav>

Step 2: Create a hero section

Use a simple Bootstrap hero layout to grab attention with a clear message and call to action.

index.html – inside the <body> tag

<section class="bg-light text-dark py-5 text-center">

  <div class="container">

    <h1 class="display-4">Save a Life, Adopt a Dog</h1>

    <p class="lead">Join our community and give a loving home to these adorable companions.</p>

    <a href="#adopt" class="btn btn-primary btn-lg">Find Your Companion</a>

  </div>

</section>

So far, your page should look something like this:

Froala Bootstrap website - after adding hero section

Step 3: Add an image carousel

Bootstrap’s carousel component highlights adoptable dogs using high-quality Filestack-transformed images.

index.html – inside the <body> tag

<!-- Add an image carousel -->
    <div id="dogCarousel" class="carousel carousel-dark slide" data-bs-ride="carousel">
        <div class="carousel-indicators"> <button type="button" data-bs-target="#dogCarousel" data-bs-slide-to="0"
                class="active" aria-current="true"></button> <button type="button" data-bs-target="#dogCarousel"
                data-bs-slide-to="1"></button> <button type="button" data-bs-target="#dogCarousel"
                data-bs-slide-to="2"></button> </div>
        <div class="carousel-inner">
            <div class="carousel-item active"> <img
                    src="https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/resize=width:1200,height:500/hmzhYgUSZiIA0Ju2ocMo"
                    class="d-block w-20" alt="Friendly Dog 1"> </div>
            <div class="carousel-item"> <img
                    src="https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/resize=width:1200,height:500/xsFLOcdRYKQOz4oQpmgg"
                    class="d-block w-20" alt="Friendly Dog 2"> </div>
            <div class="carousel-item"> <img
                    src="https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/resize=width:1200,height:500/e0DUJOjTjWmUQm0FxL7e"
                    class="d-block w-20" alt="Friendly Dog 3"> </div>
        </div> <button class="carousel-control-prev" type="button" data-bs-target="#dogCarousel" data-bs-slide="prev">
            <span class="carousel-control-prev-icon" aria-hidden="true"></span> <span
                class="visually-hidden">Previous</span> </button> <button class="carousel-control-next" type="button"
            data-bs-target="#dogCarousel" data-bs-slide="next"> <span class="carousel-control-next-icon"
                aria-hidden="true"></span> <span class="visually-hidden">Next</span> </button>
    </div>

Update the image URLs with your Filestack handles or transformed links.

To center the images within the carousel, add the following CSS. You can place it in your style.css file (if you’re using a separate stylesheet) or directly in your index.html file, just inside the <style> tag and placed within the <head> section.

Style.css

 

<style>

    .carousel-inner img {

        margin: auto;

    }

</style>

Here’s how your page should be shaping up so far:

Froala Bootstrap page after adding carousel

Step 4: Enable image upload with Filestack

Embed a Filestack picker to let users upload new dog images:

index.html – inside the <body> tag

<!-- Filestack Mini-Section -->

    <section class="py-4 text-center">

        <div class="container">

            <h3>Upload a picture of your own dog</h3>

            <p>Upload and transform images directly, then embed them on your site.</p>

            <button class="btn btn-secondary" onclick="openFilestackPicker()">Upload a New Dog Image</button>

        </div>

    </section>

<script>

    const client = filestack.init('YOUR_API_KEY'); // Replace 'YOUR_API_KEY' with your actual Filestack API key. 

    function openFilestackPicker() {

        client.picker({

        onUploadDone: (res) => {

            console.log('Uploaded file handle:', res.filesUploaded[0].handle);

        }

        }).open();

    }

 </script>

Replace ‘YOUR_API_KEY’ with your actual Filestack API key.

Sign up for free today to get your Filestack API key.

You can also place the script in a separate script.js file and reference it in the <body> section of your index.html file like this:

<script src="js/script.js"></script>

Make sure the path matches your folder structure (e.g., js/ in this case).

Froala Bootstrap webpage after adding Filestack file uploader

Step 5: Display adoptable dogs with cards

Showcase adoptable dogs using Bootstrap cards:

index.html – inside the <body> tag

<!--Display adoptable dogs with cards-->    

<section id="adopt" class="py-5">

        <div class="container">

            <h2 class="mb-4 text-center">Meet Our Adorable Dogs</h2>

            <div class="row">

                <div class="col-md-6 col-lg-4 mb-4">

                    <div class="card"> <img

                            src="https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/resize=width:1200,height:500/hmzhYgUSZiIA0Ju2ocMo"

                            class="card-img-top" alt="Buddy">

                        <div class="card-body">

                            <h5 class="card-title">Buddy</h5>

                            <p class="card-text">A playful pup who loves belly rubs and afternoon walks.</p> <a href="#"

                                class="btn btn-primary">Adopt Buddy</a>

                        </div>

                    </div>

                </div>

                <div class="col-md-6 col-lg-4 mb-4">

                    <div class="card"> <img

                            src="https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/resize=width:1200,height:500/xsFLOcdRYKQOz4oQpmgg"

                            class="card-img-top" alt="Lucy">

                        <div class="card-body">

                            <h5 class="card-title">Lucy</h5>

                            <p class="card-text">A gentle soul who gets along with children and other pets.</p> <a href="#"

                                class="btn btn-primary">Adopt Lucy</a>

                        </div>

                    </div>

                </div>

                <div class="col-md-6 col-lg-4 mb-4">

                    <div class="card"> <img

                            src="https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/resize=width:1200,height:500/e0DUJOjTjWmUQm0FxL7e"

                            class="card-img-top" alt="Max">

                        <div class="card-body">

                            <h5 class="card-title">Max</h5>

                            <p class="card-text">A loyal companion who enjoys fetch and lazy afternoons.</p> <a href="#"

                                class="btn btn-primary">Adopt Max</a>

                        </div>

                    </div>

                </div>

            </div>

        </div>

    </section>

Froala Bootstrap webpage displaying adoptable dogs with cards

Step 6: Add a pricing section with cards

Showcase your adoption packages using Bootstrap cards combined with utility classes for spacing and layout.

index.html – inside the <body> tag

<!--Add Pricing section-->

    <section id="pricing" class="bg-light py-5">

        <div class="container text-center">

            <h2 class="mb-4">Adoption Packages</h2>

            <div class="row">

                <div class="col-md-4 mb-4">

                    <div class="card h-100">

                        <div class="card-body">

                            <h5 class="card-title">Basic</h5>

                            <p class="card-text">$50 Donation</p>

                            <ul class="list-unstyled">

                                <li>Initial Checkup</li>

                                <li>Vaccinations</li>

                            </ul> <a href="#" class="btn btn-primary">Adopt Now</a>

                        </div>

                    </div>

                </div>

                <div class="col-md-4 mb-4">

                    <div class="card h-100">

                        <div class="card-body">

                            <h5 class="card-title">Standard</h5>

                            <p class="card-text">$100 Donation</p>

                            <ul class="list-unstyled">

                                <li>All Basic Perks</li>

                                <li>Pet Insurance (6 months)</li>

                            </ul> <a href="#" class="btn btn-success">Adopt Now</a>

                        </div>

                    </div>

                </div>

                <div class="col-md-4 mb-4">

                    <div class="card h-100">

                        <div class="card-body">

                            <h5 class="card-title">Premium</h5>

                            <p class="card-text">$150 Donation</p>

                            <ul class="list-unstyled">

                                <li>All Standard Perks</li>

                                <li>Lifetime Vet Support</li>

                            </ul> <a href="#" class="btn btn-warning">Adopt Now</a>

                        </div>

                    </div>

                </div>

            </div>

        </div>

    </section>

Froala Bootstrap webpage after adding Pricing

Step 7: Add a comment section with Froala

Enable live WYSIWYG editing using Froala Editor for user comments.

<!--Adding a Bootstrap Editor WYSIWYG Froala-->
    <section id="comment" class="py-5">
        <div class="container">
            <h2 class="mb-4 text-center">Leave a Comment</h2>
            <div id="editor"></div>
        </div>
    </section>
    <script> var editor = new FroalaEditor('#editor', {
        imageEditButtons: ['imageReplace', 'imageAlign', 'imageCaption', 'filestackIcon', 'imageTUI'], filestackOptions: {
            uploadToFilestackOnly: false, filestackAPI: '***', // Replace with your Filestack API key 

            pickerOptions: { fromSources: ['local_file_system', 'imagesearch', 'url', 'googledrive', 'facebook'], accept: [".pdf", "image/jpeg", "image/png", "image/webp", "video/*", "audio/*"], transformations: { crop: true, rotate: true } }
        },
    }); 
    </script>

Add a comment section with Froala

With these steps, your responsive website now includes:

  • A mobile-friendly layout with Bootstrap
  • Live content editing powered by Froala
  • Image uploads and transformations via Filestack

Check out the full example on our GitHub repo!

Next, we’ll look at testing, optimization, and going live.

Testing and optimization

Before going live, ensure your site looks great and performs well across all devices.

Preview and test

  • Use Chrome DevTools or built-in browser tools to preview different screen sizes.
  • Test on major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
  • View your site on real phones or tablets when possible.
Responsive preview of the dog adoption website built with Bootstrap, Froala and Filestack (iPad view)
Responsive preview of the dog adoption website built with Bootstrap, Froala and Filestack (iPad view)

Optimize performance

  • Minify your HTML, CSS, and JS files to reduce load time.
  • Compress and resize images using Filestack or similar tools.
  • Use lazy loading for images and videos to boost speed, especially on mobile.

Exporting and going live

Once your dog adoption website is complete, it’s time to bring it online. This final step outlines how to export your project, host it, and make it accessible to users worldwide.

Exporting your project

If you’ve been working in an online editor, download your full project as a .zip file or copy the HTML, CSS, and JS files manually. If you’re developing locally, your index.html, css/, and js/ folders are already ready to deploy.

Hosting options

You can host your site for free using services like:

  • GitHub Pages – Ideal for static HTML/CSS projects and version control.
  • Netlify – Offers drag-and-drop deployment, custom domains, and CI/CD support.
  • Vercel – Great for frontend developers; supports instant previews and easy deployment.

Connecting a domain

After hosting your site, you can connect a custom domain:

  • Purchase a domain from registrars like Namecheap or GoDaddy.
  • Point the domain’s DNS to your hosting provider (e.g., add A records for Netlify or GitHub).
  • Most platforms provide step-by-step domain setup guides.

This example guide is provided by Namecheap.

Basic SEO and meta tags

To improve visibility and search performance:

  • Add a <title> tag and a descriptive <meta name=”description”> to your HTML <head>.
  • Use semantic HTML (e.g., <header>, <main>, <section>).
  • Include alt text for images and ensure the site is mobile-friendly.

Example:

 

<!-- Example meta tags -->

<title>DogAdopt – Adopt a Dog Today</title>

<meta name="description" content="Find and adopt your perfect dog companion. Browse dogs, learn about adoption, and support a great cause.">

With these steps, your Bootstrap + Froala-powered website is live and ready to help dogs find their forever homes.

Advanced tips and next steps

Once your Bootstrap website with Froala and Filestack is up and running, you may want to take it a step further. Here are a few ways to level up your skills and make your site even more powerful, customized, and accessible.

Integrate with modern frameworks

If you’re building a more dynamic or scalable project, consider integrating Bootstrap with popular JavaScript frameworks like:

  • React (with react-bootstrap or reactstrap)
  • Angular (using ng-bootstrap)
  • Vue (with bootstrap-vue)

These integrations allow you to combine Bootstrap’s styling with framework-specific component logic and interactivity.

Use Bootstrap themes and templates

Speed up design by using pre-built Bootstrap themes or UI kits. You can:

Learn SCSS for deeper customization

Bootstrap is built with Sass, and learning it unlocks powerful features:

  • Change default colors, spacing, and breakpoints.
  • Import only the components you need to reduce file size.
  • Build fully custom design systems on top of Bootstrap.

Prioritize accessibility

Make your site usable for everyone by applying accessibility best practices:

  • Use semantic HTML and ARIA roles.
  • Maintain color contrast for readability.
  • Ensure full keyboard navigation for all interactive elements.

You can test accessibility with tools like Lighthouse, Axe DevTools, or WAVE.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we walked through how to build a fully responsive dog adoption website using Bootstrap, Froala, and Filestack. You learned how to:

  • Set up your project structure and import essential tools
  • Create a clean, mobile-friendly layout with Bootstrap
  • Enable inline content editing with Froala
  • Upload and manage media using Filestack
  • Test, optimize, and publish your site with ease

This guide highlights the power and efficiency of modern web development when combining Bootstrap with embeddable editors like Froala and tools like Filestack.

Now it’s your turn to experiment! Try adding new sections, customizing styles, or integrating this layout into a CMS or app. The best way to learn is by building, breaking, and rebuilding.

If you have questions, want to share your own version, or need help with the next step—feel free to drop a comment or open an issue in the GitHub repo.

Happy coding, and happy adopting!

Effortless Control Over Multiple Editors with Shared Toolbar

Are you tired of juggling multiple toolbars and switching between different editing interfaces just to manage your content? The solution may lie in the power of a shared toolbar – a centralized control hub that allows you to seamlessly manage content across multiple rich text editors on a single page.

In this article, we’ll explore the benefits of managing multiple editors with shared toolbar, demonstrate how to implement this feature, and uncover use cases that showcase its versatility in modern content management systems.

The Power of a Shared Toolbar Controlling Multiple Editor Instances

Traditionally, when working with multiple editable areas on a webpage, each editor would have its own dedicated toolbar, leading to a cluttered and disjointed user experience. However, the ability to leverage a single, shared toolbar across multiple editors can offer a range of benefits that optimize the content creation and management workflow.

Consistency and Predictability

By managing multiple editor instances with a shared toolbar, you can ensure a uniform editing experience across all content sections on a page. All editors will share the same toolbar configuration, making the interface predictable and intuitive for users. This consistency helps reduce cognitive load and enables seamless transitions between different editing areas.

Resource Efficiency

Only one instance of the toolbar is created and reused for multiple editor instances. This reduces the overall DOM complexity of the page.

Only one instance of the toolbar is created and reused for multiple editor instances. This reduces the overall DOM complexity of the page, potentially improving performance and reducing resource consumption.

By minimizing the duplication of toolbar elements, you can streamline the codebase and optimize the user experience.

For more on DOM optimization, see MDN’s guide on performance best practices

Simplified Maintenance

When you need to update the toolbar layout or the available buttons, making changes in one place automatically updates all editors sharing that toolbar. This centralized control simplifies the maintenance and evolution of the content management system, as any enhancements or modifications to the toolbar are instantly reflected across all associated editors.

Improved User Experience

A shared toolbar provides a cohesive and seamless editing environment, making it easier for users to switch between different content sections without disrupting their workflow. This level of integration and consistency can lead to increased user satisfaction and productivity, as they don’t have to reorient themselves with a new toolbar every time they shift their focus.

Implementing a Shared Toolbar

Implementing a shared toolbar for multiple editors is a straightforward process; the Froala WYSIWYG Editor provides built-in support for this functionality. Let’s walk through an example of how to set up a shared toolbar using the Froala Editor:

<!-- HTML -->
<div id="toolbar-container"></div>
<div id="editor1" class="froala-editor"></div>
<div id="editor2" class="froala-editor"></div>
// JavaScript
new FroalaEditor('.froala-editor', {
  toolbarContainer: '#toolbar-container',
  toolbarButtons: [
    'fullscreen', 'bold', 'italic', 'underline', 'strikeThrough',
    'subscript', 'superscript', '|', 'fontFamily', 'fontSize', 'color',
    'inlineStyle', 'paragraphStyle', '|', 'paragraphFormat', 'align',
    'formatOL', 'formatUL', 'outdent', 'indent', 'quote', '-',
    'insertLink', 'insertImage', 'insertVideo', 'insertFile',
    'insertTable', '|', 'emoticons', 'specialCharacters', 'insertHR',
    'selectAll', 'clearFormatting', '|', 'print', 'help', 'html', '|',
    'undo', 'redo', 'trackChanges', 'markdown'
  ]
});

In this example, we have two editor instances on the page, #editor1 and #editor2, both of which are initialized with the Froala Editor. The key configuration is the toolbarContainer option, which is set to the CSS selector #toolbar-container. This tells the Froala Editor to use the #toolbar-container element as the shared toolbar for both editor instances.

By leveraging this shared toolbar approach, any actions performed on the toolbar will be reflected in the active editor, ensuring a seamless and consistent editing experience for the user.

Use Cases for Shared Toolbars

The ability to control multiple editors with a single shared toolbar can be particularly beneficial in a variety of scenarios:

Multi-section Editing Pages

Websites or web applications that have multiple editable content sections, such as an article body, sidebar notes, or call-to-action areas, can benefit from a shared toolbar. This ensures a uniform editing experience across the entire page, making it easier for users to navigate and format content consistently.

Content Management Systems (CMS)

In content management systems, editors often need to switch between different areas of content, such as the main article body, metadata, or related resources. A shared toolbar can provide a centralized and efficient way to manage the formatting and styling of these various content sections, streamlining the editing workflow.

Collaborative Editing Platforms

In collaborative editing environments, where multiple users may be working on different parts of a document simultaneously, a shared toolbar can help maintain a consistent formatting and styling experience. This can be particularly useful in scenarios like online document collaboration, project management tools, or online whiteboards.

Dynamic Forms

Websites or web applications that incorporate rich text fields within forms can benefit from a shared toolbar approach. By using a single toolbar to control the formatting options across multiple form fields, you can avoid cluttering the interface and provide a more organized and intuitive editing experience for users.

Example: Create fully-templated documents with shared toolbar

Building on the concept of a shared toolbar, you can also leverage the ability to designate certain content sections as “locked” or “editable.” This gives you the power to control which parts of the document users can modify, ensuring the overall structure and branding remain consistent, while still allowing for targeted editing where needed.

Let’s say you’re building a company brochure template that has both static, branded content and dynamic, editable areas. Using the Froala Editor, you can create a template that has the following structure:

<div class="template-container">
  <dev id="toolbar-container"></dev>
  <br />
  <div class="header"></div>
  <dev id="editor1" class="editable-section">
    <h1>Zymexi Corp</h1>
  </dev>
  <div class="non-editable separator"></div>
  <div class="non-editable">
    <h2>About the Company</h2>
  </div>
  <!-- Editable main content section -->
  <div class="editable-section" id="main-content">
    <p>We are a leading provider of high-quality products and services.</p>
  </div>
  
    <div class="non-editable">
    <h2>Our Products</h2>
  </div>
  <!-- Editable main content section -->
  <div class="editable-section" id="products">
<ul>
	<li>First Product: product summary</li>
	<li>Second Product: product summary</li>
	<li>Third Product: product summary</li>
</ul>
  </div>
  
    <div class="non-editable separator"></div>

  <!-- Non-editable footer section -->
  <footer class="non-editable">
    <p>&copy; 2025 Acme Corp. All rights reserved.</p>
  </footer>
</div>

In this example, some sections are marked as “non-editable” using the non-editable class, while other sections are designated as “editable” with the editable-section class and a unique ID.

We can now initialize Froala on the editable section and control them with one toolbar:

let editor = new FroalaEditor(".editable-section", {
  toolbarContainer: "#toolbar-container",
  toolbarInline: true,
  charCounterCount: false,
  wordCounterCount: false,

  toolbarVisibleWithoutSelection: true,
  toolbarButtons: [
    "bold",
    "italic",
    "underline",
    "strikeThrough",
    "|",
    "fontFamily",
    "fontSize",
    "color",
    "|",
    "paragraphFormat",
    "align",
    "formatOL",
    "formatUL",
    "outdent",
    "indent",
    "quote",
    "-",
    "insertLink",
    "insertImage",
    "insertVideo",
    "insertFile",
    "insertTable",
    "|",
    "clearFormatting",
    "html",
    "|",
    "undo",
    "redo",
  ],

})
 Adding some CSS code to style the template and make the toolbar visible all the time
.fr-toolbar{
  display: block !important;
  background:#eee
}

.header{
  width:100%;
  height: 100px;
  background-color: greenyellow
}

.separator{
  background-color: greenyellow;
  width: 60px;
  height: 7px;
  
}
.editable-section{
  border: 2px solid transparent;
}
.editable-section:hover{
  border: 2px solid #eee;
}

By using the shared toolbar and locking down specific sections, your users will have a seamless editing experience where they can focus on the content that requires updates, without accidentally modifying the static, branded elements. This ensures that the overall structure, branding, and layout of the document remain consistent, while still allowing for targeted editing where needed.

With this approach, you eliminate the need for your users to constantly preview their changes, as they’ll see the exact 1:1 representation of the final output, streamlining the content creation and management workflow.

Optimizing the Shared Toolbar Experience

While the concept of a shared toolbar is relatively straightforward, there are a few additional considerations and best practices to keep in mind when implementing this feature:

Lazy Loading Editors

When using multiple instances of the Froala Editor on the same page, it’s recommended to set the initOnClick option to true.

As we discussed in Froala tips and tricks article, this lazy-loads the editors, improving the initial page load performance and reducing the overall resource footprint.

Customizing the Toolbar

The Froala Editor allows for extensive customization of the toolbar, enabling you to fine-tune the available buttons and their arrangement to suit the specific needs of your application or user base. This level of control allows you to create a tailored editing experience that aligns with your content management requirements.

Seamless Editing Experience

By combining the shared toolbar with the Froala Editor’s inline editing capabilities, you can create a truly seamless editing experience. Users can click directly on the content they want to edit, without the need to navigate to a separate editing window or preview mode. This “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” (WYSIWYG) approach can significantly enhance the user’s productivity and content management workflow.

Conclusion

Mastering the use of a shared toolbar to control multiple rich text editors on a single page can be a powerful tool in your content management arsenal. By leveraging this feature, you can streamline the editing experience, improve resource efficiency, and maintain consistency across your digital content.

Whether you’re working on a multi-section website, a complex content management system, or a dynamic form-based application, the shared toolbar approach can help you create a more intuitive, efficient, and user-friendly editing environment.

As you continue to refine and optimize your content management strategies, exploring the capabilities of shared toolbars and integrated editing experiences can be a game-changer in delivering a superior content creation and collaboration experience for your users.

How to Switch up Grids by Making 5-Column Bootstrap Layouts

When building responsive websites and web apps with Bootstrap, most developers default to variants of the standard 12-column grid. But what if your design calls for something more unconventional, like a 5-column Bootstrap layout?

Whether you’re building a product showcase, dashboard, or content-heavy interface, you can use a 5-column layout as a unique and equally aesthetic alternative. In this guide, you’ll learn how to build a custom 5-column layout. Additionally, you’ll gain insights about responsiveness tips, advanced Bootstrap techniques, and whether to use Bootstrap or CSS Grid.

By the end, you’ll have the tools and understanding needed to go beyond default layouts and create something functional and unique, like this Bootstrap editor built with Froala. Let’s get started!

Why Should You Choose a 5-Column Bootstrap Layout?

Bootstrap’s 12-column grid system is versatile, but opting for a 5-column layout gives you a unique way to structure content. It breaks away from the usual 2-, 3-, or 4-column setups, giving you new ways to play with multi-column layouts in Bootstrap.

A visual representation of grid lines

For instance, 5-column Bootstrap layouts are significantly helpful when designing image galleries, complex data dashboards, or even social media content. Such a layout allows either equal or variable width distributions while retaining the core responsiveness of the Bootstrap framework. Additionally, you won’t be constrained by the “factors of 12” limitation of the default grid system.

Now, before you dive deep into creating a custom Bootstrap layout with 5 columns, let’s first explore Bootstrap’s grid system.

Understanding the Grid System

Modern websites rely heavily on responsiveness and compatibility. For instance, developers need to ensure that the user interface and experience will remain consistent no matter the platform or screen size.

Normally, this involves some CSS, which has honestly gotten easier with the introduction of CSS Grid. But with Bootstrap, implementing a grid layout is more straightforward, letting developers build the UI faster.

Bootstrap’s grid system helps developers and designers create responsive, mobile-first designs easily and rapidly. In this section, you’ll have a refresher on how it works and how you can use the 5-column layout as an alternative.

How Does Bootstrap’s Default Grid System Work?

Bootstrap’s grid system uses flexbox to emulate aligning and organizing content into containers, rows, and columns. By default, it uses 12 columns of equal widths for a full-width row. This allows you to combine columns in different ways as long as the combinations are factors of 12.

For example, you can “slice” up a 12-column row into four .col-3, three .col-4, two .col-6, and more columns. You can even set up variable-width columns (e.g., two .col-5 plus one .col-2) for versatility. Additionally, you can nest these columns and rows or alter their behavior depending on the screen size breakpoint.

Here are some other concepts from the Bootstrap grid documentation:

  • As of Bootstrap 5, there are six default grid breakpoints, starting from extra small (xs) to extra extra large (xxl).
  • Grid breakpoints include the specific media query breakpoint and all breakpoints larger than it. For example, a .col-md-4 column affects the breakpoints md, lg, xl, and xxl.
  • You can customize gutters to change the spaces between each column.
  • You can set columns to have equal or variable widths. Moreover, you can set only one column width and have the other columns automatically resize around it.
  • It’s possible to customize grid layouts using Sass.

The 5-Column Bootstrap Layout: A Novel Alternative

The 5-column layout deviates slightly from the standard one and is useful for different scenarios. But what is it, really? Well, it refers to having 5 columns per row, whether visually or intrinsically.

To illustrate it better, let’s say we want to create an image repository app (i.e., a web app that displays images like Pinterest). In the app, we want to display 5 images per row, wherein 1 column contains each image.

If you use Bootstrap, you might wonder if you can divide the 12 columns equally into 5. The answer is yes, you can! Luckily, there are different ways to achieve this, which you’ll see in the next section.

Creating a 5-Column Bootstrap Layout

Bootstrap 5+ doesn’t have a .col-2.4 (as in 12 columns divided by 5) class by default. Thankfully, you can still easily implement a 5-column Bootstrap layout.

All methods shown below work well, so you’ll have to choose depending on what you need. Also, other layout methods possibly exist, but for now, you’ll learn about the most popular ones.

Method 1: Equal-Width Flex Columns

Need dynamic column sizing? This method involves specifying neither a column breakpoint nor column width. By doing so, Bootstrap will automatically assign an equal width to each column.

To do this, try copying the following lines of code:

<div class="container-fluid bg-light vh-100">
   <div class="row h-25 text-center">
       <div class="col h-100 bg-success">
           1
       </div>
       <div class="col h-100 bg-info">
           2
       </div>
       <div class="col h-100 bg-danger">
           3
       </div>
       <div class="col h-100 bg-warning">
           4
       </div>
       <div class="col h-100 bg-primary">
           5
       </div>
   </div>
</div>

The code above splits the row into 5 columns without any specific width. If you run this, you’ll see something like the following image:

A 5-column Bootstrap layout that uses equal-width columns.

This method works well when you’re displaying a fixed number of columns, like five equally spaced items in a row. However, it’s not ideal for layouts that need to support a dynamic or growing number of columns, such as a Pinterest-style grid.

If you add more than five columns, they won’t automatically wrap to the next line. Instead, all the columns stay in a single row, stretching beyond the container and breaking the layout, as shown in the image below.

This image shows 8 columns side by side. In most cases for our scenario, you'll want just 5 columns per row, with the additional columns being wrapped below the first 5. In this case, all 8 columns reside on the first row, which is not that flexible compared to the next methods.

In the second image, you can see that all 8 columns are placed side by side in one row instead of wrapping to form a second line. This happens because Bootstrap’s .col classes are based on a 12-column grid system. When using equal-width .col without specifying breakpoints or limits, Bootstrap doesn’t automatically wrap the columns unless their combined width exceeds 12 units.

Method 2: Custom CSS Class

Prefer using CSS with Bootstrap? The second method involves using a custom .col class within a Bootstrap row. Compared to the first, this takes care of automatically wrapping excess columns.

To get started, replace the code earlier with the following:

<div class="container-fluid bg-light vh-100">
     <div class="row h-25 text-center">
          <div class="custom-col h-100 bg-success">
               1
          </div>
          <div class="custom-col h-100 bg-info">
               2
          </div>
          <div class="custom-col h-100 bg-danger">
                3
          </div>
          <div class="custom-col h-100 bg-warning">
                4
          </div>
          <div class="custom-col h-100 bg-primary">
                5
          </div>
          <div class="custom-col h-100 bg-info">
                6
          </div>
          <div class="custom-col h-100 bg-danger">
               7
          </div>
          <div class="custom-col h-100 bg-warning">
               8
          </div>
     </div>
</div>

Additionally, you’ll need to add some custom CSS for the custom columns:

.custom-col{
    flex: 0 0 20%;
    max-width: 20%;
}

This custom CSS ensures that a column with this class takes up exactly 20% of the container’s width. The shorthand code represents “flex-grow: 0; flex-shrink: 0; flex-basis: 20%.” This means that

  • The column won’t grow to fill extra space.
  • It won’t shrink if the container is too small.
  • The initial width of the column is set to 20% of the container’s width.

In simpler terms, the first line essentially locks the column’s size at 20%. The second line, on the other hand, ensures that the column width’s limit never exceeds 20%, even if you have more available space. Now, if you run this code, you’ll see something like the following image:

The image shows 8 columns, with the first 5 on the first row and the last 3 on the second.

By creating a custom class, you’re able to control how many columns you can display per row. And this is great, especially if you want to experiment more with CSS and customization. However, there’s an even simpler way that involves Bootstrap.

Method 3: Bootstrap’s .row-cols Classes

Want an easy and pure Bootstrap solution? Bootstrap v5+ offers responsive row-cols-* classes that allow you to easily set how many columns should appear per row. When the number of columns exceeds the specified count (e.g., 5), the extra columns will wrap to the next line, starting a new row.

Insert the following code to test out the built-in class for a 5-column Bootstrap layout:

<div class="container-fluid bg-light vh-100">
     <div class="row row-cols-5 h-25 text-center">
          <div class="col h-100 bg-success">
               1
          </div>
          <div class="col h-100 bg-info">
               2
          </div>
          <div class="col h-100 bg-danger">
               3
          </div>
          <div class="col h-100 bg-warning">
               4
          </div>
          <div class="col h-100 bg-primary">
               5
          </div>
          <div class="col h-100 bg-info">
               6
          </div>
          <div class="col h-100 bg-danger">
               7
          </div>
          <div class="col h-100 bg-warning">
               8
          </div>
     </div>
</div>

If you run this, you’ll notice that you’ll get exactly the same result as method 2 without any CSS. This is ideal if you wish to make the most of Bootstrap, allowing you to create 5-column layouts with ease.

Which Method Should I Use?

The answer depends completely on your use case, but you’ll end up using method 2 or 3 in most cases. That’s because method 1 doesn’t work too well for dynamic content.

For instance, if you’re making a layout for hundreds of products, method 1 might make the width of each column too small. With methods 2 and 3, you can specify the width for each column, giving you enough space to display each product in an organized manner.

Method 2 (custom CSS) does the job usually, but if you’re using Bootstrap, you’d want to keep using Bootstrap for most things. So unless you have very specific CSS requirements that Bootstrap can’t handle, you should stick to using Method 3 (row-cols).

CSS Grid vs. Bootstrap: Which Is Better for You?

A few years ago, CSS released an official way to handle grids. Since then, developers and designers have had an easier time creating responsive layouts using only CSS. But should you use CSS grid or a framework like Bootstrap? Let’s explore both layout solutions.

CSS Grid for Precise Control

CSS Grid is ideal when you need fine-tuned control over complex, two-dimensional layouts. It lets you define both rows and columns explicitly, making it perfect for custom designs where alignment and spacing are key.

Sure, it involves more work compared to Bootstrap. But if you prefer control and customization over rapid development, CSS Grid might work better for you.

Bootstrap for Rapid Prototyping

Bootstrap shines when you need to build responsive layouts quickly and easily. Its predefined grid system and utility classes help you prototype fast without worrying about writing layout CSS from scratch.

And should you need more customization, you can easily customize Bootstrap classes as well, either with custom CSS or even Sass. So if you prioritize speed and scalability, Bootstrap might suit your needs.

Whichever you choose is up to you. You can even mix the two layout solutions if the situation calls for it. Be sure to assess your (and your clients’) needs first, and choose the one that will benefit you more.

Advanced Bootstrap Techniques

Before you start creating your own designs using Bootstrap, you might want to experiment first with a few advanced Bootstrap techniques.

Column Nesting

Bootstrap allows nesting columns within existing columns. This is useful when you want to have subsections within a single column. For example, we can replace a column from the earlier code with the following:

<div class="col h-100 bg-success">
     <div class="row h-50">
          <div class="col bg-success">
               1.1
          </div>
          <div class="col bg-light">
               1.2
          </div>
     </div>
     <div class="row h-50">
          <div class="col bg-danger">
               1.3
          </div>
          <div class="col bg-warning">
               1.4
          </div>
          <div class="col bg-primary">
               1.5
          </div>
     </div>
</div>

Afterwards, refresh the page to see the following result:

This image demonstrates nesting two rows, one with two columns and another with three columns, inside a column.

Notice how the first column from earlier is now divided into two rows, with each row having a different number of columns. This advanced technique allows you to create more complex layouts using Bootstrap.

Flexbox Utilities

Use classes like .d-flex, .justify-content-between, or .align-items-center to control layout behavior. These utilities allow you to control how both child and parent elements interact with one another.

Offsets and Hidden Classes

Create whitespace or reposition content with .offset-* classes. To show or hide columns based on screen size, use “hidden” classes such as .d-none, .d-md-block, and so on. A combination of these classes helps improve responsiveness and, in turn, the user interface and experience.

Tips for Creating Fluid Layouts

If you want pristine layouts across any screen size, you should consider these quick tips:

Use .container-fluid for Full-Width Sections

If you want your layout to span the entire screen width, wrap it in a .container-fluid div element instead of the default .container class. This creates fluid layouts in Bootstrap that feel modern and immersive (e.g., perfect for a landing page).

Improve Spacing using Utilities

Bootstrap includes dozens of utility classes (e.g., margins, paddings, etc.). Use and experiment with them for consistent spacing and cleaner code no matter the user’s device.

Ensure Cross-Browser Support

Bootstrap works on most modern browsers, but as an extra precaution, test your layout on multiple screen sizes and browsers. Responsive design is about real-world usability, so you should follow Bootstrap’s mobile-first philosophy (and continue building for larger screens) if you use it.

Conclusion

Creating a 5-column Bootstrap layout gives you creative flexibility beyond the usual grid. With the right combination of customization, responsive breakpoints, and Bootstrap’s built-in classes, you can build clean, scalable, and engaging designs.

Whether you’re developing dashboards, image galleries, or product catalogs, mastering these techniques will help you leverage Bootstrap more effectively. It might even help you stand out in a sea of templated websites. Keep experimenting, and don’t be afraid to mix in custom logic or even CSS Grid where it makes sense!

Introducing Froala 4.5.2: Now with Find & Replace, Enhanced Colors, and More

Froala 4.5.2 is now available, introducing the long-awaited Find & Replace plugin (beta), expanded alpha color support, and a series of critical usability fixes. This update enhances editing flexibility while preparing the foundation for future stable features.
Dive into what’s new, test the beta plugin, and help shape the next release by sharing your feedback.

Froala 4.5.2 release

Spotlight on the New Find and Replace Plugin

 The highlight of version 4.5.2 is the new Find and Replace plugin. Please note: This feature is currently in beta and disabled by default, giving you the opportunity to test it and provide feedback before its stable release, targeted for our next update by the end of June.

paste and replace

When enabled, this plugin introduces a range of capabilities that our users have been eagerly awaiting:

  • Search Functionality: Users can now search for specific text or words within the editor and see the total number of occurrences, even in styled text like bold or italic.
  • Replace Options: The plugin provides the ability to replace a specific occurrence or all occurrences of the searched text with new replacement text.
  • Highlighted Matches: Each instance of the searched text is highlighted, making it easy for users to identify and navigate the matches.
  • Advanced Search: Users can enable options to match case or restrict the search to whole words only.
  • Draggable Popup: The search and replace interface is presented in a fully draggable popup, allowing users to position it wherever is most convenient.
  • Keyboard Shortcuts: Opening the search popup can be performed using customizable keyboard shortcuts. Default is (CTRL + F).
  • Undo Functionality: Users can easily revert any changes made through the Find and Replace plugin by using the undo feature or the (Ctrl + Z) shortcut.
  • Intuitive Design: The plugin features an intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it accessible for both novice and advanced users.

Developers can further customize the Find and Replace behavior using its dedicated options, events, and methods.

To enable the plugin, its resource file must be loaded separately in each application where it’s needed. The method for loading it depends on the type of application you’re working with. Here are a few examples:

  1.  For Web Applications (using a <script> tag):
    <script src="froala-editor/js/plugins/find_and_replace.min.js"></script>
  2. For JavaScript Modules (using import):
    import 'froala-editor/js/plugins/find_and_replace.min.js';
  3. For Node.js/CommonJS (using require):
    require('froala-editor/js/plugins/find_and_replace.min.js');

Ensure that the plugin file is included and loaded correctly in the application’s runtime environment for the plugin functionality to be available.

Here is an example of Froala with find and replace plugin enabled

Alpha Color Support

One of the notable improvements in this Froala 4.5.2 release is the enhanced support for alpha colors (RGBA) in text coloring. This ensures that users can now properly apply transparency to the text within the editor.

For example, let’s say you want to apply a semi-transparent blue color to a section of text. Developers can now add the RGBA color value rgba(0, 0, 255, 0.5) or the Hex color value #0000ff80 to the colorsText array. This enables users to select the desired color from the text color popup in the editor. The text will then be displayed with the specified level of transparency, allowing the background to partially show through.

new FroalaEditor('div#froala-editor', {

    colorsText: [   

    'rgba(255, 220, 59, 0.7)', 'rgba(255, 220, 59, 0.5)',

    '#ffdc3bb3','#ff1e001a','#ff1e0040','#ff1e0059','#ff1e0080','#ff1e00a6',

    '#ff960026','#ff96004d','#ff960066','#ff96008c','#ff9600bf',

    '#ffdc3b26','#ffdc3b40','#ffdc3b66','#ffdc3b80','#ffdc3bb3',

    'REMOVE'

],

});

This improvement in alpha color support empowers users to create more visually striking and nuanced content within the Froala editor. Whether you’re designing eye-catching headings, highlighting important information, or creating subtle textual effects, the enhanced color capabilities give you greater creative control and flexibility.

Other Improvements and Bug Fixes

While the Find and Replace plugin is the highlight of this release, we’ve also addressed several other issues and made various improvements to the Froala editor:

  • Increase Indent button and keyboard shortcut functions Synchronization: Fixed an issue where the Increase Indent button and keyboard shortcut were not correctly synchronized, leading to inconsistent behavior.
  • Handling URLs with Hyphens: When pasting a URL that ends with a hyphen (e.g., https://example.com/-) into the Froala Editor as plain text (Ctrl + Shift + V), the editor incorrectly removed the hyphen from the hyperlink, resulting in a broken or incorrect link.
    Now, the full URL, including the trailing hyphen, is preserved when pasted as plain text.
  • Table Formatting Consistency: Addressed inconsistent behavior with selection and clear formatting for tables, ensuring a uniform experience regardless of the presence of text after the table.
  • Ordered List Button Error: Fixed an error that occurred when clicking the Ordered List button, which previously threw a “querySelectorAll is not a function” error.
  • Shadow DOM Compatibility:
    Fixed an issue where tooltips were rendering outside the Shadow DOM scope, causing styles not to apply correctly.
    Moreover, resolved an issue where inputs were not editable when working inside a shadow DOM, making the editor more versatile in various environments.
  • Fixed console errors appeared after clicking the Ordered List button while htmlUntouched is true.
  • Addressed a problem where the image resize box would expand to full width when a caption was added with htmlUntouched: true, avoiding unexpected layout shifts.

Please find the complete changelog list here.

How Can I Update?

Don’t miss out on the benefits of the latest Froala 4.5.1 release. Update today and experience the enhanced editing features and improvements.

If you are using a plain JavaScript library or other framework, check the get started page to know how to download the latest Froala Editor release and how to include it in your project based on your preferred method.

If you are using a plain JavaScript library or other framework, follow the table below to learn how to download the latest Froala Editor release and include it in your project based on your preferred method.

Method How to download Include in your project
CDN
<!-- Include Editor stylesheet-->
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

<!-- Include Editor JavaScript file-->
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>
CDN (Always the latest version)
<!-- Include Editor stylesheet-->
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

<!-- Include Editor JavaScript file-->
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>
NPM
npm install froala-editor
<!--

Replace the {download-folder-path} in the following example with the path to the folder containing the stylesheet file e.g.

../css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js

-->

<link href="{download-folder-path}/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

<!--

Replace the {download-folder-path} with the path to the folder containing the JS file e.g.

../js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js

-->

<script type="text/javascript" src="{download-folder-path}/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>
bower
bower install froala-wysiwyg-editor
NO Package Manager Download Froala WYSIWYG Editor files using the download form here.
Integrated with a Framework Select your preferred framework from 17 different popular frameworks.
Other options Check here for other options for using Froala WYSIWYG Editor in your project.

For Froala Editor Version 2 Users:

Follow this migration guide for step-by-step instructions on upgrading from version 2.

Try The Latest Froala Editor

Explore a variety of examples that demonstrate the functionality of the Froala HTML Editor.

Support and Feedback

We are dedicated to always offering the best possible experience for all our users. We believe this release, meant to enhance Typescript support, is a stepping stone towards that commitment. We encourage you to try this improved Typescript support and give us your valuable feedback. Your input is crucial for delivering continuous enhancement and meeting your evolving needs. Thank you for being a valuable part of our vibrant and growing community.
We would like to hear what you think of the latest release! Join us on our GitHub Community to chat with our product manager, developers, and other members of the Froala team.

Change Log

Get Started

  • You can download and start using Froala in less than five minutes following our get-started guide.

Technical Questions

How Froala Can Assist In Building an AI SEO Writer 

Are you interested in building AI (artificial intelligence) writing tools? These AI-powered applications have seen a surge in popularity in recent years, allowing users to generate content, optimize it for search engines, and even personalize it for specific audiences.

One example of these AI article writer tools is Arvow. In this case study, we’ll explore how Arvow’s generate SEO articles feature works and how to create a complete article using a similar application, and how Froala can enhance such AI writing assistants.

Key Takeaways

  • AI writing tools can significantly boost content creation productivity by automating the generation of first drafts.
  • Froala integrates easily with AI algorithms to enhance content generation and editing.
  • AI-generated content requires human review and editing to ensure it meets quality standards and provides value to readers, as per Google’s guidelines on AI content.
  • Froala customization options allow users to tailor the editor to their specific needs and preferences.

The Arvow AI SEO Article Generator Concept

Arvow allows users to generate SEO-optimized articles. After signing in, users can access the “Generate Articles” feature from the left-side menu. This is the feature we will explore in our article.

AI assistants generating content

Clicking on “SEO Article” opens a popup where users can enter their target keyword and article title.

SEO content generation

Once the required data is entered, the article is listed with “Generate Article”, “Edit”, and “Delete” buttons.

ai platform

Clicking the “Edit” icon allows users to modify the information before generating the article, such as adding an outline and adjusting the word count .

AI writing tool settings

Additionally, users can configure various settings, including language, target country, tone of voice, point of view, and formality.

AI SEO Writing tool configuration

Moreover, you can configure the formatting, structure, meta descriptions, internal linking, external linking, images, and videos that the AI will generate.

After finalizing the settings, users can click the “Generate Article” button. The AI then creates content optimized for search engines. However, this initial AI-generated content often requires human editing for quality assurance.

Since AI-generated text may be hard to read and require adjustments, it requires further optimization and formatting before publication. Actually, Google’s policies suggest that AI content should be reviewed by humans to avoid being flagged as spam.

To address this, Arvow provides two modes for the generated content:

Arvow Generated Article Read-only Mode

In this mode, users can review the generated content. When they select text, a toolbar appears with the following options:

  • Ask AI
  • Rewrite
    • Simplify
    • Re-write
    • Make Longer
    • Make Shorter
    • Make List
    • Make Table
  • Add Keywords
  • Add Links

AI powered content creation

Users can use the “Ask AI” and “Rewrite” options to enhance the article with the help of the AI. The AI writer is doing that by sending prompts to the AI model and displaying the responses.

This toolbar can be easily implemented using Froala. Froala can be integrated with an AI model such as ChatGPT to do these functions. Check the following guides to see how you can do that:

Arvow Edit with AI Mode

In this mode, users can edit the article content using a rich-text editor. The Arvow toolbar has the following buttons:

  • Set Heading (H2)
  • Set Heading (H3)
  • Format in Bold (B)
  • Format Italic (I)
  • Create ordered list
  • Create unordered list
  • Add link
  • Remove link
  • Insert image
  • Add quote
  • Undo
  • Redo

The toolbar is kept sticky as I scroll down the page.

AI Editor toolbar

Building this type of rich text editor from scratch can be time-consuming and expensive. Instead, you can quickly create a similar interface using Froala with just a few lines of code. You will just need to do the following steps:

  • Add Froala script and stylesheet files
  • Add a <div> HTML element with a unique ID.
  • Get the article content from your database and insert it inside the <div> element.
  • Use the <div> id to initialize the Froala editor.
  • Configure the editor to customize the toolbar.

Here is a code example:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

    <title>Froala WYSIWYG Editor</title>

    <!-- Include Froala CSS -->

    <link href="{{editor__download__folder}}/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet"

        type="text/css" />

</head>

<body>

    <!-- HTML element where the editor will be initialized -->

    <div id="editor">

      {{Article Content from the server}}

    </div>

    <!-- Add other page elements-->

    <!-- Add other page elements-->

    <!-- Include Froala Editor JS files -->

    <script type="text/javascript" src="{{editor__download__folder}}/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>

  <script>

FroalaEditor.DEFAULTS.paragraphFormat = {

      H2: 'Heading 2',

      H3: 'Heading 3',

      N: 'Normal',

    },

new FroalaEditor('div#froala-editor', {

      toolbarSticky: true,

      toolbarStickyOffset: 500,

     toolbarButtons: ["paragraphFormat","bold", "italic", "|", "formatOL", "formatUL", "|", "insertLink", "insertImage", "quote", "|", "undo", "redo"],

})

  </script>

</body>

</html>

 

The Role of Froala

As we see in our case study, Froala can play a crucial role in AI writing tools. As a rich text editor with advanced features like image editing and table creation, Froala enables users to create and edit content seamlessly within the AI writer tool.

Furthermore, Froala’s API integration capabilities allow developers to add custom toolbar buttons. These buttons can execute specific prompts powered by AI models. By incorporating Froala’s rich text editing capabilities and custom AI prompts, users would be able to seamlessly optimize and personalize the content generated by the AI writers.

This integration would allow users to:

  • Format the content with headings, images, and tables
  • Refine the writing through AI-powered rewriting, expansion, and summarization.
  • Ensure the final article is visually appealing and engaging for readers.
  • Maintain control over the content optimization process.

Benefits of Using Froala With AI Writing Tools

The ability to easily edit and refine the AI generated articles is a key benefit of Froala’s integration. Users can make customizations, optimize blog post content, and ensure a polished final product before publishing. Here are a few other benefits:

Boosting Productivity

Froala integrates with many other AI tools. By focusing on innovative solutions to simplify content editing, you could discover winning million-dollar business ideas. The idea of using an AI assistant to streamline tasks and increase overall productivity is appealing to people. Different subscription plans can be generated, based on the number of generated suggestions.

Streamlining Workflow

Integrating AI algorithms into Froala can really simplify content editing. It’s not just about adding cool features; it’s about making the whole process smoother. Think about automatically generating captions for images using AI. This saves time and effort, letting content creators focus on the bigger picture. It’s about making the workflow as efficient as possible.

Tailoring Features To Fit Needs

The beauty of Froala lies in its customizability. You aren’t stuck with a one-size-fits-all solution. Need specific buttons for AI content analysis? Want to streamline the interface for quick content generation? Froala lets you do it. Think of it as building your own cockpit, with every control exactly where you need it.

Utilizing Plugins For Enhanced Functionality

Plugins are where Froala really shines. Want to integrate a grammar checker powered by AI? There’s probably a plugin for that. Need a tool that suggests keywords based on real-time search data? Again, plugins are your friend. It’s like having an app store specifically for your text editor, allowing you to add features as needed.

Here’s a quick look at some plugin possibilities:

  • AI-powered grammar and spell check
  • SEO keyword suggestion tools
  • Readability score analysis
  • Content spinning and paraphrasing
  • Plagiarism detection

Benefits of the AI SEO Writer

It’s worth noting that AI SEO tools have become routine in the SEO industry, as content creators look to streamline their workflow and optimize their output for search engines. The AI SEO Writing tools offers several key benefits for content creators:

Time Savings

By automating the content generation process, the AI writers can significantly reduce the time and effort required to produce new articles. This allows writers to be more productive and focus on higher-level tasks.

SEO Research

One key advantage of the AI SEO Writer is its ability to leverage advanced SEO research capabilities to optimize the generated content. This includes:

Competitor Keyword Analysis

The AI can analyze the keywords and content strategies of top-ranking competitors, allowing it to identify content gaps and opportunities to outrank them in search.

Search Trend Monitoring

By monitoring real-time search trends and user queries, the AI can ensure the content is aligned with what users are actively searching for.Moreover, AI-powered tools offer insights on content length optimization compared to top-ranking pages.

These SEO research-driven features work seamlessly with Froala’s editing capabilities, giving content creators a powerful end-to-end solution for developing high-performing, search-optimized articles.

Optimize Content for Search Engines to Reach High SEO Score

The AI’s ability to incorporate target keywords, meta tags, and other SEO best practices ensures the generated content is optimized for search engines. This helps improve the article’s chances of ranking highly in relevant search results.

Additionally, the AI can help identify content gaps by analyzing competitor keywords and benchmarking your content against top ranking pages. This allows the AI SEO Writer to enhance the SEO effectiveness of the generated content.

By creating this SEO-rich content, the AI SEO Writer empowers users to publish articles that are primed for strong performance in search engine results pages.

Personalization

Advanced AI models can tailor the content to specific user preferences, such as tone, writing style, and target audience. This helps ensure the content resonates with the intended readers.

Outline Generation

AI tools can generate outlines for blog posts and articles, providing a helpful structure for the content and saving writers time on the ideation process.

High-Quality Content

The AI writer can produce well-structured, grammatically correct, and engaging content that meets high quality standards. This can help content creators save time on editing and revisions, while ensuring a polished final product.

Wrapping It Up

As AI writing assistants continue to evolve, tools like Froala will play an increasingly important role in the content creation and optimization workflow. By integrating Froala’s advanced editing features and customizable AI prompts, developers can create AI SEO writer applications that provide users with a comprehensive and user-friendly content optimization experience.

Whether you’re a small business or a big player, Froala gives you the tools to create high-quality content without the hassle. So, if you’re thinking about diving into the world of AI-driven writing, Froala is definitely worth checking out.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Froala and how does it work?

Froala is a web-based editor that helps users create and edit content easily. It has many features that allow you to format text, add images, and more, all without needing to know how to code.

How can I use AI with Froala?

You can connect Froala with AI tools like ChatGPT to enhance your content creation. This can help with things like suggesting text or analyzing your writing.

Is Froala easy to customize?

Yes! Froala is designed to be user-friendly. You can change its settings and features to match what you need, making it suitable for different projects.

Can multiple people work on a document at the same time with Froala?

Absolutely! Froala supports real-time collaboration when integrated with Codox, which means that several users can edit the same document simultaneously.

What types of content can I create with Froala?

Froala allows you to create various types of content, from blog posts and articles to newsletters and marketing materials, making it very versatile based on your requirements.

What is SEO-Rich Content?

SEO-rich content refers to articles, blog posts, and other web content that is optimized for search engines. This includes features such as:

  • Strategically placed target keywords
  • Structured data markup (headings, subheadings, etc.)
  • Optimized media elements (images, videos)
  • Thoughtful internal and external linking

The goal of SEO-rich content is to make the information as accessible and valuable as possible for both human readers and search engine crawlers. By following the best SEO optimization techniques, AI writer helps improve the content’s visibility in search results and in the search console.

What AI model(s) are used by the AI SEO Writer?

The AI Writing tools leverages advanced language models developed by leading AI research organizations like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. These include models like:

  • ChatGPT (OpenAI)
  • Bard (Google)
  • Claude (Anthropic)

By integrating these powerful AI models, the AI Writer can generate high-quality, SEO-optimized content with features like:

  • Contextual understanding of topics and keywords
  • Generation of coherent, grammatically correct text
  • Optimization for search engine ranking factors

The specific AI models used may vary depending on the implementation, but the goal is always to provide users with the most advanced, capable AI writing assistant possible.

Can the AI-generated content be used in a WordPress website?

Yes, the content generated by the AI SEO Writer can be easily integrated into a WordPress website. The HTML output from the AI writer can be directly copied and pasted into WordPress posts or pages.

The key benefit of using the AI-generated content in WordPress is that it is already optimized for search engines. This means the articles will be primed to perform well in search results once published on your WordPress site.

What is Google’s stance on AI-generated content?

The SEO community is trying to figure out how Google treats AI content. Google has stated that they do not mind AI-generated content, as long as it provides value and a good user experience for people searching the web. The search engine giant has embraced AI-powered content creation, as long as the resulting articles and pages are high-quality and relevant to user queries.

The key is ensuring the AI-generated content brings genuine value, rather than being created solely for search engine optimization purposes. As long as the AI Writing tool produces informative, engaging content that meets user needs, Google is open to including it in search results. This means, leveraging AI can improve organic traffic significantly over time.

Boost, Automate, and Scale: How to Build Websites with APIs Such as DeepSeek

Building scalable websites with APIs (application programming interfaces) has become a necessity for modern businesses and developers. Through APIs, you can connect seamlessly with external or separate services, enable richer functionalities, and automate tasks behind the scenes.

Furthermore, you don’t always need to fully understand the inner workings of an API, especially external ones. Instead, you only have to determine the data that it needs, the functions that you’ll use, and how you will handle the result. Because of this, most, if not all, developers use some type of API in their workflow.

A visual representation of DeepSeek that shows a 3D whale and several data and dashboard elements, representing how DeepSeek helps developers build modern and scalable websites with APIs

DeepSeek API integration is one of the most popular topics recently, mostly because of the results of its commendable benchmarks and cheaper costs. So, there’s a lot to gain from exploring how you can integrate DeepSeek APIs into your websites. Read on below to get started!

Why APIs Matter

Without APIs, modern platforms like e-commerce stores, social media sites, and SaaS solutions would struggle to offer dynamic and rich UX. Developers also suffer without APIs, prolonging and complicating development.

On the other hand, there are numerous benefits of API integration. These include faster feature rollouts, easier automation, and the ability to expand your website functionality without starting from scratch.

Effective API Integration Examples

To understand how APIs help developers, let’s explore some API integration examples across different industries:

Third-party services

These are usually subscription-based SaaS solutions that abstract complex functionalities into easy-to-use components and methods. For example, payment gateways like Stripe or PayPal enable developers to facilitate financial transactions without handling sensitive card data directly.

Social media logins like Google OAuth or Facebook are another example of these services. They secure and simplify user onboarding by letting users authenticate via existing (yet external) accounts.

Content aggregation

This refers to a type of API that pulls information from multiple sources (e.g., news feeds, product reviews) into a single unified view. For example, if you’re building a travel blog, you might need travel and hotel aggregation APIs from Booking.com, Skyscanner, or TripAdvisor. Plenty of content aggregation APIs exist for news, product listings, real estate, financial data (stocks), and other types of data.

By using APIs to aggregate data, you can offer fresh, up-to-date content without manual updates, driving user engagement, SEO performance, and operational efficiency.

Workflow automation

This type of API allows websites to automatically trigger actions or complete processes with minimal manual or human involvement. Zapier is one such tool, with APIs that connect over 5000+ apps (e.g., Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, Trello, etc.). For instance, it can automatically send a message to a company’s Slack marketing channel when a new lead fills in a free trial form.

Workflow automation APIs reduce manual and repetitive tasks, improve consistency and reliability, and lessen the load for developers. Understanding them is critical for automating tasks with DeepSeek API, which we’ll discuss in the following sections.

DeepSeek API Overview

DeepSeek lends its power to developers using the DeepSeek API. In this section, you’ll learn more about what it is, how it improves your workflow and website’s quality, and its core functionalities.

What is DeepSeek API?

DeepSeek’s API provides capabilities like NLP*, text generation, and data analytics. Designed to empower developers and improve the user experience, it allows you to integrate conversational AI into your web projects.

With the DeepSeek API, you can offer intelligent responses, content generation, and task automation without worrying about the technology or scalability.

*NLP (natural language processing) refers to a subset of AI which deals with allowing computers to understand, process, and construct human language using machine learning or deep learning. Speech recognition, natural language generation (e.g., chatbots), and translation are typical usages of NLP.

How DeepSeek Helps

Through DeepSeek, developers can build smarter websites and apps that communicate naturally with users. Whether it’s for answering customer inquiries, generating content, or automating workflows, its API significantly enhances functionality while saving development time.

A visual representation of how AI like DeepSeek helps developers

This way, dev teams can focus on higher-level strategy and analysis instead of repetitive operations and complex programming. On the other hand, users have an easier time using your website or application.

Core Functionalities of DeepSeek

DeepSeek provides a rich set of features:

  • Conversational AI: Allows you to build websites with chatbots, virtual assistants, and helpdesk automation.
  • Content Generation: Allows your users to create articles, social media content, product descriptions, or even mathematical solutions.
  • Dynamic Data Interaction: Helps you retrieve or manipulate structured information (e.g., from databases) based on inputs and previous interactions. This is extremely helpful for business intelligence (BI*) or dashboard technologies.

These DeepSeek API features allow businesses, independent developers, and tech enthusiasts to refine their websites with interactive and dynamic experiences. Now that you have a good idea of DeepSeek’s API, it’s time to learn how you can integrate it.

*Business intelligence can refer to a process, system, or tool that uses data collection, data analysis and interpretation, data visualization, and more to help businesses make informed decisions. For instance, an organization can use a BI tool with a dashboard and real-time statistics and analyses for their strategies and operational decisions.

Choosing between DeepSeek and OpenAI

Both APIs offer powerful NLP capabilities and have almost the same features, but they cater to slightly different needs and priorities. Here are some key points to consider when choosing between these two popular AI APIs:

  • Compared to other APIs, DeepSeek might have a lower cost and a faster response time.
  • DeepSeek was able to outperform other AI models in some mathematical, coding, and even English benchmarks.
  • Being one of the first publicly available AI APIs, OpenAI offers broader model versatility and a more mature ecosystem.
  • OpenAI might suit use cases that require high degrees of contextual understanding or advanced reasoning.

You should use whichever is best for your use case, and you should always test out all available options if you have the time. But for now, let’s use DeepSeek.

How to Integrate DeepSeek into Your Projects

Integrating DeepSeek into your website or web app is actually easier than it seems. Here’s a hands-on guide to get started immediately. For this guide, you’ll use Node.js.

1. Setup Your Environment

First, create your project folder. Afterwards, using a CLI, navigate to the newly created folder and initialize a new Node.js project with

npm init -y

This creates a “package.json” file where you can track your project dependencies. In the same folder, create a file called “app.js” using VSCode or File Explorer.

2. Obtain Your DeepSeek API Key

You’ll need a secure API key to access DeepSeek’s features. To do so, go to DeepSeek’s website and sign up. Afterwards, log in and navigate to “API Keys.” Create a new API key using the button provided, name the API key, and copy it.

A screenshot of the DeepSeek dashboard

Note that after clicking “Done,” you’ll lose the ability to view the API key again for security. So be sure to paste the API key somewhere safe (preferably an env file).

3. Install Axios (HTTP Client)

To simplify sending HTTP requests from Node.js to APIs like DeepSeek, you’ll need Axios. In your project folder, using your preferred CLI, run the following command:

npm install axios

 This allows you to import and use Axios in your project.

4. Make the API Call

In your “app.js” file, paste the following code:

const axios = require('axios');

// Load your API key
// Be sure to replace this with your actual key (preferably in a secure directory/file)
const API_KEY = 'Your_API_Key_Here';
const DEEPSEEK_URL = 'https://api.deepseek.com/v1/chat/completions'; 

// Example usage
getDeepSeekResponse('Explain the concept of limits (math) in simpler terms.');

First, enable Axios using the “require” command. Afterwards, define your DeepSeek API key and DeepSeek URL. Ensure that you’re using the correct API key, you’re securing it, and you have enough balance in your DeepSeek account.

The DeepSeek URL part refers to the endpoint that you want to use. In this case, you want the chat completion endpoint of the API.

Afterwards, create a function that takes an input and logs either the response from DeepSeek or an error. Make an API call using “axios.post” with the payload (DeepSeek URL, model, and message) and headers. After receiving a response, get the desired result from the JSON object and log it to the console.

async function getDeepSeekResponse(userInput) {
    try {
        const response = await axios.post(
            DEEPSEEK_URL,
            {
                model: 'deepseek-chat',
                messages: [
                    { role: 'user', content: userInput }
                ]
            },
            {
                headers: {
                    'Authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
                    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
                }
            }
        );

        const assistantReply = response.data.choices[0].message.content;
        console.log('Assistant says:', assistantReply);
    } catch (error) {
        console.error('Error communicating with DeepSeek API:', error.response?.data || error.message);
    }
}

To use the code, add a line like “getDeepSeekResponse(‘Your command/question here’).”

5. Run the Application

Once you’re done with the code, open your CLI and type “node app.js” to run the sample application. After some loading, you should see the result of your command or inquiry. For instance, the code above asks DeepSeek for a simple explanation of mathematical limits. The following image shows the result:

In this sample DeepSeek API integration, the AI was able to generate a relevant, accurate, and easy-to-understand response. This allows for a better user experience when making websites with APIs.

In this example, DeepSeek was able to explain the concept of limits excellently, giving two real-life examples, simple descriptions, and key concepts.

Note that DeepSeek also asked if the user wants it to clarify the concept further. To handle this, you need to learn about maintaining context using multi-turn.

First, instead of passing a separate “role” and “content,” you need to create an array of objects. For each object, you’ll have the “role” and “content” properties. You’ll have to initialize it with the first role, “user” (like you have in your current code), and content, which is the initial prompt of the user.

Afterwards, append both the role “assistant” and content (whatever DeepSeek’s answer is) to the array of objects. Print the response, send or prompt the user to generate another response, and repeat the process to create a typical AI-powered chatbot experience.

DeepSeek API Use Cases and Optimization

The DeepSeek API fits into many workflows across different industries. In fact, businesses nowadays are starting to incorporate it into their infrastructure or workflow in some way.

For instance, you can integrate it into your website to handle customer support, automating FAQ responses and answering inquiries intelligently. You can also use it to personalize shopping suggestions in e-commerce platforms based on user preferences and behavior. If you’re developing or maintaining a BI tool or dashboard, you should use it for data processing and analysis.

That said, in most cases, you shouldn’t just plug and play AI into your applications without a little optimization, assessment, or study. For instance, batch multiple requests when possible to reduce latency and API call volume. Cache common results (e.g., repetitive queries or generic summaries) to save on usage costs. And most importantly, monitor your API usage and error logs to catch issues early.

You should also consider the rate limiting and quota policies. For high-traffic apps, hitting a rate limit mid-session can hurt UX, so build fallbacks or retry strategies into your code. If you’re just starting out, you should note that DeepSeek might not suit high-volume or real-time processing needs due to quota constraints. So, assess your estimated traffic and growth plans ahead of time. That way, you can build for scalability better.

So before you start, you should explore different DeepSeek API use cases from big or rising companies. This way, you can learn about how they saved resources, optimized performance, and delighted their clients with AI. Just as importantly, you can learn about what they experienced (e.g., the good parts, the issues, and solutions) with APIs like DeepSeek’s.

Which brings us to the next section…

API Integration Best Practices

APIs are excellent tools, but most tools really shine when wielded by an expert. Here are some best practices that you can use as a guide when integrating APIs:

  • Use modular code: keep API interaction logic isolated for easier updates.
  • Keep track of your API versions: avoid breaking changes from API updates. Learn which versions work with the current environment you have, especially if you’re using multiple APIs. Find alternatives to deprecated APIs, components, or methods.
  • Cache frequent responses: improve performance and reduce API usage costs.
  • Secure your API keys: never expose keys in client-side code. In the server, use .env files to store sensitive information.
  • Monitor API limits and performance: stay within quotas to maintain consistent service quality. Scale as needed.

Additionally, always follow these security considerations for API integration:

  • Use HTTPS to encrypt data in transit.
  • Authenticate using secure headers and tokens, and expire them periodically.
  • Regularly audit permissions and access logs.

Start Building Scalable Websites with APIs

Modern user experiences start from you learning how to make websites with APIs. Now that you’re done reading, you’ve hopefully learned more about the importance and relevance of APIs as well as how to integrate DeepSeek.

Integrating APIs helps you and your users automate complex tasks, deliver meaningful content, scale functionality efficiently, and a lot more. If you’re ready to take your websites to the next level, explore different APIs, integrate what you need, or even make your own! 

10 Projects to Improve Your Bootstrap Design Skills

170 Responsive Bootstrap Design Blocks Project Has Over 13000 GitHub Stars

With new frameworks dropping left and right, web developers have a lot of catching up to do. Although dragging and dropping content onto a web template has never been easier, learning about front-end libraries like Bootstrap still takes practice. 

Because many libraries are built on separate environments, developers often aren’t sure what frameworks to use for their web assets. That is why Bootstrap was launched, and its internal tools derived from the most common designs. 

If you’re truly stuck on a tricky design, then try Froala Design Blocks as a starting point to create something more dynamic. After that, you can experiment with the free WYSIWYG editor by importing the HTML between the <section> tags into your JavaScript environment for further testing.

1. Landing Page for a Marketing Firm

A specific feature or functionality within the Froala Editor.

One of the best components to practice on is a classic landing page. A lander is the sum of its elements–namely a logo, headline, and CTA, as well as social proof to encourage click-throughs. And it’s easy to achieve with Design Blocks using the Content template, where each section can be filled in with your images and text. You will learn how Bootstrap designs contribute to business marketing methods by making a landing page. 

Content Block: 

<section class="fdb-block">

<div class="container">

<div class="row justify-content-end">

<div class="col col-sm-10 col-md-8 text-left">

<p class="lead">Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far <a href="https://www.froala.com">World of Grammar</a>.</p>

</div>

</div>

</div>

</section>

2. Featured Images for a Restaurant

A specific feature or functionality within the Froala Editor.

Restaurant websites present another opportunity to sharpen your project Bootstrap design skills. Since people enjoy dining out, restaurants want to entice their patrons with photos of organic ingredients, meal combos, or a signature dish that reflects their theme. As a developer, you might be asked to edit images, upload reviews, and create a pickup/delivery page. You can use a Features block to transform a set of still images into an animated carousel. 

Feature Block:

          <div class="col text-center">

            <h1>Froala Design Blocks</h1>

          </div>

        </div>

        <div class="row-70"></div>    

        <div class="row text-center justify-content-sm-center no-gutters">

          <div class="col-12 col-sm-10 col-md-8 col-lg-7 col-xl-3 m-auto">

            <div class="fdb-box fdb-touch">

              <h2>Feature 1</h2>

              <p>Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia.</p>

              <p class="mt-4"><a href="https://www.froala.com">Learn More <i class="fas fa-angle-right"></i></a></p>

3. Pricing Table for Subscription Plans

A specific feature or functionality within the Froala Editor, focusing on user interface design.

A pricing table removes any doubt customers might have about things like the cost of their monthly streaming subscription. Pricing is essential for any service-based business to separate its customers into different tiers from professional to enterprise. In Froala, you have access to pricing templates such as the one shown. You can also use bullet points or tables to describe what each premium plan includes. 

Pricing Block:

              <h2>Hobby</h2>

              <p class="lead"><strong>$9 / month</strong></p>

              <p class="h3 font-weight-light">Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about.</p>

              <ul class="text-left mt-5 mb-5">

                <li>Item 1</li>

                <li>Item 2</li>

                <li>Item 3</li>

              </ul>

              <p><a href="https://www.froala.com" class="btn btn-outline-primary mt-4">Subscribe</a></p>

4. FAQs in the Footer

A particular aspect of web editing or development in Froala Editor.

A footer typically contains information about the company such as who to contact, and where it’s located. It is important to remember that Elements in the footer should be evenly spaced. This means that they are sorted into separate columns. You should also make the footer a helpful resource by adding a <div> container with <p> tags to prepare an FAQ section that answers questions from site users. Finally, Froala lets you display social icons and even another menu in the footer. 

Footer Block:

    <footer class="fdb-block footer-small">

      <div class="container">

        <div class="row align-items-center">

          <div class="col-12 col-md-6">

            <ul class="nav justify-content-center justify-content-md-start">

              <li class="nav-item">

                <a class="nav-link active" href="https://www.froala.com">Home</a>

              </li>

              <li class="nav-item">

                <a class="nav-link" href="https://www.froala.com">Features</a>

              </li>

              <li class="nav-item">

                <a class="nav-link" href="https://www.froala.com">About</a>

              </li>

            </ul>

          </div>

5. eCommerce Signup Form

A feature or element of the Froala Editor, emphasizing its design and usability.

eCommerce sites are the online equivalent of retail supply chains. They are also a side business that anyone can launch from home. Once you establish a brand identity, it works well as a web design project. For practice, use a Form block to obtain customer information (e.g. username and password) from a signup form, then direct the user to a check-out cart after they buy a product. The sample HTML for a subscription form is displayed below.  

Form Block:

            <h1>Subscribe</h1>

            <div class="input-group mt-4 mb-4">

              <input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Enter your email address">

              <div class="input-group-append">

                <button class="btn btn-primary" type="button">Submit</button>

              </div>

            </div>

            <p class="h4">Find us on <a href="https://www.froala.com">Facebook</a> and 

            <a href="https://www.froala.com">Twitter</a></p>

          </div>

        </div>

      </div>

    </section>

6. Freelancer Portfolio with Testimonials

A specific functionality or design component within the Froala web development tool.

A creative portfolio is another popular idea to get behind. Many freelancers starting their careers will benefit from having a platform to showcase their expertise and increase the odds of landing better gigs. In addition, testimonials prove their credibility in front of potential clients. Testimonials are easy to set up on Froala, with a demo block that displays the text, icons, and person name as neatly-stacked columns.

Testimonials Block:

            <p class="lead">

              "Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean." </p>  

            <p class="lead"><strong>Person Name</strong> <em class="ml-4">Co-founder at Company</em></p>

          </div>

          <div class="col-8 col-sm-6 col-md-2 col-lg-3 col-xl-2 mt-4 mt-md-0 ml-auto mr-auto mr-md-0">

            <img alt="image" class="img-fluid rounded-circle" src="./imgs/people/1.jpg">

          </div>

7. Meet Our Team for a Consulting Group

A detailed feature or aspect of the Froala Editor, focusing on its capabilities.

Yet another creative use of  Bootstrap templates, is a  “Meet Our Team” page for a consulting group website. At some point, you’ll be in charge of designing one of these to fit in with the other elements. The first thing to remember is your goal is to introduce team members. You also want to show where they fit in to the organization. Froala’s Team block prepares default images and text for developers to upload employee headshots. 

Teams Block:

            <h1>Meet Our Team</h1>

          </div>

        </div>

        <div class="row-50"></div>

        <div class="row text-center justify-content-center">

          <div class="col-sm-3 m-sm-auto">

            <img alt="image" class="img-fluid rounded-circle" src="./imgs/people/4.jpg">    

            <h2>Sara Doe</h2>

            <p>Founder</p>

          </div>

8. Contact Us Page with the Company Location

A particular feature or function of the Froala Editor, highlighting its versatility.

Almost all websites have a contact page where customers can learn more about the products being sold. Although most contact pages inherit the same fields (e.g. name, email, subject, etc.), it doesn’t mean you should slap in a cookie-cutter form and call it a day. If you have Contact blocks installed, you can configure Google Maps to help users locate buildings, With the contacts block, you can also insert the company’s social media links. 

Form Block: 

            <h1>Subscribe</h1>

            <div class="input-group mt-4 mb-4">

              <input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder="Enter your email address">

              <div class="input-group-append">

                <button class="btn btn-primary" type="button">Submit</button>

              </div>

            </div>   

            <p class="h4">Find us on <a href="https://www.froala.com">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.froala.com">Twitter</a>.</p>

9. Call to Action for a Healthcare Provider

A certain aspect of Froala Editor, emphasizing its user-friendly interface.

A call to action stands between your viewer and the next step in your sales funnel. One suggestion is to frame a call to action (CTA) around an essential industry like healthcare by making a web page for doctors and other practitioners. Think of including a CTA button or form that prompts patients to specify the type of treatment they need. Then import a CTA block for them to fill out their medical history. 

CTA Block:

    <section class="fdb-block">

      <div class="container">

        <div class="row justify-content-center">

          <div class="col-12 col-md-8 text-center">

            <p class="lead">

              "Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast."

            </p><p class="mt-5 mt-sm-4">

              <a class="btn btn-primary" href="https://www.froala.com">Download</a></p>

          </div>

        </div>

      </div>

    </section>

10. A Sticky Header Above the Hero Image

A minimalistic feature or interface element of a web editor or software application.

Lastly, you can add a sticky header navbar that follows the user as they scroll down a page. If you don’t like overlapping items in a header, the Header block has the answer. It is easy to customize a simple format by pasting lists and links between the <nav> tags. Finally, assign a navbar-fixed-top class to keep the menu fixed for the finishing touches. Sticky headers are one of the most common assets in web design. 

Header Block:

    <header>

      <div class="container text-center">

        <nav class="navbar">

          <a class="ml-auto mr-auto" href="https://www.froala.com">

            <img src="./imgs/logo.png" height="30" alt="image">

          </a>

      <li class="nav-item"><a class="nav-link" href="https://www.froala.com">Team</a> </li>

        </nav>

      </div>

    </header>

11. How do you configure Froala Design Blocks? 

You will need the skeleton for a simple HTML layout before you can begin designing templates and arranging assets to suit your fancy. See the code in action by pasting it into the demo builder where the compiled blocks are being stored. 

Be sure to download the latest version then clone the Froala repository. Lastly, install the npm package which has an HTML layout you can replicate for any building block as follows: 

  <!DOCTYPE html>

     <html>

       <head>

         <title>Froala Design Blocks - Skeleton</title>

         <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, height=device-height, initial-scale=1.0">

         <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0-beta.2/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-PsH8R72JQ3SOdhVi3uxftmaW6Vc51MKb0q5P2rRUpPvrszuE4W1povHYgTpBfshb" crossorigin="anonymous">

         <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:100,100i,300,300i,400,400i,500,500i,700,700i,900,900i" rel="stylesheet">

         <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.css">

         <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/froala-design-blocks/1.0.2/css/froala_blocks.min.css">

       </head>

       <body>

           <!-- Insert HTML for contents. -->

       </body>

     </html>   

This code loads minified CSS and font styles from the Bootstrap CDN. The next step is adding HTML between the body tags, depending on the functionality you want. A file directory is available if you need to review the documents on each group asset. 

Bootstrap projects are prized for their consistent look and feel. They also offer a shortcut to overcome site maintenance woes. But a trustworthy project should, at the bare minimum, have its use cases documented in order. 

It also needs to meet the following criteria: 

  • Shows the number of contributors
  • Pins posts of recurring issues
  • Has a well-defined project roadmap
  • Rates high on GitHub (3.5-5 stars)
  • Attempts to patch bug reports 
  • Has active community members

By these standards, Froala design blocks offer an exceptional collection of page templates whenever you need a skeleton to speed up your development process. Froala Design Blocks is an open-source workspace where users are given the tools to write their custom code.  For further reading, you can check out these bootstrap projects.

Try out the demo for yourself.

Easily Add Powerful Table Sorting with DataTables Plugin

Introduction to the Froala Editor Integration

Do you find the Froala editor the perfect rich text editor for your project, but require robust table sorting capabilities? No problem! The Froala editor is a highly extensible WYSIWYG HTML editor, making it remarkably easy for developers to add the specific table sorting functionality you need using a suitable plugin.

Many developers rely on the Froala editor for its powerful features and ease of use when constructing HTML pages. This editor simplifies the content creation experience.

This article demonstrate how straightforward it is to integrate a table sorting feature into the Froala editor. We’ll achieve this by leveraging the popular DataTables JavaScript library, acting as a powerful plugin. This example showcases how the flexibility of the Froala editor allows developers to enhance this excellent editor with the exact tools their project requires – even if a specific capability isn’t in the core editor.

This example should provide a clear path for many developers looking to add advanced table controls. We will provide essential code examples below, showing how developers can implement this feature. The editor becomes much more powerful with this plugin.

You’ll see how the Froala editor empowers users and developers to create sophisticated editable content. This specific example focuses on table manipulation within the editor, using external library code. The goal is to improve how users interact with table data within the editor.

Froala Table Sorting

Key Takeaways

  • Implementing Froala table sorting significantly improves data usability and the overall user experience for manipulating table data within the Froala editor.
  • Integrating the DataTables plugin enhances the core functionality of Froala editor tables, adding sorting to each column. This plugin is a great example for developers. Using this plugin requires including specific code.
  • Performance optimization is essential when the editor needs to handle tables with numerous rows and large data sets; developers must consider this when adding custom code.

The Power of Froala Tables in a WYSIWYG Editor

The Froala WYSIWYG editor already includes robust table editing functionality out of the box. People using the editor can easily create, modify, and format tables directly within the rich text editor.

Native capabilities like multi-cell selection, cell merging, and custom style options (even controlling border collapse or font family) make Froala tables a cut above many other editor solutions.

But the native table features in the Froala editor can be further enhanced by integrating with the powerful DataTables library integration. DataTables provides advanced sorting, filtering, paging (rows per page), and other table management capabilities that complement Froala’s built-in table edit tools within the editor.

This plugin adds significant ability through its JavaScript code. This plugin is a popular choice for developers working with tables in web applications and the Froala editor. The editor becomes a more complete tool for data presentation.

Importance of Table Sorting within the Rich Text Editor

Okay, so you’ve used the editor to create a table. Great! But what if users need to find specific data within its rows? That’s where sorting comes in. Table sorting is important because it lets users quickly organize data in a way that makes sense within the editor.

Imagine a table with a list of customers. Without sorting, users would have to manually scan all the rows to find someone. But with sorting enabled by the plugin, users can instantly arrange the table by name, order date, or whatever column they need. This saves a ton of time and makes your table data way more useful for anyone using the editor.

It’s not just about finding stuff faster, though. Sorting tables can also help users highlight trends and patterns in their data that they might otherwise miss inside the editor. For example, sorting a sales table by revenue could quickly highlight your top-performing products. The editor makes managing this table data easier for users.

Here are some reasons why sorting within the editor is important for developers and end-users:

  • Faster data retrieval from tables for users.
  • Improved data analysis within the editor by users.
  • Enhanced user experience for those interacting with the editable content in the Froala editor. This example clearly shows the benefit of adding this plugin code. The editor feels more interactive.

Froala Table Sorting – How it works

There are several ways developers can add table sorting support to the Froala editor using any JavaScript HTML table enhancing library or plugin. In this guide and code example, we’ll use the popular DataTables library.

DataTables provides advanced sorting, filtering, and pagination features that complement the Froala editor’s built-in table edit tools. We select this plugin due to its extensive features, good documentation for developers, and ease of integration with the editor via simple code additions.

This JavaScript library is a common choice for enhancing HTML tables. Its code is widely used by developers. It interacts directly with the table elements within the editor.

The approach or method we’ll take has the following key steps:

  1. Add a new custom button to the Froala editor table edit popup (menu) that initializes the DataTables plugin on the selected table. The necessary code is shown below.
  2. This will enhance the table, adding sorting buttons (visual signs) to each column header cell.
  3. Users can then click these buttons to sort the table data in ascending or descending order. The underlying code handles the table row manipulation directly in the editor.
  4. This tutorial serves as a good starting point example for integrating the Froala editor with the DataTables library plugin. However, developers may need to optimize the provided code further to handle certain scenarios, such as when a user adds new rows and columns to the table after initializing the DataTables on it. In this case, developers may need to re-initialization the DataTables on the modified table.

Adding the Froala Table Sorting Feature: A Code Example

Adding this table sorting capability via the DataTables plugin to your Froala editor setup is a straightforward process. Here are the key steps involved in this setup:

Step 1: Include the Required Libraries (CSS & JS Code)

To get started with this editor enhancement, developers must include the following CDN links in their web page:

  • Froala WYSIWYG Editor Stylesheet and JavaScript CDN links
  • DataTables JavaScript library (which requires jQuery)
  • Font Awesome stylesheet for custom button icons

<!-- Font Awesome library for icons -->
<link href='https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/5.5.0/css/all.min.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' />

<!-- Froala editor stylesheet -->
<link href='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' />

<!-- DataTables stylesheet -->
<link href='https://cdn.datatables.net/2.2.2/css/dataTables.dataTables.min.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' />

<!-- jQuery script -->
<script type='text/javascript' src='https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.7.1/jquery.min.js'></script>
<!-- DataTables script -->
<script type='text/javascript' src='https://cdn.datatables.net/2.2.2/js/dataTables.min.js'></script>
<!-- Froala script -->
<script type='text/javascript' src='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js'></script>

Step 2: Create a New Custom Button For Froala

Let’s create a custom button within the Froala editor system to enable the sorting function on the selected table.

We will use the “filter” Font Awesome icon (font) to represent our button in the editor toolbar. Add this JavaScript code before initializing the Froala editor.

// Use Font Awesome icons
FroalaEditor.ICON_DEFAULT_TEMPLATE = "font_awesome_5" 

//Define icon for "advancedTable" buttton
FroalaEditor.DefineIcon("advancedTable", { NAME: "filter" })

This code tells the editor how to display the button icon using the specified font.

2.2 Define the Button Function (Command Code)

Now, let’s register one of the Froala editor commands that executes our table sorting logic using the DataTables plugin. This code defines the button’s action. Place this code before the editor initialization.

The following code block shows the command registration.

FroalaEditor.RegisterCommand("advancedTable", {   
   title: "Advanced Table",   undo: true,
   callback: function callback(cmd) {
     let table = this.$el.find(".fr-selected-cell").closest("table");
     if (table[0] && table[0].getElementsByTagName("thead").length > 0) {
       let advTable = new DataTable(table, {
         searching: false,
         paging: false,
       });
     } else {
       alert("You should add a table header first.");
     }
   },
 });

In the above JavaScript code:

  • We registered a new Froala editor button command with the name “advancedTable”.
  • The button will be represented by the font icon we defined in the previous step using separate code. It will appear on the table edit menu.
  • It has a title attribute shown as a tooltip in the editor.
  • The callback function contains the core logic. This function code runs when the button is clicked by a user in the editor.
  • It finds the parent table HTML element from the currently selected table cell within the editor. This part of the code uses jQuery selectors provided by the Froala editor.
  • Crucially, it checks if the selected table has a header row (<thead> tag). This is a requirement for the DataTables plugin code to identify columns for sorting.
  • If a header row exists, it initializes the DataTables plugin (new DataTable(…)) on the HTML table DOM element. Note the options object uses false for searching and paging in this specific code example. This code line activates the plugin. The boolean value false turns those features off.
  • If no header row is found, it displays an alert message. This ensures the DataTables plugin functionality works as expected.
  • This code provides the essential mechanism for developers to trigger the plugin. It’s the core integration code.

Step 3: Initialize the Froala Editor

Finally, developers need to setup the Froala Editor instance on their page. This usually involves targeting a textarea HTML element or a div. Add the new “advancedTable” button to the tableEditButtons array in the editor configuration options.

This code integrates our custom button into the editor’s table edit menu. The following code block shows the editor initialization. This code makes the editor appear on the page.

new FroalaEditor("#editor", {
  tableEditButtons: [
    "tableHeader",
    "tableRemove",
    "|",
    "tableRows",
    "tableColumns",
    "tableStyle",
    "-",
    "tableCells",
    "tableCellBackground",
    "tableCellVerticalAlign",
    "tableCellHorizontalAlign",
    "tableCellStyle",
    "|",
    "advancedTable",
  ],
})

This final block of code:

  • Creates the Froala editor instance, targeting an HTML element (e.g., <textarea id="editor"></textarea> or <div id="editor"></div>). This HTML element becomes the editor element where users edit content.
  • Crucially, advancedTable is added to the tableEditButtons array. This makes our custom button appear in the table edit menu within the editor.
  • Developers can add many other options to this initialization code to customize the editor (e.g., license key, height, available font size, font family options like sans serif, event handlers, other plugins). This example code shows only the essential part for adding the button. The Froala documentation lists all available code options.
  • This editor setup code should run after the page’s HTML body is loaded and the previous JavaScript code (icon and command definition) has executed. Ensure all prerequisite code is loaded.

Testing the Froala Table Sorting Feature

Once the Froala editor is set up with the new “Advanced Table” button using the provided code, users and developers can test it:

  1. Insert a new table into the editor’s editable content area using the toolbar.
  2. Add content to the table rows and columns. Make sure to add a header row using the editor’s table menu. Each table cell should contain appropriate data. The table needs a <thead> for the plugin code to work.
  3. Click inside any table cell of the table you want to sort within the editor.
  4. The table edit toolbar / popup menu should appear. Find and click the “Advanced Table” button (the one with the filter font icon).
  5. The DataTables plugin code will execute, enhancing the table. Users should see sorting icons (a visual sign) appear in each column header cell. These icons are often added via CSS defined in the plugin’s stylesheet code.
  6. Click these column headers to sort the table data within that column in ascending or descending order. The rows will rearrange directly within the editor, handled by the plugin’s code.


This integration allows Froala editor users to leverage the advanced table management features of the DataTables plugin while still maintaining the rich edit capabilities of the Froala WYSIWYG HTML editor. This enhances the content creation experience. Try pasting data into the table as well. Users can edit table cell content freely after sorting. The editor remains fully functional.

Advanced Configurations for Froala Table Sorting

While the default DataTables plugin integration (using the minimal code shown) provides a great baseline table sorting functionality, developers may want to further customize the experience. DataTables offers a wide range of configuration options in its code API.

Developers can modify the initialization code (example: the options object { searching: false, paging: false } passed to new DataTable(…) in the command’s code) to:

  • Implement pagination by setting paging to true instead of false and control the number of rows displayed per page. The plugin code handles this display logic.
  • Customize the applied CSS classes for different table states. Apply custom border styles or width controls using your own CSS code. The plugin adds specific CSS classes that developers can target.
  • Define custom sorting functions (function code) for specific data types (e.g., dates, currency) if the default plugin sorting isn’t sufficient. This involves writing more JavaScript code for the plugin.
  • Change the sorting mode (e.g., multi-column sorting). Requires different options in the initialization code.
  • Control the position of elements like the search box or pagination controls relative to the table using CSS code.

Leveraging these configurability options in the code requires more effort from developers but allows tailoring the table sorting experience within the Froala editor to perfectly fit the needs of your project and the people using the editor. Consult the DataTables plugin documentation for full details and more code examples. Many developers find the plugin very flexible. You can find many code examples online for this plugin.

Handling Dynamic Table Changes (Developer Considerations for Table Columns and Cells)

One potential challenge for developers when integrating the Froala editor and the DataTables plugin using the provided code is handling scenarios where the user adds, removes, or modifies table rows, table columns, or table cell content after the DataTables plugin initialization code has run. The sorting state might become inconsistent with the actual table data in the editor.

To address this, developers must implement more sophisticated code:

  1. Store References: Keep track of the DataTables instances initialized on each table within the editor. Developers could use JavaScript code to manage this, perhaps using a Map keyed by table IDs.
  2. Listen to Froala Events: Use the Froala editor’s event system (like contentChanged, table.inserted, commands.after, etc.) by adding event handlers in the editor initialization code. These editor events signal changes to the HTML. Developers need to write listener code.
  3. Update or Re-initialize DataTables: When relevant editor events fire for a specific table, get the corresponding DataTables instance using your tracking code. Developers might need to write code to:
  • Destroy the existing DataTables instance (table.destroy()) and re-initialize the plugin on the modified HTML table structure using the original initialization code. This is often the simplest method for developers to ensure the plugin sees all HTML changes, including new rows or changes affecting border or width. This requires careful execution of code.

Developers must test these scenarios thoroughly in different browser environments. Look for code examples online or in documentation for handling these dynamic updates in the editor.

Frequently Asked Questions about the WYSIWYG HTML Editor and Plugin

What is Froala WYSIWYG HTML Editor?

Froala is a powerful, front-end WYSIWYG HTML editor (a type of rich text editor) that allows people (users) to easily create and edit HTML content directly in a web page, often replacing a standard textarea. It’s known for its clean interface and extensive API (code methods and events) for developers. It provides a great content creation experience. The editor renders HTML tags visually.

Why use DataTables with the Froala Rich Text Editor?

Using the DataTables plugin with the Froala editor adds powerful features for managing HTML tables, like sorting by column, filtering data, and pagination across multiple rows. This makes it much easier for people using the editor to work with large amounts of table data. It enhances the core editor functionality via external code. This plugin makes the editor more suitable for data-heavy content.

How do I integrate DataTables into my Froala editor setup?

Developers can integrate the DataTables plugin by including the necessary DataTables CSS and JavaScript library code (https links) in their project’s HTML page (often in the <head> or before the </body> tag).

Then, write JavaScript code (like the example in this article) to initialize the plugin on specific HTML table elements within the Froala editor’s editable content area, usually triggered by a custom button defined with editor API code.

Does Froala integrate with DataTables in Inline Editor mode?

Yes, the Froala-DataTables integration can also be used in Froala’s Inline Editor mode. The inline editor mode is used when the user wants to minimize the disruptions and maintaining the page layout during the editing process.

Does Froala support multiple table cell editing?

Yes, Froala does support multiple cell table editing. Users can select multiple cells and apply formatting, styles, or other operations across the selected range. This enables powerful table management capabilities within the Froala WYSIWYG editor. By leveraging DataTables sorting alongside Froala’s multi-cell editing, users can efficiently organize and structure tabular data to meet their specific requirements. The combination of these features provides a robust and flexible table editing experience within the Froala editor.

Does Froala support image uploads within tables?

Yes, Froala allows users to insert images directly within table cells, providing a seamless way to incorporate visual elements alongside tabular data. This flexibility enables content creators to build rich and visually engaging tables that blend text, numbers, and imagery. The integration of image uploads within Froala’s table editing capabilities empowers users to create more dynamic and informative tabular content, enhancing the overall presentation and effectiveness of the information being conveyed.

How to modify table cell font family and size?

To modify the font family and size of table cells in the Froala WYSIWYG editor, you can use the editor toolbar. Moreover, you can set a specific font family and size in a CSS class and apply that class to the desired cell using the “tableCellStyles” button.

Conclusion

Integrating the Froala editor with the DataTables JavaScript library plugin is an excellent method for developers to provide a comprehensive table management experience for users. Froala’s built-in table edit capabilities, combined with the advanced sorting provided by the DataTables plugin, create a powerful solution for content-rich web applications needing sophisticated table interactions within a rich text editor. The ability to sort rows by column is crucial for data analysis within the editor.

By following the simple steps and the code examples outlined in this article, and further customizing the integration code and CSS style to meet your specific needs, developers can quickly add this valuable feature to their projects using the Froala editor. This empowers people using the editor with a best-in-class table editing and data exploration experience, improving the overall content creation experience.

Elevate Your Delphi Web Application with Seamless Rich Text Editing: Mastering Froala TMS Web Core Integration

As a Delphi developer, you know the importance of building modern, responsive web applications with a great user experience. The TMS WEB Core framework is a powerful tool for creating such apps, but what if you need a robust WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) editor for your content management features?

No worries, the TMS WEB Core framework has a WEB Component for integrating Froala, a powerful WYSIWYG Editor, allowing Delphi web applications to seamlessly incorporate rich text editing capabilities and enhance user experience.

In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through the simple process of integrating the Froala editor into your TMS WEB Core Delphi applications. By leveraging the power of Froala and the flexibility of TMS WEB Core, you can deliver a high-quality content management solution within your Delphi web projects.

Why Use the TMS WEB Core Framework?

The TMS WEB Core framework is the foundation of an exciting new and modern way for creating web client applications from Delphi using a component-based framework. Some key benefits of using TMS WEB Core include:

  • Cross-platform compatibility: TMS WEB Core allows you to create web applications that can run on a variety of platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
  • Rapid development: The framework provides a wealth of pre-built components and tools, enabling you to quickly build and deploy feature-rich web applications.
  • Seamless integration: TMS WEB Core integrates seamlessly with other Delphi technologies, such as the Froala WYSIWYG Editor, allowing you to create a cohesive and efficient development ecosystem.
  • Modern web standards: The framework is built on the latest web technologies, ensuring your applications are up-to-date and provide an optimal user experience.
  • The TMS WEB Core web client application is open to work with different server technologies. This includes but is not limited to Embarcadero RAD Server, Node.js, ASP.NET Core microservices.

Why Integrate Froala Editor with TMS WEB Core?

The Froala WYSIWYG HTML Editor is a lightweight WYSIWYG HTML editor. However, it is a feature-rich, customizable editor that allows users to easily format text, insert images, and more, all without needing to write HTML code.

Some key benefits of this integration include:

  • Intuitive WYSIWYG editing experience for your users
  • Extensive customization options to match your app’s branding and design
  • Robust feature set including table manipulation, responsive video embedding, and more
  • Seamless integration with the TMS WEB Core framework for a cohesive user experience

Froala TMS Web Core Integration Guide

The TMS WEB Core offers the TMSwebFroalaEditor WEB Component that simplifies the Froala Editor integration with TMS WEB Core framework. The integration process is straightforward, allowing you to quickly set up the Froala editor, saving a lot of development time and effort.

Integrate the Froala WYSIWYG Editor into your TMS WEB Core Delphi application using the TMSwebFroalaEditor component by following these steps:

Step 1: Install the RAD Studio IDE

As a Delphi developer, you may already be using RAD Studio. If not, we recommend installing it. RAD Studio is an advanced IDE for rapidly and visually building high-performance platform-native apps for Windows, Linux, iOS, macOS and Android from a single codebase.

Step 2: Install the TMS WEB Core Framework

The TMS WEB Core is a framework for creating modern web applications in Delphi. You can download and install the latest version of the framework from the official TMS Software website. Download the version compatible with your RAD Studio. The integration requires TMS WEB Core version 1.2.3.0 or newer.

Step 3: Install the TMSwebFroalaEditor Component

    1. Download and install the TMSwebFroalaEditor component from the TMS Software website.Froala Editor TMS WEB Core component
  1. Extract the downloaded ZIP file: it contains the following folders:
    • The “Component Library Source” folder,
    • The “Core Source” folder.
    • The “Demo” folder.
  2. Add the Library path: Add the “Core Source” folder path to the TMS WEB library path (RAD Studio: Tools > Options > TMS WEB > Library Path). Restart RAD Studio afterwards to ensure changes are applied.
  3. Install the package file “TMSWEBFroalaEditor”:
    1. Open the "Component Library Source/TMSWEBFroalaEditor.dpk" package file in the Rad Studio.
    2. This package requires the TMSWEBCorePkgLibDXE11.dcp library. Update this line if you are using a different TMS WEB Core version.
    3. Compile the package: Right-clicking on the package in the Project Manager and selecting “Compile”.
    4. Install the package: Right-clicking on the package in the Project Manager and selecting “Install”. Now you are ready to use the component in your project.

Step 4: Play with the Demo

The demo illustrates displaying the Froala Editor within your TMS WEB Core Delphi application. To run it, you need to do the following steps:

    1. Open the Demo Project: Locate the "Demo/FroalaEditor.dpk" package file in the downloaded ZIP folder and open it in your RAD Studio IDE.
    2. Include Froala Editor: Open “Index.html“ file. Note, the code assumes you will download the Froala Editor files and host them on your server. However, you can replace the local Froala stylesheet and JavaScript links with CDN links so we don’t need to download it. 
      <link href='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' />
      
      <script type='text/javascript' src='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js'></script>

       

    1. Understand the Demo Structure: The demo project likely consists of several files, including:
      • FroalaEditor.dpr: The main project file.
      • FroalaEditorForm.pas: The main form file, which contains the Froala Editor component and other UI elements.
    2. Run the Demo: To run the demo application, simply click the “Run” button in your RAD Studio IDE. This will compile and launch the demo, allowing you to interact with the Froala Editor integrated into the TMS WEB Core application.
    3. Inspect the Code: Once the demo is running, you can inspect the code to understand how the TMSWEBFroalaEditor component is being used. This can provide valuable insights and help you integrate the Froala Editor into your own TMS WEB Core projects.

Understanding the Source Code

By exploring the demo, you’ll get a better understanding of how to use the TMSWEBFroalaEditor component and integrate the Froala Editor into your own TMS WEB Core Delphi applications. The demo serves as a helpful starting point and reference for your own implementation.

For instance, to setup your own Froala Editor, do the following

  • Declare an external function so we can use Object Pascal to create the Editor Object.
  • Create an object that links the Froala Editor events with the WEB Core event handlers.
  • Initialize the Froala Editor
var  
  FEvents: TJSObject;  
  FFroalaEditor: TJSObject;  
  function froalaEditor(s: string; jsObject: TJSObject): TJSObject; overload; external name 'new FroalaEditor';  
  
begin  
    FEvents := new([  
     'contentChanged', @HandleChanged,  
     'initialized', @HandleLoaded,  
     'focus', @HandleStartEdit,  
     'blur', @HandleEndEdit  
     ]);  
  
    FFroalaEditor := froalaEditor('div#' + ElementID,   new([  
      'toolbarInline', false,  
      'events', FEvents  
      ]));  
end;

Froala WYSIWYG HTML Editor Modes

Note the demo offers two ways to use the Froala Editor:

Classic: This is the default behavior.

Froala classic editor

Inline: Show the Editor toolbar upon content selection.

Connect any TWebLabel to the TWebFroalaEditor component to instantly make it editable in the browser.

WebLabel1.EventStopPropagation := [];  
WebFroalaEditor1.Visible := False;  
WebFroalaEditor1.InlineEditing := True;  
WebFroalaEditor1.Editor := WebLabel1;

Froala inline editor

By now, you have learned how to easily add a powerful, customizable WYSIWYG editing experience to your TMS WEB Core Delphi applications, providing your users with an intuitive and efficient way to manage content.

Live Demo

A live demo of the Froala editor integration is available at https://download.tmssoftware.com/tmsweb/demos/froalaeditor/. Explore the editor’s rich text editing capabilities and view the corresponding HTML code and triggered web core event handlers below the editor.

Conclusion

In this guide, we’ve walked through the seamless process of integrating the Froala Editor into your TMS WEB Core Delphi applications. By leveraging the powerful TMSwebFroalaEditor component, you can quickly add rich text editing capabilities to your web applications.

Integrating Froala WYSIWYG HTML Editor with TMS WEB Core allows Delphi developers to create modern, responsive web apps with an intuitive WYSIWYG interface for managing content. With features like inline editing, table manipulation, and responsive video embedding, the Froala Editor provides a top-notch user experience that will delight your end-users.

With the steps outlined in this guide, you now have the knowledge and tools to integrate the Froala Editor into your own TMS WEB Core Delphi projects. By incorporating this powerful integration, you can deliver exceptional content management capabilities and take your Delphi web applications to new heights.

Get started today and elevate your Delphi web development with the TMS WEB Core Froala Editor integration

Froala vs. VisualEditor: Best WYSIWYG HTML Editor Comparison

WYSIWYG HTML editors, such as Froala Editor and VisualEditor, have revolutionized content creation and editing since their emergence. With features like rich text editing, drag and drop, file uploads, and more, they make creating content faster and easier. But how do they differ?

Nowadays, we have numerous WYSIWYG editors appearing in content management systems (CMS), blogs, and even social media platforms. Their functions also range from regular rich text editors to full-blown productivity or content management platforms. Wherever you go on the internet, as long as you see content, you’re most likely interfacing with a WYSIWYG editor.

This variety is great, but for developers like you, choosing the right WYSIWYG editor can sometimes lead to confusion. Many of these editors are better suited for solving specific needs. Others offer a complete package.

To help you choose the WYSIWYG editor for you, this article explores Froala vs. VisualEditor, a comparison between two popular editors. Froala is lightweight and feature-rich, while VisualEditor is an open-source rich text editor. Let’s start comparing!

A sample visual of a WYSIWYG HTML editor.

What is Froala Editor?

Froala is a modern WYSIWYG editor designed for developers seeking a lightweight, robust, and customizable solution. With an intuitive interface and over 100 features, Froala allows its users to create rich text, Markdown, HTML code, and entire blogs or web pages easily. Additionally, it provides seamless integration with most modern and popular languages and frameworks.

History and Development of Froala

Launched in 2014, Froala Editor is more than a JavaScript rich text editor. It is aimed towards providing excellent UX (User Experience) and DX (Developer Experience).

A sample image of Froala Editor's demo.

Today, it is popular among developers for its modular architecture and ease of integration, having 50,000+ customers and millions of end users. Additionally, this advanced rich text editor also managed to enter G2’s “Top 10 WYSIWYG Editors Software” rankings multiple times.

Key Features

  • Rich Text Editor Features: Supports basic and advanced text formatting, including Markdown support and real-time collaboration.
  • Media Management: Allows users to upload and manage files. As of version 4.3, Froala comes with a built-in Filestack integration, providing access to advanced file management features like OCR, SFW (safe for work) detection, and workflow automation. Note that to use this feature, you will also need to create a free Filestack account.
  • Code View: Integrates with CodeMirror for directly editing or viewing the HTML code equivalent of the editor’s contents.
  • Plugins: Offers different plugins for extended functionalities like spell check, emoticons, and more. You can also customize and reuse plugins.
  • Responsive Design and Accessibility: Optimized to look consistent across different devices and browsers. It’s also compliant with various accessibility guidelines like Section 508 and WCAG 2.0.
  • Security: Implements robust measures against XSS (cross-site scripting) attacks.

User Interface and Experience

Froala offers a modern, polished, and responsive user-friendly interface. Its design focuses on providing a clean experience that doesn’t overwhelm users with too many controls at once. It’s also highly customizable, allowing you to control which features you want on the toolbar as well as themes and editor behavior.

Supported Platforms and Integrations

Froala Editor is cross-platform and works across all major browsers and multiple operating systems. Its JavaScript core ensures compatibility with popular web development frameworks, such as Angular, React, Vue, .NET, Django, and Laravel. Plugins and APIs make customizing and scaling easier.

What is VisualEditor?

VisualEditor is an open-source rich-text editor developed by the Wikimedia Foundation for the MediaWiki platform. It aims to provide a user-friendly editing experience, especially for collaborative environments like Wikipedia.

A sample implementation of how collaboration works in VisualEditor.

History and Development of VisualEditor

Introduced in 2012, VisualEditor stemmed from the need to simplify the editing process on Wikipedia. Throughout the years, it has allowed users to edit web pages without needing to understand wikitext markup.

Key Features

  • Rich Text Editor Features: Provides basic formatting options suitable for wiki content.
  • Linking and Citation Tools: Simplifies adding internal and external links, as well as citations.
  • Template Editing: Allows users to edit templates (and use ready-made templates) with a visual interface.
  • Collaborative Editing: Designed for multi-user environments with real-time collaboration.

User Interface and Experience

VisualEditor provides a simpler UI with minimalist characteristics. It prioritizes ease of use, especially for contributors who are unfamiliar with code. While it may not offer the same level of control or customization as other editors, it fits wiki-like websites and needs perfectly.

Supported Platforms and Integrations

VisualEditor is primarily designed for MediaWiki, making its integration options narrower. While you can adapt it for use outside MediaWiki, doing so requires significant setup and familiarity with the codebase. Its lack of seamless integration with common web development tools limits its flexibility for broader use.

Froala vs. VisualEditor: In-Depth WYSIWYG Editor Comparison

Now that you know some vital details about Froala Editor and VisualEditor, it is time to compare the two. In this comparison, the criteria will revolve around the UI, features, performance, integration and support, and pricing.

User Interface

Feature Froala VisualEditor
Intuitive Interface Excellent Moderate
Customizable UI Yes Yes (Limited)
Responsive Design Yes Yes
Toolbars and Themes Full control Predefined

Froala excels in UI flexibility and aesthetics, providing a user-friendly interface suitable for a wider range of website building tasks.

On the other hand, VisualEditor’s UI suits simplified environments, such as wikis, better.

Features

Feature Froala VisualEditor
Rich Text Editing Yes Yes
Markdown Yes No
Media and File Manager Yes (Even better for v4.3 and up) Limited
Code View/Source Code Yes Limited
Real-Time Collaboration Via Codox.io integration Limited
Plugins Yes No

Froala offers more advanced features like Markdown support, a file manager, image upload tools, and code editing capabilities. VisualEditor sticks to the basics, which may be ideal for certain users but limiting for others.

Performance

Froala is known for its speed and responsiveness. It loads fast (less than 40 ms), is lightweight (50 KB core), and performs efficiently across browsers. Using websites with Froala on mobile devices retains the fast and intuitive experience.

VisualEditor can sometimes lag on larger pages and complex wiki entries due to its heavier dependencies.

Integration and Development Support

Froala WYSIWYG editor comes with seamless integration with both major frameworks and programming languages. It has strong developer support, including comprehensive documentation, a helpful community, a YouTube tutorial channel, and commercial support.

VisualEditor, on the other hand, currently doesn’t specify a list of integrations with modern web frameworks.

It also has limited documentation outside MediaWiki and requires a steep learning curve for those looking to use it elsewhere. This is because of its open-source or free software characteristics. Additionally, it’s difficult to find relevant video tutorials for VisualEditor.

Pricing and Licensing

Froala's pricing chart, which includes the WYSIWYG editor's free trial, professional ($899/year), and enterprise ($1599/year) plans..

Froala is a commercial product with tiered pricing. Its cost is backed by its features, support, and ongoing development. It does come with a fully featured free trial.

VisualEditor is free and open source, which is attractive to budget-conscious users but comes with fewer features and less flexibility.

Froala vs. VisualEditor: Pros and Cons

While both WYSIWYG editors are great, they also come with their own pros and cons:

Froala WYSIWYG Editor

Advantages

  • Modern interface with full control over features; works well with UI frameworks like Bootstrap or Tailwind CSS
  • Integration with multiple platforms
  • Advanced features like Markdown, file management, and code editing
  • Excellent developer documentation and support
  • SEO-friendly, responsive, and accessible

Disadvantages

  • Paid license required

VisualEditor

Advantages

  • Free and open source
  • Very simple and accessible UI
  • Great for wikis and collaborative content

Disadvantages

  • Basic rich text editor features only
  • Minimal integration support outside MediaWiki
  • Difficult to customize

Use Cases and Recommendations

Now, let’s discuss when and how you should use these WYSIWYG editors.

When Should You Choose Froala Editor?

An image showing the various elements of Froala's customizable UI.

If you’re a web developer, web designer, or product manager looking to create scalable websites, social media platforms, LMS, or blogs, Froala is a great option. It suits content-heavy applications and client-facing platforms where users expect a seamless, user-friendly editing experience.

Froala has the right tools for maximum control over the editor experience, whether you’re integrating real-time collaboration, making the next Instagram, or just need a powerful text editor.

When Should You Choose VisualEditor?

VisualEditor is ideal if you’re building a wiki, educational site, or knowledge base where multiple contributors need a simple, consistent, and open-source way to edit content. If you’re already working within the MediaWiki ecosystem, it’s the natural and obvious choice.

Tip: Choose the Right WYSIWYG Editor Based on Your Project Needs

Choosing the right rich text editor tools depends on your specific use case.

Do you need an entire arsenal of rich text editor capabilities or just a few? Are you considering accessibility, scalability, simplicity, and ease of use? How about integration with different programming languages?

For instance, Froala is a WYSIWYG editor that’s geared toward creating websites where customization and performance matter. It’s also a solid choice for creating content for a wide user base.

VisualEditor, while limited, shines in collaborative and documentation-heavy environments.

Whichever WYSIWYG editor you are eyeing, be sure to always check your project needs first. Pay only for what you’re sure you’ll use. More importantly, pay for the one that gives you the least amount of headache, especially when it comes to integration and maintenance.

Which WYSIWYG Editor is Better?

So there you have it: a detailed run-through of the background, features, strengths, weaknesses, and use cases of two popular WYSIWYG editors.

In terms of features, documentation, compliance, and usability, Froala Editor takes the lead. On the other hand, if you’re building a wiki or looking for a simple rich text editor for a small project, then you might want VisualEditor.

In the end, “better” refers to the HTML editor that best suits your project or website needs. So, why not try both of these editors and play around with their features?

Download Froala today to discover its various WYSIWYG editor features.

FAQs

Is Froala Editor free?

Froala has a free trial, but it is a commercial WYSIWYG editor product with different pricing tiers based on features and usage.

Is VisualEditor easy to set up outside MediaWiki?

Not exactly. VisualEditor is primarily designed for MediaWiki, and while it can be adapted, it requires more effort than using it within its native environment.

Can you use Froala with Bootstrap 5 or Tailwind CSS?

Yes, you can integrate Froala with projects that use Bootstrap, Tailwind, or regular CSS codes, giving you design consistency across your app or website.

Which rich text editor is better for real-time collaboration?

You can easily integrate Codox.io with Froala for collaboration in real time, whereas VisualEditor offers basic collaborative features out of the box.

Which one is better for developers?

Froala, due to its robust documentation, easy integration with modern frameworks, and developer-friendly tools like code editing and Markdown.

Which rich text editor is better for building informative pages?

If you’re looking to build some wiki pages for your interests or organization, then you could go with VisualEditor.

How to Get Content and Set Content in HTML Editor Software

getter and setter Text Thumbnail

Content manipulation is the central core of a web application that involves text editing. Regarding apps, two functions are essential for good performance in this software engineering area: get content and set content for the HTML editor software.

To see how this works, you must understand how the mechanics of these functions are elementary.

  1. App users want their content saved in a database when interacting with the editor. However, the editor must obtain the content to enable this saving process. This behavior is the function of the getContent() method.
  2. The other function the user may need is to edit previously saved content in a database. The setContent() method does this.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to harness the content manipulation capabilities of Froala  WYSIWYG Editor to accomplish these tasks effectively.

Key takeaways

  • html.get() retrieves the HTML content inside the Froala Editor instance.
  • Passing false to html.get(false) returns plain text without HTML tags.
  • html.set() allows you to populate the editor with HTML content programmatically.
  • For dynamic updates, use event-based triggers like button clicks or data loading.
  • Always initialize the editor before calling content methods to avoid errors.
  • Use arrays or identifiers to manage multiple editor instances efficiently.
  • Leverage Froala’s clean API and event hooks to create responsive content workflows.

The Froala editor get-content and set-content methods

Froala provides developer-friendly methods to manipulate content inside the editor. Let’s start with the basics: getting and setting content.

How to use the get-content and set-content methods

To get content from Froala Editor, use the html.get() method. This allows you to retrieve the HTML content within the editor instance.

 

new FroalaEditor('.selector', {}, function () {

  const content = this.html.get();   

console.log(content);

});

Here is the complete example:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">

<head>

  <meta charset="UTF-8">

  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

  <title>Froala Get Content Example</title>

  <!-- Froala Editor CSS -->

  <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

</head>

<body>

  <!-- Editor Container -->

  <div id="froala-editor">

    <p>Edit this content. Check the console after it loads.</p>

  </div>

  <!-- Froala Editor JS -->

  <script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>

  <!-- Custom Script -->

  <script>

    // Initialize Froala Editor

    new FroalaEditor('#froala-editor', {}, function () {

      // Get content on initialization

      const content = this.html.get();

      console.log('Initial editor content:', content);

    });

  </script>

</body>

</html>

get a content example in Froala html editor software - input text

get-content example in Froala html editor - output

To set content, use the html.set() method. This lets you dynamically populate the editor with HTML.

<!-- HTML -->

<div class="selector"></div>

<!-- JavaScript -->

<script>

  new FroalaEditor('.selector', {}, function () {

    this.html.set('<p>Welcome to Froala Editor!</p>');

  });

</script>

Here is the complete example:

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">

<head>

  <meta charset="UTF-8" />

  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"/>

  <title>Froala Set Content Example</title>

  <!-- Froala Editor CSS -->

  <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

</head>

<body>

  <!-- Editor Container -->

  <div class="selector"></div>

  <!-- Froala Editor JS -->

  <script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>

  <!-- Custom Script -->

  <script>

    // Initialize Froala Editor and set content

    new FroalaEditor('.selector', {}, function () {

      this.html.set('<p>Welcome to Froala Editor!</p>');

    });

  </script>

</body>

</html>

When you open this file in your browser, you’ll see Froala Editor with the content:

“Welcome to Froala Editor!”

set-content example in Froala editor an html editor software

These methods are essential for loading saved content or exporting editor data to a backend database.

How to set content dynamically in Froala

When building responsive and interactive applications, you often need to dynamically update the content inside your HTML editor software. Whether it’s loading saved drafts, switching between templates, or reacting to user input—Froala Editor makes this process seamless using the html.set() method.

Use Case:

Imagine you’re building a blogging platform. When a user clicks “Load Template,” you want the editor to instantly populate with a predefined blog structure. This is a perfect case for using html.set() dynamically.

Example: Set content on button click

Here’s how you can dynamically insert content into Froala Editor in response to a user interaction like clicking a button.

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">

<head>

  <meta charset="UTF-8" />

  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"/>

  <title>Froala Dynamic Set Content Example</title>

  <!-- Froala Editor CSS -->

  <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

</head>

<body>

  <!-- Froala Editor Container -->

  <div id="froala-editor"></div>

  <!-- Button to Insert Dynamic Content -->

  <button onclick="insertTemplate()" style="margin-top: 20px; padding: 10px 20px;">Load Blog Template</button>

  <!-- Froala Editor JS -->

  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>

  <!-- Custom JS -->

  <script>

    let editor;

    // Initialize Froala Editor

    editor = new FroalaEditor('#froala-editor', {}, function () {

      console.log('Editor is ready.');

    });

    // Set content dynamically on button click

    function insertTemplate() {

      const templateHTML = `

        <h2>My Blog Title</h2>

        <p>Welcome to my blog! This is a dynamic template loaded into Froala Editor.</p>

        <p>Feel free to customize it as you like.</p>

      `;

      editor.html.set(templateHTML);

    }

  </script>

</body>

</html>

What’s happening here?

  • The editor is initialized with a target element (#froala-editor)
  • A button is provided to trigger the insertTemplate() function
  • When the button is clicked, Froala dynamically replaces the current content with the predefined HTML

Output

It will load the template when you click the button.

set content dynamically example in Froala editor - output

Real-World Applications

  • Draft loaders in CMS platforms
  • Template switchers for emails, blogs, or reports
  • Live previews of form-generated content
  • AI-generated text insertion based on user selections

By integrating dynamic content-setting capabilities using html.set(), you enhance the flexibility and user experience of your HTML editor software—making Froala Editor a powerful choice for interactive web applications.

How to set content with multiple editors

When your application uses multiple Froala Editor instances on a single page—such as in forums, CMS dashboards, or multi-input forms—managing them efficiently is key. Fortunately, Froala Editor makes it simple to initialize and set content individually for each instance.

In this section, you’ll learn how to loop through multiple editors, manage them in a list, and dynamically insert content into a specific one when needed.

Example: Multiple Froala editors with individual content setters

Let’s say you have three editable sections on your page, each needing its own Froala Editor instance. You also want to insert unique content into one of them dynamically.

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">

<head>

  <meta charset="UTF-8" />

  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"/>

  <title>Froala Multiple Editors Example</title>

  <!-- Froala Editor CSS -->

  <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

  <style>

    .editor {

      margin-bottom: 20px;

    }

    button {

      margin-right: 10px;

      margin-bottom: 20px;

    }

  </style>

</head>

<body>

  <!-- Editor Containers -->

  <div class="editor" id="editor-1"></div>

  <div class="editor" id="editor-2"></div>

  <div class="editor" id="editor-3"></div>

  <!-- Control Buttons -->

  <button onclick="setEditorContent(0)">Set Content in Editor 1</button>

  <button onclick="setEditorContent(1)">Set Content in Editor 2</button>

  <button onclick="setEditorContent(2)">Set Content in Editor 3</button>

  <!-- Froala Editor JS -->

  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>

  <!-- Custom Script -->

  <script>

    const editors = [];

    // Initialize Froala Editor on all .editor divs

    document.querySelectorAll('.editor').forEach((el, index) => {

      editors[index] = new FroalaEditor(el, {}, function () {

        console.log(`Editor ${index + 1} initialized.`);

      });

    });

    // Function to dynamically set content in a specific editor

    function setEditorContent(index) {

      const contentTemplates = [

        "<p>This is content for <strong>Editor 1</strong>.</p>",

        "<p>Welcome to <em>Editor 2</em>. Here's your dynamic text!</p>",

        "<p>Editor 3 has <u>fresh content</u> just for you.</p>"

      ];

      if (editors[index]) {

        editors[index].html.set(contentTemplates[index]);

        console.log(`Content set in Editor ${index + 1}`);

      }

    }

  </script>

</body>

</html>

What’s happening here?

  • We select all .editor elements and loop through them with forEach.
  • Each element gets initialized with a Froala Editor instance, stored in an array called editors.
  • When a button is clicked, it calls setEditorContent(index), which sets unique HTML content in the corresponding editor instance.

Real-world use cases

  • Content management systems (CMS) with multiple editable blocks
  • Admin dashboards managing multiple article or section inputs
  • Interactive forms with rich text input in different areas
  • E-learning platforms for instructors writing multiple responses or feedback fields

By storing each Froala Editor instance in an array and referencing them by index or ID, you gain full control over setting content dynamically across a multi-editor interface—enhancing both user experience and application flexibility.

Output

Set content in multiple editors - after clicking the buttons

See the output when you click 3 buttons:

Froala setContent not working: Common fixes

You might run into a situation where the setContent() method just… doesn’t work. Maybe you see the frustrating Cannot read properties of undefined (reading ‘set’) or nothing appears in the editor at all.

This is a common issue in HTML editor software when the script tries to call html.set() before the Froala Editor instance is fully initialized.

Fix it with these steps:

  • Check the initialization order. Make sure you’re calling html.set() inside the Froala init callback or after the editor has finished loading.
  • Avoid calling set() on a null or undefined editor instance. This happens when you’re referencing the editor too early in the page lifecycle.

NOTE: The best practice is to only run editor.html.set() inside the initialization callback or after the editor is ready via Froala editor events like initialized.

new FroalaEditor('#editor', {}, function () {

  this.html.set('<p>This works perfectly!</p>');

});

If you’re using multiple editors or setting content dynamically, make sure:

  • You’re referencing the correct editor instance from your array
  • The DOM is fully loaded before initializing
  • You handle re-renders if you’re using frameworks like React or Vu

How to set Froala content on initialization

If you need to preload content as soon as the editor starts, either use the html.set() method in the callback, or set it as the default HTML using the editor config.

new FroalaEditor('#editor', {

  html: {

    default: '<p>Preloaded content</p>'

  }

});

Following these simple practices will ensure you avoid the common “Froala setContent not working” errors and keep your content flowing smoothly.

How to get plain text content from Froala (No HTML tags)

Sometimes, you just need the text content without any HTML—especially for search indexing, summaries, or plain-text exports. Froala makes this simple with a small tweak to the html.get() method.

Use the following code:

const plainText = editor.html.get(false);

console.log(plainText); // Outputs content without any HTML tags

By passing false to html.get(), the method returns clean text without formatting tags—perfect for lightweight processing or storage.

Best practices for managing content in Froala editor

When it comes to working with HTML editor software, mastering how to get and set content effectively is crucial for building intuitive and flexible web applications. Froala Editor simplifies this with clean, developer-friendly methods that can be adapted for everything from simple blogs to enterprise-level platforms.

Here’s a summary of the key points we covered:

  • Use html.get() to retrieve content from the editor. Pass false if you need a plain text with no HTML tags.
  • Use html.set() to inject or update content within the editor, whether on page load or user interaction.
  • Always ensure you’re calling these methods after the editor is initialized. The safest approach is to use them inside the editor’s initialized callback or through Froala Editor events.
  • For multiple editors, store instances in an array and manage content individually with index-based referencing.
  • Handle edge cases and errors by checking for null references and ensuring the DOM is fully loaded.

Whether you’re building a CMS, a documentation editor, or an e-learning tool, understanding how to get and set content properly ensures your Froala integration is seamless, dynamic, and powerful.

Now that you’ve learned how to control content flow with Froala, you’re ready to build smarter, cleaner, and more flexible editing experiences.

FAQs

Q1: How do I get only the text from Froala without HTML?

 Use editor.html.get(false). This returns a plain text version of the content.

Q2: Why isn’t my html.set() working?

Make sure the editor is fully initialized. Use the method inside the init callback or after the initialized event fires.

Q3: Can I use Froala Editor in multiple elements on one page?

Yes! Just initialize each instance separately and manage them in an array for easy access and control.

Q4: Can I load content into the editor from a database?

Absolutely. Fetch the content via an API or backend call, then use html.set() to populate the editor dynamically.

Q5: Is it safe to use html.set() repeatedly?

Yes, but ensure the editor is still active and not destroyed. For React or Vue apps, re-check initialization after each render.

Got Questions?

If you have more questions about working with Froala Editor or want us to cover a specific topic, feel free to reach out at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you—and who knows? Your question might inspire our next blog post!

Happy editing!

Discover the Best HTML Code Generator for Web Development

HTML code generators have helped web developers speed up their development cycles since their emergence. By providing a user-friendly interface to generate HTML code, they are able to significantly lessen manual coding. Many of these tools function as a WYSIWYG editor, allowing users to create and edit web pages visually without needing to write extensive code.

A visual representation of an HTML code generator.

Thus, businesses, developers, and even non-technical hobbyists have chosen to rely on these HTML generators or integrate them into their workflow.

If you’re planning to find the best HTML code generator that suits your needs, then read on below. In this guide, you’ll see some key features to look for in these generators, as well as a list featuring the best of them. Additionally, you’ll explore how you can quickly integrate one in your projects.

What is an HTML Code Generator?

Whenever we build webpages, we write HTML code using text editors and view the result through a browser. Let’s call this “traditional coding.”

HTML code generators, on the other hand, allow developers to use a visual or text-based interface to generate code.

For example, a user can type on the generator’s text editor, select the text, and click some buttons (e.g., bold and italics). Afterwards, the generator will convert the editor’s contents (e.g., <strong><em>Some text</em></strong>) into HTML code. The way generators display the HTML code might differ, but the end result should be the same.

With these features, HTML generators help developers reduce or skip some basic coding, allowing them to focus on other important parts like optimization, security, and analysis.

Key Features to Look for in an HTML Code Generator

Nowadays, code generators come with plenty of features. Most of these are standard and essential, while others have more niche or specific uses. Here are four important features that the best HTML code generators should contain:

User-friendly Interface

This might appear obvious or simple at first glance, but the truth is that some generators prioritize other things over a polished user interface. Without proper layouts, organization, accessibility, customization, and a clean, modern look, a feature-rich code generator would turn into a difficult, counterintuitive tool.

So, for efficiency (and for not straining your eyes), choose a generator that looks and feels intuitive and seamless.

Auto-completion and Syntax Highlighting

Auto-completion and syntax highlighting are integral parts of every development process because of how they reduce issues, ensure clean code, and provide convenience.

The former automatically suggests code when you type in the editor, possibly reducing human errors (such as typos). Additionally, it helps cut time when writing repetitive code. On the other hand, syntax highlighting helps you identify syntax errors or inconsistencies in the editor.

Code Snippets and Templates

The code snippets feature contributes greatly to the rapid development of web pages. It allows developers to use pre-written codes and insert or paste them directly into projects.

Templates provide developers with a fixed yet customizable web page design and features. They serve as a good foundation for a project, especially for those who want a quick start.

In case you’re looking for ways to visualize code snippets or animate them in various ways, you can look at tools like Snappify.

Cross-browser Compatibility

Browsers may display HTML code differently. That’s why you usually test the look and feel of your web pages across different browsers before deploying them.

The same goes for HTML generators. When looking for the right one for your use case, you should pick that which already has cross-browser compatibility.

Top HTML Code Generators Available Today

There are many HTML generators available, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Here’s a list of some of the best options you can consider:

1. Froala Editor

Froala, a WYSIWYG editor that also functions as an HTML code generator. The image shows two screens, one with the user interface and the other with the generated HTML code from the editor's code view feature.

Froala is a WYSIWYG editor (think drag-and-drop, rich-text editing, and image handling) that also contains code generation features. With over 100 features, it’s a tool that you can use for code generation, blog sites, web content creation, and more.

Features

  • Rich text and formatting features (e.g., Markdown, basic styling, tables, etc.)
  • Code Mirror integration for converting visual elements into code
  • Integration with Codox.io for collaboration and real-time editing features
  • Advanced file uploading and transformations
  • Lightweight (50 KB gzip core) and fast (about 40 ms initialization)

Pros

  • High degree of customization
  • A responsive, accessible, cross-browser, and cross-platform WYSIWYG editor that also supports SEO optimization
  • Easy integration with different front-end frameworks like React and server-side tools like PHP
  • Free trial with full features

Cons

  • No code templates exist at the moment.

Suitable for: Professionals and businesses that need a powerful, customizable, and light HTML editor and generator

2. Bootstrap Studio

An sample image that shows Bootstrap Studio's HTML code generator and IDE.

This is a desktop application that leverages the Bootstrap framework to create responsive web pages. It primarily offers several drag-and-drop components to assemble these web pages. Compared to other generators, this feels like more of a full-fledged IDE for web design.

Features

  • Bootstrap framework support (several versions are available)
  • Drag-and-drop editing for rapid development
  • Real-time preview of web page designs across different devices and screen widths (like a hot reload for page design)
  • Pre-made templates and components
  • Fonts and icons are available

Pros

  • Great for responsive web design
  • A good degree of customization
  • Easy to learn
  • Intuitive and clean IDE UI

Cons

  • Might seem too heavy for simpler or specific HTML code generation requirements

Suitable for: Web page designers or developers who feel more comfortable with drag-and-drop IDEs

3. CoffeeCup HTML Editor

This image shows the UI of CoffeeCup's HTML editor, particularly the tag highlighting feature.

CoffeeCup’s HTML editor offers dozens of useful tools for building web pages, prioritizing development speed and convenience.

Features

  • Code completion for convenience and reducing typographical errors
  • Tag highlighting for knowing where each tags (e.g., div) start and end
  • Template downloader
  • Components library
  • Free trial is available

Pros

  • Good syntax highlighting and auto-completion features
  • Lets you get started easily
  • Good file structure organization
  • Great for developers and designers who are already familiar with non-visual IDEs

Cons

  • The IDE’s UI looks clean but might seem less modern compared to others
  • There’s a free trial, but there’s no online HTML code generator demo available

Suitable for: Developers who are more comfortable with manual coding but want a little automation features and convenience

A table of comparison that summarizes the information above.

How to Choose the Right HTML Code Generator for Your Needs

With many available options to generate HTML code, you should consider the following factors:

Project Requirements

Are you building a full website, or are you looking to quickly generate HTML code? Do you need many features or just specific ones? Are compliance, security, clean layouts, SEO, and performance important for you? How about scalability?

Team Size

If you’re working solo, you can opt for a simple, easy-to-use, and possibly free tool to generate HTML code. On the other hand, small and larger teams might benefit from more robust tools, especially those with collaboration features.

Budget

Some HTML code generators are free or have a perpetual plan option. Others require a subscription. Better ones offer all of the aforementioned. Choose a tool that aligns with your budget constraints.

Remember that before you fully commit, you should test out the tools with either a free trial or a live demo. You can then gauge whether the features align with your needs and workflow.

Integrating an HTML Code Generator into Your Workflow

You can use HTML code generators in several ways. Here are some examples that demonstrate how you can integrate them into your workflow:

Online HTML code generators

If you just need a quick and accessible start to your projects, you can use online HTML generators. These include online HTML editor demos and even AI-powered LLMs like ChatGPT. To get started, visit the site of your preferred online editor.

Web app integration

You can also integrate these generators into applications (e.g., internal apps or apps for your users). For example, you can install Froala Editor by either downloading its files as a ZIP, using the CDN, or using package managers like NPM.

After you have the editor’s files (or if you’re using CDN), you can then import them into your project directly like the following lines:

<!--Import via CDN-->
<link href='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script type='text/javascript' src='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js'></script>

Once you have them, you’re ready to initialize the editor and enable your application’s users to generate HTML.

As separate desktop applications

Lastly, you can download or purchase full IDEs with code generation features. This method would probably require the most effort and resources but might also come with the most features. Hence, you must ensure that you can maximize the use of these features should you get such a code generator.

Conclusion

In web development, you can supplement your current tech stack with a tool that can generate HTML code. This speeds up the layout design and development process while possibly reducing errors.

Before you start implementing, it is worth noting that neither traditional coding nor HTML generators is better than the other. Furthermore, you should always review generated code to be safe.

To find the best one for you, check each of the best HTML code generators out (demos, free trials, etc.). In the end, the answer will depend on your project needs, development style, pacing, and budget.

Froala Editor V4.5.1: Enhanced Filestack, Styling Non-editable Content, and More

We are excited to announce the release of Froala Editor 4.5.1. This version includes several new features and improvements, such as enhanced performance, bug fixes, and new customization options. Users can now enjoy a more seamless editing experience with increased stability and efficiency.

By upgrading to Froala Editor V4.5.1, users will benefit from using the Filestack plugin on all browsers, the ability to easily style contenteditable="false" elements, and much more!

Let’s dive in and explore the key highlights.

Filestack Plugin now works across all browsers

Froala Editor 4.3 introduced the powerful Filestack plugin, allowing users to easily upload and manage files from various cloud storage providers.

The Filestack integration offers a complete file upload management solution. When a user uploads a file, a CDN link is created instantly, providing optimized and rapid file delivery.

However, the previous version had some browser compatibility restrictions, limiting its usage.

With Froala Editor V4.5.1, the Filestack plugin now works seamlessly across all browsers and operating systems. Users can now enjoy a consistent and reliable file management experience, regardless of their browser of choice.

Configuring the Filestack plugin is easy. Check out these guides for more details:

With the cross-browser compatibility of the Filestack plugin, users can now confidently manage their files from any device or browser, saving time and hassle. This improvement further enhances the flexibility and reliability of the Froala Editor, making it an even more powerful tool for content creation and management.

Easily Style Non-Editable Content

Froala Editor 4.5.1 introduces a powerful new feature that gives you more control over styling your content. The update adds a new configuration option called (allowStylingOnNonEditable). When you set this to true, users will be able to style contenteditable=”false” elements. If a user styles content partially within a non-editable element, the entire element’s content will be styled.

new FroalaEditor('#editor', {

allowStylingOnNonEditable: true

});

By default, this configuration is set to false, maintaining the old behavior where non-editable element styling is not allowed.

By unlocking the ability to style non-editable content, Froala Editor 4.5.1 gives you greater creative control and a more streamlined editing experience. No more workarounds or compromises – just the freedom to format your content exactly how you want it.

Table Formatting Enhancements

This release supercharges table formatting, dramatically boosting user productivity. The new features streamline content management and editing, saving time and reducing frustration.

Multi-cell Content Formatting

You can now select and format multiple table cells at once. Simply click and drag, or use the (Shift + Arrow) keys shortcut. Then, apply text styles like font size, bold, italics, alignment, and background color across all selected cells with a single action.

Multi-cell Content Formatting

Improved table content alignment

If the user wants to align content within a table cell, he can select the cell and align the content from the table popup alignment option or from the editor toolbar alignment options.

Previously, the table popup alignment applies styles directly to the <td> elements, while toolbar alignment targets the content inside these cells. This discrepancy leads to conflicts when switching between the two alignment methods, causing the alignment to stop working as expected.

Froala V4.5.1 syncs the two alignment methods for a seamless experience. Now, if a cell is selected and a style is applied from the toolbar, it is applied to the entire td element. However, if a specific text or element within the cell is selected, the style from the toolbar applies only to that selected text/element.

Additional Table Improvements

Froala V4.5.1 also addresses other table-related issues. It removes the unnecessary .fr-table-selector overlay that appeared when hovering over the editor inside a table, even without a table inside the editor. And it fixes table resizing problems when using Froala within the Fluent UI 8 Dialog component.

These table formatting enhancements make Froala Editor an even more powerful tool for organizing and presenting your content. With these time-saving features, you can focus on creating great work instead of wrestling with formatting.

Track Content Movements with Ease

Froala Editor 4.5.1 introduces an exciting new feature that allows you to track content movements. When you enable the Track Changes plugin, the editor will now visually indicate whenever users drag and drop content within the document.

The ability to track drag and drop actions further enhances Froala Editor’s capabilities. Now, you can confidently rearrange content, knowing you can monitor and understand the changes. This makes Froala an even more powerful tool for efficiently expressing your ideas and keeping your content organized.

To take advantage of this feature, simply enable the Track Changes plugin by including its button in the toolbarButtons option. Refer to the plugin’s documentation to learn more about its configuration and usage.

new FroalaEditor('#froala-editor',  {

toolbarButtons: ['bold', 'italic', 'underline','fontFamily', 'color',  'paragraphStyle','trackChanges', ]

});

Bug Fixes

Additionally, the team has addressed various bug fixes and stability improvements to ensure a seamless and reliable editing experience for all Froala Editor users. These include:

  • The release resolves an issue that caused the editor to freeze when users inserted an image as a base64 string and then switched to the Code View. This fix ensures a smooth transition between the visual and code editing modes, saving users from frustrating interruptions.
  • The team removed a duplicate identifier runtime error in the TypeScript type definition file index.d.ts. This issue had previously caused problems with TypeScript compilation, making integration with TypeScript-based projects more challenging. By addressing this bug, the Froala team has improved the editor’s overall compatibility and reliability for developers.

Please find the complete changelog list here.

How Can I Update?

Don’t miss out on the benefits of the latest Froala 4.5.1 release. Update today and experience the enhanced editing features and improvements.

If you are using a plain JavaScript library or other framework, check the get started page to know how to download the latest Froala Editor release and how to include it in your project based on your preferred method.

If you are using a plain JavaScript library or other framework, follow the table below to learn how to download the latest Froala Editor release and include it in your project based on your preferred method.

Method How to download Include in your project
CDN
<!-- Include Editor stylesheet-->
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

<!-- Include Editor JavaScript file-->
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>
CDN (Always the latest version)
<!-- Include Editor stylesheet-->
<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

<!-- Include Editor JavaScript file-->
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>
NPM
npm install froala-editor
<!--

Replace the {download-folder-path} in the following example with the path to the folder containing the stylesheet file e.g.

../css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js

-->

<link href="{download-folder-path}/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

<!--

Replace the {download-folder-path} with the path to the folder containing the JS file e.g.

../js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js

-->

<script type="text/javascript" src="{download-folder-path}/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>
bower
bower install froala-wysiwyg-editor
NO Package Manager Download Froala WYSIWYG Editor files using the download form here.
Integrated with a Framework Select your preferred framework from 17 different popular frameworks.
Other options Check here for other options for using Froala WYSIWYG Editor in your project.

For Froala Editor Version 2 Users:

Follow this migration guide for step-by-step instructions on upgrading from version 2.

Try The Latest Froala Editor

Explore a variety of examples that demonstrate the functionality of the Froala HTML Editor.

Support and Feedback

We are dedicated to always offering the best possible experience for all our users. We believe this release, meant to enhance Typescript support, is a stepping stone towards that commitment. We encourage you to try this improved Typescript support and give us your valuable feedback. Your input is crucial for delivering continuous enhancement and meeting your evolving needs. Thank you for being a valuable part of our vibrant and growing community.
We would like to hear what you think of the latest release! Join us on our GitHub Community to chat with our product manager, developers, and other members of the Froala team.

Change Log

Get Started

  • You can download and start using Froala in less than five minutes following our get-started guide.

Technical Questions

How to Use Bootstrap: Set Up and Customize in Your Project

Bootstrap is one of the most popular frameworks for building responsive and modern web applications. It’s extensive, modern, and easy to learn, making it suitable for beginners and experts alike.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to use Bootstrap, from installing it through different ways to customizing it to your liking.

You’ll also explore how Bootstrap helps boost developer productivity, including its various UI components, quick setup, and compatibility with modern browsers.

Additionally, you’ll learn about React Bootstrap, a reimplementation of Bootstrap components using React. This open-source, community-maintained project is an alternate way of implementing Bootstrap in React. It’s not official Bootstrap, but it’s perfect for React apps.

When developing modern websites and applications, you should also consider using tools that go well with one another. Froala is an HTML editor that synergizes well with Bootstrap. It consists of an intuitive, SEO-friendly, and already responsive interface in addition to powerful editing tools.

Before Learning How to Use Bootstrap…

You might want a refresher on its different components, as well as how to install Bootstrap. If you’re already familiar with these, skip to the next section, where you’ll explore customizing Bootstrap CSS.

Understanding Bootstrap’s UI Components

To use Bootstrap for building responsive web apps and mobile-first styles, you make use of pre-designed, customizable UI components.

These are essentially themes or styles that you apply to plain HTML elements via the class attribute.

Once the page loads, Bootstrap will then style and design your elements according to the contents of their class attributes.

For example, you can turn a common div element into a navbar by appending the “navbar” class to it. To expand the navbar on larger screen sizes, add “navbar-expand-lg.” If you want a darker theme to it, add the “bg-dark” (as of version 5.x) class.

You can even use different styling classes for one element. Think of these components as makeup or accessories for your elements. Mix and match or use them however you like to beautify and standardize the site contents.

Ultimately, they should make your site look better and consistent across different CSS media queries or screens, including mobile devices.

Each Bootstrap CSS UI component has a specific purpose. Some are for layout, while others are for theming, form design, and individual element styling.

The Bootstrap documentation pages categorize them into the following:

Layout

These are the components that deal with organizing the DOM elements to ensure that the site contents have visual structure and responsiveness.

These usually act as styling for div elements containing elements of their own. Layout concepts include the grid system, full-width containers (which wraps site contents), and breakpoints.

Content

Content components are global styling settings for text, images, tables, and more. This means that by using content components, you can set Bootstrap’s basic styling throughout your plain JS or React projects.

For example, you can use the “img-fluid” class across your images to make them responsive without having to touch CSS properties.

Forms

As the name suggests, this type of component is responsible for styling form elements and input fields.

These UI components include text fields, floating labels, textareas, radio buttons, checkboxes, select fields, and validation classes.

Components

What the Bootstrap docs categorize as “components” refers to pre-built UI components that come with built-in styling and interactivity (e.g., hover or popover events).

Each specific component already has Bootstrap’s consistent styling and JavaScript functionality. However, you can also modify these further using utilities, helpers, and even custom CSS.

These include the bulk of Bootstrap’s components: buttons, navbars, cards, carousels, list groups, and a lot more. Bootstrap’s UI components also include JavaScript plugins such as modals, tooltips, popovers, and collapsibility.

When learning how to use Bootstrap, it's vital to understand how its components work and interact with one another. This image presents a few of these components used together to create a responsive and presentable design.

Helpers

Helpers refer to smaller classes that perform a single function. You usually use these together with other Bootstrap components.

Examples of helpers include colored links, specific component positioning (e.g., “fixed-top,” “sticky-bottom”), text truncation, visually hidden elements (for assistive technologies), and some others.

Utilities

Utilities are general-purpose styling classes for HTML elements. Unlike helpers, they have a broader, more global scope, allowing you to control styling like colors, spacing, and typography. Like helpers, they usually go together with other classes or components.

Examples of Bootstrap utilities include margins, padding, text colors, flex options, shadows, borders, sizing, and more.

Now that you’ve had a refresher, it’s time to install Bootstrap.

Installing Bootstrap

There are different methods for installing the Bootstrap CSS and JS files. Here, you’ll discover some of the most popular ones.

via compiled Bootstrap CSS and JS

You can install Bootstrap by downloading its ready-to-use codes that include both compiled and minified Bootstrap CSS bundles and JavaScript plugins.

Note that this method does not include documentation, source files, or optional JS dependencies like Popper.

To install Bootstrap via compiled CSS and JavaScript, click here. Include the files that you need in your JS or React app’s folder afterwards. Whether you’re using React or a non-framework setup, the steps for this method are generally the same.

via the Bootstrap CDN

A quick alternative installation method for Bootstrap is by using the Bootstrap CDN. This method allows you to call a cached version of Bootstrap in your plain JS or React application.

This helps you get started faster and more easily. To add the framework through Bootstrap CDN, include the following code in your index.html file:

<head>
<!--other head items-->
...
<!--Bootstrap 5 CSS-->
<link 	href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-QWTKZyjpPEjISv5WaRU9OFeRpok6YctnYmDr5pNlyT2bRjXh0JMhjY6hW+ALEwIH" crossorigin="anonymous">
</head>

<body>
<!--other body items-->
<!--Bootstrap 5 JavaScript-->
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js" integrity="sha384-YvpcrYf0tY3lHB60NNkmXc5s9fDVZLESaAA55NDzOxhy9GkcIdslK1eN7N6jIeHz" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
</body>

This gives you the latest delivered version. You can also specify which version of Bootstrap you want in your project by replacing the version number.

If you want to import Popper, jQuery, and other dependencies, you can add them before the JavaScript link through the Bootstrap CDN as well.

via Package Manager

The last installation method is installing the Bootstrap packages using NPM. To install the Bootstrap NPM package, you must have both Node.js and NPM.

To get started, open your CLI, go to your project directory, and run the following command:

npm install [email protected]

This installs the 5.3.3 version of the Bootstrap NPM package in the “node_modules” folder. This makes it available (but not yet usable; we’ll discuss this soon) for your JS or React application.

Should you need more Bootstrap 5 components, add them after the keyword. For example, run the following command to install Bootstrap with jQuery and Popper:

npm install [email protected] jquery popper.js

You should then see the NPM package’s dependencies in your package.json file. For instance, for a React app, here’s what your package.json file should look like:

An example of Bootstrap dependencies in a React app.

If you’re not using a framework, you’ll generally include the Bootstrap files in your HTML pages, similar to the code below.

<head>
<!--other head items-->
...
<!--Bootstrap 5 CSS-->

<!--If you installed Bootstrap via NPM, use the "node_modules" directory. Otherwise, replace "node_modules" with the path to your Bootstrap CSS-->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="node_modules/bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css">

</head>

<body>
<!--other body items-->
<!--Bootstrap 5 JavaScript-->
<script src="node_modules/bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js"></script>
</body>

With this, you should have the ability to use Bootstrap’s components throughout your HTML page (and other pages that use it).

On the other hand, for a React app, import Bootstrap by adding the following code to your “src/index.js” file:

import 'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css';
import "bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min";

This allows you to use Bootstrap components throughout your React app. Now, let’s dive into styling and customizing your projects using Bootstrap’s grid system and other components.

Basic Customization

To understand Bootstrap’s customization capabilities, let’s look into using its grid layout system, color styling, and font styling.

How to Use Bootstrap’s Grid System

The grid system is a way of laying out HTML elements in terms of rows and columns. By doing so, you ensure that each component containing elements is properly displayed with respect to each other.

Each row takes up its parent’s entire width and has a total of 12 columns, which you can divide in any way you like. For example, if you want three equal-sized columns for a row, you have to change their size to 4 (3 columns x 4 column size = 12 total columns).

On the other hand, each column can have one or more rows. You can also nest these rows and columns together.

Now, let’s test it out by creating a page with a few rectangles. Try creating some rows and dividing them into columns of varying widths. To discern them from each other, add some background colors as well.

To get started, open your file (in this case, index.html) and add the following code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />

    <title>How to Use Bootstrap</title>
    <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-T3c6CoIi6uLrA9TneNEoa7RxnatzjcDSCmG1MXxSR1GAsXEV/Dwwykc2MPK8M2HN" crossorigin="anonymous">
</head>

<body>
    <div class="container-fluid bg-light vh-100">
	<div class="row h-25">
            <div class="col border border-danger text-center">
                col-12
            </div>
        </div>
	<div class="row h-25">
            <div class="col-md-6 border border-danger text-center">
                col-6
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-6 border border-danger text-center">
                col-6
            </div>
        </div>
	<div class="row h-25">
            <div class="col-md-8 border border-danger text-center">
                col-8
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-2 border border-danger text-center">
                col-2
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-2 border border-danger text-center">
                col-2
            </div>
        </div>
	<div class="row h-25">
            <div class="col-md-2 border border-danger text-center">
                col-2
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-2 border border-danger text-center">
                col-2
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-2 border border-danger text-center">
                col-2
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-2 border border-danger text-center">
                col-2
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-2 border border-danger text-center">
                col-2
            </div>
            <div class="col-md-2 border border-danger text-center">
                col-2
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>

    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js" integrity="sha384-C6RzsynM9kWDrMNeT87bh95OGNyZPhcTNXj1NW7RuBCsyN/o0jlpcV8Qyq46cDfL" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
</body>
</html>

First, add Bootstrap (in this case, through Bootstrap CDN). Next up, create a div element with the class “container-fluid,” which wraps site contents in a full-width container.

If you prefer something narrower than a full-width container, use “container” instead.

We also add the “bg-light” and “vh-100” classes to the wrapper. The former is simply for adding a touch of color, while the latter makes the container span the entire height of the screen.

Afterwards, create four rows of equal height (“h-25” allows a row to take up a fourth, or 25%, of the parent element’s height).

Finally, create as many as twelve columns for each row. How you divide it is up to you, but in the example above, you have:

  • 1-column row: The first row only has one column. You can use either “col” or “col-12” to allow a column to take up the entire width of the row.
  • 2-column row: The second row has two equal-length columns. Hence, each column has the “col-md-6” class.
  • 3-column row (unequal lengths): The third row has three columns of varying sizes. The first one is longer (8 columns long), while the other two have an equal length of 2.How you divide the row is up to you, but the total columns per row should be 12.
  • 6-column row: The fourth row has six columns of size 2.

To better discern the columns, add a border to each of them by appending the “border border-danger” classes.

The “border” (as the name suggests) class adds a border to an element, while the “border-danger” one adds Bootstrap’s red theme color to it.

Run the application, and you should see the following screen:

A sample application powered by Bootstrap. This screen contains 4 rows with different columns each. All columns have a reddish border color from Bootstrap's border-danger class.

Now, let’s try customizing Bootstrap’s default colors and fonts with some custom CSS.

How to Customize Colors and Fonts

You can override Bootstrap’s default settings with custom CSS and Bootstrap 5.

Bootstrap 5 defines prebuilt CSS variables (–bs-*) for colors, typography, spacing, and more. These variables make overriding Bootstrap styles easier without modifying Bootstrap’s core files.

Overriding these CSS variables changes all elements that use Bootstrap’s default styles to follow your theme, colors, and fonts.

For instance, create a CSS file, include it in your HTML, and insert the following lines of code:

:root {
    --bs-light: #eeeeee;
    --bs-danger: #01a4f9;
    --bs-body-font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif;
}

.bg-light {
    background-color: var(--bs-light) !important;
}

.border-danger {
    border-color: var(--bs-danger) !important;
}

The code above defines some CSS variables (e.g., –bs-light) for changing the colors of the “light” and “danger” properties. Moreover, it also changes the default font into “Roboto.”

Note that the colors this code is using are significantly different from the default (whitish gray to slightly darker gray, red to light blue).

Afterwards, the code uses these CSS variables for the “background-color” and “border-color” properties. Now, if you run the application, you should see:

In our grid example, the border color has changed into a lighter shade of blue. Additionally, the background color is now a darker gray, and the font family is different.

In addition to colors and fonts, you can also use CSS to customize buttons, navbars, forms, dropdown menu, and other components by using the “!important” keyword. This overrides Bootstrap’s default properties.

In summary, to integrate your color scheme and typography, define CSS variables to change the default colors and fonts to your theme’s. Afterwards, you can use these variables across your CSS file together with the “important” keyword.

Now, let’s move into the more advanced Bootstrap customization techniques.

Advanced Customization Techniques

If you want to go beyond basic CSS customization for Bootstrap, you should try using both Bootstrap JS plugins and Sass.

JS plugins add a bit of animation and interactivity to your components, improving the UX. Sass, on the other hand, provides a more organized way of customizing styles, making it perfect for theming.

Modifying Bootstrap Components with Sass

Sass (Syntactically Awesome Stylesheets) is a CSS preprocessor that allows you to write cleaner styles more efficiently. The Bootstrap framework is built on Sass, which means that you can easily customize its components and styles to match your needs.

The best part is you don’t have to manually override styles using CSS like we did in the previous section.

Note: Sass requires that you get the entire library using NPM or local installation. Bootstrap Sass won’t work if you’re using the CDN.

Let’s start setting up Sass. First, go to your project directory and run the following line:

npm install -g sass

This command installs the Sass compiler in your directory, allowing you to use Sass commands.

Afterwards, create a new folder in your root and name it “scss” or something similar. In this new folder, create a file called “custom.scss.”

Here, you’re creating your own stylesheet that imports Bootstrap instead of modifying Bootstrap’s core files. This is because Bootstrap does not recommend modifying its core files.

Open your “custom.scss” file and add the following lines:

$light: #eeeeee;
$danger: #28a745;

$font-family-base: 'Roboto', sans-serif !default;

@import "../node_modules/bootstrap/scss/bootstrap";

Here, you’re defining new colors for the “light,” “danger,” and “font-family-base” CSS properties. This step is similar to what you did in the previous section, albeit easier. This code also uses a different “danger” color from earlier.

Lastly, import the Bootstrap components at the end of the SCSS file. Bootstrap recommends importing only what you need, but for simplicity, the code above imports the entire library.

Afterwards, in your CLI, move up to the “scss” folder and run the following line:

sass custom.scss custom.css

This command essentially tells the Sass compiler to compile our “custom.scss” file into CSS, specifically with the filename “custom.css.” Afterwards, you should see the newly generated “custom.css” file in your “scss” folder.

For the next step, since you’re creating your own stylesheet that imports Bootstrap, you won’t need the Bootstrap CSS link in your HTML file anymore. In your index.html, replace the head contents with:

<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />

    <title>Sample Bootstrap App</title>
    <!--<link rel="stylesheet" href="node_modules/bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css">-->
    <!--<link href="styles.css" rel="stylesheet">-->
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="scss/custom.css">
</head>

Note that the previous links (to the Bootstrap files and the custom stylesheet) are now commented so that you can use the new CSS file that you compiled from SCSS beforehand.

Run the application, and you should see the following changes:

After creating an SCSS file, compiling it into CSS, and using it, we are able to achieve the same effect of customizing Bootstrap, but in an easier manner.

Using Bootstrap’s JavaScript Plugins

Bootstrap provides different JavaScript plugins to add interactivity and animation to your projects. These JS plugins include:

  • Modal: These are pop-up dialogs that you can use to display information, policies or terms of use, and forms. These usually include a title, body, and footer.
  • Tooltips & Popovers: Plugins that show additional information on mouse hover (tooltips) or click (popovers). These can have either only text or a pair of title and text.
  • Toast: Use these when you want to display stylized notifications easily. These also typically include a header and a body.
  • Collapse: Plugins that create toggleable elements. These keep the application looking clean, hiding and showing elements that could clutter the display on smaller screens.
  • Carousel: These are responsive image sliders. They usually come with a title, body, image, and a pair of “next” and “previous” buttons for going through the media files.

Let’s try using a tooltip and popover. In your index.html file, pick any column from any row and add the following lines of code:

<button type="button" class="btn btn-danger text-white" data-bs-container="body" data-bs-toggle="popover" data-bs-placement="top" data-bs-content="This popover appears at the top of the button.">
     Click Me!
</button>

<button type="button" class="btn btn-info text-white" data-bs-toggle="tooltip" data-bs-placement="right" data-bs-title="This tooltip appears at the right side of the button.">
     Hover over me!
</button>

This code adds two buttons: one for triggering the popover event and another for the tooltip event. Specify the type of data toggle using the “data-bs-toggle” property, then specify the placement of the tooltip and popover.

Afterwards, after the Bootstrap script near the bottom of the body, add the following lines:

<script>
        const popoverTriggerList = document.querySelectorAll('[data-bs-toggle="popover"]');
        const popoverList = [...popoverTriggerList].map(popoverTriggerEl => new bootstrap.Popover(popoverTriggerEl));

        const tooltipTriggerList = document.querySelectorAll('[data-bs-toggle="tooltip"]');
        const tooltipList = [...tooltipTriggerList].map(tooltipTriggerEl => new bootstrap.Tooltip(tooltipTriggerEl));
</script>

What this code does is initialize both the popover and tooltip trigger lists, enabling them for the page. Run the application to see the two new buttons that show a tooltip when hovered and a popover when clicked:

This image demonstrates Bootstrap's popover and tooltip components. It shows two buttons: one for displaying a popover on click and another for displaying a tooltip on hover.

These components are already cool, but you can take it up a notch by customizing them further using data attributes and JavaScript.

For example, you can use data attributes to change the behavior of the popover button, shown in the code below:

<button type="button" class="btn btn-danger text-white"
     data-bs-container="body"
     data-bs-toggle="popover"
     data-bs-placement="top"
     data-bs-config='{"animation": false, "delay": {"show": 500, "hide": 100}}'
     data-bs-content="This popover appears at the top of the button.">Click Me!</button>

This removes Bootstrap’s default animation for the popover. Instead, it will show the popover after 500ms without the fade-in effect. Note that to use the “data-bs-config,” you need to modify your popover and tooltip script into something like:

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function () {
    const popoverTriggerList = document.querySelectorAll('[data-bs-toggle="popover"]');

    popoverTriggerList.forEach((popoverTriggerEl) => {
        const config = JSON.parse(popoverTriggerEl.getAttribute("data-bs-config"));
        new bootstrap.Popover(popoverTriggerEl, config);
    });

    const tooltipTriggerList = document.querySelectorAll('[data-bs-toggle="tooltip"]');
    tooltipTriggerList.forEach((tooltipTriggerEl) => {
        new bootstrap.Tooltip(tooltipTriggerEl);
    });
});

On the other hand, you can use JavaScript to change the behavior of the plugins. For instance, to dynamically update the tooltip options, replace the tooltip script with:

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function () {
            const tooltipTriggerList = document.querySelectorAll('[data-bs-toggle="tooltip"]');

            tooltipTriggerList.forEach((tooltipTriggerEl) => {
                const tooltip = new bootstrap.Tooltip(tooltipTriggerEl);

                tooltipTriggerEl.addEventListener("mouseenter", function () {
                    tooltip.setContent({ '.tooltip-inner': "New Tooltip Text!" });
                    tooltip.update();
                });
            });
});

This code dynamically replaces the contents of the tooltip on DOM load.

That’s all we need to discuss in this article about using Bootstrap’s most common features. But before you go, why not talk about another suitable Bootstrap implementation for React apps?

React Bootstrap: An Alternative for React Apps

Bootstrap, as it is, works well with React apps. But if you want something that works more like React, then you should consider using React Bootstrap. Let’s quickly explore what it is and what makes it different below.

What is React Bootstrap?

React Bootstrap is a popular front-end framework from an open-source community. Although not officially from the Bootstrap team, it is perfect for React apps because it doesn’t rely on direct DOM manipulation.

Instead, it’s built on React components, ensuring better compatibility with React’s virtual DOM and state management. So, instead of using syntax like “<button class=’btn btn-primary’>…,” you would use something like “<Button variant=’primary’>Primary</Button>.”

Key Differences between Traditional and React Bootstrap

  • Component-based Approach: React Bootstrap provides pre-built React components like <Button> and <Form> instead of using HTML and class-based Bootstrap components.
  • No jQuery Dependency: Traditional Bootstrap requires jQuery for some interactive features or animations. On the other hand, React Bootstrap relies on React itself, reducing unnecessary dependencies.
  • Better Integration with React Apps: React Bootstrap components support props, state management, and lifecycle methods, allowing more flexibility to ensure proper rendering.

Best Practices for Using Bootstrap

Using Bootstrap is easy, even if you are a beginner. However, beginner or not, developers should always research and consider the best practices when using Bootstrap. By doing so, you can avoid future headaches like security breaches, obsolescence, and performance issues.

Here are two important things to consider for Bootstrap:

Keep Bootstrap Updated

Regularly updating Bootstrap ensures access to the latest features, performance improvements, and security patches. Outdated versions may have vulnerabilities or lack support for modern web standards.

Just be sure to check the documentation pages first before updating to the latest. Bootstrap could change some syntax on their next update, possibly breaking some existing code if not thoroughly checked. For example, “text-start” and “text-end” used to be “text-left” and “text-right” a few years ago.

Optimize Bootstrap for Performance

  • Minimize CSS and JS Files: Use only the necessary Bootstrap components by customizing builds. You can also use other third-party tools to help remove unused styles.
  • Use Only Necessary Components: As briefly stated earlier, instead of importing the entire Bootstrap library, import individual components to reduce bundle size and improve loading times.

Conclusion

And that’s it! You now have some basic understanding of how Bootstrap works. Additionally, you’re now equipped to customize it to suit your applications.

Experimenting with different customization options will help tailor Bootstrap to specific project needs.

So, how do you find Bootstrap so far? Did you play around with the different components and customization settings? Share your experiences and tips on using Bootstrap in the comments!

Adding Rich Text Editor Support For Contact Form 7 WordPress Plugin

rich-text editor for contact form 7

Would you like to allow users to submit formatted content through your Contact Form 7 forms instead of plain text? This guide explains step-by-step how you can integrate a rich-text editor for Contact Form 7 using the Froala WordPress content editor.

What Is Contact Form 7?

Contact Form 7 is one of the most popular form-building plugins used by millions of WordPress websites worldwide. It’s incredibly reliable and powerful for creating simple to advanced forms.

Contact form 7

But there’s one limitation—its default text area fields only allow plain text submissions. This means users can’t include HTML tags like bold text, italics, headings, or any other visually appealing formatting.

That’s where adding a rich text editor like Froala can greatly improve the user experience and allow your forms to accept visually engaging, formatted submissions.

Why Add a WordPress Content Editor to Contact Form 7?

By adding a rich text editor field, you’ll significantly enhance your user’s experience. Contributors to your forms will now be able to easily provide complex content using the wordpress editor. Instead of receiving boring plain text submissions, you’ll get nicely formatted messages including headings, bold text, italicized text, and lists.

This improvement can make submissions easier to read, more organized, and visually appealing, potentially boosting your engagement and conversion rates. Your WordPress site and your email communications will both look more professional and polished.

Creating a Rich Text Editor Field for Contact Form

Let’s get started! Follow these easy steps to add the feature to your form:

Step 1: Setting Up Your Contact Form

  • In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Contact Form 7 under the plugins menu.
  • Either create a new form or select an existing contact form to edit.
  • You might already have something like this in your form template:
<label> Your name
    [text* your-name autocomplete:name] </label>

<label> Your email
    [email* your-email autocomplete:email] </label>

<label> Subject
    [text* your-subject] </label>


[submit "Submit"]

Step 2: Adding a Rich Text Editor Field for Contact Form

Now let’s add the new Froala-powered rich text editor field:

  • Click on the “textarea” button to insert a new field.

rich text wordpress content editor

  • In the “Field name” input, provide a unique identifier such as “message“.
  • In the “Class attribute” input, add a class name you’ll use later to reference the field in the Froala initialization code. A simple example is “editor“.
  • Your inserted tag will look like this:
[textarea message class:editor]

Insert text area field

  • Click “Insert Tag“, and your form template will now include this new field for complex content submission.
  • Save your updated contact form.

Initializing Froala Rich Text Editor on Your Form

You’re almost there! Next, you’ll need to set up your form emails to handle HTML content properly.

Step 3: Configuring Email Submission with HTML Tags

  • In your Contact Form 7 settings, click the “Mail” tab.
  • Ensure you’ve checked “Use HTML content type“. This setting allows your submissions to include HTML tags and maintain their formatting.
  • Also, ensure the “message” field is referenced in your “Message body“.
contact form email setup
  • Click “Save” and copy the generated shortcode provided by Contact Form 7.

Step 4: Embedding Your Contact Form into a WordPress Page

To display your new rich text-enabled form, embed the shortcode into one of your WordPress pages:

  • Open the page editor for your desired page.
  • Paste your shortcode where you want the form to appear:

Error: Contact form not found.

Insert contact form shortcode
  • Click “Publish” or “Update” to make the page live on your WordPress site.

Step 5: Adding the Froala WordPress Content Editor to the Form Page

Now, you’ll add the Froala rich text editor resources directly to your page. Simply include the Froala CDN link and initialization script:

Add these CDN references to your page or site’s HTML head:

<link href='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/css/froala_editor.min.css' rel='stylesheet' />
<script src='https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/froala-editor@latest/js/froala_editor.min.js'></script>

Then initialize the Froala editor on your textarea field using the class name “editor“:

<script> document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() { new FroalaEditor('.editor'); }); </script>
rich text editor for contact form 7

After adding this code snippet, save and publish your page.

Testing Your New Rich Text Contact Form

Now it’s time to test your implementation:

  • Open your published page in a browser.
  • You should now see your contact form with the Froala rich text editor field instead of the plain textarea.

rich-text editor for contact form 7

  • Enter test values and experiment by formatting your message with headings, bold, italics, and more.
  • Submit your form and verify the formatted HTML content appears correctly in your email inbox.

rich-text editor for contact form 7 submitted

Improving Your WordPress Submissions with Complex Content

With Froala integrated, your website visitors can now submit visually rich and complex content directly through your forms. This simple upgrade drastically improves the readability and organization of form responses. It also enhances your overall communications, making them look professional and polished.

No more monotonous plain text submissions—each submission now comes beautifully formatted and ready for immediate use, perfect for your next post.

Conclusion

By following this straightforward, step-by-step guide, you’ve successfully added a powerful rich text editor to your Contact Form 7 forms. With Froala powering your form submissions, your website’s user experience is significantly enhanced, allowing for detailed, structured, and engaging responses.

This simple yet impactful integration transforms the way your website visitors interact with your forms, providing a much-improved WordPress experience. Now go ahead and enjoy the benefits of beautifully formatted submissions!

Why Web Developers Are Still Debating Open Source HTML Editors

As a Product Marketing Manager here at Froala, I’ve often found myself in discussions about whether web developers should choose open source editors or invest in feature-rich closed-source options. Given the sheer number of tools available today, it’s a decision that can significantly impact your workflow, development speed, and overall project success.

In this article, I’ll break down the differences between open source HTML editors and closed-source alternatives like Froala. My aim is not just to showcase features, but to highlight practical reasons why investing in a powerful, reliable, and supported closed-source editor can benefit your web development projects far more effectively.

Key Takeaways

  • Open source editors offer flexibility but often come with hidden long-term costs like inconsistent support and complex maintenance.

  • Closed-source editors like Froala provide dedicated support, regular updates, and enterprise-grade reliability.

  • Froala’s feature-rich environment boosts productivity with live preview, preprocessor support, and advanced plugins.

  • Switching to Froala often leads to faster development, fewer bugs, and reduced dependency on external help.

  • For scalable, professional projects, a closed-source HTML editor is a smart investment in efficiency and long-term success.

Understanding the Basics: HTML Editor vs. Code Editor vs. Text Editor

Before we jump into specifics, let’s clarify some terms that web developers and web designers frequently encounter:

HTML Editor

An HTML editor specializes in web development by providing features like live preview, syntax highlighting, and built-in support for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Some popular examples include Adobe Dreamweaver and open source alternatives such as TinyMCE or CKEditor

Code Editor

A code editor, like Sublime Text, is designed primarily for writing and editing code across various programming languages. They often lack the WYSIWYG features common in dedicated HTML editors but provide advanced editing capabilities.

Text Editor

Text editors like Notepad++ or Microsoft’s basic editor provide minimal functionality, primarily focusing on basic text editing without specialized features for web design.

Benefits and Pitfalls

Web developers often gravitate towards open source projects due to the perception of lower costs and community-driven development. These editors, such as TinyMCE and CKEditor can initially seem appealing:

Pros

  • Free Access: You can download, modify, and distribute source code freely.
  • Community Support: An active community of developers regularly contributes improvements, plugins, and documentation.
  • Customization: The ability to fully customize the editor to meet specific requirements.

However, after working closely with web developers who have switched from open source to Froala, I’ve observed critical issues that often arise:

Cons

  • Lack of Dedicated Support: Community-driven support can vary in quality and responsiveness. If you encounter a critical issue, waiting for community-based solutions can stall your web development process significantly.
  • Inconsistent Updates: Some open source projects struggle with consistency, leading to delayed bug fixes and compatibility issues with modern browsers and programming languages.
  • Complex Maintenance: Customizing open source projects to your workflow can become resource-intensive, requiring continuous updates and troubleshooting.

Why Closed-Source HTML Editors Like Froala Excel

As someone responsible for product marketing at Froala, I’ve closely observed why front-end developers consistently choose a premium, closed-source WYSIWYG HTML editor. Here are several compelling reasons:

Reliability and Dedicated Support

Closed-source editors like Froala provide reliable, timely, and professional support. Unlike community forums that can leave you hanging, Froala’s dedicated support team resolves your issues promptly, ensuring minimal disruption to your web development workflow.

Consistent and Regular Updates

At Froala, we regularly release updates to ensure our editor remains compatible with the latest web standards, browsers, and frameworks. This consistency prevents many common headaches associated with the unpredictable update cycles of open source alternatives.

Feature Rich Functionality

Froala comes loaded with features specifically tailored to optimize your web development process, including:

  • Live Preview: Instantly visualize changes directly within the editor.
  • Preprocessor Support: Effortlessly manage your CSS files and HTML CSS integration.
  • Advanced Plugins: Customize and extend Froala’s functionality with robust plugins designed to simplify integration into your existing projects.

User-Friendly Interface and Experience

We carefully designed Froala to improve both beginner and experienced developers’ productivity, offering intuitive interfaces and robust features that enhance your ability to write, edit, and manage your website effortlessly.

Evaluating Open Source Alternatives: A Reality Check

When evaluating open source editors, web developers often overlook long-term costs associated with:

  • Maintenance: Managing and customizing source code takes significant time and resources.
  • Integration Complexity: Integrating open source tools into complex web applications can result in unplanned costs and delayed development cycles.

Compared to Froala, open source editors like TinyMCE often require considerable effort to integrate and maintain, especially at scale or within enterprise-level web projects. The hidden costs can quickly offset the initially attractive price tag of being “free.”

Case Study: Transitioning from Open Source to Froala

I’ve witnessed many organizations transitioning from open source editors to Froala, finding immediate benefits in efficiency, reliability, and productivity. For instance, web designers previously relying on editors frequently cite reasons for switching that include:

  • Faster development times due to Froala’s intuitive WYSIWYG HTML interface.
  • Reduced reliance on external community support and documentation, freeing up development teams to focus on project-specific innovations.
  • Significant reductions in troubleshooting, bug fixes, and compatibility issues due to Froala’s robust testing and consistent update cycles.

Final Thoughts: Making the Right Choice for Your Web Development Workflow

Choosing between open source editors and closed-source solutions like Froala ultimately depends on your project’s specific requirements. However, as someone deeply engaged with web developers, I firmly advocate for solutions that not only deliver powerful features but ensure consistency, dedicated support, and long-term cost-effectiveness.

Open source projects can be excellent for hobbyists, small-scale projects, or highly specific customizations. However, for professional development environments, enterprises, or projects requiring guaranteed uptime, dedicated support, and feature-rich tools, investing in a closed-source HTML editor like Froala will consistently deliver superior outcomes.

Web development is continuously evolving, and having a reliable partner that ensures compatibility, efficiency, and ease of use is indispensable. While open source editors play an important role, solutions like Froala offer unmatched stability, support, and productivity—elements essential to successful, modern web design.

By choosing Froala, a WYSIWYG editor, you’re investing in your team’s success, streamlined development processes, and ultimately, a superior web experience for your users.

Add Multilingual Translation to Froala with Translate Plus API from APILayer

Multilingual Translation API

As a developer, you may often need to create applications that cater to a global audience, such as chatting applications. One common challenge is overcoming language barriers by providing seamless translation capabilities to allow users from diverse linguistic backgrounds to access and engage with each other.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how I added a powerful translation feature to my Froala Editor-based chatting application using the Translate Plus API from APILayer. This multilingual translation API integration created a truly inclusive experience for users, allowing them to communicate effectively regardless of their native language.

Translate Plus API

Exploring the Translate Plus API on the APILayer Marketplace

As I was building a new Froala editor demo for a chatting application, I needed to add high quality translations to enable users from diverse linguistic backgrounds to communicate with each other. While existing translation tools like the Google Translate API are popular, I wanted to explore alternatives that could offer accurate translations with broader language support at much cheaper price.

While exploring the APILayer marketplace, which offers a wide range of APIs to help you build modern, feature-rich applications with real-time translations, I discovered the Translate Plus API, which seemed like the perfect solution to my problem.

APILayer Marketplace

What is APILayer?

APILayer is a popular API marketplace that provides access to a wide range of APIs, not limited to translation services. It also offers APIs that integrate with the Google Cloud ecosystem and other technical content service providers.

As a developer, I appreciated the ease of integration for the APIs provided by APILayer, which made it straightforward to incorporate new features into my applications.

Why Choose APILayer?

Utilizing APILayer includes several benefits, such as:

  • Wide Variety of APIs: It offers APIs for currency conversion, IP geolocation, weather data, email validation, and much more, catering to a broad spectrum of use cases including machine translation.
  • Ease of Integration: Their APIs are designed to be user-friendly, with straightforward documentation and code samples that allows for quick and seamless integration.
  • Cost-Effectiveness: Many of their APIs are affordable and come with tiered pricing models, making it accessible for both startups and enterprises working on large scale projects.
  • Reliability: All the APIs are thoroughly reviewed for high accuracy before they are listed by the APILayer team, ensuring customer satisfaction.

Why Use the Translate Plus API?

The Translate Plus API from APILayer stood out to me as a powerful tool that could seamlessly integrate with the Froala Editor to provide translation capabilities for multiple languages. The language detection feature was particularly impressive, as it could automatically determine the source language.

One of the key features of using the Translate Plus API from the APILayer marketplace is the extensive language support. Unlike some other APIs that are limited in their support for language pairs, this service truly excels.

The Translate Plus API supports over 100 languages, catering to a diverse global audience. This flexibility enables my users to translate content into their preferred languages, ensuring that information is accessible and understandable to all, even when dealing with industry jargon or technical terms.

The comprehensive documentation and intuitive API design made it easy for me to quickly implement the translation feature in my application. Additionally, the competitive pricing and reliable performance of the Translate Plus API were key factors that influenced my decision to leverage this solution over other alternatives.

How the Translation Feature Works

I wanted to make the translation process seamless and intuitive for users. To achieve this, I aimed to add a new toolbar button to the Froala Editor. When users click this button, they’ll see a dropdown menu displaying all the languages supported by the Translate Plus API.

Users can then select their preferred language from the list. Once they make their selection, the API automatically detects the original language of the content and translates it into the user’s chosen language. The editor then instantly updates, displaying the translated text.

Froala integration with translation API

This straightforward interaction allows users to quickly and easily access content in their native tongue, fostering a more inclusive and accessible experience within the chatting application.

Integrating the Translate Plus API into the Froala Editor

Step 1: Get a Translate Plus API Key

I began by signing up for a Translate Plus account and obtaining an API key, which would be necessary for authenticating my API requests. This process was similar to what you’d experience with other APIs.

Step 2: Create a starter template

Next, I included the necessary Froala scripts and stylesheets in my HTML file. Additionally, I added an HTML element that would serve as the container for the editor. This is where the Froala editor would be rendered.

To enhance the visual appeal of the editor’s toolbar, I also included the Font Awesome 5 stylesheet. This allowed me to use the iconic Font Awesome 5 library to represent the toolbar buttons’ icons.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
    <title>Froala WYSIWYG Editor</title>
    <!-- Include Froala CSS -->
    <link href="{{editor__download__folder}}/css/froala_editor.pkgd.min.css" rel="stylesheet"
        type="text/css" />
        
    <!-- Include Font Awesome 5 -->
    <link href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/5.5.0/css/all.min.css" rel="stylesheet"
        type="text/css" />
</head>

<body>

    <!-- HTML element where the editor will be initialized -->
    <div id="editor">
    </div>

    <!-- Include Froala Editor JS files -->
    <script type="text/javascript" src="{{editor__download__folder}}/js/froala_editor.pkgd.min.js"></script>
 
</body>

</html>

Step 3: Get Translate Plus Supported Languages

var myHeaders = new Headers()
myHeaders.append("X-API-KEY", "b2430***************************19be00")
myHeaders.append("Content-Type", "application/json")

var requestOptions = {
  method: "GET",
  redirect: "follow",
  headers: myHeaders,
}

fetch("https://api.translateplus.io/v1/supported-languages", requestOptions)
  .then((response) => response.json())
  .then((result) => initFroala(result.supported_languages))
  .catch((error) => console.log("error", error))

To get the list of supported languages for the Translate Plus API, I made a GET request to the /supported-languages endpoint. This provided me with a comprehensive list of all the languages that the API supports. I then passed this information to the initFroala function, which I will use to create the translation toolbar button and initialize the Froala Editor.

By obtaining the full list of supported languages, I could ensure that my users would have access to a wide range of translation options, catering to diverse linguistic needs. This flexibility would be a key differentiator for my chatting application, allowing users from all over the world to communicate effectively, regardless of their native tongue.

The straightforward API documentation and intuitive response format made it easy for me to parse and utilize the language data. This streamlined the development process, allowing me to quickly move on to the next steps of creating the custom toolbar button and integrating the translation functionality.

Step 4: Create the Translation toolbar button

Now, I need to add a new custom button to the editor’s toolbar. When clicked, this button would display a dropdown menu with the list of available translation languages.

The dropdown menu would allow the user to select the desired target language for translation. When a language is selected, I would use the Translate Plus API to fetch the translated content and update the editor’s text accordingly.

Step 4.1 Define the Translation toolbar button icon

To define an icon for the translate toolbar button, I did the following:

  // Set Font Awesome 5 as the default toolbar icon library.
  FroalaEditor.ICON_DEFAULT_TEMPLATE = "font_awesome_5"

  // Set the Font Awesome's language symbole as icon for the "translate" button
  FroalaEditor.DefineIcon("translate", { NAME: "language" })

By using the recognizable language icon, I ensured that users would instantly understand the purpose of the translation button, enhancing the intuitiveness of the feature.

Step 4.2 Craft the Translation Toolbar Button

To create the new “translate” button, I defined an object with several key properties:

title

The title represents the label of the button.

title: "translate",

type

The type property defines the button’s behavior. In this case, I set it to “dropdown” since it will open a list of translation options.

type: "dropdown",

options

The options property holds an object containing the supported translation languages, which I obtained from the Translate Plus API in step 3. I can access this object later using the FroalaEditor instance at FroalaEditor.COMMANDS.translate.options.

html

The html property is a method that returns the HTML code for the dropdown menu. Here, I used the FroalaEditor.COMMANDS.translate.options object to dynamically generate a list of the supported translation languages.

    html: function html() {
      var c = '<ul class="fr-dropdown-list" role="presentation">'
      var options = FroalaEditor.COMMANDS.translate.options

      for (var val in options) {
        if (options.hasOwnProperty(val) && val!=="Auto Detect") {
          c += `<li role="presentation"><a class="fr-command fr-title" tabIndex="-1" role="option" data-cmd="translate" data-param1="${this.language.translate(options[val])}" title="${this.language.translate(val)}"> ${this.language.translate(val)} <span class="fr-sr-only">${this.language.translate(val)}</span></a></li>`
        }
      }

      c += "</ul>"
      return c
    },

callback

The callback property defines the action executed when the user selects a language from the dropdown menu.

First, I check if the editor is empty using the core.isEmpty() method. If the editor has content, I select all the text using the commands.selectAll() method and save it to a variable using selection.text().

Then, I call a translate() function, passing the selected text and the user’s chosen language as arguments. This function handles the translation process and returns the translated content. Finally, I update the editor’s content with the translated text using the html.insert() method.

callback: async function callback(cmd, param1) {
    	if(this.core.isEmpty()) return;
    
      this.commands.selectAll();
      const text = this.selection.text();   
      const result = await translate(text, param1);
      this.html.insert(result.translations.translation, true);

      
    },

Step 4.3 Handling the Translation Process

The translate function receives the current content of the Froala Editor and the desired target language. It then sends a request to the Translate Plus API, passing both parameters.

Importantly, I set the source parameter to "auto". This tells the Translate Plus API to automatically detect the original language of the content. This ensures a seamless translation experience for the user, as they don’t need to worry about specifying the source language.

The API then responds with the translated content, which the translate function returns. Here’s the code:

 async function translate(text, translateTo) {
    var requestOptions = {
      method: "POST",
      redirect: "follow",
      headers: myHeaders,
      body: JSON.stringify({
        text,
        source: "auto",
        target: translateTo,
      }),
    }
    let data = false
    try {
      const response = await fetch(
        "https://api.translateplus.io/v1/translate",
        requestOptions,
      )
      // Check if the response is okay
      if (!response.ok) {
        throw new Error(`HTTP error! Status: ${response.status}`)
      }

      // Parse the response JSON
      data = await response.json()
    } catch (error) {
      console.log("error", error)
    }
    return data
  }

The automatic language detection and the straightforward API response make the translation process effortless for the user, especially when dealing with context-specific content.

Step 5: Initialize The Froala Editor

Finally, I called the FroalaEditor constructor and passed an object with the necessary configurations, including the custom translation button I defined earlier.

new FroalaEditor("#editor", {
    wordCounterCount: false,
  	charCounterMax: 5000,
    toolbarBottom: true,
    toolbarButtons: ["bold", "italic", "underline", "strikeThrough", "|", "formatOL", "formatUL", "|", "textColor", "backgroundColor", "fontSize", "|", "insertLink", "translate"],
  })
}

I set the charCounterMax to 5000, which is the maximum number of characters that can be translated using the Translate Plus API in one call. For larger projects, you might consider implementing batch processing to handle more extensive content.

The translation feature is now seamlessly integrated into the Froala Editor, allowing users to effortlessly translate content within the application. The custom translation button in the toolbar provides a clear and recognizable interface for users to access the translation functionality, further improving the overall usability of the editor. This feature is particularly useful for mobile apps that need to support global audiences.. Try it now.

Conclusion

By leveraging the Translate Plus API from the APILayer marketplace, I was able to add a powerful translation feature to my Froala Editor, empowering my users to consume content in their preferred languages. This integration not only enhances the functionality of my tool but also showcases the value that the APILayer marketplace can bring to developers like myself.

For companies undergoing digital transformation, incorporating translation tools like this can significantly improve customer sentiment and expand market reach. Whether you’re working with PHP, Java, Python, or other languages, the API integration process remains straightforward.

I encourage other tech-savvy developers to explore the APILayer marketplace and discover the wealth of APIs and services that can help them solve their unique challenges and enhance their projects. The Translate Plus API is just one example of the many innovative solutions available, and I’m confident that the marketplace has much more to offer.

If you’d like to try this out, you don’t need to run a git clone https command – just follow the steps above and implement the API in your own environment!

The Best Way to Integrate Bootstrap React for Your Next Project

Users have different screen resolutions, browsers, and devices, making building responsive user interfaces a requirement for all modern applications. That’s why Bootstrap, a framework that allows applications to look consistent across every platform, continues to be a staple for styling web applications.

An image of a laptop showing a React-like project structure and codes

Similarly, React remains one of the most popular front-end frameworks for JavaScript, known for its component-based architecture, efficient virtual DOM rendering, and statefulness, among others. When combined with Bootstrap, React enables developers to easily craft responsive and aesthetic applications.

Read on below to discover how to get started with React Bootstrap projects. Additionally, you’ll learn about using Bootstrap to create responsive navbars, align elements using the grid layout, and more.

Note: When using other libraries and tools, you should always consider whether they’re built for responsiveness or not. For instance, you can include Froala in your applications as an HTML editor. Since it’s responsive right off the bat, you won’t have to do much styling or layout adjustments.

Setting up Your Bootstrap React Development Environment

To get started with integrating React Bootstrap, you’ll need some core tools that you normally use for developing web applications. Of course, you’ll also need to download and install Bootstrap.

Install Node.js

Node.js is an open-source runtime environment for JavaScript. Although primarily focused on server-side programming, it’s also responsible for providing the environment required by other necessary front-end tools.

For example, tools like NPM or Yarn that manage dependencies require Node.js. Additionally, bundlers such as Webpack or Babel also rely on Node.js.

To install Node.js, go to their website and download and run the installer. Afterwards, check whether the installation is successful by opening your Command Line Interface (CLI) and typing the following command:

node -v

If this returns a version, then it’s good to go.

Get NPM

NPM is an open-source collection of JavaScript software dependencies that allow developers to borrow and share packages. It revolves around interacting with the CLI to manage dependencies in the NPM registry.

If you’ve already installed Node.js, then normally you don’t need to do anything else to get NPM, as it already comes bundled with Node.js. To check if NPM is working, type the following command, which should give you the currently installed version:

npm -v

Note: If you need to download and install packages globally (i.e., not on individual projects), use a Node version manager to install Node.js and NPM.

Create a Simple React Bootstrap Application

Before using React Bootstrap, you need to have a React project. If you don’t already have a React app, you can create one by using Create React App (CRA). It’s an “officially supported way” from React that lets you easily create single-page React applications.

In your CLI, run the following:

npx create-react-app react-bootstrap

This will create a new React application in the react-bootstrap project directory. The “npx” part ensures that you’re using the latest version of create-react-app without a global installation. Once you’re done, you can run “cd react-bootstrap” to navigate to your folder.

Before you get moving, let’s quickly go through the basic structure of a React application, shown in the image below.

An example of the React Bootstrap project structure.

A React application typically has the following structure:

  • node_modules: A subdirectory that contains installed dependencies (for example, React, Bootstrap, etc.).
  • public: Contains the static files and your “index.html” file. These are assets that don’t change during runtime.The “index.html” file is where React renders your entire app; hence, you never edit this file directly. Instead, React dynamically injects React components into the “root” element.
  • src: Includes all main source code, including your React components, styles, and logic. This is the core of your React application, with “index.js” as the entry point of the application.
  • .gitignore: Files to ignore in Git.
  • package-lock.json: Locks installed package versions.
  • package.json: Where the project’s dependencies and metadata are located.
  • README.md: Your React project’s documentation.

You can also build your own React components, which are self-contained UI blocks that you can import. For example, you can create a custom button component that uses Bootstrap CSS for styling.

Now that you have a React application, as well as a quick refresher on React concepts, you can move to adding the React Bootstrap library.

Download Bootstrap

There are different ways to install Bootstrap 5, but here are the three most relevant ones:

via compiled CSS and JS

These are ready-to-use codes, which include the compiled and minified Bootstrap CSS bundles and JS plugins. However, documentation, source files, or optional JavaScript dependencies (e.g., Popper, jQuery, etc.), are out of the scope.

If all you need are the Bootstrap components for stylesheets and basic JS (and not animations like popovers or tooltips), then this installation is for you.

To add Bootstrap via compiled CSS and JavaScript, click here. Afterwards, you can include the files that you need in your React app’s folder.

via the Bootstrap CDN

If you’re just testing out Bootstrap, or if you want to make it work right away, then you can use it via CDN. With this, you skip the download and instead deliver a cached version of Bootstrap to your React app.

To add Bootstrap through CDN, include the following code in your index.html file:

<head>
<!--other head items-->
...
<!--Bootstrap 5 CSS-->
<link 	href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-QWTKZyjpPEjISv5WaRU9OFeRpok6YctnYmDr5pNlyT2bRjXh0JMhjY6hW+ALEwIH" crossorigin="anonymous">
</head>

<body>
<!--other body items-->
<!--Bootstrap 5 JavaScript-->
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js" integrity="sha384-YvpcrYf0tY3lHB60NNkmXc5s9fDVZLESaAA55NDzOxhy9GkcIdslK1eN7N6jIeHz" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
</body>

This gives you the latest delivered version (Bootstrap 5, currently). If you want to import Popper, jQuery, and other dependencies, you can add them before the JavaScript link through CDN as well.

via Package Manager

Lastly, you can install React Bootstrap packages using NPM. Using your CLI, head to your project directory and run the following:

npm install [email protected]

This installs the React Bootstrap package in “node_modules,” making it available for your React components. If you need more Bootstrap 5 components, just add them after the keyword (e.g., npm install [email protected] jquery popper.js for Popper and jQuery). You should then see the dependencies in your package.json file:

"dependencies": {
    ...
    "bootstrap": "^5.3.3",
    "jquery": "^3.7.1",
    "popper.js": "^1.16.1",
    "react": "^18.3.1",
    "react-dom": "^18.3.1",
    ...
  },

Afterwards, to load Bootstrap CSS and JavaScript throughout your app, add the following to “src/index.js:”

import 'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css';
import "bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min";

You should now have the ability to use the Bootstrap library across your application. But you’re not done yet! Try adding some common UI components using different Bootstrap classes.

Building a Responsive React Bootstrap Navbar

First up, create one of the most important parts of a Bootstrap 5 application: the navbar. A navbar, like its name suggests, provides a user with a way to easily navigate through the application.

It usually contains the brand logo and title, followed by the navigation menu. The menu is actually a list of items that are links to other pages of the application.

In this example, you will start by creating a reusable navbar React component. Afterwards, you’ll use this component on two different pages that follow Bootstrap’s grid layout. Finally, you’ll discover how you can customize React Bootstrap further with some styling.

Installing the React Router dependency

To ensure that your navbar actually does something non-static, install the React Router package. It enables you to implement navigation between the pages of your app. In your CLI, run:

npm install react-router-dom

Now, your index.js should look something like this:

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom/client';
import { BrowserRouter } from "react-router-dom";
import "./App.css";
import App from './App';
import reportWebVitals from './reportWebVitals';
import 'bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css';
import "bootstrap/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min";

const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('root'));
root.render(
  <BrowserRouter>
    <App />
  </BrowserRouter>
);

Using the Navbar React Bootstrap Component

To get started, create a new component for the navbar. Under the “components” folder of your “src” directory, create a file called “Navbar.jsx” and add the following code:

import React from "react";
import { Link } from "react-router-dom";

function Navbar() {
  return (
    <nav className="navbar navbar-expand-lg bg-dark">
      <div className="container">
        <Link className="navbar-brand text-white" to="/">React Bootstrap Example</Link>
        <button className="navbar-toggler bg-white" type="button" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target="#sampleNavbar" aria-controls="sampleNavbar" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
            <span className="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
        </button>
        <div className="collapse navbar-collapse" id="sampleNavbar">
          <ul className="navbar-nav ms-auto">
            <li className="nav-item">
              <Link className="nav-link text-white" to="/">Home</Link>
            </li>
            <li className="nav-item">
              <Link className="nav-link text-white" to="/page1">Page 1</Link>
            </li>
          </ul>
        </div>
      </div>
    </nav>
  );
}

export default Navbar;

This creates a component called Navbar. Note that the navbar has several Bootstrap classes within its elements.

For instance, the “bg-dark” class makes the React Bootstrap component’s background a dark gray hue. Similarly, “text-white” colors the navigation links white.

Making the React Bootstrap Navbar Responsive

In the code above, the navbar is already responsive because of the “navbar-expand-lg” and “collapse navbar-collapse” classes.

The former makes the navbar expand on larger screens. This means that as the screen size approaches the “large” breakpoint, it expands the navbar and shows the elements within it. The latter, on the other hand, collapses the navbar elements as the screen size decreases through the breakpoint.

You then add a button that the user can interact with to show the collapsed navbar elements on smaller screen sizes. Now, you have a responsive navbar! The next step is designing the sample pages using Bootstrap’s grid layout.

Implementing a Bootstrap Grid Layout

An example of how the React Bootstrap grid layout works: sections of rows are listed and divided into columns of different sizes.

For responsive design, the Bootstrap framework offers a grid layout (among other methods). This means that it lays out UI components in terms of rows and columns. This makes building user interfaces that are responsive easier no matter the user’s browser.

Using React Bootstrap’s grid layout is practically the same as using Bootstrap on non-react apps:

  • It’s as simple as indicating whether a div element is a row or a column.
  • The screen is always divided into 12 columns.
  • You can nest columns and rows.
  • You can divide a row into specific columns of varying width (e.g., having two divs with classes “col-8” and “col-4” means that one div occupies 8 columns while the other occupies 4).
  • You can specify on which breakpoint the columns resize (e.g., “col-lg-8 col-12” means that the element takes up 8 columns on larger screens and takes all 12 columns on smaller ones).

In this guide’s example, create two more files under the “components” folder: “Home.jsx” and “Page1.jsx.” In your Home.jsx file, add:

import React from "react";
import sampleImage from "../assets/ski.png";

function Home() {
  return (
    <div className="home-container">
      <div className="row">
        {/* Top row - Full-width image */}
        <div className="col-12">
          <img src={sampleImage} alt="Sample" className="img-fluid rounded" />
        </div>
      </div>
      <div className="row mt-4">
        {/* Bottom row - Two text columns */}
        <div className="col-md-6">
          <div className="p-3">
            <h3>Left Column</h3>
            <p>This is some text in the left column. Using Bootstrap’s grid layout ensures responsiveness.</p>
          </div>
        </div>
        <div className="col-md-6">
          <div className="p-3">
            <h3>Right Column</h3>
            <p>This is some text in the right column. The layout adjusts based on screen size.</p>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}

export default Home;

Here, you’re displaying two rows: one that contains a full-width image and another that has two columns of text. The full-width image takes all twelve columns, while the two text columns take up an equal number of 6.

If you resize the browser window, you’ll notice that after a certain size, the two text columns change their positions. Instead of remaining side by side, they’re now on top of each other. That’s because of the “col-md-6” class, which ensures that contents stay readable even on smaller screens.

Now, open your “Page1.jsx” and add the following code:

import React from "react";

function Page1() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h2>Welcome to Page 1!</h2>
      <p>This is an additional page for the React Bootstrap implementation.</p>
    </div>
  );
}

export default Page1;

This sample code doesn’t demonstrate the grid layout, but you’ll use this to test out the navigation part. Now, to put all three components together (navbar, home page, and page 1), replace your App.js file’s contents with:

import React from "react";
import { Routes, Route } from "react-router-dom";
import Navbar from "./components/Navbar";
import Home from "./components/Home";
import Page1 from "./components/Page1";

function App() {
  return (
    <>
      <Navbar />
      <div className="container mt-4">
        <Routes>
          <Route path="/" element={<Home />} />
          <Route path="/page1" element={<Page1 />} />
        </Routes>
      </div>
    </>
  );
}

export default App;

First, you need to import the three components. You also need to import the components from the React Router dependency. Afterwards, define your navbar, followed by your container and routes.

Once you’re done, run your application with:

npm start

You should see something like this:

The homepage of the sample application.

Try playing around with the example. Reduce the browser width and see the navbar elements collapse under a button with the hamburger icon. See how and on which breakpoint (in px) the two columns change their orientation.

Now, click the “Page 1” link on the navbar to see something like:

The other page of the sample React Bootstrap application.

From here, you should have the ability to navigate back to the homepage. And that’s it! You now have the basic implementation of Bootstrap in React.

The next step is to further customize it depending on what you need. And before you go, read on below to learn how to customize Bootstrap styles, as well as some best practices and common issues.

Customizing Styles in React Bootstrap

What if you wanted the navbar’s background color to be blue? Or maybe implement your own font family throughout the app? Or even override some default behaviors from Bootstrap?

All these are possible thanks to its customization.

From the sample app above, tweak your application a bit. Go to your App.css file and append the following code:

/* Custom navbar background */
.bg-custom {
  background-color: #0098F7;
}

/* Custom image styling */
.home-img {
  max-height: 400px;
  width: 100%;
  object-fit: cover;
  border-radius: 10px;
}

/* Custom box styling */
.custom-box {
  background-color: #f8f9fa;
  border: 1px solid #dee2e6;
  border-radius: 8px;
}

These additional classes change the navbar’s background color, the image styling, and the styling for the text columns. To implement these, add them as classes in your elements.

  • In your Navbar.jsx, replace “bg-dark” with “bg-custom”
  • In Home.jsx, add “home-img” to your image element and “custom-box” to your columns

These should change your home page’s look to:

The home page's style has now been customized using React Bootstrap.

Notice how the home page looks much cleaner now with the text borders, better image sizing, and the blue navbar. You can do a lot more with customizing Bootstrap to your liking. Explore more of it by reading the Bootstrap documentation page!

Best Practices when Using Bootstrap with React

Bootstrap, thankfully, is also an accessibility and SEO-friendly JavaScript framework. This means that users who use screen readers will have a better time on your app. Additionally, web crawlers for SEO rankings will understand your web app better.

Here are some things to consider when creating React Bootstrap applications.

  • Use WAI-ARIA keywords like “aria-controls” and “aria-label.”
  • Include ARIA roles and attributes to provide more context on how the components are used.
  • Test specific color combinations and modify default Bootstrap color themes to abide by WCAG color contrast ratios.
  • Use the “visually-hidden” class to hide content that should be visually hidden but should also be accessible to assistive technologies.

Troubleshooting Common React Bootstrap Issues

When working with Bootstrap in a React environment, you might run into some common issues. Here are some of them as well as their solutions.

  • Navbar toggler not working: Ensure that Bootstrap’s JavaScript is loaded. If you installed it via NPM, you should import it in index.js.
  • Bootstrap styles not applying: Similarly, ensure that the CSS files are loaded. Again, check your index.js if you installed Bootstrap via NPM. If you’re using CDN, check that the link tag is correctly included in your index.html.
  • Bootstrap grid layout not working: Be sure that for every row, all columns should add up to 12. Also, check if any CSS file is overriding Bootstrap.
  • Styling issues when using custom CSS: Ensure that your custom styles are loaded after Bootstrap’s stylesheet in your project.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned the basics of implementing Bootstrap in React. Along the way, you also explored a sample app that demonstrates the use of some components, including the Bootstrap navbar and grid layout.

Tools like Bootstrap and React streamline the development process while further improving quality.

So why not learn more about the different Bootstrap components and React implementations? Include jQuery or other custom CSS or SCSS. Maybe test out other responsive tools that go well with React and Bootstrap, like Froala Editor.

What you do next is up to you. Happy coding!

Choosing a Free WYSIWYG HTML Editor to Build Your Website

Many developers seek a fast way to create a web page without coding everything by hand. A What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) editor helps solve that problem. It presents an interface where you can apply formatting and insert media, and it updates the underlying HTML automatically.

This technology saves time and effort, especially when working on content-heavy sites or when collaborating with non-technical team members. Instead of manually typing HTML tags for every style change, you simply interact with a design view that reflects changes in real-time.

Understanding WYSIWYG

“WYSIWYG” stands for “What You See Is What You Get.” In practical terms, it means that if you apply bold, italic, or underline to text in the editor, you immediately see those changes. This visual approach to editing helps you produce final layouts quickly.

Though these editors manage a lot under the hood, most also let you view or tweak the source code. This feature is useful for developers who want to ensure the HTML remains clean, efficient, and easy to maintain.

The Draw for Developers

Even experienced coders can benefit from a powerful WYSIWYG solution. Writing every paragraph or styling rule by hand can become tedious, especially when dealing with repetitive tasks or tight deadlines.

By focusing on high-level design and logic, developers can allocate more time to tasks like performance optimization, security checks, or advanced integrations. Having a visual editor doesn’t mean sacrificing control; many modern tools allow direct access to the HTML so you can refine or optimize whenever needed.

Key Terminology

Several important terms appear frequently when discussing these editors. The first is “rich text editor,” which simply means the tool can handle formatting like bold italic underline and font size adjustments.

Another is “lightweight WYSIWYG HTML editor,” suggesting minimal overhead and a focus on core features. There is also “block styled editor,” indicating a system where each piece of content, whether text or images, is treated as its own block for easy rearrangement.

Basic HTML Editing

At their simplest, WYSIWYG tools let you add headings, paragraphs, and links without typing tags like <h2> or <p>. They often come with toolbars that let you set styles or insert media with a single click.

Many developers appreciate that these editors generate standard HTML, saving them from the repetitive tasks of structuring each section of a page. If the auto-generated code becomes messy, they can open the source code view to tidy it up.

The Concept of Rich Text Editors

Rich text editing focuses on more than just plain text. It includes various formatting options, such as changing font size, aligning paragraphs, and embedding multimedia. This is especially useful for building visually appealing pages or documentation.

For instance, if you have to write a technical guide with code snippets, images, and headings, a rich text editor consolidates these elements into a single interface. You can switch between design mode and HTML mode to fine-tune elements like alt attributes for images or special tags around code.

The Role of Code Snippets

Developers often need to display short pieces of code within blog posts or documentation. Many editor solutions offer a dedicated “code” block that preserves formatting and applies syntax highlighting.

Including these snippets can be as simple as clicking an icon and pasting your code. This avoids the need to manually escape special characters or worry that the HTML editor will strip out essential syntax. A robust solution will maintain the code exactly as intended.

Why These Editors Make Life For Developers Easier

Creating a website or an app can be a complex task, especially when juggling tight schedules. Using a WYSIWYG editor accelerates many aspects of the content-building process. You can see the changes on the spot, reducing the need for continuous browser refreshes.

For non-technical stakeholders, the editor offers an easy way to contribute. They can write content, apply styles, or insert images without learning HTML or JavaScript. This collaborative environment can boost productivity and free up developers for higher-level tasks.

Working with Basic Styles

“Basic styles” generally refer to bold, italic, underline, lists, and text alignment. These are fundamental for structuring readable content. Most WYSIWYG editors place these functions in a simple toolbar, allowing quick application.

Beyond convenience, developers might still keep an eye on the underlying tags for each style. Clean markup helps with accessibility, SEO, and performance, ensuring the page or documentation meets professional standards.

Managing Font Sizes and Layout

Font size adjustments let you emphasize particular sections of text, call out notes, or create a clear visual hierarchy. An editor’s interface might offer predefined sizes (small, normal, large), or let you define specific pixel or percentage values.

Layout tools often extend to block-level controls such as indentation or alignment. Some editors even provide grid systems or drag-and-drop capabilities for a more elaborate design. Developers might integrate custom CSS rules if they want even finer control over layouts.

Handling Images and Media

Images and videos are key to modern web content. Many editing tools let you upload, resize, and position images directly in the interface. This approach saves time compared to manually coding <img> tags with width, height, and alignment attributes.

For more advanced media needs, some editors include audio embedding, video insertion, or slideshow creation. Developers can leverage these features to create richer user experiences without labor-intensive coding for each media element.

The Block Styled Editor Approach

Block styled editors treat each piece of content as a distinct block—like a paragraph block, an image block, or a code block. This method simplifies rearranging elements, since you can drag blocks up or down without worrying about markup conflicts.

This approach can be especially helpful when collaborating on large pages that require frequent revisions. If you need to move a code example above a paragraph, you can do so visually, preserving the structure and the underlying HTML page.

Understanding Source Code Views

Most tools offer a split or dedicated “HTML view” where you can see and edit the raw HTML. This is critical if you spot irregularities or want to add custom elements. While the WYSIWYG mode is convenient, the source code view helps developers maintain full control.

For instance, if the editor inserts extra <span> tags or inline styles you dislike, you can manually remove them. This blend of visual editing and direct code manipulation is one reason many developers appreciate modern WYSIWYG solutions.

Importance of Clean HTML

Clean, well-structured HTML is crucial for accessibility, SEO, and maintainability. Some editors may inject extra tags or inline CSS. Over time, this clutter can slow performance or cause style conflicts.

Developers should look for an editor known for producing minimal and semantic HTML. Checking user forums or documentation can reveal whether an editor has a strong reputation for code cleanliness. If not, manual clean-up may be a necessary part of the workflow.

Lightweight vs. Full-Featured

A lightweight WYSIWYG HTML editor usually focuses on basic styling and minimal scripts. This speeds up page load times and keeps things straightforward, which is ideal for smaller projects or simpler content needs.

Full-featured editors, such as the Froala WYSIWYG Editor or TinyMCE Editor, come with extensive plugin ecosystems, advanced features, and more customization capabilities. They may increase file sizes but also provide additional tools like collaboration features, word export, or specialized formatting options.

Key Customization Capabilities

Customization is essential for developers who have specific design or functional requirements. Some editors let you reorganize the toolbar, add custom buttons, or define unique text styles. This level of flexibility can align the editor with your existing brand guidelines or internal processes.

Advanced customization might also include hooking into events or writing plugins to extend core functionality. Documentation often provides examples of how to do this, allowing you to adapt the editor to your unique tech stack.

Integrating JavaScript in WYSIWYG Editors

Modern websites frequently rely on JavaScript frameworks and libraries. A robust rich text editor should let you embed or integrate your custom JS without breaking the layout. Some editors offer official integrations with React, Vue, or Angular, streamlining setup.

JavaScript can also automate tasks like saving content in the background or validating user input. Having an editor that plays nicely with these scripts means fewer headaches during development and testing.

The Use of Plugins

Plugins extend an editor’s functionality without cluttering the core package. For example, you might install a plugin for advanced tables, real-time collaboration, or specialized text formatting.

Collaboration Tools

Collaboration features allow multiple users to edit the same HTML page in real time. This can speed up content creation, especially for remote teams or large organizations. Changes appear instantly, and some editors record version histories for rollback if needed.

While such collaboration often appears in paid versions, certain open source projects also experiment with real-time syncing. Developers should verify if a chosen solution supports concurrency or if it integrates with external platforms for version control.

Security Concerns

Any online editor that accepts input can become a security risk if not managed properly. Potential threats include malicious scripts or attempts to bypass validation. Developers should sanitize user input and keep the editor updated with the latest patches.

Some solutions offer server-side filters or instructions for safe usage. Reading the documentation about security best practices can protect both your web application and its end users.

Detailed Documentation

High-quality documentation helps developers integrate an editor into their workflow more smoothly. It should cover setup, plugin integration, customization examples, and advanced use cases.

Whether you are a seasoned programmer or someone new to these tools, detailed documentation reduces guesswork. It also typically indicates a mature, well-supported project. Editors like CKEditor and the Froala WYSIWYG Editor provide step-by-step guides, making their features more accessible.

Balancing Free vs. Commercial Licenses

Some editors have both a free and a paid tier. The free option might limit certain advanced capabilities or require attribution. If you plan to build a commercial website, check whether the license allows it without fees.

In contrast, a commercial license typically grants you more features, dedicated support, or extra plugins. Depending on your project’s size and complexity, investing in a paid solution can save development time, especially if you need advanced tooling or guaranteed support.

Potential SEO and Performance Issues

Overly complex HTML can slow down a site and harm search engine optimization. Inline styles, redundant tags, and large scripts all contribute to longer load times.

Developers can mitigate this by refining the generated code, compressing images, and using efficient caching. While WYSIWYG tools make editing easier, it’s still wise to monitor page performance and rectify any negative impact on SEO.

Word Export and Document Handling

Certain editors support word export or PDF export. This is especially helpful if you regularly share content with clients who prefer traditional formats. By automating the export process, you can maintain consistent styling without manually copying and formatting text in another software.

For example, a legal or policy-driven website might need to provide documents in Word format for official use. Having this built-in functionality streamlines the process and reduces potential formatting mistakes.

The Value of Prebuilt Templates

Some editor solutions offer prebuilt templates for web pages, email campaigns, or landing sections. These templates help users produce consistent designs quickly and provide inspiration for layouts.

Developers can also create custom templates that reflect a brand’s identity. This approach ensures content remains on-brand even if multiple contributors are adding or modifying sections. Templates, therefore, serve as both a design guide and a productivity boost.

Self-Hosted Options

Self-hosting the editor on your own servers grants more control over updates, security, and performance tuning. This can be critical for industries with strict data handling regulations or for large enterprises requiring tight integration with internal systems.

While a self-hosted approach may require more maintenance, it typically offers better privacy, especially if you work with sensitive data. It also allows developers to tailor the deployment environment for maximum efficiency, ensuring the editor remains stable under heavy usage.

Working with Froala, Tiny and Others

Popular choices include the Froala WYSIWYG Editor, TinyMCE Editor, and CKEditor. Each has unique strengths. TinyMCE offers a wide range of plugins and community support, while Froala is celebrated for its sleek user interface and advanced features like inline editing.

Final Thoughts for Free WYSIWYG HTML Editors

Choosing an HTML editor is not merely about convenience. It can also shape your development workflow, collaboration methods, and final output quality. By combining a user-friendly design interface with direct source code access, these tools give developers the best of both worlds.

Whether you opt for a lightweight solution or a feature-rich editor, make sure to test it thoroughly before committing it to a production environment. Look at factors like code cleanliness, plugin availability, security considerations, and long-term community support. With the right choice, your editor becomes a powerful asset in creating fast, functional, and visually appealing websites or apps.

Why Froala V4.5 Remains the Best WYSIWYG HTML Editor for Developers

It’s been a few weeks since we launched Froala Editor V4.5, and I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the journey behind this release and highlight what makes these new features so significant for our users. As the best WYSIWYG HTML editor on the market, Froala continues to evolve with developers’ needs in mind, offering a rich text editor experience that simplifies the web development process.

The Vision Behind V4.5

When we began planning for V4.5, we focused on addressing the real-world challenges our users face during web development. Our approach always starts with listening – to our customers, our community, and our team members who work directly with the product.

Three key themes emerged from this feedback:

  1. Flexibility in configuration – Users needed more granular control over which plugins are active in the WYSIWYG interface
  2. Improved workflow efficiency – Especially when working with data across different applications like Google Docs
  3. Enhanced customization – Giving developers more control over the presentation and behavior of HTML markup

These themes guided our development priorities and shaped the features that ultimately made it into V4.5, reinforcing Froala’s position as a feature-rich editor for professionals of all skill levels who need to design web pages efficiently.

Why Developers Choose Froala Over Other HTML Editors (Key Takeaways)

  • User-Driven Enhancements: The update was guided by real user feedback, focusing on flexibility, workflow efficiency, and extensive customization of the WYSIWYG HTML editor.
  • Simplified Plugin Management: The new pluginsDisabled option allows developers to easily disable unnecessary plugins, reducing the complexity of the coding process.
  • Seamless Excel Integration: Enhanced Excel-to-table paste functionality streamlines the content creation process, automatically adjusting table formats while preserving CSS code.
  • Improved User Experience: Orderable line heights offer precise control over display options and font sizes, addressing previous ordering issues in the text editor.
  • Ongoing Commitment: Froala Editor is dedicated to continuous improvement in performance, accessibility, and integration with other frameworks for creating responsive pages.

Advanced Features That Make Froala the Best WYSIWYG HTML Editor

Froala stands out as a top-tier WYSIWYG HTML editor thanks to its advanced features designed to streamline development and enhance user experience. From intuitive plugin management with the pluginsDisabled option to seamless Excel-to-table pasting and customizable line height ordering, Froala prioritizes efficiency, flexibility, and ease of use. These innovations not only save time but also empower developers to create polished, professional content with minimal friction.

The pluginsDisabled Option: A Small Change with Big Impact

The new pluginsDisabled option might seem like a minor enhancement at first glance, but its impact on development workflows is substantial. Before this feature, developers who wanted to disable just one or two plugins in the WYSIWYG HTML editor faced a tedious process – they had to explicitly list every single plugin they wanted to keep active.

With over 40 plugins available, this created unnecessary complexity and increased the risk of incorrect syntax. Now, developers can simply specify which plugins they don’t need, making configuration more intuitive and maintenance far less cumbersome during the web development process.

Excel-to-Table Paste: Bridging Content Silos

The enhanced Excel paste functionality addresses a common frustration point. Previously, moving data between Excel and Froala tables required manual reformatting or rebuilding tables from scratch – a tedious process that consumed valuable time.

By enabling seamless pasting with automatic table expansion and format preservation, our WYSIWYG HTML code editor has eliminated this friction point. What’s particularly satisfying about this feature is how it intelligently handles the various paste scenarios – whether the Excel content is larger, smaller, or differently formatted than the target table, all while maintaining proper HTML markup and CSS code.

Orderable Line Heights: Details Matter

The ability to control the order of line height options might seem like a small refinement, but it reflects our commitment to thoughtful user friendly interface design. The previous behavior, where JavaScript’s object property ordering would unexpectedly reorder these options, created confusion and friction for both developers and end-users of the rich text editor.

By implementing an array-based approach, we’ve given developers complete control over this presentation detail. This change exemplifies our philosophy that even small improvements to usability and developer experience can have a meaningful impact when multiplied across thousands of daily interactions with an easy to use editor.

How Our WYSIWYG HTML Code Editor Overcomes Common Development Challenges

Developing these features wasn’t without challenges. The Excel paste functionality, in particular, required solving several complex technical problems:

  • Accurately parsing Excel’s clipboard format for the rich text editor
  • Mapping Excel’s formatting to Froala’s content model and CSS code
  • Handling the various edge cases when merging content of different dimensions in the WYSIWYG interface
  • Preserving the right balance of source formatting while respecting target styling for a cohesive web page

Our approach focused on creating an intuitive experience that “just works” without requiring users to understand the underlying complexity.

Looking Forward: What’s Next for Froala Rich Text Editor

V4.5 represents another step in our ongoing journey to create the most powerful and easy to use WYSIWYG HTML editor available. While some may prefer a free version with basic capabilities or an open source WYSIWYG editor with community support, our professional solution offers many benefits that justify the investment for serious websites and applications.

  • Further enhancing performance across every browser and tech stack for seamless web development
  • Expanding our plugin ecosystem for advanced features and inline editing capabilities
  • Improving integration with popular frameworks and platforms including WordPress and block styled editor environments
  • Continuing to refine the balance between power and simplicity with features like live preview and split screen editing
  • Developing pre-built templates to help users design websites more efficiently with our feature rich editor

Your Role in Froala’s Evolution

The improvements in V4.5 would not have been possible without the feedback and suggestions from our user community. Your insights drive our roadmap and help us prioritize the features that will make the most difference in your work, whether you’re creating responsive pages or complex web applications.

We encourage you to continue sharing your experiences, challenges, and ideas with us. Whether through GitHub, our support channels, or community forums, your input is invaluable in shaping the future of Froala.

As always, we’re excited to see what you’ll create with these new capabilities, and we’re already hard at work on the next set of improvements to make your content creation experience with this easy to use editor even better. From novices looking for a good WYSIWYG editor to experts demanding a working WYSIWYG HTML editor for their development team, Froala continues to deliver an easy to use interface without compromising on power, collaborative editing features, and extensive customization options.