If you’re an avid internet surfer who uses different applications and websites daily, then you’ve probably encountered Markdown before. Are you formatting or styling your messages using special characters like “# heading 1” or “~~strikethrough~~”? Do you use special characters as a way to easily format your blog posts? Have you ever noticed the “.md” extension when you download software applications? If so, then you’re well familiar with Markdown or how it appears on applications, at least. Today, people use Markdown in a lot of places on the internet. And it’s safe to say that Markdown is finding its way into many different websites and apps. Eventually and inevitably, it found its way into React applications, which are really popular nowadays. Developers then looked for ways to integrate React Markdown editors into their applications to let their users format text easily.

What are some real-world applications of React Markdown editors, you ask? That’s what we’ll answer in this article, along with some Markdown basics, reasons to use it, and what it is in a React context. I’ll also show you how developers can quickly add Markdown functionality into their React apps using a WYSIWYG editor (a “what you see is what you get” editor). Are you ready? Let’s get started.

What is Markdown?

Markdown is a subset of HTML that is a simple markup language for formatting text. People use it to create dynamic rich-text content on a website or software application without writing code. In other words, it’s a language that lets people create formatted text in an easier (although limiting) way than HTML. As long as you have text formatting requirements, you can use Markdown for many types of applications and websites. The best part is that your users would only need to learn a more basic syntax compared to HTML. It’s important to know, however, that not all special characters have meaning in the Markdown syntax. For this reason, developers and users need to figure out the right special character (or combination of characters) that makes sense in Markdown formatting.

Markdown emerged in 2004 after John Gruber and other contributors looked for a way to create formatted text more easily. However, back then, it wasn’t as standard as it is today, and implementing it was confusing, impractical, or difficult. That’s why some talented developers standardized it into the CommonMark specification that we have today (among other Markdown specifications). The specification aimed to eliminate any ambiguities that Markdown had. This resulted in better Markdown implementation and learning.

To create Markdown content, people use Markdown editors, which are tools that convert Markdown-formatted text into HTML or XHTML. Because of the abundance of these editors, users can create Markdown content on any platform. Nowadays, people can also integrate a Markdown editor into applications more easily because of components, APIs, and plugins that aren’t language-specific. An example is a React Markdown editor, but we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s answer the question of why we should use Markdown.

Why use Markdown?

You might be wondering why people use Markdown when there are other ways to format text, such as HTML. There are several reasons for this, and mostly, they’re about simplicity and convenience. Markdown might not be as complete or standard as HTML or WYSIWYG editing, but it does have its perks, especially for time-constrained non-developers.

You can use Markdown for many things

There are numerous things people can use Markdown for, such as blog posts, emails, instant messaging, and more. Like I said earlier, as long as your users need to format text easily and without using HTML, you can give them Markdown editing.

Markdown, aside from being universal, is also simple. This trait lets users focus more on the content instead of having additional things to worry about because of coding. This holds true for various projects, content tasks, or applications. If the CommonMark specification (or another one) does not provide the functionality you require, you can extend Markdown with plugins. However, doing so makes your Markdown implementation less standard since you’re bringing back potential ambiguity for additional features.

Markdown lets you switch freely between applications

We’re all familiar with document files, right? If so, we know that there’s one annoying thing about them (this also applies to other file formats): not all applications support them. For example, when you have a Microsoft Word document file (.docx), other applications might not support it. Or if they do, they might not have the advanced features that Word has, causing you to lose some formatting or other content. This means that your content could show up incorrectly or not show up at all when you use an incompatible application.

It’s annoying when you have to change the format of your content or recreate it just to import it into another application. Markdown naturally prevents this because it can be opened by almost any application.

You can use Markdown anywhere

Luckily for everyone, Markdown is platform-independent. This means that regardless of the operating system (OS), device, or browser, people can create and view Markdown-formatted text. If you’ve used apps like Discord, GitHub, or Reddit before, then you have an idea of how compatible Markdown is.

Markdown is likely to stay

Markdown has proven itself a helpful part of web content creation since its introduction because of how easy it is to use. Because of this, and because plenty of popular websites and applications rely on it to some degree, Markdown is future-proof. And if your favorite Markdown application disappears in the future, you’ll still be able to open Markdown-formatted files using others.

What is a React Markdown editor?

A React Markdown editor is a text editor that supports Markdown content for React applications. The React library for JavaScript is currently one of the most popular web development tools. Because of this, and because Markdown functionality is great to have, developers also thought of supporting Markdown for React applications. Now, there are many ways to integrate a React Markdown editor into your application. For instance, you can make a React Markdown component yourself at the cost of time and development resources. You can also choose a pre-made React Markdown component like React-Markdown. Last but not least, you can integrate a WYSIWYG editor that supports Markdown, which lets you get started even faster.

React Markdown editors all have a field or editing space where users type. More advanced ones (like WYSIWYG editors) even let users see what their Markdown content will look like as they’re typing. Whatever React Markdown editor you implement in your app or website, you need to ensure that it has the necessary features, intuitiveness, and speed for your users. After all, not all Markdown editors for React are created equal. Just how unequal can they be? Read about the best React Markdown editor components and find out. Now that we’ve looked at what React Markdown editors are, let’s check out some of the most common use cases for them.

React Markdown editor use cases

Website content and blog posts

Website content is one of the most common uses for React Markdown editors. After all, Markdown emerged specifically for the web. For example, people usually use Markdown editors to create headings, webpage copy, links, and other formatted content. Blog posts are no exception. In fact, blogs greatly benefit from Markdown since it allows their writers to create content without coding. Some users might even find Markdown the easiest formatting method for them.

Emails

You can also integrate a Markdown editor into React-based email platforms. With it, your users can make formatted emails on the go. This is especially useful for mobile users, who find it easier to type short Markdown syntax than to press buttons.

Instant messaging

Similarly, React Markdown editors provide instant messaging apps with the power to create formatted content without much effort. Without Markdown support, a messaging app would just feel bare or lacking compared to those with it. Imagine sending a long, structured message without any formatting to a group of people. That would make things difficult for both you and the recipients, as opposed to sending a beautifully formatted message with headings, list items, and more.

Simple documents

Markdown editors are useful when it comes to making simple documents like letters or quick reports on React applications. Sure, they’re not as robust as word processors or WYSIWYG editors, but they get the job done quickly.

Technical documentation

Recently, Markdown editors have seen an increase in usage for technical documentation. Some editors even support documentation versioning, searching, sorting, and more in addition to Markdown features. Others offer themes or templates for Markdown-fueled documentation, keeping writers focused.

There are plenty more use cases for React Markdown editors, but those we’ve discussed above are the primary ones. Whatever the use case, Markdown editors make creating formatted text in React applications a lot simpler and faster. But there are ways to do so in an even simpler and faster way, and before the article ends, let me show one of them to you.

Level up your React Markdown editor

Your React app will greatly benefit from Markdown when you have the right editing tool. The best way to have Markdown functionality in your application or website is to integrate a WYSIWYG editor as your React Markdown editor. That’s because they offer a complete solution for every editing need, Markdown included. That means your users will have access to not only Markdown features but so much more. These features include real-time editing, autosaving, code view, and all other rich text functionalities, even those that Markdown can’t handle. WYSIWYG editors bridge the gap between HTML and Markdown, giving you the robustness of HTML and the simplicity and convenience of Markdown. They are great tools to reinforce your React applications with.

Froala is a WYSIWYG editor that gives the ideal editing experience. It has Markdown support and virtually every rich text editing feature. It’s also lightweight and fast despite having over 100 features. Furthermore, it’s plugin-based. This means that when you need a feature added or removed, you only have to include or exclude the plugin for it. For instance, if you want Markdown support, just include its plugin and you’re good to go. Lastly, it’s secure. XSS (cross-site scripting) is one of the most dangerous attacks that people can make, and Markdown editors are some of the most common victims. Fortunately, the XSS vulnerability was resolved in Froala Editor 4.0.15. When it comes to robustness and user experience, Froala goes above and beyond the standard React Markdown editor components.

And there you have it: some simple React Markdown editor use cases you can take inspiration from, Markdown basics, and how you can upgrade your users’ Markdown experience in a simple way.

 

 

 

A React Markdown editor is an important and common tool that content creators, developers, and regular web users have used at some point. It’s essentially a React-based text editor that supports Markdown syntax for easy formatting. Most React Markdown editors are intuitive and do not require any programming knowledge. This allows anyone to format and style their text when using a messaging app, email platform, and the like. This saves both developers and users a lot of time. For example, developers won’t have to put a lot of effort into Markdown documentation since it’s standard, easy to use, and fairly common nowadays. Similarly, users won’t have to learn much to customize their text, especially if they’re already familiar with the Markdown syntax.

Froala, a WYSIWYG HTML editor, is one of the most popular React Markdown editors. You can use it to format text, add headers, and perform many other content editing features not limited to Markdown. With it, users can write Markdown content and view its effects immediately. Thus, Froala, as a React Markdown editor, is the link between “coding” and content writing.

In this article, I’ll show you how you can use and customize Froala as an elegant and fast React markdown editor. Let’s start by reviewing how we usually write Markdown.

Markdown Syntax

Markdown syntax involves wrapping plain text in special characters that correspond to a format or style command. For instance, adding a single hash (#) and a white space before a string indicates that the string is an H1 header tag. Using Froala’s online Markdown editor demo (check it out here), let’s try some Markdown heading syntax. Here’s how we can make H1 to H4 headings using Markdown:

You might have noticed the pattern wherein the number of hashes indicates the heading level of the text. Easy, right? That’s why many people, programmers or not, choose to implement Markdown in their projects. And this demand from users all over the world is why you should familiarize yourself with the Markdown syntax. Again, all Markdown editors, including WYSIWYG ones, accept commands in the form of special characters.

Other examples of Markdown syntax include tables, bold text, lists, images (including alt text, which is nice), blockquotes, and so much more. For example, you can create tables in Markdown by using three or more hyphens (—) and pipes (|). The hyphens represent table headers, while the pipes separate each cell into columns. A Markdown table cell is then some content wrapped between two pipes (|) on a single row. These cells can also have different widths.

Since Markdown is so easy, why do people still use HTML? Well, that’s simply because Markdown isn’t as robust, complete, or capable as HTML. Developers can combine Markdown and HTML, however, to create a seamless editing experience for their users. In the next section, we’ll get to know more about Markdown, HTML, and how they’re related.

Is Markdown better than HTML?

It’s important to note that the Markdown syntax is not an advanced type of programming. Instead, it’s more of a way to format and style content for technical writing or other forms of web writing. Formally, Markdown was originally a markup library. Nowadays, though, Markdown can refer to any markup language that follows the standard Markdown syntax and format.

You should also know that, while Markdown is a lot easier than HTML, you shouldn’t replace HTML with it. That’s because it’s way more limited in terms of what you can do. So, you can think of Markdown as a subset of HTML that users can turn to for formatting and styling content without coding.

So, no. Markdown is not better than HTML in terms of features or capabilities. However, it’s a lot easier to do for non-developers compared to coding. Furthermore, depending on the Markdown editor, you can preview the formatted content in real-time (like in our Froala example earlier). This makes it really easy for users to write and format the content exactly as they want it. A Markdown preview also serves as a way to let users know when they’ve made syntax mistakes.

Next, let’s explore why Froala is the preferred Markdown editor for React applications.

Why use Froala as a React Markdown editor?

Since Markdown has a standardized syntax, aren’t all Markdown editors the same? They’re not. When you’re looking for a Markdown editor you can integrate into your React app, you should consider these factors: CommonMark compliance, extensibility, security, speed, and user interface (UI) design.

1. CommonMark compliance 

   The best Markdown WYSIWYG editors must be compliant with the CommonMark specification. CommonMark is the more consistent, standardized specification of Markdown. Originally, Markdown syntax had ambiguities, and there were differences in its implementation. CommonMark emerged in 2014 with the goal of standardizing the Markdown syntax specification. Today, most developers and organizations, including GitHub, Reddit, and Stack Overflow, use CommonMark. It is then important for Markdown editors to comply with this specification because it clearly defines Markdown syntax with little to no ambiguity.

2. Extensibility 

   A Markdown editor is extensible if it allows developers to add features to or remove features from the editor using plugins. This is important for making sure that you have exactly the features that your users need.

3. Security

   It’s always important to keep your applications and their components secure, and this also applies to Markdown editors. These editors often fall victim to XSS (cross-site scripting) attacks, in which an attacker manipulates a site’s components so that they’ll behave differently, allowing them to steal user data. Thus, you must find a Markdown editor that protects your app against XSS attacks. One way of knowing whether an editor is more secure is if it uses the dangerouslySetInnerHTML property or not. If it does, then it’s vulnerable to XSS. Otherwise, if an editor does not rely on that property, then it’s a lot safer.

4. Speed 

   How fast an editor loads and responds to user input is also another essential factor when choosing the right React Markdown editor. If the editor is too slow, then users will most likely get frustrated, bored, lose momentum, or all of the above. Conversely, if the editor is fast, then users will stay focused, engaged, and happy. Usually, having more features means that your editor will be slower; however, some editors have found brilliant ways to keep themselves fast despite having tons of features. Look for these editors.

5. UI design 

   The user interface plays a large part in the usability of an editor and the application in which it’s integrated. Ideally, the UI should provide an intuitive and smooth experience for its users. It can do so by properly organizing and categorizing the editor tools, making the editor and its elements responsive, providing themes, and so on.

So, why should you consider using Froala as a React Markdown editor? That’s because Froala has all the qualities we’ve discussed above. In other words, its Markdown feature complies with CommonMark, and it’s fast, extensible, and elegant. It also has protection from XSS vulnerabilities.

With its 100+ features, Froala has every Markdown functionality your users need—and more. Some of these features include word count, real-time editing, math equations, and multiple language support, among many others. Froala is also plugin-based, meaning you can extend the editor to your liking by including or removing its plugins depending on which features you need. Froala is also very easy to integrate into any type of application and across different frameworks and libraries, including React. These qualities make Froala a powerful yet lightweight React Markdown editor.

How do I integrate Froala into your React application?

Starting your Froala experience with React is a breeze. Follow the steps below to get started.

1. Install react-froala-wysiwyg, the Froala React component.
2. Require the component within your application.
3. Configure your Webpack settings for loading the CSS files and FontAwesome (check the sample code here).

How do you use Froala’s Markdown editor plugin?

To start using Froala’s Markdown editor plugin for your React application, add the plugin, named markdown, to your code. Its script has the filename “…/js/plugins/markdown.min.js”. And that’s it. Now you only have to initialize the editor using JavaScript. Here’s a basic implementation of the React Markdown editor, taken from Froala’s Markdown Plugin documentation page:

<!-- Other HTML elements here -->
<div id="froala-editor">
  <h3>Markdown support makes WYSIWYG HTML editing awesome.</h3>
  <p>Froala's Markdown plugin provides flexible rich text and markdown content creation options for authors and also provides robust, reliable markdown output for any project.
</div>

<script>
  new FroalaEditor('div#froala-editor', {
    toolbarButtons: ['bold', 'italic', 'underline', 'paragraphFormat', 'align', 'markdown', 'undo', 'redo']
  })
</script>

In the code snippet above, we can see that we only added the “markdown” plugin to the toolbarButtons property of the editor to enable it. You should then see the following output:

After that, you can customize the editor in terms of appearance or features to align it better with your requirements.

Conclusion

In this article, we talked about the importance of a React Markdown editor as well as the Markdown syntax. We also discussed the important characteristics that the ideal Markdown editor must possess. Lastly, we explored using Froala as a React Markdown editor and discussed the steps needed to implement it easily.

Now that we’ve looked at these topics, you’ll have a better idea of what to expect when implementing your own React Markdown editor. I hope you learned from and appreciated the Markdown tips you’ve seen in this article.

 

 

Content Management Systems, abbreviated as CMS, have been an integral part of web development since their emergence. This is because they help web developers build their sites a lot faster while providing enough customization options. They’re also essential for those who don’t want to put too much time into building a website from scratch. Thus, Content Management Systems are ideal tools for non-developers, coding beginners, or expert developers looking to save time.

The most important part of a CMS is, well, content, specifically the means to create, share, and manage it. To carry out its content needs, a CMS makes use of a WYSIWYG HTML editor (or WYSIWYG editor). A WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML editor is a popular website component for content editing. It allows users to alter a website’s pages and contents using a user interface (UI), eliminating the need for coding. It’s because of these editors that CMS users are able to publish and edit content easily and comfortably.

In this blog post, you’ll get to know Winter CMS, a new but powerful CMS. You’ll also see how they were able to grow quickly using their chosen WYSIWYG editor.

What is a CMS?

A CMS is a software application where users can create, edit, and show web content without the webmaster’s intervention. It has two major components: a front-end one that lets users change content and a back-end component that handles data and content changes.

Content Management Systems usually have at least two user levels: administrators and regular users. Administrators, being at the highest user level, have the most access rights and control. They oversee the entire website, its content managers and editors, and regular users.

Regular users, on the other hand, have the least access rights, usually limited to viewing content and posting comments. A more complex CMS has more user levels, each with its own set of access rights.

As mentioned earlier, a CMS contains a WYSIWYG HTML editor where its users can write and style content. In the next section, we’ll discuss more about WYSIWYG editors and how they help improve CMSes.

What is a WYSIWYG editor?

We already know that WYSIWYG editors help in the seamless creation and editing of web content and that CMSs use them. But how do they do that? To answer that, let’s first look at its elements.

A typical WYSIWYG editor consists of two elements: the toolbar and the editing space. The toolbar consists of organized buttons that correspond to different format and styling functionalities. On the other hand, the editing space is where content is displayed. CMS users need to interact with both elements of a WYSIWYG editor to publish rich text content.

WYSIWYG editors can also be built from scratch or integrated as third-party solutions. Each method has its own benefits and disadvantages. For instance, if you build one from scratch, you’ll have more control in your hands. However, you’ll lose plenty of development time on both basic and advanced formatting, styling, and upload features. And if you integrate a prebuilt editor, you’ll save plenty of time and have the most advanced editing features. You’ll usually need to pay for the best ones, but this cost is negligible. This is because you won’t have to maintain the editor, and you’ll have a top-notch editing interface and experience right away.

How can a WYSIWYG editor improve a CMS?

To aid CMSs in delivering efficient and enjoyable content editing experiences, the best WYSIWYG editors must have the following features:

• Basic formatting and styling (bold, underline, highlight, font family and colors, paragraph indents, etc.)
• Advanced formatting and styling (paragraph heading formats, line height, quotes, ordered and unordered lists, math and chemical equations)
• Support for links, images, videos, other files, tables, emojis, Markdown, and so on
• Smart content pasting (pasting content from an external source with or without retaining format)
• Toolbar and editor customization and theming
• Autosaving
• Spelling and grammar checking
• Real-time editing and collaboration features
• Save as PDF
• Support for other languages
• Accessibility features

If you have an editor that has all these features, then your CMS will most likely have everything it needs. And such an editor was exactly what Winter CMS needed and found.

What is Winter CMS?

Winter CMS is an open-source, Laravel PHP framework-based Content Management System. It is a relatively new CMS, having forked from October CMS sometime in 2021. Since then, it has gained the attention of developers and businesses from all over the world.

It promises power and simplicity, which are both important for CMS users. With its simple but robust features, it helps people build their sites quickly while ensuring an optimized and fast performance. Winter CMS is also backward compatible, which alleviates users’ concerns as time passes.

Winter CMS gives its users a fun and efficient development experience. And when it comes to editing, it’s backed by Froala, a feature-rich WYSIWYG editor that solves their editing problems.

How did Winter CMS find their ideal WYSIWYG editor?

Winter CMS’ core contributors forked their project from October CMS, another CMS that’s not fully free when used commercially. October CMS had already been using Froala Editor even before Winter CMS was born. And when Winter CMS came to be, its core contributors decided to keep using Froala. Luke Towers, Winter CMS’ lead developer and core contributor, said that this is because “it has a clean and simple interface and is relatively easy to extend with plugins.”

How does Winter CMS benefit from using Froala?

Froala’s clean and simple interface is one of the things that make it stand out from other editors. Its sleek design improves users’ efficiency by making sure that they can easily become familiar with its toolbar and features. And we’re talking about a WYSIWYG editor with over 100 features. It’s often a problem among feature-rich editors to have plenty of features and still have a neat interface. Other robust editors usually end up making their toolbar messy, giving users everything they need–that is, if they can find it. Froala overcomes this problem by categorizing its features into button groups and displaying only what is needed at the moment. Developers can even customize the toolbar and create their own buttons. And speaking of customization, let’s talk about its plugin-based architecture.

Froala is plugin-based (or modular), meaning its features are encapsulated into plugins, which developers can include or exclude as needed. Need a spelling and grammar checker in your CMS’ editor for blog posts? Include a plugin. Don’t need any unnecessary features for your simple CMS messaging system? Exclude the other plugins. With a plugin-based architecture, Froala keeps things simple while also keeping the editor lightweight. This ensures that developers have exactly what they need, nothing more, nothing less.

Winter CMS found their ideal WYSIWYG editor in Froala because of its intuitiveness, speed, extensibility, customizability, and features. They continue to use Froala to assist their CMS in making development easy, fast, and fun. Which brings me to the question: how can you start integrating Froala into your CMS, like Winter CMS did? It actually takes only a few seconds or minutes.

How can I start using Froala for my CMS?

Whatever your project is and whatever programming language you’re using, you can easily integrate Froala into it. It has plugins for over 17 frameworks, including WordPress (click here to see how you can integrate Froala into WordPress). You can also install Froala Editor in different ways. For instance, you can use its download page and fill out a form. And if you prefer more technical ways of doing so, you can install it via NPM, Bower, or CDN. This documentation page shows you all the ways you can install Froala Editor. Furthermore, you can explore its pricing page to learn more about its perpetual and subscription plans. Froala’s installation, regardless of the method, won’t take you long. So, it’s worth trying it out for free to check whether you, like Winter CMS, find it perfect for your app.

Summary

In this blog post, you’ve learned about Winter CMS, its WYSIWYG editor of choice, and how they synergize to improve the user experience. I’ve also mentioned how you can start using Winter CMS’ chosen editor for your own CMS application. In the years ahead, Content Management Systems will continue to be a relevant and important part of web development. And as long as people need an easy and convenient way to make content, WYSIWYG editors will remain popular, too.

 

 

 

 

Nowadays, it’s getting more common to see an exponential increase in the amount of data collected inside a business. The same goes for the complexity of data. This challenge stems from multiple factors, such as a rapidly growing user base and plenty of additional data requirements. As a result, businesses usually have to sacrifice speed and storage costs just to analyze big data. Therefore, in recent years, there has been a need to find more intelligent ways of storing and analyzing data. And this is one more business problem that Dynatrace knew they had to solve.

In this article, you’ll get to know Grail, Dynatrace’s intelligent solution to this big data problem. Additionally, you’ll learn about the WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get) that’s integrated into Grail. Before we get to those topics, though, let’s first learn more about Dynatrace.

About Dynatrace

Dynatrace is a global software intelligence platform that leverages advanced AIOps and security to simplify and automate cloud operations. In simpler terms, they help businesses solve their cloud requirements easily. Their goal is to “make sure every digital experience and interaction, in every industry, everywhere, is flawless and secure.” They empower their customers to innovate faster, albeit safer, work more efficiently, and have better results. Dynatrace has solutions for cloud operations, analytics, DevOps, and more, which they use to help businesses across different industries. They also currently have about 50 offices and thousands of employees around the world.

And in their quest to make organizations adapt and succeed in the age of modern cloud computing, they decided to tackle the problem of big data. In one of their discussions, they realized that the current observability and monitoring solutions were very limited. Whether it was storage-related, query-related, or analysis-related, these limitations of those solutions prevented them from facing the aforementioned challenges. Dynatrace then thought about building a platform that makes all data easily, intelligently, and cheaply accessible. That’s when Grail was first conceptualized.

Grail is a data lakehouse for observability data, log management and analytics, and business analytics. Released in 2022, this new platform lets businesses overcome cloud challenges using its AI-powered analytics. To learn more about how Grail works, let’s first look at the definition of a data lakehouse.

What is a data lakehouse?

You might already know about databases, data warehouses, and data lakes. All of them are data storage types with their own use cases and benefits. For instance, databases are great for real-time data processing, warehouses for structured big data analytics, and lakes for flexible analytics. A data lakehouse is the latest technology that combines data warehouses and data lakes while keeping their benefits. This leads to better flexibility and data management. Here’s a table to help you see the differences between a data warehouse, data lake, and data lakehouse:

As seen on the table above, a data lakehouse has the benefits of both data warehouses and data lakes. So, how does it work? When data arrives in a data lakehouse, it is preserved in its original, raw form. In other words, unlike databases and data warehouses, it does not require a schema definition. This is the data lake part of the lakehouse. The unstructured data is then classified using a transactional metadata layer.

Unlike previous hybrid solutions that combined data warehouses and lakes, lakehouses provide only one platform for all data requirements. Thus, lakehouses prevent data redundancy or duplication. Apart from that, it’s cost-effective and very flexible. Lastly, its data warehouse part makes it easy to govern and manage data. Now that you’re more familiar with data lakehouses, let’s continue talking about Grail.

What is Grail?

I’ve already mentioned that Grail is Dynatrace’s new lakehouse technology for observability and analytics. So, let’s take a closer look at Grail’s features and capabilities. 

• The only causational data lakehouse that supports MPP (massively parallel processing), increasing speed and cost-effectiveness
• Unifies data analysis, observability, and security
• Indexless (data lake part), i.e., there’s no need to structure data before ingestion
• Equipped with the new Dynatrace Query Language (DQL), which speeds up advanced analytics and has an easy-to-learn syntax
• Click here to learn more

To help carry out Grail’s mission, Dynatrace needed a WYSIWYG editor where their users could seamlessly input content. Their major concerns at the time were mostly about extensibility, integration, features, good documentation, and ease of use. So, which editor did they pick out of the numerous advanced ones on the market? Let’s continue to the next section to find out.

How did the Grail team find their WYSIWYG editor?

Alex Market of the Grail team said that he’s been in the software industry for many years. And even now, he always looks for tools, libraries, and techniques that boost productivity. He said that he has used Sencha products previously. And when the Grail team needed an editor, he recalled that Sencha has a sister brand for WYSIWYG editing, Froala.

They then checked Froala out and ultimately went with it because “it’s pretty well documented and overall is easy to use for the end users.” That’s not all, however. There are still some other things that the Grail team likes about Froala.

Here’s what the Grail team likes the most about Froala

The Grail team uses React for their front-end along with a styling framework of their own making. It was critical for them to find a WYSIWYG editor that could be easily integrated into their platform. Luckily, Froala is one of the easiest editors to integrate, with over 17 front-end frameworks currently supported. It can be used for any project, on almost any framework or technology stack, and on any platform. Because of this, the Grail team didn’t have to worry about compatibility issues. Froala is deeply developer-focused and extremely user-friendly, and these are two features that the Grail team loved about it. Here are a few of Froala’s 100+ features:

• Autosave
• Code view
• Customization
• Lightning-fast speed (less than 40 ms load time)
• Elegant, intuitive design
• Real-time editing and mentions
• Spelling and grammar checking
• Math and chemical equations support
• Save as PDF
• RTL support, 34+ languages
• Basic and advanced rich text formatting
• Support for images and other files
• Responsiveness
• Accessibility
• And a lot more (here’s the full list)

According to Alex Market, Froala’s integration with Grail is easy and straightforward while providing good customization options. Together, Froala and Grail help Dynatrace fulfill its mission of perfecting and improving digital experiences. 

How easy is it to integrate Froala?

You can integrate Froala into your application in very little time. The best way is to visit this documentation page, choose your framework (if any), and choose your installation method. You can download the files directly from a form, install from NPM, use a CDN, or use other methods. After getting the files, you’ll only need to embed two lines of code, create your DOM element, and initialize Froala. And that’s it! Like Grail, you’ll have a robust, fast, elegant, and intuitive WYSIWYG editor for your app.

Summary

The uncontrollable growth and complexity of data today poses a difficult challenge for businesses. That’s why Dynatrace created Grail, its data lakehouse platform, which aims to simplify cloud operations and solve their problems. In this article, you learned about Dynatrace, Grail, data lakehouses, and a WYSIWYG editor that fits Grail’s needs.

 

 

 

 

 

Users may sometimes encounter difficulties using and making the most of the rich text editor HTML apps are integrated with. This is especially true if they are unaware of the tool’s properties and rules. One of the problems users encounter when they use rich text editors is the inability to navigate thoroughly. Because of this, they won’t be able to (or won’t want to) use all the features of the editor. The result? Users will find your editor and application confusing or complicated. The cause? The developers most likely had an insufficient understanding of rich text editors’ properties and rules, leading to poor intuitiveness.

Therefore, it’s just as important for developers to learn about the properties and rules of rich text editors. This article shows the problems and gives you the solution: all rich text editors follow the same principles. So, you should learn these principles before you start implementing a rich text editor in your application. Because the better you know an editor’s inner workings, the better your users’ experience will be.

What do we mean by “rich text”?

Rich text refers to a type of text or document that supports visual enhancements, such as styling and formatting features. Nowadays, we encounter rich text on a daily basis. For example, whenever you see bold, italic, underlined, indented, or centered text (among many others), you see rich text. 

Related: Rich Text vs. Plain Text

People commonly use different types of word processors, such as Microsoft Word, to create rich text. However, you usually can’t open or display rich text created in these word processors and saved using their native format properly in other word processors. That’s why we have the more generic Rich Text Format (RTF).

What exactly is the Rich Text Format (RTF)?

The Rich Text Format is a file format that allows users to create, edit, and view rich text. What’s special about it is that rich text can be processed regardless of the word processor or operating system. Introduced by Microsoft in 1987 (and developed further until 2008), RTF allows rich text to be standardized and cross-platform. This, in turn, makes rich text editing more convenient for users. Speaking of which, it’s also worth learning about the importance of text editing today.

Let’s take a look at an example of the usefulness of the rich text format. You can create a Microsoft Word file (.DOCX) and open it with Google Docs or other word processors or editors. RTF makes it so that text style and format are preserved regardless of which word processor or editor you’re using.

What is an HTML rich text editor?

An HTML rich text editor, or WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, is a powerful editing tool. It allows users to format and style text, upload files, and more for web content. It does so using its two major components, a toolbar and an editing space. Furthermore, it makes editing easy because users won’t have to know how to code to make changes to a website. This makes HTML editors the most convenient choice for non-technical users or developers who want to save more time. And for those who prefer writing code, the best of these editors also have an HTML mode feature.

The vast majority of HTML rich text editors are accessed via web browsers. Let’s explore more of its WYSIWYG aspect. It lets users see how the changes they make in the editor will look once published while they’re editing. This low-code feature makes it popular among blogs, Content Management Systems (CMS), and other frequently updated and content-heavy sites. While HTML rich text editors should not be directly compared to standard HTML text editors, they do provide faster content creation. They can even be used as website or template builders. So, we can say that one of the greatest advantages of WYSIWYG editors is their customizability and flexibility.

How customizable are rich text editors?

Most modern rich text editors on the market allow for in-depth customization. This includes customizing the toolbar and button placements, creating your own buttons, and styling the editor to match your theme. Some even allow you to initialize the editor inside other HTML elements, such as iframes (off-page editing, anyone?). The editing possibilities are endless when you customize your rich text editor.

Customization plays an important role in design and general productivity. Without it, there will be less diversity among the text editors across different applications. What that could mean for your app is that it would become less unique. It also means that users will be stuck with the same features for as long as you don’t have customization. And what if your editor has plenty of features that your users don’t need yet? Customization provides a way for you to hide or exclude them.

What are the properties of an HTML rich text editor?

An HTML rich text editor’s properties, also known as options, directly dictate its editing experience. They are somewhat like a set of instructions or configurations you’ll add to your editor before you deploy your application. These properties tell the editor which features to include or not. Are these properties like editor customization? Pretty much so, because they affect an editor’s visible or enabled features as well as the logic behind them. Learning about and understanding the most important properties of a rich text editor is key to improving the overall user experience. Let’s continue below to get to know some of these properties.

Editor mode properties

You can modify how the editor generally appears using editor mode properties. These modes include document-ready, inline, full page, classic textarea, and more. With these properties, you can easily pick the perfect editor mode for your application. For example, if you’re making an online word processor like Google Docs, then you should use the document-ready mode.

Saving

The most advanced rich text editors allow you to configure their saving capabilities and behavior. Modern editors usually allow for auto saving and manual saving by both AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) and form submissions. Hence, you’ll only need to choose which saving methods you prefer and then configure the saving properties. These properties usually include the interval (auto save), method (e.g., post), parameters, and URL (where the content is saved).

Default properties

Having default values for your editor elements is greatly beneficial because it sets a standard. Let’s check out a simple example. If you have an editor where users can only input code, you won’t want them to have headings and titles. And if your users are mostly writers, then you should choose “Paragraph” as the default instead.

File properties

The ability to customize how your editor interacts with files is also helpful in building a better editing environment. The allowed file types, upload methods, size limitations, cloud upload options, and so on are all part of this.

Styling

The best rich text editors have styling properties for multiple elements, such as tables, images, links, paragraphs, and so on. That’s because the more styles there are, the more you can make your editing experience and interface unique and beautiful. For instance, you can customize the appearance of links in your editor with a link style property. From colors to thickness, it gets rid of plain-looking links and easily replaces them with those that fit your theme.

Rules for Rich Text

The rules of rich text are overwhelmingly numerous, to say the least. They cover important areas such as syntax, conventions, and contents. To see the full list of rich text rules, check out this RTF specification page. If you’re making your own rich text editor, then it’s definitely worth learning all these rules. However, if you’re planning to use a ready-made editor, then you don’t have to learn and read through every rule. In fact, you’ll only have to integrate it in a matter of seconds, configure it to your liking, and you’re good to go.

Conclusion

The properties and rules of a rich text editor (HTML) tell you the best way you should approach any editing tool. You should always consider these whenever you plan to implement a rich text editor in your app. Whether you’re making your own editor or integrating a third-party tool, these rules will guide your decisions.

 

 

When writing documents, it’s important to make sure that there are as few grammatical, spelling, and formatting mistakes as possible. This is because these errors could reduce a document’s quality and readability or even possibly tarnish an author’s credibility. However, it’s also important to note that everyone makes document-related mistakes. Even the most adept writers produce content that has errors from time to time for various reasons. For instance, errors could stem from exhaustion, recklessness, or going over previously written content. Even in the digital age, writers could make mistakes (e.g., accidentally moving the cursor to another area while typing). So how can we prevent making such mistakes? Document editing is the answer.

Document editing is an essential part of writing because it helps deliver high-quality content to the intended audience. Nowadays, whenever people need to write or edit documents or articles, they resort to using document editing software. If you’re searching for more information about document editing and editors, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ll be looking at its basics and how you can use an online document editor to make better content.

What is document editing?

When you ask people about document editing, they’ll likely have slightly different answers. These answers, however, all point to the same goal, which is to improve the quality of written content. Generally, we can define it as a process in which a document or selection of text is reviewed, assessed, and revised. Editors can repeat this process as many times as needed to keep improving the content’s quality. They can even edit a published document to keep the information timely and accurate. A document can also go through different levels of editing by different people.

Just how important is it? Well, it’s safe to say that it’s a critical factor in a business’ success. In fact, businesses, schools, and other institutions rely on document editing for reports, articles, technical documentation, research papers, and more. The more accurate, readable, organized or structured, informative, and error-free a document is, the better its audience impact will be. To understand document editing better, let’s go over its basics in the next section.

What are the basics of document editing?

So, what is document editing all about? What should a writer/editor do or look for when editing a document? These things might differ depending on what document you’re editing. However, there are some common factors to look for, regardless of the document type. These usually include:

Factual correctness

When editing documents, facts are important. You should always ensure that whatever information is written on your document is correct. Otherwise, you could be spreading false information, which is always bad for both business and the community. When in doubt about whether something is factual or not, look it up.

Grammar and syntax correctness

In all languages, grammar proficiency is necessary to easily convey one’s thoughts to the audience. So is syntax, because changing the position or usage of a word can completely change the meaning of a sentence. Breaking so many grammar rules results in huge quality and clarity losses for documents.

Content and content flow that make sense

Editors must also make sure that a document’s content and structure are logical. You can’t just have content that’s unreasonably irrelevant to your document’s topic. Editors should also check that the content isn’t redundant or just a couple of relevant keywords put together. Transitions between sections also need to make sense so that readers can have a smooth and enjoyable flow of reading.

Vocabulary

Whenever you write a document, you’re telling a story. And if you want to make your document public, you’ll need to make it as readable as possible. To do this, you can reduce the number of complicated words and sentences.

Formatting and styling

How writers format and style their content also adds to readability. If a document’s content looks too plain or unformatted, readers might get exhausted, confused, or bored by it. So, editors must always check whether a document and its contents are properly formatted and appropriately styled.

Some more advanced or specific factors to consider include references (research papers), graphs and images, and SEO (search engine optimization). Whatever your document is, there’s always a need to check it and improve it. But wait, isn’t that proofreading? Let’s find out in the next section.

Is document editing the same as proofreading?

Simply put, no, document editing and proofreading are not the same thing. They are similar, however, in that they both involve checking a document’s quality and improving it further. However, document editing has a much larger scope and role. That’s because proofreading acts as the final step before you can publish your document. An editor assesses and improves a document since its initial drafting. On the other hand, a proofreader looks for anything that an editor could have missed. In other words, editing involves improving a document’s quality while it’s still in development, while proofreading is for ready-to-publish drafts. Both of these heavily rely on a document editor or, if possible, a “track changes” feature.

What’s a document editing software?

A document editor can refer to a website, third-party tool, or standalone software application for editing documents. That’s why it’s also known as document editing software. These tools help writers, editors (the human kind), and proofreaders with their content tasks. Thus, they’re equipped with formatting and styling tools as well as image uploads, collaboration features, and a lot more. A document editor may also refer to a person who edits documents, but for this article, we’ll focus on the software kind. So, if you’re looking for a good document editor, where do you start? We must first learn about the anatomy of a great document editor.

What’s an example of a good document editor?

As I mentioned before, a document editor can be an online service, a third-party tool, or an installable application. No option is better than another, however, and choosing one depends on your needs. What you should consider is whether a document editor has the following content editing features or not:

• Basic and advanced formatting and styling
• Image and video uploads and transformations
• Customizable toolbar and buttons
• Save as PDF
• Print
• Responsiveness and mobile friendliness
• Word count
• Math and chemical equations
• Undo and redo
• Plain text pasting and formatted text pasting
• Tables
• Autosaving
• Track changes/version history/comments and mentions
• Spelling and grammar checking
• Accessibility features

Froala Editor is an example of a suitable document editor for online apps and websites. It’s a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML editor that also has powerful document editing capabilities. Froala is a lightweight third-party editor that focuses on user experience and is easy to integrate into any application. Let’s learn more about it in the following section.

Froala’s own document editor mode

The best WYSIWYG HTML editors are so versatile that they can also be used inline or like word processors (e.g., MS Word). Froala is no exception because of its own document editor mode. This allows Froala Editor to be better suited for document editing, giving it the appearance of standard document editors. Just switch on the “Document Ready” mode, and Froala will instantly set the optimal alternatives for editing online documents.

Characteristics

Froala’s document editor mode has the following characteristics, which are included in its 100+ features:

• Quick formatting
• Rich media support
• Easy third-party tool integration
• Save as PDF
• Easy-to-follow documentation
• Responsive design for all modern devices
• Lightweight and extremely fast
• Clean, organized design for better user experience
• Spelling and grammar checking

If you want to see a full list of its features, click here. Another good thing about Froala is that, despite having plenty of features, it’s still lightweight and intuitive. It’s one of the leading WYSIWYG editors, and it also works well as an online document editor.

Conclusion

Document editing takes plenty of time and effort. Furthermore, it’s also a very delicate task, requiring editors to be as careful and perceptive as possible. Therefore, to gain an advantage in terms of accuracy, quality, and efficiency, it’s better to use document editors. In this article, we got to know the document editing basics as well as how you can use a document editor in your application. And before you go, you should also learn about the importance of text editors in 2022. Doing so just might save you plenty of time.