Froala’s Best Innovative Approach to Styling JavaScript WYSIWYG Editor Tables

Tables are best used in JavaScript WYSIWYG Editors. They help us organize data, highlight important information, and present content in a clear, structured way. However, styling these tables has long been a frustrating challenge for non-technical users.

Froala came up with an innovative approach to table styling, giving developers the ability to create ready visually stunning styles that content creators can select to style their tables.

In this post, we’ll explore Froala’s table styling capabilities. We’ll uncover why Froala’s table solution seamlessly fits into any content.

Key Takeaways:

• Froala provides a comprehensive set of table formatting options in its rich-text editor, including the ability to resize columns, add/remove table headers/footers, and control cell alignment.
• Froala’s innovative table styling capabilities allow developers to create pre-designed table styles that content creators can easily apply to their tables, without needing to write custom CSS.
• Froala’s table styling features improve the readability and aesthetics of content by enabling the creation of professional-looking tables that enhance the overall visual appeal.
• Froala’s seamless table editing tools streamline the content creation process, boosting productivity by reducing the time spent on table formatting.
• By integrating Froala’s powerful yet user-friendly table management capabilities, you can elevate the quality and impact of your content, delivering a better experience for your audience.

Table Editing in Froala

When it comes to styling tables in a rich-text editor, Froala provides a comprehensive set of formatting options to help you create professional-looking tables.

Table Structure

Froala’s rich text editor provides a powerful “Table” dropdown menu that gives you complete control over the structure of your tables. This menu allows you to easily manipulate your table, ensuring you can create the perfect layout for your content.

With the “Table” dropdown, you can:

Add/Remove Table Header: Toggle a header row at the top of your table. This is great for labeling the different columns and providing context for your data.

Add/Remove Table Footer: Add a footer row at the bottom of your table. This can be useful for including summary information, totals, or other important details.

Add/Remove Table Rows: Quickly insert new rows or delete existing ones as needed. This flexibility allows you to expand your table to accommodate more data or trim it down to only the most essential information.

Add/Remove Table Columns: Just like with rows, you can add or remove columns at any time. This makes it easy to reorganize your content and adjust the table structure to suit your needs.

Beyond just adding and removing elements, the “Table” dropdown also lets you control the alignment of content within each cell. You can choose to align text horizontally (left, center, right, justify) as well as vertically (top, middle, bottom). This allows you to present your data in a visually appealing and organized manner.

Moreover, Froala provides the ability to merge and split cells, giving you complete control over the table structure. This flexibility ensures that you can create complex table layouts to best suit your content.

Styling Tables with Froala

One of the biggest challenges with rich-text editors is styling tables. Most WYSIWYG editors don’t provide an easy solution for non-technical users to style their tables.

But Froala has an intuitive approach to table styling. Let’s say you want to create a striped table style. You can add the following CSS rule to your stylesheet:

.class1 tbody tr:nth-child(2n) {

  background: #f9f9f9;

}

This rule will apply a light gray background color to every other row in the table, creating a striped effect.

Next, you can define this new table style in the tableStyles option of the Froala Editor:

new FroalaEditor('div#froala-editor', { 
      // Define new table cell styles 
       tableStyles: {
         class1: 'Stripped',
       }
});

In this example, the key class1 represents the CSS class that will be applied to the table, and the value 'Striped' is the label that will be displayed in the “Table Style” dropdown menu for users to select.

When a user selects the “Striped” option from the dropdown, the class1 CSS class will be applied to the table, resulting in the striped appearance you defined earlier.

This approach allows you, as the developer, to create a range of pre-designed table styles that users can easily apply to their content. By providing these visually appealing options, you empower your users to create professional-looking tables without having to write any custom CSS themselves.

Additionally, you can control whether users can select multiple table styles at once or if they should be limited to a single style. This is done using the tableMultipleStyles option in the Froala Editor configuration.

With Froala’s robust table styling capabilities, content creators can focus on creating high-quality, visually appealing content, without getting bogged down by the complexities of table formatting.

Styling Table Cells with Froala

In addition to styling entire tables, Froala also allows you to apply custom styles to individual table cells. This granular control enables you to highlight specific data, draw attention to important information, or create visually distinct sections within your tables.

To style table cells, Froala provides a “Cell Style” dropdown menu that lets users select from a range of predefined styles. Similarly to “Table Style”, as the developer, you can define these styles using CSS and then expose them in the editor’s interface. This empowers your users to easily apply professional-looking formatting to their content without any coding knowledge.

Let’s say you want to allow users to style some cell text in red so they are highlighted. You can add the following CSS rule to your stylesheet:

.redcell {
   text-align: center;
   color: red;
}

Next, set the tableCellStyles option of the Froala Editor:

new FroalaEditor('div#froala-editor', {
   // Define new table cell styles.
   tableCellStyles: {
     redcell: 'highlight',
   }
})

When a user selects the “highlight” option from the dropdown, the redcell CSS class will be applied to the table cell, resulting in the selected cell text appearing in red.

This flexibility allows users to emphasize important data, create visual hierarchies, and ensure their tables are informative and aesthetically pleasing.

With these powerful table styling capabilities, content creators can craft professional-looking tables that effectively communicate their message and enhance the overall visual appeal of their content.

Benefits of Froala’s Table Styling

Improved Readability and Aesthetics

Froala’s table styling capabilities help create clean, professional-looking tables that enhance the overall appearance and readability of your content. With a range of formatting options, you can ensure a consistent look and feel across your entire document.

This attention to detail results in an enhanced user experience, making it easier for your audience to navigate and digest the information presented in your tables. Well-styled tables can significantly improve the clarity and impact of data-heavy content, whether it’s in a corporate blog, online documentation, or e-commerce product descriptions.

Increased Productivity

Froala’s intuitive table editing tools streamline the content creation process, allowing you to spend less time fussing with table formatting and more time focusing on the substance of your work. The seamless integration of tables with other rich-text elements, such as text, images, and multimedia, further enhances your productivity by enabling a smooth, efficient workflow.

By reducing the development time required for custom table implementations, Froala’s table styling capabilities free up your team to concentrate on higher-value tasks and deliver content to your audience more quickly.

Conclusion

Froala’s innovative approach to table styling in javaScript WYSIWYG editors has solved a long-standing challenge for content creators. By providing an intuitive set of table formatting options and the ability to define custom table styles, Froala empowers users to create professional-looking tables without requiring any specialized technical knowledge.

To experience the benefits of Froala’s table styling firsthand, we encourage you to explore the Froala Editor and integrate it into your next project. With its powerful yet user-friendly table management capabilities, you can elevate the quality and impact of your content, delivering a better experience for your audience.