Six Ways to Evaluate a Rich Text Editor

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Six Ways to Evaluate a Rich Text Editor
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Six Ways to Evaluate a Rich Text Editor

• A rich text editor should provide all the
  functions you need whenever you need them.
• It should cover the basics as well as offer
  unique capabilities with an easy-to-use,
  stress-free approach.
• Most important of all, it needs to work each and
  every time.
•  
• The best rich text editors will excel in six
  areas.
• Therefore, make sure you evaluate your options
  based on these capabilities.

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Six Ways to Evaluate a Rich Text Editor

• Low Maintenance Editing
•  
• Editing online content should be a breeze.
• Your editor should provide an intuitive interface
  that requires no learning curve.
• If you copy and paste content from other sources,
  it should be done without a glitch.
• Imports need to be clean and content structures
  maintained.
• A rich text editor should not bring in any messy
  HTML markup or CSS styling. Instead, you get
  reliable headings, tables, lists and images.
• Whether the content is from a desktop word
  processor or a web page all images, text,
  headings, lists and tables should be imported.
• A good editor will simplify HTML table editing as
  well.
• You should be able to easily do things like
  resize inline tables for rows and columns, merge
  and split cells, and more.

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Six Ways to Evaluate a Rich Text Editor

• Great Looking, Consistent Content
•  
• Your rich text editor needs to ensure consistency
  throughout the site through style sheet
  restrictions and other formatting features.
• The editor should also allow flexibility so you
  can customize formatting as desired.
• A big bonus for a rich text editor is to have a
  built-in image editor.
• Its a hassle to download images and then have to
  open them up in another application to edit.
• Its much more efficient to resize, crop and
  apply effects directly in the rich text editor.

• Improved Collaboration
•  
• Rich text editors need to promote collaboration
  among reviewers and authors by allowing comments
  to be embedded within the content.
• A tracking changes feature is absolutely
  imperative as well.
• Highlighting information about changes saves time
  and energy.

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Six Ways to Evaluate a Rich Text Editor

• Accessibility Checking
•  
• Before content is published, accessibility
  checking can look for compliance issues.
• Working like spell check, this capability can
  notice things like images missing alternative
  text, inaccessible tables and other accessibility
  issues.
• You should be able to create accessible content
  as you type.
• Your editor needs accessibility tools to ensure
  your content is compliant with WCAG and Section
  508 guidelines.
• You also need to consider browser support
  requirements.
• And, creating standards-compliant HTML is a
  critical capability for your editor.
• If your content cant be used on a mobile device,
  youre severely limiting your accessibility.

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Six Ways to Evaluate a Rich Text Editor

• Internationalization
•  
• Has the rich text editor been translated into
  different languages?
• Is it localized with dictionaries for spell
  checking in different languages?
• Can it be adapted to specific countries?
• An editor should support language-specific
  character sets and other special requirements.

• Customizable
•  
• Youll want to make sure your rich text editor
  can be easily and quickly customized.
• Anything you want to change should be able to be
  adapted to your requirements.
• For example, you may want to adjust the
  interface, including the menu items and toolbar
  buttons, to suit your preferences.

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Six Ways to Evaluate a Rich Text Editor

• Customizable (cont.)
•  
• When searching for the best rich text editor, you
  need to focus on the solution that will excel in
  the six areas noted above.
• In addition you need to find an editor that also
  simplifies the web production and management
  process, boosts author productivity and, most
  importantly, enhances your website content.

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About the Author
Tom Smith is VP Worldwide Sales and Marketing for
Ephox Corporation, a fast-growing software
company focused on delivering content performance
solutions for developers, marketers, authors and
web production teams. Learn more about our
Rich Text Editor by visiting http//ephox.com.