With over 75 million websites built on WordPress, it has securely established itself as the world‘s most popular content management system (CMS). A major factor driving this widespread adoption is WordPress‘ user-friendly visual editor. In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll take an in-depth look at what the visual editor is, why WordPress uses it, and how to get the most out of it as an expert content creator.
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The Rise of WordPress as a CMS
WordPress usage has exploded from just a few thousand downloads when it launched in 2003 to being installed on over 41% of all websites today. It powers high-traffic sites like TechCrunch, BBC America, and more. WordPress dominates the market share compared to competitors like Joomla (3%), Drupal (2%), and Squarespace (1.2%).
So what has fueled this astounding growth trajectory? The open source nature, extensibility through plugins and themes, and the simplicity of the user experience. With a few clicks, anyone can set up a professional looking website using WordPress without coding expertise. The visual editor plays a central role in offering this accessible, user-friendly editing experience.
Evolution of the Visual Editor
In the early days of WordPress, users edited posts and pages using just a simple HTML editor. It provided basic formatting options, but required manually writing all HTML tags.
As WordPress evolved, the demand grew for a more robust WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) visual editor. This would allow users to format text and arrange content by clicking buttons and options, instead of typing code.
In WordPress 2.5, released in March 2008, the TinyMCE JavaScript library was integrated to power a new visual editor. TinyMCE provided familiar word processing features like bold, copy/paste, spell check, and more.
Over the years, WordPress‘ implementation of TinyMCE has grown more sophisticated with additional multimedia and formatting capabilities added. As of WordPress 5.9, the latest visual editor includes:
- 60+ toolbar buttons for formatting
- Image and media insertion
- Drag and drop embedding
- Customizable fonts, colors, styles
- Accessibility tools
- Distraction-free editing
The editor is also highly customizable for developers, allowing it to be tailored to specific sites and extended through plugins.
Why WordPress Uses TinyMCE
When the WordPress developers were looking to enhance the editing experience with a WYSIWYG visual editor, TinyMCE emerged as the best fit for several reasons:
Open source – TinyMCE is released under the LGPL license, meaning it can be used freely. This aligned with WordPress‘ open source philosophy.
Established library – First launched in 2003, TinyMCE already had several years of development and a solid codebase. It was authored by the experienced developer Ephox.
Customizable – TinyMCE provides over 500 configuration options and API hooks for deep customization and integration. This was critical for adapting it to WordPress.
Cross-browser – TinyMCE supports all major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and more with consistent rendering.
Lightweight – The library is designed to be lightweight and fast even when handling large documents. This is essential for good editor performance.
Accessible – TinyMCE offers accessibility features like ARIA roles, screen reader support, and keyboard shortcuts. This aligns with WordPress‘ commitment to accessibility.
Active development – TinyMCE benefits from continual maintenance and improvements by Ephox. Each WordPress release can incorporate the latest editor features and fixes.
Overall, TinyMCE met the WordPress team‘s requirements for a solid, flexible, open source WYSIWYG editor. It has enabled WordPress to provide a best-in-class editing experience right in the browser.
Editing Experience Powered by TinyMCE
TinyMCE gives WordPress users an intuitive, user-friendly editing environment similar to desktop tools like Microsoft Word. Let‘s look at some of the key features of the visual editor experience.
Formatting Toolbar
The editor toolbar located at the top provides one-click access to basic text formatting like:
- Bold, italics, underline – For calling out text
- Headings – To add structure
- Text alignment – Align left, right, or center
- Lists – Organize with bullet or numbered lists
- Quotations – For pull quotes and citations
Advanced options like font style, size, color, paste as text, clear formatting, and more are available in the dropdowns.
Inserting Images and Media
Adding visual elements to pages is a breeze. The toolbar contains buttons for uploading and inserting:
- Images – JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG, etc.
- Video – MP4, WebM, YouTube, Vimeo
- Audio – MP3, OGG, WAV
- Documents – PDF, Word, Excel, PPT
Media can be dragged around and resized right on the editor canvas.
distraction-free editing
The editor can be toggled to a full-screen mode that hides the WordPress dashboard to avoid distractions. With fewer buttons visible, this allows you to purely focus on writing.
Customization for Developers
Plugin and theme authors can tap into TinyMCE‘s extensive configuration framework and JavaScript API to deeply customize the editing experience:
- Add custom toolbar buttons
- Change keyboard shortcuts
- Create contextual formatting menus
- Integrate site styles for WYSIWYG
- Implement TinyMCE plugins
This level of control allows the visual editor to be finely tuned for specific WordPress site implementations.
An Editor for Everyone
While the visual editor empowers any user to create great-looking content quickly, it also provides more advanced options for experienced users:
- HTML view – View and edit the HTML source code underlying the content.
- Keyboard shortcuts – Like ctrl+B for bold, ctrl+I for italics to improve efficiency.
- Accessibility – Screen reader and keyboard navigation support.
- Paste options – Paste as text to remove formatting when needed.
The editor grows with you whether you‘re a beginner getting started with WordPress or a site admin responsible for publishing and managing complex content.
Comparing WordPress‘ Editor to Alternatives
How does TinyMCE in WordPress stack up to other popular WYSIWYG editors? Here is a brief comparison of key features:
| Editor | Open Source | Customizable | Accessibility | Multi-Platform | Media Support | Table Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress TinyMCE | Yes | Highly | Yes | Yes | Images, video, audio | Yes |
| Microsoft Word | No | Via templates | Limited | Windows, Mac | Images, media, charts | Yes |
| Google Docs | No | Minor styling | Limited | Web, iOS, Android | Images, drawings | Yes |
| Markdown Editors | Some | Plugins, themes | Limited | Cross-platform | Images | Limited |
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WordPress TinyMCE remains very competitive in areas like customization and accessibility while also being open source and cross-platform compatible. It provides a fuller editing experience than many Markdown editors optimized for writing.
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However, Microsoft Word and Google Docs are superior for complex tasks like page layout, multilevel lists, table editing, change tracking, and real-time collaboration.
Ultimately, TinyMCE strikes a great balance between usability and customization for the typical content needs of a WordPress site. It gets out of the way so you can focus on your writing rather than web coding.
Tips for Mastering the Visual Editor
Here are some tips from my 15+ years of experience using WordPress and TinyMCE to make the most of the visual editor:
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Take advantage of available keyboard shortcuts like ctrl+B, ctrl+I for formatting to speed up editing.
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Use the distraction-free mode for immersive writing by clicking the Fullscreen icon.
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Customize the toolbar with the buttons and options you use frequently via Plugins > Editor Menu.
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Add the HTML view to see the code behind your content while editing visually.
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Use the Paste as Text option when pasting content from external sources to avoid formatting issues.
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Install the TinyMCE Advanced plugin for even more formatting options like font sizes and colors.
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Toggle between Visual and Text mode for fine-grained control over HTML or CSS when needed.
Mastering these tips and tricks will help boost your productivity and allow you to publish content more efficiently.
The Future of the Visual Editor
Looking ahead, the visual editor in WordPress is only going to get better. The developers at TinyMCE and WordPress are continuously working to improve it.
Some exciting upcoming features include:
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A new contextual toolbar that surfaces formatting options based on the current text selection.
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Enhanced drag and drop functionality for embedding media and rearranging content.
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Improved support for multi-level lists, tables, and more "page-like" content organization.
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Addition of new collaborative editing features now in development.
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A polished embedded media experience using new Gutenberg blocks.
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Expanded accessibility tools like alt text management and screen reader support.
Conclusion
The visual editor powered by TinyMCE is an essential part of the WordPress publishing experience. It bridges the gap between traditional WYSIWYG editing interfaces and web content creation.
With its balance of usability, customization, and accessibility, the WordPress visual editor removes technical barriers and allows anyone to focus on great content. While it excels at common formatting and multimedia needs, the built-in text editor provides escape hatch flexibility.
As WordPress matures, the editor will continue improving to support more sophisticated layouts and new capabilities. For now it delivers on the promise of democratizing publishing for the 75+ million WordPress sites pushing the web forward. The visual editor combines ease of use with the strength and diversity of the open web – a powerful combination.
