To TinyMCE Or Not To TinyMCE
Some time ago, Mark expressed a wish for sliding notes editor support in form of a button in the visual editor toolbar.
That is, we’re talking about extending TinyMCE here.
Now, I’ve never done that, and I suspect it’d be quite some extra work, but unexplored territories and a rough terrain have never stopped me from trying things out. On the other hand, I naturally ask myself if all that will be worth the effort. Why?
Because it’d only help those who actually use WordPress’ built-in visual editor, but not the folks who use a desktop blogging client.
In my opinion, a (good) desktop blogging client is by far superior a tool compared to any web-based editor, as it imposes a lot less friction in day-to-day usage than its web-based brothers. Hence, my assumption is that there’s a significant number of users who use the dashboard for blog administration only, but not for writing. (If you’ve never used one, give it a try. Don’t be surprised if you never want go back to TinyMCE for writing any more. I use BlogDesk, and I love it.)
That’s why I tend to focus on functionality provided through content, like shortcodes and filters. (Indeed, seen philosophically, providing more great TinyMCE extensions means providing more reasons not to use those great desktop blogging tools, and I’ve got mixed feelings about that.)
So, for now, I’m staying out of TinyMCE’s realm. I’ll concentrate on elements generally accessible with desktop blogging tools, too: Content, categories, tags, and custom fields.
Now, having said this, it may be of interest that I’ve got some cool ideas for new plug-ins, some of which are already in the works. So stay tuned, I’ll be back! 😉
