Draftail v2.0.0! 🌈 I have been working on this new release for two years now, and only now do I feel comfortable shipping it.

Long time no see! Draftail v1.4.0 is out, another release focused on gradual editor improvements.

Time for a new release! Draftail v1.3.0 is out, and this is the first release to solely focus on improvements or fixes requested by users of Draftail outside of Wagtail, its first large-scale implementation.

Here is a talk I gave at Wagtail Space 2019. The video recording is available on YouTube. The talk was 90% demos so the purpose of this presentation is to share the links.

Draftail v1.2.0 is out, and it packs a punch. While the previous release focused on maintainability and bug fixes, this time around it's all about shiny new features: support for the Draft.js Plugins architecture and its plugin ecosystem, and new ways to format content with Markdown shortcuts.

It’s been a while since the last Draftail release! Draftail v1.1.0 is out; the CHANGELOG is fairly short but I thought it would also be good to report on what’s been happening behind the scenes.

Most of the functionality of Draftail comes from Draft.js, and so do the bugs. One of the most problematic ones for us was the poor support for copy-paste of content between editors. Here’s me live coding my attempt at a fix.

Here is a talk I gave at Wagtail Space 2018. The video recording is available on YouTube. The talk was 90% demos so the purpose of this presentation is to share the links.

Discussing rich text capabilities in a CMS is an exercise in compromise. Authors want the flexibility to be creative in their content. Developers want to ensure said content fits in the box. This can feel like fighting over the bed covers with a spouse: everyone initially means well, but things turn sour and we all wish for a bigger duvet. Or a more understanding spouse.

I believe the fundamental problem is one of control – for end users, control over content formatting, and predictability of the overall system. And for developers, control over content processing and rendering. Let’s crack open the rich text black box, and give everyone their fair share of the duvet.

Have you ever worked with rich text editors? You know how frustrating of an experience that can be. Users enter content without much confidence in how the editor will preserve it. Developers have to harden their sites to handle the unstructured soup that is rich text. Designers see their layout completely destroyed by the cheer variation in shape and length. A recipe for frustration.

It’s time to add some noodles and flavour, give some structure to our bland broth and enjoy rich text again.