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<p class=MsoNormal>Got a question: I’ve built a WordPress 3.01
multisite for all of the Faculty/Staff in our Engineering College.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I’ve posted this question below and here at our main
WP site: <a
href="http://coefs.uncc.edu/2010/10/no-table-support-in-wp-visual-editor-and-solutions/">http://coefs.uncc.edu/2010/10/no-table-support-in-wp-visual-editor-and-solutions/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I’ve been very impressed with Word Press in the 6
months or so since I’ve “dove in” to it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>However, I was very surprised to find that the standard
Visual Editor in WP has no way to create a tables (IE: no Table widget in the
toolbar, no wizard, etc…) and even more surprised by the near silence on
this issue.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Several faculty noticed this as well (thus, I’m not
the only one) and you’d think having a Table Wizard on the toolbar would
be standard fare of an WYSIWYG editor these days (not to mention other
formatting tools).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I kept thinking that we were somehow missing the boat and
simply overlooking the obvious….. Especially when my Google
searches didn’t find the answer – I thought I was just having a bad
brain day. Eventually I came to see that I was right – there
simply was no built-in method in WP to do tables in the Visual
Editor. I was stunned that WP, as awesome as it is, didn’t
have this as part of the basic core.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Here’s the options I’ve found in my research:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>1. Create the table in
MS-Word, MS-Excel and then paste it into the visual editor<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>2. Write the HTML
yourself, use an HTML wizard on a website, or your favorite HTML editor (Dream
Weaver, etc..) to generate the HTML, then in the WP editor, switch to HTML mode
and then cut-n-paste it into your WP page/post.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>3. Use <a
href="http://explore.live.com/windows-live-write" target="_blank">Microsoft
Live Writer 2010</a> (free client-side windows app) – as it has many fine
features AND allows you to completely manage your posts AND pages. It
also has it's one set of plug-ins (go here: <a
href="http://gallery.live.com/default.aspx?pl=8">Windows Live Gallery</a>), but
the standard install seems to do most of what you'll need.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>4. Find a WP Plug-in
that provides the missing table feature (and other formatting tools)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>a. WP Super Edit: <a
href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-edit/">WordPress › WP
Super Edit « Word Press Plug-ins</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p>b. CKEditor:
<a
href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ckeditor-for-wordpress/">WordPress
› CKEditor For WordPress « WordPress Plugins</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p>c. FolioPress:
<a
href="http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/foliopress-wysiwyg/">WordPress
› Foliopress WYSIWYG « WordPress Plugins</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Live Writer Pros: I’ve just installed Live
Writer this morning and have been testing it – and it looks pretty nice
and seems to work well. Has many nice formatting features and
is similar to <a href="http://scribefire.com/">http://scribefire.com</a> (free
popular browser add-on for Fire Fox/Safari/Chrome). But, is not as
limiting as Scribe Fire. Scribe Fire does NOT have the table wizard
NOR does it have the ability to create or edit “Pages” – it
can only do “Posts”. However, Live Writer can do
both. And you can create new pages/posts off-line and then publish
them later (which might come in handy sometime).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Live Writer Cons: It is yet another
“app” that has to be installed/managed/upgraded AND you’ll
have to teach people how to use it (though it’s not hard…. But you
know how it is..) Being a Microsoft app, it might yet be inserting
a lot of junk into each post/page that you create (not sure if this is the
case…. Just guessing on past experience). I did
see a lot of positive reviews of it from WP users, however, I think I may have
stumbled across a complaint from someone that later edited the
“table” in the WP editor which had earlier been created using Live
Writer and it messed up the formatting. It’s
possible this was an issue with an earlier release of WP and/or with an earlier
release of Live Writer – so take this with a grain of salt –
you’ll need to try that out and see if it really is an issue or not.
Oh, and one more Con for Live Writer. You guessed it. Being a
Microsoft product, it only runs on Windows XP/Windows 7. So, the
Mac and Linux crowd get left out. Not good.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>WP Plug-ins: I’m going to
review/install/test the 3 plug-ins mentioned above (the 1st is probably the
best one) and see which one is the best (if any). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I want to find the optimal solution and if WP is working on
adding more formatting features to the standard Visual Editor, as the best
option is always to stick to the core product – the less plug-ins and/or
other ancillary software we have to utilize, the easier it is to administer
(less stuff to install/upgrade, less potential breakage when upgrading, less
potential security breaches, less training of the end-users, etc…).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Please let me know if you have another other solutions that
are proven to work well and if you have tried any of these above (and which one
you recommend).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Thanks,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Dave<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>David
K. Whisler <b>| </b>Oracle & MySQL DBA/Developer & Joomla Administrator<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>UNC
Charlotte <b>| </b>The William States Lee College of Engineering<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>9201 University City Blvd. <b>| </b>Charlotte,
NC 28223<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Phone: 704-687-3964 <b>|</b> Fax:
704-687-2352</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><u><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>dkwhisle@uncc.edu</span></u><span
style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'> </span><b><span
style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>| </span></b><u><span
style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>http://www.uncc.edu</span></u><span
style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;
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