[wp-hackers] RTE

[Ryan Boren]

Robert Deaton wrote:
> On 9/16/06, Ryan Boren <ryan at boren.nu> wrote:
>> An RTE is an essential core feature.  WP is worthless to most people
>> without an RTE.  tinyMCE is our RTE, and it is tightly bundled by
>> default.  If those on this list are unwilling to help make it better and
>> want to drop in something of their own instead, hijack the filters that
>> tinyMCE uses.  If we need to add filters anywhere to make this easier,
>> send a patch.
> 
> I disagree. If WP was worthless to most people without an RTE, 1.2 and
> 1.5 would have been nowhere.

If we didn't add it in 2.0, we would not have broadened our audience. 
wordpress.com certainly would not have the uptake it has has without it. 
  WYSIWYG and spellchecking are absolute requirements.  We had people 
turning away in large numbers until we had a spellchecker in tinyMCE.

> I think one of the fundamental problems with Matt's request is that
> 99.9% of the people on this list wouldn't want TinyMCE whether or not
> it functioned perfectly, catered to their every whim,  and functioned
> dually as their personal sex slave. I remain +1 for moving it to a
> plugin, and still implementing whatever else you'd like.

We need folks willing to develop for people other than developers. 
Instead we get long threads over how to marginalize WordPress to serve 
developer tastes.

I'm against making it a plugin. It is pluggable without moving it into a 
plugin.  Some things are core, and tinyMCE is one of them. Having a 
"Deactivate" button next to a vital feature suggests that instead of 
developing that feature we just dumped it off to the side so that we 
could ignore it.

We have a lot invested in tinyMCE and none of the other RTEs are 
convincing enough to warrant a switch.  It provides a core feature and 
should be treated as core.  Those who don't like it already have options 
for turning it off or replacing it.

Ryan