User blog:Shining-Armor/Editors

"What editor are you using?"

This is a question that almost every Wikian has been asked while editing various different wikis and it can sometimes be difficult to answer. For many users there is only one editor they know of, the one they are using. What they do not usually know is what said editor is named.

On Wikia there are several different types of editors that you may encounter. Though, while there are many individual editors there are only three major types of editors which I will be covering in this blog. These editors allow varying amounts of control over the look and feel of the page as well as a varying degree of ease-of-use.

The main three editors that you will encouter are as follows: Visual, Classic, and Source.

Visual editor: The visual editor is the easiest for users unfamiliar with wiki-text or how to layout pages. The Visual editor is a "What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG)" editor meaning that what you see in the editor is how the page will most likely look when you publish it. The Visual editor comes packed with almost every function you could need when editing simple pages. With this editor it is very easy to format your text, insert headers, insert templates, and add links.'''


 * Visual source editor: Packed away within the Visual editor is another editor that lets you view the wiki-text source of the page. This is great for when you need to make modifications the Visual editor cannot handle and to in general help you familiarize yourself with wiki-text.

Classic editor: The Classic editor is the precursor to the Visual editor and allows one to edit rich-text. The Classic editor much like the Visual editor is also a WYSIWYG editor. While the Classic editor does not have as many feautres as the Visual editor it is still a good choice for those of us that wish to take things down a step and get closer to wiki-text. With the Classic editor it is very easy to view the wiki-text source of the page as it offers a tab that one can click to load the source editor.

Source editor: The source editor is the final editor we will be covering and it is also one of the most basic editors. The Source editor is basically a text box where one writes plain wiki-text and html. It offers no rich-text editing and is therefore something that most newer users shy away from. This editor allows for complete control over the source, look, and feel of the page and is the editor that you will commonly find more experienced users using. The Source editor is preferred by many as it is the editor where it is the hardest to accidentaly mess up the view of the page as any rich-text you paste into it will not retain it's formatting whereas it will in the previous two editors.

Below I have compiled a set of images to help you determine which editor you are using.

Visual editor:


 * Visual_editor.png

Visual source editor:


 * Visual source editor.png

Classic editor:


 * Classic editor.png

Source editor:


 * Source editor.png

''So, which editor do you prefer? Tell us in the comments below!''