BB Code Editing Mode - Please Bring it Back!

[Envy 6,161]

Unless there's something I'm missing, in one of the recent updates the option to go into BB Code editing mode in the create a new post/topic text box's toolbar has vanished. Not having this option makes it very difficult and frustrating - if not impossible - to format some posts. Take this post I just made for example. All I wanted to do was put the first two videos under the spoiler, and everything else be outside of it. However, even though I coded it properly when posting it, everything was inside the spoiler when it posted. When I went to edit it, not having the BB code editor, I couldn't fix it. The editing mode once it has been posted is incredibly frustrating to work with, I couldn't even figure out how to type or edit anything within the spoiler. It wasn't giving me options. I tried to redo the whole post, but it just ended up posting the same way again, except now the bottom video is only showing up as a link and I can't even interact with it to edit it! I even tried highlighting the whole post in the edit text box and clicking on the "Code" button in the text box, which seems to be similar to BB Code editing mode, but it didn't work either.

This could all be fixed if we could get the BB Code Editing option mode that is commonplace on other forums and also was on this forum before a recent update. Please.

Perhaps I'm just getting too old and there's a way to edit it that is just beyond me, but either way, BB Code Editing mode is standard, so please.

I hope all of that made sense. I'm horrendous with describing technical stuff. D:

[Fhaolan 4,483]

Unfortunately, it wasn't our choice. This forum runs on Invision Power Board, which is a commercial forum software package. In that big update, IP.B removed the BBCode option from the editor. MLPF/Poniverse doesn't have the ability to put it back in.

I remember they put a raw HTML editing mode in, but that's a rather dangerous mode for regular users to have access to, as it would allow people to do some rather nasty injection code that might break things. 

 

[Rikifive 24,183]

Yep, sadly it cannot be brought back. I perfectly know what you mean, I've been through this many times.

This editor tends to be extremely glitchy and not much within it can be done many times.

Generally manual bbcode still works; font color and such will or at least should work without problems.

However, spoiler codes do not work properly. Formatting goes crazy and weird things happen. Glitches, that normally couldn't be achieved even if you tried that on purpose within the editor. Avoid that at all costs; instead, use the button with eye icon from the toolbar to initialize the spoiler box while writing, not submitting. If you're copying the post from somewhere else, sadly you'll have to remove spoiler codes and add these boxes in the editor via button.

As Fhaolan said, there is HTML mode, but it is unavailable for us for the reasons he have mentioned. Besides, it would be confusing to work with for users not aware of HTML language, as it looks more complicated than that simple bbcode.

[Jeric 46,851]

The following is directly from a BBCode support post on IPB 4.0 on IPS's client support forum. It's long so I will spoiler it. 

 

Spoiler

Grinler - I'm sorry you feel misled and disappointed. I think we should have expanded beyond "we support BBCode" -- it was never our intention to claim we support every facet of BBCode as its existed since 1999 and I know we've indicated elsewhere here that our support would be basic and by that, I mean basic formatting, copying BBCode share URLs, etc. not necessarily advanced, nested, block level functionality. We've really done what we can to support and fix what we can as things have come in, but we're reaching a point where we're needing to get "hacky" with our parser routines to accommodate things like this that come in and I'm afraid we're painting ourselves in a corner. 

For those that remember the editor drama in earlier releases of IPB 3 - you'll recall constant issues because people wanted to be able to use BBCode, but also the RTE and toggle back and forth. We'd make a change to fix something with BBCode and it would break something in the RTE... it was a perpetual game of cat and mouse. Why? Because the two just do not belong together natively. 

So, where do we go? Well, you've sparked an internal, high-level discussion on BBCode as your bug report puts us at an impasse. Fixing your issue and other related nested block codes would require an overhaul, if not rewrite of our parser. This means, an enormous amount of development time would be expended and bugs are most certainly sure to be introduced given the scope of the changes required. Realistically, it's a relatively small demographic such as tech sites and old schooler communities that have a requirement for BBCode and I can understand and appreciate that. Virtually everyone else has made the WYSIWYG a part of their everyday life via mail clients, document processing, content management - even their mobile devices... and I would much rather focus on why you can't copy/paste from Word (I've never had this not work, for what it's worth) - vs dedicating resources to continue shoehorning dying technology into modern technology. 

I do realize others still provide BBCode support. I also know that's not going to be a forever thing and virtually everyone will eventually phase it out completely. 

We're working this out internally over the next week or so as it's an important decision and one not to be taken lightly. I will certainly keep you updated in terms of progress and the outcome. Again, I'm sorry for the mixed messages and confusion. 

Then Lindy from IPS followed up. This was over two years ago. Any BBCode not supported is not returning. The editor will also not be returning.

 

As a follow-up, we need to rework this area to accommodate some filesystem changes, so we have decided to do what we can to fix current bbcode support -- including your particular issue with lists. 

With that said, I feel compelled to provide a disclaimer: you should not operate on the premise that BBCode within IPS4 will be a perfect science and you should really think about alternatives to BBCode as it may not be there (or anywhere) forever. 

I have no ETA at present, but it's expected within the next release or two. 

Hope that helps.