Zen of HTML editor

Zen of HTML editor

by Bryan Williams -
Number of replies: 18

There is serious weirdness going on with this wonderful tool that I wish someone would address.  Today I made a successful install of latest 1.2 (big grin).  There are no spaces at the end of my config.php and my Configuration panel settings "Allow" the html editor.  Here is what's going on:

  • with IE6 editor will not work (editor displays but screen is locked)
  • with MSN browser (a flavor of IE6) everything works fine
  • with Mozilla 1.6, same as IE6

There are a few dozen posts in various forums that indicate many of us are troubled by the html editor.  How about a forum that focuses on this problem until it is either fixed, a new html editor is found in the outback, or the universe converts to using MSN as their only browser? dead 

Here's a discovery I made: If you place an image that you wish to include in a file into say the "images" directory in web root, make sure chmod is set to 755 or something in this range (global read-write) for the images directory.  Otherwise, when you set the path in html editor for the image you are trying to insert, and click save, the Microsoft scripting editor (on Windows systems) appears with a totally useless message and may hang. 

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In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
I've moved this to the HTML editor forum.  smile

The reason nothing is being fixed is because there isn't a problem as far as I know.  I use it day-in day-out on many sites in different browsers and 1.2 development is working very well in that area.

Since you are using the development version it would really help if you could help out with some detective work in your installation to try and figure out the cause of the problems you are having.
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Bryan Williams -

I'm more than willing to do whatever detective work is required to find a solution, if I had a few clues as to where I should look. I could not respond to this post using Mozilla for example, and had to get out that dirtbag MSN browser.  Is the html editor still made with an ActiveX component, and if so, do you have a special plug-in for Mozilla that makes it work?

Thanks for giving this question a special place in Forums. 

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In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Janne Mikkonen -

It's not ActiveX anymore and you can disable ActiveX. But (in IE security settings) scripting must be enabled.

In mozilla/FreeBird you can find every JavaScript error in Javascript console. In IE you can turn on "Display a notification about every script error" from advanced settings, so you can see every error that has occurred.

Function that loads the editor is in the weblib.php (print_textarea()) and editor files are located in lib/editor -directory.

Any help is really appreciated.

- Janne -

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In reply to Janne Mikkonen

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Bryan Williams -

Janne,

Thanks for the reply.  Here are the error messages being generated by IE and the Java Console in Mozilla when I try to access a page with HTMLEditor.

ie

moz

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In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
In your config.php, you have set wwwroot as http://remote-learner.net/jlife

However, when you visit that exact URL, you'll see that the web server redirects you to the "natural" address http://www.remote-learner.net/jlife/

This *might* be causing your problems.

Try changing config.php
$CFG->wwwroot = 'http://www.remote-learner.net/jlife';
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Bryan Williams -

The Config.php change has had no effect on either Mozilla or IE6 HTMLEditor viewing.  MSN browser as mentioned has no problem, which is odd because I believe it uses whatever you have set in IE.  Wonder if you could log in and see if this happens in any of your browsers. That might help me narrow it down to being just a browser problem. 

Course: Care of The Soul
Login: joe
Password: dirt

Try "Introduce Yourself" forum.

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In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Janne Mikkonen -

I did a brief visit on that site and had no problems with the editor. It loaded perfectly on IE and FireBird (on WinXP machine).

- Janne -

Attachment joes_lost_hemi.jpg
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In reply to Janne Mikkonen

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Bryan Williams -

Ah, loading has not been the problem.  Did you have a chance to see if you could type something in the text window?

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In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Janne Mikkonen -

Since the editor is based on a clientside technolgy, we can expect problems now and in the future.

There are couple of things that influence editors behavior

  • Browser and browser settings (different people use different settings)
  • Different Firewall products and settings
  • Operating systems what we use (Win, Lin, Mac etc)

Editor made with java would be much more reliable, but there are no such editor (for free) at this moment that could compete with editors been used in moodle.

(Please forgive me of my bad english, I was at dentist today (rootcanal treatment) and I think he was trying to find centre of the earth. Man that felt nasty wink)

- Janne -

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In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Bryan Williams -

Be it hereby known to all Moodler's that experience a problem with the HTMLEditor:  Your personal firewall (in my case ZoneAlarm) can really mess with your head and waste a lot of time. Thanks to Janne for helping me solve this problem.

I think the effort of working this out over the past few days has been worth while. If your dialup students start reporting problems when trying to use the HTMLEditor, first question should be; do you have a firewall running?  

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In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Bryan Williams -

For those using ZoneAlarm experiencing a problem with the HTML editor being unavailable in IE6 and Mozilla, here is the fix:

  1. Open ZoneAlarm Privacy properties
  2. On the Site List tab click Add button and add your Moodle site to the list
  3. Once listed, right click your site (eg. remote-learner.net) and select Options from the context menu
  4. In the Site Options property window uncheck everything on the Ad Blocking tab and then click Apply.   big grin

zone

Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
And there was much rejoicing.  smile
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Dale Jones -
...too right.  Luckily for me, I'm learning to look for help in the forums before bleating that it's broken.

Thanks Bryan.  This has saved me HOURS of frustration.
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In reply to Dale Jones

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Gustav W Delius -
I think such useful observations should go into the FAQ. I have therefore taken the liberty to post Bryan's observation regarding the editor there.
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In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Janne Mikkonen -

Good work Bryan smile.

This really is very useful information. A very big thanks to you for all the work you've done. Excellent big grin big grin big grin.

Cheers,
- Janne -

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In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by Richard Williamson -

Boy, am I glad I found this post! This was starting to drive me crazy.

Many thanks

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In reply to Bryan Williams

Re: Zen of HTML editor

by N Hansen -
I had a student who suddenly couldn't use the html editor anymore when she had been able to use it a few minutes before. I suggested to her to check ZoneAlarm if she had it but apparently instead it was Norton Firewall that was causing the problem. We don't know why it suddenly changed its settings but she was able to come up with a solution based somewhat on Bryan's instructions. Just thought I would share this if anyone else has a student having this problem.
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