How to change the text editor in Joomla
- by Editorial Staff
- on Tutorials
Joomla has a number of great editors available to satisfy the majority of your content editing needs. The need to use a Joomla editor has come from the fact that not everyone knows how to write HTML directly and editors help you create articles almost exactly as you see them while you edit them. This ability is called "What You See Is What You Ges" or in short, WYSIWYG.
Let's see what Joomla provides in terms of editing.
Set Joomla default text editor (WYSIWYG)
To set a default text editor for everyone using your Joomla website you have to set it up through Joomla's Global Configuration.
First, log in to your administration panel and navigate to System > Global Configuration
You'll notice that you are already at the "Site" Tab and this is exactly where you want to be. A little further down is the "Default Editor" option which provides the editors that you have already installed for you to choose from. Joomla has the TinyMCE and the CodeMirror editors pre-installed. Of course there's always the option of not using any editor.
Once you've selected the editor of your choice you can click the green Save button on the top of your screen and you're done!
Core Joomla Editors
As we mentioned previously, Joomla has pre-installed the TinyMCE editor and the CodeMirror editor. Let's have a closer look on those two.
TinyMCE
The TinyMCE editor is a WYSIWYG editor. This means that, depending your Joomla template, anything you create with TinyMCE will appear as you see it in your Joomla frontend. Of course there is a good chance that there will be deviations in your design because your Joomla template will most probably have different style rules which can override those of TinyMCE.
Regardless, TinyMCE provides a very intuitive interface for beginners and advanced users alike. TinyMCE offers HTML formatting tools, like bold, italic, underline, ordered and unordered lists, different types of alignments, in-line placement of images and videos, etc.
CodeMirror
The CodeMirror editor is targeted towards the users who know how to write in HTML directly and provides them with a helpful color syntax highlighting. CodeMirror is excellent for those who do not need the WYSIWYG functionality of TinyMCE and its little nuances.
Other Text Editors
Apart from the pre-installed text editor, you can also install third-party editors into your Joomla CMS with the help of the Joomla Extension Directory. Lets see 3 popular editors that are being widely used right now.
JCE
JCE is one of the oldest WYSIWYG text editors for Joomla. Its interface can be compared with that of TinyMCE's but it has much greater flexibility and extensibility. JCE on JED
ARK Editor
ARK Editor provides an intuitive way of editing your content inline. This basically means that you don’t need to open your content through your Joomla Administrator. You can edit it directly from your frontend if you'd like. ARK Editor on JED
DropEditor
DropEditor is another WYSIWYG editor which provides an easy way of creating reusable inline templates to save you precious time. DropEditor on JED
Apart from these editors here, Joomla also has a growing list of them with their own category in the Joomla Extension Directory. Feel free to give some of them a try until you end up with the one that suits your needs.
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