Opera and DHTML-based rich-text
Andreas Mansf
Fastmail (https://www.fastmail.fm/beta), a web-based Mail client is
offering in the beta version a HTML-editor, which does not work with Opera.
Comment:
"Also, don't expect Opera to work - Opera doesn't support the property
necessary to host a DHTML-based rich-text editor at this stage (the
'ContentEditable' property)."
Are there any plans at the Opera developement to change this situation?
Andreas
Lee Harvey
Doubtful.
Reading the "Standards Information" section of IE's 'ContentEditable'
property...
<URL:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/properties/contenteditable.asp >
...clearly indicates that there is no public standard for this property.
Some more proof...
<URL:
http://www.google.com/custom?q=ContentEditable&sitesearch=www.w3.org&domains=www.w3.org >
...and other browsers that don't support it...
<URL: http://www.webref.info/default.asp?ID=2222 >
<URL:
http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/html/tagpages/attributes/contenteditable.htm
>
Anyhow, reading Microsoft's own security notice about this property yields yet
another reason why Opera is potentially avoiding it:
"SECURITY ALERT: Users can change the contents of a Web page when the
contentEditable property is set to TRUE. Using this property incorrectly
can compromise the security of your application. Incorrect use of the
contentEditable property might include not validating user input. If you
do not validate user input, a malicious user can inject control
characters or script that can harm your data. You should take routine
precautions against displaying unvalidated user input. For more
information, see Security Considerations: Dynamic HTML."
Recall, Opera prides itself on providing a 'standards-compliant' and 'secure'
browser. Both topics above seem to fail this litmus test.
While definitely not trivial (read: given enough resources), Fastmail could
develop a web-based DHTML mail editor using a <textarea> and a
standards-compliant DOM/JavaScript implementation. Here's one example that
comes to mind:
<URL: http://www.interactivetools.com/products/htmlarea/index.html >
Just some thoughts.
FV
> Andreas Mansf wrote:
>> Fastmail (https://www.fastmail.fm/beta), a web-based Mail client is
>> offering in the beta version a HTML-editor, which does not work with
>> Opera. Comment:
>> "Also, don't expect Opera to work - Opera doesn't support the property
>> necessary to host a DHTML-based rich-text editor at this stage (the
>> 'ContentEditable' property)."
>> Are there any plans at the Opera developement to change this
>> situation?
>
> Doubtful.
>
> Reading the "Standards Information" section of IE's 'ContentEditable'
> property...
>
> <URL:
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/properties/contenteditable.asp
> >
>
> ...clearly indicates that there is no public standard for this property.
>
Exactly, there doesn't seem to be a public standard for this. So should
Opera wait and wait for years to implement something? IMHO, if the W3C
don't do their homework and fail to supply a standard to do something that
is needed, browser makers are free to develop extensions of their own. And
as IE is the de facto standard on the web, you could just as well copy its
features if there is no standard.
> "SECURITY ALERT: Users can change the contents of a Web page when the
> contentEditable property is set to TRUE.
Change the contents of web pages??? I thought we were just talking about a
single WYSIWIG textarea with a graphical user interface to add some
styling, to avoid the ridiculous handcoding of [B] and [I] tags.
> While definitely not trivial (read: given enough resources), Fastmail
> could
> develop a web-based DHTML mail editor using a <textarea> and a
> standards-compliant DOM/JavaScript implementation. Here's one example
> that
> comes to mind:
>
> <URL: http://www.interactivetools.com/products/htmlarea/index.html >
That example hardly convinces me, as it explicitly states it will only
work with IE. Are there examples of something comparable, that works
entirely with W3C standards? Or is that simply impossible? In the last
case, I would hope that Opera adds some extensions to its DOM support to
makes these things possible, as Mozilla seems to have done. Also, as soon
as the DOM is there, it will be a lot easier to add formatting
capabilities to M2, for those of us who would want this for email.
Lee Harvey
> ...as IE is the de facto standard on the web...
Definitely not my opinion.
> ...you could just as well copy its features if there is
> no standard.
No thanks. I'll leave ActiveX/VBScript/Clipboard security holes to MS.
>> "SECURITY ALERT: Users can change the contents of a Web page
>> when the contentEditable property is set to TRUE.
>
> Change the contents of web pages??? I thought we were just talking
> about a single WYSIWIG textarea with a graphical user interface to
> add some styling, to avoid the ridiculous handcoding of [B] and [I]
> tags.
That's what I thought too! But if you disagree, perhaps you should contact
Microsoft. After all, they're the ones who wrote the SECURITY ALERT...I just
copied it from:
<
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/dhtml/reference/properties/contenteditable.asp >
>> <URL: http://www.interactivetools.com/products/htmlarea/index.html >
>
> That example hardly convinces me, as it explicitly states it will only
> work with IE. Are there examples of something comparable, that works
> entirely with W3C standards? Or is that simply impossible? In the last
> case, I would hope that Opera adds some extensions to its DOM support
> to makes these things possible, as Mozilla seems to have done. Also,
> as soon as the DOM is there, it will be a lot easier to add formatting
> capabilities to M2, for those of us who would want this for email.
Did you even try the interactivetools editor demo?
< http://demo1.interactivetools.com/setup.cgi?demo=artman_demo >
(ensure JavaScript and pop-ups are enabled)
WFM