BlockNote Editor
Explanation
BlockNote is a WYSIWYG editor built on the BlockNote JavaScript library, offered as an alternative to the default WYSIWYG editor. Its content is a list of blocks that can be reordered by dragging them, and content other than text is added through the "slash menu" or the formatting toolbar rather than through a permanent menu bar.
Editing Modes
Two modes are offered, and both appear in the dropdown of the "Edit" button. "BlockNote (Inplace)" keeps you on the Page you are reading, which suits short changes. "BlockNote (Standalone)" opens a dedicated edit Page with separate title and content fields, which suits longer rewrites.
Availability
BlockNote is not part of the default XWiki Standard distribution: an administrator has to install the BlockNote Integration extension before the editor becomes available.
Once it is installed, the two entries appear in the "Edit" dropdown only for advanced users, only on Pages whose Syntax the WYSIWYG editor supports, and only while BlockNote is not already configured as the default WYSIWYG content editor. "BlockNote (Inplace)" additionally requires in-place editing to be enabled on the wiki. On a Page whose Syntax is not supported, a plain text area is shown instead.
Realtime Collaboration
Several users can edit the same content at the same time and see each other's changes as they are typed. Undo and redo apply to your own changes only, so undoing never reverts what somebody else wrote.
XWiki 18.8.0+ While a collaboration session is in progress on a Page, anybody opening that Page with BlockNote joins the session directly, without being asked to confirm that they want to take over the lock on the Page. The confirmation is still shown when there is no session to join, and when the Page is opened with another editor.
XWiki 18.8.0+
Your changes are also saved automatically, about once a minute, whenever there is something new to save. You no longer have to remember to save before closing the Page, although changes made since the last automatic save are lost if the last collaborator closes the Page without saving.
Only one of the collaborators' browsers performs each save, so the session adds a single version to the "History" tab per save rather than one version per participant. That version records the summary "Auto-saved during real-time collaboration". A version summary you typed yourself is left untouched, and is still used the next time you save by hand.
Saving by hand keeps working and takes precedence over the automatic save. When the Page was modified outside the session in the meantime, the conflict is presented to the collaborator whose browser performed that save.
Current Limitations
- After you insert or modify a Macro, the editor shows a Macro placeholder instead of the refreshed Macro output. The output is displayed again the next time the editor loads the content.
- The button that creates a link is not offered while a Macro is selected.
- A link target and an image are designated by typing their address in full: the fields do not suggest the Pages and Attachments of the wiki. XWiki 18.7.0+ The fields suggest the matching Pages and Attachments as you type.
- The save status ("Unsaved", "Saving", "Saved") is not displayed, so there is no indication of when the automatic save happens.
- The "Preview" button is not offered while a realtime collaboration session is in progress.
FAQ
Can BlockNote replace the default WYSIWYG editor?
Yes, an administrator can configure it as the default WYSIWYG content editor. The two "BlockNote" entries then disappear from the "Edit" dropdown, because they are no longer needed.
Does BlockNote use the same Syntax as the other editors?
Yes, it edits the Page in the Page's own XWiki Syntax, so the same Page can be edited with BlockNote and with any other editor interchangeably.
More
To find more about the current topic, you can search, select an highlighted topic, or use the table below and filter the columns to narrow your choices.
- Edit a Page In Place with BlockNote
- Start editing without leaving the Page you are reading.
- Edit a Page with the Standalone BlockNote Editor
- Open a dedicated edit Page with separate title and content fields.
