skyBuilders.com has announced the release of two open-source skyWriter
TTW WYSIWYG editors, one for Internet Explorer 5+ based on the familiar
MS Dynamic HTML Edit Component (an Active-X control), and one based on a
Mozilla XUL application for Mozilla 1.1+ and other Gecko-based browsers.
As far as we know, skyWriter for Mozilla is the first full-featured HTML
WYSIWYG editor that can run cross-platform wherever Mozilla can run, so
Mac and GNU/Linux owners can get in the game without Java.
Bitflux ( www.bitflux.com) and Xopus
( www.xopus.org) recently introduced WYSIWYG XML
editors.
Both skyWriters can be tested with extensive demos online at
wysiwyg.skybuilders.com. You must
browse this site from Mozilla 1.1+ to access the skyWriter for Mozilla demo.
Downloads of zip files (skyWriter for IE) and xpi files (skyWriter for
Mozilla) are at http://wysiwyg.skybuilders.com/downloads.html.
While explicit open-source licenses are not in the downloads at this
moment, they should be soon. The skyWriter for Mozilla will probably be
Mozilla Public License, since it largely built from Mozilla XUL (XML
User-interface Language, see the great new book from O'Reilly
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mozilla/ which was used to code
skyWriter for Mozilla. You will want to read this to facilitate your own
implementation).
skyWriter for IE needs an open-source license that covers work
incorporating the proprietary Microsoft Active-X control, so we are
still puzzling about that . Suggestions welcome. In any case, the code
is online and skyBuilders expects no royalties from resale, so go for it
and add cross-browser (XB) and cross-platform (XP) WYSIWG editing to
your CMS and other projects today.
