Maintaining a website can be a fairly time consuming task, and it's not always possible to achieve all that you need to do whilst you are happily sat at home at your own computer. Sometimes a flash of inspiration, something that needs to be updated or even just a blog update every so often. If you haven't come across one already, then you're in for a surprise, because a Flash text editor is one of those tools that, once you've tried it, you'll wonder why on earth you didn't use it before.
Whilst you are at home you probably have your HTML editor open, allowing you to create web content fairly easily. Maybe it includes a WYSIWYG editor, otherwise known as a 'What You See Is What You Get', meaning that you can create content for your website visually, so you see what the finished page will look like, delving in to the code if you need to.
The problem is that this software is expensive, and whilst you may have invested in it for your home computer, if you're out at work, college or at the library, you’re not going to have access to the same software. This can mean that your site becomes untouched, and if there's a problem, or an important update or news story, you can't do anything about it.
A Flash text editor is a fairly small widget which is embedded into a page on your website, and allows you to create web content in a WYSIWYG format. It will include a toolbar that allows you to edit the text in much the same way that your software at home does, with fonts, styles, paragraph formatting, bullet lists and colours all being full editable.
Additionally, the toolbar is likely to include tools for uploading and inserting images or hyperlinks, so that not only does the web content text look good, but images are included and links to other pages, addresses or bookmarks too. Effectively you are able to create fully functional, well designed web content, from within your own website. Typically, these Flash text editor tools go one further and with a click of the button convert the whole content you have created into HTML.
This means that you can now simply upload this HTML content as a page, or section of a page within your website, and you have now instantly created web content without the use of any extra software! The beauty of such a tool is not just that you can create web content from wherever you happen to be, but if you run a website in conjunction with a team or group of other people, everyone can use the same tool and contribute content, meaning that your website grows more quickly, and more often, at no additional cost.
Imagine being at work, and spending a few minutes during your lunch time updating your website, or at college adding a feature, news story or entry to your site during a free lesson. Maybe you travel, and prefer to use library computers to keep things up to date, or pop into offices or friends' houses. As long as you have access to the internet, and your website, you'll have all the tools you need to create well produced, well formatted and clearly encoded web content.
There are many websites that allow users and visitors to create content and contribute to the site too, and in most cases this involves a straightforward text box for them to write in. If you're running a forum or tutorial or information based website, this plain text tends to be fairly unhelpful. Instead, providing full HTML support through the use of a publically available Flash text editor means that your users can create content that looks good, is clear and well organised, and much more helpful. Being able to emphasise words or sections, create bullet lists and embed images means that the content of your site will capture people's interest, and get the information or meaning across far more effectively.
The advantage of using a Flash text editor rather than an alternative, such as Java, is that almost nobody will need to download an extra plug-in or add-on to make it work. Nor will they need to adjust or lower their security settings, as is often the case with java based content. Flash is a universally accessible medium, and a Flash text editor will be as accessible to your users as any other web content.
You may even find that using a Flash text editor becomes quicker and easier to use than an expensive, feature bloated software package, and that all the standard features you actually need are available right there at your fingertips. Once you've uploaded it to your website, and created a link to it, that’s it - job done! Just provide the link to those people who need it, and watch your website grow rapidly and creatively in far less time, at far less costs.
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For more information on how to use a Flash text editor to make your website more interactive, check out Flash Text Editor where you will also find may other attractive Flash components for your site.
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