Karelia Community Forum

Denjiro

Member

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

Just a note to the Karelia planners:

I can understand the problems you voice in having to support lots of weird and extraneous HTML, but the fact is that most of us using Edit HTML are not HTML geniuses and only use rather simple code. I use a little bit for creating lists and quotes, and then  insert the Amazon Associates code in the text. I also have a Japanese page on the site and Sandvox always created odd HTML for that, so I needed Edit HTML to fix the mistakes Sandvox was making. Now I can't do that.

You folks have to realize that since you are not a big company, you survive based on trust and good relations with loyal customers. We all took a gamble deciding to buy your software rather than one made by a big company. We judged your software to be what we needed and we trusted you to keep producing versions that let us continue maintaining the sites that we spend hours and hours creating using your software. When you eliminate one of the basic functions available in the software, you are violating the trust we placed in you and inconveniencing many of your customers, who now either have to completely redesign their sites or figure out some way to switch over to another software. We took a gamble and we lost, and certainly that will make us think twice about trusting a company like you. Frankly, it hurts your reputation. Can I tell anyone who is contemplating buying Sandvox 2 as a first time Karelia customer that it is worth the gamble? No, I cannot. How can I assure that person that you won't go around and completely change things with Sandvox 3 that will ruin the sites people made with Sandvox 2? I cannot, because that's what you did to the Sandvox 1 customers. You are not trustworthy. Personally, I think your decision was just very bad business sense.

Finally, let me also say that I find Sandvox 2 to be yet another case of the digital media world changing things so that you can do something that looks "advanced" and "cool," but which in the process makes it hard to do the basic, simple things. I feel this is another example of misplaced priorities.

For your information, here is the code that Amazon provides that Sandvox 2 won't let me insert:

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UV4XHY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=tangemania-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B001UV4XHY">Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=&l=as2&o=1&a=B001UV4XHY&camp=217145&creative=399349" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

svplugins

Hero

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

Hi there
The problem appears to be with the Tracking pixel

<img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=&l=as2&o=1&a=B001UV4XHY&camp=217145&creative=399349" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

Used for tracking the amazon product

Why do you not use the Amazon Object , drag url and it takes care of it for you ;)

There is even a field to enter your Amazon Assoc ID

---

Regards
Kevin
SVPlugins - Premium Plugins for Sandvox2
http://svplugins.com

terrence

Administrator

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

OK. Thanks for your feedback. We'd love it, of course, if we could make everybody 100% happy on Day 1. Hopefully we'll get there. We're very pleased with the stability of the new editing engine and we're happy with the direction we're taking.

terrence

Administrator

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

I had posted before I saw this Amazon question. While using the Amazon object is also a great idea, I'm not sure what's not working about your code in Sandvox 2. Here's what I did:

added a Raw HTML object from the Objects pop-up in the toolbar
opened the Raw Editor using Edit > Edit Raw HTML...
pasted in the code exactly as you have it above
clicked Update Preview
closed the Raw Editor

the Amazon link appeared in the text
I clicked it and it opened the Amazon page

What in those steps isn't working for you?

terrence

Administrator

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

Are you concerned that you get validation errors? Guess what: you had those errors in Sandvox 1, too. We just didn't tell you about them. As long it works in the browser you should be fine.

jpayne

Member

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

I've been having the same problem with the total abandonment of the "Edit Raw HTML" feature.  I started using Sandvox with very very little experience with HTML at all, and this feature gave me the chance to experiment with it and learn how to use it for projects both in and out of Sandvox.  My biggest problem right now is not the fact that it's been replaced, which is annoying, but something I can handle.  My problem is that you've removed the ability to set up html, then add to the content with Sandvox's WYSIWYG editor.

For example, in Sandvox 1, if I wanted to create a table, I could lay out the basic code in HTML, then drop in images and edit text via the editor.  Now, if I want to continue providing THE VERY SAME services I've been providing to clients, I have to painstakingly code each and every line.  If I want to source Sandvox-hosted images, I have to reverse engineer URLs and pull my hair out line after line after line.  This change, which was designed to be convenient, has had the exact opposite effect for a ton of your customers.

I get why you made the change (sloppy code results in more tech-support calls and so on and so forth), but it was executed in the least elegant way possible.  Sandvox 1 was plagued with issues, but they were honest mistakes - bugs.  Most issues with Sandvox 2 appear to result from a total misunderstanding of how many of your customers use this program.  I too am considering just downgrading to Sandvox 1 and asking for my money back.  Yet another justification to be hugely cautious whenever a company offers a "new and improved" product.

Ranting aside, if Karelia can't restore the previous functionality with this new engine, is it possible to restore the ability to edit a raw html object both in the html and with the Sandvox editor respectively?

terrence

Administrator

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

If you prefer to stay with Sandvox 1.x, we certainly understand. No one is forced to upgrade. And we've also recently spent time and resources updating Sandvox 1.x for Lion compatibility so that it will continue to function as long as possible. We do care about our customers and their feedback.

We've had overwhelmingly positive response to Sandvox 2. We believe that our efforts are best spent further improving Sandvox 2. This would include things like finally bringing a real table editor to Sandvox. Something that would have been nearly impossible with Sandvox 1.x. As we learn more, the software will improve.

jacquir

Member

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

I had issues with the raw HTML as well.  One other problem I've come across is that I was able to copy and paste a table from a Word document and now I have to code the whole thing in HTML.  Surely there is a better way. I'm not an IT expert with HTML and it is very longwinded having to write 30 rows with text to create a table and the only way I can see the table is to save the HTML and then view the page.  Pretty please, can this be rectified?

easy

Member

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

The problem with the html insert is that it doesn't work.  One Amazon Associates link is flagged with 18 errors.  Clearly, that's an insufficient integration with mainstream html.

dlew

Member

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

I upgraded two days ago.  I will ask for my money back after this post.

Being able to edit HTML directly allows me to tweak certain parts of my website.  And I do a LOT of tweaking!! Mouseovers, adding a horizontal line just to make things read easier, using the <MARQUEE> tag to bring attention to something, javascript, etc., etc.

Why are you penalizing people who know what they're doing just because there are others out there who do not???

JimK

Super Hero

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

I assume that you're using the site and page code injuection features?

If you're familiar with html and css and like to 'tweak', I'm wondering if Sandvox might be the wrong package for you.

writelou

Member

Re: Can't edit raw HTML

Same problem here. I'm not at all happy with losing this little bit of control. It made a big difference. What harm is there in being able to see the source code? Or add a bit to it when you need to? If I'd known this was going to be changed, I would never have updated...