CKEditor 5 v20.0.0 with linking images and multi-cell comments released
We are happy to announce the release of CKEditor 5 v20.0.0 that introduces several enhancements for the link feature, including linking images and improved caret movement around links. Typing around widgets using the keyboard is now easier thanks to the new fake horizontal caret. In addition to that, we have also added support for comments in multi-cell table selections. Read on for more details about these and other improvements!
# New rich text editor features
Following your feedback, in this iteration we continued our work on typing around widgets such as tables or images. This release also brings several improvements to the link feature, including the much-awaited possibilities to link images and set the default protocol for external links. In addition to this, we are happy to deliver multiple-cell selection support for comments.
As always, we are looking forward to your feedback and are thankful for any comments, recommendations, and bug reports that you are sharing with us.
Go through the list below to learn more about the new rich text editor features and make sure to check out the demos and documentation that accompany them.
# Linking images
The possibility to link images is something that has been requested by the customers and community alike. Some use cases where this is needed are:
- Linking to a high-resolution version of an image.
- Using images as thumbnails linking to an article or product page.
- Creating banners linking to other pages.
All these are now possible! See for yourself:
You can test linking images in CKEditor 5 and learn how to configure this feature in the Linking images section of the image feature guide.
# Other link improvements
Linking images is not the only enhancement connected to the link feature. In this iteration we have also introduced the following changes:
- The caret is now placed after a newly inserted link (instead of selecting the link), allowing you to keep typing.
- By default, the caret will be placed outside a link when clicking at the link’s end. However, it is still possible to navigate into the link by using the Arrow keys (see two-step caret movement).
- It is now possible to configure the editor to add the default protocol to external links.
- The selection is still visible in the editor when editing the link’s URL.
You can read more about these and other features releated to links as well as try out the new enhancements in the Link feature guide.
# Improved typing around widgets
CKEditor 5 v20.0.0 introduces a fake horizontal caret that is displayed when navigating with keyboard Arrow keys near widgets. This is a continuation of the work on allowing typing around widgets that we began in the previous iteration. Back then, we added dedicated buttons next to each widget allowing inserting new paragraphs before or after them. Thanks to enabling the horizontal caret, it is now possible to achieve the same result by using only the keyboard.
You can test the enhancements in any samples that contain widgets such as images, tables, media embeds or horizontal lines.
# Comments in multi-cell selections
Starting from this release, it is possible to select multiple table cells at once and add a comment to a multi-cell selection, for example, to an entire column or row.
Note that at the moment, multi-cell selection and multi-cell comments are supported only without real-time collaboration and when the track changes feature is turned off. We will be working on introducing full support for multi-cell selection in collaboration features in the upcoming weeks.
# Other improvements
- The behavior of Backspace next to empty blocks was revamped.
- Successive Ctrl+A or Cmd+A allows extending the selection to the next “parent” container.
- Autoformatting is now disabled in
<code>elements. - The balloon and inline editors will not crash when enabled on elements with HTML comments.
- Various improvements to the API of the table feature. See the entire changelog to review them all.
# Breaking changes
This release introduces some breaking changes. Make sure to check the changelog when upgrading to CKEditor 5 v20.0.0.
# CKEditor 5 Collaboration Features v20.0.1
Shortly after releasing CKEditor 5 collaboration packages on npm (version 20.0.0, released on June 24th, 2020), we noticed that under certain conditions, an invalid behavior affecting comments might occur. It resulted in errors when opening documents with comments and real-time collaboration enabled. The errors occurred randomly and only under specific conditions, so you might not have been able to reproduce them on your end. However, if they occurred, they might lead to losing all the comments added to the document. This was a regression that occurred only in collaboration packages with version 20.0.0.
On June 26th 2020, we have released an updated version of CKEditor 5 collaboration packages that resolves this problem. Below, you will find the list of packages that are free of this bug:
ckeditor5-collaboration-core20.0.1ckeditor5-comments20.0.1ckeditor5-operations-compressor20.0.1ckeditor5-track-changes20.0.1ckeditor5-real-time-collaboration20.0.1letters20.0.1
We strongly recommend all users who have installed or upgraded CKEditor 5 packages between June 24th and June 26th to delete node_modules and install the latest dependencies again.
We would like to deeply apologize for this inconvenience. We will do our best to avoid similar issues in the future. In case of any questions, please contact us.
# What’s next?
We will continue working on new rich text editing features and improving the existing ones along the way. The next features on our radar are:
- Inserting images using a URL.
- A convenient UI for changing the image’s width to a predefined size and also resetting the image size.
- Drag & drop support.
- Some API refactoring to improve the developer experience.
Follow the iteration 34 roadmap for the news and to learn more.
# Download
CKEditor 5 builds can be downloaded from the CDN, npm or as zip packages. Read more in the Installation guide.
# License
CKEditor 5 is available under Open Source and Commercial licenses. Full details can be found on our license page.
# Reporting issues and contributing
You can report all issues for any of the CKEditor 5 packages in the CKEditor 5 repository. Read more in the Reporting issues guide.
# Support
The CKEditor 5 documentation is growing and always up to date. Community support is available through Stack Overflow. Read more in the Getting support guide.