DevWorld wrap-up and CKEditor 2024 event schedule
CKEditor recently participated in the DevWorld 2024 conference in Amsterdam, joining over 7,500 guests, including engineering managers, full stack developers, devops specialists, and more. Along with running a booth, the team took the opportunity to introduce as many people as possible to the benefits of CKEditor.
Mrina Sugosh, our Developer Relations Manager, had quite a busy schedule, from co-hosting a meetup for fellow developer relations folks, to participating in a diversity panel, and giving a presentation on CKEditor. The conference also featured informative sessions on effective teamwork, leadership in engineering, and making technical decisions across different cultures. Plus, there were major updates from Google, Next.js, and other influential teams.
But it wasn’t all keynotes and panels – there were city tours, rooftop parties across Amsterdam, arcade games, VR demos and more. Check out the video we made to see the full DevWorld 2024 experience.
# Mrina’s Talk: Everything is a plugin
At DevWorld, Mrina discussed CKEditor’s modular architecture, based on the MVC (Model View Controller) model. She highlighted how every function within the editor is encapsulated as a plugin, from basic actions, like typing, to formatting options, like bold or italics. This modular approach ensures the editor is highly customizable and consistent across different interfaces, without compromising core functionality.
Mrina also covered plugin development, including insights into the UI and editing layers, schema definitions, and commands, providing attendees with the knowledge needed to effectively extend and build their own plugins.
In this video, Mrina summarizes the advantages of CKEditor’s plugin-based architecture.
Everything is a Plugin!
Hi everyone, I'm Mrina, I'm at DevWorld and I just gave a talk about Everything Is a Plugin for CKEditor. The talk essentially is about CKEditor's modular architecture that is essentially based on an MVC model, which is Model View Controller.
What you really need to know is that it's a highly granular architecture that enables almost every functionality that sits in the editor to be a plugin. For example, typing, paragraph extensions, bold, italics, everything is a plugin. And this is great because it makes the editor highly extensible and customizable. And it also makes it consistent with different UIs while not changing the core functionality.
So, in this talk, we also dive deep into the different formats for our plugins, including what it takes to build a plugin, the UI layer as well as the editing layer, where we delved into schema definitions, commands, and a lot more to help set you up with extending and building out a plugin.
# Top 3 questions from the CKEditor DevWorld booth
We spoke to many, many developers at DevWorld and answered a lot of different questions, ranging from the technical to the conceptual. But these were the three questions that popped up again and again.
# Rich text editing? Isn’t that just bold, underline, and adding links?
CKEditor goes beyond basic text editing, offering developers a JavaScript component with a flexible architecture. Its model view plugin system allows easy customization, making it adaptable for a range of tasks, including PDF importing.
The editor is not just feature-packed for standard text editing needs but also provides advanced functionality like real-time collaboration, comments, track changes, and even integration with AI models such as OpenAI and Azure. For both developers and product owners, CKEditor offers a versatile solution balancing flexibility, customization, and a rich feature set.
In this video, Mrina explains the expansive feature set of CKEditor.
Did you know a Rich Text Editor could do that?
And that's a great question, right? When you typically think of a WYSIWYG rich text editor, you're thinking of content that can be edited into bold, italics, underlines, boring, but you can actually do a lot more with editors today, especially CKEditor.
There are two reasons as a developer why you should really pay attention to CKEditor. Number one, if you're a JavaScript developer, CKEditor is a JavaScript component that's highly customizable and extensible because of its model view plugin architecture that makes everything granular, including typing, changing paragraphs, changing fonts, and importing PDFs to the AI assistant.
And the second reason as a developer you should pay attention to CKEditor is really because it is fully feature packed. It has everything you would expect from a simple rich text editor, like the bold, italics, underline, but it also has things that your product manager might need, like export to PDF, export to Word doc, import from a Word doc, real-time collaboration to give you Google docs or notion-like experience, as well as something so cutting edge, like working with large language models in Open AI, Azure, AWS, and Bedrock, to integrate into your own content workflows. And that's why you should check out CKEditor.
# How does CKEditor help product owners
CKEditor 5 offers a robust JavaScript SDK solution for integrating rich text editing experiences into content-driven applications. More than a simple component, CKEditor 5 is a framework, with an extensive range of advanced features available out of the box. With capabilities like real-time collaboration and productivity enhancements readily accessible, product owners can streamline their innovation journey from day one, saving time on complex feature development and speeding up their time-to-market.
Moreover, the flexibility of the CKEditor 5 framework allows for easy customization through plugins and modification of existing functionalities, ensuring alignment with the unique requirements found in complex applications. Partnering with CKSource provides access to a dedicated team of 100 professionals committed to advancing rich text editing technology, offering comprehensive support and professional services for a reliable and sustainable partnership.
In this video, Rafał Stalewski, CKEditor’s Head of Sales, talks through how CKEditor helps product owners accelerate the delivery of roadmap features – without additional engineering and support costs.
How does CKEditor help product owners ship more exciting features?
So, the CKEditor 5 framework is a JavaScript SDK solution that can be used by any industry product expert to create high-value rich text editing experiences in their applications.
One of the unique features of our framework is the fact that we have many big, very complex, and highly polished features ready to be used out of the box. By this I mean, real-time collaboration, productivity, content conversion, and similar ones.
Thanks to that, you as a product owner would be in a position to start innovating right away from day one of our relationship. Plus, you can go to market with your product much faster because there is no need to create all these interesting and highly complex features from scratch.
Another very big, and very important thing, about the CKEditor 5 framework is the fact that it's a framework. That means you can use some of the examples we already prepared for our customers for a quick and dirty start, but it is a customizable framework that you can use to create your own plugins and modify the existing behavior of our solutions.
That means not only you can use all the values we have by default, but you can tailor CKEditor 5 in the best possible way to support your needs.
And I think, last but not least, every partnership is not all about products only and features only, but what is very important is what's the company behind the product. So, when it comes to CKSource, we are talking about a team of 100 people, 100% focused on rich text editing.
That means you have not only products, not only features, but you also have 360 degree support, professional services, we are profitable, we are growing like hell!
So it's a very safe bet investing into the CKEditor 5 framework.
# What does CKEditor have planned for 2024?
This year, we’re focused on significantly enhancing the developer experience in CKEditor, to expedite the time to market for our customers. We’re prioritizing improvements to the installation process and introducing a new WYSIWYG builder, offering users greater flexibility to configure and customize their editor seamlessly.
Additionally, our framework is getting some improvements to make life much easier for developers. This includes streamlining the process for creating custom extensions and plugins. We’ll be making substantial investments in documentation, and refining APIs to optimize productivity. Ultimately, our aim is to empower our customers and the wider community to build features more efficiently, accelerating their journey to market and ensuring satisfaction across the board.
In this video, Piotr Koszuliński, CKEditor Director of Engineering, shares the 2024 roadmap for CKEditor.
What is coming in the CKEditor 5 roadmap this year?
We are building a product for developers; this is our target audience. Of course, there are end users, but the direct target audience are developers, and they are always in the center of what we're doing. So, this year we are planning to take a huge step forward in terms of developer experience. This is a very important topic for us, both because of our business, but also to make sure that our customers can go to the market faster with their solutions. So, we'll be improving the installation experience, we'll be creating a new builder, a WYSIWYG builder in which you can configure and customize your editor.
Then in the second half of the year, we're also planning to work on the developer experience of the framework itself. So, once you have the editor integrated, you may also want to create your own extensions, your own plugins. And a big part of that, a big part of the productivity of developers doing it, is the developer experience of our framework. So, we'll be investing heavily in the documentation, the APIs itself, possibly some refactors in this area and maybe providing new utility as well.
In the end, our goal is to make sure that our customers and the community can build features faster, they can go to the market faster, and in the end everyone is happy.
# Where to find us this year
We’ve got a busy event schedule for 2024 and we hope to meet you in person this year. You can always start a conversation by contacting us here. Or come and visit the purple booth at one of these great events in 2024.
# DrupalCon, Portland, USA
May 6-10
DrupalCon, the largest open source event in North America, returns to the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon in May 2024. DrupalCon is a great chance for Drupal community members to grow skills, connect with others, and boost careers. Organized by the non-profit Drupal Association, with support from sponsors, DrupalCon features keynote speakers, dedicated tracks, and networking events. Attendees get access to sessions, networking opportunities, and extras like welcome receptions and trivia nights, creating a vibrant environment for learning and collaboration.
# React Summit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
June 14-18
The React Summit is one of the biggest React conferences worldwide, with 60 speakers, 1,500 attendees, and 10,000+ people joining virtually. The event sees CKEditor return to Amsterdam for fun and learning with our React friends. The first day of the conference, which is livestreamed from Amsterdam, includes hybrid networking and interactive entertainment, while the second day and various free workshops are also streamed online around the world.
# WeAreDevelopers, Berlin, Germany
July 17-19
Boasting 15,000 developers from 8,000 companies and over 500 speakers, the WeAreDevelopers World Congress is a leading event for developers and tech decision-makers worldwide. Aiming to be more than just a typical tech conference, WeAreDevelopers brings together top leaders and innovators to discuss trends and challenges in software development, fostering a vibrant community focused on shared learning. The mission goes beyond code, aiming to empower attendees to drive tech innovation forward and make a lasting impact on the industry and the world, collectively striving for a better, tech-driven future.
# Vue.Js Forge, Online
August 2-3
Vue.js Forge is an immersive online event tailored to both experienced Vue.js developers and newcomers alike. It offers hands-on experience working in development teams, expands professional networks, and provides valuable code snippets for immediate project enhancement. By tapping into mentor expertise and peer collaboration, participants can elevate their Vue.js skills, strengthen portfolios, and impress potential employers. Vue.js Forge is a prime opportunity for skill development, networking, and practical application within the Vue.js community.
# Shift, Zadar, Croatia
September 18-19
With an expected 10,000 virtual attendees and 5,000 in-person attendees joining Infobip Shift this year, we’ll be in Croatia along with 80+ speakers across 6 stages over 2 days. This isn’t just another developer event; it’s a global gathering of tech professionals, founders, and dreamers for learning, networking, and creating lasting memories. Infobip Shift stands out as a conference that unites the global developer community, offering interactive and engaging content in a unique atmosphere. With a strong focus on providing a valuable experience for all attendees, Shift has become one of Europe’s largest and most attended developer events, with a mission to bring developers together from all corners of the globe.
# Want to talk with us?
If you’ve got questions about our event calendar for 2024, how CKEditor can supercharge your project, or anything else to do with rich text editing, just contact us anytime. You can also find us on these channels:
