Rich Text Editors 2023 Developer Survey: Highlights and trends towards AI

Now in its third year, the State of Rich Text Editors Developer Survey is the world's largest review of both the trends and desires of the broader developer community that works with Rich Text Editors (RTEs).

The survey reflects how developers learn, and level up their skills with rich text editors, which tools and frameworks they're using and what’s being built. It also highlights areas where rich text editors’ need to lift their game. Or, developers are likely to quickly move on to the editor-in-waiting.

This presents both a challenge, and opportunity for rich text editor builders.

They need to not only continuously, and noticeably, improve the base capabilities of WYSIWYG editors, but also incorporate the rapidly changing technology of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Most importantly, AI needs to be incorporated not just to satisfy the latest buzzword claims, but be truly useful in improving the editors’ capabilities, as well as enhancing the content creation outputs of users.

However, while these innovative features are desirable and very topical, the market also needs to refocus on the fundamentals:

• Better explain the opportunities to customize an editor
• Help every skill and knowledge level, to easily get started
• Provide comprehensive support, documentation and community outreach.

When a rich text editor doesn’t do the basics well, or integration and customization are too hard, it’s the editor that loses out. Not developers. They quickly move on and choose another – any of the three types of WYSIWYG on the market – that better suits their project, use case and tech stack to further their digital transformation plans.

Read on for the key insights and trends that emerged in the 2023 State of Rich Text Editor Developer Survey, that are shaping the world of rich text editing.

2023 developer survey highlight – the AI takeover

Technology’s rate of change is nothing short of rampant. But thus far, nothing compares to the emergence of Generative AI, from the shadowy sidelines into mainstream rich text editor development.

For some time, AI has quietly improved certain rich text editor capabilities, but it’s only with the release of ChatGPT and its Large Language Model (LLM) in late 2022 that its true power was felt by the wider population.

Unbeknown to many, AI has played a key role in collaboration for some time, but the emergence of Generative AI shows it can also generate human-like responses, suggest improvements, analyze SEO best practices, and more. Over time, rich text editors will integrate these generative content, layout, and optimization features into the overall WYSIWYG editing process, to deliver an enhanced, and more productive user experience.

AI-powered assistance in content discovery and optimization will augment the creative process of content creation, balancing automation and human creativity without replacing it. The future of rich text editing lies in the integration of AI technologies, and we are only at the beginning of this exciting journey.

Statistical validity of 2023 results

This year, 1,100+ professionals completed the State of Rich Text Editors Developer Survey, delivering a 3% margin of error at a 95% confidence level. The study was completed by 4x as many respondents this year, showing that the survey is growing in popularity, adds value to the community, and that the results can be considered valid generalized guidance on the attitudes, approaches and current trends occurring in the rich text editor market.