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Posted on • Originally published at froala.com

Why Your Drag-and-Drop Editor Feels Clunky

Have you ever had users or even testers tell you that your drag-and-drop editor sometimes feels slow, heavy, or clunky? Such editors are popular tools that make web content creation faster and easier through a visual interface. Without them, people would have a tougher experience using website builders, content management systems (CMS), email builders, and similar platforms.

However, despite its convenience, a drag-and-drop visual HTML editor can sometimes feel more like a burden than a benefit. Complex code, excessive features, or poor optimization often cause it to slow down or feel unresponsive. Instead of empowering users like it should, it may create frustration and interrupt the users’ creative flow.

In this article, we’ll cover the common reasons a drag-and-drop editor feels clunky. Additionally, you’ll learn about when to worry about clunkiness and when it’s okay to overlook it. We’ll also discuss some tips that could help you with addressing editor clunkiness.

Key Takeaways

  • Drag-and-drop editors speed up design and content creation, but clunkiness often comes from hasty technical or UX decisions.

  • Knowing when to worry about performance depends on your goals: quick prototypes or full-scale products.

  • You can solve most performance issues with code optimization, modernization, and smarter UX patterns.

  • Analyze your bundles and test your editor across different environments to spot potential problems.

  • Find the right balance between robustness and simplicity. Extra features might mean little if they slow down the user’s workflow.

Should You Worry about Drag-and-Drop Editor Clunkiness?

The short answer here is “it depends,” but in most cases, you should. Not every performance hiccup warrants a high-level alarm. Minor lag, for instance, might not matter when a casual user builds a simple newsletter.

A half-second delay in moving an element could annoy some, but it might not affect the end result too much. But if it starts affecting the entire workflow, clunkiness could cost you.

For example, a marketing team building dozens of landing pages will get more poor experiences with a clunky editor. Every small lag, difficulty finding specific buttons, and unresponsiveness add up, creating a mountain of slow processes and reducing efficiency. Worse, users may lose patience and turn to alternatives.

So, what does this tell you? If your drag-and-drop editor is vital for your full application, you should worry about clunkiness and prioritize optimizing it. Otherwise, you can put optimization on hold in favor of other features (but you should get back to it nonetheless).

Furthermore, knowing whether clunkiness is a deal-breaker depends on your goals. If you’re only building a quick prototype, then you don’t need to worry about it. Otherwise, regardless of the editor’s role, you should always strive to improve its performance.

Why Does Your Drag-and-Drop Editor Feel Clunky?

There are many reasons an editor feels slow or unpolished. Some are purely technical, while others come from UX choices that amplify tiny frictions. In this section, you’ll learn some of the usual suspects for this problem.

Too Much Code Running behind the Scenes

When a user drags an element, dozens of scripts can wake up at once. Event listeners, layout calculations, and other mechanisms all run together.

If you rely on multiple libraries, each action might trigger redundant work. This results in higher CPU usage and delayed frame updates.

Note: If you want to try this out, open Chrome DevTools (F12 or right-click, then “Inspect”). Afterwards, go to the “Performance” tab and record a drag interaction. Look for long tasks and repetitive script evaluations. If there are any functions that run many times per interaction, that’s your smoke signal.

Heavy Use of <iframes> or Layers

The <iframe> element provides isolation and safety. However, isolation could cost you performance, as each <iframe> hosts a separate browsing context.

The browser must paint and combine the context of each <iframe> and the main page independently. When you nest many of these elements, every interaction can force multiple reflows and repaints. As a result, your users might get a laggy or unresponsive experience, especially on low-end devices.

Tip: Let’s say you can’t reduce the number of <iframe> elements and that their content has similar structure and purpose. You can then reuse one instance and swap its content instead of creating and destroying many iframes.

Poor Handling of Responsiveness

Dragging elements on desktop doesn’t guarantee correct layout on mobile. If your editor relies on absolute positioning, elements might snap unexpectedly at different breakpoints. This could cause users to manually adjust layouts per device.

A responsive visual HTML editor design requires adaptive rules. This means fluid grids, percentage widths, and component-first layouts. Editors that treat every element as absolutely positioned can break easily on different screen sizes.

Figure 1: An example of a responsive drag-and-drop editor

Tip: If you want to start learning responsive design, MDN’s responsiveness documentation and W3Schools’ quick guide might help. You can also opt for third-party responsive design frameworks such as Bootstrap or Tailwind. Finally, you can integrate a drag-and-drop editor that’s already responsive.

Presence of Legacy Code

Legacy code refers to that which developers wrote for older browsers, frameworks, or libraries. Teams often layer patches on top of it. Each patch, however, could increase complexity and risk of conflicts, causing the dependent application to turn fragile and slow down.

Legacy problems show up as inconsistent behavior between browsers, especially in recent versions. They also limit modern optimizations like passive event listeners or CSS containment.

Think of legacy code as an old house that still serves its main purpose. You shouldn’t demolish it at once; instead, you reinforce and refurbish each room or wing until everything feels sturdy and new. The same thing applies to code.

Overloaded with Features

Having plenty of features is nice for power users who need as many editing and website-building capabilities as they can. But usually, when you add a lot of features to an editor, it could crowd the interface and slow down the platform. This leads to frustration and confusion for users.

Each feature could mean an extra script to load and more background work and events that fire even when the user never touches it. Make sure to minify your bundles as much as you can and remove features or plugins that you’re sure your users won’t use. Additionally, you can lazy load heavy features by dynamic import, i.e., only when the user needs them, for example:

button.addEventListener('click', async () => {
  const module = await import('./sample-heavy-feature.js');
  module.open();
});
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

In terms of interface overload, you should categorize your editor’s features according to their purpose. For example, gather all rich text formatting together or combine file upload processes through dropdown elements and separators.

Figure 2: An editor that has toolbar organization, putting all paragraph-related features together

If you’re using a third-party drag-and-drop editor, ensure that it has the ability to load and remove features via plugins. This aligns with modular architecture (plugin-based architecture), where different codes are encapsulated in smaller modules that represent a functionality. A plugin-based WYSIWYG editor allows you to load only the features that users need instead of loading everything every time.

Bad Feedback Loops

Let’s say that you already minified your editor scripts, loaded only the necessary plugins, and made everything responsive. If your users or testers still experience slowness, it could stem from poor feedback instead of actual slowness.

If the UI gives no immediate hint, users might think that the app lags. For example, a user drops an element onto the editing space after dragging it from the toolbar or menu. If the editor doesn’t show smooth dragging animations or visual cues (like spinners), the user might hesitate or feel confused.

Here are some quick fixes for improving your editor’s feedback loops:

  • Add snapping markers, loading spinners, and a brief scale or shadow animation on element drop.

  • Use placeholders for slower content.

  • Add a lightweight ghost preview at mouse down. Afterwards, update its position continuously to follow the cursor.

Ignoring Small UX Details

Small UX annoyances can pile up, making the editor feel clumsy overall. For example, a draggable element’s grab handles might seem too small or hard to find. In this case, users might doubt whether the element is truly draggable or not.

Moreover, some important features might not appear too prominently because they’re too hidden or their icons are confusing. As a result, users would pause and spend more time hunting for the features they need, scanning every button icon.

Thankfully, design fixes are low effort but high impact:

  • Enlarge drag handles for draggable objects or enclose them in draggable cards. Don’t forget to test these! Making drag handles too big could cause overlapping or the inability to drag adjacent elements.

  • Provide visible drag handles or visuals, tooltip text, and keyboard shortcuts for better accessibility.

  • Use consistent iconography and place common or essential features in more prominent spots.

Figure 3: Seamless drag and drop in action

The GIF above contains a drag-and-drop editor example that demonstrates how it should work in email builders. In the example, users can click and drag an email signature or footer and drop it onto the editing space. To get started with this type of setup, or to see how drag-and-drop editors generally work, visit the demo’s GitHub repository.

Extra Tips to Make Your Drag-and-Drop Editor Less Clunky

We’ve already discussed some ways to help with clunkiness earlier, but before you go, here are some more practical actions you can take.

Simplify the Codebase

  • Audit bundles with a bundle analyzer like webpack-bundle-analyzer. After an analysis, you’ll find out what your bundle contains, which modules take up the most space, and whether there are any modules that shouldn’t be there.

  • Replace heavy libraries with smaller alternatives if you can.

  • Implement tree-shaking on your bundle to remove any unused code. Some bundlers, like Webpack, automatically use tree-shaking.

Keep Testing

  • Run Google Lighthouse audits and fix long tasks.

  • Test your platform and drag-and-drop editor on low-end mobile devices, older browser versions, and different browsers to help ensure consistency.

  • Benchmark early versions of your editor and compare new builds against the old benchmarks to assess improvements.

Integrate Readily Available Editors

  • If you’re pressed for time, prefer a head start, or want to experiment with drag-and-drop editor features, consider using a readily available editor.

  • Most of these editors have already addressed clunkiness before and continue to improve still.

  • The task of developing and maintaining a polished, complex drag-and-drop functionality will dissipate into simple integration and regular updates.

Conclusion

Drag-and-drop editor clunkiness comes from an accumulation of technical debt, UX friction, and unmeasured features. Thankfully, most problems have concrete fixes. Assess the drag-and-drop feedback loop, remove or lazy load heavy modules, add immediate visual feedback, and tune responsiveness.

A fast visual HTML editor comes from small, consistent improvements. Optimize the render path, clean the codebase, and design for real user flows. When you balance power with simplicity, your editor will feel smoother, more predictable, and very usable.

It might sound like a lot of work. But addressing these clunkiness issues as soon as possible can go a long way towards smoother editing experiences. Or, you can also call it a day and integrate a tried-and-tested drag-and-drop editor. In the end, the choice will depend on your preference, user requirements, and project timeline.

This article was originally published on the Froala blog.

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