Text Control announced that a new HTML5 WYSIWYG editor is in the works and expected to be available third quarter 2014. The new tool features database field binding, report templates and support for document formats like DOC, DOCX and PDF. It will support Windows, Apple (News – Alert), Linux and Android operating systems and be compatible with the most common browsers like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari and Firefox.

Bremen, Germany-based Text Control, GmbH, develops reporting tools that incorporate word processing. According to the company website, its customers include heavyweights like Accenture (News – Alert), Sybase, American Express, KPMG and Ford. Other products support ASP.NET server word processing, server-side mail merge, barcodes and legacy ActiveX controls for Visual Basic 6.0 and Delphi (News – Alert).

In keeping with the HTML5 philosophy of moving away from browser plugins, Control’s new editor will not require plugins. This should result in improved performance, since plugins are programs that run independently of browsers and are notorious for being resource hogs. HTML5 provides native support for many functions such as video that plugins have traditionally provided. Since plugins function as a separate environment from browsers, they also provide another conduit for security breaches.

It’s a little misleading however, to think of Text Control’s new product as an HTML5 editor. Such terminology conjures up the image of a code-editor full of tags that only programmers, webmasters and other techies can decipher.

Instead, the editing environment is visual; you design the appearance of your reports and documents, and the HTML5 code is created behind the scenes. The user interface bears some resemblance to Word, so conceivably almost any 21^st century employee that uses a Windows computer should be comfortable creating reports.

Businesses needing reporting tools would be unwise to not at least consider using Text Control’s new HTML5 editor once it’s released in a few months. It will save a lot of time coding, will perform faster than traditional tools, is less vulnerable to hacking, and will avoid proprietary technology.