Alrighty...we have an explanation for what the problem is with the Content Editors and Safari (issue relates to Opera as well as many other browsers).

Note: I have an explanation...not a solution...

It seems that when Telligent reprogrammed Community Server as the new version we're running CS2007.1 (aka CS 3.1) they:
"[E ]xplicitly remove support for Safari and Opera from TinyMCE because of issues we encountered with TinyMCE and the then-current versions of these browsers." according to one of their developers.

Webmaster has indeed found that there is code which checks for what browser you're running and disables the [TINYMCE] content editor completely if your browser "isn't supported".

However we're also told by Telligent that: "Safari 3.0 and Opera 9.5 greatly improve support for rich text editing, so it should be possible to support rich text editing in these browsers in the next version of CS."

Which means either Webmaster or I would need to find a way to re-enable the content editors for all browsers (by reprogramming that part of the Community Server source) or wait for the next upgrade to CS to fix this issue.

This also means that currently, if you are running Safari, Opera, or any other browser that the Community Server [TINYMCE] software "doesn't support for rich content editors" you will only be able to post using a standard HTML multi-line text box. This text box has no automatic formatting, and you must code your own HTML tags into posts to realize line and paragraph breaks, and any other formatting.

We realize that this is a poor situation and will work to correct it as soon as is possible. Though it is entirely possible we'll need to wait for the official CS service pack upgrade to improve the functionality in this area. Until that time the only thing we can recommend is that you use either FireFox or Internet Explorer as they seem to be "supported" for rich content editing functionality at this time. We will let you know if / when this situation changes.

Therefore I apologize to any and all users who's browser preference is causing them "Pain at the Post", it is not something we did intentionally, in fact we were unaware of this issue ourselves.

Furthermore this also proves that issue does not lie with either Safari or Opera as I had originally assumed, namely because Safari and Opera DID partially support TinyMCE and FreeTextBox3 (and other) editors in previous versions of Community Server. I had no idea that Telligent would have flat out disabled rich content editor support for certain browsers in the most recent software version. I belive this to be a poor business decision on their part. The ability to disable content editors by browser type should have been a configuration setting we (customers installing their software) could modify not a hard coded default setting.

ONLY TINYMCE DISABLES ITSELF IN SAFARI AND OPERA. COMMUNITY SERVER DOES NOT CONTAIN CODE THAT DISABLES CONTENT EDITORS OTHER THAN TINYMCE IN SAFARI AND OPERA.

GOOD NEWS

There was a problem with the XStandard wrapper (the code that makes it run in the forum) which was causing it to not work in Safari and Opera (as well as some other browsers).

This has been fixed by the developer who wrote the wrapper.

If you prefer to use Safari or Opera please try using the XStandard content editor!

To set your content editor:

• Click "Edit Profile" in the menu above the search area in the community header.
• Click the "Site Options" tab
• Find the "Content Editor" item and use the associated drop down to choose the XStandard editor

REMEMBER: XStandard operates like a plug in control, similar to Macromedia Flash, and thus requires a download. However you'll only need to do so once and XStandard will run every time you return to the Community. Alternatively you can download and install XStandard yourself and it you will never be prompted by the browser for an install. Download XStandard Lite Edition for Windows or Download XStandard Lite Edition for Apple OSX visit the XStandard website for more details: http://xstandard.com/

I Hope this helps for our Safari and Opera users!

XStandard runs a lot smoother in FF....probably cuz it doesn't soak up so many of the computer's resources trying to run all the crazy scripts in TinyMCE. The only downside is a lack of smiley features, but I pretty much have most of the forum codes memorized so don't need the fancy window. However, it would be a nice feature to perhaps add someday - though I have a feeling that won't be possible considering it's a downloaded widget thing.

DrWho:

XStandard runs a lot smoother in FF....probably cuz it doesn't soak up so many of the computer's resources trying to run all the crazy scripts in TinyMCE. The only downside is a lack of smiley features, but I pretty much have most of the forum codes memorized so don't need the fancy window. However, it would be a nice feature to perhaps add someday - though I have a feeling that won't be possible considering it's a downloaded widget thing.

No, I don't think XStandard will ever have said features because that isn't what it was built for. 

(Web nerd alert)

The purpose behind XStandard was  to provide an XHTML 1.1 Strict standards compliant content editor. 

The XHTML 1.1 Strict standard depreciates the "style" attribute in HTML tags and all formatting related HTML tags are considered invalid. Therefore in XHTML 1.1 Strict all formatting must be done using a CSS style sheet and then referenced using class and id attributes on HTML tags. Thus things like color and font size cannot be done on the fly using the HTML "Font" tag or the inline style attribute, which is how TinyMCE does a lot of the things it does.

However XHTML 1.1 Strict still allows a very limited formatting system to be used because of accessibility reasons, i.e. browser readers for the blind (software that verbalizes a web page). These include the <strong> and <em> tags. <strong> renders bold text and <em> renders italic text visually but a browser reader interprets these tags in it's software and intones their meaning verbally (hence why they are supported). So some things are still possible with XStandard.

The smilies are a forum specific thing and they utilize what is called "BBCode" to insert themselves into the post when the page loads, since the forum recognizes them. However these would not be valid XHTML, and the people producing XStandard aren't affiliated with Telligent or the Community Server project in any way.

I might try to add a link or a pop-up window to the posting screen that will pop up a reference of all the smilies (and other icons) on the system, but in XStandard you'd still have to key in the BBCode manually.

You're right though, it is faster, probably for the reasons you mention.