Fix Quill Image Lag

Project Summary

I have a MERN social media app with a Quill-based rich-text editor. Images take over 1 minute to appear inside the Quill editor on the FIRST upload, but all uploads after that appear instantly. I need a React/MERN expert to fix this behavior — or replace Quill with a better editor without breaking any existing UI or functionality.

What I Need
Option A: Fix Quill

First image upload must appear instantly (≤1 sec).

Subsequent uploads already work — don’t break them.

OR

Option B: Replace Quill

Use TipTap / Lexical / TinyMCE / Slate only if:

Looks and behaves the same or better

Supports images, rich text, links, code blocks, blockquotes, emojis

Integrates with my current image upload → Cloudinary flow

No breaking changes to my UI

Fully responsive and mobile-first

Critical Requirements (Do NOT Break These)

Your solution must not change or break:

Horizontal emoji reaction bar on posts

Legacy emoji picker in editor and comments

Cloudinary cropping rules

Mobile-first styling

800px post width

CreatePost / EditPost popup UI

JWT + Google Sign-In

No new scroll bugs, layout shifts, or ResizeObserver issues

Documentation Required (Mandatory)

If your fix works, you must:

Explain the exact root cause of the first-image delay

Show every file you changed (before → after)

Explain why each change was necessary

Deliver a short technical write-up on how the editor now works

This is required for final payment.

Tech Stack

React 18 (Hooks), Redux

Node.js + Express

MongoDB

Quill or modern WYSIWYG editors

Cloudinary uploads

To Apply

Send:

Your WYSIWYG editor experience

Your hypothesis for why the first upload is slow

How you would debug/fix it

Relevant past work

Timeline + rate