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Confirm before leaving post page with content

I would like to see an option for the user and the admin to turn on an alert before you leave any page with a post field to ask if you want to leave the page.

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #1 –

Nothing like a little data loss to get someone going ... Github seems to do a really good job retaining data even when the back button is pressed.  I'd assume they are using some data fields on the JS side to save and track things. 

Anyway could do a simple confirm box as a start.

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #2 –

I have people "lose posts" a lot on my forum.  I'm 99% certain the reason is the "Someone posted while you were typing" warning.  Unfortunately that warning shows up below the preview that is returned.  So if you're on a phone or tablet with a limited display you see the post you just made (actually the preview of it) and not the warning box.  Since most people have it set to return to the post they made they never realize their post didn't go through and they move on, close their browser, etc. and the post is lost.

Even without the leave page warning I think there should be consideration of moving the error box above the post preview when there is a posting error so that it's actually visible and doesn't look at casual glance like the post went through as normal.  It's especially prone to fool people when they enter long replies, which are the most annoying ones to lose.

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #3 –

Good point @scripple .. maybe remove the preview in case of errors? (I think I added it (or I was in favour of adding it), but if that brings this kind of problems I feel removing is an option to consider.)
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Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #4 –

I like the idea of being warned of losing what I have typed in. ;)

Though I think draft is already useful for the stated case.[1]
1 But, yeah, it may not be enough or suitable.↵

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #5 –

Not showing the preview when there are errors would probably be a good thing.

As to drafts, I think it should not be the only mechanism.  Especially since I've had it not save drafts in the very case I mentioned.  I'm not quite sure what the draft logic is about when it saves it and when it deletes it.  I seem to get a lot of drafts hanging around of posts that were successfully posted.  Thankfully the delete after x days option cleans them up eventually.

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #6 –

Happens with my board too.

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #7 –

Quote from: emanuele – Good point @scripple .. maybe remove the preview in case of errors? (I think I added it (or I was in favour of adding it), but if that brings this kind of problems I feel removing is an option to consider.)

What about overlaying (with CSS, so it works on the darned mobile browsers!) the warning over the preview?

QuoteWARNING: New posts have been added since you began writing. Would you like to:
[Post Anyway] [Review and Edit my post] [Cancel posting]

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #8 –

I did some quick looks at options here.  Sorry not on the original request but in the area around the post error messages discussed after that.

Since we generally have jquery UI enabled on the post screen, its a simple matter to grab the existing error box and use .dialog to show a modal error popup.  I did that and it works as expected, it gabs that error div and displays it in a confirmation dialog that is positioned on top of the preview div.

As I played with that a bit I found it a bit annoying as it just adds another click you have to go through to clear the "popup" modal window to get back to the post to fix it.  Also the errors on preview are done via ajax and errors on post are done when you are kicked back to the post page for some reason.  So what I'm saying is on preview I don't think the popup buys you anything much.

On the issue @scripple reported,  when you select Post with something that creates an error (notably someone else posted you may bla bla) you are returned to the post page and shown the preview.  I can (and did) add a modal confirmation popup over that preview window so the error was very evident, and we could add the confirmation options as  Eliana suggested as well. 
But thinking about it, to me, the best thing may be to simply not show the preview when you are getting "bounced" back to the post page, but only when you actually hit "preview".  At this point the notice is top center and you can choose to do what you want at that point.  Could also simply use a named anchor on the error box and just scroll to that.

Anyway, just thoughts, we could go in a couple of directions here but and wanted to get some others thoughts.

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #9 –

Quote from: Spuds – But thinking about it, to me, the best thing may be to simply not show the preview when you are getting "bounced" back to the post page, but only when you actually hit "preview".  At this point the notice is top center and you can choose to do what you want at that point.  Could also simply use a named anchor on the error box and just scroll to that.

Anyway, just thoughts, we could go in a couple of directions here but and wanted to get some others thoughts.

Not a bad idea. Why not playtest it here? I'm not sure if you have any metrics set up (though you really should!) but you could at least get some anecdotal evidence.

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #10 –

I like the idea of not showing the preview when bounced back.  The page will obviously be different that way and the error will be at the top as you say.

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #11 –

for 1.0.4 I removed the preview call when coming from a post2 error (error after you hit the post button).  Also added a JS scroll so the error box is at the top of page, should make it evident there was an issue.

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #12 –

Isn't this what the "drafts" functionality is for? Can we just add autosave to the drafts system as one types, similar to how Google Docs operates? Then, when you close the page and re-open it, it just loads from the latest saved draft.

A simple JS pop-up confirmation should suffice if the draft is still in the process of saving, again similar to how Google Docs works.

Code: [Select]
window.addEventListener("beforeunload", function (e) {
  var msg = "You haven't saved your changes";

  e.returnValue = msg;     // Gecko and Trident
  return msg;              // Gecko and WebKit
});

Source: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Events/beforeunload

EDIT: Do we already have an auto-save function for drafts?
Last Edit: July 27, 2015, 07:38:55 am by ant59

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #13 –

Drafts can (admin setting) be auto-saved on "lost-focus" of the text area.
The autoloading of the draft is something I suggested a while ago (can't find the discussion as usual), I think it would be very cool!
Bugs creator.
Features destroyer.
Template killer.

Re: Confirm before leaving post page with content

Reply #14 –

We should be able to use the "input" event and a timeout to fire auto-saving of the draft everytime a character is inputted to the text area (with a delay timeout of 2-3 seconds), instead of just on loss of focus.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Events/input