Editing posts in place

Franz

Earlier today, I edited a post in Flarum for the first time. Yay. 😉

The composer popped up in the same place where we can also create posts. Wouldn't it make more sense if it simply replaced the post I'm editing, in between the other posts?

Toby

I disagree 🙂

1. Consistency. All composition should take place in the same place, in the same way. Consistent UX, less code.

2. Utility. The popup composer allows you to navigate anywhere on the forum while you're composing, so if you need to refer to other discussions, you can. This wouldn't be possible if posts were edited inline.

Franz

Hmm, the navigation aspect is a very good point.

In terms of consistency, I think my proposal does make sense. That was actually the idea, but maybe I should call it understandability of the user interface. Maybe we can make the connection between the original post and the appearing composer panel clear with a subtle animation instead?

Toby

I like the idea of a subtle visual cue, but I'm not quite sure how it could animate. How about simply fading out the post being edited, so that attention is diverted to the composer?

Franz

I guess we'll have to do some experimenting. What comes to mind...

Maybe let the composer panel "drop" from the top (not more than 50 pixels) to demonstrate where it is coming from while fading out (or overlaying a la "This post is being edited") the original post?

erlend_sh

Or go the crazier route, and show a live preview within the post that you're editing 😉

In any case I agree with the composer pop-up. This is how Discourse (and others too I believe) does it as well and it's very handy.

Excellent work on the composer so far btw, it's really slick. Development appears to be speeding along at a rapid pace!

Toby

Thanks!

erlend_sh That's actually a really cool idea. We could potentially do live previews for new replies in a similar way too. Not a high priority, but will add it to the list of things to eventually get to 🙂

Toby

Implemented a subtle animation/fade out in e605860e89cc6ea09b5652b53f46141e044a3a23. Here's what it looks like:

[attachment:555970ccf3261]

candyman

Just wonderful.

tsanyqudsi

i think the whole pop-up thingy would be a bit complicated in terms of eye-view. I would rather suggest adapting on how we edit our comments on facebook.

edit : just like this forum behave on editing the post... it's good enough.. but i do suggest the history too.. what is the post look like before we edit it. ( it can be enabled or disabled )