[dokuwiki] Re: bugfix or new feature: save button after every configuration section
- From: Sander Tekelenburg <tekelenb@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: dokuwiki@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:11:08 +0100
At 00:47 +0100 UTC, on 2008-03-27, Uwe Koloska wrote:
> [...] I have made a patch that includes the save buttons after every
> configuration section.
The defaut Dokuwiki template generates accesskey="s" for the Save key. So
just get yourself a browser that implements standards ;) and you'll be able
to save by hitting something like Ctrl-s, wherever you are on the page.
iCab and Opera support accesskey in sane ways. Possibly others do too. (I'll
grant you though that accesskey is poorly defined in HTML 4.01 -- it could
even be argued to be evil. I've converted from a proponent to an opponent. So
perhaps it is good that not every browser supports it; that there isn't much
legacy code to prohibit HTML 5 from, maybe, some day, solving this.)
As to your solution, here's my 2 cents:
I recognize the problem. It can be uncomfortable to have to scroll down for a
Save button.
However, multiple (duplicate) Save buttons tend be very confusing, because
they can give the impression that they apply only to that section. It could
lead people to believe that they're saving only certain changes while
ignoring others. Whoops, no, turns out the other changes were saved too --
and there's no Revert button. (This risk might be even bigger in Dokuwiki
than in some other systems, given that its default template generates Edit
buttons per section that actually *do* apply to that section only. Having
also a Save button per section, but differently, is not consistent. Lack of
consistency is generally not good UI design.)
It might well be possible to present multiple duplicate Save buttons in such
a way that this sort of confusion can be avoided, but I don't recall having
seen that achieved anywhere yet.
Balanced against the discomfort of having to scroll down (one or two loosely
aimed slams on the Space Bar), scrolling seems the lesser of two bads.
A bit more filosophical:
Personally I think the right solution for this problem needs to be provided
by UA vendors. It wouldn't be that hard for a browser to provide a key combo
that links to the currently active form's Submit button. (Especially once
HTML 5 (Web Forms 2.0) enriches forms in the real world.) Bang, problem
solved in every single web page. But it'll probably only happen when users
start to actually demand useful features from browser vendors.
--
Sander Tekelenburg, <http://www.euronet.nl/~tekelenb/>
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