Preview link in wiki editor inoperative

[Michel Jouvin <jouvin@…>]

I am not sure what is supposed to do the new 'preview' link in the wiki editor and the button 'edit side-by-side'. But in our installation (r8904), both are inoperative… It seems there is no documentation yet for these features.

Michel

[anonymous]

First, "Preview" should be "Aperçu" for you… you have to compile the catalog after each update ;-)

Then, right, in normal sequential mode, that link is shown even when right after you clicked "Edit", i.e. when you don't have yet a Preview.

I'll fix that.

As for the side by side mode, simply check it and press the "Preview" button, I let you discover what it does ;-) Feedback welcomed.

[Michel Jouvin <jouvin@…>]

Thanks for the anwser. I said 'Preview' to help with the discussion but I do have 'Aperçu'! I'll check the side-by-side feature.

[Michel Jouvin <jouvin@…>]

I tried again and I found these new links a bit confusing, despite the idea is great.

First the behaviour is not the same depending whether you are in side-by-side mode or not. When you are in the standard mode and you have opened the preview, the behaviour is clear: 'preview' at the top of the edit window brings you to the page preview at the bottom. And at the top of the preview zone, you have a link 'Modify' to go back to the edit window. I am not sure 'Modify' is the best word, why not 'Edit'.

One thing very confusing is the 'preview' link that appears as soon as you enter the wiki editor. In fact this is the initial reason of this ticket… This link has no target at this point. It'll be there only after you click on the 'Preview' button. One possibility would be to suppress it until the preview "window" has been opened but even better would be for this 'preview' link to trigger an open or an update of the preview window. In fact, clicking on this link when the preview is actually active shows you a preview which not up-to-date and this is also rather confusing. You first have to click on the 'preview' button…

Another odditiy in this mode is that it may become very difficult to find the buttons to cancel or save as they are in the middle of everything. Why not to replicate them at the very bottom of the page? It'll be very handy IMO.

Another minor remark is that the link 'preview' is a bit confusing when what you have at the bottom of the page is the 'differences'…

The new side-by-side mode is quite nice but the new links 'preview' and 'modify' are even more confusing in this mode as they bring you to the bottom of the page instead of the top of the relevant zone (as both zone at their top at the same place…). So this brings another behaviour inconsistency… Probably the most useful link in this mode would be something lile 'buttons' (certainly not the right word!) to bring you to the bottom of the page, where the buttons are located. In fact, we could also imagine such a link in addition to preview/modify (that should not been displayed in side-by-side mode in this case) bringing you to the buttons to solve the issue I mentioned above when you are in standard mode with a preview/differences zone below the buttons.

[Christian Boos]

Replying to Michel Jouvin <jouvin@…>:

I tried again and I found these new links a bit confusing, despite the idea is great.

First thank you for the review, it's highly appreciated.

… at the top of the preview zone, you have a link 'Modify' to go back to the edit window. I am not sure 'Modify' is the best word, why not 'Edit'.

OK.

One thing very confusing is the 'preview' link that appears as soon as you enter the wiki editor.

Yes, that's what I agreed on fixing in comment:1.

Another odditiy in this mode is that it may become very difficult to find the buttons to cancel or save as they are in the middle of everything. Why not to replicate them at the very bottom of the page? It'll be very handy IMO.

I'll try that, or the idea of a Buttons (or Actions?) link.

Another minor remark is that the link 'preview' is a bit confusing when what you have at the bottom of the page is the 'differences'…

Good catch ;-)

The new side-by-side mode is quite nice but the new links 'preview' and 'modify' are even more confusing in this mode as they bring you to the bottom of the page instead of the top of the relevant zone

I don't think so… the Modify brings you to the bottom as it actually targets the buttons (so perhaps to be renamed Actions), but there's no Preview link in that mode yet (an omission). I intended to add it somewhere at the bottom so that you could go from there to the top of the page and view the beginning of the preview.

[Christian Boos]

Some of the above changes fixed in [8911].

… at the top of the preview zone, you have a link 'Modify' to go back to the edit window. I am not sure 'Modify' is the best word, why not 'Edit'.

It was already Edit, but that gets translated to Modifier (consistent with what we do in other places).

One thing very confusing is the 'preview' link that appears as soon as you enter the wiki editor.

Yes, that's what I agreed on fixing in comment:1.

Fixed.

Another odditiy in this mode (normal mode) is that it may become very difficult to find the buttons to cancel or save as they are in the middle of everything. Why not to replicate them at the very bottom of the page? It'll be very handy IMO.

I'll try that, or the idea of a Buttons (or Actions?) link.

It would have been too complex to replicate the buttons, and I'm not sure it would look good. Anyway, we don't do that anywhere else.

I tried the Actions link, but the results were not that convincing: you had the Actions and Preview links on next to each other. And Actions only takes you at the bottom of the textarea, which shouldn't be that far away …

So I didn't change this for now.

Another minor remark is that the link 'preview' is a bit confusing when what you have at the bottom of the page is the 'differences'…

Good catch ;-)

Should be fixed and the Review link should only show up if there are actual differences.

The new side-by-side mode is quite nice but the new links 'preview' and 'modify' are even more confusing in this mode as they bring you to the bottom of the page instead of the top of the relevant zone

I don't think so… the Modify brings you to the bottom as it actually targets the buttons (so perhaps to be renamed Actions),

I renamed it Actions.

but there's no Preview link in that mode yet (an omission). I intended to add it somewhere at the bottom so that you could go from there to the top of the page and view the beginning of the preview.

Added this link (either Preview or Review as appropriate).

Please have another try …

[Michel Jouvin <jouvin@…>]

Thanks all these improvements. Impressive! Most usability issues are now fixed IMO. The 2 remaining issues for me are:

• Removal of 'preview' link until there is a preview zone displayed. You already agreed on this.
• The auto-update of 'preview' and 'review' area. It seems it works for 'preview' but not for 'review'. If auto-update is not suitable, at least an 'update' link next to the area title may improve the usability.

Michel

[Christian Boos]

Replying to Michel Jouvin <jouvin@…>:

• Removal of 'preview' link until there is a preview zone displayed. You already agreed on this.

And I even thought I did it … must have been deleted through the various iterations ;-) Now it's there in [8917].

• The auto-update of 'preview' and 'review' area. It seems it works for 'preview' but not for 'review'. If auto-update is not suitable, at least an 'update' link next to the area title may improve the usability.

Auto-update for the diffs would be a nice (future) feature, yes. For now, there's the Actions link, I think it's OK like that.

[Michel Jouvin <jouvin@…>]

Replying to cboos:

• The auto-update of 'preview' and 'review' area. It seems it works for 'preview' but not for 'review'. If auto-update is not suitable, at least an 'update' link next to the area title may improve the usability.

Auto-update for the diffs would be a nice (future) feature, yes. For now, there's the Actions link, I think it's OK like that.

I don't completely agree… If think it's a bit confusing to bring somebody to the an outdated review area without any notice that it should be refreshed. If auto-update is too much work presently, I think at least an update link like update may raise the attention than it is may be not up-to-date. I don't find very natural and intuitive to hit several times the 'Review' button, as soon as you have the review area opened, even though it has the same effect.

[Christian Boos]

Preview mode in wiki editor now works as expected.

There will still be improvements to do for the review mode, but this can wait for a future release, for now it's good enough.