Web site enhancement: Enable "auto-save" while creating a topic or reply

[jharris1993]

Greetings!

Issue:
When writing anything on this site, certain glitches or interruptions can cause the page to vanish or be replaced by something else. The result is often the loss of the material you were trying to create. (i.e. Your internet connection "blinks", you press the control key instead of the shift key while typing, or your cat decides to jump up on your keyboard, etc.)

On some sites this is mitigated by the site taking automatic, periodic, snapshots of what you are doing. If something happens and your session gets interrupted or lost, you can go back in later and pick-up where you left off.

Is it reasonably possible to implement something like that here?

[xenopeek]

I think it depends on your web browser. At least in Firefox if I click on the wrong thing and load a new page I can just click the back button and Firefox will have remembered what I typed here.

We're using the phpBB forum software which as far as I can see has no further options available for what you describe.

If this is such a common issue for you, perhaps type your (longer) posts first in a text editor—so that if anything goes wrong with your internet connection you're unaffected. This is what I do when writing tutorials for example.

[gm10]

I think it depends on your web browser. At least in Firefox if I click on the wrong thing and load a new page I can just click the back button and Firefox will have remembered what I typed here.

Same on Chromium. Even if you close the tab you can restore it including the text you were typing. With the option to restore open tabs that works even if you close the browser before submitting. So yeah, I don't see the issue.

[jharris1993]

Greetings!

I use both chrome and Firefox, and often I have been saved by the "back" button as you suggest. However, about 30-or-so percent of the time something happens that appears to obliterate this. This has happened on multiple systems with different operating systems - the only common factors being the browser which is usually Firefox.

I honestly don't know exactly what happens. Maybe my shaky hands and clumsy fingers accidentally hit some strange alt/ctl/shift key combination that nukes cache, resets something, or does some other obscure piece of magic. Anyway, I am left with a carefully crafted post or reply that has suddenly vanished somewhere into the Ethernet nevermore to be seen by mortal man.

Any ideas?

[AZgl1800]

if my reply posts are going to be more than 10 lines, and quit and easy.

I use a text editor...

just today, I was editing a post, the Latency of my satellite connection caused a problem.

but......... I had opened a new Tab to research the topic before I spouted off....
and I have noticed, that if I open a new Tab, that this forum looses connection with the thread I am replying to.

I have to close the Tab for the thread, then I open a new Tab for that thread.

I always use the Mouse Wheel to "double tap" and reply in a new Tab...
saving the original list of "Unread topics" as they were....

makes it easy to just close the errant Tab..... reconnect to the Topic I was replying to,
paste in the text from the TED and hit Preview/Submit within about 15 seconds of opening the Replied to Topic.

[jharris1993]

Good point, though I don't have satellite Internet.

It's not unusual for me to have multiple tabs open especially if I need to reference/quote something else.

Maybe there's an undocumented "feature" in Firefox where if you have multiple tabs open, at least two go to the same site, the afternoon is windy, it's within fifteen minutes of 4 pm on a Sunday, while the moon is in the Seventh House and Jupiter lies with Mars - and you accidentally hit some bizzare alt-shift-q-ctl-s key combination, the browser goes randomly bonkers?

Could be, 'eh?

[AZgl1800]

Maybe there's an undocumented "feature" in Firefox where if you have multiple tabs open, at least two go to the same site, the afternoon is windy, it's within fifteen minutes of 4 pm on a Sunday, while the moon is in the Seventh House and Jupiter lies with Mars - and you accidentally hit some bizzare alt-shift-q-ctl-s key combination, the browser goes randomly bonkers?

Could be, 'eh?

eh? is right...
Wish we had a LIKE button for this and not have to reply to "honor comments"...

whatever it is, I have figured out the "work around"

Satellite Connection. on day 23 now, and NO REGRETS about dumping AT&T DSL.
the Sat is 4 to 6 times Faster... and only 1 outage in 23 days, a modem upgrade and it rebooted.

[jharris1993]

So, remind me what that workaround is? (Aside from telling Firefox to bugger off...)