Default setting should be Preview Post

Every once in a while, while typing, I will (and I assume others will as well), accidentally hit whatever combination of keys it takes (I've never quite figured out how it happens) to drop the cursor to the posting buttons, and will then inadvertantly push one of those buttons. This is a problem that my sometimes clumsy fingers have created for me repeatedly over the years.

The problem here, and the reason that I posted this, is that the default button here seems to be the "Post Reply/Post New Topic" button, so when that happens one ends up actually posting to the board, then having to edit the post. I would have to assume that there's a way that the default choice can instead be set to "Preview Post," so that when this does happen, all one has done is to preview one's post and it has no impact on the public boards.


For that matter, anything that would make people more likely to push "Preview Post" is probably a good thing, but that's getting into a different topic...




[edit on 1-1-2006 by Bob LaoTse]

imo i'd hate to have to go to preview post every single time

sometimes i use the preview function...

i've only accidently posted a few times and i guess due to some furious typing?


remedy?

relax slow down site ain't going anywhere you dont want it to

Exactly, Lysergic. Not everyone wants to go through Preview Post to post something.

Bob LaoTse, my suggestion would be for you to use a word processor (Word) to compose your posts and only when you're ready to post it, copy and paste it into the ATS reply window.

You can even copy the quote tags out of the reply window if you want to quote something. I do it often. Still have to edit sometimes, though...

Um... thanks, but it seems you're missing the point.

I'm not saying that "Preview Post" should be the ONLY choice. If you use the keyboard to move the cursor from the reply window to the buttons at the bottom of the screen, whether deliberately or accidentally, the button that is highlighted by default is the "Post Reply" button. What that means is that if one accidentally does that, one accidentally posts one's reply. It could just as easily be set up so that the button that is first highlighted is the "Preview Post" button, and that would eliminate that problem. It wouldn't require anyone to preview their post or anything like that-- it would just change the default order in which the buttons are highlighted.

In much the same way, most times that you're faced with an option in a computer program-- when the program asks, essentially, "Are you sure you want to do this?" the default position is "No." This is done deliberately so that if one is not paying attention and hits the wrong button at the wrong time, it causes no harm. It doesn't create any extra work or anything, since most people use their mouse cursor to choose and click a button, so it doesn't matter which one is highlighted by default. The only thing it does in the long run is to make it harder to accidentally push the wrong button.

Setting the default choice here to "Preview Post" would do the same thing. The buttons would stay the same and the process of choosing and clicking one of the buttons would stay the same-- nobody would be forced to do anything different from what they already do. But for those rare occasions when one pushes the wrong combination of keys and inadvertantly ends up clicking one of the Post buttons, it would be the Preview Post button rather than the Post Reply button.