"Cancel" button.

Such a thing, a "cancel" button, would be a nice addition to pages where the user is typing into a text box (much like I am now) and chooses to "cancel" the task at hand.

You have "post" and "preview" so why not "cancel" right next to them? "Cancel" could be a simple _javascript "history.back()" or "parent.history.back()"

I know that simply pressing the browser's "Back" button accomplishes it but I feel it's a usability benefit to have the button on the page you're on.

Just a thought.

reply to post by abecedarian


I always open a new Firefox tab to write new posts - that way if I decide not to publish it all I have to do is close the tab.

Seriously, having a Cancel button is just lazy - move that mouse an extra 3 inches or so and click the 'back' button.

reply to post by abecedarian


Yeah I was going to suggest the brower's "back button" as well but you beat me to it....

So if only for aesthetic purposes.....heck yeah, why not add a cancel button.

Peace

Originally posted by Kryties
Seriously, having a Cancel button is just lazy - move that mouse an extra 3 inches or so and click the 'back' button.

Doesn't matter if you're using Firefox, or Opera or Safari or IE so I took that out.

I just checked and on my 20" CRT, it's way more than 3 inches... more like 6 (I had to roll the mouse ball (I use a trackball) 3 times) to reach the top-left of my screen, and only about 2" to the "post" and "preview" buttons (one roll of the trackball). And it's nearly as far to the close tab icon as it is to the "back" button.

And don't suggest using the "backspace" key since that requires me to take the focus out of the text box by clicking elsewhere then pressing "backspace".

Originally posted by operation mindcrime
reply to post by abecedarian

 

Yeah I was going to suggest the brower's "back button" as well but you beat me to it....

So if only for aesthetic purposes.....heck yeah, why not add a cancel button.

Peace

All good.

It's only a few more bytes of code to the HTML so why not? It's not like it's going to slow down an iPhone or something.

Originally posted by abecedarian

Originally posted by Kryties
Seriously, having a Cancel button is just lazy - move that mouse an extra 3 inches or so and click the 'back' button.

I just checked and on my 20" CRT, it's way more than 3 inches (more like 6") to the top-left of my screen and only about 2" to the "post" and "preview" buttons. And nearly as far to the close tab icon.

You had better do some working out then! Such a huge distance to cover is going to take some brutal and painful training You may lose the use of your fingers in the long term, but it's worth it I assure you

Originally posted by Kryties

Originally posted by abecedarian

Originally posted by Kryties
Seriously, having a Cancel button is just lazy - move that mouse an extra 3 inches or so and click the 'back' button.

I just checked and on my 20" CRT, it's way more than 3 inches (more like 6") to the top-left of my screen and only about 2" to the "post" and "preview" buttons. And nearly as far to the close tab icon.

You had better do some working out then! Such a huge distance to cover is going to take some brutal and painful training

You may lose the use of your fingers in the long term, but it's worth it I assure you

Your humor is refreshing but rest assured I can flick with the rest of them.

However, it only makes sense that one can "post" a message, "preview" what message they've written before they post it, and then "cancel" posting the message. So it's not a muscle excercise we're talking about here.

reply to post by abecedarian


Here's a thought: How annoying would it be if you had spent hours crafting a new post/thread and spent a long time formatting and spell checking it only to accidentally hit the 'Cancel' button instead of the 'Preview' button. I know I would be thinking dark thoughts about the coders of the website to say the least.

Originally posted by Kryties
reply to post by abecedarian

 

Here's a thought: How annoying would it be if you had spent hours crafting a new post/thread and spent a long time formatting and spell checking it only to accidentally hit the 'Cancel' button instead of the 'Preview' button. I know I would be thinking dark thoughts about the coders of the website to say the least.

It's hard to fault the website when one makes a mistake as simple as not being able to read.
But just for you, they could put the "cancel" button to the left of "post" or "edit" so it's as far away from "preview" as possible.

Originally posted by Kryties
reply to post by abecedarian

 

Here's a thought: How annoying would it be if you had spent hours crafting a new post/thread and spent a long time formatting and spell checking it only to accidentally hit the 'Cancel' button instead of the 'Preview' button. I know I would be thinking dark thoughts about the coders of the website to say the least.

And you use Firefox, no? So why aren't you using an inline spell check add-on to FF? I've one for IE so you've no excuse there.
And how hard would it be for you to press Ctrl-A then Ctrl-C to copy your text to the clipboard just in case just like I do in IE, before submitting?

Originally posted by abecedarian
It's hard to fault the website when one makes a mistake as simple as not being able to read.
But just for you, they could put the "cancel" button to the left of "reply" so it's as far away from "preview" as possible.

I'm only concerned with the aesthetics of it all and this idea will not fly...!!!

If we are to get a "cancel" button, it is to be placed next to preview, evenly spaced and centered beneath the comment window.

I know it would drive me nuts if it isn't done this way....

Peace

reply to post by abecedarian


Or the poster could just hit the back button

Clicking wrong buttons happens to everyone at least once, to many it's regular. While you might be somebody who double-checks everything, many others are not for whatever reason. Why would SO go to all the trouble of recoding the posting page just to add a 'Cancel' button when the poster can just move a few inches and click 'back'? It's much harder to code a website properly than most people think you know - there could be any number of valid reasons for not having the button - off the top of my head perhaps it throws out the alignment of the rest of that particular div element?

reply to post by abecedarian


Dear lord, why is it such an issue? Just hit the bloody 'back' button and be done with it It's laziness, pure and simple.

Originally posted by Kryties
...
Why would SO go to all the trouble of recoding the posting page just to add a 'Cancel' button when the poster can just move a few inches and click 'back'?

Convenience maybe? Like I mentioned earlier, "back" in my browser is much farther away from the text box than the "reply" and "preview" buttons are.

It's much harder to code a website properly than most people think you know - there could be any number of valid reasons for not having the button - off the top of my head perhaps it throws out the alignment of the rest of that particular div element?

You're acting like I don't know the diff between DIV and SPAN... but ALIGN is a tag that can be CSS'd, and happens to be the property that politely centers the "reply" and "preview" buttons nicely centered under the text box you type in to.

And irrespective of what I know about coding sites and the like, the end user wants it to work. And adding this isn't as difficult as you make it out to be and it doesn't change anything you already do. It only adds another button that people less understanding than you can use.

Originally posted by abecedarian
Convenience maybe? Like I mentioned earlier, "back" in my browser is much farther away from the text box than the "reply" and "preview" buttons are.

Sorry, this might sound harsh but all I can think of when I read that is "poor diddums". Seriously, that is like the epitome of laziness

And adding this isn't as difficult as you make it out to be and it doesn't change anything you already do. It only adds another button that people less understanding than you can use.

I'm fairly certain even the dumbest of dumb web users has figured out by now how to use the 'back' button on a browser. It's not like it's a new feature or anything.

Originally posted by abecedarian

Originally posted by Kryties
reply to post by abecedarian

 

Here's a thought: How annoying would it be if you had spent hours crafting a new post/thread and spent a long time formatting and spell checking it only to accidentally hit the 'Cancel' button instead of the 'Preview' button. I know I would be thinking dark thoughts about the coders of the website to say the least.

It's hard to fault the website when one makes a mistake as simple as not being able to read.
But just for you, they could put the "cancel" button to the left of "post" or "edit" so it's as far away from "preview" as possible.

Oh yeah, move it right next to the POST button so we can accidentally dump the whole thread right after we've got the whole thing written and just right.

I think the back button works just fine without giving us the opportunity to accidentally dump a thread or post after we've put so much hard work into it.

OP, What do you do now, when you decide to cancel a post?

Umm why not just use the shortcut since you are already typing? "ALT" + "left arrow" to go back for firefox, ALT + right arrow for forward.
I am sure whatever browser you are using will have similar shortcuts, find them, then you don't even have to reach for the mouse.

reply to post by abecedarian


Here hold on...I'll help you out.

nyk537 - you have banned member abecedarian

CRAP...wrong cancel button!