[Pmwiki-users] Restore feature

Patrick R. Michaud pmichaud at sci.tamucc.edu
Thu Nov 14 13:18:36 CST 2002


On Thu, 14 Nov 2002, Jonathan Scott Duff wrote:

> After playing with the restore feature a little bit, it seems wonky.
> I mean it makes sense as "restore the page to how it was just after this
> edit" but usually I want to restore the page to how it was just
> *before* the edit (i.e., "undo" rather than "restore").
> 
> Anyone else have similar thoughts?

I went through the same thought process and couldn't resolve it cleanly
in my head.  Here's the thought process that led me to what I have now.

I originally tried the word "Undo", but that seemed wrong also.  "Undo"
implies "undo this change", when in reality one is actually redoing a
large number of changes.  Also, if we think of the revisions page as
going chronologically from newest to oldest as we move down the page,
then the link to restore to the version before a change is made should
be placed below the change, to keep the temporal continuity.
I tried putting the "restore" links within the bottom of the change box,
but that looked really awkward as well.  It still sounds like we're
restoring the changes, when we're really restoring the document that
existed before the changes.

My current thinking (in response to Scott's message) is that the
restore links should go either between or after the change boxes,
to preserve the temporal continuity.  Clicking on a the link that comes
below a change box would restore the version of the document that existed
just prior to the change described.  Better?  

What should that link be called?  "Restore" might not be clear enough,
although I think most users would be able to figure out what is going
on pretty quickly.  Perhaps the link should say "Recover document at
this point", or "Restore document version as of 01 Nov 2002 13:47" (ick),
or just "Recover document" or...?  I'm real open for suggestions here.

Pm





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