[pmwiki-users] Drafts, moderated wikis, and PITS 00755

Stirling Westrup sti at pooq.com
Fri Mar 30 22:56:28 CDT 2007


Patrick R. Michaud wrote:
> Given that we've had a couple of recent requests for moderated
> posting on a wiki, I'd like to go ahead and resolve PmWiki's
> "edit draft" feature.
> 
> Pico put together an excellent page at http://www.pmwiki.org/wiki/PITS/00755
> that describes the current state of "edit drafts".  His comments are
> recommended reading, but I'll also try to summarize things here.
> The basic issue is that we want clearer labels on the "save" buttons
> in the edit form when drafts are enabled.
> 
> Currently, when $EnableDrafts is set, a new "Save as Draft" button
> appears on the edit form.  Thus the typical buttons are
> 
>    [Save]  [Save and edit]  [Save as draft]  [Preview]  [Cancel]
> 
> The [Save] button saves the page, as normal.  The [Save and edit]
> button saves a copy of the page, but also returns the browser
> immediately to the edit form so the author can continue editing.
> The [Save as Draft] button saves the current page and any changes
> to a new page with a "-Draft" extension added to the pagename.
> 
> When an author attempts to edit a page for which a "-Draft"
> version exists, the author always gets the -Draft version to
> edit.  Thus we don't have a case of draft edits being lost.
> 
> The confusion arises when the buttons above are presented
> on the -Draft page, because it's not completely clear what
> "Save" (and possibly "Save as draft) will do.  Thus it
> appears we need alternate labels for these buttons editing
> a draft.  I just need to know what labels we want to use
> that will make sense to people editing drafts.
> 
> Currently the [Save] button always saves back to the original
> page without the -Draft suffix, and removes the -Draft version
> of the page.  The [Save as draft] button saves back to the -Draft
> page.  This can be a bit confusing, because some people expect
> [Save] to save back to the -Draft, and they don't see a button
> that clearly indicates they're saving to the original.
> 
> So far the best idea I've seen is to use [Publish] to mean
> "save to original", but I want to see if there are any other
> suggestions before committing to it in the core.
> 
> In each case (original page and draft), the actions are
> essentially the same:
> 
>   - save page to original location
>   - save page as -Draft version
>   - save and keep editing
>   - preview
>   - cancel editing
> 
> All that differs is the labels.  The current approach
> I'm considering uses the following labels for editing
> the original page:
> 
>   - save page to original location   [Save]
>   - save page as -Draft              [Save as draft]
>   - save and keep editing            [Save and edit]
>   - preview                          [Preview]
>   - cancel editing                   [Cancel]
> 
> And when editing a -Draft page:
> 
>   - save page to original location   [Publish]
>   - save page as -Draft              [Save as draft]
>   - save and keep editing            [Save and edit]
>   - preview                          [Preview]
>   - cancel editing                   [Cancel]
> 
> As far as moderating posts go, there will likely be
> some sort of option that hides/disables the "Save" 
> and "Publish" button for moderated authors.  Such authors
> would then be able to edit pages (as drafts), but
> only a moderator/admin would be able to "publish" the
> draft back to the original location.
> 
> Comments and questions greatly appreciated.


I took the time to set up alternative buttons for myself a while ago. After
much experimenting, I found that what worked best for me (single author who
only cares about visibility. ie. Publisher and Draft writer are both me.) was
the following:

When editing a -Draft page:

  - save page as -Draft              [Save Draft]
  - save and keep editing            [Save Draft and Edit]
  - preview                          [Preview]
  - cancel editing                   [Cancel]

  [Next button is flush right]
  - save page to original location   [Publish]

When editing the original page:

  - save page to original location   [Save]
  - save and keep editing            [Save and Edit]
  - preview                          [Preview]
  - cancel editing                   [Cancel]

  [Next button is flush right]
  - save page as -Draft              [Save as Draft]


I found the above arrangement with the flush-right buttons very convenient as
I had grown used to the standard button layout, and sticking the [Publish] and
[Save as Draft] anywhere other than off to the right caused me to hit the
wrong buttons out of habit. Also, I often don't work with a -Draft version, if
I'm writing something short.

Of course, this order would not be as good for a site where there was a strict
review process and all some folks ever saw was 'Save as Draft'.



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