Implemented Autosave post drafts

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If it does make use of the HTML5 storage option, it could also possibly have a little notification at the top of the post which says "Saved to local drafts (save to server?)" and then they can click save to server if they want to be able to either store this as a draft permanently or continue it on another device. Also, an option to "keep" a draft longer than x amount of days/hours could be good.
 
I disagree. :) Sometimes I spend days working on writing something before posting it. If that could be done right on the forums by saving and working on a draft, I think that would be wonderful. So you might have a max quota on how many drafts a user can have, but I see no reason to limit their longevity.

In your situation, I suggest saving the post on your computer, or to a notes system.
 
If their "going off the page" is accidental, they'd come back online quickly to post it. After 60 minutes I can't see them wanting to reply (unless their ISP cut them off).

Drafts would be dual-purpose. Both to save your work due to accidents—browser crash or similar—and to give the ability to save and work on drafts of things you want to post later. For the first use, drafts would need to auto-save. For the second, the saving would not have to be automatic.

Drafts should work like Gmail drafts.
 
I think autosaved drafts of posts should be stored for 60 minutes or some other relatively short time-period. However, manually saved drafts (i.e. posts that the user is intentionally saving for later) should be stored for a longer amount of time... perhaps a week (or something admin-definable).
 
We have a mod for SMF and it looks like this if you are doing a manual draft. Here what the button looks like.

Post Reply | Save as Draft | Upload a file | More Options...

For autodraft, they should be member's option from their profile on how long it should be saved, or admin's setting.
 
The thing is, the way the quick reply now works, about 30% of the time what I spent 10 minutes typing seems to disappear. vb3.x did not have those problems.

Even if that becomes working much better, it could still be a problem, in addition to all the other reasons mentioned.
 
I don't want members using the server as a storage facility for their drafts. They can do so using a word processor and copy/paste it to the forum once they're finished. The owner and I will pony up for extra storage when needed for a busy site, but we're not going to pay for server storage because users refuse to use tools that are already at their disposal.

If this is implemented (and I'm not convinced it should be), draft copies should be temporary stored for a short time (no more than 48 hours) and then automatically deleted.

On second thought..... No. I don't want this. Thinking on how this would be implemented, the draft would have pointers within the thread, adding to the queries needed to display it. Increase the time outs if this is a common issue, but no, this shouldn't be implemented.
 
phpBB has standard functionality for saving post and PM drafts, not autosave though.

I've used it once or twice in 3 years.

Most members aren't even aware of the functionality, despite there being a "Save" button next to "Submit" and "Preview".
 
I don't want members using the server as a storage facility for their drafts. They can do so using a word processor and copy/paste it to the forum once they're finished. The owner and I will pony up for extra storage when needed for a busy site, but we're not going to pay for server storage because users refuse to use tools that are already at their disposal.

If this is implemented (and I'm not convinced it should be), draft copies should be temporary stored for a short time (no more than 48 hours) and then automatically deleted.

On second thought..... No. I don't want this. Thinking on how this would be implemented, the draft would have pointers within the thread, adding to the queries needed to display it. Increase the time outs if this is a common issue, but no, this shouldn't be implemented.
If you save it on the clientside via JS (cookie or local storage) it can be stored without querying the database, then you just run a conditional "if threadid == storedid, tinyMCE.innerHTML = 'localstorage/cookie data'"

This way, no queries are executed and the user's draft has saved. I'm convinced that drafts should be stored short-period and if the user is to delete their cookie then they've lost the draft at their own expense!
 
And what happens when someone is using another PC other than their primary system? I have users that post via mobile devices, work PCs and home PCs.
 
It depends on your purpose of storing the draft. If you're storing it due to accidental page changes or browser crashes the JS works fine for that. If you're storing them for multiple PCs/devices then you're obviously going to need some form of serverside storage... it really depends on the reason for implementing it.
 
The auto save information, for most instances, would not have to be kept long. 30 minutes should be enough for the 'oopsie' situations. I don't think the system should be set up as a repository for people to keep things, otherwise it will turn into a large archive system for peoples information of interest.
 
I can see James' point, but I think perhaps he may be overlooking that forums have a plethora of uses around the internet. Its quite easy to imagine a very common situation where a user or staff member has to write a long post and work on it for hours on end, or even days. This happens very often on our forums and for those, copy and paste from word is the current method because saving drafts is not possible. If users were given this option and the admins could set total storage and longevity limits per usergroup, then it will be used on mass. Many professional or education based forums mean that users take pride in what they post and put a lot of thought into many postings - a forum giving this option to users shows respect to the importance of content.... and content is king.

Being able to use post drafts, as opposed to word will mean less formatting issues and less code noise at the HTML level also. Just as many site owners dont want to send their users to another site for content or resources, I think they would also prefer not to send them to other 'applications' for something that any user content based system should give as standard (but rarely do).

My $.02
 
+1 I absolutely support this suggestion... if google can do it with millions of users without an issue then it should not be an issue for a forum with a few thousand members... atleast it can be added as an option at admin's disposal. i remember there used to be a very fairly successful mod for saving drafts in vbulletin here it is >>> http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=142153 and i could not find a single mention of any kind of server loads after installing that modification... it would be interesting to hear from the developers on this issue.

Thanks
 
I'd also love this feature to be integrated in Xenforo. With admin options to set the "timeout" (with 0 being never), a choice offering of clientside, serverside, or both (for home/work computers and mobile devices), and a configurable amount of allowed drafts per usergroup (so premium members can have more than regular members). :cool:
 
I'd also love this feature to be integrated in Xenforo. With admin options to set the "timeout" (with 0 being never), a choice offering of clientside, serverside, or both (for home/work computers and mobile devices), and a configurable amount of allowed drafts per usergroup (so premium members can have more than regular members). :cool:

How do you suggest data is stored - database?

Please like my idea if you find it useful :)
 
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