Changes to post composition window in Discourse

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1

While making some replies today, I noticed two changes in Discourse formatting for the post-composition window.

One is that there is no longer a preview being automatically shown on the right-hand side of the composition window.

The second one is that, when you quote another post in your reply, the quote formatting looks different (quoting one of my own posts, for illustrative purposes):

Imgur

As you can see in the image above, when you quote someone, the cursor (for typing your post) shows up directly at the end of the quoted text, and not on its own line beneath the “quote box.” This is a problem, as, unless you’re paying attention, and manually click below the quote, your reply will show up as being part of someone else’s quote in your post.

2

Ugh, yes, I just had the most confusing three minutes learning that. I think the blue A slider button at left is new, too?

3

I think it is, too; it looks like that now toggles the preview pane on and off.

4

It doesn’t. It turns on markdown mode. I’m not seeing any way to get a preview. I know it was working for me this morning (same browser, different computer) because I remember noticing that it was ‘blinking’ more often than it usually does.

By ‘blinking’, what I mean is that in certain circumstances, when the preview was showing and the text I was previewing had an image displayed, the entire box (the preview and the part where I’m typing) ‘blink’ in time with the cursor. This morning, it was happening any time I had the preview window open and the cursor in the text box.

I’ve never seen anyone else mention it, so I’ve always assumed it’s another bug with the Vincent skin.

5

I’m using Discourse Classic skin, on Firefox (Windows 11), and it does give me a preview when the toggle is flipped to the left, as shown here.

Imgur

6

You’re right, I see that now as well (and I’m still in Vincent).

I really hope that was just an oversight and not something they think was an improvement.

7

The toggle for markdown mode/preview seems like a good change. In most cases, there’s no need for separate windows for composing and preview. Just use a single WYSIWYG interface.

But putting the cursor within the quote box, or putting it above the quote when quoting the entire text, are terrible and hopefully will be quickly fixed.

8

I’ve noticed several “improvements” like that in Discourse in the last few days.
They changed the new post dropdown when you click on your avatar too, it used to reflect new open pages instantly (so you could open them in another tab until you saw there were no unread threads in the list), and now it doesn’t (but it shows you the all important info of what poster made the last post on that thread…)

I like Discourse, but I sure wish they let it well enough alone.

9

I mentioned another problem with how quoted posts were showing up in Vincent yesterday. My guess is, they’re trying to fix that and now have some new issues as a result.

10

Oops, and I meant left-justified, not right justified.

11

Apparently they’ve fixed that. My cursor appeared under the quote.

However, toggling the A button puts the entire box, quote and new text, into a different font, a terrible one almost as bad as Courier.

12

I’m still seeing it (SD Dark theme). If I hit Reply, then the plus icon and Quote whole post, the cursor is at the top of the edit window, with the quote underneath.

This is pretty typical of composition windows where one side is for markdown or pure HTML, and the other is a preview. The edit window in those cases is usually a monotype font.

13

I just checked this, and I can confirm it appears to be fixed now.

14

Works fine in Sam’s Simple Theme too. And yeah toggling the A slider in the top left shows the preview pane, though the edit box is in a really ugly font.

15

You beat me to it. I was just putting together a screen shot to show what I was complaining about.

16

Just tested, and it worked right for me, too.

I think that they assume that, first, anyone who chooses not to use the WYSIWYG editor prefers to see code, and that second, anyone who prefers to see code prefers to see it in a monotype font. Which would be very important if, for instance, we were coding in FORTRAN IV. I’m sure there are still a few FORTRAN IV programmers around.

17

Not fixed for me. The avatar and the poster’s name are still centered on a separate line above the text of their post. The mess with the preview pane issue still exists, too. There is no preview pane at all.

18

All you who say it’s working, what theme are you using? I’ve tried it with SD Dark, Vincent, and Sam’s Simple, and I still see the cursor above the quote.

To confirm we’re all talking about the same thing:

  1. Hit Reply on this post
  2. Ensure you are in the WYSIWYG editor, i.e., a single pane with no preview. Click the “A” on the left to toggle if you see the separate preview window.
  3. Click the + icon and Quote whole post.

For me, the cursor is at the top of the edit window in a blank line, and the quote is below it.

19

I’m using SD Light. The cursor is below the quote.

20

Hm, weird. I was in code-edit mode, then I switched to WYSIWYG mode and quoted your whole post. The cursor was above the quote. I then switched back to code-edit mode, and the cursor was now below the quote. I switched back again, and now the cursor was inside of the quote.

Working as intended, I’m sure, because there’s some reason known to none of us here that this is the One True Way that a message board should behave.