# Do the Submit and Preview Post buttons have to be quite so close together? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 29, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645 "2006-06-29T16:37:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/1 "2006-06-29T16:37:45Z")
I’m slightly dyslexic, and I _routinely_ Submit things I wanted to Preview first. Almost invariably when there are code issues, 'cause I’m thinking of other things and too busy for my muscle memory to kick in about which is left and which right. Anybody give a wet flap? ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/2 "2006-06-29T17:04:20Z")
Maybe when you hit “submit” a box could pop up saying “Are you sure you’re ready to post?” I have had this problem myself in the past, but no way am I going to admit to giving a wet flap. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/3 "2006-06-29T17:23:54Z")
> [@Susie Derkins](#): > > Maybe when you hit “submit” a box could pop up saying “Are you sure you’re ready to post?” I don’t think this is a great idea; it’s just another task for the hamsters and, although they’re doing pretty good right now, it’s only a matter of time before they’re overburdened again. But I do think it’s not a bad idea to move the buttons if this can be implemented. That said, anything is better than Micosoft’s decision to put the tiny “maximize window” button in the corner right next to the tiny “close window” button. Idiots! –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/4 "2006-06-29T19:18:28Z")
Furthur apart would be nice… having the ‘Submit’ button be bold or something would help too. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/5 "2006-06-30T01:53:21Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > I don’t think this is a great idea; it’s just another task for the hamsters and, although they’re doing pretty good right now, it’s only a matter of time before they’re overburdened again. Adding a popup would not require any more work from the server, just a few lines of Javascript added to the page. ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/6 "2006-06-30T02:53:53Z")
How much coding would it take to make the Preview button appear by itself, and have the Submit button only appear after the post has been previewed at least once? I’ve seen that used elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/7 "2006-06-30T03:11:25Z")
> [@Spongemom](#): > > How much coding would it take to make the Preview button appear by itself, and have the Submit button only appear after the post has been previewed at least once? I’ve seen that used elsewhere. It would also be extremely easy, just a few lines added. The problem really isn’t the difficulty of coding it - it’s that the board administrators are very reluctant to make _any_ changes to the board software, regardless of their difficulty (or lack thereof). Every few weeks someone makes a good suggestion in this forum for an improvement, but it never gets implemented, for that reason. Apparently, they’re worried about the difficulty of maintaining changes through software upgrades, and worried about potentially breaking something (or making it difficult for vBulletin to provide support if something goes wrong). ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/8 "2006-06-30T12:37:50Z")
What Absolute said. We could make this board pink and purple polka dotted and have it sing “Hearts and Flowers” every time you signed on but the further we get from plain vanilla vB the more problematical it gets for maintaining the board. Any changes to vB have invariably been wiped out by the next successive upgrade. We can’t make running this board a full time job. With the next vB upgrade will come the capacity to make lasting tweaks to the board that will withstand future upgrades, so once we get to that place we can entertain making changes. Till then, hang on. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/9 "2006-06-30T21:45:39Z")
By next upgrade, do you mean version 3.7, or one of the tweaks to 3.6? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/10 "2006-06-30T22:05:34Z")
Or maybe there’s a mythical Next Upgrade that’s been promised for years, yet never quite comes to pass even though one, or both, sides of the decimal point may change… ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/11 "2006-07-01T06:14:14Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > By next upgrade, do you mean version 3.7, or one of the tweaks to 3.6? The capacity to preserve ‘hacks’ in upgrades has been available since version 3.5. ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/12 "2006-07-01T18:47:02Z")
I don’t want to speak for TubaDiva, but I’m guessing it means the next upgrade they install here at the SDMB. For a couple of reasons (available time, not wishing to be on the “bleeding edge”, etc) they are not usually running the current version of the vBulletin software. If you glance down at the bottom of this page, you’ll see they are currently on version 3.0.7, while the current version according the vBulletin site is 3.5.4. So the next update they install (even if they don’t go to the most current version) could have the capability to preserve those user tweaks. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-submit-and-preview-post-buttons-have-to-be-quite-so-close-together/362645/13 "2006-07-01T19:05:32Z")
Ah, ok. I was just wondering because it might give an idea as to how far in the future an update might be; if the board was on the latest version, it’s possible we could find out when the next is due. But if the relevant update is already avaliable, then I guess there’s no way to know.