Add dynamic time options to the Post Entry page

[ysobel]

Title:
Add dynamic time options to the Post Entry page

Area:
entries, updating

Summary:
Give the Post an Entry page a way to change to the time the entry was posted, rather than the time the page was loaded.

Description:
Right now, the web interface for posting will automatically fill in the time, which is nice, but it does so at the time the page is loaded. For entries that take ten minutes, this isn't much of a problem. For entries that sit for several hours, or days, it is. The only way to change it is to either manually edit the time when you're ready to post, or copy the text of the entry elsewhere and refresh the page.

It would be nice to have some way of saying "use the current time". Ideally (IMO), the page would act as some clients like Semagic do, and update the time automatically, unless the "edit date" link is clicked (at which point the time gets 'frozen'). Most users probably want entries that are timestamped when they were posted, not when they were started, and those that want otherwise can freeze the time.

Another option would be a "Refresh time" link, next to the edit-date link, that updates to whatever the current time is. This is an extra click (compared to the first solution) for the majority of use-cases, but less of a change of behaviour, and a click is a lot less work than the current method (which involves a click and also thinking about what time it is and how to convert it to 24-hr time and then typing it in).

Poll #899 Add dynamic time options to the Post Entry page

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 56

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
29 (51.8%)

Should be implemented with changes.
21 (37.5%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
1 (1.8%)

(I have no opinion)
4 (7.1%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (1.8%)

Comments

[azurelunatic]

I'm for the refresh-time button myself.

[ninetydegrees]

+1

[instantramen]

+1

[ratcreature]

Yeah, I like the refresh button better too.

[musyc]

+1 Refresh time, plz.

[kerravonsen]

Oh YES.

[montanaharper]

+1

[cesy]

+1

[sky]

I actually prefer my posts to have the time when I started writing rather than the time when I submitted, so I think an optional "refresh time" button would be good.

[cheyinka]

Yes, so do I, most of the time. I'd be okay with the "refresh time?" box being automatically checked, but I wouldn't want it to be refreshing the time while I was writing. (I can uncheck a checkbox, but I probably wouldn't remember exactly when I started...)

[yvi]

Refresh time :)

[mordyn4]

Refresh time. Yes.

[zarhooie]

This would have come in VERY handy for Blogathon.

[afuna]

I'm not sure how to vote. I like the idea of auto-update time, but my preferred implementation is a checkbox: "Refresh time?" and if it's checked, it uses the current time when you submit the entry (with optional JS goodness which refreshes the time every x minutes, so the user has a visual cue of more-or-less what time the entry will be posted as).

The checkbox should remember state, too, so you wouldn't need to remember to check it every time (or uncheck it, etc).

[(Anonymous)]

+1

[turlough]

Something like this would be ideal for me. (I've gotten so used to the way the Greasemonkey script work :-)

[7rin]

This.

[ct]

+1

[snakeling]

The checkbox should remember state, too, so you wouldn't need to remember to check it every time
Oooooh, that reminds me of something that has annoyed me for so long! BRB with a new suggestion :P

[beckyzoole]

"Refresh time" button, please! I know I would use it every time. I greatly dislike having the time on the post be the time the post was started, not when it was actually posted. I like having this as a button instead of a setting, though, as a button on the post would preserve the maximum range of options.

[triadruid]

I don't want it to automatically update my entry time, but an option/button for refreshing it sounds nice.