Allow setting/clearing the "don't autoformat" default outside the posting form

[pauamma]

Title:
Allow setting/clearing the "don't autoformat" default outside the posting form

Area:
Entries

Summary:
Provide a way, outside the entry posting form, to set the preferred (default, initial) value of the "don't autoformat" checkbox in that form.

Description:
When you post an entry, the state (checked/unchecked) of the "Don't autoformat" checkbox is saved and used as the default for the next time you post an entry. I never use that feature, always ignore the checkbox and start filling important information (like "which EFW stereotypical character am I going to be this time?") and once I'm done with the entry, I post it without giving that checkbox another thought. That approach works on LiveJournal, where the default (always unchecked) is what I expect. It doesn't, however, work on Dreamwidth.

I must have used that feature once on Dreamwidth, however (maybe by accident), because the checkbox is always checked, not unchecked as I expect it to be. However, because of the above, I never notice that until I check the entry or see it in my reading page. When I do, I can fix it easily for that entry by editing the entry, but that still leaves the wrong default for the next entry. I suppose I could post a dummy entry just to reset that (and in fact I'm going to do that as soon as I submit this suggestion), but I think I shouldn't need that trick, and besides it's inconsistent with the account settings option for the entry editor ("always RTE, "always HTML editor", and "whatever was used last" which is in effect the only option available for that dratted checkbox).

So I would like to have an equivalent setting for this checkbox, with the default option for this setting "whatever was used last" (for compatibility with current Dreamwidth behavior). The update page should only change the remembered default/initial setting if the user kept the option set to "whatever was used last", so the user-visible behavior won't change unless the user changes the setting from its initial value.

What should happen when posting from a client (including an external service - crossposting, reposting, daily Twitter digest, etc.) that doesn't specify a value for the "don't autoformat" parameter when sending entry data is less clear, and should probably be discussed with client developers on dw_dev. (This doesn't apply to clients, if any, who have their own user-configurable default for that option, only to those who don't supply any value for that field, perhaps because they don't know about it or because the protocol or API used doesn't make it possible or easy for them to - like clients using the Atom API.)

Poll #6550 Allow setting/clearing the "don't autoformat" default outside the posting form

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 46

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This suggestion:

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Should be implemented as-is.
11 (23.9%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
7 (15.2%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
4 (8.7%)

(I have no opinion)
23 (50.0%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (2.2%)

Comments

[denise]

For context: the reason that box is "remember the last setting" is because people wanted to make it always-ticked, but we judged it nowhere near important enough to warrant an option (because more options are usually bad UI).

I would support a console command, but absolutely not an option on /manage/settings.

[pauamma]

Come to think of it, I think there's a better UI (workflow-wise, at least) than both. When I notice I had the wrong value, the first thing I do is go edit the entry to set the correct value. What about having the option right there, next to the "change the setting for *this* entry" checkbox? *goes change vote to "implement with changes"*

ETA: or even make it always save the state of that checkbox, even on the "edit entry" page, as others suggested. (Was there a specific reason why it wasn't done that way initially?)

[matgb]

If the edit entry page can have a this entry/all entries checkbox in a way that's not too intrusive then I think i'd prefer that, there's a part of me reticent about having edit entry changes override everything, even though I prefer it to your first suggestion.

Alternative: when you post to a comm, it says "post to X" and that changes dynamically. Would it be possible or even desirble to have a similar sort of reminder there for this? Think it might be too big a Ui intrusion for an edge case problem, but...

[cesy]

Shouldn't it just remember your last used setting, and then it would be fine?

[denise]

That's what it does now. pauamma is suggesting a way to clear that setting that doesn't involve posting a "reset" entry.

[pauamma]

I think cesy means (as other suggested) "remember the last used setting on the update *or edit entry* page".

I'm confused

[faithofone]

If it's supposed to remember what you used last, shouldn't that be changed when you edit (and save the edit) of an entry?

Re: I'm confused

[pauamma]

When you edit an entry, it saves the (new) value for the entry itself, but it doesn't make it the default for new entries. That only happens when you post the entry initially.

Re: I'm confused

[matgb]

That's weird--I think it should, but I'd rather not see more options, I like "last used" as a method of dealing with stuff generally.

Re: I'm confused

[pauamma]

Hmm. That might work too. (I think having the submitted data on the "edit entry" page apply to more than just the entry being edited would go against the POLA, but *shrug*)

Re: I'm confused

[faithofone]

Okay, that explains why I had a few issues with it a while back.

I think that that the default behavior should be that it remembers whatever the value was last time you posted a new entry or edited an old entry.

That makes the most sense to me, and would solve the problem of having to post a dummy entry in order to reset the box.

*votes with changes*

Re: I'm confused

[delladea]

I've had this happen to me too. My vote is "implement with changes" to make the setting remember what it was the last time you used it whether to edit an existing or to post a new entry.

Re: I'm confused

[sally_maria]

+1

Making it stick from both new and edited entries sounds like the best way of resolving the basic problem, while not introducing any new options.

Re: I'm confused

[turlough]

+1