Edit Save
Many word processors auto-save, or warn the user that they've been editing for a while and remind them to save. In a wiki this is particularly useful when working on a long submission because there is no way to know if someone else has opened the document and is working on it at the same time. Not to mention, cuz many of us work in IE one never knows when it might spontaneously decide to become introspective and completely ignore me/you/the server & any associated input. Considering this, I thought that it might be useful to provide a prompt for the user so that they are reminded to save every now and then. The simplest solution seemed to be an animated gif....so that's what I created.
There are two versions which were created......
1) when the edit page is first loaded the graphic/text http://gmbtst.msvu.ca/wikitest/startedit.GIF is shown. After 6 minutes the image changes to http://gmbtst.msvu.ca/wikitest/saveedit.GIF .
2) When the edit page is first loaded the graphic/text http://gmbtst.msvu.ca/wikitest/startedit2.GIF is shown. After 5 minutes it changes to http://gmbtst.msvu.ca/wikitest/5minutesave.GIF and after ten minutes it changes to http://gmbtst.msvu.ca/wikitest/10minutesave.GIF .
Either of these are called with adding a simple image source statement at the start of the handlers/edit.php file just after the php call.
echo "<img src=\"./images/edittimer.gif\" alt=\"This graphic changes after 5+ minutes to remind you to save.\"/>";
Place either of these image files below in the images directory called edittimer.gif....(right-click to save em eh?)
6 minutes: http://gmbtst.msvu.ca/wikitest/edittimer.GIF
5/10 minutes: http://gmbtst.msvu.ca/wikitest/edittimer2.GIF
CategoryUserContributions
I hate to say it but... not valid XHTML (not even valid HTML):
- tag name and attribute name need to be in lowercase
- image requires a *meaningful* alt attribute
- tag needs to be closed (end with ' />' instead of '>')
The second immediately shows why "image-of-text is problematic :) you can't have the al text change *with* the image. (Besides, many people turn of image animation in their browser or proxy - so for them (including me) the image is static, too.)
Probably a better solution would be to use JavaScript to show actual changing *text*. (Not accessible for those with vision impairments as they usually need to turn off JavaScript - but they would not see the image either, and a static text would equally not help them.)
Nice idea - but it needs working out differently...
How does one know when to use '/>' instead of just '>'?...that one confuses me a lot.
Turning off animations in the browser has been possible for a looong time - for IE at least since version 4.0 - and if it wasn't possible with the browser it was possible with a plugin or a filtering proxy. Life is a lot gentler without all-singing-all-dancing stuff on pages. ;-) Check your browsers' settings and experience bliss...
You alt text is clever though (even though it's more of a description, it should convey the idea).
As to "shortcut-closing" tags: in XHTML *every* tag must be closed. If a tag doesn't have content (stuff that goes between an opening tag and a closing tag) tehn it's "empty", and an empty tag can be closed with <tag /> instead of <tag></tag>.
I'm no JavaScript expert, but I think it should be possible to write a simple script for displaying and changing a text after a delay that's entirely cross-brower. Maybe you could try the programming help page? ;-)
Hmmm....maybe it's my "training" growing up being a North American. We get such advert saturation that I esentially ignore all of that stuff. Newpaper ad? don't even notice. TV ads? completely tuned out (heck, give me a book or a newspaper or a laptop and I can tune out the entire show too). singing and dancing web pages....hmmm, haven't even noticed them. Of course, maybe **you** go to singing and dancing pages more than I (but now that I look, yahoo mail uses them & I use yahoo mail all the time....but I had to go and check to see if it did use 'em). LOL.
an empty tag "can be closed" or "*should* be closed" with a <tag />??
1. <br></br> <image></image>
2. <br /> <image/>
The second one looks nicer, doesn't it? :)