[development] Use revisions to replace previews

[Dries Buytaert]

On 08 Jun 2007, at 16:34, Morbus Iff wrote:
>> Not only that, but I have visions of a database full of trivial or  
>> even
>> identical node revisions. For example, what if the user changes  
>> only the
>> taxonomy selections and then previews the node? All those DB  
>> queries and
>> extra data in the table, for nothing. Or they change a bit of HTML  
>> formatting
>> and preview, trying several times to get it just right. The user  
>> may have
>> only worked for a couple of minutes, so what's the value in  
>> preserving all those
>
> This is pretty much the way I work - I could easily spend 30  
> previews before I finish what I consider my first draft of a node.  
> I would hate to waste 30 revisions (and the overhead) for stuff  
> like that.
>
> Likewise, I tend to think this is a semantic breakdown - when I  
> "preview" something, I am doing so because I want to see what WILL  
> happen IF I saved/the data. The revised change breaks this meaning,  
> making it more a "save and re-edit" button, not "preview".

I agree with this.  As an excessive previewer myself, the mental  
model that lives in my head assumes that previews are volatile.  I  
preview because I don't want to save my data before it's ready to be  
saved.  I don't finish everything that I start writing so every once  
in a while, I abandon the post in which case the previews and the  
node ID would still be in the database?  That said, I'm not opposed  
to an auto-save feature or a 'Save as draft' feature.  Except that it  
should somehow align better with my mental model.

Something else to consider -- spammers will often try to submit spam  
to your site. Even if they don't make it through, they might insert  
permanent junk in your database.

--
Dries Buytaert  ::  http://www.buytaert.net/