In a discussion about improving the composer workflow, purldator suggests adding a keybind or button to minimize (not remove) the composer, preserving draft content while browsing. They note that clicking the down arrow currently removes the composer entirely, losing progress. elberet responds that pressing Esc should minimize the composer to a bottom bar indicating a saved draft — but purldator confirms this doesn’t happen for them. cpradio clarifies that drafts are only saved after entering sufficient text. purldator links this to another need: temporary multiple drafts to pause and resume writing. codinghorror affirms the feature exists but drafts aren’t saved until a reply or topic is actively being composed. Finally, purldator confirms the behavior works after testing with placeholder text and suggests making the draft-saving behavior more intuitive or manual, possibly via a dedicated button or keybind to save drafts without requiring full composition.
Been noticing while I use the composer that sometimes I need to see more of the viewport to aid in making my post. I tend to browse: gather links and text. When I do that, I have to click and hold the composer’s top edge and resize it. I used to click the down arrow in the upper right but that removes the composer completely and when I click ‘make a new reply/topic’ it erases what I had in progress. I currently see no way to bring it back up with my post in progress.
My suggestion for easier posting workflow is to have an ‘inbetween’ state where there’s a small indicator at the edge that a user can click and it brings their post back in progress, thus allowing them to temporarily push it down while browsing/searching. Or have a keyboard shortcut that minimizes the composer to that resized state that I manually do by clicking and dragging at the composer’s top edge.
Right now, as I personally see it, I can’t temporarily push the composer down. If I resize, it’s clumsy and awkward at best when I am in that ‘flow’ then suddenly halting to do that. Or, I click the down arrow in the composer’s upper right and I see no way to bring it back up. There is also no visible help anywhere that may show instructions on how to bring it back up (if this feature exists).
Interesting, I do not get that behavior. I figured this was already in core but when I minimize with the upper right arrow, the entire composer disappears.
That relates to another problem I have, and having temporary multiple drafts would possible fix that. It’s come to a point where I begin typing, I get a message elsewhere and would like to temp-save what I have in progress. I have to stop, copy the title, paste into Sublime Text, go back to the window, copy the text body I have so far and then put that into Sublime Text as well. It’s getting cumbersome. But I can make a new topic for that now.
You already have exactly what you are describing. However we do not bother saving a draft (on infinite topics, as long as it is a reply) until you type the minimum chars for a post.
