# Topic footer Reply button can break the thread
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [April 2, 2023, 10:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263 "2023-04-02T10:21:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Don](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Don)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2023, 10:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/1 "2023-04-02T10:21:49Z")
Hello,
Yeah I know this is an interesting situation. I write this topic because it seems the blue Reply button is more popular (especially on mobile \[1\]) then the reply button in the post. This is a problem if the answer is actually to the latest post and not to the OP.
There are two problem with this:
1. The actual person to whom the message was sent will not be notified unless they have been mentioned or quoted.
2. When this happens staff have a much harder job with for example move posts because these posts cannot be selected with (select + replies) and it can break the thread (conversation) if they don’t notice it.
I am thinking what would be the best to handle this. Maybe simple rename the blue button to Reply to topic or somehow indicate that button is for reply to the OP… 🤔
I decided to change the topic footer Reply button to Reply to topic and add a section title **Topic Controls** on desktop. On mobile the **Topic Controls** already there on dropdown.
Hopefully, in this way, the users will also see better that they are responding to the topic (OP) with that button. 🙂
* * *
1. because there is only icon in post reply
---
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2023, 10:35am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/2 "2023-04-02T10:35:45Z")
i tend to agree, i sometimes use the wrong button myself. i may steal your idea and rename one of them. on our forum, we use the quick quote component and it works great because you know you are responding to a post.
> [@Quick Quote Theme Component](https://meta.discourse.org/t/quick-quote-theme-component/143621):
>
> information_sourceSummary Simply: it changes the behaviour of the Post Reply buttons (not Topic reply) to quote a Post automatically in a single click.hammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [GitHub - merefield/discourse-quick-quote: A Theme component to change the behaviour of the Post Reply buttons to quote a Post automatically in a single click.](https://github.com/merefield/discourse-quick-quote)open_bookInstall Guide [Installing a theme or theme component](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-a-theme-or-theme-component/63682)heartSponsorship Please consider becoming an ongoing [sponsor of m…](https://github.com/sponsors/merefield)
---
### Author:  [@Don](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Don)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2023, 11:00am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/3 "2023-04-02T11:00:26Z")
> [@Lilly](#):
>
> i may steal your idea and rename one of them
Yeah, but renaming the topic footer (blue) Reply is possible now with a theme component because the topic footer reply button and reply button in posts has a same string `js.topic.reply.title`. So if you change this both button will change.
You can change it for the topic footer button with adding this to a new theme component or an existing one.
Common / CSS
```scss
#topic-footer-buttons {
.topic-footer-main-buttons {
button.btn-primary.create {
span.d-button-label:after {
// Adding this content after Reply
content: " to topic";
}
}
}
}
```
* * *
This is a great component thanks for sharing 🙂 I will check this too. ❤
---
### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/4 "2023-04-02T15:26:57Z")
> [@Lilly](#):
>
> it works great because you know you are responding to a post
Really? Even when used to answer to several persons?
What about situations where a reply starts with quote and next chapter is actually reply to topic?
I think this is a bit confusing. And… because so many ordinary users aren’t using (and totally understanding the difference) ”right” answer-button, I’m not totally sure it works so perfectly.
What would be better option? I don’t know.
---
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2023, 3:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/5 "2023-04-02T15:34:14Z")
not sure what you mean but one can use the quick quote multiple times via copy and paste in the same post to reply to different people. i really don’t understand your concern? next chapter? “right” answer-button? i have no idea what you are referring to?
---
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2023, 3:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/6 "2023-04-02T15:37:40Z")
anyways, i renamed the bottom reply button now and i like that difference it is a bit clearer on the interface. thank you for the code snippet @dodesz 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/7 "2023-04-02T15:44:10Z")
> [@Lilly](#):
>
> i have no idea what you are referring to?
This is an answer to you.
But this is an anwer to Don.
> [@Don](#):
>
> You can change it for the topic footer button
Splendid indeed! Can we… change text similar way to Reply Post button too?
And this one could be a topic reply:
I reckon the main issue isn’t (Quick quote component solves it out, though) quoting and/or tagging per se, but two different buttons are doing same thing, but acting slightly differently.
From otherside I understand it. For users reply is reply is reply. But… if one reads a post/comment/answer why don’t they just use the closest reply-button, but the very last one?
Yes, I know. Without a quote happens this and that, but still.
—
Do you follow me at all now? How should this post act: as a reply to you, a reply to Don, neither one or both? Sure — I did quote, and that actually makes quite useless trying to think what kind reply this is.
---
### Author:  [@renato](https://meta.discourse.org/u/renato)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/8 "2023-04-02T16:01:03Z")
You see, the fact you quoted both posts made automatic back-references: you can see your post after clicking on the `1 Reply ⌄` button that now exists on both posts you quoted.
I agree that some clearer differentiation between “Reply” buttons may be helpful, I’ll probably test it on my community too.
---
### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/9 "2023-04-02T16:04:11Z")
> [@renato](#):
>
> the fact you quoted both posts made automatic back-references
Damn! You are totally right. Everyday something new, but how could I miss that 🤦♂️
---
### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2023, 6:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/10 "2023-04-03T06:26:26Z")
not just the back ref links (up arrows), but also quote boxes if you click/tap the down arrows:
apologies, i think i just misunderstood you earlier.
---
### Author:  [@davidkingham](https://meta.discourse.org/u/davidkingham)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/topic-footer-reply-button-can-break-the-thread/260263/11 "2023-04-05T15:48:23Z")
> [@Don](#):
>
> Yeah, but renaming the topic footer (blue) Reply is possible now with a theme component because the topic footer reply button and reply button in posts has a same string `js.topic.reply.title`. So if you change this both button will change.
Thanks for this Don, I have been wanting to do this for years! I took your idea one step further for my needs. Since my site is a bit different and each category is different and not just straight discussions, I choose to change the reply button text completely. So for my image critique category I changed it to “Give Critique or Reply”, by adding the ‘or Reply’ I believe it gets around Jakke’s concern. Thanks for bringing that up Jakke, I initially had it set to only “Give Critique”, but you’re right that it doesn’t work for all situations.
I don’t love the font-size: 0 trick, but I couldn’t get the visibility:hidden trick to work with this for some reason. Also, I tried to set the font-size to 1em rather than px, but that didn’t seem to work either. I ended up going with a slightly larger font to make that button stand out, but I would prefer to use em so the font will scale.
```plaintext
// Image Critique
body.category-image-critiques-abstract-critiques,
body.category-image-critiques-avian-critiques,
body.category-image-critiques-flora-critiques,
body.category-image-critiques-human-fauna-critiques,
body.category-image-critiques-landscape-critiques,
body.category-image-critiques-macro-critiques,
body.category-image-critiques-night-critiques,
body.category-image-critiques-non-nature-critiques,
body.category-image-critiques-wildlife-critiques,
body.category-image-critiques-weekly-challenge {
#topic-footer-buttons {
.topic-footer-main-buttons {
button.btn-primary.create {
span.d-button-label {
//hide reply text
font-size: 0;
}
}
}
}
#topic-footer-buttons {
.topic-footer-main-buttons {
button.btn-primary.create {
span.d-button-label:after {
// New text
font-size: 18px;
content: "Critique Image or Reply";
}
}
}
}
}
```
This is especially great for my AMA category where I changed the reply button to “Ask Question”, perfect! It also helps the person doing the AMA understand that they need to use the little reply button.
```plaintext
// AMA
body.category-learning-ama {
#topic-footer-buttons {
.topic-footer-main-buttons {
button.btn-primary.create {
span.d-button-label {
//hide reply text
font-size: 0;
}
}
}
}
#topic-footer-buttons {
.topic-footer-main-buttons {
button.btn-primary.create {
span.d-button-label:after {
// New text
font-size: 18px;
content: "Ask a question";
}
}
}
}
}
```
I also set a background color for the reply button so it stands out a bit more. I haven’t figured out how to make it transition properly for hovering, any ideas there would be helpful…
```plaintext
.discourse-no-touch .topic-body .actions .fade-out {
background: var(--primary-low);
}
```
Anyway, hopefully my rambling will help others!