activity reply message "or press esc to cancel" is inconsistent and confusing

[jreeve]

When replying to activity feed comments, users are presented with a "Post" button and followed by a message that says "or press esc to cancel." This seems unusual, especially since users might not be focused in the text box or have their hands on their keyboards if they want to get rid of the reply box. A fix for this would introduce a "cancel" button and put it next to the "Post" button.

[r-a-y]

Good eye, jreeve.

My opinion is an extra button next to the "Post" button will make the UI a little cluttered.

I would rather show the "Press esc to cancel" text on textarea focus. This text wouldn't make much sense on a touchscreen though. Might be better to remove the text altogether.

[DJPaul]

Let's keep this in mind for when we work on the default templates.

[jreeve]

My solution to this was:

• remove the text "Press esc to cancel" (​https://github.com/mlaa/cbox-mla/commit/2cd6a0c5e47442bc024e4f2e07f155a4fb028d24)
• add a "Cancel" button next to the "Post" button (​https://github.com/mlaa/cbox-mla/commit/adff09361a2356cb0683d7608e500fee2c9210f9)

My rationale was (to elaborate on the original ticket description a little bit):

• It seems inconsistent to have the actions for posting and cancelling mapped to two different input devices. Furthermore, those input devices are the exact opposite ones users will be using in those contexts. When a user is writing text and about to post, the user is required to switch to using a mouse to click the Post button, and when a user doesn't want to input text, he/she is required to use the keyboard to press "esc" to cancel it. This doesn't seem right.
• An unobtrusive "Cancel" button is, IMO, actually less UI clutter than the rather bulky message "Press esc to cancel."
• As you say, Ray, keeping touch screens in mind is a good idea. Also, some bluetooth keyboards, like those made for tablets, don't even have escape keys.

[DJPaul]

Closing most tickets related to BP-Default and BP-Legacy, since the upcoming BP-Nouveau template pack (planned for 3.0) will make these redundant.

[DJPaul]

Closing most tickets related to BP-Default and BP-Legacy, since the upcoming BP-Nouveau template pack (planned for 3.0) will make these redundant.