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Please build inline editing functionality
Right now, if a user tries to click the "edit" button on a post, they get taken to a separate page where they can make changes to it. After the changes are made, the user is redirected back to the original post.
I understand that at the "Somewhere Else" so many of our users are familiar with, there are 2 types of "inline" editing functionality available: "inline" post editing & "inline" tag editing. "Inline" post editing is when an edit button on a post lets you edit all aspects of the post without having to navigate to a new page, while "inline" tag editing lets you open an editor for just the tags on a top level post, such as a question (with an automatic edit reason used).
This issue seeks community input on whether Codidact should implement a feature like the "inline" editing functionality described above.
1 answer
Editing a question
For editing a question, I see no particular advantage to either approach, so my opinion will be motivated by the advantages and disadvantages when editing an answer.
Editing an answer
When editing an answer, there are 2 aspects that influence my decision on whether to prefer inline or separate page editing:
- being able to see the question
- being able to see the other answers
There are times when each of these is useful.
Referring to the question
When seeing the question is useful, separate page editing is preferable as it shows the question immediately below the answer being edited. With the inline approach the answer being edited can be arbitrarily far away from the question, separated by the other answers, requiring more scrolling to refer back to the question.
Referring to another answer
When seeing the other answers is useful, inline editing allows scrolling the page to refer to the other answers. Separate page editing currently only shows the answer being edited and the question - no other answers.
Choosing which compromise
Separate page editing is preferable when referring to the question, and inline editing is preferable when referring to another answer. Personally, I expect to need to refer to the question more often than I need to refer to the other answers. Either editing approach would be a compromise, and separate page editing is the compromise I prefer for this reason.
Avoiding compromise
To avoid having to choose between favouring answer edits that refer to the question and favouring answer edits that refer to other answers, the separate page edit functionality could be amended to include the other answers below the question.
This would then keep the question as close to the edited answer as possible, while still keeping all of the other answers available on the same page.
There will still be occasions when I decide to open 2 browser tabs and switch back and forth between them to avoid having to scroll to refer to the question / other answers. However, for those occasions where I want to use just 1 tab for an answer edit (particularly likely on mobile), having a separate edit page that includes the question and all other answers is my preference.
I prefer separate page editing
In summary: my ideal outcome would be separate page editing with the other answers listed below the question, but even without that change, separate page editing is still my preference.
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