Edit last chat message by pressing arrow up key [ ↑ ]

Bent

Hey there NodeBB team,

The chat feature integrated into NodeBB is great. One feature which would improve usability and convenience a lot would be the ability to quickly edit your last sent message by pressing the arrow up key on your keyboard (while the cursor is focused in the text box below). The current workflow requires to leave your keyboard and do all this by mouse which is not the best UX for a chat solution / not that intuitive.

This would make correcting all these mall typos everyone does way faster

What do you think? +1 || -1 ?

Cheers

Bent

shoq

7 years later... SUch ARROW-UP now exists, BUT it only edits the most recent message. Matrix/Element and some other apps now let the use cursor thru up line by line across individual messages., which I find myself continuously trying to do because it's an obvious action. It would be great to see this implemented.

julian

@shoq I don't have much experience with Matrix/Element, but I think there's a potential conflict in that the up arrow serves two distinct purposes in that arrangement:

Toggle editing for the previous message
Move cursor up to the previous line

There's potential for confusion here because it's adding complexity to an otherwise simple system. Someone could be editing a message, accidentally hit up and their edits may be lost.

If you add additional logic to "track" edits so that the edit toggle engages only if the message box is unchanged/empty, then that adds even more complexity, etc.

I think for accessibility, Slack actually provides the best workflow: pressing the up arrow should should shift the target to the message, and allow you to quickly select which message to edit. From there, you can either hit e to begin editing, or perhaps tab over to the correct option.

shoq

Apologies. I said Slack. I meant Element/Matrix. Slack behaves as you suggest. Element as I described. It will move up message, then message line, then next message, IF t
he user already enters edit mode via ARROW UP. If any other message had focused, it simple shifts focus to the next element

shoq

Sidebar: Several years ago I bitched at @SlackHQ on twitter that I had been asking for a single character edit command (via email with support). You only got to it via the pull down selection. 3 years later, "e" was a reality. lol

shoq

The distinction is important. If the user starts with ARROW UP, using the element modality would be great. You still need what you have when not already in edit mode. Do you have a matrix client running? It may be the same in more than Element by now.

shoq

@julian Here's a video showing Element/Matrix behavior when, the action begins from the last message posted, OR after any message entered editing mode. It works quite intuitively and makes editing contiguous messages as one block somewhat effortless.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q6279lbzpkjbkekm5s7yp/upload.mp4?rlkey=lme2mkz3ct9oawr774rkf0tl2&dl=0

shoq

@julian Yes, it may be simpler, but their UX is a dream to use. It doesn't work like you expect. There is no risk of losing data. It's infinitely superior to slack where you need two clicks just to edit a single node. If you picked the wrong node (common), cancel and do it all over again. It's a lot of work. And you don't have to struggle with each message to start editing if it was your previous message. You can be above a below the content of interest and easily scroll to it. Do you have a matrix account? Certainly not a priority, but you really should try it and see what i mean. Toss me a DM at @shoq:sidetalk.net when you have a moment.

shoq

I probably compose at least 400 post and chat messages a day on multiple platforms. Speed and simplicity of editing are very important to me.