I know it’s not a bug, so I make it a feature request. Do we really need
<body onLoad="document.forms[0].title.focus();>
in the control panel? Could we at least make it optional? Or perhaps only if the title field is actually empty? I hate it, and here’s why: Whenever I re-edit an article (correcting a typo, say) the window opens. Then I cklick on the part I want to edit, only to be whisked away to the URL title (which I usually have no intention to change, thank you very much) a second or so later when the page load is completed, happily overwriting the title there, before I realise what I’m doing, sigh, correct my mistake and click in the textarea to finally do what I came here for.
Am I the only one? Yes, I can hack the backend, but it gets cumbesome after a while. Thanks for your consideration.
Agreed, I end up doing the same all the time when editing. Plus I often don’t write the title for an entry first when I do a post anyway, so I often end up typing part of the post into the title window if I happen to begin too quickly.
Count me in too. It wouldn’t be such a hassle if the page didn’t take so long to finish loading after it already appears to have finished. (I suspect the category list edit capability may be involved in that.)
McGehee, I second you with regard to the specifics about exactly what is wrong with the focus behaviour!
I suppose there are some good intentions with setting the focus, but it is actually frustrating to newcomers I have worked with. I’m looking forward to more display options with regard to the new entry/edt panel in future releases.
McGehee, I second you with regard to the specifics about exactly what is wrong with the focus behaviour!
My guess is based on the fact the last thing to appear when my Publish/Edit page loads, is the “Edit Categories” link at the bottom of the Categories tab (which I’ve almost always opened by then when I’m starting a new post)—a detail that I’d actually forgotten until after I had posted here.
FWIW, it may very well be something that EE could only resolve by setting the categories to load only when the Categories tab is clicked.
This was actually one of the most requested things in ExpressionEngine so we added it in by default. This behavior is changeable with extensions but I think we will likely leave it in there by default because of how many more people want it than not.
Oh, and the reason it seems to take long to load is probably because of all the emoticon images not the checkboxes which is part of the HTML of the page.
Oh, and the reason it seems to take long to load is probably because of all the emoticon images not the checkboxes which is part of the HTML of the page.
Hmmm. That’s odd because I hadn’t noticed this behavior previously, and the emoticons aren’t a new thing. [shrug]
To put in my two penneths worth, I think that this is the best way for it to work actually. If you were able to turn off the focus on the title then you would still be no better off as you would then have to click in the text area that you want anyway. Kind of defeats the object really - if you don’t turn off the focus you have to click in the textarea you want - if you do turn it off, you still have to click in the textarea you want. I think that coding something in just to fix that when we can just click in the area we want is a bit overkill?
Also it does in my opinion save time because of two things. One you are working your way down the page and filling in the details of a form as such and the human mind (well mine anyway) likes to operate in that way. Also filling in the title at the start ensures that you have one in there. If you didn’t and you didn’t notice then when you come to saving the entry it would come up with an error. If you didn’t notice this and say went away from your computer thinking that it had been saved and you had written a really really long post and then turned your computer off or something then you would have lost all of that work.
Maybe a go-between would be to have it focus on the title when going to post but when going to edit you could possibly select which field to focus on. Still all a lot of programming I reckon when we can just click where we need, or tab into focus.
I hope that didn’t sound angry or evil, it wasn’t meant too. I just think that it is a small thing and programming in the changes is a bit of overkill.
Having said that I guarantee now that someone will create a plugin for just this very purpose so through my writing this you will probably get your wish come true anyway!!! Although now I have written that bit hmmmm… I see an endless loop coming on here.
...I think that this is the best way for it to work actually…
Mark, this simply depends on how you’re setting up your workflow.
I often copy some text to the clipboard, call the CP and paste the stuff in one of the fields. Then, I rearrange and rewrite the text and if I’m satisfied, I search for a good title for my new entry. However, due to the load time others mentioned, I really call the entry form, click in the field I’d like to paste the text in and press crtl-v ... just to realize that the form has changed the focus to the title field after my click (and the loading of the page finished). With the result, that some of my pasted text sits in the title field and has to be cleared out manually.
Of course, setting the focus to the title field might be perfect for many users having another workflow. Therefore, not the complete change of that function was suggested, but a switch to disable it ... perhaps on a per user setting.
To be honest: Its relatively easy to change the behaviour by hacking the backend. And ... I can live with the title field getting the focus. But the thread shows that some users are having problems with this feature ... and this is due to a couple of reasons: individual workflow, the duration of the page load and the feeling that the page already completely loaded while it in reality changes the focus at last ... and sometimes (depending on the connection) 10-30 sec after calling the form.
Exceptionally valid point. Especially seeing as how I think maybe I hadn’t completely understood the problem. As most of my weblogs don’t have too many fields and I am on a fairly quick internet connection the page loads pretty fast and so I have never really seen this happen.
I did try to make a page with lots and lots of fields but it still didn’t have a problem with loading fast but I can see now where it would be a problem if you were to click into a field before the page has loaded.
Introducing: NoFocus (direct link to ZIP file). Its one and only job is to stop the publish page from focusing the title once the page has completed loading. I could have made it more complex—i.e. enabling the user to select a different field to have the focus—but I decided KISS was the best philosophy. If you want more features, hack it up to your heart’s content.
If you were able to turn off the focus on the title then you would still be no better off as you would then have to click in the text area that you want anyway.
But I do, and I have no problem with it. What I find annyoing is that the focus is then taken away again, and given to the title field.
Also it does in my opinion save time because of two things.
Not for me, it doesn’t. I often give a title to a blog posting only after having written the rest, and secondly, I was especially referring to going in there a second, or third time to correct a typo or spelling mistake. I have a little icon on my wegpage “Edit this article”, and it takes me direclty to the editing window. I use it frequently.
Introducing: NoFocus (direct link to ZIP file). Its one and only job is to stop the publish page from focusing the title once the page has completed loading. I could have made it more complex—i.e. enabling the user to select a different field to have the focus—but I decided KISS was the best philosophy. If you want more features, hack it up to your heart’s content.
I added it but the focus still went to the title field.
My guess is based on the fact the last thing to appear when my Publish/Edit page loads, is the “Edit Categories” link at the bottom of the Categories tab (which I’ve almost always opened by then when I’m starting a new post)—a detail that I’d actually forgotten until after I had posted here.
Although now I have written that bit hmmmm… I see an endless loop coming on here. 
