Signature Preview by Default

[canonknipser]

Isn't it the same behaviour as the preview button on "normal" posting?

So, if there sometimes will be a WYSIWYG-editor for posting, this editor can also be used for the signature. In this case, is there still a need for a preview button (except for fallback reason) or a live preview?

An extra javascript for live preview of signature is a little bit oversized in my eyes.

[imkingdavid]

The preview button can (and should remain). The signature should, however, be displayed above the editor by default without having to press "preview". If a change is made in the editor, the user can click "Preview" to view the update (though there should be some indicator that what they are viewing is not live/changes aren't saved). If we can implement live preview and WYSIWYG for that editor as well, all the better, but that is not necessarily in the scope of this request.

[Arty]

Great idea, but instead of ajax it could be a javascript parser. It supports regular expressions, so it should be possible to replicate bbcode parser using javascript, which would make preview instant and would reduce server load. Such preview could also be applied to other posting forms.

[callumacrae]

Great idea, but instead of ajax it could be a javascript parser. It supports regular expressions, so it should be possible to replicate bbcode parser using javascript, which would make preview instant and would reduce server load. Such preview could also be applied to other posting forms.

While it would be possible, I don't think it should be done. Any weird bugs that are in the phpBB BBCode parser might not be carried over, and vice versa. Also, custom BBCodes would be a pain.

[JoshyPHP]

Also, custom BBCodes would be a pain.

I would think that custom BBCodes would be easier than the hardcoded ones because they're basically just regexp-based replacements, so as long as they don't use PCRE features that you don't find in Javascript regexp you can port them straight from PHP. In phpBB's case, URL and LOCAL_URL use (?i) and INTTEXT might use \pL and \pN, but it should be possible to code around using them.

In comparison, the default BBCodes require more PHP code to be ported to Javascript.