Save us all

Grok Headline matches for Save us all

Save time, save effort, save money

Save time, save effort, save money 05/28/2004 04:57 PM
CNET Asia May 28 2004 9:16PM GMT

America's Man in the White House
Continues to Lie Like a Thief and Our
Soldiers Continue to Die: When Will the
Spoiled, Lying, Rich Kid Be Held
Accountable? Save the Nation. Save Our
Soldiers. Impeach and Prosecute Bush and
Cheney for High Crimes

America's Man in the White House
Continues to Lie Like a Thief and Our
Soldiers Continue to Die: When Will the
Spoiled, Lying, Rich Kid Be Held
Accountable? Save the Nation. Save Our
Soldiers. Impeach and Prosecute Bush and
Cheney for High Crimes 11/02/2003 06:30 AM

story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20031101/ap_ on_re_mi_ea/iraq
track this site | 3 links

Mac Tip: Save as PDF

Mac Tip: Save as PDF 07/16/2004 06:47 PM
G4 Tech TV Jul 16 2004 11:06PM GMT

How Much Should You Save?

How Much Should You Save? 01/23/2004 04:14 PM
Depends if you're single, scared, or have a significant other.

Save the HST!

Save the HST! 07/16/2004 01:43 AM
Usatoday.com - Wed Jul 14, 08:58 am GMT

How to save the FCC

How to save the FCC 06/22/2004 09:06 AM
ZDNet Jun 22 2004 1:19PM GMT

How to save the FCC?

How to save the FCC? 06/22/2004 09:06 AM
ZDNet Jun 22 2004 1:27PM GMT

Do You Want to Save Your Changes?

Do You Want to Save Your Changes? 06/18/2004 02:44 PM

Web apps are great, but they have interface problems. A Web-based interface is just never going to be as rich as a traditional client-server app. Spolsky alluded to this in a post I made yesterday. HTML can really go just so far before you run into limitations. Here's a big one:

That's a pretty common dialogue box, but very hard to do on the Web. Picture this:

Joe User has just spent 20 minutes in the article editing interface of your Web-based content management app. He's worked over this article until it's just perfect, laboring intensively over every word. Then he accidentally hits Refresh and it's all gone. Joe is not happy.

That's the problem with Web forms — there's no real way to stop the user from screwing themselves this way.

After they start work on the form content, they can (1) click a link and navigate away from the page, (2) press the Reset button on the form (never put these on your forms — think about it: when was the last time you used one), (3) close the browser, (4) refresh the page, etc. There's any number of things they can do to wipe out their form data, and it's very hard to stop them. I know this because I tried...

I set out this morning to try and minimize these risks in an app I'm developing. I come away from this process pretty convinced that it's not practical. Here's what I tried to do:

In my page, I bound a JavaScript function to the unload event:

window.onunload = warn_if_form_dirty;

This means the "warn_if_form_dirty" function will run whenever the current page leaves the browser window for any reason. Note that you can't stop the event — the page is leaving no matter what, but you can do a few things before it goes. (If you could actually stop the page from unloading, then pop-up advertisers would have a field day with it.)

I also set two variables:

form_dirty = false;
warn_onunload = true;

The first variable indicates whether or not the form data is "dirty" — whether it's been changed since they loaded the page. The second variable indicates whether or not we should warn them that they're going to lose their data. When should we NOT warn them? When they submit the form. Remember that the unload event fires whenever the page unloads, even if it's because they submit, in which case they WANT it to unload.

I added this to all my form fields:

onchange="form_dirty=true;"

So whenever a form field changes, the "dirty" switch is flipped. And I added this to my FORM tag:

onsubmit="warn_onunload=false;"

Because, remember, if they submit the form, I don't want to warn them. In this case the unload event is fine.

Then I wrote the actual function that will run when they attempt to navigate away from the page while the form is dirty:

function warn_if_form_dirty()
{
if(warn_onunload == true && form_dirty == true)
{
alert('WARNING: You have chosen to navigate away from this page.  You have UNSAVED CHANGES in this form.  If you want to save these changes, click the Back button on your browser to return to your changes and press the "Save" button.');
}
}

So, the system works something like this:

1. User loads the page and starts working. "form_dirty" is false, because no changes have been made. "warn_onunload" is true because we want to warn them.


2. User changes some form data. When this happens "form_dirty" is now true because they have done some work and are at risk of losing it.


3. User accidentally hits the Refresh button (stupid user...). The onunload event fires, the "warn_if_form_dirty" function runs. It finds that both "form_dirty" and "warn_onunload" are true, so it pops the warning.

The warning, for its part, basically says, "you may have screwed up, and here's how to fix it if you want." Remember that I can't stop the event. It would be nice if I could, but the potential for abuse is huge, so you can't. All I can do is tell them what they did, and how to fix it.

The problem: the advice isn't always true.

It would be nice if you could always hit Back and get back to your data, but this turned out to be a lie. I tried it on a number of machines here in the office, and whether or not this is true depends on the browser and on the cache settings.

It seemed to work on Mozilla and Firefox all the time, but IE was fussy. For some people it worked, but for others, IE pulled the page fresh every time. It didn't work more often than it did.

So I come away from his experiment thinking that fighting this scenario is a losing battle. If you're on an intranet, and everyone is using IE with loose security, you could conceivably do some ActiveX mojo to head it off, but that isn't an option for me.

A possible solution: browser developers should build this functionality into the browser. They should detect whenever a user (not script) has changed form data and warn the user if they try to unload the page. Let the user choose to continue or cancel the unload.

If anyone else has thoughts on theories on this subject, I'd love to hear them.

Click here to comment on this entry

Save Money on Gas

Save Money on Gas 06/02/2004 08:23 AM
There are painless ways to keep gas costs under control.

Save a life

Save a life 12/30/2004 02:28 PM
Help earthquake and tsunami survivors who need medical attention, shelter, food, and safe drinking water.

Will porn save 3G?

Will porn save 3G? 05/05/2004 08:10 AM

Will porn save 3G? Vodaphone seems to think so.

International Herald Tribune - Pornographers to ring up more profit

Antoin doesn't think so. I agree with his analysis.

Auto save, anyone?

Auto save, anyone? 03/14/2005 05:38 PM
I feel Adam's pain! The TEXTAREA does generally suck. Maybe someone will come up with a great ajax application for...

How to Save Web Accessibility from
Itself

How to Save Web Accessibility from
Itself 01/07/2004 07:09 PM
An upcoming revision to the Web Accessibility Guidelines is in danger of becoming unrealistically divorced from real-world web development, yielding guidelines that are at once too vague and too specific. Your expertise and input can help create realistic guidelines that work.

Will VoIP Save AT&T?

Will VoIP Save AT&T? 12/11/2003 01:13 PM
SiliconValley.Internet.com Dec 11 2003 12:36PM ET

Save 30% on Schedule-It 1.0

Save 30% on Schedule-It 1.0 03/22/2005 05:05 PM
Acutus Trading today announced that Schedule-It, desktop automation software for Mac OS X, has been reduced in price by 30%. Schedule-It is immediately available for US $6.79, reduced from US $8.89.

Schedule-It is a small desktop application that automates the way you use your Mac. Automatically open documents, launch applications, play iTunes playlists and set alarms using an easy-to-set schedule. Easily set multiple events for weekdays, weekends, individual days or any combination thereof. Schedule-It is available for download and evaluation prior to purchasing. Activation codes are available from the Kagi Store.

Have sex, save the planet

Have sex, save the planet 05/04/2004 05:05 AM
Rainforest needs you - so get naked

Save Disney

Save Disney 12/11/2003 06:11 PM
Save Disney - in a followup to a previous and informative and link-filled MeFi post, a friend sent me a link to savedisney.com today which has three interesting documents: Roy Disney's resignation letter, Stanley Gold's resignation letter, and a letter from Roy Disney to all cast members. There's also links to email and show support, as well as links to all sorts of related informational sites. Is this ingenius guerilla PR from upset employees, or is there something deeper here?

"Save the Children"

"Save the Children" 01/01/2005 10:39 AM

save your posts? why not

save your posts? why not 03/17/2005 03:20 AM
the simplest ideas are usually the best ones. Its easy to forget that the internet is a relatively new medium. Whats the bet that in the future that we will all be wishing that we still had all of our content that we contributed to "cyberspace" such as reviews, comments, posts... Who knows if 10 - 15 years from now, if the sites we post on will still be up, even stable sites such as MetaFilter may not exist in the future. sites have shut down before, taking everyones content with it. Its a simple idea, why not just store your content, be it on your desktop or a web application? So who wants to start a MeFi label over at bulletin board buddy.

What It Really Means to Save

What It Really Means to Save 05/25/2004 02:43 PM
A simple story from the other side of the world shows how everyday dreams come true.

Save on .Mac Renewals

Save on .Mac Renewals 10/07/2004 04:11 PM

Save Our Sandcrawler

Save Our Sandcrawler 04/29/2004 01:49 AM
Disappointed by Target’s cancellation of the Jawa Sandcrawler? Frustrated that this long awaited treasure seems to be slipping through our fingers like so much Tatooine sand? Looking for a way to tell a would be buyer how much you want this toy, and perhaps help turn the tide? Have I got the forum thread for you...

How to Save for College

How to Save for College 04/22/2004 02:54 PM
College is expensive, no doubt about it -- but you can afford it.

"Save the Children UK"

"Save the Children UK" 01/04/2005 05:59 PM

Save TV From/With Broadband

Save TV From/With Broadband 06/08/2004 03:49 PM
A recent survey in Europe has suggested that the rise of broadband use is causing people to watch less TV. And if the trend continues, TV networks will probably have to adapt by using broadband connections to make TV more engaging to audiences. The ground has already been broken with people voting for contestants in reality shows like American Idol. So it's just a matter of making TV even more interactive, and incorporating the creative use of digital communication (email, IM, video capture, etc) is just around the corner.

SAVE THE DATE!

SAVE THE DATE! 07/11/2004 01:48 PM
Creative Commons will be hosting a book party to celebrate Dan Gillmor's new book, We the Media, which (the good) O'Reilly is publishing, and which will also be available under a Creative Commons license. The date is July 30, in the evening. More details soon. Creative Commons will be hosting a book party to celebrate Dan Gillmor's new book, We the Media, which (the good) O'Reilly is publishing, and which will also be available under a Creative Commons license. (They never got around to having a book party for my book. Oh well. They're busy.) The date is July 30, in the evening. More details soon.

Save More Now, Play Much More Later

Save More Now, Play Much More Later 01/28/2004 06:39 PM
If you socked away an additional $100 a month, how much would your retirement improve?

SOS for IT Jobs? Save Yourself With SOA

SOS for IT Jobs? Save Yourself With SOA 04/09/2004 04:06 PM
Internet News Apr 9 2004 8:20PM GMT

Save Betamax

Save Betamax 09/13/2004 06:44 AM
Save Betamax.

Save My Modem

Save My Modem 03/15/2003 01:28 PM
0.18 - fixes

Save The Penguins

Save The Penguins 02/10/2004 02:56 PM
Project Approved.

How to Save Web Accessibility from
Itself

How to Save Web Accessibility from
Itself 02/10/2004 02:35 AM
An upcoming revision to the Web Accessibility Guidelines is in danger of becoming unrealistically divorced from real-world web development, yielding guidelines that are at once too vague and too specific. Your expertise and input can help create realistic guidelines that work.

DataRescue X Can Save The Day

DataRescue X Can Save The Day 03/13/2003 10:17 AM
I've posted my review of DataRescue X. If you're one of those people who have skipped a few backups, seriously consider getting this program. It is top notch.

Option-Shift K Apple Hacker Swag!

Save.Overtime.Pay.Org

Save.Overtime.Pay.Org 03/08/2004 11:04 PM
Save Overtime Pay
Warning: AFL-CIOfilter
From the site: "Under a proposal by President Bush, more than 8 million workers might not be paid extra for the overtime hours they work."
Yeah, I saw the "might" in there too.
They do have a summary page of Bush's proposal and hey, here's a little cartoon to help explain things.
And this article in today's Miami Herald helps explain the issue a little better than this one from the National Center for Public Policy Research which quotes The Heritage Foundation and Secretary of Labor Elaine Choe.
As I understand it, they want to move the level of mandatory overtime pay from about $8000 a year to $22K but there's so much double speak and rhetoric that my head's only just stopped spinning.

save me some headache

save me some headache 03/06/2004 02:09 AM
Who can save me some headache and tell me what I'm doing wrong here? I have the following code: <a...

Save us from spam

Save us from spam 04/18/2005 07:44 AM
UK consumers cry out to ISPs for protection

Save the Whales! Then What?

Save the Whales! Then What? 08/16/2004 07:56 PM
Some whale populations are on the rebound. Can they be both protected and eaten?

RE: [ISN] How To Save The Internet

RE: [ISN] How To Save The Internet 03/22/2005 05:13 PM
David Gillett (Mar 22 2005)

Let the Quakes Save Themselves

Let the Quakes Save Themselves 08/19/2004 02:53 PM
My newspaper's editorial page wants to keep San Jose's local soccer team, the Earthqu akes, in town. Fine. But my colleagues also seem to want the taxpayers to help the fabulously wealthy owners of the team, the Anschutz Group, with the cost of a new stadium. Let the Anschutz family pay for its own stadium.
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Save us all

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