Viewer plugin implementation/rollout metaticket

[caffodian]

It's now just more than an anchor! See the trello card.

https://trello.com/c/Nix6tjpH/31-editor-automatic-hyperlinkable-headings

Document issues/PRs used to actually implement the thing here.

[caffodian]

TODO

• placeholder version of viewer plugin with raw anchors (Seth did this when he was with us)
• "finalize" the design
• pick a clipboard libs (the non-flash one https://clipboardjs.com/ seems "better", and we don't have to deal with the various cases when hiding the thing that zeroclipboard is stuck to)
• some form of test running
• hash out the widget "template" (may not use an actual templating lib) - we have some odd separation of concerns here because templates are usually only in pstat
• make it insert a link that displays the share widget instead
• browser quirks (mostly for documentation) pass
• rollout

[caffodian]

I realized I hadn't actually given anyone repo permissions.

I actually don't think this is that far away - really we just need to coordinate a bit on figuring out the design stuff. And I need to stop getting tempted to over-complicate the widget templating. There is no good reason for it to be a component

[caffodian]

@janasoroczak @winhamwr the TODO list above is my current take for what we need to actually do still. If i missed anything please feel free to let me know. We can coordinate the design and any additional stuff after standup tomorrow.

[caffodian]

Revisiting the clipboard stuff:

Zeroclipboard:

• fails with Flash disabled in IE11
• fails in all other browsers without Flash
• fails on Safari (mobile, desktop apparently works if you enable Flash)
• some issues around hiding/showing elements (there seem to be possible workarounds, but the actual stacktrace I ran into was inside Flash)

Clipboardjs:

• works in Chrome/Firefox
• gives a prompt on IE11
• if permission denied, still selects the field (and can display a mesage)
• fails in Safari but selects the field
• fails in IE8, selection seems inconsistent in the demo. maybe some workarounds to this. Not super worried.

If i have mentally parsed this correctly, the only advantages of using ZeroClipboard would be IE8 with Flash and Safari with Flash.

[jms21852]

@caffiodian What sort of prompt does Clipboardjs give on IE11? (As IE11 users account for 80% of our traffic)

[caffodian]

This guy: http://superuser.com/questions/476210/disable-do-you-want-to-allow-this-webpage-to-access-your-clipboard-message

[jms21852]

@caffodian Seems like Zeroclipboard is the better way to go. For browsers that have Flash disabled and on Safari, is there a way to hide the heading links altogether? Ideally if it's not going to work for them, better to hide it rather than show them a broken something that they cannot access.

[caffodian]

summarizing our hangouts discussion:

• use the javascript version after all - Flash benefits very few users, won't work on mobile, ever, etc.
• If it fails, provide a popover similar to the current mockup (where there is an input box with the URL in it)
• if it succeeds, just display a tooltip saying it's copied to clipboard

@janasoroczak this is your requested reminder to update the mockup :)

[winhamwr]

With the current design, is there anything I can click that will "navigate me" to the link? That's how I use the sphinx links and it's very efficient (for technical-ish) users. Not a must-have, but if we can incorporate that, I think it would be beneficial.

It provides a sense of transparency, I think. The user clicks the link, and their browser moves. If they were unsure exactly what the link did, that gives a visual demonstration.

[jms21852]

@winhamwr If the primary purpose of this functionality is to share, they're most likely going to then be pasting that link into an email, a chat, another browser window that's already open, another policy, etc. rather than open a link to the page they're already viewing.

[caffodian]

Some potential pre-launch things:

• fix the scroll jumping when clicking on the anchor (it is a side effect of the lazy way updating the address bar)
• implement feedback when actually copied
• lazy-create the popovers?

I feel like 3rd is mostly pointless and minimal performance impact, but first and second are pretty annoying

[caffodian]

I also see the spec actually does have the "feedback when actually copied" thing. :)