Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Blogger - Google: "We have a problem."

What?!

In reading my previous entries, I have been baffled by a
"missing word" issue.
I finally saw it yesterday in action
after hours of circular work.



To IS NOT or to WAS NOT, that is the question:

First: a sentence like -

That is not the right thing to do or say.

Next, we edit by double clicking on "is" in the sentence, press delete and then type "was".

What we want is:

That was not the right thing to do or say.

But what we get is:

That was the right thing to do or say.

The "double click" on a word followed by a delete deletes the highlighted word AND the next word. So, replaced "is" with "was" removes "not" as well. The problem is that the double click highlights to the next word, include the space between words, then the delete removes from the start of the highlighted word to the next space past the highlighted area. That means the second word.

This problem can also be reproduced by using a select of "is" plus the space to the right of "is" (is. "is ") and pressing delete (not just double clicking.) This also happens for select-type-word-replacement, not just select-deletes.

Does this upset or bother anyone? This 180 degree edit direction change with the press of a single button? The lose of time to fix an article and to restore self esteem from the "Gads! I'm an idiot!" to "Ah ha! I'm not (that big) an idiot!)"

I'm not a terribly complex writer so I tend to use "is" and "is not" a great deal of the time. I am also out of practice with maintaining proper verb tense during the initial witting of an entry, leaving that for later editing and proof reading iterations. With this bug, a vicious editing loop is created that the unaware will not escape and the touch typist will abandon product quickly.

If I were a "hunt and peek" typist, this would be only a minor annoyance. But, I tend to touch type while looking else where. Add to this and the bug to the sometimes functioning and sometimes not functioning CTRL Z - undo feature and we quickly end up with unreadable trash.

I looked though the Blogger "help" section and, yes you guessed it, no help to be found. The "Known bugs and issues" says go to "help" and "help" says "here's how to use it".

Where is the "report a bug link?" Why isn't it a bold <h1> flashing on the "Known bugs and issues" page?

PS and where is the underline button? Freak'n html editing...

PSS and I just learned a valuable less about using < and > in posts and toggling into Edit HTML mode and back again. Ughs!

No comments: