Categories: technology | tips | web 2.0
Are you on the edge of your seat? Well, here it is:
When working in a text field to be submitted (blog post, Basecamp entry, Writeboard version, long blog comment, whatever)...
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS select all text and then copy it to your clipboard, before you hit submit. On a Mac, this means hitting apple-a, and then apple-c, before you hit submit. On a PC, ctrl-a, then ctrl-c.
There are no exceptions to this rule. It must become habit. If you do not make it habit, then you will become complacent, and one day, you will have fine-tuned all your brilliant words into perfection, and you will hit submit, and you will learn the harsh lesson of the 2.0 overlords. You will lose it all. Either your wifi will crap out, or some server somewhere will be down, or something else will f#@$ you up. Do not take this lesson lightly.
For added security, I highly recommend installing a multi-clipboard program on your computer. I use iClip and I love it. That way, I have access to the last 10 things I've copied and pasted, and it has saved my ass many times.
That is all. Carry on with your day, now, and may the protection offered by this rule shine upon your work.
Great tip!
Wed, 2007-01-17 16:22 — walkahLots of things like this many of us take for granted, but are definitely survival techniques and good for people to be aware of as "2.0" goes mainstream. Can we expect more internets survival tips in the future? :)
maybe, maybe not.
Wed, 2007-01-17 16:25 — sarahfelicityBut if you become a loyal reader, you might just get a tip or two about a thing or two. Good chance it won't be about the internet, though. ;)
hmm. maybe
Wed, 2007-01-17 16:26 — walkahthat's *if* i become a loyal reader ;)
Clipboard
Wed, 2007-01-17 18:13 — RichardI do that all the time too, but I go one better by pasting into a text editor "just in case". There is a certain freedom that comes from losing text to the ether, though, and being able to shrug it off. Everything is temporary, I like to say (only because I, as a human, am temporary), so if I lose a blog post or an email here and there, no big deal.
(Quicksilver has a plugin that keeps the last 9 (or so) clipboards, so I've come to rely on that. It, the plugin, is crashy though, so I prefer the cut & paste method.)
previewing in Basecamp can help, too...
Wed, 2007-01-17 19:07 — Alan BucknamI had the same problem, esp. in Basecamp; I compulsively hit the "Preview" button when writing messages, (or hit the "Save this Writeboard" button and then keep overwriting the version) just to keep the content from refreshing itself out of existence.
draft locally, post globally.
Thu, 2007-01-18 09:15 — michaelatmoAnother approach is to write those LONG text blocks locally, in Word or other word proessing app, and then paste them into the web app when they are ready to go. This often gives you a better editor to work with as well. It's how I usually do my blog posts.
local copies
Thu, 2007-01-18 11:19 — TrinityI do pretty much the same. Anything big gets written in a word processor, or at least put together there, then copied across and submitted. For short items I just type away, but using Firefox I have a spell checking add-on installed that corrects my spelling within the editor. Previously everything was pasted into a word processor for spell checking. I type and read too fast and make silly mistakes otherwise.