tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again)

Anton Geraschenko comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1966)

2010-01-18T15:13:10-08:00

@Andrew: I know where you are, but I don't see why it should make a difference; the editor runs locally. By the way, is there some way you can allow me to browse through a proxy in Norway so that I can experience the latency?

Anyway, I've tied the preview checkbox to a cookie and revived the one-shot preview button for those of you who prefer to have the preview off. Please report any bugs or requests here.

Mike Shulman comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1856)

2010-01-15T14:15:32-08:00

I usually edit in an external editor with itsalltext, but recently when I have done a bit of editing in the textarea I've noticed it being a bit slower than I would prefer. I'm in Chicago. I think it makes sense to have a "preview" button as well.

Jon Awbrey comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1790)

2010-01-13T13:05:17-08:00

Manifolds without boundaries should be the easy case.

Andrew Stacey comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1785)

2010-01-13T12:07:55-08:00

@Anton: I am in Norway. I know that the internet is meant to be borderless, but it does make a difference. If you want MO to be international, you'll need to remember that things can be very different on different continents.

Anton Geraschenko comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1771)

2010-01-13T06:50:26-08:00

@Harry: good catch with the questions page; that should be fixed now. Are you using image fonts? It's really fast to install the jsMath fonts (see the FAQ)

@Andrew: "I'd typed about six sentences, with about the same number of small bits of maths so not very much and it was noticeably lagging." Really? I've not been able to produce much delay even on slow machines. If the amount of text gets very large, it should wait for you to stop typing for a second or two before updating.

After JMM, I was considering tying that box to a cookie, but I'd like to keep it on by default for now to get more feedback on how the live preview is working. It sounds like for Andrew, the live preview made the input slow enough that he wanted to turn it off. Has anybody else had that experience?

Andrew Stacey comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1768)

2010-01-13T04:16:38-08:00

I'd also vote for the revival of the one-shot preview button. At the moment, I have to check the box, let it update, then uncheck it again. "Live preview" and "preview math" are two different functions that are both very useful; given that it ought to be simple, can we have them both?

Andrew Stacey comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1767)

2010-01-13T03:56:55-08:00

I vote for "off by default". For me, the preview is "below the fold" when I start typing an answer so it isn't until the whole system suddenly goes slow that I realised that it was on. It's only because I know about this issue (and have read this thread) that I knew what to do.

I'd typed about six sentences, with about the same number of small bits of maths so not very much and it was noticeably lagging. I'm on a fast machine with a fast connection to the internet so I dread to think what it would be like on a slower set-up.

Given that someone who wants live preview mode is going to have the preview box visible, having the check box off by default doesn't significantly affect their experience (IMHO), but for someone who doesn't use the preview then it could deter them without them realising that there's a simple way to avoid the slow-down.

David Speyer comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1732)

2010-01-12T11:24:35-08:00

Thanks! Seems to work fine for ordinary sized posts; I'll report back when I next try something huge.

Anton Geraschenko comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1731)

2010-01-12T10:15:28-08:00

I've changed it so that the math gets processed immediately upon checking the box, but doesn't get "unprocessed" immediately upon unchecking it. As it works on my computer, I don't think I would ever have a reason to turn off the math preview; the input box is very responsive even with extremely large posts (preview waits for me to stop typing for a couple of seconds before updating). Please let me know if it works poorly for you or if you find any bugs.

Hans Stricker comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1727)

2010-01-12T05:17:32-08:00

Suddenly it works...

Hans Stricker comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1726)

2010-01-12T00:13:10-08:00

The checkbox doesn't work for me at all: the preview cannot be updated anymore.

Anton Geraschenko comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1725)

2010-01-11T23:16:22-08:00

Ok, I've changed it to a checkbox which you can toggle (true by default) and I tried to make it so that the input box doesn't become horribly slow when the text gets long. I tried binding the checkbox to a cookie, but apparently there isn't a way to set a cookie with jquery so that it doesn't bind to a particular URL, so I'll have to learn to do it without jquery later (probably after the joint meetings). Right now, after you click the checkbox, you have to do something in the input box before you see the effect, but I'll change it so that the effect is immediate.

I hope this is tolerable. If you find yourself checking and unchecking the box a lot, let me know and I'll put back the old preview math button in addition to the checkbox.

Kevin Buzzard comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1713)

2010-01-11T14:07:31-08:00

+1 David. Editing a huge post on a 10-year-old laptop yesterday. Clicked auto-preview. Boy that hurt.

Emerton comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1710)

2010-01-11T08:43:12-08:00

I've had the same experience, and second this request.

David Speyer comments on "Please add a way to toggle auto preview off again" (1709)

2010-01-11T08:15:37-08:00

Out of curiosity, I tried turning on auto-preview when editing this answer. I quickly discovered it was a mistake; my typing slowed to a crawl. But there was no button on the page to toggle auto-preview off again! I solved the problem by copy-pasting my answer into a new tab, but it would be better to have a button that turns this option off after it has been activated.

Thanks!