Anyone else get post ideas on the go? I sure do and if I don’t write down (or type) them, I’ll forget them. Because of this I have started something new. I just open up the WordPress iOS App and create a new post and just enter a title and some notes on what I want to write about. I didn’t want to Publish the post, so I would click Cancel button.
After clicking Cancel, you’re prompted with a message that will ask you if you want to Discard, Save Draft, or Keep Editing. Naturally I clicked the Save Draft button and then was taken back to the list of posts. I always wondered what the list header of Local meant, but just thought it meant the Drafts that I just created.
My game plan is always to go back on my MacBook Air and finish up the post at a later date. The first time I did this, I opened up WordPress admin on my MBA to not find those drafted posts. I literally scratched my head, not exactly sure why they weren’t showing up.
Then that Local header came into mind. Then it started to come together, that meant locally on my iPhone, not synced up to my site online. That’s when I started looking through the options for new posts.
I clicked on the Setting icon then noticed the Status option. By default it’s set to Published, so I clicked on it, opening up a drop down list of other statuses. Ahhh, there it was! Draft! Once I selected Draft, I noticed that the button in the top right that was labeled Publish now says Save.
After clicking save I was then brought back to the list of posts and noticed that there is now a red Draft label on that post. But would it show up on my site admin? It did! Booyah!
I honestly don’t know why there is an option for saving local drafts. I would think that you would always want to have your posts either saved as a draft or published. I mean, what if you just wrote this killer post that will change the world, save as a local draft, then drop your iPhone in the toilet? I know the answer, have to write it again Bummer!
Why not just have your posts autosaved while you are typing? Autosave is something that has been tossed around as an ideas for 3.6. I sure hope it finds its way into the WordPress for iOS app shortly after.
Don’t get me wrong, I do really like the WordPress iOS App, especially for commenting and easily being able to switch between different blogs. This was just one of the things that was a frustration for me lately. I’m not thinking about abandoning the app or anything, but I may try out another WordPress iOS app like Poster.
Why share my “blonde” moment with you? Because I don’t want it to happen to you. You have just been informed.
I work a lot to improve the XML-RPC and I can say that autosaving when typing wasn’t supported till 3.5. Before that it would be to hacky to get something working. So to get something like that on the app will just take a while. Also the link you mentioned for 3.6 has nothing to do with the app.
For the app I’m just a user and you sure have a point that it’s better to create a draft in WordPress if the user has an internet connection. The whole progress of saving locally trough cancel is also weird to me. Hopefully that progress will be more clear to the user.
Yeah, I’m sure that autosaving is a tough thing to implement. The link that I shared about 3.6 mentioned trying to take advantage of local storage in the browser to enhance autosaving features.
Thanks for agreeing with me though on the UI workflow for saving local drafts. I don’t think its just WordPress post drafts that are awkward, because Mail is the same way too.
I’m a little leery when it comes to the WordPress iOS app. I’ve lost plenty of scheduled/drafted posts that have just disappeared and weren’t even stored on my iPhone.
However, I’m a big fan of the Drafts and Evernote app for capturing/drafting quick blog ideas to flesh out later.
Am also interested in this Poster app y’all keep mentioning. As I redesign my blog to be more minimalist I think it will be a good fit for creating content on the go.
What are you thoughts on distraction free writing apps like iA Writer and such?
Bummer on losing some of those scheduled and drafted posts man. I haven’t seen that, but I have seen some drafts that I have deleted show back up again. Weird.
I’m going to try out Poster as well too. I’m a big Evernote fan as well, but mostly use it as my database of references. I do use iA Writer some to draft some posts as well. It’s really nice with the iCloud integration. Focus mode #FTW!
I’ve been working on this exact thing this week
With the current code (not released yet):
* As soon as you start a new post and type some content, it gets uploaded to the server as a draft
* That ‘Save Draft’ button now saves to the server
So as long as you’re online when writing a post, you shouldn’t see that ‘Local’ header anymore
The thing I still have to figure out is uploading the post as soon as you’re back offline if it’s local
Also for 3.4 (in review, should be out in a few days), we fixed a really ugly bug where failed local posts would just disappear on sync.
With that and frequently autosaving, there should be no more data loss, ever
Do you work on the WordPress of iOS team? If so, thanks and awesome work!
Those new features make a lot of sense and I’m pumped to try them out.Thanks for keeping us on the lookout. I’m sure I’ll be doing a writeup on the next release of the app.
I’m so excited to hear this, Jorge!