Add user and wiki preference for realtime editing

[mflorea]

@vmassol

I’d continue to make RT editing enabled by default. We need to have it by default, everyone has it and it’s expected IMO.

I have the feeling I’m discussing with two different persons here . One is complaining that they can’t use the realtime editing as it is because:

• they don’t have full control over the created page revisions anymore
• they can’t cancel the changes in one click
• they can’t fill the version summary directly from the toolbar

The other one is saying that everyone expects realtime editing. I don’t see how we could please both because with realtime editing, and autosave in particular, you can’t have:

• one click Cancel from the toolbar (it’s dangerous and semantically ambiguous)
• version summary input directly on the toolbar (it needs to be a separate action, so at least 2 clicks)
• full control over page revisions (unless we implement drafts, see also Is realtime editing good for any document? )

So we either find a compromise, but then users like yourself will have to accept that it’s not as fast to cancel changes or input version summary as before, or let the users chose if they prefer realtime editing or not, which this proposal is about.

@vmassol

I’d prefer that on the edit lock dialog there’s an option to ask to join editing in RT mode and whoever is editing alone gets a visual notification. Whether they need to accept or the request is granted automatically after N seconds of not responding is to be decided.

I don’t see how this can work. As a user:

• I wouldn’t wait for someone to allow me to join realtime editing. That person could be away from their computer or looking at a different window. I’d move to something else and return later when that person has finished editing.
• I wouldn’t wait N seconds to start editing either. It’s painful.
• the only option I see is to either force the edit lock or move to something else; but if you force the edit lock then you or the other user will have to fix a merge conflict; once you steal the edit lock, it’s up to you to decide if you want to edit alone or start a realtime editing session.

Thanks,
Marius