I have the “public message” button enabled on my BuddyPress instance. The issue is that it’s very erratic as to when the button is activated to send. Here are the scenario that I’m testing:
On the users’ profile, click the “Public Message” button. I am taken to the user profile and their handle is pre-populated. The entry form is focused and I can type. When I am done typing. I hover over the “Send” button, but it displays a pointer, not the hand icon because the button is not activated to send. If I click anywhere on the page to remove focus from the message field, the Send button remains inactive. When I click back in the message field, the button is now activated and I can send.
This is a bit of a user experience issue, because the user has to click somewhere on the page to remove focus from the field, then click back in the message field to activate the button.
Is this how this feature is supposed to work? Is this by design, maybe to reduce spam or accidental sends? Is anyone else able to confirm that this is how their BuddyPress Public Message button works?
I’m using version 3.1.0 on WordPress 4.9.7.
Any ideas? Wanted to confirm whether this is a “feature” before I submit a bug report in trac.
Sounds like you’re using a plugin because when you hit the “Public Message” button, it should take you to the Site-wide Activity page with the @-username pre-populated. The submit button is also named “Post Update” and not “Send”.
Could also be something that your theme implemented. If so, try changing your theme to a WordPress default theme to see if the behavior is how I described.
Apologies. I should have been more precise in documenting my steps. The actual steps are:
1) On the users’ profile, click the “Public Message” button.
2) I am taken to the activity feed and a message box is displayed and their handle is pre-populated.
3) The entry form is focused and I can type.
4) I type “Hello, person”.
5) When I am done typing. I hover over the “Post Update” button, but it displays a pointer, not the hand icon because the button is not activated to send.
6) If I click anywhere on the page to remove focus from the message field, the “Post Update” button remains inactive.
7) When I click back in the message field, the button is now activated and I can send.
I checked with my theme developer and they indicated that this is standard BuddyPress activity and has not been modified by their theme.
Is this how BuddyPress is expected to behave for public messages?
I switched over to the 2016 theme last night and the behavior is exactly the same. This isn’t something theme related, so where should I look to determine why I have to click outside the text area, then back inside the text area in order to get the button to activate?
I’m not sure. Perhaps there is something being lost in translation in your description.
Can you take screenshots or a GIF to demonstrate your problem? Perhaps it’s browser-related? Could also potentially be a plugin conflict.
Here’s a quick GIF I took:
Pressing on “Public Message” takes me to the Site-wide Activity page with the user’s mention name. I click inside the textarea and write something. Hover over the “Post Update” button and it’s the hand cursor. I click on “Post Update” and wait for it to post. It successfully posts (you can’t see the post because I didn’t increase the height of the GIF.
Here is a video that shows what the issue is. Apologies for the third-grade video editing:
As shown in this video, the steps to recreate the issue are to:
1) Click on any community member
2) Click the “Public Message” button on their profile
3) On the activity feed page, place your cursor in the message box and type “Here I am typing”
4) Hover your mouse cursor over the “Post Update” button. Notice that it is still an arrow icon because you cannot click it.
5) Click the button. IT WILL NOT POST.
6) Click anywhere outside of the message box (e.g. white space off to the right).
7) Hover back over the “Post Update” button. Notice that it is STILL an arrow icon because you cannot click it.
8) Click the button. IT WILL NOT POST.
9) Click back in the message field.
10) Hover back over the “Post Update” button. The cursor changes to a hand icon because the button has now been activated.
11) Click the button. IT FINALLY POSTS.
So, the user experience is that they type their message and then have to click somewhere outside of the message box, then click back inside the message box before they can send their message. Not a good user experience. It did this both on the Klein theme that I am using and the standard WordPress 2016 theme. Exact same experience.
Let me know if there are additional questions that I can clarify.
Thanks for any help demystifying why this is happening.
Thank you! That helps me understand that it’s not the standard BuddyPress behavior. I don’t have BP Activity Plus, but I do have RTMedia and after disabling it, the issue is gone. Now I just have to help the RTMedia dev team understand that the issue is on their side.
