5 ms·

> it sticks around for 100 years as well Only if the concept of manual save sticks around that long.

im3w1l 5y ago
Even in systems that continously save your progress there is a close analogue to manual save: Named revisions. Bookmarks of points in history that are better than the surrounding ones - points where some milestone has been reached, and some amount of proofreading done. Where there are no duplicated paragraphs or major rough edges like that.
- codetrotter 5y ago
  But the floppy icon would not be a good fit for depicting named revisions
  - gumby 5y ago
    Sure, it’s copying your revision to a disk, writing the date on the label, and sticking it in a box.
  - jcims 5y ago
    The only difference between what is being described here and what we have been working with until today is how far undo/redo go. For the most part the intent is to memorialize a snapshot of the work, a task the floppy icon has been fulfilling all along.
  - dylan604 5y ago
    If the current document is Untitled, New File, No Name, etc and does not actually point to a file, then the ubiquitous Floppy icon should act as Save As. Once the file does exist, a simple Shift-click of the same floppy icon should also act as Save As. Same thing as Cmd-S/Cmd-Shfit-S. However, I'm unfamiliar with this modifier click save as from any app.
_Microft 5y ago
What's the alternative? Autosaves? Did it autosave or did it not? Where did it save it to? Locally or to the cloud? Are the servers available? Does it make clear when they are not? Or worse, does it fail silently if they are not? Call me old-fashioned but please give me a save button and a file picker ;)
- l33tman 5y ago
  Notably none of the Google Docs cloud apps have any save button or option.
  - dragontamer 5y ago
    Saving drafts on XenForums is a floppy, even though there is no local save involved. I'm sure I've seen it in other web contexts.
  - sharkweek 5y ago
    It took me a very long time to learn not to compulsively hit ctrl-s while using Google docs
  - esprehn 5y ago
    Interestingly at one point Google Docs did have a save button, which IIRC didn't actually do anything because it would automatically save. The button was there just to make you feel more confident. You can see it in the top right corner here: https://sm.pcmag.com/t/pcmag_au/photo/g/google-docs-2010-old-word-processor-interface/google-docs-2010-old-word-processor-interface_axh6.1024.jpg https://sm.pcmag.com/t/pcmag_au/photo/g/google-docs-2010-old...
    - userbinator 5y ago
      The button was there just to make you feel more confident. ...and when the autosave inevitably fails, deception like that only serves to anger your users more.
- jader201 5y ago

Even in systems that continously save your progress there is a close analogue to manual save: Named revisions. Bookmarks of points in history that are better than the surrounding ones - points where some milestone has been reached, and some amount of proofreading done. Where there are no duplicated paragraphs or major rough edges like that.

codetrotter 5y ago
But the floppy icon would not be a good fit for depicting named revisions
- gumby 5y ago
  Sure, it’s copying your revision to a disk, writing the date on the label, and sticking it in a box.
- jcims 5y ago
  The only difference between what is being described here and what we have been working with until today is how far undo/redo go. For the most part the intent is to memorialize a snapshot of the work, a task the floppy icon has been fulfilling all along.
- dylan604 5y ago
  If the current document is Untitled, New File, No Name, etc and does not actually point to a file, then the ubiquitous Floppy icon should act as Save As. Once the file does exist, a simple Shift-click of the same floppy icon should also act as Save As. Same thing as Cmd-S/Cmd-Shfit-S. However, I'm unfamiliar with this modifier click save as from any app.

_Microft 5y ago

What's the alternative? Autosaves? Did it autosave or did it not? Where did it save it to? Locally or to the cloud? Are the servers available? Does it make clear when they are not? Or worse, does it fail silently if they are not? Call me old-fashioned but please give me a save button and a file picker ;)

l33tman 5y ago
Notably none of the Google Docs cloud apps have any save button or option.
- dragontamer 5y ago
  Saving drafts on XenForums is a floppy, even though there is no local save involved. I'm sure I've seen it in other web contexts.
- sharkweek 5y ago
  It took me a very long time to learn not to compulsively hit ctrl-s while using Google docs
- esprehn 5y ago
  Interestingly at one point Google Docs did have a save button, which IIRC didn't actually do anything because it would automatically save. The button was there just to make you feel more confident. You can see it in the top right corner here: https://sm.pcmag.com/t/pcmag_au/photo/g/google-docs-2010-old-word-processor-interface/google-docs-2010-old-word-processor-interface_axh6.1024.jpg https://sm.pcmag.com/t/pcmag_au/photo/g/google-docs-2010-old...
  - userbinator 5y ago
    The button was there just to make you feel more confident. ...and when the autosave inevitably fails, deception like that only serves to anger your users more.
jader201 5y ago