The app step by step · Chapter 29
Comments and presence
When several of you work in one space, sometimes you want to say something about a passage without changing the text straight away. That's what comments in the margin are for. They hang on the words you marked, and the note itself stays as it is.
Commenting on a passage
- Mark the words
Select the words you mean, while reading or while editing.
- Comment
Click Comment. You'll find the button right next to your selection, in the editor in the bar above the selection, and in both cases in the right-click menu too.
- Write and send
The Comments tab opens next to the note with a new comment. Write what you want to say and send it with Send or Ctrl + Enter.
Anyone who may read the note may comment on it. That way people who can't change the text themselves can still have their say.
Replying to threads and resolving them
Every comment starts a thread, and anyone with the right to read can Reply below it. You can Edit or Delete your own posts later. If you delete the first post of a thread, the whole thread goes with it, and whoever manages the space may remove any post.
Once the matter is settled, click Resolve on the thread. That's up to whoever started it and anyone who may write in the space. nexlore folds resolved threads away at the bottom, and Reopen brings one back. The Comments tab shows how many threads are still open.
From the text to the comment and back
- Highlighted words: The words of open threads are highlighted in the text, while reading just as in the editor.
- Preview: Rest the mouse on such words and a small window shows you the comment. To the comment takes you to the tab, and the thread lights up for a moment.
- To the passage: Click a thread the other way round and the text jumps to its place, with the words blinking briefly so you find them at once.
- Changed text: If someone keeps writing around the passage, nexlore still finds the words. If they're gone altogether, the thread says “The words are no longer in the text.”, and the comment is kept.
Bringing someone in
Type an @ in a comment and nexlore suggests the members of the space. Pick one with the arrow keys and take the name with Enter or Tab. Whoever is named finds the thread in the sidebar under “New since your last visit”, as in “anna names you in Garden plan”. If they've switched notifications on, they also get a message, and the same goes when someone answers in a thread they take part in. How that works is in the chapter News and proposals.
Where the comments are kept
nexlore doesn't write comments in the margin into your Markdown file, but into its database. So the file stays byte for byte as it was, and another editor or Git sees nothing of the comments. If the note is renamed or moved, its comments go along, and they never show up on a public page.
Lore saysDon't mix them up with %%comments%% in the text. Those live in the file and are invisible while reading, more like a note to yourself. There's more in the chapter Highlights and comments.
Seeing who's here right now
At the top of every note you see the profile pictures of the others who have it open right now, up to four, and if there are more, the number next to them. Whoever is writing comes first and wears a small pen. Hover over them to read who's reading along and who's writing.
When someone closes the note, their picture goes away straight after. If the connection drops before the page can say goodbye, on a phone in a dead spot for example, it takes a few seconds longer. None of this is stored, nexlore only keeps it in mind while it's happening.
Lore saysWhoever is writing holds the note until they're done. Everyone else reads along in the meantime and can comment. How nexlore makes sure nothing gets lost along the way is in the chapter Sharing and rights.