48

When editing a post, the tag excerpt tooltips (that you get when viewing a post) are not available.

You do get the live tag preview (that you get when asking a question) for any new tags you add, but sometimes you want to check the tag wiki for the existing tags to make sure they are correct. As it stands you have to remove the suspect tag and re-add it to see the tag info.

(I've found https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/80678/tag-info-tooltip-displayed-behind-proposed-edit-window and Display Tag Excerpt Tooltips in Suggested Edits but these are not quite the same question)

10
  • 1
    I was going to ask this question but searched for it and found this. Is there any progress on this at all?
    – Dason
    Feb 23, 2013 at 0:04
  • 5
    @Dason The official response is "we have a lot of requests to work through and other projects on the go as well, so sometimes things take a while". There's nothing wrong with this request and it hasn't been declined. We just haven't gotten around to it.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Mar 3, 2013 at 4:35
  • @AdamLear Thank you for the response.
    – Dason
    Mar 3, 2013 at 4:41
  • 1
    @AdamLear any progress report on this? I've been editing some not-much-rep reviews for grammar/spelling. I found a Tag checkout for a version-control question. I did look at the tag in another tab, but there is no great encouragement to do so. Oct 18, 2013 at 6:35
  • 1
    I also have this request and found this post. The tag list on the right is useful, though, I never noticed that for some reason; I think I've learned to ignore that area because it's not as useful on the main page that I'm normally used to looking at.
    – Jason C
    Mar 2, 2014 at 22:29
  • 1
    Still would love to see this; there is currently no way to do this given that the answer below is no longer true.
    – Jason C
    Jul 31, 2014 at 17:07
  • 2
    @AdamLear Where is this on the priority list? I was about to request the same thing, and found that this had come up before. While not major, this would be really, really useful. After the recent Review Queue functionality changes, I find myself editing more posts where I'm not very familiar with the domain, and seeing the tag summaries would be very helpful while doing that. Sep 28, 2014 at 6:21
  • @RetoKoradi This is a bit of a crappy answer, but... yeah, we haven't gotten to it yet. I'm not sure why, but I'm going to add a status-deferred on this since we will look into it. I'm sorry this is taking so long, but it's the best I got right now. Sep 24, 2015 at 10:47
  • @AdamLear Any progress on this? Oftentimes when editing questions, I think to myself that something like this would come in handy. Jun 28, 2018 at 20:25
  • @AdamLear It's now 2021. "We just haven't gotten around to it. " is loosing some of it's charm. Jul 13, 2021 at 11:03

5 Answers 5

16

As of February 2014, the below is no longer true. Tags are removed from the sidebar in question view. However, it would be nice to have it back when editing, if only for the tag excerpts.


Well, for existing tags you have the list on the right side of the page in case you have edit privilege:

However this would be nice to have for newly added tags as well, which don't appear there.

Since users without edit privilege are redirected to a different page to suggest the edit, the tags are indeed "lost" and this request becomes even more important.

8
  • 4
    +1 For decadent use of Freehand Circles - using 5 where 1 would have been adequate. Feb 18, 2013 at 12:04
  • 3
    D'oh, I never noticed that list. Thank you (especially for the freehand circles :-))!
    – Vicky
    Feb 18, 2013 at 12:14
  • @Vicky Cheers, the right side is a dead spot unless you know where to look... even glaring error messages can hide there sometimes! Oh, and the circles are a free bonus. ;-) Feb 18, 2013 at 12:15
  • That is hilarious - I ran into the very same issue (glaring error message I genuinely didn't spot) a few minutes earlier, when editing the very same post that also inspired me to post this question!
    – Vicky
    Feb 18, 2013 at 12:24
  • 1
    @Vicky well, now you know and can spread this knowledge further! :D Feb 18, 2013 at 12:24
  • 2
    @ShaWizDowArd - I don't have editing privileges on Android.SE. I suspect it show only to 2K+ users. Because it redirect us to /edit page when we click on edit.
    – Himanshu
    Feb 19, 2013 at 9:55
  • @hims056 excellent point! totally missed that, mentioning this now in my post. Feb 19, 2013 at 10:13
  • There is still a workaround; if you are editing a question and you scroll alllll the way to the bottom of the page, you can mouse over the tag links in the "Browse other questions tagged ..." blurb.
    – Jason C
    Jul 31, 2014 at 17:12
7

Unfortunately the workaround presented by Shadow Wizard stopped working when they stopped displaying tags on the right side earlier this year.

I am frustrated by this often. I have found two other workarounds:

  • When editing, delete a tag then re-add it by re-typing it. The wiki excerpts will display.

  • When editing, scroll alllllll the way to the bottom of the page and mouse over the tags in the "Browse other questions tagged ..." blurb.

I prefer the first since I do not have to scroll away from the editor. Both are fairly poor UX.

My suggestion is to display the tag info box when hovering the mouse over the tags in the "Tags" field of the editor.

7
+150

I made a userscript that does it. You can install it here: https://gist.github.com/Scimonster/02cd5e1e901c19ab6ec3/raw/3f0773de252c7eff9b325b11ef3e38edc0e043ef/tagsWhileEditing.user.js

I just borrowed the code from SE's JS, and edited a little to make it work while editing.

script in use on this page

Here's the full script:

// ==UserScript==
// @name         Show tag info while editing
// @version      0.1
// @description  While hovering over a tag while editing, show the tag's excerpt
// @author       Scimonster
// @match        http://*.stackexchange.com/*
// @match        http://*.stackoverflow.com/*
// @match        http://*.superuser.com/*
// @match        http://*.serverfault.com/*
// @match        http://*.askubuntu.com/*
// @match        http://*.mathoverflow.net/*
// @match        http://*.stackapps.com/*
// @grant        none
// ==/UserScript==

function t(t) {
    var e = $(t),
        n = e.attr("href");
    // if (!n || "/" != n.charAt(0)) return null;
    var i = e.text();
    return i.indexOf("*") > -1 ? null : (e.attr("title", ""), "/tags/" + encodeURIComponent(i) + "/subscriber-info")
}

function e(t, e) {
    var n = $(t),
        i = n.offset(),
        a = n.outerHeight(),
        o = {
            "left": i.left
        },
        r = i.top + a,
        s = i.left + e.outerWidth();
    e.height() + r > $(window).height() + $(window).scrollTop() ? o.bottom = $(window).height() - i.top - 8 : o.top = r;
    var c = Math.max(1024, $(window).width());
    return s > c && (o.left -= s - c), o
}
var to = setInterval(function(){
    if(!StackExchange.helpers.MagicPopup) return;
    clearInterval(to);
    StackExchange.helpers.MagicPopup({
        "selector": ".tag-editor .post-tag:not(.user-tag,.no-tag-menu)",
        "id": "tag-menu",
        "getUrl": t,
        "showing": e,
        "shown": function(t, e) {
            //n && n(e, $(t).text())
        }
    })
}, 500)

I also posted this on StackApps.

3

I just asked this question myself (was duped and is what lead me here).

Another workaround:

On my question, animuson commented:

If you want to see the tag excerpt, you can just click on the tag to convert it to text, and the tag suggestion box will pop up below the input box

Having tested this, I'll add:
If you then click elsewhere on the tag bar it turns from text to a tag again.

This works ok, and am glad of the info, but it is only a workaround and not a good UI function.

I don't need to untag, I need to see excerpt to decide if to untag.

I also don't need all "similar" tags which this workaround shows as it brings up the selection box. That is different, and is there for other specific reasons and uses.


Workarounds are not specifically designed, so we end up with adverse effects.
Or we lose them, as using things they were not designed for is not considered in site changes (like the workaround in ShadowWizard's answer).


It was stated there is no reason for this not to be implemented, so just wondering if there is any update to when this might be done?

I know your folks are always busy, and this might be low down on your list still.
But, while it can be argued this missing functionality is no big issue, making sure questions have the right tags is important, and the proposed functionality would make that easier, quicker, and less "hacky".

I would certainly use tag bubbles in edits on a daily basis :)

0

Seems like the feature of displaying tags on the right is no longer present.

However, I have found a temporary solution, which might help address the problem for the time being. This is a very common problem, and displaying tag excerpts would really help people while editing questions, for tagging and untagging relevant tags.

Upon clicking on a particular tag, it gets flattened and then the excerpt gets displayed, as shown in the screenshot below (<-- which have been captured today 02 Sept. '15) Screen Shot

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .