new site design allows to enter logging text w/o having a log type selected

[+birkenkaefer]

Today I tried to enter a log for an archived cache (https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC10CD7_dunkle-zeit).

First I tried using the "old" logging page - after loading the page in browser it denied any further editing immediately (see https://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?ID=524343)

"Well, let's try the new approach" I thought and choose the new web design logging page: https://www.geocaching.com/play/geocache/gc10cd7/log

"Aah ! Excellent - I can log here ..." was my faulty thought now:
I took the time to wrote a lengthy nice logging entry BEFORE selecting the log type in the list box above the text field - that was a mistake, because finally the page did not accept to complete the log without a valid log type selected.

In general that is not a mistake.
BUT compared to the old web design it is a regression that the page is not denying to start logging.
AT LEAST the new web design should not allow to start writing a log entry text w/o having a valid log type selected from the list box!

Thanx for considering this user experience in advance!

regards

[Keystone]

The issue, of course, is that this cache listing is locked.  Something must have gone very wrong with prior logging. 

Since locking cache pages is an extremely rare thing, it's not surprising that there's some bumpy user experiences with late logs.  Thanks for reporting yours.

[+noncentric]

I see the OP's experience and agree that it's not an optimal flow.

One solution could be to deactivate the "Log geocache" button on locked caches, and maybe even show a "Locked" label instead of "Log geocache". Then the messaging of the log entry pages, new or old method, wouldn't need to be adjusted to account for these special cases.

Cache pages with the blue 'cache has been locked' message would also have a deactivated 'log' button.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

On 1/12/2018 at 5:30 AM, noncentric said:

I see the OP's experience and agree that it's not an optimal flow.

One solution could be to deactivate the "Log geocache" button on locked caches, and maybe even show a "Locked" label instead of "Log geocache". Then the messaging of the log entry pages, new or old method, wouldn't need to be adjusted to account for these special cases.

Cache pages with the blue 'cache has been locked' message would also have a deactivated 'log' button.

It would also be fairly easy to use a javascript  onchange event that would issue a warning if a user attempts to enter text into the text box and a log type has not been chosen.  I know that it the past that I have typed in a long log, hit the submit button and had it tell that I had not selected a log type.  That checks whether a log type has been selected when the form is submitted, but could just as easily do that test when the users has "changed" the contents of a textarea.