Ask HN: Can someone explain how new Reddit's "undo" works as a desktop feature
2 GWBullshit 5 5/17/2025, 10:40:14 PM
In the new "New Reddit" force-unloaded last year, there have been many (unfortunate) changes to post edit mode; one of them is that if you have several images and extra spaces between them, deleting even one such extra space sometimes inadvertently deletes the image above such spaces, even if there were, say, 4 spaces between images and you only deleted the bottom-most. Or sometimes it will delete any text above the line you just deleted if the spaces were between text and an image.
Here's the weird part (or at least for me it is): I inadvertently discovered by mistake that if you go to your DESKTOP menu and select "Undo" ... about 7/10 times it actually "undoes" the deletion within Reddit's edit mode and reposts any images/text lost.
How is this possible, ie, how do desktop OS functions work while editing in a website?
In other words, when desktop is selected, how does my desktop "know" that of all the other possibly relevant things open (for example, a notes or word processing app), that it's "Oh, you probably wanted to undo what you just typed into your browser while you were on a website in edit mode"??
Is it purely a function of "undo last thing done"?
Having said that, I just noticed that "it's you again".
As a side question, do you have a tab with my submission history perma-opened?
Because I find it odd that you of all people "just happened to stumble across this" 2 minutes after I posted it.
Also I still am not quite clear how "my desktop functioning as the browser" sends the signal to Reddit's servers to "undo" the deletion when the Reddit site itself doesn't have this option (unless you hit "cancel" and revert to the last saved version – which STILL doesn't explain things since new "New Reddit" in browser mode now by default saves last changes made in edit mode once you open it (instead of the reverted to "last version saved" if you hit the cancel button in edit mode).
Sure, I get that parts of Reddit may be localized in my browser until I hit "save" to save edits, but again, I don't get how "my desktop OS" knows to make corrections to the browser instead of, for example, an open word processing document or a notes app when the browser is "unselected" and the OS functions are available.
Is it "last thing edited ANYWHERE" by default?