This thread was originally started in the recipe editor forum, placing here as well:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=863

Re: (NEXT RELEASE) navigation warning in recipe editor unsav

The next release of the recipe editor will include a friendly warning message if you try to navigate away and there are unsaved changes to the recipe. It will kick in after 30 seconds, and only display if you didn't save the recipe before navigating somewhere else.

It will work in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, but not Internet Explorer (and probably not Opera). Internet Explorer is very odd/finicky about this kind of warning message. We got it to work in most cases in IE but didn't like the hacky nature of what was being required to make it bullet proof in IE.

This is now live!

It works on iPad too.