40 Small Thank-yous Time to post your wish lists for improvements to the forums (or remind me about what I've forgotten to do!).
The second small thank-you is done, and it's for you folks on the forums. Google and Wikipedia tags have been added, so you can now quickly generate links to Google and Wikipedia searches. For example: Code: [_google_]UBC Botanical Garden[_/google_] (remove the underscores) results in [GOOGLE]UBC Botanical Garden[/GOOGLE] And: Code: [_wiki_]UBC Botanical Garden[_/wiki_] (remove the underscores) results in [WIKI]UBC Botanical Garden[/WIKI] Handy buttons are available in the editor bar so you don't have to type in the code. Just type in the word or words you want to input, highlight them with your cursor, and press the button (or start by pressing the button and then inputting the text you want in between the code tags). You'll see the G (Google) and W (Wikipedia) button when you post a reply / start a new thread through the main editor.
Could the page buttons be made a little larger and more conspicuous? They are small enough that sometimes one hits '3' when one wants '2', etc. Thanks!
Actually I was going to ask, most specifically for the Maple Photo Gallery, if all of the page numbers could be displayed, instead of 1, 2, 3, >, last; or if one clicks on last, then first, <, 6,7,8. It is more convenient when searching for information on species or cultivars to be able to quickly go to the page one wants, or at least make a good guess based on the total number in the gallery. Since I am writing, if one is able to use the Edit feature in the browser while using this word-processor, or some other way use copy and paste within this word-processor, I am not aware of how to do it. I often want to copy and paste, but am not able to do so. This is in part because at times I need to attend to other things while participating herein and need to copy to my notes to finish later. Thanks!
To keep the wish ball is rolling...How about a new color scheme for The Test Bed? It'll help differentiate the test area from the regular forums and may reduce the need for moderators to respond to misdirected postings. The standard edit shortcuts (ctrl-Z, ctrl-C, ctrl-V, ctrl-X) work for me when using the editor.
Suggestions noted - I'm out of town for the next few days, so will start to address these next week. In the meantime, keep on adding more!
One of my wishes would be not having to log in every visit; I'm not quite sure why this is happening now when it did not at the outset. I think it started when you announced a log-in change for AOL users, which I am not... But also, is there a reliable way to track my own postings to look for follow-up to them? When I check in without having a question of my own I do two things: I want to see if there has been follow-up on threads to which I've contributed, and I want to scan for new interesting questions. Or is just pulling up a list of my own postings the best way - are these always in sequence of date?
They work for me too, and so do ctrl-I for italics, ctrl-B for bold, which is one of the things I really like about this forum (could this ability be added to the Botany Photo of the day?). But it didn't work for the new google and wikipedia links (ctrl-W shut down the browser! Aaargh!!)
Here's another suggestion: Could the New Posts function be changed to exclude new posts into The Test Bed?
I'm not certain what changed that is causing the first one to occur. The only change was that I had made was that "Remember Me" was now selected by default instead of you having to select it to remember your login details. What browser are you using? It might be a cookie problem. As for the second, yes, there is a way. You can subscribe to threads with "no email notification" (and you can set this as a default from the "My Settings->Edit Options" page. Once you do this (and after you've subscribed to a thread), you can then go to My Settings -> List Subscriptions to see a quick listing of all the threads you've subscribed to (including, perhaps, threads you have not posted on - to add these, use the Navigation bar -> Thread Tools -> Subscribe to this Thread).
Thanks Daniel. I'm reminded of a line I once read when a newspaper asked for reader comments about the selections on the comics page. A reader wrote: "I'd like to see a psychological profile of the person who chose to run the Mr. Boffo comic strip in your newspaper." I'm feeling the same way about the person who came up with these subscription options... Mind you it works, but then, Mr. Boffo was kind of funny sometimes too :-) As for logging in, I'm using Internet Explorer, and there may be something funny about my settings but the site used to remember me all the time. It seems to remember me now for a limited period only, maybe for a day. But it's not a major hassle, just an inconvenience.
On the New Posts and Today's Posts screens, how about moving the Forum column to have it immediately precede the Thread column? The forum provides context to the thread subject and therefore should be close to it. Currently the reader has to scan the entire row to make the connection. The font size of the Forum column could also be decreased to save space and to maintain emphasis on the subject.
After reviewing my original request it should be amended to read "New Posts and Today's Posts functions" as the two are closely related.
A small FYI - I'm waiting for the latest release of the forum software to come out before instituting any of these changes. The software has moved from "Beta" to "Release Candidate", so it shouldn't be too long now. One change I asked for (and the developers put in!) was to have attachment thumbnails shown when doing "Preview Post", resolving that usability issue.
On the New Posts and Today's Posts screens, it would be nice to be able to double-click on the envelope icon to the left of a thread to mark the thread 'Read'.
Since I accidentally stumbled across how to do this today while researching a different modification, this is done. I believe they are also excluded from Today's Posts as well.
Hi Not sure if this is the appropriate place, but wanted to say that I would love to see a Fragrant Plants forum. Thanks!
