Feedback on new Forum Software

This is at least the fourth time that clicking that link brings me a blank page, maybe every time was in Edge. I went back to the note and clicked the thread title and it opened right away. The tab that's supposed to bring up the first unread message is still blank. It always opens after I reload the page once, or in one instance twice.

Is there any way this would be related to photos not loading?

 

On the old list, you could sort by number of posts if desired, but at least we could browse by name if we almost remembered someone's name. I didn't figure out how to get an alpha listing now.

 

Have only tried on Firefox so far. I did just drag the attached thumb in, so it still works for single images. I have several other browser (Chrome, Opera etc) but I usually only use these for sites that are essential and require an absurd amount of scripts. ( In firefox on this site I allow all scripts except Google Analytics, which I am never happy to see a site allow...)

Maybe if the SW isn't fully compatible on Firefox. Anyway I don't insist on making multiple drag/drop work from KDE, so if it works for Wendy on W10 that's probably good enough.

 

From the Members page, use the Find Member search box to the right, under your own avatar. I don't think we lose much not having an alphabetical listing as long as there's an easy way to locate a member. The search box provides this ability as it displays matching entries as you type.

@Daniel Mosquin
You and Eric are notably missing from the Staff Members tab.

 

I can find no add-on that permits this, and it does seem to be a feature requested by others recently: Member List - sort by registered date, post count, filter alphabetically

Will keep an eye out for it.

Can't investigate this without knowing if it only occurs in one browser. I'm suspecting a browser security setting / configuration issue (one is linked directly from a text link, whereas the other is linked from an image link, right?)

I've removed the Staff Members tab (and the Most Points tab) as there are add-ons for those. I think there is the potential for confusion with the language of "Staff Members", as Eric and I are both staff of the Garden and "forums staff", whereas there are other people who are "forums staff" (moderators) but not Garden staff. I suppose I could change the language.

 

Forums software updated from a security patch released this morning. So much better knowing that the product we're using is actively supported and patched.

 

Just checked my email. Saw notification. Clicked on 'View This Thread' in said notification.
Was once again taken to the FIRST post in this thread.

Any way to zoom in on posted photos? When I click on one it takes me to another. No zoom.
Those of us who must view this new format in 125% magnification do sometimes need this feature to make out details for ID.
So that we can rack up those 'Likes', of course.

 

Forward the notification to my email address, please.

 

Certainly, if I knew it.

Here is a perhaps-useful fact:
When I am NOT logged in on the Forum, button-click takes me to first post (as described).
When I AM logged in, b-c takes me to last post.
???

 

Ah, yes, the forums software doesn't know what your last unread post is if you are not logged in (that would be the /unread link used by the View This Thread button). The solution may be to click on the thread title link immediately above it, which takes you to a numbered post ( /page-3#post-343239 or whatever). That's only a one-time thing, though, because if you are not logged in, the software won't know that you visited the thread and update the last post you read...

And my email address is on every email that the forums send out in the From field.

 

So it is! Thanks. When I click on 'Show Details' all is revealed. Have sent.

Clearly, the solution is to be logged in at all times.
So how come the old forum had no problem with this...? I know: don't ask.

 

Looking at my notification emails from the old forums, they only had links to the threads themselves. I think you similarly had to be logged in for it to take you to the newest post.

 

Guess I was logged in more often then.
Thanks for your attention to this non-issue!

 

It is a little different now. In gmail, the From line used to show:
UBC Botanical Garden Forums <daniel.mosquin@ubc.ca>
Now it shows:
UBC Botanical Garden Forums
I have to mouse over that to get the gmail popup with the email address and a link for Contact Info, which also gives the email link. Or as you said, Show Details will display it. So three ways to get to it (or four, if you count clicking Reply), but not nearly as immediately obvious as before.

 

@ROEBUK made this comment in a maples posting. Daniel, do you know what the deal is, or do I have to test it? Ten uploaded at a time, or ten in a posting?

 

Ten in a posting. I don't know what the old limit is, but since we are resizing to slightly smaller images for space concerns, the overhead for resizing more than that == slow server for everyone.

 

The old limit was way more, not sure if there was a limit. We were resizing before.

And the current limit is not helping me see the photos in Roebuk's thread - I've been waiting for the third photo to appear since 3:56, now it's 4:01. Surely some other folks have looked at those before me, and I'm not benefiting from the cache. You have to consider this not fixed. Five minutes is too long a wait to see 10 photos, and I'm waiting for the third one. It's 4:03 now, still not there. Firefox.

 

About the zoom:
It still is there, but under a different name.

Click on photo in thread. Then, if enlargement desired, click on arrow-pointing-to-the-right symbol at top right of screen---when cursor moved onto it, caption reads 'Open in new window'---and voila! BIG picture!
I had not tried this before, as I took this caption literally. I did not want a new window.
So...'new window' really means 'enlarge photo'.

AND: the Zoom/Unzoom function (+ and -) DOES work---on the ENLARGED photo(s).
......................................................................................
Hey, is that 'Local Time' thing new?

 

Yes I'm afraid Wendy is right, and it has nothing to do with the number of photos: I just tried to display the two photos in a maple ID thread, after several minutes only 1 displayed with 1 thumb at the bottom. I checked during the time the photos should have been downloading (even if slowly) and there was a trickle ~100 Kbits from dns1.ad.science.ubc.ca, the single photo displayed but the other apparently continued to download at the same pace. When I exxed out and clicked the second thumb, both thumbs appeared at the bottom of the correctly displayed second photo, with no delay.

It strikes me as curious and potentially problematic that a name server is serving data, unless this is just a holdover name from another time. But there were no other ubc domains active.

Also using Firefox and iftop to look at the network.

-E

 

I'm going to leave it at ten for now, until the image issue is resolved. I don't want that to be a confusing factor.

I had another thought about why there might be issues with the images last night--I was wondering if it has to do with the PHP settings. I didn't tweak these on the server yet, so I'll see if XenForo has some recommended settings.

As for the name server serving data -- that is a holdover name from another time. It was one of the reasons the web site was so delayed in returning; the UBC firewall people wouldn't open up the ports needed to share the web page because of the legacy information. It is curious that it is still being resolved somehow; maybe it is cached somehwere?

 

Thanks to the staff for all their efforts to maintain these forums. I really missed the Maple Forum when it was down.

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but from what I've gathered so far, this layout is just temporary, and there could even be a possible way of choosing the "skin": as an aging person with a rather bad sight (been using spectacles since I was 6, and have glaucoma now) this could be a very good way of putting "accessibility" into practice.

What I don't like in this provisional display:

- The font (Times New Roman?): it's much more comfortable for me to read a text typed in "sans serif font". Tahoma (free), verdana and the like are much more readable for me.
- Some of the colours and size of text, for example : emery, Today at 12:10 PM that I can hardly see/read in the previous message.

What I like:

-The easy way to drag-and-drop a photo inside the text of the message: a good way to give an illustrated explanation on a specific topic.

Once again: merci beaucoup pour cet espace de partage dont vous pouvez être fiers et qui apporte tant, bien au-delà des frontières de la Colombie Britannique ;-)

 

Yes, that's what I meant, sorry for my broken English.

 

By the way, I've made some tweaks to the PHP setup (increased some parameters). Let me know if the image display issues still occur (and let me know the version of the browser you are using).

I've also installed the add-on for joinable usergroups. This restores (and improves) the functionality for people to request joining, say, the Maple Society usergroup (which gives access to a Maple Society members-only forums and the Maple Society banner, provided they are up to date members of The Maple Society .

 

I've had to post the problem with the image attachments not displaying consistently on the XenForo support forums: XF 1.5 - Random images not loading

 

They really are random too. This morning, in Identification: - A snake-barked maple with three lobes | UBC Botanical Garden Forums, Edge sort of beat Firefox (unusual) in displaying all but number 2, with Firefox displaying all but 1 and 4. I even think I saw 2 on Edge, moved on to another, then did not see it when I went back, but I could have got confused with both open. I've typed this, messed around on the posting on both browsers, still no display for those photos. Ah, tried 2 on Edge again; it was displaying when I went to that tab, but after I clicked the next and went back, it is not displaying. I typed the last sentence, went back to check, still not displayed.