Forums updated

The forum software has been updated to the latest version. If you notice something broken, please reply to this post.

 

Windows users may need to press Control-F5 (hold down the control key, then press F5) to force a refresh.

Mac users - I think it is Option-refresh (but I'm not sure...).

 

To see if everything is working as it should, I suggest making a test post in The Test Bed, submitting it, then clicking on Edit. If it lets you "live-edit", you should be good to go.

 

I notice a few things (like this "reply" panel) have a changed appearance - I guess we'll figure it out with use. One bit that does not seem to be working properly is the "view first unread" feature which now only drops me to the first post of the thread.

Ralph

 

The 'Quick reply' box doesn't work, I still have to use the blue 'Post reply' button

 

OK, now the "view first unread" is working, at least on stuff I've looked at today. I'm thinking I don't much like the "threads below..." section. With all due respect to our different interests, the reason I haven't looked at most of these is because I didn't want to, and usually I still don,t. On specific forums that I follow, from time to time I'll browse thru, otherwise I've no use for what amounts to a listing of my recycle bin.

Ralph

 

Michael, re: Quick Reply - see this thread. Perhaps you might need to empty your browser's cache? I can give instructions if you let me know what browser you are using.

For myself, I'm using Firefox, and I had to do Control-F5 on a few different pages to get everything working right (i.e., be sure to use it on a page with a thread, and the main forums page, and perhaps a "forums listing page" e.g., Plant ID).

Ralph - I suppose the process for you might now be:

New Posts -> see what you want to see, then Forum Links -> Mark Forums Read to clear out the rest of the ones that disinterest you (or ignore them). Another alternative is to subscribe via email for just the forums you are interested in. Are either of those options acceptable?

 

Daniel,

I note that at least one user is having trouble with images not expanding when clicked. It works for me here on the Mac. Not sure what the problem is there. I recommended clearing the brower's cache. Hope that works.

I also note that I have been spontaneously logged off by the software a few times.

 

A page refresh + clearing the browser cache ought to fix the attachment problem. I've also made a change (back to what it was) that might repair the spontaneous logouts.

 

Got it now, thanks - the little blue button with the feather (bottom right of each post) was there all along, I just didn't realise this was the quick reply button (there was nothing to indicate it was!)

 

I have experienced the same problem - very annoying. Using Firefox without the 'Remember Me' option on login.

 

I'm missing the "forum jump" box that used to be at or near the bottom of the page of each displayed thread. When I was done looking at the "new posts" (those that I wanted to look at, that is), I'd use it to check the forums I watch more closely. Occasionally I would find posts I'd missed, and also re-find the ones I intended to reply to later. I know I can do it at the top of the page, but when I finish reading the posts, I'm at the bottom of the page. Ooo I hate it when I whine like this!

Ralph

 

I have 'Standard Editor' selected in my options. Under the previous s/w, when I edit a post the advanced options are available. I now get minimal options and have to press the 'Advanced' button to get the same options.

 

Yes, the "Remember me" option is now deselected (off) by default (in the previous version of the software it was on by default). It seems that this is indeed the cause of the problems: see this thread.

I can switch it back, but I know a fair amount of students use the forums from public terminals, and I prefer the added security. I've changed the length of time until timeout, and perhaps that will mitigate the problem.

Ralph - I've put back the Forum Jump box. I was hoping to speed up pageload time for those on dialup, as it generates a fair amount of HTML with the amount of forums on here.

As for the editor, I don't think there's a way to change that back, other than by removing the "Quick Edit" option altogether. I like the Quick Edit option as it is all that is needed for 80% or more of edits in my experience (making the user interface simpler), and for the 20% of times that the advanced editor is needed, it is one-click away.

 

Just a quick note:

The only bug I've encountered so far and I
am pretty basic about using this software to
its fullest, is that when I tried to use a degree
symbol in relation to temperature from a
Symbol font in a Citrus post the degree
symbol was changed to a ? symbol. I tried
to override the software and force the degree
symbol to be used and still the ? symbol still
showed up in its place instead. I guess my
days of writing macrons are over for a while.

Jim

 

Hey Jim I just tried special symbols in the Test Bed and they worked for me. I typed in Alt+0176 and a degree symbol appeared. It may not work the same if you are on a Mac.
Did you do the hard refresh? I have had to do that at each computer I use.

 

Hi Eric:

I've got a few mintues to work on it now. I am
running Windows 98 second edition and tried
using Mozilla 1.7.2. I'll try Firefox 1.0.6 in a
bit and see if that makes any difference. I am
home on my machine which made what did
happen for me this morning even more unusual.

I did not need to do a hard refresh with Mozilla,
the new software worked right away without a
hitch, even without my gleaning out the cache.

Thanks for the note, I'll get to work on in it now.
The degree symbol always messes up the font
settings in Word 97 but it is the macrons I will
need to use again for the proper names of some
of the Maples.

Jim

Well, I got the macrons. Things are looking up.

32F or 0C.

Ō ō

Ā ā Ē ē Ī ī Ū ū

The latest:

The degree symbol is just not being recognized
in a test no matter which browser I use, including
IE 6 with cookies enabled. The Alt+1076 command
just wipes out the reply to thread screen for me and
returns me back to the thread page. Oh well, will try
again later.

 

Daniel,
I think the session timeout problem is a new one because I have always logged in without the 'Remember Me' option and this is the first time I've had this problem. I agree with your rationale on the new (deselected) default. Perhaps the old timeout parameter was set much higher. In any case, shouldn't the timeout be based on inactivity time rather than the duration of the session?

The simplified edit options are okay but it is the 'Preview Post' button that I miss. Not a big deal though.

BTW, the new s/w is noticeably slower than the old on dialup.

 

Alt+0176 works° fine° for° me°.

One time it didn't and I got the same wipe-out you describe, I realised afterwards that I'd hit Ctrl+0176 by mistake - could that have happened here?

 

32°F or 0° C.

Michael, the only way I could do this
was to copy the symbol you provided
and then right click the mouse and
paste right into the "Reply to Thread".
Strange that using any of the browsers
to do it still does give me the ? symbol
instead. Even a copy and paste from
Word into the Reply to Thread in all
3 browsers gives me the ? symbol.
I've used the degree symbol before
in this forum in the past without any
problems. The alt+0176 still does the
same for me here. No need to worry
about that now.

Thanks for your help.

Jim

 

Hi Jim,

You could always copy and paste it into notepad and have it saved for later use

BTW, it works far better with °C, don't bother with that awful archaic F cr@p :-)

 

I had the symbol saved in a text file and a
document file. That is how I was able to
get the macrons into my post later with
a copy and paste from a document file
right into the Reply to Thread form. I
tried that with the degree symbol to no
avail earlier. That is what initially alerted
me that there is a bug in the software.
There still is a bug but I now know how
to overcome it, or at least work with it.

Jim

 

Junglekeeper - I just experienced the problem re: spontaneous logging out on a test account in IE. Let me look into it a bit more, because the behaviour can become very annoying very fast. I wonder if the previous settings with the shorter time I had used earlier are still persisting in a cookie that was picked up at that time - perhaps cleaning out the UBC BG cookies might resolve the issue. I'll see what else I can find on the subject though.

Re: previewing the post - sure, the Quick Edit is just that. I see that Preview Post is available on the "Go Advanced" editor and the original post editor, though - I guess it's two clicks removed for you though.

Speed issues - I'm hoping that will clean up as the files find their way into the browser cache again. Still, there's no denying that a page view has a lot of overhead - do people use the "Similar Threads" at the bottom of the page? That'd be a candidate for shaving off 5% of the load time...

Jim - what's your assessment / workaround of the bug? If it's something that can be reported to the folks that make this software, I'll report it and maybe it can be fixed so you don't have to do a workaround...

 

Hi Daniel:

I announced the bug in case others may have the
same problem. After walking away from the
computer and doing other chores I remembered
that sometimes with javascript coding we have
to use a symbol that has already been accepted
and then copy and paste right from the online
source into the form from the same online source.
I have encountered the same kind of thing before
with javascript but not in this forum.

Now that I have this thread bookmarked I will
just copy the symbol and right click paste right
into the form and not mess around trying to do
things the conventional way again. I believe
that people can now use the macrons to do the
same thing in this forum, even if they do not
have the Japanese symbol fonts installed on
their machines. They should be able to bypass
having the font installed now. I could be wrong
about this.

I am not so sure this issue with a symbol is
worth passing along to the software techs
unless there are other symbols or fonts that
are not being readily recognized from the
computer to the javascript form (Reply to
Thread form). If there are others that are
not being recognized then some of these
fonts may have to written into the coding
for the program. I think it was just an
isolated case. Then again Word does
not like the degree symbol either as
pasting in the symbol seems to mess
with the line arrangement in Word, used
to do the same thing for me in Ami-Pro
as well years ago.

I've seen no other issues here or elsewhere
that I've been, including while in another
state with the current updated software.
For me, the software loads the pages in
faster than before, no matter where I am
using dialup. I don't know what to tell you
there.

I do look in the Similar Threads often.
I really like that feature a great deal.

Best regards,

Jim

 

That's still odd about the symbol. The forum software supports many character sets, including Arabic - it shouldn't be a problem, but that's getting into areas of character encoding that I know little about.

The spontaneous logging out: from what I've been able to track down, this is not a cookie issue. I'm now fairly certain that it only occurs when "Remember Me" is not flagged upon login, meaning that the person has chosen not to use cookies for that time on the forums. Instead, PHP sessions are used to keep people logged in to the forums (for example, it's how it knows it is you navigating around instead of some other user).

Apparently, the session is supposed to last for 15 minutes of inactivity, but that doesn't seem to be in accordance with what people are experiencing.