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Last Call for Site Bugs

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 01:28:10 AM EST
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We've corrected most of the bugs (including those posted in the comments we thought warranted fixing) and the RSS feed.

I'm very happy with the move, and hope you are too.   Change is never easy, try it out, see if you don't get used to it.

Before I let the developers off the hook, here's your last chance to tell us what isn't working or what you wish we would change.

< The Gatekeepers Are AWOL | A new GPS privacy issue, and Google Earth used to find marijuana patches >

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    Last Call for Site Bugs | 43 comments (43 topical)
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#1)
    by Gabriel Malor on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 01:50:37 AM EST
    I'm still getting the wrong times under "Entries with Recent Comments" on the main page. For example, at 10:01 PST I commented in the Military Commissions post, but it's listed on the main page as "Posted on Tue. at 11:23 AM."

    I know you've spotted this error, and I'm sure I saw that Colin was working on it. Just thought I'd list it one last time.

    BTW, thank you so much for the work you've put into this. I think the new site is great. The features are both quick and useful. And, of course, being able to comment without a moderation lag is sweeet.

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#2)
    by Edger on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 06:08:07 AM EST
    I've set "Rate comments" to "no" in my "User Preferences: Comments" because I found the pages looked very busy and irritating with the rating radio buttons or drop down boxes repeated all the way down the pages between every comment. It looked like something produced by a bug. So not displaying them gives things a cleaner look and is much easier on my eyes, and is one less thing distracting me from the comments.

    This is not a bug, but I wish, for the same reasons, that "preferences" had a setting or switch that would allow me to set the "subject" line above each comment to "do not display" (or at least turn off the bolding on the subject line)  but leave the commenters names there. Most commenters never  change the subject line, and we end up with that same bolded line repeated all the way down the page. It looks like something is broken.

    Other than that I love the new site. Especially having the comments appear as soon as I hit the Post button.

    Comment Subjects in a Threaded Comment System (none / 0) (#25)
    by hillct on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:33:35 PM EST
    Edgar,
       I can understand when users move from a non-threaded comment enviroment to a threaded one, use of subjects to carry on several discussions of different elements of the post on which the comments are being made may feel alien to users. I expect you'll find them to be more useful as site visitors start to make more meaningful use of them. In that sense I believe disabling them will be counter-productive, but it's really not my call.

    -- Colin

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#3)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 06:45:25 AM EST
    This is not a bug, but is a problem.

    When making a new comment, the new comment box now opens under the post, but you cannot see the previous comments.

    To do so you have to hit the back button. And to return you have to hit the forward button. When you are "back" to the old comments, if you go to a link and open it, when you come back to the old comments and back to the new comment box, anything typed in the new is gone...

    The work around is to comment off line in Word or NotePad and copy into the new comment section. But word doesn't copy HTML properly, so you have to repair after you have copied..

    Other than that it works fine. Like Edger I find it a little "busy" and so far haven't used the new features, but having been involved in many cutovers where software is the driving force, I stand in awe at the inital results..

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Edger on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 08:05:06 AM EST
    Jim, you use Firefox I think?

    Right-click on "Post a comment" --> "open in new tab". --> Then enter your comment - you can look at the other tab to see the previous comments, and if you need to copy and paste anything.--> Post your comment. --> Then go to the original tab and "refresh".

    NOt perfect - but a good workaround.

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#5)
    by Patrick on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 10:51:17 AM EST
    I keep getting a "post failed" comment when trying to post a comment in the marijuana thread...So this is also a test..

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#6)
    by Patrick on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 11:25:04 AM EST
    Nevermind...Thinking the subject line might be the cause, (Since there was some warning in the actual post) I deleted most of it and the comment went through.  

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#7)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 12:41:49 PM EST
    Two things, I got this response when trying to post on the GPS/pot thread:

    Preview Comment
    Post Failed.

    Subject is too long (max is 50 characters).

    Re: A new GPS privacy issue, and Google Earth used ( / ) (#0)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on soon

    The subject was unchanged from what LNILR put up. I then truncated his subject and was able to post.

    Second, the quote button is wacky. I wrote a paragraph and then wanted to put a quote at the beginning of the para.

    I put my cursor at the beginning of the para, clicked on the " button, and the quote stuff
    (< blockquote>< /blockquote>)
    appeared at the end of the para, not at the beginning where my cursor was.

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#9)
    by Gabriel Malor on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 01:07:42 PM EST
    For making any of the stylistic adjustments provided by the buttons above, you'll get much better results if you write out the text first, then highlight it, and then selecting your style.

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#10)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 01:16:46 PM EST
    You need to highlight the material you want in the blockquote and then click the "quote" button.  You don't do it by placing your cursor at the point you want the quote to begin.  This hasn't changed.

    The subject titles in the titles are now pre-filled in with the name of the post.  

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#11)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 01:32:36 PM EST
    You need to highlight the material you want in the blockquote and then click the "quote" button.  You don't do it by placing your cursor at the point you want the quote to begin.  This hasn't changed.

    well, we used to be able to do this, but I'm sure I can learn a different technique. Thanks!

    Also, yesterday I set my preference to "nested," but I just realized that that doesn't display comments chronologically, which I prefer, so I reset to "flat unthreaded" which does display them chronologically.

    Anyway, every time I click to a different window/thread/whatever, it seems my preference reverts back to "nested."

    Is there some trick I'm missing?

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#12)
    by Edger on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 01:39:00 PM EST
    every time I click to a different window/thread/whatever, it seems my preference reverts back to "nested."

    Is there some trick I'm missing?

    Just the "refresh" button. ;-)

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#15)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 01:50:44 PM EST
    Just the "refresh" button. ;-)

    Edger, if you're serious, I don't get what you're saying.

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#16)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 01:57:55 PM EST
    I set the site default to "nested". Log onto your user preferences in the right column and set your own.

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#20)
    by Gabriel Malor on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:13:14 PM EST
    I can't find "User Preferences: Comments" over under my options any more. I remember I had the option to set the default thread display options and set my time zone. But I can't find those options anymore.

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#21)
    by Gabriel Malor on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:15:14 PM EST
    Nevermind. Those options are now sort of "tabbed" under "Your Preferences."

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#19)
    by Edger on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:10:43 PM EST
    Maybe I missed something. If you set to "flat unthreaded" in your own Preferences it will apply to all threads. But if you have thread open when you make the change in Preferences, you will need to refresh them for the change to appear.

    I hope I'm being clear there?

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#42)
    by hillct on Sun Oct 22, 2006 at 09:16:56 PM EST
    You need to highlight the material you want in the blockquote and then click the "quote" button.  You don't do it by placing your cursor at the point you want the quote to begin.  This hasn't changed.
    well, we used to be able to do this, but I'm sure I can learn a different technique.

    The html insertion buttons have been updated with the more intuitive behavior of wraping around highlighted text if any, or placing the opening and closing tags at the inserion point rather than at the end of the textarea content in the event of no selected text.

    -- Colin

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#8)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 12:52:46 PM EST
    OK, lastly, when I preview a comment its formatting is different from what I see when I post the comment.

    Specifically the preview has much fewer letters per line than the posted comment.

    When I make my comment easily readable in the preview, it ends up getting all whacked out when I post it.

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#13)
    by Andreas on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 01:40:55 PM EST

    1. These comments in the CSS file are invalid:

    // width: 23px;
    // height: 22px;

    Use this instead (or remove the two lines completely):

    /* width: 23px; */
    /* height: 22px; */

    2. This line in the CSS file is invalid:

    min-wdth: 14px;

    (I suppose that this should be "min-width")

    3. This line in the CSS file is invalid:

    margin-top -3px;

    Because a colon is missing:

    margin-top: -3px;

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#14)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 01:45:13 PM EST
    Thanks, Andreas, I've sent these on to Colin at Scoophost.

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#22)
    by hillct on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:21:04 PM EST
    Andreas,
       Thanks. The two double slashed items were not comments so much as disabled test values which would come up in firebug as invalid so when I was done experimenting I would remember to remove them. Clearly as a memory aid, tyhat technique failed. Thanks for reminding me.

    The two items in css/calendar have been around for ages and since so few sites use the event management mechanisms of Scoop, nobody bothers to address the typos. Fixed now though. Thanks.

    -- Colin

    Parent

    XHTML (none / 0) (#29)
    by Andreas on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 03:27:39 PM EST
    Thanks for supporting the CSS standard. Yes, those Firefox tools are helpful.

    I suggest also to have a look at the results of this validator:
    http://validator.w3.org/

    (Do not be shocked by the number of errors reported by it. While I prefer XHTML 1.0 it might be ok to move back to HTML for this site.)

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#26)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:35:46 PM EST
    Andreas, you were correct and it's now been fixed. thanks!

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#17)
    by Edger on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:05:17 PM EST
    Is there any way to RE-include the Post Title in the <title> tags so that in Firefox Tabs, and in the I.E. title bar  the name of the thread appears.

    E.G.: <title>TalkLeft: Last Call for Site Bugs </title> for

    and <title>TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime</title> for just the Home Page.

    This is the way the old site worked. It made it very easy for navigation, particularly in Firefox where you may, and I often do, have multiple threads open in tabs.

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#18)
    by scribe on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:05:47 PM EST
    Still not showing the diaries....

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#28)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 03:12:42 PM EST
    Diaries are showing now in the right column.  Thanks for posting one, Scribe, it's a good one too!

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#23)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:26:04 PM EST
    JM, Edger, thanks!

    I went to "Your Preferences" and changed them.

    Before that I was clicking on the preferences box at the top of each thread. Doh!

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#27)
    by Edger on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:48:12 PM EST
    I find it's kind of like a brand new car - a model I never drove before - and figuring out where all the buttons are and what they do. :-)

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#24)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 02:28:22 PM EST
    er, make the the "Display" box at the top of each thread...

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#30)
    by Edger on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 03:44:09 PM EST
    One feature I really like is the link at the very bottom of the home page to the previous posts. Very handy.

    I can't recall if it was on the old site or not...??

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#31)
    by dutchfox on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 05:58:55 PM EST
    edgar, it wasn't and it's cool...."moving right along to the next thread." :)

    all this new stuff is a but unwieldy for me, but i'll get the hang, i think.

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#32)
    by ding7777 on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 07:14:33 PM EST
    This isn't a bug. But can I get new window when I click on a link ?

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#33)
    by Edger on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 07:54:33 PM EST
    You can right click links and buttons. Is that what you meant?

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#39)
    by ding7777 on Thu Oct 19, 2006 at 09:20:23 AM EST
    Edger - thanks - If I right click a link it does ask me if I want a new window - this is better but I thought it would be done by default (i.e, like the Duke Forums)

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#40)
    by Edger on Thu Oct 19, 2006 at 11:25:41 AM EST
    If you are using Firefox you can set options under the tools menu to change the way clicks on links are handled by your browser.

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#34)
    by hillct on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 09:17:57 PM EST
    Ding,
       Clicking on links in stories will put you wherever the author wanted you to be. The TARGET attribute of the anchor tag along with all the javascript attributes are disabled in stories for security. Granted the target attribute isn't much of a secutity probkem but the javascript issues are likely well-known by anyone who runs their own site. The Target attribute just forces the target page into a specific destination window. Most web users these days eport that they'd rather have direct ind individual control over what new windows are opened for what purpose and most modern browsers provide this mechanism in the link context menus so to include it on the server side would be redundant.

    -- Colin

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#35)
    by Edger on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 10:43:01 PM EST
    Colin! I just noticed! Thanks! For the <title> tags!

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#36)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 11:02:29 PM EST
    I get new windows when I click on links so I think that's your browser not the site.

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#38)
    by ding7777 on Thu Oct 19, 2006 at 09:15:34 AM EST
    TL - I use the same browser here as I do at the Duke Forums. I always get a new window on the Forums.

    Parent
    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#37)
    by Edger on Thu Oct 19, 2006 at 05:10:32 AM EST
    There seems to be a bug in the system for allowing rating.

    I go to my 'User Preferences: Comments' and set 'Rate comments' to 'Yes', and press 'Save Preferences'.

    Then I go to a thread where I want rate a comment, and change 'Rate' to 'Yes' and press 'Set'

    The rating radio buttons then appear under every comment by all users, except under my comments.

    There is nothing there that I can use to rate a post.

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#41)
    by hillct on Sat Oct 21, 2006 at 04:11:00 PM EST
    Edger,
       Do you seriously believe you should be allowed to rate your own comments? I was considering telling you this applies for just you, but that's only amusing if you know how Scoop operates by default.
       Operationally it makes little sense to let commenters rate their own comments. Who would really rate their own comment other than a 5? There was actually some debate among developers as to whether or not commenters should be allowed to rate any comment which is a reply to their own as well.

    -- Colin

    Parent

    Re: Last Call for Site Bugs (none / 0) (#43)
    by Edger on Sun Oct 22, 2006 at 09:26:57 PM EST
    Colin,

    Thanks, I needed that swat across the back off my head. ;-)

    Seriously? When I posted my question I was thinking that I should be using that rating buttons under my own comments to rate the post... or something... or I wondered what I was thinking till I realized I wasn't... or something. ;-)

    Never mind. Forget I asked. Some days I'm as dumb as I look! Remind me of that now and then, ok?

    :-)

    Parent

    Last Call for Site Bugs | 43 comments (43 topical)