55 replies to this topic

[Helene]

We had a registration issue earlier this evening, and the good folks at IPS were troubleshooting by using the default skin set.

Just in case you were wondering why the logo changed and all of the modifications disappeared for a while -o you were not going  

[Barbara]

What a nice surprise to come home to after a week away (and no internet access)! Kudos to all!

[Helene]

All of that tiny type made the site look very slick, but it's difficult to read.  The type size in the quote boxes has been increased to the same size (or close) as the main site.

I've tried every setting I could find to make the type size while posting bigger, but to no avail.

We've discovered a work-around for at least the Firefox browser for Mac; Alexandra confirmed this isn't working for Safari:

• Click the little down arrow next to your username in the upper right hand corner.
  
• Choose "My Settings".
  
• Under "Posting Settings", if "Enable visual (RTE) editor?" is checked, uncheck it.
  
• Click the "Save Changes" button.

The type while posting should be a little bigger; the "Courier New" should look like a typewriter.  I find it a lot easier to use.


Also:  instead of/in addition to the "new PM" pop-up box that would get lost half the time, unread PM's, now called "conversations" are among the notifications listed in the "Unread Notifications" that appears to the right of the forums list on the home page, in addition to the "unread PM" counter to the right of the username in the upper right corner.  

Once the counter is at "0" again, the notifications box goes away.  Unfortunately, it doesn't turn the counter off if you use the link in email, so it is a multi-part process

This is the default setting.  To turn this off,

• Click the little down arrow next to your username in the upper right hand corner.
  
• Choose "My Settings".
  
• Choose "Notification Options" from the left menu. **
  
• Un-check the boxes next to "Inline Notification" for all of the "Private Messages" options.
  
• Click the "Save Changes" button.

To turn on the pop-up box,

• Click the little down arrow next to your username in the upper right hand corner.
  
• Choose "My Settings".
  
• Choose "Notification Options" from the left menu.
  
• Check the box next to "Show popup when I receive a new inline notification"
  
• Click the "Save Changes" button.

If you want to be subscribed automatically to any topic to which you've replied,

• Click the little down arrow next to your username in the upper right hand corner.
  
• Choose "My Settings".
  
• Choose "Notification Options" from the left menu.
  
• Check the box next to "Watch every topic I reply to"
  
• Select a notification option.  (Frequency of notification.)
  
• Click the "Save Changes" button.

** If you scroll down this screen, you can set notifications to go to PM ("Personal Conversation"), "inline" (in the top right-hand box on the home page), or mobile, which refers to the mobile application (not your phone).  PM is not an option for PM's, because getting the PM itself is enough.

[Helene]

I learned why sometimes it looks like there are no hits (views) to a topic, even when we know that the topic has been viewed.  We have an optimization parameter set to take some of the burden off the server by writing hits/views to a separate table, and then doing periodic updates.  That also explains why the number of hits can go from 0-65 in one fell swoop.

[cubanmiamiboy]

I love the new Youtube link format instead of the old one.  What I miss the most is the way a message would just pop out in the recipient screen right when it was sent.

[papeetepatrick]

cubanmiamiboy, on 05 July 2010 - 08:43 AM, said:

I love the new Youtube link format instead of the old one.  What I miss the most is the way a message would just pop out in the recipient screen right when it was sent.

Yeah, I liked that, too, because it was instantaneous, and you would get it sometimes while you were in the site.  I haven't ever seen that on other sites or bleugs, but they must have it.

Was interested to know why some members here at any given time are shown bold and in italics.  At first, I thought it was just the mods, but then I saw some others who weren't mods whose names were 'lit up' and some mods' names who weren't.  Not important, of course, just curious.

[Helene]

I didn't realize it was a feature  

(I'm still poking around.)

Some more features:


A heads up:  there is a filter on each forums page and on the "No posts found" error page to determine how many posts to return.  I believe the default is "From 30: Days".  That means you won't get any results if there hasn't been activity in the forum for the last 30 days.

The filter is hidden as a default.  To see it,

• Go to the dark blue bar towards the bottom of the forum and above the "Start New Topic" button or at the bottom of the error page and click "Click here to show filter options".  The options should open up.  
  
• In the "Time Frame" drop-down box, choose a different filter.  "Show All" will bring back all posts.
  
• If you want this to be your new default setting, click the "Remember filters" checkbox.
  Click "Go".

I don't see a way to change this globally.


In "View New Content", you have the option to show "Show me all new content since my last visit" (default) or "Show me all content that I have not read".  (I don't remember seeing this in the last version, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.)

You can change this setting as follows:

• Click the down arrow next to your username in the upper right corner of the page.
  
• Select "My Settings"
  
• Change the drop-down box under "Search Settings/View New Content Method"
  
• Click "Save Changes"

[SandyMcKean]

Quote

The home page means more scrolling, though, because of the two info boxes (subscribed threads and new threads) to the right that take up horizontal real estate.

I note that some of the subforum descriptors are quite long (e.g., "Other Performing & Fine Arts: Performances, Exhibits, Films, and Events").  If the column that contains this descriptor in a display of search list of topics (especially in the list that results from a "View New Content"), then more topics could be listed in a single window of the resulting list.  The existing narrow column when it contains so many words makes each listed topic abnormally "fat".

Of course this modification may be unavailable or undesirable for other reasons.

[Helene]

papeetepatrick, on 05 July 2010 - 09:29 AM, said:

cubanmiamiboy, on 05 July 2010 - 08:43 AM, said:

I love the new Youtube link format instead of the old one.  What I miss the most is the way a message would just pop out in the recipient screen right when it was sent.

Yeah, I liked that, too, because it was instantaneous, and you would get it sometimes while you were in the site.  I haven't ever seen that on other sites or bleugs, but they must have it.

Do you mean when PM's come through?  The default on the new site is by the username bar (inline), but you can change this to pop-ups, with the option to disable inline.

• Click the down arrow next to your username.
  
• Select "My Settings"
  
• From the left menu under "Settings", click "Notification Options"
  
• From "Notification Preferences" check the "Show popup when I receive a new  inline notification" -- this will apply to every type of inline notification you have checked in the list on that page (scroll down)
  
• Click the "Save Changes" button

Unfortunately, there's a disconnect with the notification counter to the right of the user-name, and reading the pop-up won't mark it read and set the counter to 0.

papeetepatrick, on 05 July 2010 - 09:29 AM, said:

Was interested to know why some members here at any given time are shown bold and in italics.  At first, I thought it was just the mods, but then I saw some others who weren't mods whose names were 'lit up' and some mods' names who weren't.  Not important, of course, just curious.

Where is this visible?  If someone has an open "reply" box, their name has always been shown in italics, but bold might be new.   Unfortunately, the list of people reading the topic isn't visible from the posting screen, and I can't log into a test account and see what happens from my own account

SandyMcKean, on 05 July 2010 - 09:59 AM, said:

Quote

The home page means more scrolling, though, because of the two info boxes (subscribed threads and new threads) to the right that take up horizontal real estate.

I note that some of the subforum descriptors are quite long (e.g., "Other Performing & Fine Arts: Performances, Exhibits, Films, and Events").  If the column that contains this descriptor in a display of search list of topics (especially in the list that results from a "View New Content"), then more topics could be listed in a single window of the resulting list.  The existing narrow column when it contains so many words makes each listed topic abnormally "fat".

Of course this modification may be unavailable or undesirable for other reasons.

The is a result of the re-design of the search functionality.  The options on the tabs to the left of the search box (except "Ballet Talk") were on the right where the search box is.  I tried to add the "Ballet Talk for Dancers" and "Contact Us" links into that group, although people are used to seeing both links to the right, and the clashed with the search box on the default screen width, let along a reduced width.  (When I removed it, the search box stopped being right-aligned, at least on Firefox, and I need to find out where I broke it.)

If the forum/sub-forum name is too long, the "View New Content", "Contact Us" etc. links go to the next line.  For a few, it looks like one long line.  I could make the typeface smaller, which would made it more difficult to read.  I could change the text on the links, but "View New Content" and "Rules & Policies" are text set to variables that are used in multiple places, and the different appearance would be persisted in those places as well.

The only other option I can think of is to shorten the forum names.

[SandyMcKean]

Quote

The only other option I can think of is to shorten the forum names.

OOPS.....my bad.

I see that in my original post I forgot to include the meat of my suggestion    .

I meant to say:

Quote

If the column that contains this descriptor in a display of search list of topics could be made wider, then more topics could be listed in a single window of the resulting list.

[Helene]

SandyMcKean, on 05 July 2010 - 11:22 AM, said:

Quote

The only other option I can think of is to shorten the forum names.

OOPS.....my bad.

I see that in my original post I forgot to include the meat of my suggestion    .

I meant to say:

Quote

If the column that contains this descriptor in a display of search list of topics could be made wider, then more topics could be listed in a single window of the resulting list.

I should have read more carefully.

Do you mean on the home page/forum index?

There are two possible approaches to widening the column:

1.  Squish or remove the 'Stats" and "Last Post Info" columns
2.  Remove the "Recently Added Topics" and "Watched Content Boxes" (and the condition "Notifications" box) from the right-hand side of the screen.  It might be possible to move them, but at the top would take up a lot of real estate before the forums started, or at the bottom, where few people would find them.

If in "View New Topics", I could possibly widen the "forum" column by taking out space from the "topic title".  However, that will only change the amount of scrolling needed to see the displayed number of topics.  The number of search results per page is set by a specific parameter.

• Click the down arrow next to the username.
  
• Select "My Settings".
  
• Click the "Forums" tab.
  under "Board Display Settings", select a new default from the "Number of posts to show for each topic page" and/or "Number of topics to show for each forum page"
  
• Click "Save Changes"

On another topic, I noticed that in the "Most Active Viewers" list, the search engines are in black, and the member names are in blue, the same as all linked fields.  (Clicking will bring up a member's profile.)  I'm not sure if that's making one or the other look bold.

[SandyMcKean]

Quote

Do you mean on the home page/forum index?

No. I am only talking about a list of topcs that results from some sort of search such as the automatic one that results from clicking on the link "View New Content" on the home page (a link I use everytime I go to the forum and the method I essentially use to find and read all topics).

Quote

If in "View New Topics", I could possibly widen the "forum" column by taking out space from the "topic title". However, that will only change the amount of scrolling needed to see the displayed number of topics. The number of search results per page is set by a specific parameter.

Yes, I do think making the "Topic" column somwehat more narrow, and thereby allowing a wider "Forum" column would result in more topics listed per inch of screen vertical real estate (and thereby requiring less scrolling to scan topics one might be interesting in reading).  On my system the "Topic" column seems to be usually twice as wide as most topic titles require, whereas the "Forum" column restricts the subforum titles so much that it takes at least 2 or 3 lines to display the subforum name, and even 6 or 7 lines in some cases.  I estimate twice as many topics could fit on a page if these column widths were re-adjusted.  (It is less scrolling when one has more topics than can fit on a page that I am interested in.)

[papeetepatrick]

Thanks, Helene!  Yes, I do like the pop-ups for pm's!  It's more fun!  Had no idea it was really still available.

btw, Helene, just because I know you can do all this intricate stuff--that does NOT mean I think you are a DWEEB!  I wish I could do it too!  'Dweeb' is a personality type, not something to do with special skills!  

Oh yes, Helene, the italics (and bold?) appear under 'Today's Active Users', but I don't know what it means.  If it doesn't bother anybody else, it certainly doesn't bother me.

[carbro]

papeetepatrick, on 05 July 2010 - 12:42 PM, said:

Thanks, Helene!  Yes, I do like the pop-ups for pm's!  It's more fun!

More important, harder to overlook!  Thank you, Helene!

Quote

Oh yes, Helene, the italics (and bold?) appear under 'Today's Active Users', but I don't know what it means.  

I noticed that, too, and the bold seems to apply to mods.

[Helene]

"View New Content" is a subset of search.  Unfortunately, while the search CSS file allows changes in the widths of all columns but the "forum" column, and shrinking the total % of the rest of the columns just shifts all of the columns left, instead of distributing the balance to the undefined "forum" column.  I can make any of the columns smaller except the one I want to change.