Page 1 of 2
Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Mon 22 Oct 2018 17:43
by Kate
Updated forum now on line. Give it a go and let us know what you think.
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Mon 22 Oct 2018 20:09
by martyn94
Glad to see it back. It always was a bit dicey when it came to rendering anything other than plain text (ie characters like”£*&@“%) at least when entered on my four year old iPad. But now it’s much worse. Or at least my old posts come out even more scrambled than before, which is saying something.
I’ll post this and then see what it looks like. Bye for now.
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Mon 22 Oct 2018 20:13
by martyn94
It seems ok with a current post. I don’t suppose that the sky will fall if a search for my posts from 2015 comes out a bit garbled.
Assuming that the search works now. That’s for after dinner.
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Mon 22 Oct 2018 21:17
by Kate
Bon appétit!
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Tue 23 Oct 2018 09:02
by Anthea & Tim
Well done Kate, all your own work?
The only issue I have found is that messages in the PM Inbox have a black background with faint grey script. Consequently, they are almost unreadable.
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Tue 23 Oct 2018 10:16
by Allan
Good to see the update, your hard work is appreciated.
Viewing it on a iPad, everything looks very BIG, the banner at the top takes up half the screen which seems unnecessary. I think a smaller banner and smaller text would make a more pleasurable experience.
From what I have read, it is easier to protect the newer software against spam, it would be nice to see more done to stop the forum being plagued with junk messages.
The friend and foe concept seems interesting. I can never foresee a circumstance where I would block someone but others may feel differently
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Tue 23 Oct 2018 10:37
by Helen
I use an 11in macbook and the font size was huge - as was the top banner, pretty much as Allan describes above.
But having clicked the zoom out facility in Safari several times, I managed to shrink the text size - and, on returning, the size reduction was remembered. So was pleased with that as it would have ben a pain to having to keep zooming out every time I came to the site.
Not sure about reducing the spam.... the most recent post listed is just that.
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Tue 23 Oct 2018 11:21
by Kate
All comments very welcome and passed on. Sadly it's not me doing the update as I'm just not clever enough!!
Instead I gave in and decided the only way to get it properly updated was to pay a professional! Please continue to pass on any comments, no matter how small, as it's still very much a work in progress. The spam is a particularly interesting one as the old forum took me half an hour on most mornings to clear out all the rubbish so hopefully we can sort out a better spam plan on the new one.
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Tue 23 Oct 2018 14:34
by Allan
The Forum looks completely different on an iPad compared with a PC.
I tried to include a picture with this message but failed miserably
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Tue 23 Oct 2018 15:33
by Madeleine
Allan wrote: ↑Tue 23 Oct 2018 14:34
The Forum looks completely different on an iPad compared with a PC.
I tried to include a picture with this message but failed miserably
I've been updating it all morning and in the early afternoon. If you clear your cache it should now look the same (allowing for screensize). The header should have changed totally and the font size should be smaller (Kate was a little worried about the eye sight of the older reader
).
We are using Google Recaptcha for anti-spam with all new posters moderated so hopefully that will catch most of it.
I sorted out the problem with the PM screen and it should now be legible.
If anybody finds anything else then let me know - I think I've looked at all the different screens possible now, but there may well be a corner of the forum that I've not visited to see if the colours are okay.
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Tue 23 Oct 2018 16:06
by sue and paul
I like the new clearer larger text size on my macbook air and easy reading on my Samsung android phone. 20/20
Re: UPDATED FORUM NOW ON LINE. GIVE IT A GO.
Posted: Tue 23 Oct 2018 16:36
by Helen
I've just taken a look on my phone (android) - it looks great. Very easy to read... The alternating use of the coloured background really helps separate one post from another. And the grey background to a 'quote' is a nice touch too.
In fact, I think I prefer the phone!
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Tue 23 Oct 2018 17:22
by Pighunter
Where do we now find 'view posts since last visit?'
Or how can we see when there are new posts?
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Tue 23 Oct 2018 18:01
by Kate
Click on Quick Links at the top left and it should give you several options.
For photos etc .....At the bottom of the post box is a two tab box one says "options", the other "attachments". Click on the box and you can upload a file. Alternatively just drag and drop an image into the post text area. Then click on "Place inline" in the attachments tab.
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018 03:57
by Anthea & Tim
Thank you for sorting the look of PMs. Please could you do the same with the User Control Panel Menu e.g. Inbox, Sent Messages are in black with no writing visible. Look is OK on a PC but not on iPad or iPhone.
I tried to load a screenshot but using an iPad I could not see the "place inline" tab in attachments.
Screenshot.jpg
But works OK on PC.
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018 08:51
by Allan
Much better but it still uses nearly half the screen on an iPad before anything useful appears. The banner could be smaller if the word Forum was moved to the right of the logo and there is a substantial white space below the banner.
Clearing cache is all very good but I don’t know an option to clear it just for one site. So it destroys all my other site histories and cookies. Can you not force the latest version I.e. tell it not to use cache. At least until development is finished.
What is the limit on image size, I tried to upload a fairly small one and it told me that it was too big.
My comments are intended to help, not criticise, your work is truly appreciated
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018 10:21
by russell
I might be missing something but I don't see any clear indication of which topics have unread posts or is it just my eyesight?
FYI I'm viewing the forum on an HP laptop using Firefox running under Linux Mint.
Russell
P.S. Just spotted it. The blue circle changes to red but is not very visible. Could the background of that circle change colour perhaps?
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018 10:26
by russell
Just checked on my Android phone and it is much more readable than the old version. Well done.
Russell
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018 14:40
by Madeleine
Anthea & Tim wrote: ↑Wed 24 Oct 2018 03:57
Thank you for sorting the look of PMs. Please could you do the same with the User Control Panel Menu e.g. Inbox, Sent Messages are in black with no writing visible. Look is OK on a PC but not on iPad or iPhone.
I tried to load a screenshot but using an iPad I could not see the "place inline" tab in attachments.Screenshot.jpg But works OK on PC.
This should not now be happening as I sorted it out yesterday. You need to clear cache on the Ipad or just bear with it until the cache clears itself.
russell wrote: ↑Wed 24 Oct 2018 10:21
I might be missing something but I don't see any clear indication of which topics have unread posts or is it just my eyesight?
FYI I'm viewing the forum on an HP laptop using Firefox running under Linux Mint.
Russell
P.S. Just spotted it. The blue circle changes to red but is not very visible. Could the background of that circle change colour perhaps?
I could recolour all of the images like this
forum_unread.gif
Or an alternative is to look at unread posts on the "Quick Links" menu.
Allan wrote: ↑Wed 24 Oct 2018 08:51
Much better but it still uses nearly half the screen on an iPad before anything useful appears. The banner could be smaller if the word Forum was moved to the right of the logo and there is a substantial white space below the banner.
Clearing cache is all very good but I don’t know an option to clear it just for one site. So it destroys all my other site histories and cookies. Can you not force the latest version I.e. tell it not to use cache. At least until development is finished.
What is the limit on image size, I tried to upload a fairly small one and it told me that it was too big.
My comments are intended to help, not criticise, your work is truly appreciated
Hi Allan,
The IPad has been set to use the same header as a desktop, so it shouldn't be too large. I've cleared cache at the server level after each change, but browser caches will need to be cleared to see the changes. I understand your reluctance to do so on the IPad but there is no alternative.
The image size limit was 256kb, I've now upped it to 500kb.
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Wed 24 Oct 2018 22:04
by martyn94
One small point. The site used to say whether you actually had any (unread) private messages, and if so how many. It was quite useful: considering how much flak I have sometimes attracted on the forum, I used to expect lots more as PMs. But in the event I have almost never had them. But I have had the odd pleasant PM, which I would often have missed had I not been reminded to look once every few weeks.
But maybe all will come good when the footprint shrinks a bit. I wait and hope: I wouldn’t know how to clear the caches on my iPad to save my life (except that if I did actually have to save my life, I would probably be able to find out, given time and an internet connection: it would make a good end to one of those films where Tom Cruise or someone saves us all from Kingdom Come with 00.1 seconds left on the timer of the anthrax bomb).
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018 10:30
by Madeleine
martyn94 wrote: ↑Wed 24 Oct 2018 22:04
One small point. The site used to say whether you actually had any (unread) private messages, and if so how many. It was quite useful: considering how much flak I have sometimes attracted on the forum, I used to expect lots more as PMs. But in the event I have almost never had them. But I have had the odd pleasant PM, which I would often have missed had I not been reminded to look once every few weeks.
But maybe all will come good when the footprint shrinks a bit. I wait and hope: I wouldn’t know how to clear the caches on my iPad to save my life (except that if I did actually have to save my life, I would probably be able to find out, given time and an internet connection: it would make a good end to one of those films where Tom Cruise or someone saves us all from Kingdom Come with 00.1 seconds left on the timer of the anthrax bomb).
Hi Martin,
This shows you how to clear your cache on an iphone or ipad:
https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/iphon ... e-3609079/. The downside is that there is no way to do it selectively. It will also delete all cookies and browsing history. The footprint changed 2 days ago, all design tweaks are now finished with the exception of the "unread" posts icon which I was waiting for some feedback on.
You should receive a notification if there are any unread PMs. The notification panel is on the right of the Quick Links navbar.
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018 11:41
by Allan
Having cleared my iPad cache, the banner is still different from the PC version and their is no search box.
I have a link on my iPad that takes me directly to new messages and that has a substantial area of blank space above the Go to advanced search link. Having said that, I see the same blank space on the PC site.
There looks to me an unnecessarily large space between lines, I appreciate that readability is important but spreading the pages out so much makes using a mobile device less attractive.
Sorry to sound like I am nit-picking, I am just trying to help.
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018 11:53
by Madeleine
Allan wrote: ↑Thu 25 Oct 2018 11:41
Sorry to sound like I am nit-picking, I am just trying to help.
Don't worry about "nit-picking". I thought you were still looking at the old one. I don't have an Ipad so can't check on mine, but this is what I get with the simulator
ipad.jpg
I think your large space must be because you are not showing the time and date and your last visit, but the design is still leaving the space for it. I can change the break points so that the "FORUM" moves up and the search bar reappears as per the version when you turn the IPad the other way and the desktop.
Alternatively I can lose the search bar to make it more streamlined
2018-10-25_1209.png
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018 12:48
by Helen
On my very old iPad 2 the display looks like this in portrait..... but even in landscape it includes more of the forum than either of the images above
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018 12:53
by Helen
But I also meant to add that I seem to intermittently lose some of the options from the Quick Links Drop Down menu - both on iPad and macbook. Sometimes they're all there, and sometimes they're not - only the last four options show i.e. from Active Posts downwards.
Or do you have to be logged in to get access to all 8 options?
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018 13:20
by Madeleine
Yes, it needs to know who you are to be able to show unread posts as it is only the ones that you've not read.
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018 13:33
by Anthea & Tim
Hi Madeleine,
Thanks for the feedback and the prompt responses.
I have cleared the cache on the iPhone but User Control Panel is still difficult to read, but OK on PC or laptop
86FC0DE3-C183-47A7-B088-1634A0FC8DA2.png
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018 14:12
by Madeleine
Anthea & Tim wrote: ↑Thu 25 Oct 2018 13:33
I have cleared the cache on the iPhone but User Control Panel is still difficult to read, but OK on PC or laptop
Whoops, sorry about that. There was a piece of code where I wasn't expecting it to be that was throwing it out. It should now be displaying in line with the rest of the site.
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018 15:55
by Anthea & Tim
User Control Panel now works OK on iPad/iPhone, thank you Madeleine.
Re: Updated Forum Now On Line. Give it a go...
Posted: Thu 25 Oct 2018 15:57
by Madeleine
Anthea & Tim wrote: ↑Thu 25 Oct 2018 15:55
User Control Panel now works OK on iPad/iPhone, thank you Madeleine.