We are going to be making some major changes today

[Elad]

We are going to be upgrading several of our core scripts that run the discussion forums today. For several weeks we've been working on new code to refurbish and clean up the main discussion forum scripts (Lobby, Latest, Greatest, forum display, and thread display), and we're going to be switching over to the new scripts today.

However, this is likely to cause some problems, as I'm sure we've overlooked some bugs and features despite our best efforts to mimick the existing scripts as much as possible. So we'll need your help finding and fixing any bugs/errors/oversights that come up.

How to report a problem with one of the new scripts

If you encounter a problem with one of the new scripts (i.e., a feature isn't working right, a link goes to the wrong place, you get a bug report id number, etc), please email me at [e-mail].

Please include as much detail as possible. Tell me exactly what you were doing (viewing a thread - view all mode or single post mode? what thread? - reading a forum - which forum? expanded or collapsed mode? - etc), what actually happened, and what should have happened.

I have no idea how many problems we're going to encounter, so if I don't get back to you personally I apologize but I will do my best.

Thanks, and we hope you all enjoy the new design!
Elad
DU Admin

[XanaDUer]

1. Here is one weird thing that only happens to me on DU

When I use the search, and then hit the 'back' button to go back to the list of 'hits' with the search word, I get kicked off the Internets for a second. Then I have to refresh to get back.

Do you think the new scripts will fix this?

[nolabels]

2. Yea, every item I click onto at DU says I have error

(of course that is nothing new to me) Funny thing is didn't start happening till after clicked onto this thread the first time :^)

On Edit: This one #467899

[Been Fishing]

3. Bad Link at bottom of Latest Forum

The return link at the bottom of the Latest Forum for an entry has an extra .../discuss/... in it. The URL is not valid and returns a "Page Not Found" error.

[MGKrebs]

4. Every time I log in to DU

I get all fired up and can't concentrate on work.
This was a bug in the previous software too.

[Skinner]

5. Unfortunatey

I don't think we can fix that one. :shrug:

[dubyaD40web]

6. LOL

Not unless you use the "BAN" function. :-)

[MzShellG]

7. Thanks so much!!!

You have fixed that annoying problem I had on DU as a webtv user. Previously, I couldnt see who started threads or how man posts were on a thread. The background of the screen was black. Problem solved with the new script. Now I no longer have to find my way around in the darkness. It had been that way ever since 2003. What a relief. Thanks, you guys.
:bounce:

[Skinner]

8. I am so glad.

I was hoping this upgrade would fix that webtv problem. :thumbsup:

[goclark]

9. Anyway we an get some additional smilies?

Just thought I would ask.
Thanks for all your hard work

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

10. weird.

when I first come to DU the fonts in the left column are normal. Then if I click on a forum (say, LBN or GD) & then go back to the lobby, the fonts in the left are really small & stay small.

Elad, I like the highlight feature really well.

best

edited to change Skinner to Elad. oops

[Roland99]

11. Yeah...highlighting is nice.

[Robbien]

12. Wanted to say that the pages are loading faster on my dial-up

I have avatars and signature lines turned off, but the little icons at the top of each page and the ones in front of every subject line were very slow to load. Now they appear nice and easy. Thanks.

[applegrove]

13. A nice green instead of yellow would be great to highlight our posts

to a thread. You know.. calming!!! Or a yellow green. Problem is you have a warm yellow for your own threads. So green will not go easily with that. Don't know. But differenciate the color between your admin posts and ours.

[Karenina]

14. Can we have the page numbers at the bottom back?

Pretty please????? They REALLY helped me keep track and I'm ALREADY missing them mightily!!!

[Matilda]

16. Yes, sometimes I like to follow a thread that may have continued

after I've gone to bed (this happens often as I'm on the other side
of the world).

[Skinner]

19. Ah, yes.

I will tell Elad to add that back in.

[Karenina]

20. Thank you very much!

:loveya:

[NNN0LHI]

15. Everything appears to be running smooth as silk

Haven't noticed many changes yet but the ones I have noticed I like. Thanks a lot.

Don

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. The initial page isn't refreshing after I post a reply

I have to click on the "Click here if the page doesn't refresh automatically" link to get back to the main page.

I'm using the latest version of Firefox. This happened multiple times in both LBN and GD.

[DemExpat]

18. Weren't the page number links on each forum's page list of threads

at the bottom of the list of thread's pages so that you didn't have to scroll back up to the top to go to the next page link?

:shrug:

DemEx

edit: See that Karenina also mentions this!
:hi:

[midnight armadillo]

21. I hate to be critical of DU admins...but...

Wouldn't a better upgrade path be to set up a test system, invite people to use it and beat on it with the understanding that posts will be discarded, and work out bugs there? Then upgrade the main servers with a much lower potential for disruption...

[Skinner]

22. If we had reason to believe there might be significant disruption...

...we would do that.

But we felt that we had ironed out most of the bugs already and most members probably wouldn't even notice this upgrade.

[Gregorian]

23. Can you get rid of the GO button on the dropdown menu?

It's not needed, and is a bit of a pain.

Like you need any extra work.

Thanks for the best place in virtual space.

Gregg

[Up2Late]

24. I don't know if you guys are still working on problems, except for...

...a few hours yesterday when page re-draws slowed to a crawl, everything seems to be working smoothly again.

I did just think of a New minor "upgrade" that I wonder if you could add to help readability of long articles or posts. It's not critical, but it would be a nice "upgrade."

One thing I noticed is that the long posts are harder to read in the "Original Message" box than in the "Your message" box because of the fonts used. I've heard that a Serif Fonts are easier to read than a non-serif font (which I like, please don't change it because of this).

Here's the idea (with 3 options of various difficulties) The easiest option:

(1)would be to add a short list of available fonts to the HTML lookup table pop-up box, and/or

(2)add a drop-down menu or radio buttons to the "Message options" area with 2 or 3 different fonts like Courier, Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman and/or if you want to be really slick, but it's slightly more difficult,

(3) Make the extra Radio buttons or drop down menu available only when selecting the "Article" radio button. This might encourage the marking of Articles with the Article Icon, and it sure would make the Longer posts easier to read on screen.

Like I said, just an idea, if your burned out and need a break for a while, no rush. Or if you hate the idea, oh well.

Thanks Guys,

Up2Late