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Jay

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Join date
22-Feb-2003
Last activity
6-Jul-2025
Posts
2,437

Post History

Post
#321647
Topic
Bugs due to new upgrade - ones I've noticed
Time
bkev said:

I figured a master thread would work better.  So far, I see:

-The navigation bar at the top is all messed up.  No images.

-Post date appears hidden behind avatar

-In "post thread" box, when you are actually doing so, it skips a line when you pressed enter so it double spaces.

Nothing else, yet...

 

First two issues: hit refresh or clear your browser's cache. Most likely the new stylesheet isn't loading for you.

Third issue: I was annoyed by this at first until I realized it's how many modern word processors work also. Hit enter by itself and you get a doublespace (new paragraph), hit enter while holding shift and get a single line break. You'll get used to it.

Also, I'd prefer separate topics for different bugs. Easier for me to track and check off when finished fixing each one. Thanks though.

Post
#321640
Topic
Unexpected forum upgrade...expect bugs :)
Time

So the database upgrade was a miserable failure. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but at some point during testing, all kinds of bad stuff went down and the forum software just stopped working properly. I decided that a complete wipe was the only way to take care of it, but the only version of the software I had handy was my current work version, so that's what's up now. Old database, new software.

You'll notice some feature enhancements, such as the addition of an advanced post editor. The forum search engine has also been rebuilt under the hood to provide more accurate and much faster search results (advanced search is still on the drawing board). There are some minor tweaks as well, such as the complete removal of avatars from posts if you have them disabled, a slight rearrangement of post information (post date is now in the upper right-hand corner), and some minor design tweaks depending on what color scheme you're using.

Expect to see bugs and possible layout oddities because none of these new features have been tested outside my own development workstation and I'm getting a bit too tired to keep testing. Issues are bound to have slipped through. Feel free to report any issues in the bug forum.

Note: Please clear your cache. All stylesheets have been updated and some browsers are a bit stubborn about loading updated stylesheets. Having the old stylesheets in your cache will result in some funky layout issues.

Post
#320310
Topic
Apple/Mac thread
Time
ChainsawAsh said:

I am relishing the day in the future when I'll be able to afford an 8-core Mac Pro with a 30" HD display, 32 GB RAM, a 1.5 GB graphics card, and 4 terabytes of hard drive space ... a man can dream ...


Unless you're working for George Lucas in your basement, I'd say that's a ridiculous piece of useless technology. I do a fair amount of design and development work, and besides a desire for some extra RAM (currently 3GB, but I'd like 8GB to make my various VMs run a bit faster), my quad core Mac Pro is more than enough to get the job done.

I don't get all the iPhone hate. It is, without a doubt, the best consumer electronics device I've ever purchased. To have the entire web--the real web, not some hacked up mobile version of it--available to me at any time or place is amazing. Nevermind that it's a pure joy to use. It's great to be out and about, decide you want eat, search for a restaurant, touch the phone number to call, and make a reservation. And now that the iPhone has real GPS, Google Maps will be even more useful. It's also the best iPod ever made. If you're going to get an iPod and separate cell phone anyway, why not get an iPhone?

And while I think multitouch is the best UI interaction improvement ever, I don't see it working on the desktop, at least not for 8 hours out of each day (plus whatever time you put in at home doing your own nerdings). People are getting RSIs just moving a little mouse back and forth; get the whole upper body involved and you're asking for problems. Multitouch will remain most effective on portable devices with small screens like phones and touchpads.

At $199, the upgrade is a no-brainer. I wish they offered some kind of trade-in program.
Post
#319778
Topic
Excessive use of vertical screen space
Time
Keep in mind that a big chunk of that space is for a banner ad that you're probably blocking. If you think that's bad, you should check out some of the larger forums out there. They have so much crap at the top, the primary navigation is below the fold.

I worked with a professional designer to come up with a good balance of content and white space. I knew that the design would not please everyone, but that's impossible. Also note that your smaller screen size and increased font size are driving the content down even further. A monitor capable of 1024x768 is not "large," it's baseline in today's market.

I disagree with your assessment that it only offers features that others do already. The post bookmark feature is very helpful (much better than random search, and you don't need to litter your browser's bookmark menu with links to individual posts), and I haven't seen that elsewhere. I also don't know of any forum software that lets you save posts as drafts to edit and post later. I could be wrong, of course.

I made the software flexible enough to allow for different skins merely by placing a custom CSS file in the style directory. I've considered allowing users to upload their own stylesheets, letting them create their own skin. Wouldn't be hard to add to the preferences panel.

This is a beta product, and yes, it has quirks. Please keep in mind that this software is constantly under development, and there are fixes in testing for many things (an advanced post editor, more advanced search options, layout tweaks like your avatar issue, and more). While there are many forum packages out there, only a few reach this level of sophistication, and while there is a PHP-based forum wherever you look (vBulletin being the dominant player), in the ColdFusion application market, there are very few choices for advanced forums. This software will help fill that niche.

One last thing to remember: I'm one developer. Software of this size and complexity usually has a team behind it, but I'm not in a position to hire someone to help out right now. That may change once it hits the market as an official retail product.

Please keep the comments coming though. I do appreciate the feedback, both positive and negative.
Post
#319692
Topic
The Atheism thread
Time
Mentioning God on our money is as shallow and meaningless as wearing flag lapel pins. Mentioning God in our Pledge of Allegiance is insulting to those who believe in the American ideal, but not the religion-infused version of it.

Nanner Split said:

I'll go you one further than that: why even have a pledge of allegiance at all? How do you pledge allegiance to a government? Sounds more like a sheep's call, if you ask me.


The words to the pledge before 1954:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."

The pledge isn't about God. It's about our nation. It's a pledge to ourselves and our ideals. Throwing God into it is what makes it a sheep's call.
Post
#317958
Topic
18% of LD owners cite Star Wars as a main reason for keeping obsolete format
Time
There are a few select titles that I've kept other than Star Wars on LD, like Akira by Criterion, but I wouldn't have those if Star Wars hadn't forced me to keep my LD player.

What sucks is that my TV, while gorgeous with DVD, HD, and gaming on my PS3, does a horrible job at deinterlacing. I've considered getting a processor, but that would be yet another piece of equipment whose sole job is to play Star Wars once or twice a year.
Post
#317499
Topic
Info Wanted: Regarding the porting and preservation of commentary tracks (for example, Ratatouille or Stardust)
Time
Preservations apply to materials that are unavailable in a current medium and have been unavailable for a long period of time. All of your examples qualify as custom DVDs and not preservations under forum rules.

joebshmoe said:

boon et al will chime in for the official comment, etc.


You're confusing us with another forum.
Post
#317456
Topic
Robert Harris Godfather Restoration WHY cannot lucas restore the oot ?
Time
Restoration usually implies that great care is taken during the process to ensure that the final product is of high quality. Instead, we got poor color timing, screwed up soundtracks, and a host of other problems due to a rush job.

I'd be no more excited about a Blu-ray release of the 2004 versions than I was in 2004 when the DVDs came out.
Post
#316844
Topic
"New" notification
Time
I'm trying to work out a way to do this without it being awkward. I think automatically marking all topics as read at the end of a session defeats the purpose of having unread topics marked; either you've read a topic since the last reply or you haven't. However, I could see some users who would want only to see topics that have received a reply since their last visit marked.

I guess it's a question of what the marker means. Does it mean that the topic has had activity that you haven't seen yet, or is it simply a notification that something has occurred since your last visit?

I'll probably roll these two options up into a user preference and let the user determine the behavior.
Post
#315719
Topic
Old PMs
Time
You can still access your PMs at the old forum here, but not for much longer. If there's anything you need, get it now.

Old PMs won't ever be ported over to the new software. The PM engine is completely different in the new software and porting messages over would've been a monumental pain.
Post
#315482
Topic
Topic subscription e-mails - new preference setting to adjust frequency
Time
When we launched the new forum software, subscribing to a topic meant receiving an e-mail notification for every reply posted to the topic. Some of you didn't like that, so I switched it to only send an e-mail once until you viewed the topic. Some of you didn't like that either, apparently :)

There is now a setting under the Preferences tab in the "Topic and Post Settings" section where you can choose how you prefer to be notified--once for every reply, or only once until you view the topic again.

The default setting is once per reply, so those of you who don't like receiving all those e-mails will have to change the setting.
Post
#315473
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Time
ron2112 said:

I think what might be happening is that you get one notification only until you visit the thread. After that you are notified of the next post, and then no more notifications until you visit the thread again. Which I guess is okay.


That's exactly what's happening. It used to send a notification for every reply, but then some people requested that it only send one notification until you view the thread.

I'll add a user setting so that you can choose how you want to be notified.