Tried it on a desktop to see how the breakpoints work, and it seems okay, though I was surprised to see it locks into a minimum width that appears to assume >=480px. So turn those iPhone's landscape!
My only concern is that it runs under a significantly older version of JQuery, v 1.7.2. vBull may have other features to prevent it, but this version is said to be vulnerable to an XSS exploit. The latest in the 1-series is up to 1.11.x, and I think it just makes sense, for flexibility in moving forward, to test against a later version. As JQuery went through a major overhaul for 1.9, there may be things that break.
There was however a nasty configuration in their style that didn't allow maximum scale to go above 100% The content panes are actually quite responsive. I took off the nasty bit in their mark-up on the preview forum; you should be able to zoom on mobile now.
Intentional nastiness, too. I've seen few responsive frameworks that don't lock the viewport. Detailed images like schematics are an alien concept to these people.
I see you corrected the issue with the viewport meta tag. Just as a reminder to also implement it to WC3 standards in your CSS, as I believe IE 10 will not read that tag, and only looks at the @viewport rule. Microsoft can be quite stubborn when it comes to ideas Apple "invented."
Definitely something I can look into; I don't know why the software would put a limitation on username size. Well, that's not entirely true; I do know why a new service would restrict size, but sometimes we make legacy changes.
Or we'll all just start calling you 'The TC'
Not bad.... or I could do "The hobbyist formerly known as TC"
Ok, maybe not... to long for me to remember...
Lets see what others can come up with.
Since I don't have permission to post in the Announcements forum I'm responding here.
I disagree with this:
... signatures will be served in plain text, HTML options are disabled ...
Many of us, myself included, use the signature to provide a relevant link. In fact, I disagree with the whole assumption that the signature area is being abused. But at the very least can we maintain the ability to link?
It's understandable though. Spamming links in signatures is the most popular spamming method. The spammer posts a number of innocent posts (I've seen cases with more than 30 posts, sometimes stretched over 1-2 months), then the spam link is added to the signature.It's like mass-updating all posts at once.
Still, it's inconvenient. Some kind of apprentice mode could be used.. be an active member for three months, get privilege increase.
Edit: Although 'HTML options disabled' may not actually leave out a link. Those are not usually inserted as HTML, they are inserted by bulletin codes ([url= and so on).
I took a look at the preview forum again.. not much has happened there. No replies to the concerns raised, so I wonder what happened to the 'new posts' (aka 'show unread posts') problem, and the problems created by the 'comment on comments' thread-forking change? And location doesn't show even if set? It all looks the same as before on the preview forum.
Preview forum =/= my work space - it is not where we've been testing uploading and a lot of the styles; that would on a local development server because it is faster for me to make changes without effecting other instances and I don't push builds up to the preview forums, which as I originally stated in the first announcement about the preview forums is a fresh install of the vBulletin 5 software. I made some edits there when the forums were fresh just because I happened to be in the neighborhood and I didn't feel like booting up my local copy.
I don't think comments on comments is something I've kept in the finally migration of the site. I also never saw this to be a problem it just looked ugly, and it is different than you're used to for commenting. It allowed people to make comments on other people's posts without interrupting the flow of the original post; it could be abused though, as many thought, and also could lead to discussion fragmentation if misused. It was just different.
The new posts and unread posts is a larger problem with vBulletin's JSON, it doesn't read its own markers correctly; they're working on it if they haven't already fixed it since I don't have their latest build.
Bulletin code inserted into a forum's wysiwyg then allows insertion of html into the frame, it is a substitution method. As far as signature lines go, on the whole we're fine with links to friendly resources and other aspects of having a nice signature line; we have consideration to allow some of those features to continue through the signature, but we also have experienced abuse of the signature lines which has been reported. Threads where there are more strings in the signature than the actual post, or where the fat-stack of characters outweighs the length of the post.
We've also discussed the creation of a rewards/privilege feature, which I think would work if I can write a little script to automate it based on some aspects of the user-account; we just don't have the internal staff to mediate or facilitate a forum's community manager.
We've got you in mind, we also need to upgrade this beast and move the infrastructure for technological and business reasons. We're not on a witch hunt.
Threads where there are more strings in the signature than the actual post, or where the fat-stack of characters outweighs the length of the post.
That's mosly the fault of the vBulletin software. Sig lines always begin below the level of avatar, regardless of how little text is above it, leaving a ton of useless whitespace. See post #101 above to see what I mean. And heaven knows why there's so much whitespace before my sig line below.
That's mosly the fault of the vBulletin software. Sig lines always begin below the level of avatar, regardless of how little text is above it, leaving a ton of useless whitespace. See post #101 above to see what I mean. And heaven knows why there's so much whitespace before my sig line below.
Absolutely, which is why my first knee-jerk at the discussion about signature lines was just to remove them all completely.
Mean Bump!
No, I get it and I understand that a forum is also about the user's brand as well, which is why signatures exist. It is a characteristic of a forum to serve the needs of the company as well as the individuals that post, when a user really likes what a certain member is saying they PM and talk it out then arrive at a solution. The signature line is a great means to personalize posts and get the personal branding out there. We don't want to cut you off from that feature entirely; if I can fix it up to remove/trim what we don't like about it, then there's no reason not to consider alternatives.
Maybe it changes in the next few days to be more lenient, it's not finalized yet. Nor really is it ever... we've changed a lot of things about the forums over time, and we're likely going to continue to change it and never without consideration.
You can still sell stuff, you won't be banned or flagged if you're selling things. We're just removing the dedicated space for the classifieds; if you want to sell something in the future, use the category that it applies to.
Ugh... Sorry but that is a horrible idea.. I like this forum because I can check it at a glance. If you're trying to be efficient with white space the same should go for relevancy of the thread subject matter in its container.
So the Robotics Forum could look like this?
FOR SALE!!
My process
FOR SALE!!
Some project
FOR SALE!!
See where I'm going with this?
FOR SALE!!
It kinda sucks when a forum
FOR SALE!!
Let's people do this
FOR SALE!!
(each line is a forum topic)
Even in General that would be annoying. I am very interested in what forum members have to sell, so I think it's great that the option is there. I'd like to check that section when I want to see stuff for sale. Just like when I want to start throwing opinions around I hit general. When I want to annoy Duane I hit Projects. It's nice to not have to sift through things I don't care about at the time.
Just my .02 Thanks for listening, have a great weekend!
This does bring up another question: if you eliminate a forum, where will the current posts in that forum be migrated to?
Depends on the content, that's the easy answer.
Unlike previous forums moves we're keeping the software 'within the family' so to speak, so migration of content will be less broken; we'll do the best to make sure that content matching a criteria gets shifted and links maintained. Rewrite maps and other rule sets to guarantee the paths don't get dropped again. We'll use some of their tools to scan and assess the content, make some valued decisions, and mass-move the data as needed.
Forums that are 'removed' we'll realistically just exist parked in read only, or otherwise archived, which won't have any effect on active discussions just as they do now. For all legacy conversations, buried deep in the annals of the forums, and accessed similarly as they are now - through a search.
Do you realize how much more difficult it will be to be noticed and found when scattered through out multiple forums?
I don't know, I'd guess not very difficult? Like finding all the chatter in the General or something similar, but you're asking the wrong person; I'm really adept at sorting and finding things, and if I'm interested enough I will find it.
The tools exist to make this transition really easy, but it's all different and up in the air from your perspective so it's easy to nay-say and cast doubt which I totally understand. We discussed the forums, it was put up on the chopping block; no one really voiced any reason to keep it or toss it, so it stayed on the chopping block. We have some liability in it, since the material and potential for abuse and fraud exists; however nothing of that nature has occurred. We have seen some evidence that people have taken freebies and resold them, which is just disheartening, but could just as easily occur on any of the other auction-style sites. Also, is that even ethically wrong? It is now in a new owner's possession and theirs to sell.
It's all about making a case for it, no one championed the classifieds during the meeting; however you're making a case now, which are logical and rationally formed, which means when it comes time for me to pull the plug someone might run in and stay the execution... or some fluffier analogy. Besides the doom and gloom scenarios the classifieds doesn't really effect Parallax's operations, so it could go either way.
That's a hypothetical that's not supported by the data we have, the Classified gets frequented by the same individuals and gets hit a few times each month; a lot crawler action too.
I bet I could even open them to prefixes/tags and allow some action to ignore, sort, or something the selling posts. It's all just data at the end of the day.
bump,
I noted you said you can find anything. But we don't all have the same expertise. Searching the current forum is woeful even tho its better than the previous forum. I usually cannot even find my own posts.
A few of us have kept an index to specialised posts, but without them being able to be included in a general/index sticky, most of us have given up.
re Classified, while I cannot recall using it, IMHO it should remain. With a gentle reminder, more of us might use it.
re Signatures, the current forum rules limits this quite strictly with regard to length. I had to trim my signature from the previous forum, but I still managed to get most of what I wanted to link to. All-in-all this seems to be the best overall.
There's something fairly important that I've noticed while we're currently running this older version of the forum software - older than what we've been using the last couple of years or three: This version of the forum doesn't have the quirks which made it impossible to use on Android. I can post on Android now, and, more importantly, I can edit (an old or current post), something that has been nearly impossible with that version running previously. With the previous (newer) version it was so that whenever you tried to position the cursor the page window would jump to the top of the page, you would then have to scroll way way down to where you were editing (you wouldn't even see the post you were working on) and then the same thing would probably happen again. And you couldn't cut/copy/paste in the editor window either.
With the old version running now everything is fine. Needless to say I wish this to be the case also when the forum upgrade is finally done. I can't see any reason for having that version with the fake editor window, this one we have now works perfectly fine on the PC and perfectly fine on my Android tablet too.
Hmmm. It is nice to know that this is running well on Android now. I wonder what version and will have to test on my new phone with 4.4.
On the other hand, does that imply that Android is not up-to-date or that the other Forum software just got bogged down in bugs?
I think we all can recall some so-called upgrades that never performed well. I thought the previous one was meant to deal with security issues of Spam sneaking in.
BTW, I like all the recent format changes so far. Getting general forums way down on the page and several other things seem to be best for Parallax. I actually disliked seeing my postings in General Discussion at the top. Microcontrollers certainly should have that position.
On the other hand, does that imply that Android is not up-to-date or that the other Forum software just got bogged down in bugs?
In my opinion the problem was not really in the Android end, it was because the (former, newer) forum software contained a horrible hack to emulate HTML text boxes without actually being HTML text boxes (the place you add / edit your post). This one here is a real text box though. Not only does it work in all browsers, with copy and paste all working on all of them too, but (on the PC) my textedit browser add-on works too, so that I see a little 'edit' button at the bottom right corner. If I click it I can choose to do all my editing in my personal choice of text editor.
I could never see any real reason for that hack, it did nothing for the forum IMO, so I desperately hope that it will not make its way back in with the upcoming forum upgrade. At home I only use an Android tablet. No PC up and running there.
Comments
My only concern is that it runs under a significantly older version of JQuery, v 1.7.2. vBull may have other features to prevent it, but this version is said to be vulnerable to an XSS exploit. The latest in the 1-series is up to 1.11.x, and I think it just makes sense, for flexibility in moving forward, to test against a later version. As JQuery went through a major overhaul for 1.9, there may be things that break.
Intentional nastiness, too. I've seen few responsive frameworks that don't lock the viewport. Detailed images like schematics are an alien concept to these people.
I see you corrected the issue with the viewport meta tag. Just as a reminder to also implement it to WC3 standards in your CSS, as I believe IE 10 will not read that tag, and only looks at the @viewport rule. Microsoft can be quite stubborn when it comes to ideas Apple "invented."
Too bad I can't post anything once I log in. Or even read anything for that matter.
Not bad.... or I could do "The hobbyist formerly known as TC"
Ok, maybe not... to long for me to remember...
Lets see what others can come up with.
TCv2, or if symbols are allowed TC+TC-TC
Or you could go phonetic TeeSee
I like all 3. Now the hard part of choosing...
-Phil
Since I don't have permission to post in the Announcements forum I'm responding here.
I disagree with this:
Many of us, myself included, use the signature to provide a relevant link. In fact, I disagree with the whole assumption that the signature area is being abused. But at the very least can we maintain the ability to link?
Still, it's inconvenient. Some kind of apprentice mode could be used.. be an active member for three months, get privilege increase.
Edit: Although 'HTML options disabled' may not actually leave out a link. Those are not usually inserted as HTML, they are inserted by bulletin codes ([url= and so on).
I took a look at the preview forum again.. not much has happened there. No replies to the concerns raised, so I wonder what happened to the 'new posts' (aka 'show unread posts') problem, and the problems created by the 'comment on comments' thread-forking change? And location doesn't show even if set? It all looks the same as before on the preview forum.
-Tor
I don't think comments on comments is something I've kept in the finally migration of the site. I also never saw this to be a problem it just looked ugly, and it is different than you're used to for commenting. It allowed people to make comments on other people's posts without interrupting the flow of the original post; it could be abused though, as many thought, and also could lead to discussion fragmentation if misused. It was just different.
The new posts and unread posts is a larger problem with vBulletin's JSON, it doesn't read its own markers correctly; they're working on it if they haven't already fixed it since I don't have their latest build.
Bulletin code inserted into a forum's wysiwyg then allows insertion of html into the frame, it is a substitution method. As far as signature lines go, on the whole we're fine with links to friendly resources and other aspects of having a nice signature line; we have consideration to allow some of those features to continue through the signature, but we also have experienced abuse of the signature lines which has been reported. Threads where there are more strings in the signature than the actual post, or where the fat-stack of characters outweighs the length of the post.
We've also discussed the creation of a rewards/privilege feature, which I think would work if I can write a little script to automate it based on some aspects of the user-account; we just don't have the internal staff to mediate or facilitate a forum's community manager.
We've got you in mind, we also need to upgrade this beast and move the infrastructure for technological and business reasons. We're not on a witch hunt.
-Phil
Absolutely, which is why my first knee-jerk at the discussion about signature lines was just to remove them all completely.
Mean Bump!
No, I get it and I understand that a forum is also about the user's brand as well, which is why signatures exist. It is a characteristic of a forum to serve the needs of the company as well as the individuals that post, when a user really likes what a certain member is saying they PM and talk it out then arrive at a solution. The signature line is a great means to personalize posts and get the personal branding out there. We don't want to cut you off from that feature entirely; if I can fix it up to remove/trim what we don't like about it, then there's no reason not to consider alternatives.
Maybe it changes in the next few days to be more lenient, it's not finalized yet. Nor really is it ever... we've changed a lot of things about the forums over time, and we're likely going to continue to change it and never without consideration.
What brought this on? What will replace it? Is this activity being banned?
Yeah! I was just about to put something on the Classifieds board.
This does bring up another question: if you eliminate a forum, where will the current posts in that forum be migrated to?
-Phil
So the Robotics Forum could look like this?
FOR SALE!!
My process
FOR SALE!!
Some project
FOR SALE!!
See where I'm going with this?
FOR SALE!!
It kinda sucks when a forum
FOR SALE!!
Let's people do this
FOR SALE!!
(each line is a forum topic)
Even in General that would be annoying. I am very interested in what forum members have to sell, so I think it's great that the option is there. I'd like to check that section when I want to see stuff for sale. Just like when I want to start throwing opinions around I hit general. When I want to annoy Duane I hit Projects. It's nice to not have to sift through things I don't care about at the time.
Just my .02 Thanks for listening, have a great weekend!
Depends on the content, that's the easy answer.
Unlike previous forums moves we're keeping the software 'within the family' so to speak, so migration of content will be less broken; we'll do the best to make sure that content matching a criteria gets shifted and links maintained. Rewrite maps and other rule sets to guarantee the paths don't get dropped again. We'll use some of their tools to scan and assess the content, make some valued decisions, and mass-move the data as needed.
Forums that are 'removed' we'll realistically just exist parked in read only, or otherwise archived, which won't have any effect on active discussions just as they do now. For all legacy conversations, buried deep in the annals of the forums, and accessed similarly as they are now - through a search.
I don't know, I'd guess not very difficult? Like finding all the chatter in the General or something similar, but you're asking the wrong person; I'm really adept at sorting and finding things, and if I'm interested enough I will find it.
The tools exist to make this transition really easy, but it's all different and up in the air from your perspective so it's easy to nay-say and cast doubt which I totally understand. We discussed the forums, it was put up on the chopping block; no one really voiced any reason to keep it or toss it, so it stayed on the chopping block. We have some liability in it, since the material and potential for abuse and fraud exists; however nothing of that nature has occurred. We have seen some evidence that people have taken freebies and resold them, which is just disheartening, but could just as easily occur on any of the other auction-style sites. Also, is that even ethically wrong? It is now in a new owner's possession and theirs to sell.
It's all about making a case for it, no one championed the classifieds during the meeting; however you're making a case now, which are logical and rationally formed, which means when it comes time for me to pull the plug someone might run in and stay the execution... or some fluffier analogy. Besides the doom and gloom scenarios the classifieds doesn't really effect Parallax's operations, so it could go either way.
That's a hypothetical that's not supported by the data we have, the Classified gets frequented by the same individuals and gets hit a few times each month; a lot crawler action too.
I bet I could even open them to prefixes/tags and allow some action to ignore, sort, or something the selling posts. It's all just data at the end of the day.
I noted you said you can find anything. But we don't all have the same expertise. Searching the current forum is woeful even tho its better than the previous forum. I usually cannot even find my own posts.
A few of us have kept an index to specialised posts, but without them being able to be included in a general/index sticky, most of us have given up.
re Classified, while I cannot recall using it, IMHO it should remain. With a gentle reminder, more of us might use it.
re Signatures, the current forum rules limits this quite strictly with regard to length. I had to trim my signature from the previous forum, but I still managed to get most of what I wanted to link to. All-in-all this seems to be the best overall.
Just my 2c
With the old version running now everything is fine. Needless to say I wish this to be the case also when the forum upgrade is finally done. I can't see any reason for having that version with the fake editor window, this one we have now works perfectly fine on the PC and perfectly fine on my Android tablet too.
On the other hand, does that imply that Android is not up-to-date or that the other Forum software just got bogged down in bugs?
I think we all can recall some so-called upgrades that never performed well. I thought the previous one was meant to deal with security issues of Spam sneaking in.
BTW, I like all the recent format changes so far. Getting general forums way down on the page and several other things seem to be best for Parallax. I actually disliked seeing my postings in General Discussion at the top. Microcontrollers certainly should have that position.
I could never see any real reason for that hack, it did nothing for the forum IMO, so I desperately hope that it will not make its way back in with the upcoming forum upgrade. At home I only use an Android tablet. No PC up and running there.
-Tor