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A few changes to the Forum Structure

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The Ham

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Very well put tbtc. I’m putting a virtual ‘thumbs up’ emoji next to your post for that one.

Indeed, where's that like button? (Only joking)

On a series side although the mods do make mistakes (I was on the recieving end once, which they did sort it out very promptly) I am grateful for all the seen/unseen work that do put into ensuring the behaviour of all the forum users to allow as to to enjoy this forum.
 
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Mike395

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Apologies for the issues that meant the forum didn't go down on Saturday - the backend improvements had an issue at the first hurdle which I needed to fix first (and could keep the forum online during this time!) - but then meant I ran out of time to do the main development work. It will be rescheduled at somepoint in the not too distant future
 

hexagon789

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Apologies for the issues that meant the forum didn't go down on Saturday - the backend improvements had an issue at the first hurdle which I needed to fix first (and could keep the forum online during this time!) - but then meant I ran out of time to do the main development work. It will be rescheduled at somepoint in the not too distant future

Thanks for the update anyway, thought it had been done so quick I'd missed it! :lol:
 

LOL The Irony

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Apologies for the issues that meant the forum didn't go down on Saturday - the backend improvements had an issue at the first hurdle which I needed to fix first (and could keep the forum online during this time!) - but then meant I ran out of time to do the main development work. It will be rescheduled at somepoint in the not too distant future
Awww, I was at my Grandad's as well, meaning it wouldn't have affected me :lol::lol::lol:
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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Apologies for the issues that meant the forum didn't go down on Saturday - the backend improvements had an issue at the first hurdle which I needed to fix first (and could keep the forum online during this time!)

That was obviously your main priority and thanks are afforded to your good self for fixing the said problem matter and thus keeping the forum online.

Some members are online in daytime hours, some members are online in night-time hours and a few seem to be online 24 hours a day!!!!
 

Peter Mugridge

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Apologies for the issues that meant the forum didn't go down on Saturday - the backend improvements had an issue at the first hurdle which I needed to fix first (and could keep the forum online during this time!) - but then meant I ran out of time to do the main development work. It will be rescheduled at somepoint in the not too distant future

So...another major engineering over-run...?:smile:
 

jon0844

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I've just got a new phone with a 6.7-inch display, and when I have it in the highest density mode the forum displays in desktop mode rather than mobile. I can change the DPI and fix it on the phone, but then everything else looks big.

Is there a way to force the mobile view, or are there any settings that can be adjusted on the forum software?
 

Mojo

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There is no specific mobile view, it is just responsive to the available size. If you are on a normal computer then you can see what it would look like on a mobile just by narrowing the size of your browser window.
 

krus_aragon

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On this very note, one issue I have when browsing the forum on a small screen is that sometimes, when opening a thread that I'd previously read but has since been dormant, I'm not automatically taken to the first unread post, rather I'm directed to page 1.

This isn't too much of an issue on a large screen, as I can click on "Go to First Unread", and get to the new material with little delay. But on a narrow screen, that button becomes hidden from view. That means I either have to work through each page one-at-a-time until I see the red "new" icons next to a post, or go to the last page, and potentially work my way backward if there's been a new page of posts since I last visited. (And, because I've already visited the newest page, the "new" icons are gone, and I have to make an educated guess based on post dates, and/or what I remember reading previously.)

An alternative workaround, on my device, is to unlock screen rotation, turn the device 90 degrees, click the reappeared "Go to First Unread" button, turn the device again, and re-lock screen rotation. It's a bit of a palaver, though.

I appreciate that the bug of not landing on the first unread post may be tricky to identify and fix. But if a tweak could be made to the forum's CSS so that the "Go to First Unread" button isn't ever hidden on narrow screens, that would make for a one-click workaround for those using a small screen.

-----
The relevant code is in css.php, lines 1942-1948:
Code:
@media (max-width:480px)
{
   .Responsive .PageNav .unreadLink
   {
       display: none;
   }
}
Commenting out or removing this portion keeps the button shown at all times, according to my testing.
 

jon0844

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There is no specific mobile view, it is just responsive to the available size. If you are on a normal computer then you can see what it would look like on a mobile just by narrowing the size of your browser window.

Yes, that's what I thought. The new phone has a display that makes the forum think it's a desktop, unless you reduce the DPI, which isn't ideal.

2020 will probably have a lot more phones with large, hi-res, displays.

Also I have the same issue with not being able to jump to the last unread post on mobile view.

(BTW the phone is the Oppo Find X2 Pro; 6.7-inch, 1440x3168 pixels (513PPI))
 

Mojo

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I don't understand how Android works but it looks as if, you can change these settings yourself.
 

krus_aragon

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Yes, that's what I thought. The new phone has a display that makes the forum think it's a desktop, unless you reduce the DPI, which isn't ideal.

2020 will probably have a lot more phones with large, hi-res, displays.

Also I have the same issue with not being able to jump to the last unread post on mobile view.
Are you getting both problems at once? I wouldn't have thought that could happen.
 

jon0844

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Are you getting both problems at once? I wouldn't have thought that could happen.

No, sorry, not at the same time. One or the other.

I don't understand how Android works but it looks as if, you can change these settings yourself.

I can adjust the display size and the font size. The first increases the DPI so icons, status bar and notifications are all smaller. The font size is self explanatory.

On such a large display, approaching that of a tablet, you don't want the UI being huge. So if I go for small (high DPI) then the forum thinks it is a desktop. Leave it on default and it shows the mobile layout (with the user ID above the post rather than to the left).

I change to the highest DPI on every phone I have, and this is the first (and only) to do this.
 

Mojo

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I appreciate that the bug of not landing on the first unread post may be tricky to identify and fix. But if a tweak could be made to the forum's CSS so that the "Go to First Unread" button isn't ever hidden on narrow screens, that would make for a one-click workaround for those using a small screen.
I ought to add that this is not a bug. The data on what posts that you have unread is deleted automatically after 30 days. Hence, if you click on a title for a thread you have not visited in a month, it will take you to the first post. Clicking the "Go to First Unread" button just takes you to the first post that was made a month ago. If you want to go straight to this post from the homepage you can click on the black dot next to the thread subject (I appreciate this might be a bit difficult on a mobile device so you may need to zoom in).
 

krus_aragon

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I ought to add that this is not a bug. The data on what posts that you have unread is deleted automatically after 30 days. Hence, if you click on a title for a thread you have not visited in a month, it will take you to the first post. Clicking the "Go to First Unread" button just takes you to the first post that was made a month ago. If you want to go straight to this post from the homepage you can click on the black dot next to the thread subject (I appreciate this might be a bit difficult on a mobile device so you may need to zoom in).
Ah, the age old debate between "bug" and "feature". :)

I guess the data must still be stored somewhere, if the "Go to First Unread" button still works inside older threads.
(One might argue that it's a bug from a user's POV, although as you say it's apparently intentional on the designer's part.)

I used to use that black dot (or rather its equivalent) constantly under the old forum software. When XenForo landed, I found that both the dot and the thread title did the same thing (for seemingly all threads), so I trained myself out of that practice, and used the far bigger thread title link instead.

Now that I'm suitably informed, I'll shift my finger back toward the left in the future, but you might want to consider whether the CSS tweak I mentioned would be useful to other members.
 

Mojo

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I guess the data must still be stored somewhere, if the "Go to First Unread" button still works inside older threads.
(One might argue that it's a bug from a user's POV, although as you say it's apparently intentional on the designer's part.)
It doesn’t take you to your last unread post, it takes you to the last post you’ve unread that is no older than a month. The data on unread posts is deleted after 30 days.

Accordingly, there is no need to provide the button on narrower views (which wouldn’t ideally fit in any case), as it doesn’t actually do anything useful in these circumstances.
 

krus_aragon

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It doesn’t take you to your last unread post, it takes you to the last post you’ve unread that is no older than a month.
I had to sit here for a moment to think about that distinction, but I've got it now. Thanks.

(Because no read-history data is kept beyond a month, the forum software assumes any posts older than a month have been read by everyone, so aren't considered when calculating what your first unread post is.)
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I see that an updated XenForo facility is now in in operation, not previously being put in a posting notification by the website. Having been offline during the time that this occurred and from information received from a revered and esteemed member of the moderation staff in response to query raised in a conversation, I am now aware of the change.

It concerned the box where postings are made and not having eyesight at the age of 75 as good as it once was, the symbols for Bold and Italic now are not as clear as they once were, when there was an easily recognisable view on whether the item was on or off. I then made the mistake of not fully being conversant with these symbols that appear to have been changed and notified the website that the Underline symbol had vanished. However, that same symbol and the strike-through symbol now have to be accessed by clicking on what appears to be a full colon symbol, which brings up a list of items that includes both of those.
 

JonathanP

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The forum now shows up on my PC with a large black bar on the right hand side, and all posts centered. Is it just me? It looks quite weird.

I am using Chrome Version 86.0.4240.75 on Windows 10.
 

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matt

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Refresh the forum, that should be fixed now.
 

Crossover

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I see the quotation method has changed a lttle when replying - hopefully this will alleviate some of the challenges of broken quotes on responses across the forum :)

I see that an updated XenForo facility is now in in operation, not previously being put in a posting notification by the website. Having been offline during the time that this occurred and from information received from a revered and esteemed member of the moderation staff in response to query raised in a conversation, I am now aware of the change.

It concerned the box where postings are made and not having eyesight at the age of 75 as good as it once was, the symbols for Bold and Italic now are not as clear as they once were, when there was an easily recognisable view on whether the item was on or off. I then made the mistake of not fully being conversant with these symbols that appear to have been changed and notified the website that the Underline symbol had vanished. However, that same symbol and the strike-through symbol now have to be accessed by clicking on what appears to be a full colon symbol, which brings up a list of items that includes both of those.
On the flip side, the quote button is much easier to get to
 

Bald Rick

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I see that an updated XenForo facility is now in in operation, not previously being put in a posting notification by the website. Having been offline during the time that this occurred and from information received from a revered and esteemed member of the moderation staff in response to query raised in a conversation, I am now aware of the change.

It concerned the box where postings are made and not having eyesight at the age of 75 as good as it once was, the symbols for Bold and Italic now are not as clear as they once were, when there was an easily recognisable view on whether the item was on or off. I then made the mistake of not fully being conversant with these symbols that appear to have been changed and notified the website that the Underline symbol had vanished. However, that same symbol and the strike-through symbol now have to be accessed by clicking on what appears to be a full colon symbol, which brings up a list of items that includes both of those.

Whatever the changes are, I now cannot emphasise text (the bold, italic, etc buttons are greyed out and don’t work), and what I type has resumed it’s annoying habit of disappearing off the screen when I’m typing.
 

Domh245

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I now cannot emphasise text (the bold, italic, etc buttons are greyed out and don’t work)

If you click the square brackets next to the save icon at the top right of the response box, that should change it from BBcode editor to "live" editing, restoring the text buttons
 

Bald Rick

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If you click the square brackets next to the save icon at the top right of the response box, that should change it from BBcode editor to "live" editing, restoring the text buttons

Aha. Thank you. I don’t have the square brackets at the top right of the response box, but they were in a hidden ‘menu’.
 

ainsworth74

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Aha. Thank you. I don’t have the square brackets at the top right of the response box, but they were in a hidden ‘menu’.
It's a scaling thing. As your window gets narrower then more options are moved to a menu rather being displayed at the same time :)
 

Bald Rick

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It's a scaling thing. As your window gets narrower then more options are moved to a menu rather being displayed at the same time :)

Ah but my window isn’t narrower, it’s exactly the same. And there’s loads of empty space where the buttons were!

IT and me are not happy bedfellows at present.
 
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