[07-MAR-2016] Current status of BLF upgrade process

[sb56637]

Hi there keltex78,

@keltex78

Yup… Adding a photo without any other content doesn’t work. It needs a space or other input in the text field, otherwise the Save/Preview buttons remain grayed out.

I’m not sure if I can work around this one unfortunately.

Things I’m missing:

1. I liked having the member location listed; this was helpful when assisting with locating sources for hardware. (eg., are you in the US? Buy from Mtn! Are you overseas? get free shipping from FastTech.)

2. A searchable list of threads participated in by each member. This was very helpful… (I recall Djozz started a thread yesterday but I didn’t subscribe, now I want to find that again… Also, this is extremely helpful in identifying Giveaway Spammers who aren’t contributing members and only join to get free stuff.)

3. The automatic subscription to threads I participate in of course…

4. The full list of Smileys in the drop-down box from the text editor…

All on the TODO list.

[Triple_A]

Thank You SB, for ALL the hard work you do !
I like the new layout and UI.

[sb56637]

[sb56637]

@sb56637

@keltex78

Yup… Adding a photo without any other content doesn’t work. It needs a space or other input in the text field, otherwise the Save/Preview buttons remain grayed out.

I’m not sure if I can work around this one unfortunately.

Actually I take that back. I found a fix, which is now implemented.

[keltex78]

Hey! It works!

[Halo]

@sb56637

User rank (star system) is gone. Not a huge deal I guess but I liked it. I was so proud when I got my fourth star!

Ah, I was wondering if anybody would notice.

I noticed instantly! You had the special user rank of == The Administrator == iirc.
Is there any interesting user rank plugins perhaps? Attach rank to posts-per-day and we could have a rank based on lack of life outside of BLF!

@sb56637

I never thought I could hate emoticons… These new cross-eyed, dopey looking dorks with a sprout of hair are driving me bonkers! Ok I like the new crazy eyed one but I actually get mad looking at the winking one. Ok maybe I have some anger issues to work out. LOL I miss the old ones though. Perhaps you’re working on them already because now I only have 5 to choose from…

Yep, I think I’ll just put back the old ones.

I like the crazy eyed one too! Can we keep that one?
You know someone is going to miss all the dopey ones too.

[MountainKing]

It is now working correctly

[Joshk]

Perhaps a ranking system that is based on “helpful votes”. That might pull the future in the direction we want.

[DavidEF]

@Joshk

Perhaps a ranking system that is based on “helpful votes”. That might pull the future in the direction we want.

Hmmm… yeah… maybe…

[Joshk]

David, I mean this in the most utilitarian way possible. Your display picture is very creepy.

[DanielM]

@Joshk

David, I mean this in the most utilitarian way possible. Your display picture is very creepy.

Second that. It’s creepy af.

[DavidEF]

@DanielM

@Joshk

David, I mean this in the most utilitarian way possible. Your display picture is very creepy.

Second that. It’s creepy af.

My wife says so too.

[sb56637]

Hi everyone, this is a test of the new "Advanced Post Editor".

1	2	x	3
4	5	x	6
7	8	x	9

[jacktheclipper]

[jacktheclipper]

[keltex78]

@DavidEF

@DanielM

@Joshk

David, I mean this in the most utilitarian way possible. Your display picture is very creepy.

Second that. It’s creepy af.

My wife says so too.

@DavidEF

I made my avatar back a few years ago for some other site, I can’t remember which. (Although, seems it might’ve been facebook) I first took a picture of myself with my cheap webcam. I actually used that picture as my avatar there for a while, but the webcam was not a good one, so the pic was grainy and the lighting was bad. So, I decided to help it a little. I opened up the picture in GIMP and colored over the old pic with blocks of color. I then added the weird, oversized eyes and called it done. My wife can’t stand the avatar, says it’s “creepy”! I like it, so I use it.

Via Your BLF Avatar - #242 by DavidEF

[J-Dub74]

@sb56637

@J-Dub74

Hey SB. I know this has to be a ridiculous amount of work tuning out all the little bugs and I don’t envy you right now.
Great job overall but I suppose I may as well throw my complaints and suggestions out there too.

Hey there, thanks for the comments!

User rank (star system) is gone. Not a huge deal I guess but I liked it. I was so proud when I got my fourth star!

Ah, I was wondering if anybody would notice. I believe I can put it back, but I was kind of thinking that it didn’t make a lot of sense to equate number of posts with “quality” or “reputation” of the user. Take me for example, I had 5 stars and yet I can barely insert a battery into a flashlight! (And let’s not even talk about threading lanyards into the little holes on the tailcap…)

I know it’s on the list already but location is really important in a global forum like this. It helped me a lot with how to respond to certain questions.

Meanwhile don’t forget that you can just click on the user’s name and see their location if it’s filled in.

White space… There is SO much of it now mostly at the bottom of each post. For those who don’t have a signature line on my 24” monitor I’m looking at 2 1/2 inches of blank space at the bottom of each post. I’m wearing out the scroll button on my mouse. One place at least 1/4 inch could be saved would be shrinking the height of the “Top…Quote…Reply” line under each post. It seems overly large now. It looks like the “Send PM” button is half the height of those bottom buttons and that is more than large enough IMO.

Hmm, I don’t really see it any different than the way it was before. I think it’s pretty much unavoidable given the author’s details that require a certain amount of vertical space for every post. But I wonder if you’re running into some kind of browser incompatibility. Here’s what it looks like for me on Firefox in fullscreen (15.4” hi-dpi):
http://s18.postimg.org/mtr8qkgs9/Screenshot_from_2016_02_12_10_47_05.png

I never thought I could hate emoticons… These new cross-eyed, dopey looking dorks with a sprout of hair are driving me bonkers! Ok I like the new crazy eyed one but I actually get mad looking at the winking one. Ok maybe I have some anger issues to work out. LOL I miss the old ones though. Perhaps you’re working on them already because now I only have 5 to choose from…

Yep, I think I’ll just put back the old ones.

Ok let me add that I really want the old subscription service back! It took me 10 minutes to find this thread again! LOL

Also, when I click on a user you can no longer see their created threads. I have now manually subscribed here. I keep forgetting I have to do that now. I don’t know if we need an auto subscribe just for looking but if I post in a thread I want to do the polite thing and respond to people especially if they’re saying something in response to what I’ve said so subscribing upon adding a comment would be great.

I checked your screenshot and that’s about how mine looks too. It’s probably just a result of the “big picture” effect of increasing the text size. It’s actually amount of vertical space for every post that’s taking up so much space now in my eyes. I was wondering if that space could be “coded” into less white. For example if I don’t post anything as a signature I don’t need those extra “X” amount of lines at the bottom of my replies. Could it only expand if there is something in there? A buddy of mine knows quite a bit about PHP coding so I can run it by him too. Maybe it’s just not reasonable to do. I didn’t think the text size needed increasing but I assume that’ not popular opinion since it was worked into this upgrade. It’s just my opinion so if everyone else likes it that’s fine. Whatever the final outcome I’m here for the long haul. You run a great site here my friend.

[Ervin_Anastasi]

Thanks for all the work !

[Dimbo_The_Blinky]

@sb56637

Looks like to add links with dashes in them we’ll have to use the insert link button when using the Simple Post Editor.

Vastly better to have the URL gobbledygook hidden behind human-readable text! It’s supposed to be “HyperText”, after all. Maybe just not parsing URLs at all in the comment body (i.e. render them as plain text) would be easier on everybody? Then if anyone chooses to paste a URL, the reader(s) can do whatever they choose to do with it.

PS: When I Save a Post it doesn’t Subscribe me to that Thread. I Saved my account subscription settings to test, here, if that fixes the problem. BRB…

[sb56637]

@Dimbo The Blinky

PS: When I Save a Post it doesn’t Subscribe me to that Thread. I Saved my account subscription settings to test, here, if that fixes the problem. BRB…

Correct, that’s still broken.