Preview

[johnmeyer]

When the new forum software came online, I complained about the lack of a preview button. I use Preview all the time in other forums to make sure my links work, and to check formatting. This forum does formatting directly in the editing box, so there aren't as many reasons to preview, but I still always want to check the links I provide.

My first request is to put the preview button on the main page, where it was in the old forum, and where it is in every other forum I have ever visited.

My second request is to fix the Preview formatting bug. When you preview a link in this new forum software, the color and weight of the link are NOT identical to what is shown when the text is actually posted. Thus, the preview is using some sort of different algorithms to do the formatting.

Finally, in the old forum I could designate how the link works: open a new window; open a new tab; or open in the existing tab. That flexibility was removed in this version of the forum. All the links now open in the existing tab. That is my least favorite way for it to work because it makes it very difficult to keep my place when reading something. I prefer to open a new tab, read the link, and still be able to switch back to what I wa reading, without losing my place in either the original text or in the linked text.

 

[SonnyE]

And Wah!

What I hate John, is forums where every bodies everything makes the forum so ungainly there is an overwhelming amount of titles and things to wade through. So many fragments, it gets ridiculous to maneuver in.
An up front preview button is nice. But I learned it's over there > in the Mo Options tab.
So if I wanna do a preview, I just pop that tab and I have an up front Preview tab.
So it's almost like vanilla, or chocolate with our pie.
(Front page? Or Preview available here >.)

I'm sure there are many more things I don't use much. I do like how easy it is to insert a link into a word, phrase, or sentence. And it seems unique to here how it will embed a picture from some links, like YouTube or Amazon.

 

[indaswamp]

John, there is a preview button when you click on "More options"....FWIW...

 

[johnmeyer]

Yes, thanks for that hint about how to get to the hidden Preview button. The sysop told me about the More Options button, just after the new software went online. I use it to get to the hidden Preview button prior to every post that contains a link.

Like I said in another post, I can make anything work, eventually, but am not a fan of user interface that is unique for no good reason. I spent my career in the software industry, and back in the 1980s when the personal computer industry was in its formative stage, we all collectively spent a lot of time trying to standardize the mish-mosh of different interfaces that each individual company created. If you remember all that 1980s software, Lotus 1-2-3, SuperCalc, Excel, and Visicalc were all spreadsheets, but they each operated completely differently, one from another. The same thing was true of early word processors like WordStar, WordPerfect, and the early DOS versions of Microsoft Word. They were completely and totally different, and required days just to figure out how to do basic things, even if you were already an expert in using one of the competing products.

In the current world of forum software, there are a dozen companies which make forum software used by web designers, and they share a lot of similarities, and it is very easy to go from one forum to another. This site's look, feel, and general operation is quite different from most forums and, while I would welcome real innovation that improved the state of the art, in all candor, I don't find the differences in this forum's software to be better in any way compared to the designs that have evolved in forum software ever since the days of the Wildcat BBS software.

BBS software? Yes, Bulletin Board Software. Remember when you dialed into someone's home, via modem, in order to join a forum? You don't? Well that's how all of this got started, before we had Internet, and even before Compuserve, AOL, and Prodigy. When I ran a software company in the 1980s we had a "user group" that had a three-line (three telephone lines) BBS where you could dial in and, at 1200 bits per second (that is 0.0012 mbps) upload and download files, and leave messages for other users.

 

[PerazziMx14]

Please delete

 

[Rings Я Us]

I feel lucky that I never used or owned a computer now. I have no clue as to what it could or should be like. :)

 

[bluewhisper]

When the Outback board was still on its old vBulletin software, I had admin rights that let me edit any of the templates. I could tweak some improvements, and the most fun was defeating the spambots (which also were primitive).

We had a registration form with nothing like today's captcha or the "I am not a robot" checkboxes. Someone wrote a script that let spambots populate the form and become members, and we got loads of them. So I went into the template and used the HTML <!-- --> tagset to "comment out" one of the fields, making it effectively disappear from the form. That derailed the spambots and we were completely free of them until someone wrote a different script, which did not try to fill the missing field. Then I simply edited the template again.

 

[Braz]

I prefer to open a new tab, read the link, and still be able to switch back to what I wa reading, without losing my place in either the original text or in the linked text.

On that point I fully concur.

 

[SonnyE]

I feel lucky that I never used or owned a computer now. I have no clue as to what it could or should be like. :)

Bliss! You are a blissful man, Johnny! LOL!

 

[SonnyE]

I agree. Unfortunately this site is close.

Title - 5 sub titles
Announcement - 5 sub categories
Jeff's links - 3 sub categories
Smoking - 20 sub categories
Cold smoking - 5 sub categories
Recipes - 5 sub categories
Smoking supplies/equip - 11 sub categories
Home gardening - 12 sub categories
Dutch oven cooking - 4 sub categories
Preserving food - 3 sub categories
Help/how-to - 2 sub categories
Just for fun - 3 sub categories
Social group - 51 sub categories

13 sections w/ 129 different sub categories. This doesn't mention all the drop downs at the header.

I know. But Lord knows, it doesn't need any more fragmenting. Can't touch on anywhere near all the divisions as it is.
And I've seen worse. Much, much worse.
And I just drifted away. Because it can get boring when a sites configuration takes on the immensity of a large cities Freeway, highways, and roadways.
In no time at all, no one can see the forest for the trees...

 

[SonnyE]

Yes, thanks for that hint about how to get to the hidden Preview button. The sysop told me about the More Options button, just after the new software went online. I use it to get to the hidden Preview button prior to every post that contains a link.

Like I said in another post, I can make anything work, eventually, but am not a fan of user interface that is unique for no good reason. I spent my career in the software industry, and back in the 1980s when the personal computer industry was in its formative stage, we all collectively spent a lot of time trying to standardize the mish-mosh of different interfaces that each individual company created. If you remember all that 1980s software, Lotus 1-2-3, SuperCalc, Excel, and Visicalc were all spreadsheets, but they each operated completely differently, one from another. The same thing was true of early word processors like WordStar, WordPerfect, and the early DOS versions of Microsoft Word. They were completely and totally different, and required days just to figure out how to do basic things, even if you were already an expert in using one of the competing products.

In the current world of forum software, there are a dozen companies which make forum software used by web designers, and they share a lot of similarities, and it is very easy to go from one forum to another. This site's look, feel, and general operation is quite different from most forums and, while I would welcome real innovation that improved the state of the art, in all candor, I don't find the differences in this forum's software to be better in any way compared to the designs that have evolved in forum software ever since the days of the Wildcat BBS software.

BBS software? Yes, Bulletin Board Software. Remember when you dialed into someone's home, via modem, in order to join a forum? You don't? Well that's how all of this got started, before we had Internet, and even before Compuserve, AOL, and Prodigy. When I ran a software company in the 1980s we had a "user group" that had a three-line (three telephone lines) BBS where you could dial in and, at 1200 bits per second (that is 0.0012 mbps) upload and download files, and leave messages for other users.

I'm like you John, I can make anything work. I entered the PC world in 1987, Windows 3.10 if IIRC, but as a user.
By 1989, I was introduced to PC's at my workplace. Our Admins saw getting everybody on board, and we were on the wave when the Internet was born out of the BBS. (Before Al Gore invented it)
Anyway, been in cyber-land for a long time now.

And it sure beats those early dayz. But I for one sure as hell don't want to go backwards. I used to struggle with HTML to make my web pages for my personal websites. Such a PITA!
10's of thousands of posts, probably millions of words now, I still see the Internet as a place to share freely any knowledge one can, or is willing to part with.

But pecking on a keyboard wasn't my stock in trade. It's always been a tool in my tool pouch. I was one of those guys behind the panels, one of the ones they called on when it didn't work, or was acting up. And I helped train others as well. So they could become people who could make anything work.
That's why I dissimulate information in a form another might grasp better. Like, my smoker has a 1 HP heater in it, because 750 watts is the standard for 1 HP. (It's actually 800 watts, supposedly. But I deduct when we are talking out of country watts, in case there is any error in translation to Engrish.

The Powers that Be behind the panels here decided it was time to get a new car. For whatever reason they deemed it warranted. I, and many others, are along for the ride. So I took an available seat, and struck up conversations, and began learning what the ride is like here in the new car, because I never rode in the old car.

But far be it from me to want to change the knobs on the radio, or the buttons that control the windows, or the fabric on the seats, or the color...
It's a new ride. I think I'll just enjoy what it is.
The window cranks in my 1954 Chevy, or my 1970 Landbruser worked. But I don't want to go back to cranks when I can have buttons and electric windows.

So spit out that persimmon that puckered up your face, and smile my Friend.
Enjoy the ride....

 

[TulsaJeff]

I hear all of you and I have my own likes and dislikes as well. Unfortunately, as many of you know, Huddler/Wikia decided to get out of the forum business and we were keen to get back to handling our own platform as well so it worked out. We looked at all of the options for forum software and while none of them have a perfect set of features that will please everyone, this one (Xenforo) seemed to be the best option.

I paid a team of engineers a HUGE sum of money to take unusable data (Huddler/Wikia left it in a very bad state) and make it useable and importable into this platform.

So no, it's not perfect, far from it, but considering what I went through to get this monster moved and useable, I am very, very happy with where we are at this point.

I hope to continue tweaking and see what we can do to improve what we have but for now, I am breathing a sigh of relief for a bit while I catch my breath:)

As always, I DO appreciate the feedback and I take careful notes of these types of threads so our improvements can be geared toward the needs and wants of the users.

 

[indaswamp]

Thanks for the heads up Jeff, I'm sure it was a pain recovering all that data in a usable form. I for one do appreciate it as the one thread I most wanted preserved was. A thread on PID controllers for propane smokehouses.