# Forum software upgrade



## Victoria Bampton (Mar 21, 2018)

Hi guys

It's nearly time to run the forum software upgrade, so I just wanted to warn you in advance. Most buttons are in the same place, but the new software has a more minimalistic modern look, so it'll probably take a couple of visits to adjust to the changes. I've attached a couple of screenshots so you know the sort of thing to expect.

  

The software upgrade has some very nice improvements. Many of the improvements are focused on mobile browsing, including a menubar that scrolls down as you do. There's also a new Quick Thread option to help new visitors figure out how to post a thread.

At the same time, we're making some changes to comply with the upcoming GDPR data protection regulations. This will include removing most of the custom user profile fields. There are now custom fields for the threads themselves, which will allow us to collect current system information at the time of posting a thread, whereas profiles were often out of date.

And, of course, most important reason that we keep the software up to date is for your security.

The software upgrade was released last September, so it seems quite stable at this point. I've already been testing the upgrade on a staging site for a few weeks and it's looking good, although I'm sure you guys will find a few bugs 

The upgrade will happen early in the morning UK time over the next couple of days, while most of you are asleep. I'm hoping the forum will only be down for an hour or two at most, as I've already done the majority of the preparation.


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## tspear (Mar 21, 2018)

Just curious how the GDPR will hit the site?

Tim


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 21, 2018)

tspear said:


> Just curious how the GDPR will hit the site?



Oh it's great fun.  I've spent days on it already and I've still got work to do. So far I've mapped out where all personal data comes from, where it's stored, who could potentially have access to it (because that includes all third parties like Cloudflare, Dropbox, the web host, some plug-in developers, and the list goes on) and then chasing them to sign new data processing contracts to confirm they're looking after data just as carefully. There's a new privacy policy up already which is still being tweaked. 

As far as the forum goes, I need to add a registration checkbox for EU members to give explicit consent because the forum is hosted on a US server. We're not meant to ask for or keep more data than is essential for the purpose, hence removing the required custom fields, but they'd had their day anyway. Even date of birth and gender disappear as they're not necessary. I'm still looking into whether sending spammer IP's to the Stop Forum Spam database is ok, but let's be honest, if they spam us, they deserve it!  I still need to find out how Tapatalk fits in as well.

I was already handling personal data very carefully, so a lot of it is formality, but the scope has extended to even include things like IP addresses now. I'm no lawyer, and I'm sure I still won't be perfectly compliant even after all this effort, but data protection is important, so I'll give it my best shot. I've had my own identity stolen and it's not fun.


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## tspear (Mar 21, 2018)

Oh fun. I am kinda glad I am no longer dealing with international eCommerce.
The overhead for a lot of this is just crazy and brutal. And seeing how it can be abused (recent news) I understand where the law comes from, on the flip side what is not getting as much press is how the same information has helped track a serial bomber....

I really need to win the lottery so I can retire and just play with my camera.

Tim


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 22, 2018)

And we're live! Everything went smoothly. I'm sure you'll find a bug or two, and I'm still tweaking odd bits, but hopefully nothing too major.


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## Gnits (Mar 22, 2018)

Well done.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 22, 2018)

Thanks.

Testing the improved drag/drop image attachment.


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## Johan Elzenga (Mar 22, 2018)

Looks good!


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## Gnits (Mar 22, 2018)

Any chance you could put the Thread Title beside the date on the top line of each post.  It would save me a lot of scrolling to the top of the thread to make sure I am responding to the correct thread on iPad and iPhone, especially if I have several threads open. Not an issue when using my main Windows web client.


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## Denis Pagé (Mar 22, 2018)

Nice clear and concise look. I particularly like the fact that the date/time of a post is so easy to find. 

P.S.: There used to be a "New posts" link at bottom right of pages...


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 22, 2018)

Denis Pagé said:


> P.S.: There used to be a "New posts" link at bottom right of pages...



I think they removed it as it now stays stuck to the top of the screen (the little arrow next to the Forum menu item has new posts).  If loads of people miss it, I'll see if I can put it back though.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 22, 2018)

Denis Pagé said:


> P.S.: There used to be a "New posts" link at bottom right of pages...


It's back. That one turned out to be an easy swap.



Gnits said:


> Any chance you could put the Thread Title beside the date on the top line of each post.  It would save me a lot of scrolling to the top of the thread to make sure I am responding to the correct thread on iPad and iPhone, especially if I have several threads open.


Gnits, you've been heard, but that one's not proving so easy!!

I don't want to mess with the page layout too much, as all of the templates have to be manually upgraded every time there's a software update.


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## PhilBurton (Mar 23, 2018)

Printing? Did we lose the PRINT function in the latest update?

Phil


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## Gnits (Mar 23, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Gnits, you've been heard



Understood.


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## MarkNicholas (Mar 23, 2018)

Looks great. First impression is its nice and tidy and uncluttered and I managed to navigate my way round first time.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 23, 2018)

Gnits said:


> Any chance you could put the Thread Title beside the date on the top line of each post.  It would save me a lot of scrolling to the top of the thread to make sure I am responding to the correct thread


Found a compromise. Rather than on each post, the thread title is now shown just above the reply box.



MarkNicholas said:


> Looks great. First impression is its nice and tidy and uncluttered and I managed to navigate my way round first time.


Excellent, that was the aim.


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## Gnits (Mar 23, 2018)

Perfect.


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## Gnits (Mar 23, 2018)

Well done.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 23, 2018)

PhilBurton said:


> Printing? Did we lose the PRINT function in the latest update?



We lost the printer-friendly version button, but looking at the stats, hardly anyone was using it. None of the print friendly plug-ins have been upgraded, I guess because they also found it wasn't really being used. Your browser can still print as normal though.


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## davidedric (Mar 23, 2018)

I like it too - clean and easy to navigate.

Incidentally, I also like having the Forums integrated with the rest of the LQ resources, even if it wasn't initially a free choice.

Dave


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## Denis Pagé (Mar 23, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Found a compromise. Rather than on each post, the thread title is now shown just above the reply box..


Better like that. No more clutter


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## PhilBurton (Mar 23, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> We lost the printer-friendly version button, but looking at the stats, hardly anyone was using it. None of the print friendly plug-ins have been upgraded, I guess because they also found it wasn't really being used. Your browser can still print as normal though.


I guess I was one of the "hardly anyone" who liked the print function because the result was more compact than simply printing a web page.  However, in the big scheme of things, printing is not that important.  So be it.

Again, in the big scheme of things, the new website is a real improvement.

Phil


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## tspear (Mar 23, 2018)

@PhilBurton 

Have you tried "reader view"? It does a fair job of removing the clutter.

@Victoria Bampton 

In the dark style, when you are editing a reply, it is really difficult to see what you highlight. Any chance we can change the background for selected text to something a bit more visible? Based on the theme, a black, or blue (to match the buttons) would be a nice change.

Tim


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 23, 2018)

tspear said:


> @PhilBurton
> In the dark style, when you are editing a reply, it is really difficult to see what you highlight. Any chance we can change the background for selected text to something a bit more visible? Based on the theme, a black, or blue (to match the buttons) would be a nice change.


Better?


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## tspear (Mar 23, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Better?


Yes, but if you are going for that light a color, you need to reverse the font color also. 

Such a fast response... you rock.

Tim


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## tspear (Mar 23, 2018)

Which reminds me, I am curious, is there anyway to know home many people use the "dark" style?
Or are there other pre built ones which can save you the job of tweaking them?

Tim


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 23, 2018)

tspear said:


> Which reminds me, I am curious, is there anyway to know home many people use the "dark" style?


I made it just for you  I don't know of anyone else using it, but there may be a few more. 

Style wise, dark is a child theme of the main   one, so  template changes I make to the main theme get carried over, as opposed to having to do them all over again in a third party  skin. More of the color conversion is automated now, and I just tweak it from there. I'll look at tweaking that blue further tomorrow.


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 23, 2018)

I had a look at the Dark Style for a few hours today, but I found it difficult to differentiate unread posts from already read posts on the What's New page, so have gone back to default.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 23, 2018)

Jim Wilde said:


> I found it difficult to differentiate unread posts from already read posts on the What's New page, so have gone back to default.


Because they weren't bold  enough?


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## tspear (Mar 23, 2018)

Jim Wilde said:


> I had a look at the Dark Style for a few hours today, but I found it difficult to differentiate unread posts from already read posts on the What's New page, so have gone back to default.



When viewing a thread, on the far right at the top is nice blue message that says "New".
I just click the "new posts" menu at the top every couple of threads and get a fresh list.


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## tspear (Mar 23, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> I made it just for you



It's nice to be special. 

Tim


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 23, 2018)

tspear said:


> When viewing a thread, on the far right at the top is nice blue message that says "New".
> I just click the "new posts" menu at the top every couple of threads and get a fresh list.


I used to use "New Posts" on the old software, but for a variety of reasons I prefer to use the "What's New" option on the new software. It works better for me.


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 23, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Because they weren't bold  enough?


Yep. I can differentiate them, but have to look harder using Dark Style, whereas when using the default style it's more immediately apparent where the unread posts end and the read posts start.


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## Replytoken (Mar 24, 2018)

I am still getting used to the new style, but should adapt shortly.  But, everything seemed to load quite slowly.  Should I expect that to smooth out as I visit a bit more often and the update gets "settled" in?

--Ken


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## sizzlingbadger (Mar 24, 2018)

Good work VB, looks good !


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 24, 2018)

Replytoken said:


> But, everything seemed to load quite slowly.



Hmmm, every page, or specific pages? I did clear the Cloudflare cache so that will gradually get  filled up again, but I would have expected that to have cached all the recent stuff by now. The Pingdom tests seem to reporting ok, sub 1.5 seconds and everything's  loading fast here so I think I'll need more info to investigate.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 24, 2018)

Custom icons on the main forums page - love them or hate them?


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 24, 2018)

Neither, LOL! I hardly ever view the main page so I'm probably fairly neutral on the idea. I'd say they're likely to be more helpful than the standard icons for new users looking for the right place to post.


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## Denis Pagé (Mar 24, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Custom icons on the main forums page - love them or hate them?


Like. Small and clean.
Also, I tried the dark theme with this new software and kept it...

Something seem strange on the main page. It seem that the "staff member's" status is shown randomly. For example in the joined illustration, all four have the same badges but different ones are showing under their names.


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 24, 2018)

Staff can set a custom title in preferences. The default one seems to vary depending on which user group was assigned first, but you can pick your own Denis.


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## Denis Pagé (Mar 24, 2018)

Never noticed that


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## tspear (Mar 24, 2018)

I like the new "bright orange" new

_Tim_


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## tspear (Mar 26, 2018)

@Victoria Bampton 

Your latest changes broke the highlight of selected text in the dark theme. 
Hoping you can work your magic again.

Tim


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## happycranker (Mar 26, 2018)

Yes all looks great, nice clean lines and easy to use, well done Victoria and the team!


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## Replytoken (Mar 26, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Hmmm, every page, or specific pages? I did clear the Cloudflare cache so that will gradually get  filled up again, but I would have expected that to have cached all the recent stuff by now. The Pingdom tests seem to reporting ok, sub 1.5 seconds and everything's  loading fast here so I think I'll need more info to investigate.


Seems a bit better today.  I'll watch and let you know if I find it to be slow.  In fairness, I am having some intermittent PC issues, so that may have contributed to the issue.

--Ken


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## Bob_B (Mar 26, 2018)

FWIW, I am truly enjoying the new webpage format. Thanks Victoria!

PS: Didn't know about the different themes. Very cool.


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## Bruce J (Mar 26, 2018)

Victoria - You'll probably find that everyone else likes it, but I hate the text pop-up that occurs when you hover the mouse over a thread title.  I generally read the new messages in order, bottom to top.  If I hesitate just a second too long in moving from one thread to the next, the pop-up obscures the next thread, causing me to have to move the mouse to the side and wait for the pop-up to go away so that I can see the next thread.  Better way?


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 26, 2018)

tspear said:


> @Victoria BamptonYour latest changes broke the highlight of selected text in the dark theme.


Better?


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 26, 2018)

Bruce J said:


> Victoria - You'll probably find that everyone else likes it, but I hate the text pop-up that occurs when you hover the mouse over a thread title.


I'm not a big fan either. There is a way to disable them (for my reference, Options > Threads, Discussions & Private Messages > Enable discussion preview) - but how does everyone else feel about them?


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## Denis Pagé (Mar 26, 2018)

Previews are nice and they are here and there... We have to hover and wait for them anyway.

P.S.: Messages order can be reversed in user's preferences aren't they?


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## tspear (Mar 26, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Better?



Perfect

Tim


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 26, 2018)

Denis Pagé said:


> P.S.: Messages order can be reversed in user's preferences aren't they?


I haven't come across that, I have to admit, but quite possibly! The software name is XenForo 2 if you want to google for instructions on how to do things.


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## Jim Wilde (Mar 26, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> ..... but how does everyone else feel about them?



TBH, I haven't found them to be distracting, but also haven't found myself using them either. Mr Neutral, that's me.


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## Denis Pagé (Mar 26, 2018)

Bruce J said:


> Victoria - You'll probably find that everyone else likes it, but I hate the text pop-up that occurs when you hover the mouse over a thread title.  I generally read the new messages in order, bottom to top.  If I hesitate just a second too long in moving from one thread to the next, the pop-up obscures the next thread, causing me to have to move the mouse to the side and wait for the pop-up to go away so that I can see the next thread.  Better way?


I tought about suggesting to order messages oldest first in user's preferences but it seem this option is gone with the new forum software.  I guess most prefer most recent first (as I do)...


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## Victoria Bampton (Mar 26, 2018)

Denis Pagé said:


> I tought about suggesting to order messages oldest first in user's preferences but it seem this option is gone with the new forum software.  I guess most prefer most recent first (as I do)...


That wasn't possible in the previous software either, as far as I can see, because there's a post on the Xenforo forum saying it would require custom development. Perhaps you're thinking of another forum? Or software from years ago perhaps. Anyway, the post link goes to the first unread post and there's a Jump to New button at the top to skip right down to the latest too.


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## prbimages (Mar 27, 2018)

No, I don't like the pop-up message previews either.

Everything else is just great, though, thanks Victoria for your excellent work


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## LouieSherwin (Mar 27, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> I'm not a big fan either. There is a way to disable them (for my reference, Options > Threads, Discussions & Private Messages > Enable discussion preview) - but how does everyone else feel about them?



I find that they are a bother too. At least they only happen if you happen to hover over the actual topic text so you can avoid them but I rather not have to deal with them.

-louie


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## Bruce J (Mar 27, 2018)

Denis Pagé said:


> I tought about suggesting to order messages oldest first in user's preferences but it seem this option is gone with the new forum software.  I guess most prefer most recent first (as I do)...


It wouldn't help, even if you could reverse the order.  When you are at the top of a list of threads, the pop-up is below the current thread, thus obscuring the  next thread below.


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## Denis Pagé (Mar 28, 2018)

Yes Bruce. But you originally said that your generally look at new posts from bottom up... 

To Victoria. I effectively saw the "oldest posts first" looong ago.


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## Bruce J (Mar 29, 2018)

Thanks Victoria - much better now.


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## donoreo (Apr 4, 2018)

I like the new look.  I am a moderator over on Photography-Forum.org and we use Xenforo as well, but an older version.


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## Hoggy (Apr 18, 2018)

I seem to now lose the ability to edit messages, after doing a couple/few edits.  I find the ability to do that extremely useful due to a cognitive disability.  I'm constant messing something up, even after several edits in which I 'swear' I got everything right.  

...  I also miss the big green smiley, for 'big grin' - it now looks more like it's laughing, as opposed to a big grin.


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 18, 2018)

Hoggy said:


> I seem to now lose the ability to edit messages, after doing a couple/few edits.



I think it now gives you 10 minutes in which to edit a post. We made the change from unlimited edits as spammers were posting something that looked ok, and then editing to add their spam links later. If you spot something you want to add, you can always add a follow up post though.


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## Hoggy (Apr 18, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> I think it now gives you 10 minutes in which to edit a post. We made the change from unlimited edits as spammers were posting something that looked ok, and then editing to add their spam links later. If you spot something you want to add, you can always add a follow up post though.



I thought I remember seeing one of those, but it was after many days - if I do at all remember correctly on that instance.

Is it possible to maybe change that to maybe one hour or a bit longer?  (I frequently post at nighttime, GMT-6 here - where I'm up throughout the night.)  Or maybe allow changes until someone posts after you?

It often takes more than one go to even corrently currently correctly put down I wanting to get across in the first place, and/or it wuld wite write (<- well, these three strike-throughs really almost went through, for instance) like this sentnce.  
Yes, even pretty simple messages take me about an hour or more to put together..  Which is why I don't post much.   (For example, I've been working on this reply since immediately after yours.  )

Although, isn't there a system in place where a newbie has to post ~5 messages or so in one sub-forum/thread?  If not, that's something else I've seen meassage boards do - that might also be considered.

<sigh>  Damn spammers!  They're just sickening.  You would think that even the spammers would hate other spammers - and know what it's like To deal with spam.

--------------------

On another note regarding the update: Is it just me, or does the  cursor always go down to the bottom whenever anything in the toolbar is pressed (i.e. bold, strike-through, and smileys)?  Even when clicking the formatting ones when a word is highlighted - it just goes straight to the bottom without formatting the highlighted word.
I also don't's see those squiggly underlines for misspelled words - which means I could be in real trouble here. 
----  I'm using this board's "Dark" theme, and using Firefox Quantum 59.0.2


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## Hal P Anderson (Apr 19, 2018)

Hoggy,

Maybe you don't have spell checking turned on. Right click in the box you're typing on and make sure it's checked:


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## Hoggy (Apr 19, 2018)

Hal P Anderson said:


> Maybe you don't have spell checking turned on. Right click in the box you're typing on and make sure it's checked:



Yeah, it was checked.  It turns out that was due to the forum's Dark theme. It was actually underlined, but it blended so well with the background of the edit box as to be quite invisible.  As partially expected, I turned on the Owl extension (to see how it interacted the Dark forum-theme, and it was still quite invisible.

So I ended up going back to the forum 'light' Default, and just using the Night Mode Pro Firefox extension to darken the pages.  The underline shows up fine now.  So the problem seems to be with the forum's Dark theme.  (Firefox Quantum 59.0.2)
The issue I was trying to solve with using the forum's Dark, was that when using the darkening Firefox extension "Dark Mode Pro" with the forum set to Light (default) - highlighted text within the editor box is not very visible.  With using the forum's Dark theme with all Firefox darkening extensions disabled for the site, highlighted text within the editor was easy to see.  ...  So, I need to choose between highlighting being nearly invisible - or misspelling underlines being nearly invisible.  ...  Although this one would be hard for Victoria to diagnose, unless she also installs the "Dark Mode Pro" Firefox extension.   .........  I just found I can get around this by using only the "Owl" Firefox extension for darkening, but it's not quite as dark.  However the highlighting in the editor is a bit more visible, and the misspelling underlines are more visible as well.  <sigh>  Oy!  The joys of extension juggling for aging eyes!  

============

However, the issue with editor toolbar buttons always bringing the cursor to the bottom of the editor still persists, regardless.

Another persistent problematic issue that's new with the forum is that once I press any reply button, I'll be brought down to the bottom of the page and into the editor - which is good and expected behavior, of course.  The problem, though, is that a horizontal scroll bar will suddenly appear and start flashing, even if at 100% zoom (or under/over, for that matter).  It will keep flashing till the page is refreshed - after which there will be no horizontal scroll bar anymore.  The horizontal scroll bar that appears is for the page - not the editor box.
ETA:  It will also come back after pressing "Edit" to edit a just-posted message. -- Again, until the page is refreshed.


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## tspear (Apr 19, 2018)

@Hoggy 

Depending on the forum, I often actually write many posts in Notepad or Word first.  I then come back and post the actual message later.

Tim


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## Hoggy (Apr 19, 2018)

tspear said:


> @Hoggy
> 
> Depending on the forum, I often actually write many posts in Notepad or Word first.  I then come back and post the actual message later.



I keep meaning to use that - also for a bit better crash protection..  I've set up a system-wide hotkey and automatic text file and everything, but I keep forgetting the damn hotkey. =)

A relatively 'big' downside to that, though - and perhaps why I tend not to use it - is that formating is generally lost.  And no smileys - gotta have me my smileys.


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## LouieSherwin (Apr 19, 2018)

Hoggy,

I find the preview button a useful way to help me detect silly errors. It is especially helpful when making a long post. I find that the reformatting changes things just enough that my eyes will often find typos that I did not otherwise see.

-louie


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## tspear (Apr 19, 2018)

Since I add most emoticons and others by typing the code directly it is not much of an issue for me. 
e.g. a colon followed by a ) is a  smile. while a colon followed by a capital D is a big grin... 

Tim


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## Hoggy (Apr 20, 2018)

tspear said:


> Since I add most emoticons and others by typing the code directly it is not much of an issue for me.
> e.g. a colon followed by a ) is a  smile. while a colon followed by a capital D is a big grin...



I know about those simple ones, but I many times like to try choosing the more esoteric ones, which I can never seem to remember.   (BTW, I miss the big green guy, standing for 'big grin' - that one just looks like laughing.  Just me?   )




LouieSherwin said:


> I find the preview button a useful way to help me detect silly errors. It is especially helpful when making a long post. I find that the reformatting changes things just enough that my eyes will often find typos that I did not otherwise see.



I do use that, and of course that catches some things.  But my difficulties run much, much deeper than that.  I often have great difficulty formulating thoughts into words.  So what I'm saying at any one time is just a close approximation to what I'm trying to get across to someone else - for brevity's sake.  I guess sort of like thoughts that first come to mind (only not as deep as that  ) .  Only for me, the correct thoughts and wording many times don't come till hours later.

That ends up working for me because I'm up when most of the people on this [USA] side of the pond are sleeping - so not too many people [on English-speaking boards] are posting..  And most message boards allow unlimited edits, so I come back to the messages I post once the 'correct' or 'more correct' thoughts/wording comes to light.  Of course after someone posts a message in a thread after mine, I limit any changes more to grammatical and spelling errors that I missed during the 'preview' and shortly-after-message stage.. Or add "EDIT:" if anything a bit more substantial.

And yes.  I HATE fast-moving threads!     (Also because of speed-of-comprehension issues.  )
Fortunately, I still have my orginial intelligence (thank GOODness!).  But it just ain't work no good no more.


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 20, 2018)

Hoggy said:


> I know about those simple ones, but I many times like to try choosing the more esoteric ones, which I can never seem to remember.   (BTW, I miss the big green guy, standing for 'big grin' - that one just looks like laughing.  Just me?   )



I have no idea where that got to. I've added it to my to do list, but it could be a while before it hits the top of the list.



Hoggy said:


> Only for me, the correct thoughts and wording many times don't come till hours later.



There's a Save Drafts button especially for you! That way you can save as you go along, and when you're happy, you can hit post.






Hoggy said:


> Of course after someone posts a message in a thread after mine, I limit any changes more to grammatical and spelling errors that I missed during the 'preview' and shortly-after-message stage.. Or add "EDIT:" if anything a bit more substantial.



Most people aren't so cautious, and an edit can change the whole meaning of the post, which isn't helpful for tech support kind of cases.


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## Hoggy (Apr 23, 2018)

Hoggy said:


> However, the issue with editor toolbar buttons always bringing the cursor to the bottom of the editor still persists, regardless.
> 
> Another persistent problematic issue that's new with the forum is that once I press any reply button, I'll be brought down to the bottom of the page and into the editor - which is good and expected behavior, of course. The problem, though, is that a horizontal scroll bar will suddenly appear and start flashing, even if at 100% zoom (or under/over, for that matter).  It will keep flashing till the page is refreshed - after which there will be no horizontal scroll bar anymore.  The horizontal scroll bar that appears is for the page - not the editor box.
> ETA:  It will also come back after pressing "Edit" to edit a just-posted message. -- Again, until the page is refreshed.



I've finally tracked down these two problems.

1)  Starting with likely the easiest to remedy, and for aging eyes:  I narrowed down the blinking scrollbar to occur when EITHER of the following darkening addons are used and turned on for this site (separately), in Firefox Quantum (both beta and release): "Night Mode Pro", and "Owl".

While it would be nice to get the forum software working with either of those extensions, as I like their darkening better - since they retain some color...  It might be more difficult to nail down fixes with those.

However, an easier solution might be to adjust the color of the 'squiggly underlines' for misspelled words in the editor when using the Forum's own built-in Dark theme.  Right now they're nearly impossible to distinguish from the lighter grey background in the editor.


2)  The 2nd biggest issue would be the first thing above: "toolbar buttons always bringing the cursor to the bottom of the editor".
I've tracked this one down to any Firefox extension that enables you to drag-select link text.  Notable ones are: "Drag-Select Link Text", and "Select Link Text".

I find it much more handy to use those, than holding 'ALT' down to select the text within links.  Many times a keyboard isn't in the handiest of places.. Like when sitting back in a chair while using a pen mouse.  I have a mini-Bluetooth keyboard relatively close, but it takes several seconds for it to recconect after going into power-save mode.

Although this one I wouldn't know how to tackle.  But there's got to be SOMEthing that this forum software is doing differently for the editor than other boards that seem to use the same software - or at least the same 'flavor' (like both the look and placement of buttons being the same).


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 25, 2018)

Hoggy said:


> adjust the color of the 'squiggly underlines' for misspelled words in the editor when using the Forum's own built-in Dark theme.  Right now they're nearly impossible to distinguish from the lighter grey background in the editor.



It looks like a operating system level or browser setting change, as there's no styling for spelling that the software is sending to the browser. I did find some Firefox configuration settings that you can change though:

Configuration Editor for Firefox | Firefox Help
ui.SpellCheckerUnderline - ui.SpellCheckerUnderline holds the colour which is used to underline words not recognized by the spellchecker.
ui.SpellCheckerUnderlineStyle - ui.SpellCheckerUnderlineStyle holds the style which is used to underline words not recognized by the spellchecker.



Hoggy said:


> there's got to be SOMEthing that this forum software is doing differently for the editor than other boards that seem to use the same software



The software is almost at its defaults. If you find another forum running Xenforo 2 that doesn't have the same issue, send me a link and I'll see if I can figure out the difference.


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## Hoggy (Apr 25, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> It looks like a operating system level or browser setting change, as there's no styling for spelling that the software is sending to the browser. I did find some Firefox configuration settings that you can change though:
> 
> Configuration Editor for Firefox | Firefox Help
> ui.SpellCheckerUnderline - ui.SpellCheckerUnderline holds the colour which is used to underline words not recognized by the spellchecker.
> ui.SpellCheckerUnderlineStyle - ui.SpellCheckerUnderlineStyle holds the style which is used to underline words not recognized by the spellchecker.



AHA!  That'll do it.  Thanks!
OTOH, now I get to find the right combo that works with all my sites and darkening extensions or dark forum themes.  




> The software is almost at its defaults. If you find another forum running Xenforo 2 that doesn't have the same issue, send me a link and I'll see if I can figure out the difference.



Is there any way to tell what software they use if they don't show it, like here at the very bottom?
Such as -- is that copyright notice at the bottom hard-coded into this forum software, or is it configurable whether to show it or not?


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## Hoggy (Apr 26, 2018)

Hoggy said:


> Is there any way to tell what software they use if they don't show it, like here at the very bottom?
> Such as -- is that copyright notice at the bottom hard-coded into this forum software, or is it configurable whether to show it or not?



Never mind - I found a workaround.  Apparently it's those Drag-Select Link Text extensions in combination with "Enable Right Click and Copy" extension.  I white listed this site in the latter extension, and now hitting any of the editor's toolbar buttons behaves as they should.  That latter extension just isn't needed for this site anyways, but there's no way to reverse its behavior to only act on those sites that disallow right clicking.

Thanks, anyways.


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 26, 2018)

Hoggy said:


> Such as -- is that copyright notice at the bottom hard-coded into this forum software, or is it configurable whether to show it or not?


Most show it at the bottom by default, unless they've paid extra to remove the branding.


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## PhilBurton (Apr 28, 2018)

New problem: Printing issues that first appeared 2-3 days ago.  Victoria, did you upgrade the forum software around that time?

Problem 1:
When I created a PDF of a thread, I used to get text in the PDF.  That meant I could use the Adobe Acrobat tool to highlight specific words, which is cool.  Now I get an "image."  I have encountered other websites that do this, that is, display a webpage so that the print is an image rather than text.  Annoying, but Acrobat has a "recognize text" option.

Problem 2:
No workaround for this problem.  When I try to print a thread, only the first page gets printed, using the Firefox browser.  Using the Edge browser (Windows 10), the print to PDF uses a built-in feature of that browser, and Edge simply hangs, with no PDF ever created.

I have not done any tests under the Chrome browser, because I don't use Chrome due to Google's intrusive tracking and data collection.

Phil Burton

Phil Burton


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 28, 2018)

PhilBurton said:


> New problem: Printing issues that first appeared 2-3 days ago.  Victoria, did you upgrade the forum software around that time?


No forum software upgrades since the  main upgrade weeks ago.  If this is a new issue, maybe look at plugins you've added to your browser?


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## PhilBurton (Apr 28, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> No forum software upgrades since the  main upgrade weeks ago.  If this is a new issue, maybe look at plugins you've added to your browser?


Victoria,

I haven't added any new plug-ins to FireFox.  I'm not sure about auto-updates.  However, the fact that I have issues with two different browers may mean something.


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 29, 2018)

Phil, can you email me a PDF you did previously, and one of the same thread as it's created now please? I can't reproduce these issues on my Mac, and I won't have access to my Windows machine for a couple of weeks, but that might offer some clues.


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## PhilBurton (May 1, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> Phil, can you email me a PDF you did previously, and one of the same thread as it's created now please? I can't reproduce these issues on my Mac, and I won't have access to my Windows machine for a couple of weeks, but that might offer some clues.


Done.


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## Hoggy (May 1, 2018)

PhilBurton said:


> Problem 1:
> When I created a PDF of a thread, I used to get text in the PDF.  That meant I could use the Adobe Acrobat tool to highlight specific words, which is cool.  Now I get an "image."  I have encountered other websites that do this, that is, display a webpage so that the print is an image rather than text.  Annoying, but Acrobat has a "recognize text" option.
> 
> Problem 2:
> No workaround for this problem.  When I try to print a thread, only the first page gets printed, using the Firefox browser.  Using the Edge browser (Windows 10), the print to PDF uses a built-in feature of that browser, and Edge simply hangs, with no PDF ever created.



I can confirm both of these issues in Win10 Firefox - both the release version (v59.0.2 IIRC) and beta v60.0b16

I tested Chrome too (it's the only thing that will still work with Google Voice -- coincidence?  ).  All the pages printed to pdf just fine, but it was still as an image.


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## Victoria Bampton (May 3, 2018)

A bit of a Google came up with this documentation that seems to suggest it's a browser issue Printing to PDF from Firefox or Chrome – Bullzip Knowledge Base but I'll test further when I get access to my Windows machine


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## PhilBurton (May 4, 2018)

Victoria Bampton said:


> A bit of a Google came up with this documentation that seems to suggest it's a browser issue Printing to PDF from Firefox or Chrome – Bullzip Knowledge Base but I'll test further when I get access to my Windows machine


Almost.  I can still print even now PDFs as text from other websites using FireFox and Adobe Acrobat.  For some websites, I have never been able to print PDFs as text.   In fact, I just printed off as a PDF one of the webpages frrom the Bullzip website, and it did print off as text!

Phil


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## Hoggy (Aug 12, 2018)

I've been away for a while.  I'm now on a new computer, using a recreated from scratch Firefox profile.  ....  Win10 Pro, Firefox Quantum v61.0.2

I'm still getting the flashing horizontal scrollbar after posting a reply.  Like on my old computer, it won't go away until I refresh the page.
It pops up a flashing horizontal page-scrollbar on the bottom, even though there was none before posting a reply.

Any possibility of finding a fix for that?
(Also of note, is that it popped up when hitting 'edit' for this post.)


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## tspear (Aug 12, 2018)

Hoggy,

I think this one is all you 
I use Firefox on my Windows 10 machines and have no problems and do not see the flashing scroll bar.
With that said as a developer I have seen this before. Try resizing the window, if you have it maximized try full screen or just slightly smaller. Sometimes the combination of font, display settings and resolution can throw off the calculation if a scroll bar is needed.

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Tapatalk


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## Hoggy (Aug 12, 2018)

tspear said:


> With that said as a developer I have seen this before. Try resizing the window, if you have it maximized try full screen or just slightly smaller. Sometimes the combination of font, display settings and resolution can throw off the calculation if a scroll bar is needed.



Just tried these --- no go.  (After hitting 'reply', I had to refresh the page just now - you know how annoying it can be to type with a flashing scrollbar in your face, on a large monitor?   OH - and again after using a smiley  - twice!)

I'm not sure how this can be reproduced.  This is on a 32-inch 4k monitor, so the system is set up for 150% enlargement in Window's setting.  On my old computer, it was set to 125%.
While trying the above, I tried Firefox zooms set to both 100% and ~150% -- apparently this forum isn't made for 4k, cause at 100% Fx zoom, this forum is a pretty tiny strip in the middle.

Possibly Victoria can try enlarging via Window's settings on a testing machine when she gets to one?

<sigh>  Or maybe I'll have to do the 'Firefox addon dance' yet again.


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## tspear (Aug 12, 2018)

No problems on my 4K screen. But then I have Windows magnification set to 100%.
I figure I will need to wear my reading glasses soon.... 

Good luck,

Tim


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## Victoria Bampton (Aug 13, 2018)

Test Post on Firefox Windows 10 100%


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## Victoria Bampton (Aug 13, 2018)

Test post on Firefox Windows 10 150% on 4K


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## Victoria Bampton (Aug 13, 2018)

No joy reproducing it here I'm afraid Hoggy, and google's not turning up anyone else using the same software with the same problem.  I did find some Firefox-specific flashing info: How can I fix the "flickering" going on on the top of all my screen views, mainly seen on my desktop? | Firefox Support Forum | Mozilla Support


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