New forums problems

[PeterW]

Hi there,

I am having problems with the new forum software:

1. Safari doesn't work with the new forums
I can't post to the forums using Safari. I am running v7.02 (latest) on OSX Mavericks. While I can read the forums and even open a page to create a new thread/post and give it a title, I can't get a cursor in the body of the post. Same for replies to existing forum threads - can't get into the message body.

2. How do I view threads that have been updated since my last visit. There was a handy link to do this in the previous software but I can't see where it is now. Is it the 'Latest Activity' button? This doesn't seem to work the same.

p.s. I am posting this message with FireFox on the Mac.

 

[billjw]

Hi Peter

I'm responding from my Mac using Safari. Just to see if it is across the board. Can't offer you a solution, I'm afraid. Unless you are familiar with the show "IT Crowd" in which case, have you tried turning it off and on again?

Bill

 

[vbampton]

Well I would edit this post to correct the missing p in topics, but the text seems to disappear when you edit. Good thing I copied to the clipboard first eh! Old post: I've had intermittent issues replying from Safari, so there are definitely problems there. When it's not working, the "write something" words don't appear. Peter, try the New Toics link on the forum front page for new posts.

 

[PeterW]

Thanks billow and vbampton.

I posted my earlier message from work so tried when I got home but same problem. Left the forums and surfed some other sites then came back, and suddenly it is working for me.

You are right vbampton, the words "write something" were not there before and clicking in the white space did nothing. Curious that it's now working for me in Safari.

 

[PeterW]

I've found that I first need to subscribe to a thread (i.e. click the subscribe button at the top of the page) before the editor is activated in Safari. This must be a bug?

 

[Gardener]

Huh. Same thing for me--using Safari, have to subscribe before I can post.

Also, re:

How do I view threads that have been updated since my last visit. There was a handy link to do this in the previous software but I can't see where it is now. Is it the 'Latest Activity' button? This doesn't seem to work the same.

This was very useful. Now I have to scan the threads and try to figure out whether there's a post that I haven't read. Is there any way for this software to support that feature?

 

[Folke]

I am using Firefox (and Windows), and it seems to work pretty much like it used to. It only looks a bit different, design-wise.

 

[Myriam]

when you're logged in, you see the threads with new reactions since your latest visit (or that you've never read) in bold

 

[PeterW]

Huh. Same thing for me--using Safari, have to subscribe before I can post.

Also, re:

This was very useful. Now I have to scan the threads and try to figure out whether there's a post that I haven't read. Is there any way for this software to support that feature?

Myriam - so the latest activity button isn't what we should be using? It's just the page you get when you log in? This is confusing, and I think users will be posting less than they used to with this new design.

BTW, I can't seem to reply to a comment that has been attached to a post.

 

[Gardener]

Myriam - so the latest activity button isn't what we should be using? It's just the page you get when you log in? This is confusing, and I think users will be posting less than they used to with this new design.

I have to agree. I find the new forums prettier, but much less usable.

(Peter, are you having problems with the editor? It seems to intermittently disable the backspace key for me; to remove an unwanted sentence I had to cut this post out and edit it in another editor, then paste it back in.)

 

[PeterW]

I have to agree. I find the new forums prettier, but much less usable.

(Peter, are you having problems with the editor? It seems to intermittently disable the backspace key for me; to remove an unwanted sentence I had to cut this post out and edit it in another editor, then paste it back in.)

Hi Gardener, well I hadn't noticed it until just now! I typed a line and then backspaced a bit and all seemed OK. Then I tried to cursor back to the beginning of the line using option-arrow and it started behaving weirdly, my backspace wouldn't work and the cursor kept jumping to the end of the text that I'd previously typed. I just couldn't edit it so ended up erasing the entire line and starting over. Good catch!

 

[Myriam]

I don't know about the latest activity button, never used it before. The previous version of the forum also showed me the posts I hadn't read in bold, so that's what I looked for in the new version. I do agree with you (and Gardener) that the new forums are prettier, but seem less usable. Or at least, let's say that I'll have to get used to it ;-)

 

[JSG]

I can't work out how to post something at all, and the search function doesn't really bring up anything, even though I found loads when I last used it

 

[John Forrister]

Thanks for the comments and detailed feedback. Please try a forced refresh a couple of times and let me know if that makes the "write something" field at the bottom of the thread show up as editable. Command-shift-R on Mac or Ctrl-F5 on Windows are common ways to force a full refresh of the page.

 

[PeterW]

Thanks John. It seems to be a lot better now. Thanks also for sorting out the layout issues. I'd almost given up trying to see new threads but the changes have now restored previous functionality.

The only remaining thing that might be irksome in the long run is the 'comments' feature. Users are sometimes posting comments rather than replies, but comments can't be quoted or responded to easily.

 

[John Forrister]

Thanks John. It seems to be a lot better now. Thanks also for sorting out the layout issues. I'd almost given up trying to see new threads but the changes have now restored previous functionality.

The only remaining thing that might be irksome in the long run is the 'comments' feature. Users are sometimes posting comments rather than replies, but comments can't be quoted or responded to easily.

Hi Peter, I agree. We're probably going to remove that 'comment' feature, for exactly the reasons you mention. Plus the comments don't show in the sequential chronological feed, which makes them easy to miss.

 

[Gardener]

I definitely agree with killing the comments feature.

Is there any way to restore the ability to see new posts in a single listing, uncluttered by the threads that don't have any changes?

 

[vbampton]

I definitely agree with killing the comments feature.

Is there any way to restore the ability to see new posts in a single listing, uncluttered by the threads that don't have any changes?

On the first page on the forum, click the New Topics link. I've saved it as a bookmark on my browser bookmark bar as it doesn't show up on most pages. If you want to do that, here's the full link: http://gettingthingsdone.com/forum/..."},"exclude_type":["vBForum_PrivateMessage"]}

 

[Folke]

And an "old" problem with the new forum is the sticky threads. I understand that they are sticky so that new members will see them, but for the rest of us they just take up screen space and block our view,

In some forums sticky threads can be "acknowledged" by the reader (a button to click), which means they will not be sticky anymore for that particular reader. They will behave like any other thread. This is an excellent feature.

 

[Gardener]

On the first page on the forum, click the New Topics link. I've saved it as a bookmark on my browser bookmark bar as it doesn't show up on most pages. If you want to do that, here's the full link: http://gettingthingsdone.com/forum/..."},"exclude_type":["vBForum_PrivateMessage"]}

Thanks, but also, hmm. That doesn't seem to show me the same results as clicking the forums and observing which threads are in bold. I'm not sure what its criteria are.

But of course some of those bolded threads may have been last changed before the software change. I'll try marking everything as read and seeing if it makes more sense in the future.