A few boards tweaks to note 1 1

[Sqeggs]

17 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

Sqeggs, there are actually two ways to quote the people who you want to quote.

1) use bababooey's method

2) you can actually highlight all the posts you want to quote. Once they are highlighted a small black box pops up and asks if you want to quote it all. Click on the black box and it automatically quotes everything you've highlighted.

Yes, both methods are a little more tedious  than the old software but it is possible.

If you want that option back the best way to do it would be to make a specific thread in the Change Requests And Voting forum and see if people vote it up.

Link below to the forum.

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/forum/81-change-requests-and-voting/

 

17 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

54 minutes ago, Sqeggs said:

14 hours ago, Architecht said:

White areas and colors - I assume we'll offer some options here, but I haven't spoken to the designer. I made a little experimental theme that I tweaked colors on as a way to get feedback on some changes, but all I discovered is that I'm not a designer, so I took it back out.

Amount of posts per page - I adjusted that upwards a bit this morning, but I think what people are asking for is DENSITY not total # per page. Have to defer to the designer on that one. I wouldn't know where to tweak it anyway.

 

I'm sure we'll look into it, though.

A key problem is the inability to nest quotes.  I quoted Arch's post, which quoted Roy's post, but my post doesn't include Roy's original post.  A lot of times, particularly on the GA board, we end up having an extended discussion of some point that requires a post to include several previous posts to be intelligible. (Granted that having too many posts nested together can also be a pain, as well as confusing.)

Even in this instance, not having Roy's original post makes it harder to understand Arch's response. If my post were referring to something in Roy's post that Arch's response doesn't refer to, then it would be tough for someone reading my post to figure out what's going on. 

Sqeggs, there are actually two ways to quote the people who you want to quote.

1) use bababooey's method

2) you can actually highlight all the posts you want to quote. Once they are highlighted a small black box pops up and asks if you want to quote it all. Click on the black box and it automatically quotes everything you've highlighted.

Yes, both methods are a little more tedious  than the old software but it is possible.

If you want that option back the best way to do it would be to make a specific thread in the Change Requests And Voting forum and see if people vote it up.

Link below to the forum.

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/forum/81-change-requests-and-voting/

Ah, ok.  This seems to work.  Thanks. My guess, though, is that since almost nobody knows how to do it, it won't get used. 

And I'll add thread in the Change Requests forum. 

Edited February 10, 2017 by Sqeggs
Additional observation

[VintageComics]

Just now, Sqeggs said:

 

Ah, ok.  This seems to work.  Thanks. My guess, though, is that since almost nobody knows how to do it, it won't get used. 

I started a thread in the Question / Vote forum about an FAQ. They really need to have an FAQ about the new forum features which would eliminate half the questions they are being asked over and over. And people who don't know about that forum need to find out about it. That's probably the quickest way to get the mod's attention.

[Sqeggs]

37 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

Sqeggs, there are actually two ways to quote the people who you want to quote.

1) use bababooey's method

2) you can actually highlight all the posts you want to quote. Once they are highlighted a small black box pops up and asks if you want to quote it all. Click on the black box and it automatically quotes everything you've highlighted.

Yes, both methods are a little more tedious  than the old software but it is possible.

If you want that option back the best way to do it would be to make a specific thread in the Change Requests And Voting forum and see if people vote it up.

Link below to the forum.

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/forum/81-change-requests-and-voting/

I just tried this in quoting a post that has a scan and is quoting a post that also has a scan.  Only picked up the second scan, not the quoted scan. 

[drotto]

Things look like they are improving today.  Having some contrast back on the boards is very welcome.

[Architecht]

 

2 hours ago, bababooey said:

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

hit on the circle plus thing when quoting the reply & it will give you a box on the lower right (showing default option of "quoting one post") when you click on that it quotes everything from the post you're quoting.  The idea is that the user has to do extra clicks if they're going to choose to carry-over additional content (prior to the last post)

 

1 hour ago, Sqeggs said:

Not working for me.  I clicked on the plus in a square and my only option was "Quote one post" That's what I did and this is the result. 

There are two ways to do it:

1. Highlight the whole post you want to quote (including the previous quotes), hover over the highlight and click the quote button that appears when you hover.

2. Hit the + button to the left of "quote" on a post, then use the swoopy arrow on the right of the quote you want to go to the post that was quoted and click the + button there too. Now you can hit the "2 quoted" button in the lower right of your screen to quote them both. NOTE: you may need to drag the quotes into the order you want.

 

ON THE UPSIDE -- most of the nested quoting on the old boards just got in the way and uselessly quoted too much. So there is a benefit here as well.

 

[Sqeggs]

1 minute ago, Architecht said:

2 hours ago, bababooey said:

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

hit on the circle plus thing when quoting the reply & it will give you a box on the lower right (showing default option of "quoting one post") when you click on that it quotes everything from the post you're quoting.  The idea is that the user has to do extra clicks if they're going to choose to carry-over additional content (prior to the last post)

 

1 hour ago, Sqeggs said:

Not working for me.  I clicked on the plus in a square and my only option was "Quote one post" That's what I did and this is the result. 

There are two ways to do it:

1. Highlight the whole post you want to quote (including the previous quotes), hover over the highlight and click the quote button that appears when you hover.

2. Hit the + button to the left of "quote" on a post, then use the swoopy arrow on the right of the quote you want to go to the post that was quoted and click the + button there too. Now you can hit the "2 quoted" button in the lower right of your screen to quote them both. NOTE: you may need to drag the quotes into the order you want.

 

ON THE UPSIDE -- most of the nested quoting on the old boards just got in the way and uselessly quoted too much. So there is a benefit here as well.

 

If GAcollectibles were here, he would say "I don't think the word "benefit" means what you think it means." 

[VintageComics]

1 hour ago, Architecht said:

ON THE UPSIDE -- most of the nested quoting on the old boards just got in the way and uselessly quoted too much. So there is a benefit here as well.

That was one thing I did find annoying. People would just hit the quote button even when there wasn't a reason to and so you'd have to scroll through dozens of the same pictures on a page (or video or GIF).

I like that the new quoting feature will eliminate a lot of unnecessary clutter.

I agree with Sqeggs though that it will make conversations more difficult when all of the quotes are not quoted in one post - it forces you to scroll through the entire page (or pages) which really is an eyesore right now unless you guys skin this forum to make it more conducive to readability.

The upside is that people will hopefully learn how to copy and quote and the extra effort needed will reduce unnecessary clutter.

Edited February 10, 2017 by VintageComics

[Architecht]

2 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

difficult when all of the quotes are not quoted in one post - it forces you to scroll through the entire page (or pages)

Have you tried the swoopy arrow on the right of the quote block? It lets you jump to the quoted post, and daisy chain back through the conversation.

[VintageComics]

8 minutes ago, Architecht said:

11 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

difficult when all of the quotes are not quoted in one post - it forces you to scroll through the entire page (or pages)

Have you tried the swoopy arrow on the right of the quote block? It lets you jump to the quoted post, and daisy chain back through the conversation.

OK, I've been looking for the swoopy arrow all day. Just found it in the top right of my quote block in your last post. The main reason I couldn't see it is because there wasn't enough contrast - it blends too nicely into the background.

I kept clicking on it and it kept taking me further and further back through the conversation.

Neato. Again, a little more work but creates less over all clutter as the thread increases in size.

EDIT: Just noticed there are now multiple swoopy arrows for multiple quotes. Again, Neato.

Edited February 10, 2017 by VintageComics

[Sqeggs]

2 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

OK, I've been looking for the swoopy arrow all day. Just found it in the top right of my quote block in your last post. The main reason I couldn't see it is because there wasn't enough contrast - it blends too nicely into the background.

I kept clicking on it and it kept taking me further and further back through the conversation.

Neato. Again, a little more work but creates less over all clutter as the thread increases in size.

EDIT: Just noticed there are now multiple swoopy arrows for multiple quotes. Again, Neato.

So after you click on the swoop arrow, what next?  Do you still have the highlight the text in the post to get it to nest? 

[smithdatura]

6 hours ago, MYNAMEISLEGION said:

ok, here's some examples:

http://ipsthemes.com/themes/

 

 

Ooh, I like this one.  Much more compact with more info appearing on a given page, it seems.

[exitmusicblue]

Testing sig, testing sig 

[VintageComics]

23 minutes ago, Sqeggs said:

26 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

OK, I've been looking for the swoopy arrow all day. Just found it in the top right of my quote block in your last post. The main reason I couldn't see it is because there wasn't enough contrast - it blends too nicely into the background.

I kept clicking on it and it kept taking me further and further back through the conversation.

Neato. Again, a little more work but creates less over all clutter as the thread increases in size.

EDIT: Just noticed there are now multiple swoopy arrows for multiple quotes. Again, Neato.

So after you click on the swoop arrow, what next?  Do you still have the highlight the text in the post to get it to nest? 

The swoopy arrow only takes you backwards through the posting chain that got you to that post, so it's really for reading purposes only - unless of course you want to highlight and quote someone along that chain.

But you can keep hitting the arrow to keep going back indefinitely until there are no more quotes to read.

Once you're done reading backwards you can then just hit your browser 'back' key to get back to the 1st post you hit the swoopy arrow on.

Another trick I use (Mozilla - not sure if all browsers have it) is that I right click on the swoopy arrow and then click "Open Link In New Tab" so that my original page stays undisturbed. I read what I want to read in the new window and then come back to the original post I want to reply.

Complicated? Yes.

Edited February 10, 2017 by VintageComics

[Sqeggs]

19 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

The swoopy arrow only takes you backwards through the posting chain that got you to that post, so it's really for reading purposes only - unless of course you want to highlight and quote someone along that chain.

But you can keep hitting the arrow to keep going back indefinitely until there are no more quotes to read.

Once you're done reading backwards you can then just hit your browser 'back' key to get back to the 1st post you hit the swoopy arrow on.

Another trick I use (Mozilla - not sure if all browsers have it) is that I right click on the swoopy arrow and then click "Open Link In New Tab" so that my original page stays undisturbed. I read what I want to read in the new window and then come back to the original post I want to reply.

Complicated? Yes.

Complicated enough that I doubt it will be much used even among the minority of boardies who figure it out.

Mulling it over, the things I've liked best about the boards are:

1.  Posting scans of books -- now a bit harder for me.

2.  Seeing posts of other people's books -- probably fewer of those given the additional difficulty of posting and the fact that some boardies (particularly those using Flickr, I think) don't seem able to manage it.

3.  Discussions that require nested quotes to avoid confusion -- way, way harder now.

Can't think of a change that is likely to improve my experience on the boards -- even the advertised enhancements to shill-screening don't appear to be happening.

 

[Architecht]

30 minutes ago, VintageComics said:

The swoopy arrow only takes you backwards through the posting chain that got you to that post, so it's really for reading purposes only - unless of course you want to highlight and quote someone along that chain.

But you can keep hitting the arrow to keep going back indefinitely until there are no more quotes to read.

Once you're done reading backwards you can then just hit your browser 'back' key to get back to the 1st post you hit the swoopy arrow on.

Another trick I use (Mozilla - not sure if all browsers have it) is that I right click on the swoopy arrow and then click "Open Link In New Tab" so that my original page stays undisturbed. I read what I want to read in the new window and then come back to the original post I want to reply.

Complicated? Yes.

You could also hit the + icon next to the Quote option, and generate a string of posts to quote if you really wanted to... but htey might be in reverse order unless you drag them around.

I bet in most cases people conclude that they don't need to do it.

If your reader doesn't understand your post based on the one quote you can easily include, then THEY can use the swoopy arrow to quickly track backwards until they are caught up.

[Sqeggs]

1 minute ago, Architecht said:

You could also hit the + icon next to the Quote option, and generate a string of posts to quote if you really wanted to... but htey might be in reverse order unless you drag them around.

I bet in most cases people conclude that they don't need to do it.

If your reader doesn't understand your post based on the one quote you can easily include, then THEY can use the swoopy arrow to quickly track backwards until they are caught up.

Maybe, if they realize what the swoopy arrow is for.  Probably the difficulty of nesting quotes will increase the number of posts that are one-off observations relative to the number of posts that are contributions to discussions.

[Johnny545]

DENSITY is the key issue here and I think why many are having a tough time with the boards.  You used to be able to open the forum up and see all threads on the first page - not possible now.  Way too much scrolling up and down.

Things need to be condensed much more.  This and color differentiation between postings should go a long way.

 

My two cents.

[Jayman]

19 hours ago, Jayman said:

@Architecht I chose my old sig and turned on the option to see sigs but I still don't see mine. What am I doing wrong?

Saw another post that said sigs are not showing up on phones. I am on the computer now and see my sig!

[HarveySwick]

@Architecht

I've mentioned this a few times and you replied in another thread.

I used to view the Boards with Watched forums/topics. I clicked on the "dots" for certain subforums to add to my Watched Forums. Then when I went to "My Watched Lists" I could watch for new posts in all of the Forums I liked. You mentioned Activity Streams here. How do I add Forums to my "Watched Lists" like on the Old Boards?

[Point Five]

3 hours ago, Johnny545 said:

DENSITY is the key issue here and I think why many are having a tough time with the boards.  You used to be able to open the forum up and see all threads on the first page - not possible now.  Way too much scrolling up and down.

Things need to be condensed much more. 

  Agreed. I think if I could just fix one thing that's what I'd fix.