adobe-admin wrote:
Right. Each one needs to be fixed individually until the overall fix is rolled out in the next forum update.
The new forum udate is taking longer than most of us had hoped for. The "any day now" has morphed to weeks.
Any chance it can be rolled back to previous version?
Would like to see a REAL beta test on this Forum to get the bugs worked out before it goes public.
Could it be that no actual "improvements" are forthcoming?
No disrespect intended to John C. and the other fine folks trying to make this work, but we have to start to consider this:
Perhaps the forum is the way it is because someone in charge, possibly in a near-vacuum, has decided that all the stuff we're missing isn't good to have, and that a simpler interface is better. This might be the same decision-making that led to the inclusion of social networking garbage (that thankfully can be blocked).
I suppose it's just barely possible - though I'll believe it when I see it - that further web software releases are now being subjected to actual testing before release.
-Noel
Here is a screen shot of some of the fixes being tested right now. If all goes well, they'll be in place on May 24.
I've been out of the office most of this week doing some volunteer work with cancer survivor portraits, so I've been quiet here. But there are a number of people actively working on this.
John
As for the "action bar" I mentioned earlier; I have now observed it very carefully, and it is displayed in two parts
so there is no real danger that I hit Delete by mistake. But trying to hit Reply, Edit, or Delete may end up as something else (nothing, helpful:Yes, or helpful:No). This is just plain irritating.
Couldn't that bar be pushed out in one go? Or at least put the left items first, then add subsequent items on the right?
Those are the tags, Claudio.
The other major problem with these, besides them being unreadable, is that when there are too many (and the window is too small) they push the text off to a tiny column on the right.
The answer is: If they're not useful enough to be made readable, just leave them off. Does anyone actually use or look at tags? I think maybe I've seen once whether a user, who neglected to mention it otherwise, had a Mac or PC, but otherwise they are singularly unhelpful. Like an electric dog polisher.
-Noel
I just noticed that there are several useless hacks for IE6 users in this forum template. You could save yourself a lot of trouble by moving on and focusing on fixing quirks using only modern browser targets. Removing this old IE6 code will improve delivery for everyone.
IE6 is used by people stuck on Windows 98. The only market that still uses IE6 is in Asia, where piracy is rampant and users do not need to 'activate' Windows 98. (Activation was introduced with XP). As Adobe provides neither products nor support for Windows 98 users, it makes no sense to be bothering with IE6 compatibility here.
IE6 usage data: http://www.ie6countdown.com/
IE7 usage is comparable to IE6. You really only need to design for IE8 and above.
http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version-ww-monthly-201104-201204
Thanks, Noel, for giving them a name. However, regardless of their name and what they are there for, why do I see them in only a few messages? Now that I know what they are, I remember that before this last change we had a list of tags at the end of every (?) message.
I cannot remember its being mentioned:
You can no longer use Back to [relevant forum name] to return to the place/page in the forum thread list that you came for. The Adobe Forums > ... > [relevant forum name] > Discussions link takes you back to the start ogf the list.
Funny, but not funny hah hah, when you are on one of the other pages.
The only way to get back is clicking the browser Back button, in most cases twice because the first time gets you nowhere else, as reported and discussed here and elsewhere.
Jacob, I'm not seeing problems with the Back key, but chances are I'm not using like you are.
Can you be just a little more specific about just what to click to reproduce what you're seeing? I tried just clicking on forum posts, then clicking links within. The Back arrow in IE9 always seems to return me to the place I was before. I just want to make sure I'm doing exactly what you're doing.
-Noel
I have asked for the forum controls (reply Mark as, Edit, Delete (some of which only appear for moderators)) to be right aligned so they appear in the same place on Questions (which have the late appearing Was this helpful) and on non-questions so that there might be some consistency. Futur update...
Noel, I'm using FF right now and see it on almost any page. If I'm reading this thread and move from the third page to the fourth and hit Back it just sits there. I have to hit Back a 2nd time for it actually go back to the third page.
I can't say that it happens 100% of the time, but enough to notice it and get annoyed by it.
John C,
This is definitely not directed at you, as you have probably not seen your family in several weeks, but the forums, the "new & improved forums," are flat broken. THIS is some video of the Adobe forums, though metaphorically. I could come up with many nautical metaphors too. The Titanic, The Morro Castle, and many others, come immediately to mind.
I keep trying to be patient, in hopes that things will finally get better, but they are not. The Adobe Forums are almost impossible to use now. Many contributors are just leaving, and in droves.
Adobe made a very big mistake (or many of them), and I do not know how to "right the ship."
Sorry to be so pessimistic, but I am loosing faith. As BB King opined, "the thrill is gone."
Hunt
Noel Carboni wrote:
Hm, must be the rare case where it works better on IE than FF then.
Indeed; I have just tested with IE9, and the phenomenon does not happen here.
But with Firefox 12 and Waterfox 12 it happens about 3 times out of 4. Both when using the browser's Back button, or the keyboards Back key.
Here is another strange one, John.
It is rather serious.
When you use Ask a Question and insert a string of text with or withou quotes, you get to a new page with a (rather short) list of threads.
It should be noted that the URL refers to the forum that you left, such as this for this forum and the search string "fair forums":
http://forums.adobe.com/community/general/forum_comments?view=discussi ons
When you click one of the threads, you get there, and you can read it.
But.
When you hit the Back button (which is the only way to get back), you are brought back to the forum you started from, not to the search results.
This means that you will have to start all over again, retyping the search string.
The only way to avoid this is to click the See more Results bar, whether it turns up more results or not.
Only then you get the chance of going back to the search list and see another thread.
It also gets an URL of its own, as this:
The legend still needs a patch - we're running gray icons on an identical gray backgound, so the only visible pixels are from the (now incorrect) matte to white. "New" is equally hinky:
To quote Zaphod, "It's the weird colour scheme that freaks me. Every time you try to operate one of these weird black controls, which are labeled in black on a black background, a small black light lights up black to let you know you've done it."
One suggestion in connexion with the information under the avatar still under construction:
The post count is related to the date mentioned and is probably right, but for many of us, the date has nothing to do with the date of joining the forums. It is merely a date
I, for one, started posting in two of the forums in the previous millennium, so I was a well established native that late summer day in 2006. Some natives that were already there when I joined have even later dates under their avatars, as far as I remember as late as some time in 2009.
And one of the most knowledgable natives I have ever met, and who has seemed to have always been here (and has posted as lately as yesterday), has no post count and no date at all (and even no (default) avatar at all), thus seemingly having managed in some way to escape back to the bliss of the fair forums where all were equal.
I presume it has to do with the merging of forums and earlier attempts to change the forum formats, (some of) the natives of the WebX forums having a greater part (or all) of their past left out.
I would suggest the wording:
[Number of] posts
Since [day]-[Month]-[Year]
This would be correct/coherent information, as well done as it can be when the original date of joining the forum is lost.
A few more obsevations:
The Ask a Question, which seems to have replaced the Search, seems to have lost the additional options.
This means that more specific searches, and all the additional options that were described here,
http://forums.adobe.com/docs/DOC-1021
are lost.
The Search box mentioned in that Document is no longer there at all.
North America
Europe, Middle East and Africa
Asia Pacific