Mahz's Dev Journal

[LegendBegins]

While we're speaking of the Guild's style, I've noticed that posts tend to become rather large, especially when quoting another. Would it be possible to implement a system that automatically collapses quotes that can be expanded?

[Shienvien]

I'd prefer if quotes stayed open, always, no matter how long they become. Scrolling is easier done than clicking, especially with a touchpad or trackpoint, or when you have to go fetch the mouse from somewhere behind the monitor...

[LegendBegins]

I'd prefer if quotes stayed open, always, no matter how long they become. Scrolling is easier done than clicking, especially with a touchpad or trackpoint, or when you have to go fetch the mouse from somewhere behind the monitor...

@Shienvien

Really? I feel the opposite; I want posts to be as small and concise as possible, despite me never using a mouse.

[Ellri]

maybe, if such a feature is coded, have it modifiable in profile view options somewhere?

[Shienvien]

Another of those matter of preference things, I suppose. The same way I tend to prefer having dozens upon dozens of posts on one page as opposed to having to actually flip between pages. Hiders are good for infodumps, for quotes ... not so much. There I have found them pretty much exceptionlessly annoying. (And if people are not responding to everything in the quote or all of the quote isn't relevant, they can just trim it accordingly.)

[Mahz]

Is it me, or do the GM/coGM post badges look different now? To be fair, I'm on a PC at work on Internet Explorer that's older than version 9 and the whole site looks a little different so it could be that.

@Hank

Makes sense since the badges and various other bits of the UI use styling features that only work on modern browsers (less than or equal to 5 years old, I'd guess).

That's rough that you have to use IE8 at work.

Editing and hiders don't work for you because there's probably some Javascript on the Guild that IE8 doesn't support, so it's throwing an error and preventing the rest of the Javascript (editing, hiders) from executing. Might be a simple fix, but hard for me to track down without seeing the errors myself.

@Mahz: Still being logged out on browser restart.

@Shienvien

Okay, I'd simply reverted my previous "fix" since it didn't seem to do anything for you aside from making the code slightly more complex. And you just confirmed the revert didn't magically fix anything.

So my next attempt will be to set remember-me expiration for 6 months instead of 12 months in case there's an issue with too-far-ahead expiration.

While we're speaking of the Guild's style, I've noticed that posts tend to become rather large, especially when quoting another. Would it be possible to implement a system that automatically collapses quotes that can be expanded?

@LegendBegins

I figure that if it'd be an improvement for quotes to be collapsed by default, then the quoting is extraneous to begin with.

However, I think the Guild needs a way to reply to a post without quoting it. Like maybe some syntax like [@Mahz,374819] will drop into a glyph like Replying to Mahz, <Post 374819>: where the post is either a link to the post or pops up a modal window with the post's content so the reader can quickly establish context.

I would think this would eliminate some redundancy from the way people sometimes use quotes, and also keep posts physically leaner.

[LegendBegins]

@Mahz
With those I've interacted with, the issue they have is simply that the quoted content is far too large, likely larger than their response. However, it is always handy for everyone to be able to see the quote for context (especially if the original post was pages before). Linking it is possible, but redirects are (at least in my experience) a hassle to deal with, and popup windows would be a pain for mobile users.

[Shienvien]

So my next attempt will be to set remember-me expiration for 6 months instead of 12 months in case there's an issue with too-far-ahead expiration.

That'd be strange, given that this computer has managed to logged on on some sites ever since it was bought (so two years ago), and all the dumb php-session and cookie-solutions I myself have made have ended up using being pretty reliable (for me, even if they may not always be to others, as has turned out)... I'd suspect it's something even more elusive. But hey, we'll wind up finding out whether anything changes the next time I have to restart something or another.

[Mahz]

@LegendBegins Another idea for compromise is to put a max-height on quotes and have them scroll if the quote height exceeds it.

It's not something I think is necessary for a desktop/laptop-sized viewport, but maybe it would improve the experience for some mobile users. It's something I'd consider making a configurable option:

Scroll quotes when they become too tall: 

	[ ] yes
	[x] no (default)

This isn't something I've ever heard someone complain about before, though.

[LegendBegins]

@Mahz
That solution is much preferred. I'm not sure why you haven't heard others mention it, but those I know mention it to me, being an issue for them.

[Mahz]

@Shienvien Yeah, exactly. I'm working down the list of elusive bugs I've been able to conjure up from the pits of browser bug trackers that are still marked as unresolved/semi-resolved issues on some OS/version combinations.

Some day!

Just to re-up my intel, is this is only an issue on your Firefox 38 on [desktop] Linux device?

[Mahz]

@LegendBegins Usher them into this thread next time so I can feel the entirety of Guild UX pain.

[Shienvien]

Looks like nice compromise to me. (If I can keep it off, then why would I ever take an issue with it?) But yeah, I am on the opposite side of the fence here - too long quotes have never been an issue for me, but collapsible things where I don't want them absolutely have been, and quotes have ended up being a memorably recurring example of it. (Including on touchscreens, since you can scroll with any part of the screen, but buttons may require your other hand, especially if the webbing of your right thumb has been injured...)

Edit: Both Ubuntu devices are affected. Can't check the SUSE or Red Hat right now. FF has progressed to version 41.0.

[LegendBegins]

@Mahz

Heh, alright. Perhaps there should be a poll function to see if users desire a certain feature when it is considered.

[Ellri]

@LegendBegins Sneaky means for getting him to add polls is sneaky.

[LegendBegins]

@LegendBegins Sneaky means for getting him to add polls is sneaky.

@Ellri

My goal wasn't to convince him to add polls. I am genuinely interested in the general consensus of the Guild as to what features they desire to implement.

[Ellri]

perhaps, but it would be a sneaky way to get a good feature like polls.

We personally like both the idea of polls and of getting community input on ordering of popular features. We've been trying for ages to get more of the community to pipe in on what features they want most down in the features section, and its not really had any effect yet.

Just to re-up my intel, is this is only an issue on your Firefox 38 on [desktop] Linux device?

@Mahz

Just going to point out that this hasn't been an issue on my Linux install, so I frankly have no idea what could be causing it, unless it is specific to Shienvien's distro. (I'm using Linux Mint Cinnamon, version 17.1/whatever the newest version was when I last booted into it, and latest firefox at the time) I'd be extremely surprised if it was a problem specific to their device(s) but I haven't experienced it, so it must be some obscure bug I'd think.

[Ellri]

our firefox/ubuntu combination has no login issues. Firefox 41.0, Ubuntu 14.04

[Ruby]

@Mahz Would it be possible to have a "Create First Post" option for GMs in RP threads? Push a button, fill out your post, and it's auotmatically the first post of IC/OOC/Character (whatever's desired) section?