Mahz's Dev Journal

[BBeast]

I tried to think of ways to show rolls nicely inline with IC posts, but didn't come up with much.

@Mahz

The only way I can think of, besides an obtrusive block code, is to use the acronym/abbr html tag to display the dice roll on hover. So you could make a custom BBCode that takes the roll ID, displays the roll results in the hover, and then let someone write their action (as a result of the roll) inside the tag. Similar to the implementation of URL=, but hover instead of link.

@Captain Jordan

I agree. If you are going for an integrated dice roller, you may as well have special BBCode which you just enter the roll ID and it shows and links to that roll. Such a link would also provide access to the relevant part of the rolls history. Why not have, under the rolls tab or in your widget, a button which inserts the roll into the post? Like the quote button. P.S. I personally like the dark-coloured background. Of course, I would agree that some of the bright white parts don't look the best, although it may not help that some of said elements are built in to the browser (eg. the scroll bars which pop up in oversized signatures or in the post editor). P.P.S. There is no [noparse][/noparse] in the BBCode Cheat Sheat (that noparsing the noparse tags claimed there was a misalignment error, btw, although I don't blame it). Neither are there tables. Were there meant to be tabs too?

[LegendBegins]

Well, if you wanted a temporary solution, I'm aware that some websites contain a border on the sides that scrolls down as you scroll down, and that shouldn't be memory intensive, and it would add art. The only reason I say "temporary" is because I think that auto-scrolling borders are a little bit unnerving to the eyes.

@LegendBegins

I don't like auto-scrolling borders. I like auto-scrolling panes like Facebook's chat or search bar, but I don't like cluttered edges on webpages.

@ravenDivinity

I don't like them either, but I did say "temporary."

[LegendBegins]

Ah, yes, the question on the previous page reminds me. I'm in favor of resizing the arrow that links to the last page to make it bigger. It's difficult to click instead of the latest poster, at times, especially on mobile.

[Mahz]

Pushed up some changes to server: - [Enhancement] Post limit increased from 2¹⁶ to 2¹⁷ (65k to 130k chars) - [Fix] PM count added back to convo list. - [Experimental] [Performance] A garbage-collection hack replaced with what is hopefully going to trigger an incremental sweep. The nasty GC loop was a temporary fix that may have been causing an error a few people experience from time to time. And other random bits. I'll be monitoring that GC fix.

[Shienvien]

P.S. I personally like the dark-coloured background. Of course, I would agree that some of the bright white parts don't look the best,although it may not help that some of said elements are built in to the browser (eg. the scroll bars which pop up in oversized signatures or in the post editor).

These parts are NOT "part of the browser" - the browser only falls back to determining the styling of these elements when these are not set by the site (or when the browser has been explicitly told to override the styling). A few lines in the CSS file (or whatever is used for styling the site) could easily fix these sidebars for you. @Mahz: Why, thank you for the increase in character limit. The last character sheet I posted, I had to triple-post (it was 48k chars of sheet, 50-something of short story for background and around 30k of relations and other such...).

[Ellri]

given the right tools, you can change the appearance of scrollbars and such. we're actually annoyed at times at how our own scrollbars are almost impossible to see because there's very little contrast. (its all dark gray). Not sure what (if anything) you need on windows to tweak those colors. On Ubuntu its simply a custom-installed theme.

[Celaira]

@Mahz I don't know if this has been asked, but I was wondering if there was a way for BBcode to parse HTML&CSS? So, like, if you wanted to get really advanced on how you wanted to style a post or something, you could? Example: creating a table with its own background color, hover elements, and links. Definitely not a necessity, but a curiosity.

[Shienvien]

given the right tools, you can change the appearance of scrollbars and such. we're actually annoyed at times at how our own scrollbars are almost impossible to see because there's very little contrast. (its all dark gray). Not sure what (if anything) you need on windows to tweak those colors. On Ubuntu its simply a custom-installed theme.

I am familiar with these themes, however what I said above still applies: If the site uses its own styles, the site's styling will dominate unless you specifically tell your browser to override it. I can testify it works this way - for one, I am on a dark-themed Ubuntu right now (and managed to alter the appearance of such elements for another site just fine not long ago, no effort, no trickery needed)... @Celaira: For security and performance reasons, I'd advise against it...

[Celaira]

@Celaira: For security and performance reasons, I'd advise against it...

@Shienvien

Could someone break something fundemental with what I was thinking, Shien?

[Captain Jordan]

@Celaira: For security and performance reasons, I'd advise against it...

@Shienvien

Could someone break something fundemental with what I was thinking, Shien?

@Celaira

Yes. Allowing HTML/CSS also allows for Javascript, Flash and Java to be embedded. These three are common attack vectors for malware/spyware/etc. That's not to say that all Javascript, Flash or Java is evil, but you're basically allowing anyone who can make an account (and if you recall, we got a fair few number of spammers last year on the Guild 2.0, so the machines can easily adapt) to inject these technologies into a post. That's a huge security hole, and as much as I'm sure Mahz would like to trust the Guild not to do that, all it takes is one person doing so intentionally or by accident to do a lot of damage.

[Celaira]

@Celaira: For security and performance reasons, I'd advise against it...

@Shienvien

Could someone break something fundemental with what I was thinking, Shien?

@Celaira

Yes. Allowing HTML/CSS also allows for Javascript, Flash and Java to be embedded. These three are common attack vectors for malware/spyware/etc. That's not to say that all Javascript, Flash or Java is evil, but you're basically allowing anyone who can make an account (and if you recall, we got a fair few number of spammers last year on the Guild 2.0, so the machines can easily adapt) to inject these technologies into a post. That's a huge security hole, and as much as I'm sure Mahz would like to trust the Guild not to do that, all it takes is one person doing so intentionally or by accident to do a lot of damage.

@Captain Jordan

Welp. Nevermind, then. I do not want people to break the guild.

[Mahz]

Can't allow HTML/CSS without heavy pre-processing to enforce a whitelist of safe usage. Which is exactly what BBCode is.

[LegendBegins]

Can't allow HTML/CSS without heavy pre-processing to enforce a whitelist of safe usage. Which is exactly what BBCode is.

@Mahz

I really would recommend against implementing code for HTML. No matter how many holes you cover up, someone will be able to break it; that system is too vulnerable.

[Mahz]

@BBeast, @Captain Jordan: Good idea on [roll]1234[/roll]! Maybe something like: Gooseblight slaughters the goblin [roll]1234[/roll] → Gooseblight slaughters the goblin 1234 Where clicking the die can show the roll details in a simple, dismissible pop-over.

Can't allow HTML/CSS without heavy pre-processing to enforce a whitelist of safe usage. Which is exactly what BBCode is.

@Mahz

I really would recommend against implementing code for HTML. No matter how many holes you cover up, someone will be able to break it; that system is too vulnerable.

@LegendBegins

Yeah, BBCode is still a leaky abstraction. There's always a trade-off between giving users expressive tools and limiting the abuse of bad actors.

[Mahz]

P.P.S. There is no noparse in the BBCode Cheat Sheat (that noparsing the noparse tags claimed there was a misalignment error, btw, although I don't blame it). Neither are there tables. Were there meant to be tabs too?

@BBeast

Thanks, will add noparse and tables to the cheatsheet. I decided to launch with a little less BBCode than planned. I'll add [tabs] back shortly - there was a minor bug.

[Mahz]

Latest deploy: - [Feature] You can now edit your own topic titles. Look for the "Edit" button: - [Fix] You can now tag people with underscores and hyphens in their name. Example: @Mr_pink - [Enhancement] I liked @Hank's suggestion to encourage users to fill out their Bio or at least make the option more visible. Also, I wanted to encourage users to read each other's bios. So I added a small icon to the userbit when a user has written anything in theirs: - [Enhancement] Added an auto-updating char counter to all BBCode editors to express char limits. If it's too distracting, I can make it so it only displays after clicking the "Preview" button.

[Undead Eyes]

Hi! Thanks for all the hard work you're putting into bringing this site back to what it was. ^.^ I was wondering if you plan to make it so you can click a PM and go to the last post like it used to be. Haha. It's a bit tiring having to scroll and scroll to get to the last post. Not a huge deal, but I know a few of my friends really liked it that way more. Or maybe it could be changed to show the newest post at the top instead of the bottom when it comes to PMs. Something. <3

Hi! Thanks for all the hard work you're putting into bringing this site back to what it was. ^.^ I was wondering if you plan to make it so you can click a PM and go to the last post like it used to be. Haha. It's a bit tiring having to scroll and scroll to get to the last post. Not a huge deal, but I know a few of my friends really liked it that way more. Or maybe it could be changed to show the newest post at the top instead of the bottom when it comes to PMs. Something. <3

@Miss Gallagher

Click the chain-like symbol next to the name of the latest poster in the PM, and it takes you directly to that post.

[BBeast]

I do like knowing how many characters my post has. It gives me an accurate indicator of size.

Hi! Thanks for all the hard work you're putting into bringing this site back to what it was. ^.^ I was wondering if you plan to make it so you can click a PM and go to the last post like it used to be. Haha. It's a bit tiring having to scroll and scroll to get to the last post. Not a huge deal, but I know a few of my friends really liked it that way more. Or maybe it could be changed to show the newest post at the top instead of the bottom when it comes to PMs. Something. <3

@Miss Gallagher

Click the chain-like symbol next to the name of the latest poster in the PM, and it takes you directly to that post.

@TheMaster99

We've been having a few requests for this. Perhaps it needs to be made more obvious and intuitive for users. Some kind of sign or label should do it.

P.S. I personally like the dark-coloured background. Of course, I would agree that some of the bright white parts don't look the best,although it may not help that some of said elements are built in to the browser (eg. the scroll bars which pop up in oversized signatures or in the post editor).

These parts are NOT "part of the browser" - the browser only falls back to determining the styling of these elements when these are not set by the site (or when the browser has been explicitly told to override the styling). A few lines in the CSS file (or whatever is used for styling the site) could easily fix these sidebars for you.

@Shienvien

Ah, I did not know this. My apologies for my ignorance. In that case, making scrollbars which match the colour scheme of the Guild would be a nice and hopefully simple stylistic feature, partnered with a similar colour scheme for the editor.

[EasilyAmused]

I just noticed the Notifications button (not sure if it's because I'm typically on my phone or... what) but when I click on it, it brings me to an error page. Can someone explain to me what it is and possibly why it's suddenly an error? Thanks! ~Melly