What's new

New post editor

Emma

Con te partirò
Administrator
I've designed and coded and authored websites all by myself, so I can tell that you've done an incredible amount of tweaking and redesigning to the pre-made components. All while a bunch of people (like me) were yapping from the peanut gallery. Unless people have done this work, they haven't a clue.
This is true. Sometimes you have to adjust a colour 20+ times to get it right, then to find it no longer works with another colour, so you have to adjust that, or you find that darker works in one area of the board, but that it obscures another.

Then there are fonts, and navigation, and honestly a million areas that most people don't even know about. It takes time and patience, two commodities I'm often short on :) Having built & designed websites yourself I'm sure you know, but most people don't.
During the early weeks of the site, I found a couple Google Chrome plugins that gave me controls to darken the fonts and overall contrast
Oh? I've never heard of such a thing. It could be handy for reading at night. What are these plugins called?
I hope people take advantage of the last two features
Me too. The main reason I'm back, or that EC stuck around was because we want the information preserved. However there isn't a lot of point in preserving it if it's difficult to extract. I'm hoping the "Featured thread" function will also help highlight the gems of information that lay hidden away in ESMB.

My next adventure is a do-over of exscn.net. I created it in 2008ish and did it with Joomla (bad choice). I'm going to redo it with WordPress and update it and make use of the domain. That's going to be a lot of work, so I'm pacing myself. There is still quite a lot to do on the message board especially around help topics.

Anyway, bottom line is I'm glad you are able to read the board more comfortably now.

My offer still stands though. If you do find a theme that you think would be better, let me know & I'll have a look at it install it if it's workable.
 
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Operating DB

Truman Show Dropout
I was actually just having some fun with the few people who knew I was complaining
the first TWO weeks about too much baby blue and not enough contrast. If there's a shoop
in my post, expect the gag. (I made that "blue office shoop" a couple weeks ago actually.)

You've tweaked current "Light fixed width" in the past week to pretty damn good and ready
for prime time.

Adding the very, very dark blue on the left and right (with the fixed width) and at the top really
helps.

The slightly darker grey background separates the individual posts. Much better.

All the top navigation (and pop-ups) are much more visible and intuitive. Work well.

Some of the fonts have been darkened a bit along the way. Post editing bar is really good.

I've designed and coded and authored websites all by myself, so I can tell that you've done an incredible
amount of tweaking and redesigning to the pre-made components. All while a bunch of people (like me)
were yapping from the peanut gallery. Unless people have done this work, they haven't a clue.

I really, really admire the detail work you've done in the last two weeks. It shows!!
So . . . we're good now actually. :hattip:

Couple additional comments

1. During the early weeks of the site, I found a couple Google Chrome plugins that gave me controls to darken the fonts and overall contrast, when I was having trouble reading. I was really having a time with overly pastel fonts early on. Much, much better now and I don't need to use the plugins.

2. The "download entire thread" feature works like a charm and is worth the price of admission. I can cut and paste an entire thread into a Word document and read it continuously all the way through. I tried it with the "cowboy thread" (one of my favorites) and what cool thing to read it all in one sitting.

Now if it would only remove certain posters automatically -- like
Alanzo
and
Commander Birdsong
-- well that would be better yet! :shrug: :biggrin:

3. The feature to read an entire thread and only select certain posters to be visible is also nice. Like reading the "Shooting Stars" thread and selecting only Face's posts to show up, so it can be read as a single uninterrupted narrative. Very cool feature.

I hope people take advantage of the last two features because I've always said that some of the early and older threads contain an incredible amount of wonderful content. It's always been an issue of getting to it. Not so much now, truth be told.

Lisbeth
Wow. How cool on the selecting only those posters who you want to read on any given thread. I didn't know how that was done but I quickly figured it out. What a useful tool. Hint: click on "view users" in the top left of the thread above the page numbers.
 

Type4_PTS

Diamond Invictus SP
The main reason I'm back, or that EC stuck around was because we want the information preserved. However there isn't a lot of point in preserving it if it's difficult to extract. I'm hoping the "Featured thread" function will also help highlight the gems of information that lay hidden away in ESMB.

I love this "Featured thread" function! It will be helpful for newbies and all members really, focusing our attention on some of the threads that should be read by all.
 

Lurker5

Gold Meritorious Patron
How does one send a private meesage. I found how to compose it, but couldn't find the send feature . . .? Duh - HELP !
 

Emma

Con te partirò
Administrator
How does one send a private meesage. I found how to compose it, but couldn't find the send feature . . .? Duh - HELP !
Once you've typed out what you want to say, look just below. A big blue button says "start a conversation". Click that to send.
 

ILove2Lurk

Lisbeth Salander
During the early weeks of the site, I found a couple Google Chrome plugins that gave me controls to darken the fonts and overall contrast, when I was having trouble reading.
Here are a few useful plugins you might want to know about, especially
if you spend a lot of time reading articles and long-form text blocks.
Try 'em to see if you like 'em and if they'll help you. They all sit in your
browser and click on and off as you need them.

FireFox

Firefox Reader View for clutter-free web pages (now built into Firefox)

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-reader-view-clutter-free-web-pages

Google Chrome

Text-Only Mode (works well for news articles especially)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/text-only mode

Grayscale Tool (if you're bothered by colors on a web page, you can toggle to grayscale on and off with hotkey: shift +g)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/grayscale-tool/odolflphhameojgliipcnahnipmogigo

. . .
 

ILove2Lurk

Lisbeth Salander
My offer still stands though. If you do find a theme that you think would be better, let me know & I'll have a look at it install it if it's workable.
The "Light fixed width" is pretty perfect right now, IMO.
That's the one I use.

By survey, fewer people like dark backgrounds and white
text, like the "Dark fixed width" version, so it's something
you see a little less of on the web. Some people prefer the
darker at night though or on their smart phones. And it looks
simply great. Just doesn't work for my particular eyes.

I'll send you a mock-up of one more version of Elegance 2
I found that looks pretty good and I like a lot. But that said,
it's up to you if we need one more, The two we have are
fine now.

Props to you for the attention to detail past two weeks.

###
 

tesseract

Patron with Horrors
Grayscale Tool (if you're bothered by colors on a web page, you can toggle to grayscale on and off with hotkey: shift +g)

LOL. Speaking of reading comfort and colors, don't forget "Adblock Plus", available as free browser add-on for the PC but for smartphone browsers too (phew). :moodswing: :delete: :happydance:
(Depending on which system, phone and browser you have in use, you have to download the proper Adblock Plus app at the app store. It's probably not available for all browsers.)

Also, regarding the discussed question of display brightness/contrast and reading at the evening, most or all smartphones do have a menu bar at the top or bottom of the display that almost certainly contains an icon to adjust the brightness of the display. I frequently use it. I prefer to do it manually but in my case I have the option to have it done automatically too (look for it in the system settings). Outside in the sun one needs high brightness to recognize anything on the screen but at the evening I don't want that blinding brightness the OLED display is able to provide and if it's late, it's also very bad for your biorhythm. (Plus, dimming down saves battery life.) ;) The same goes if you're reading or writing on the computer. Laptops (all or most) have extra labeled buttons or key combinations for functions such as display brightness and volume. The external screen I often use with same laptop has a menu where you can adjust the brightness but admittedly it is cumbersome to use. But on the phone and laptop it's really just a keystroke. ;)
 
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Operating DB

Truman Show Dropout
Please keep the Dark fixed width format. It minimizes the effects of light refracting off my post vitreous detachments floating inside my eyeballs. It's a really annoying condition. I hate being out in bright light now.
 

Emma

Con te partirò
Administrator
Please keep the Dark fixed width format. It minimizes the effects of light refracting off my post vitreous detachments floating inside my eyeballs. It's a really annoying condition. I hate being out in bright light now.
Don't worry, a dark theme is staying :)
 

Emma

Con te partirò
Administrator
Here are a few useful plugins you might want to know about, especially
if you spend a lot of time reading articles and long-form text blocks.
Try 'em to see if you like 'em and if they'll help you. They all sit in your
browser and click on and off as you need them.

FireFox

Firefox Reader View for clutter-free web pages (now built into Firefox)

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-reader-view-clutter-free-web-pages

Google Chrome

Text-Only Mode (works well for news articles especially)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/text-only mode

Grayscale Tool (if you're bothered by colors on a web page, you can toggle to grayscale on and off with hotkey: shift +g)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/grayscale-tool/odolflphhameojgliipcnahnipmogigo

. . .
Thanks for these. I will check it out.
 

Emma

Con te partirò
Administrator
Click on the dark smilie (above - when you are creating a post)

All the smilies will then appear below:

pP7X3Sg.png


Click on each category to see the smilies. Most of the naughty ones are in the "Cheeky" or "Grumpy" category.
 

Lurker5

Gold Meritorious Patron
Oh yeah :D Love these things :headspin::zombi::dramaqueen::panic::champagne::yay::woohoo:Lots of new ones. Someone on another thread did an 'angry' on me, for putting up few naughty ones (try these :fuckoff: :sorrow:), for someone else to try out. I think she thought I was being nasty. :guilt: Nope, just playing around with some of the new ones. :whew: Oooohhhh look at this one :bigfinger: - :whoop:


:hemademe: :asskiss::cry::lame::wellduh::yap::yap::yap::scratch:

:toodlepip:
 
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