The ST 6.0 Department of Technical Affairs

[Schulmanator 5,799]

Originally posted by: rainyday

what browser do you use Schulmator?

quote>

Right now, I am using IE 7. I was going to get IE8 but I want to see if the problem is IE7 or if ST likes IE8 before I get it.

[rainyday 2]

you should probably use firefox or Google Chrome. I use Chrome and there are no problems for me except for the lak of a built in feed reader.

[Duke87 1,070]

Something worth bringing attention to:

the way the site is coded is such that that little news ticker that's constantly on the bottom of the screen is "hiding" the strip of the page behind it.

This means a couple things. First, using Ctrl+F to "find next" will put the searched for word behind the bar, so one has to scroll down a bit to actually see it. Not a problem, really, just slightly annoying.

The bigger issue, however, comes up with the search feature. Since it's calling on code from google.com, but partially hidden behind an element from simtropolis.com, NoScript goes berserk at it, reading it as a security thrreat:

Now, I know that there isn't actually a security issue here, and I can override that blockage... but it's still annoying. And it could potentially really freak out a NoScript user who doesn't actually know what's going on here.

It's not vital, but it probably should be addressed.

[Dirktator 2,324]

Can everyone see the Quick Reply option now?

[Dirktator 2,324]

Thanks, Duke...

[Dirktator 2,324]

Originally posted by: Schulmanator

Originally posted by: rainyday

what browser do you use Schulmator?

quote>

Right now, I am using IE 7. I was going to get IE8 but I want to see if the problem is IE7 or if ST likes IE8 before I get it.quote>

I've been using IE8 since beta and ST seems to be just fine with it, there are only a few small visual differences compared to Firefox but (at least for me) seems to be functioning well.  Also tested in Chrome and (though not as rigorously) Safari and Opera. 

Please point out any errors anywhere, if possible, include a screenshot and your browser OS specs, thanks everyone!

[mightygoose 92]

triple posting tut tut tut.....

[DocRorlach 25]

There are still three oddities, both with IE7/8:

1) concerns clicking on a download on the STEX; prior to ST 6.0, the pop-up window would be reused if left open and another download was selected; now every click produces a new pop-up window. Nothing major but annoying when you browse the STEX and need to see the specs.

2) Also on  the STEX and also only in IE7/8: adding a comment to a download produces, when saved, the text plus several lines of code; these saty visible until the session is closed (i.e., navigating away from ST); when I return and view comments again, all looks fine.

3) I still cannot upload via either IE - using FF3 or Safari works fine however.

All of the above could be due to local settings - I tend to tinker, but I've so far not discovered which.

[J. Doe 0]

I hope this hasn't been reported yet: The links in the PMs for subscribed messages aren't rendered correctly:

But that is not an issue as the URLs are invalid anyway

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: J. Doe

the URLs are invalid anywayquote>

Easy fix for that. See this?

www.simtropolis.com/forum/blogpost.cfm?catid=23&threadid=89089

Change it to this:

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=23&threadid=89089

and it should work.

[grbac80 5]

Finally, now I have Qiuck Reply function in IE8. Thanks whoever fixed this.

About the points in DocRorlach post. I don't mind that clicking on every download produces new window/tab. Sometimes if I'm away from ST for few days I open all new DLs at once and then check them.

And I also get those extra codes when writing a comment. Refreshing the page fixes this but it should be addressed.

[frdrcklim 139]

Is it me? I think the STEX search bar is broken again. I'm getting the Cold Fusion error again just like before. Tried it both on IE8 and Firefox 3.

[ImFromSweden 8]

I can't search the STEX, either. 

[JakeMD 107]

If you are having trouble searching on the STEX, look here

[xtrasyn 1]

Hi all,

I am a new user in the Netherlands, Europe. I _really_ admire this site, the contents rock and the people are nice and helpful.

Apart from that I am in awe as I seldom come across a nice ColdFusion site, all php nowadays. Whoever builds their site in CF is like a god to me.

Anyway, I experience serious issues with this site. I use IE 8 on my laptop and 7 on my beast machine, but I have issues visiting every page when it comes to speed. It seems that the link with the db is bad or slow, or there is a preload inclusion thingy going wrong. Because every page that comes up needs 10-20 seconds to 'free up' for scrolling. This is both in the forum as in STEX.

ALso STEX downloads are 1994 speed for me. I always get impressive dial-up speeds of 4-6 kb/s. Currently I'm downloading a not quite popular file at 3,76 kb/sec. I enjoy this for sheer amazement but like wtf etc.

Otherwise good stuff allover, keep up the good work!

Kind Regards, X

-edit: typo-

[DFire870 2]

Okay, so I've been gone awhile, and I have to say I love the new look. It'll take me some time to get used to it, but it looks great.

One thing though, the bottom grey bar that has the latest blog, topic, STEX upload, etc., is really annoying. Every time a page loads it freezes momentarily, and the bottom scroll-bar appears. It's gotten hard for me to navigate because the browser freezes all the time when I load pages... and I usually have several tabs open to look at different things.

Anyhow, is there any way to turn the bar off?

[Odainsaker 2,136]

The bar is definitely an example of forum feature creep that needlessly and noticeably slows page loading at my end as well, and I'm admittedly somewhat relieved to see I'm not the only one suffering. A prolife option to disable it is certainly welcome, as switching to different browsers is simply not always an option.

[JakeMD 107]

I was having this issue too, but I switched over to Chrome, and all was fixed.. Or so it seems.

[TV-VCR 15]

I looked around, and it doesn't appear there is an option to disable it.

This is only if you're using Firefox. If you already haven't, install AdBlock Plus and it's Element Hiding Helper addon. Press Ctrl+Shift+K (or right click on the ABP icon in your browser tray and click on Select Element to Hide). Now that you're in select mode, click on the bar at the bottom. A red line should surround it. Click once and a dialog should show up. Press OK. The scrolling news is gone, but the bar is still there. Go into select mode again. Make sure the bar is surrounded by a red line. Click again, press OK, and now the bar should be gone.

It's only a "temporary fix" but it should work.

[TV-VCR 15]

Anyone know what's up with the "Service Unavailable" errors that seem to happen twice a day, brining the whole site down for a few minutes? I know for a fact I'm not alone. I'm just wondering what's going on.

[DocRorlach 25]

One item that surely needs some attention is "new post" notification. Methinks the mechanics of that have changed. From some subscriptions (like STHL) I get no notifications whatsoever. For this forum I only tend to get notifications about a day or two later.

Besides, I always wondered about this: is it possible to get notifications for PM's?

[jigsaw 227]

i cannot use simtropolis with google chrome. is there a reason for this or a setting i must use to get it to work? has anybody else reported problems using ST with google chrome?

[Haljackey 17,380]

One thing I'd like to see is a working spell checker for the reply box.

In ST 5.0, the reply box would underline the words spelled incorrectly, but you couldn't fix it.  You had to copy to the quick reply which works fine in both ST 5.0 and 6.0. 

Yet with 6.0, it doesn't even underline the words spelled incorrectly.  Its a little frustrating to me.

-The same goes for the new CJ and blog sections.

If this can be fixed it would help so much!  Anyways thanks for taking the time to read this.

-Haljackey

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: haljackey

In ST 5.0, the reply box would underline the words spelled incorrectly, but you couldn't fix it.  You had to copy to the quick reply which works fine in both ST 5.0 and 6.0. 

Yet with 6.0, it doesn't even underline the words spelled incorrectly. quote>

That never was a function of ST. It was a function of your browser.

I dunno about the "you couldn't fix it" part. That always worked for me in ST5 with FF3 and before that with FF2. Now ST6 seems to reject Firefox's spell checker which ST5 was perfectly fine with. I'm going to venture a guess that this is due to changes made in the coding of the post composer.

And it's obvious changes were made. All those rich text icons? They were individual GIF images in ST5. Now only the YouTube and Imageshack icons are individual images, the rest is all packaged together in a single image* which is then (I'm assuming) cut up and arranged via CSS.

*https://www.simtropolis.com/fckEditor/editor/skins/simtropolis/fck_strip.gif

[nofunk 1,933]

Hey all,

I uploaded to the STEX for the first time since 6.0 went live... and it's been "Uploading..." for 26 minutes now. Any advice?

EDIT: I canceled the upload, but I'd still be curious to know what's wrong. (Or what I might be doing wrong.)

EDIT 2: I just check "My Files" on the STEX, and it still shows this as processing:

File: "BSP Kingsley Arms" posted/updated on May-19-2009 , 6:45 PM

Hm...

Thanks in advance!

[TV-VCR 15]

Why exactly are people able to vote themselves up? i.e. in the STEX comments section, or with news articles. It doesn't make sense.

[Duke87 1,070]

Okay, now this is hilarious. The new search is turning up results that are pages from the old search:

How's that for recursion, eh?

[JakeMD 107]

Nofunk: this happened a while back.. The STEX queue gets backed up, and dirk needs to flip a switch. No worries, it should be resolved soon.

[nofunk 1,933]

Originally posted by: SWAT-MEDIC

Nofunk: this happened a while back.. The STEX queue gets backed up, and dirk needs to flip a switch. No worries, it should be resolved soon.quote>

Thanks! So, once dirk flips the switch, will my file appear on the STEX? Or will I need to upload it again?

[catty-cb 4,412]

Originally posted by: nofunk

Hey all,

I uploaded to the STEX for the first time since 6.0 went live... and it's been "Uploading..." for 26 minutes now. Any advice?

quote>

I had the same problem as you when uploading onto the STEX, and found I couldn't upload using Firefox, I had to be using Internet Explorer for the upload to work, maybe worth trying unless or course you are already using IE ...