Size of text area, social media space and cut-off posts

Putting away the wash and thinking "well, I will be sorry to see Pixie go and I wonder who else...sure hope this problem resolves.." Then ...thinking if I invested more than my subscriber fee in DavesG - I would be having a different sort of anxiety...loss of subscribers one thing and loss of reputation is entirely something else and can really impact the investment ( think the "other" site) - what are the not-so- new owners thinking as they read these posts and I am sure they must.

Why not consider PAYING some of the folks contributing here to test new formats? Ask them to download DavesG as if a NEW subscriber (keeping their old data safe and backed up somewhere) and let them work with the tech group out of sight while cleaning up the bugs. It is clear that there is a good pool of diverse technology being used. The cost will be NOTHING in comparison to the savings in actual dollars ( lost members, overtime for the techs, Terry's medical bills to keep-restore sanity ) and the future savings impacted by lost reputation and new subscribers. Why go thru this - turn unhappy members into happy short term employees!

For the record, I stopped going to the 'other' site shortly after its inception. Admin (whose initials shold be familiar) snapped at me when I asked a tech-related question, saying he didn't have time to be bothered with it. I'll never go back

Is it somehow taboo to actually name another site? I have no idea what 'other' site Pfg is referring to - could be one of several. There do seem to be a lot of disgruntled members here though. Just saying.

The "other site" (to me anyway) represents ALL the garden sites with less than stellar reputations for customer service/satisfaction. That is why I don't name one in particular.

This message was edited Jul 24, 2013 4:31 PM

To clarify, we did test to the extent humanly possible. And it appears that the cut-off problem may be solved for the threads that were identified by several of you.

bonehead, we have never had a problem with anyone referencing, mentioning, discussing or linking to any other site for informational purposes.

However, like most sites, we don't allow other websites (or their members) to solicit and recruit here. It would be like strolling into a restaurant and approaching the patrons with an invite to join you at a competing eatery. It's just bad form. And the line between being "informative" and "persuasive" is rarely blurry.

Terry - no disrespect intended but what seems to be occuring here feels like a testing phase.

missingrosie, I do understand. When we introduced the new design, we had tested it as fully as possible. But we didn't (and couldn't) know exactly how many - let alone which - users had really modified and customized their settings.

What we discovered is the site works fine for most users, but there are some who have experienced serious difficulties. We've identified and tried to work through the issues we could address with the individual members (browser settings, preferences, and screen resolutions.) And we've been careful to test additional changes on a staging area (not on the live site) as much as possible, then roll those fixes out gradually and cautiously.

Terry, using your restaurant analogy, I agree that it would be wrong to ask people to leave one diner to eat at another. However, it would not be at all unusual or disrespectful to enjoy a meal at Joe's Diner, complement the cook, and discuss with your tablemate an equally enjoyable meal at Mom's Eatery - perhaps you might agree that Joe's salad is superior while Mom's desserts are richer. I do not get the feeling that this sort of a discussion would be tolerated at DG. Which I think is sad. But...carry on with your fixes, I didn't mean to derail this thread.

This message was edited Jul 24, 2013 2:23 PM

Bonehead- the table discussion you describe is not a problem. At the end of dinner, if Mom's pastry chef showed up with free dessert samples and tried to pass out as Joe's dessert menu arrived - that might be an issue.

I chose to be circumspect because I was saying something negative about the other site and did not want to incur negative consequences.. Other have named it in other contexts. Just sayin...

The print is getting smaller and smaller...or is it my eyesight??

evelyn, Yes the print is smaller on this thread. Also the post block is wider and not cut off on the right. The right is still cut off a bit on the 'Vegetable Gardening' forum page. This is with about any size zoom from tiny to large.

Evelyn, you can use your browser to "zoom in" on the page. You may have to scroll horizontally (left-right) if you zoom it beyond 100%.

Evelyn, use your control key and your wheel on your mouse to make the print bigger. Not sure what will happen when I send this. Probably go back to small.


edited to add: Yes of course it did. Guess you have to scroll and wheel and control every time you go to a new send, or request a new post. Whatever. Adjust for every action,

This message was edited Jul 24, 2013 5:11 PM

Just going to scroll.
They won't fix anything.

Now the date and time are running into the post

Yes Terry it's still the same.

It shouldn't be, so let's start with the basics: browser?

IE 10 it's even happening on my Nook tablet.

Actually on my nook it's the whole left side running into the post.

So, Terry, as of sometime late afternoon early evening the only thing that the Preferences tab controls the font size of is a few things like Date and Time in poster ID area and Hyperlinks within the text area, but no longer font size of text? So, all preferences other than browser default are essentially phased out? If so, that was quick!

Will another tweek be the reduction in the ever so prominent font size of the date and time in poster area?

When I view the comments in Plant Files on my iPad the last letter of the words on the right hand side is cut off. I can still make out what it says as it is only one letter but it is a little annoying.

Terry, I have tried all of the preference font sizes I tried last night and posted about on this thread. They no longer adjust my text font size up or down. They do make the Hyperlinks larger or smaller, but not the text size in the dialogue box.

Can't say what else the preference font size still controls but it is not the size of the text in my dialogue box.

Hi Terry,

"At some point soon, the only thing that will be different is that you will control your font size only through your browser, not through your preferences."

It seems error prone to let the web page specify font size while the browser also has control of font size. My browser this moment is Firefox, and it also lets me set my fonts as Times New Roman (serif) or Arial (sans-serif) or Courier New (monospace) but it also has a checkbox to let the webpage choose the font. And I have that checkbox checked. But I could uncheck that checkbox and choose from a long list of fonts to impose on a webpage (Dave's Garden).

But I hesitate to uncheck that checkbox and force Times New Roman on Dave's Garden or Garamond or Bookman Old Style or Century Gothic or any of many dozens of other choices . But I guess you are aware that browsers do allow the user to choose any of a number of different fonts to be forced on the browsed web pages. I am sure there are fonts that would do some strange things to Dave's Garden. Presumably your Tech people are testing Dave's Garden for compatibility with many different fonts.

ZM

The date and time aren't running over in Firefox. This is the only site that I visit that has trouble with IE. That part seems strange to me.

I see we have gone back to the hard-to-read tiny print size in the posts, although it's a readable size in the "Your message:" box that I'm using to type this. I'm also seeing the Date and Time spilling over into the text of posts. I'm using Internet Explorer.

Hi Terry,

I am using MAC/Safari and the zone is running into the message area. This is new for me this am.

Now in IE the date is cut off in the thread pages too

This is exactly what
we have been saying
for at least a week
now.
Apparently to thick
skinned to listen
to us.

Happy similar issue here for me on IPAD. Noticed it last evening

Hi Terry,

It's me again. It's beginning to become obvious that the forum design should accommodate any font size and any font face. Within limits, of course. Obviously a font size of 300 points would not produce usable results. The forum could intervene and take control of the font face and the font size when their parameters were inappropriate. I don't know if the forum could win in a tug-of-war with a browser intent on enforcing an unusable font face and/or size. That would be an interesting test for your Techs to run.

It seems evident from the above messages, and messages elsewhere, that the present forum design has serious fundamental deficiencies. This apparent multitude of "bugs" is probably just a symptom of one, or just a few, design flaws. In my opinion.

ZM

If I had a nickel for each extra adjustment I have to make on every page to enjoy DG that I did not before the changes I could go out to dinner and pay for some online plant shopping on my wish list!
And it maybe a long time before I can reap any of the advantages of the upgrade by upgrading the way I connect to the www.
Alas, I shall miss any who have shifted from here , those known and unknown, who have contributed to this site in big and small ways for 13 years! (If you go back to the pages with the first 100 or so posts in this forum you can see threads announcing reaching 300 and then 500 users!)

So, yes, this morning I am in mourning! Past anger and denial and beginning on acceptance ...just feeling sad for all of us and powerless to do anything about it...

One suggestion though: Could any further/future tech team changes, subtle or not, be made in the middle of the night, say 2am? That way I wouldn't wonder if it was "me" or my eyesight or my sanity! Thanks.




This message was edited Jul 25, 2013 9:14 AM

Don't know if this is related or not, but BirdFiles seemed to be missing all the pics for almost every bird I checked yesterday, including some that previously had a lot pictures. Other people have verified this as well.

I started a separate thread, but thought mentioning it here, also, might alert others to check some files as well. Supposedly this is also happening in BugFiles ...but I haven't personally checked.

Terry gracias, merci, and a big Texas THANK YU for setting whatever you did for me. I couldn't find it to do myself.

It has helped TREMENDOUSLY !

Much obliged ! Joy !