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Message to the Webmaster!

This topic has 110 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 25 February 2012 at 00:46 by Gone Away.

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16 February 2012 at 20:06 #84965
Ian P
Participant
@ianp
It does seem as if the new text editor on this forum has introduced a new set of problems for the users.

I would like to find out where things stand, before the post that DC1 created (new website editor) gets innundated with comments and suggestions, flies off at a tangent, or just becomes a rant.

I think that DC1 said that having changed the editor, its not likely to change again in the near future. Does that include changes to repair its faults?

We all know that this forum has its quirks, most others do too (but this one has more!) Once users learn how to get round them, or learn to live with them the fauslt just get accepted. Speaking for myself, I'de rather have the old editor.

Ian P
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16 February 2012 at 20:06 #39200
Ian P
Participant
@ianp
16 February 2012 at 20:28 #84970
David Clark 13
Participant
@davidclark13
Hi There

I have nothing to do with the editor being changed.

I just pass the information along.

These editors cost many thousands to use on a site like this.

It won't be changed again in the forseable future.

It may be updated as we get updates from the company that supply the editor.

regard David

regards David
16 February 2012 at 21:33 #84980
clivel
Participant
@clivel
The editor is free and open source, it is called CKEditor. I would post a link to the CKEditor web site, but every time I click on the link button, this whole web page goes into a disabled mode and I have to shut down the browser.

The problems are not so much with choice of editor, but with the implementation thereof. MyHobbyStore should get a refund from whomever they have employed to implement this "upgrade" and hire a professional web developer. It is completely unacceptable and extremely unprofessional for a live web site to be upgraded with so little testing.

My computer configuration is fairly common – Windows 7 and FireFox 10.0.1 yet I am unable to use the quote facility, nor am I able to press the link button without the web page locking up.
16 February 2012 at 21:33 #84981
Gray62
Participant
@gray62
If you (the site owners) are as you say, paying many thousands for this editor or the forum software, then you are quite frankly wasting your money. The editor and forum leave a lot to be desired, there are many better that are in constant use which are public domain and provide far better functionality than this!
16 February 2012 at 22:23 #84987
Gone Away
Participant
@goneaway
Posted by Ian P on 16/02/2012 20:06:40:

Speaking for myself, I'de rather have the old editor.

As it stands right now I'd agree. My major complaint with the old one was that sometimes you got the reply stuck in with the quoted part and couldn't break out of it without starting over. Other than that, it worked tolerably well for me.

I don't really understand why people are so hot under the collar about pasting from Word. You have to type it somewhere; it might as well be in the online editor. Or you can use Wordpad and ctl-c/ctl-v cut and paste. You may be able to get some fancy text effects using word but I generally find those more of a distraction than anything else.

Likewise, the lack of message preview. It's never seemed a particularly useful function to me.

My personal take of course.

Hopefully the current state of the new editor isn't the final configuration and someone is still working on it.
16 February 2012 at 22:28 #84989
Ian P
Participant
@ianp
Posted by Sid Herbage on 16/02/2012 22:23:58:

Posted by Ian P on 16/02/2012 20:06:40:

Speaking for myself, I'de rather have the old editor.

Hopefully the current state of the new editor isn't the final configuration and someone is still working on it.

I wish I had your confidence!

Ian P
16 February 2012 at 22:45 #84990
Harold Hall 1
Participant
@haroldhall1
On the "Chuck onto a Rotary Table" thread I attempted to add a link to a web page but the result was to immediately Fog the page . I tried the Anchor facility but whilst this, when posted, came up as bold wording nothing happens if it s clicked on

How do we add links?

Harold
16 February 2012 at 22:51 #84992
John Stevenson 1
Participant
@johnstevenson1
Buy a new chain.
17 February 2012 at 01:26 #84999
_Paul_
Participant
@_paul_
Just when you thought it couldnt get worse….it did!

For usability as Machine/Hobby/Homeworkshop sites go this has to be the worst on the internet most of the rest use professional Bulletin Board software why cant you take a leaf out of HMEM or Home Shop Machinist's book?

Regards

Paul
17 February 2012 at 06:34 #85001
Thor 🇳🇴
Participant
@thor
I have tried the new editor, and has had no problems so far. I am using Windows XP and Firefox 10.0.1.

Regards Thor
17 February 2012 at 09:34 #85007
Les Jones 1
Participant
@lesjones1
Hi Harold,

I had the same effect that you had when trying to add a link but could not think of a clear way to describe the problem. Your phrase " Fog the page" describes it perfectly. At this point I could do nothing as no buttons on the editor worked. I had to go back to the previous page with the browser hence loosing the text I had typed. I think David should make the manual for this editor available as it is even less intuative than the old one. I am using Firefox 10.0.1 with Win7 prof. 64 bit SP1

Les.
17 February 2012 at 09:59 #85012
Ian P
Participant
@ianp
Posted by David Clark 1 on 16/02/2012 20:28:47:

Hi There

I have nothing to do with the editor being changed.

I just pass the information along.

These editors cost many thousands to use on a site like this.

It won't be changed again in the forseable future.

It may be updated as we get updates from the company that supply the editor.

regard David

regards David

David

I addressed this topic to whoever is responsible for the administration of the site not to you personally. I know you are heavily involved and even participate in the forum but I presume you are not involved in the day to day running or management of the site as that is really a full time or specialist job.

When I saw your reply I was flabbergasted that the use of an editor on a site like this one could involve a cost of thousands of pounds. As others have said there are numerous (better) versions of forum hosting software available for little or no cost. Having said that though I must qualify that I was refering to forum hosting only, whereas this site is more complicated presumably because it is a commercial site.

John Stevensons site which carries commercial adverts also hosts a forum but I'm am sure he did not spend a fortune setting it up, so there must be some version of software out there that combines functionality with affordability.

If I was the only person disatisfied with the new text editor you could put me down as some sort of crank (I am anyway), however far more knowledgeable and informed people than me have voiced their opinion on some of this sites 'features'.

If you are not directly responsible for this site I would be grateful if you could pass on our moans to whoever is.

Best regards

Ian P
17 February 2012 at 10:04 #85013
Harold Hall 1
Participant
@haroldhall1
Like you Les, I had to use the back button and then lost all that I had entered so had to start again, nearly didn't.

Harold
17 February 2012 at 10:57 #85020
Harold Hall 1
Participant
@haroldhall1
Have tried Opera, Chrome, IE and Safari and in each case the page Fog's but a pop up appears for entering the address for the link. Have not though gone beyond that point.

Have in Firefox set Pop ups to be allowed with the ME site, still no joy. Then set Firefox to allow all pop ups but still it does not display the pop up for adding details of the link so still not working in Firefox.

Harold
17 February 2012 at 11:24 #85029
David Clark 13
Participant
@davidclark13
Hi There

I don't even get the popup in IE9 with compatibility.

regards David
17 February 2012 at 11:26 #85030
Mark Web Tech
Participant
@markwebtech33648
Hi everyone, I'm Mark the web developer for MyHobbyStore.

I'm sorry to hear some of you are having problems using the new rich-text editor. I decided to replace the old text editor with CKEditor because the old one was not being regularly updated by the developers, and was becoming increasingly error prone when used on newer browsers. The new text editor is an open source project and they regularly release updates to deal with new browsers as well as to add new functionality and fix bugs, so in the long term, moving to CKEditor will be the best thing to do.

Before we deployed the change, we tested CKEditor in various different browsers and computer OS's to check it was working as expected, and it appeared to work fine. As I'm sure you can imagine there are many different browser/OS configurations out there and it is impossible to test them all. We have discovered a bug in the "Reply" mechanism and that will be fixed shortly. We are also looking to change the method for inserting images into posts, as the process is a little more complicated than it was when using the old editor.

As I write this I'm using using FireFox 10.0.1 on a Windows 7 laptop, and it's working fine, it let me put in that hyperlink to the CKEditor page for example.

If you do have any specific problems where it's not working for you, feel free to add them to this thread, being sure to include your browser version and computer OS, and as many details as possible about exactly what you were attempting to do, and we will happily try and re-create the problem here, or offer advice if it's something we already know about.

Thanks,

Mark
17 February 2012 at 11:30 #85031
Les Jones 1
Participant
@lesjones1
Hi Harold,

This is a test using "Windows XP mode virtual PC" under Win7 Pro 64 bit SP1 with Firefox 10.0.2 (10.0.2 does not work with this editor directly on Win7) I will now try to insert a link.

#Test link

Now to see if it works.

Les.
17 February 2012 at 11:34 #85032
Mark Web Tech
Participant
@markwebtech33648
Hi Les, I've just upgraded to FireFox 10.0.2 and I'm using Windows 7 and it seems to be working fine.

M
17 February 2012 at 11:36 #85033
Mark Web Tech
Participant
@markwebtech33648
This is a test using Internet Explorer 9 on Windows 7. Here's a link to the homepage.

Please note, you do not need to use Compatibilty mode in IE9.

M
17 February 2012 at 11:38 #85034
Les Jones 1
Participant
@lesjones1
It did not work !

That was using Anchor the URL to the text. I can't see how to put a short title in the way you could on the old editor. If the full URL has to appear it will cause problems with long URL's.

Now a test with the URL displayed.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/leshobbies/leshobbies/

This seems to work.

Les

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 17/02/2012 11:39:52
17 February 2012 at 11:40 #85035
Les Jones 1
Participant
@lesjones1
Test Link

Les.

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 17/02/2012 11:42:16

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 17/02/2012 11:51:21

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 17/02/2012 11:51:58

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 17/02/2012 11:52:31

Edited By Les Jones 1 on 17/02/2012 11:59:39
17 February 2012 at 11:42 #85036
Mark Web Tech
Participant
@markwebtech33648
Les, to put in a link like that, you need to type in the text first, eg les hobbies and then highlight the text, click the Link button, type the link into the URL box and then click OK and it should work fine, as in my example above.

M
17 February 2012 at 12:02 #85037
Les Jones 1
Participant
@lesjones1
Thanks Mark,

I have just edited my previous post using that method and it now works.

Les.
17 February 2012 at 12:05 #85038
Terryd
Participant
@terryd72465
Posted by David Clark 1 on 16/02/2012 20:28:47:

Hi There

I have nothing to do with the editor being changed.

I just pass the information along.

These editors cost many thousands to use on a site like this………………..

regards David

Hi David,

CKeditor is an open source free application. If there are problerms with Open Source apps in the forum software a professional license is available for $375.00 (£260.00 approx), not exactly 'thousands'. Therre are also a lot more facilities and functions available which makes the application more versatile, at no extra cost.

Best regards

Terry
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