Woot, I'm number two poster!!!
Dang Skippy
Where did all this spiffy new fangled-ness come from?
Nice job!
BTW: Number 3!
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Looks good!
nice upgrade!
Scot
Nice job! I love the new design, nice and speedy too on my end, and I'm even using the beta of IE8!
Modeling the fictional B&M Dowe, NH branch in the early 50's.
Will take some getting used to, but change is good - at least that's what I'm told.
Mainetrains
'there's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear' Modeling the Hard Knox Valley Railroad in HO scale http://photos.hardknoxvalley.com/
Looks good with Firefox 3.0.3.
Change is inevitable, struggle is an option.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Hello wow looks good so far works fine for me not slow at all good job MR staff. Have day day Frank
Seems to work fine for me. A bit busier of a look. MR might consider trimming down the clutter a bit. I hope it comes with new tools to make the job of moderation easier - especially when our pal AL tries to visit again.
It's OK on old IE6. Hey, let's try posting a picture...
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Testing ... testing ... one, two, four...
Craig
DMW
The posting area got smaller, but the ads got bigger...How does that work? On my screen, I get 3 inches on the left of green, 6 inches of posting area, 3 inches of ads, and 3 more inches of green. Other fora use the full width of the screen.
We'll see if things move faster on here. Sometimes loading up anything took a looong time.
Any way for subscibers to get more posting space, and less ad space?
Mike WSOR engineer | HO scale since 1988 | Visit our club www.WCGandyDancers.com
Frankly.............. So far it looks less usable and more complicated than the old one. One more reason to hang out more across the street I guess. Lots of room for the ads though. Since I turn the durn things off, I have half a blank page now.
Doesn't do a thing for me.
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
I can't get any subscriber content..
I am not a fan at all of the large strip of junk to the right of the message board.
Other then those issues, the site looks nice.
Waaaaay cluttered, very hard to find things.
I wish they had paid the extra $10 a month and got the web hosting service that doesn't have all the ads on it. 8-)
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Maybe I'm missing something but the Active Topics and My Topics tabs have both gone bye bye
Have fun with your trains
WSOR 3801 The posting area got smaller, but the ads got bigger...How does that work? On my screen, I get 3 inches on the left of green, 6 inches of posting area, 3 inches of ads, and 3 more inches of green. Other fora use the full width of the screen.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
I can see I'm not going to like this. Copy/paste don't work for for me anyway with Vista, so can't use word and i'm not that good a speller. Maybe they'll get that worked out before long.
inch
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
I guess this is just like the Borg, resistance is futile! Nice new lay out anyway!
Kon
Modelling the BN 1970-1995
Way Too Busy with the adverts - and no I do not have Firefox so I guess those adverts down the right side of the page will just get longer and more self serving.
We'll see how it goes.
There is a spell checker in the task bar.....
Hi,
There is a paste from Word feature on the new forum that you may with to try. It is the folder with the "W" on it near the end of the tool bar.
Hopefully it will help you with the issues you may have with copy and paste.
Thanks,
Can you say STARS! The stars are back only now they're little green boxes.
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Bigger ads, more 'stuff' on the screen so it's slower. Yeah, the old layout with some of the software changes would have been better. But hey, it's the Web, and everyone knows you have to get flashier and flashier, makign the pages bigger and bigger since everyone had huge bandwidth these days.
It does appear to work though, even if getting my screen name unlocked was more of a chore than it should have been - it wouldn;t take my password so I had to req a password email, the password it sent was a random one, not the one I had been using all along, for sure. But then it let me in.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I don't like the fact that the thread titles don't change color after you read them.
Personaly I think the new look looks pretty good. But that's just me. Sure it took me a little bit of time to unlock my new screen name, but other than that I think MR realy did a good job.
I feel your pain on unlocking my screen name. Kept throwing different combinations of e-mail addresses and password at it until I finally hit on the right one. Have to cut down on the different passwords. Getting too old to remember much of anything.
Also I need to start posting more so I can get at least one green bar!!!!!
Just trying it out.
Michael Click Here to view my photos at RailPictures.Net!
My Photos at RRPictures.Net: Click Here
The layout makes very poor use of screen real estate when viewing a topic. The ads in the right colum, which take up about a third of the screen, only go down so far, maybe one or two posts. The rest of that column is blank, which means that the posts get scrunched over to the left and require more scrolling, just to leave room for all that blank space.
If there must be ads, why not put them up at the top, so the screen can be used more efficiently? Or, re-write the display code so that first few posts share column space with the ads, but once you scroll below the ads, then the blank space is given back for posts, and that window gets wider.
I don't see our old friend the 'Search' button anywhere.
It's directly below your profile on the right side of the page.
Nope, too many ads. Not bad though for software.
Cut and copy does work for me.
Nice looking website.
"Rust, whats not to love?"
I like the new look of the site ... It is running alittle slow on my end and I had to logout and then log back in to reply .... It will take awhile to get around the site .... good job
Updated site looks good, seems to work alright too. Nice job crew! Just had to drop in and post to see if it still will work with old system I'm using here at work.
Updated site looks good, seems to work alright too. Nice job crew!
Just had to drop in and post to see if it still will work with old system I'm using here at work.
fiatfan I don't like the fact that the thread titles don't change color after you read them. Tom
Did a little testing - they change colors, but it is not obvious at first - threads you haven't read have grey paper sheets in the icon. Threads you have visited have white paper sheets in the icon. Kinda opposite of "normal" - where links you have visited get darker. But at least - there is a visual clue there if you know what to look for.
I am still looking for "my topics" or similar functionality.
Edit: finally found "my topics" - button labelled "more options" beneath post list - can filter the list of posts to just show threads you have participated in, or hide threads you have already read or other options.
Smile, Stein
Can't say that I'm a fan of the ads to the right taking up so much space.
I had a lot of problems regaining my user name also. The system wouldn't reconize my password. Fianlly got that solved.
They say change is good. I guess it'll take some time to get use to the new site.
Bill
So far it looks good to me. If you are using IE7 with the zoom feature, at least on my PC 150% zoom shoves all the ads off on the right side of the screen and leaves the entire screen width for the forum text. It works really well in this aspect for me.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
I partially agree with above, I can libve with the ads, but they are WAY to far over. The Forum should take priority, not ads.
-Morgan
Without a doubt, a change for the worse. No way to know which threads have new posts since I last read them (the color coding was nice). No easy way to jump to the last post in a thread. Can't sneak a peek at work anymore due to ads. Old version looked somewhat like corporate web page from distance. New layout reduces number of threads listed per page, and amount of information per page. On the good side, will probably spend more time modeling due to frustrations with this forum. just my thoughts, Fred W
edit: Auto-formatting of posts is apparently missing, at least with the IE7 that I am using. Have to insert HTML tags for paragraphs and the like now.
edit2: After posting, jumps you to first page and top of thread instead of end where your post is.
steinjr Did a little testing - they change colors, but it is not obvious at first - threads you haven't read have grey paper sheets in the icon. Threads you have visited have white paper sheets in the icon. Kinda opposite of "normal" - where links you have visited get darker. But at least - there is a visual clue there if you know what to look for. Smile, Stein
Thank you!
I like it.Thanks.
Russell
Whoever designed the "new look" should be fired.
Home page is cluttered as heck, and very user-unfriendly.
Forums are harder to follow and more cluttered as well.
Oh, well, who cares about usability anyway?
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Wooooowwww! Like it! And it's easy to figure out.
I think I got it right. Welcome back everyone.
Den.
Testing 1,2,3... The site is kind of bloated on the graphics but I do like everything handy.
Peter
One more test. It does seem to be slow.
I miss them also.
I'm reserving judgement on the new look until I have used it awhile. But, wow it sure is different.
Enjoy
Paul
Whoa! I got lost in the woods and it took me six hours to get here. I still can't find the restroom. You all have a good day. Hear?
Lee
Overall, the site has a more modern feel, with the big difference being the use of darker Web 2.0 style gradients and drop shadows.
The organization feels better, although all the ad buttons and mini-dialogs on the right do make the page look pretty busy. As long as we don't get dancing girls or animated critters in the ads on the right we should be good!
All-in-all, a nice upgrade Bergie and gang - congrats!
Joe Fugate Modeling the 1980s SP Siskiyou Line in southern Oregon
I dont like the new layout at all, but then I dont own it.
Too much wasted space, between the big clump on the right and the name block on the left there sure aint much room left to type in.
Its VERY hard on the eyes.
I think there will a bit of tweeking in the weeks to come
Yup, works fine for me. I like some of the features that may help some folks get answers to their questions even if the post falls off the first or second page.
Rick Keil
vsmithI dont like the new layout at all, but then I dont own it. Too much wasted space, between the big clump on the right and the name block on the left there sure aint much room left to type in. Its VERY hard on the eyes. I think there will a bit of tweeking in the weeks to come
I agree 100%! Change for the sake of change is seldom an improvement. And what I see here is not even close to an improvement. Hard to read and just full of wasted space. I agree they should fire who ever did this (Hope that is not you Bergie....) Hopefully somebody at Kalmbach will make some changes to redo this abomination. The worst thing is that when you reply, you find yourself way back at the begining of the thread. That is a pain!
No complaints here. I like it.
THE SOUTHERN SERVES THE SOUTH.
Cool, looks great , I like, nice job.
Of course the old folks are having a cow.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
Now, now, I'm an Old Folks, and I'm not having a cow, LOL!
But I just tried to post a photo from my Photobucket account to see if that still worked the same way, and it threw me completely out of the Forum. Is there going to be a new trick to this--AGAIN????
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
C'mon now Tom, I didn't say you were old.
I posted a test Photobucket and it worked fine for me. (i'm using IE 7)
I'm an oldfolk tryin' ta see if I can still post.
Won't be mad if this works.
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
I like the new look, and I find it easier on the eyes. The beige expanse is gone, and the built-in Firefox spellchecker works with this software.
I'm not crazy about the thread/ad space ratio though, and I notice there's no additional sub-categories, like a tutorial section. Oh well.
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
One thing I would like to see changed is that after you post to a thread it would be nice if the software took you back to the same page as your post, not to the first page of the thread.
I still get white boxes with red x's where all the stuff at the top of the page should be. What gives
Also How do I find my past posts I have some good stuff i want to go back and reference it.
alco's forever!!!!! Majoring in HO scale Minorig in O scale:)
I just want to know:
Is this new format DCC compatible?
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
It's an interesting and different format, but not very friendly. Advertising money getting short? And what's with the underlining in the thread list? I suppose I'll get used to it, but I can't say it's very nice....
---
Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
===================================
"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
rs2mike Also How do I find my past posts I have some good stuff i want to go back and reference it.
Looks like Kalmbach's computer staff better check if old posts need to be reindexed or some such thing to be searchable - I only get posts from the last couple of days when searching for posts by myself, too. Both when I click on my name to the left of a post I have made and then click on my post count, and when I do a straight search in the new search box to the righ of the columns of posts.
Edit3: Bergie just posted in another thread that it will take about 24 hours for all old posts to be indexed - they should be back by Friday sometime.
A very preliminary evaluation of new format: doesn't feel like an improvement for me as a user. Most things that worked reasonably well in the old format can still be done, but most things seems to be more convoluted for the user - you have to scroll and click way more to do the stuff that was fairly easy to do with the old user interface.
Like checking if there is any new posts in any threads in any trains.com forum I have been taking part in, like quoting another user when replying (in both cases a simple one-click approach on top of the page has been replaced by a process that involves a lot more scrolling and multiple clicks),
Edit: I found a list of "my discussions" - in plain view on the right margin of the main forum front page (http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/). Looks like it will show the last 10-15 or so threads you have taken part in. No idea how it will show things when you get a couple of hundred threads you have taken part in - I expect there will be a "more" link at the bottom.
And I found an explanation of why the quote functionality was changed - you can now highlight just the part of the the text you want to quote before hitting "quote" and only that part gets quoted, not the whole post. Will perhaps make it a little easier for people who struggled with quoting when replying. Or not - since these people probably won't figure out on their own that you can highlight a part of the text before clocking "quote", either :-)
Oh well, times change, and we must change with them. No doubt more shortcuts and functionality will become apparent over time.
But I still suspect I will miss the old format, which had a pretty good user interface for a web forum, as opposed to the new format, which so far gets a C - it gets the job done, but in a rather mediocre way.
Edit2: found a slightly improved feature. You still can chose sort order "newest to oldest" (instead of the default "oldest to newest") in the drop down box at top of a thread.
Forum software now seem to remember your choice for that thread - so if you return to that thread, you see the posts sorted in the order "newest to oldest" - allowing you to quickly see if there is anything new in threads you follow.
Setting only seems to preserved in the context of the current browser session, though. Doesn't seem to be preserved if you close your browser and restart it.
Still - a potensially nice feature if you like to leave a web browser open with the trains.com forums. As I recall it, you had to click "last" or choose "newest to oldest" every time you returned to a thread to see the latest posts in the old forum.
And then another little onion - when I paste text way down in a post, focus is returned to the top of my text again, instead of being left where I pasted text.
Text marker is still at the right place - if I continue typing focus returns to where it belongs. But it is disconcerning to feel that you lost what you just pasted.
Poor user interface design. Not Kalmbach's fault - but the people who designed the forum software ought to get a swift kick in the posterior for such little annoyances. Haven't they tried to use their own software ?
Grin, Stein
I'll have to get used to the new format. Had a little angst trying to get my "identity" back.
Wow...go away for a day and look what happens... It's quite buzy looking but it shows up fine in Firefox 3...It's going to take some getting used to...the jury is out on this one....
Bob Berger, C.O.O. N-ovation & Northwestern R.R. My patio layout....SEE IT HERE
There's no place like ~/ ;)
I'm sure the reason I don't like it is the fact that I'm not use to it. I do miss the color of the thread changing colors after I've read it. I also don't like how little the actual dialogue area is. There has got to be something that they can do to use more of the screen. I may actually have to use my new 52 inch TV as a computer screen. Here I thought that I would never want to do that!
Well, it's sure different. I think I'll like it ok though. Gotta try posting a photo.
Jarrell
Hello,
trying out this new look of the forum pages. Spend a while trying to look for all the posts I participated in but no luck. Seems the Active Topics and My Topics functions do not exist. A real shame and certainly do hope that they get added.
Change is supposed to be good and it is in our human nature to resist change. It will take a while to get used to the new look of the site but certainly hope that over the next few months the rest of the kinks will be worked out.
Glad to see it back up and running.
Frank
"If you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm."
da_krautSeems the Active Topics and My Topics functions do not exist. A real shame and certainly do hope that they get added
"My topics" (now called "My Discussions") and "Active Topics" (now called "Active") can now be found in the right hand margin on the forum front page (http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/).
Kenfolk I'll have to get used to the new format. Had a little angst trying to get my "identity" back.
I feel like someone just broke into my home and rearranged all my furniture and repainted everything. I'll be bumping into things for weeks...There's a new Welcome smiley-Let's try a picture.I hate change...(Google spell check works fine with it)
Now I need to figure out what the "select tags" and "reply to" buttons are for.And LOOK at all that extra add space! We'll have to ask Graig how much he's shelling out for that 1/32 page add.Need to figure out how to post enlargable pictures too. Seems that there is a built in spell check now!
Hum, a test.
I am OK with change when I see a reason or a benefit from it. We will see in do time. Figures I worked at getting better with my spelling, NOW THERE IS SPELL CHECK!
Need to look into fire fox as well.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
All right, the first time I tried uploading a Photobucket image on this new forum it tossed me OFF the forum. Let's see if this works:
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This is PROGRESS?
YUCK, BERGIE!!!
AND FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD FIX IT SO THAT WHEN WE POST ON MULTIPLE PAGES WE DON'T GET THROWN BACK TO THE BLOODY FIRST PAGE, ALL THE TIME.
DANG, GUYS, WE MAY BE YOUR GUESTS, BUT AT LEAST TRY AND BE A HOST!!!
I just loged on today and not that impressed infact I think its cluttere to much with ads. As a business for the hobby I have been told I had to much clutter. Some like it short and sweet to find what they want etc.. So this is just what I was told not to have. Oh well seems I will be hopefully spending mor etime modeling instead of online anyway.
selector Wow, quite the difference. I like it.
These comments apply only to the forums pages as I never use anything else on trains.com. Noisy, noisy, noisy. Three rows of tabs on the top. All sorts of options on the enormously wide right hand column at the top and nothing but wasted space on the right at the bottom. Cluttered with stuff I'll never care about, but I never liked that "advertisement" right below the first message of a thread on the prior version either - caused undue scrolling. All together this makes reading the messages much more difficult.
I don't see the spell check everyone else it talking about.
Cut and paste do work in this editor now which they did not before.
Does anyone know what the "tags" is at the bottom of this editor?
I see the search, but have not had a chance to test out the search functionality yet.
I think I like how the new "quote" function works, maybe now people won't always quote the whole message all the time.
The ditto emoticon didn't come back.
An "enter" still double spaces.
I don't see any color font however let me try normal html <font color="blue"> text </color>. Nope I guess not let me try another way... here we go. boy that is a lot of work just for blue!
how about a reference http://www.ask.com
I see a lot of complaining here about something that is free. How sad.
Gandy DancerAn "enter" still double spaces.
Perhaps you never learned that even on the 'old' Forum, holding the 'Shift" key while hitting 'Enter' produces the singlespacingyou desire. It also works on the new and improved Forum.
Don Z.
Just a test on the photo.
Research; it's not just for geeks.
Gandy DancerYeah but, you're prejudice.
Hey, I like the quote function...I hi-lited the text I wanted to copy, and clicked on "Quote" at the bottom of the yellow text box and here it is!
Now, then, Gandy Dancer, you have said that I am prejudiced. What substantiation would you have for making this claim about me alone, and not about the dozen or so other posters who have stated that they like the change? Am I the only one who must be biased if I make such a claim, and no other? Curious.
Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...
selectorGandy DancerYeah but, you're prejudice.Now, then, Gandy Dancer, you have said that I am prejudiced. What substantiation would you have for making this claim about me alone, and not about the dozen or so other posters who have stated that they like the change? Am I the only one who must be biased if I make such a claim, and no other? Curious.
Okay, Don Z sent me an e-mail about posting photos. I'm going to give it another try:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub/DSC02229.jpg?t=1224171295
Nope, still doesn't work. Back to the drawing board. But hey, at least they seem to have fixed the 'being thrown back to page 1' problem.
OK, let me try to post a photo from my Photobucket account.......
Yep works fine.
Tom, all I did was copy the IMG Coded text under the photo (the 3rd. choice) and pasted it here. Works fine on my end...??????? Exactly as it has in the past here and across the street.
They also seem to have corrected the bug that took you back to the beginning of the entire thread when you post. This time it showed my edit of this post.
twhite Okay, Don Z sent me an e-mail about posting photos. I'm going to give it another try: http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub/DSC02229.jpg?t=1224171295 Tom Nope, still doesn't work. Back to the drawing board. But hey, at least they seem to have fixed the 'being thrown back to page 1' problem.
Tom,
I see you managed to insert a working link....check your email. I'm going to try another and play with the alignment button....
Okay, another try:
http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub/DSC02229.jpg
Okay, I've got it. Evidently instead of the Direct Link, I have to use the IMG code at the bottom of the photo. At least on my computer.
twhiteOkay, I've got it. Evidently instead of the Direct Link, I have to use the IMG code at the bottom of the photo. At least on my computer.
Sorry if I gave you some bad info....I'm going to try the IMG link now....
Well, that couldn't be any easier...copy the IMG code and paste it into the thread, just like the old software.
Don--
Not bad info at all, friend. I've just got this very strange computer that decides to do things exactly the OPPOSITE of anyone elses, LOL! Had it for three years and it still scares the Willies out of me.
But thanks for the help, you at least got me going on the right 'track'.
I have been locked out. Does anyone know where the Font button is?
Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
fiatfan One thing I would like to see changed is that after you post to a thread it would be nice if the software took you back to the same page as your post, not to the first page of the thread. Tom
This appears to be fixed! Thank you Bergie and co.
This is a test..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
OK, I guess that I have arrived back in one piece too.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Jarrell posted the first image (and a fine one it is!), but there is no offer of enlargement, and it won't do it if I place my cursor over the image and click it anyway. Next comes an image that offers to resize (click on the bar above the image), but that fails as well...nothing happens.
In fact, none of the images so far will enlarge for me.
One thing that has been fixed for me...the text when I am typing no longer runs off to the right and out of sight past the right hand border of the text box. Yippee!
-Crandell
Well, I found that if there is no bar above the images, they won't enlarge. However, if there is a BAR and you click on the bar, they will enlarge for me. I am using IE7.
I also found that you can quote a message by hitting the quote button that you get after you hit the reply button. Then it gets copied down into your reply message.
I can't make up my mind if I like the changes or not, but I will live with them.
Now for a photo test.
Mac, I just got it to work for the first time myself. Funny, but the cursor won't change to the pointy hand icon except in a very few spots. You'd think just placing the cursor anywhere in the bar would get the desired indication.
The site looks more contemporary, but the clutter to the right is indeed disconcerting. Oh well, just don't pay attention. I actually used the banner ad at the top sometimes to go to a vendor, and it's curious why they eliminated such a premium ad position.
Guess got to find out all the bells and whistles on how the new site works. Hope posting pics is the same.
shawneeGuess got to find out all the bells and whistles on how the new site works. Hope posting pics is the same.
For those who haven't yet figured out have to change text color from the toolbar, go to Update Profile, click Site Options. Third option on the list is 'Content Editor'. Select 'Enhanced'. Scroll down to the bottom, click 'Save'. You're on your own from there.
Thanks for the tip, Jeff. I missed my color palette.
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
jeffrey-wimberlyFor those who haven't yet figured out have to change text color from the toolbar, .... Select 'Enhanced'.
I miss some of the toolbar functions but I should be able to survive their absense. I did read something on MSN.COM this A.M. about reducing stress so maybe I can figure out how to solve my grievance with this turkey without beating my stupid head against the wall.
The old system had an automatic carriage return flagging--that's what such a thing is called in the programmingenvironment--at the end of the line which SHOULD be at the end of the visual page: IT'S NOT! INSTEAD IT IS LOCATED SOMEWHERE IN THE VICINITY OF CHARACTER #125 WHICH IS LOCATED THREE BLOCKS NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN TIMBUCTOU!!! It makes editing nearly impossible if you run your print out beyond the right margin of the visual page. I am trying this response to do a manual carriage return when my cursor gets at the end of the visual page and the left margin begins to subduct.
Also, has anyone figured out how to edit after you have previewed; I am perhaps overlooking something but the only way I seem to be able to get back to my response is to post and then edit!
NOTE: IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S WORKING!!!!! Would have liked to have put this comment in 36pt type but that's something which has disappeard from the toolbar! That Law of Unintended Consequences seems to be alive and well and functioning flawlessly in this new whatever-you-call-it!!
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
yeah, I;m sorry about naggin for something free. But, from going Page 7 to Page 8, where the forum was being widened by the pictures and Page 8 wasn't I was realy liking it. Thank we could go to that width instead?
Free or not, The content of the forums should not be skewered. Also, very rearely I get a 404 errro coming straight into a thread from a link.But if I hunt it down through the forums, right there it is, waiting for me.
R. T. POTEETAlso, has anyone figured out how to edit after you have previewed; I am perhaps overlooking something but the only way I seem to be able to get back to my response is to post and then edit!
RT, there are three tabs at the top of the page when you're posting: Compose, Options, and Preview. After previewing, just click the Compose tab again to get back to typing or editing.
Edit: When I posted this time, I ended up on the last page where my post is, not the first page of the thread.
it's a great new looooooook i like it
New evolution, I;m getting e-mails about MY posts.
Makes sense but I sure didn 't think of it.
I once coded a program which not only updated but completely replaced a prior program. We ran an extensive test on the new program; we encountered one problem which we could not immediately solve so we put a page in the immediate front of the operator's manual warning of this problem. Forty-eight hours after the program went operational we got a trouble call on this problem. I responded. The operator told me what had happened; I opened the book and right there in the front was a warning against executing this particular procedure without executing a particular procedute aforehand. I grabbed the book and waved it under the nose of the operator and demanded he read it while I ran a diagnostic routine to clear the problem.
Operators are not dumb; they do, however, tend to get a little lazy when it comes to paying attention to instructions. I guess in this regard I too became just a little bit lazy and got a little bit lazy myself.
I just noticed the same thing that R.T. did--when I posted my photo (finally)on the previous page, it came out ENORMOUS--even bigger than it is on my Photobucket account 'full size', and the page spread out like crazy. However this page, with no photos (as yet) is normal, with the ads taking up their usual band at the edge. I wonder if it's just my computer (which tends to do whatever it wants, no matter how much I try to 'civilize' it, LOL!) or if anyone else has this problem. I'd be interested.
Hmm, just noticed--I've got 6 out of 8 little green Thingies filled in below my Avatar. Does this mean anything?
Yeah, yer down a couple quarts, Tom.
twhitejust noticed--I've got 6 out of 8 little green Thingies filled in below my Avatar. Does this mean anything?
Selector:
I posed this question on another thread and have not heard back yet. Maybe you or someone here can enlighten us on a feature that appears to be missing or maybe it is not yet enabled. That feature is the subject line in the e-mail notification. The old forums had the thread topic displayed and I observed that this is now missing in the new notification.
This feature is important to some us who have tight timetables -- in other words, I look very quickly at the subject line to see if there are a number of e-mails about one topic -- If time is short, I pick the few -- If I have large block of time, I pick the most posts -- like WPF!
By the way, at the risk of getting flamed by a number of forum members , I will say that I like the Ads. As Model Railroaders we are always shopping for something -- The ads do help the cause -- ours, yours, and the advertiser!!
The Tabs in the "Reply to an Existing Message" are really great!!
Oh, yes! I wasn't able to find the "Spell Checker". I had to copy and paste to Word, spell check and then back again! Don't tell me!! I have to learn and grow . I'll find it or how -- I really will .
Pennsy
A Model Railroader's Credo: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
selector Yeah, yer down a couple quarts, Tom. -Crandell
Crandell--
TELL me about it, buddy, LOL! Been down a couple of quarts since I made that tackle through my coffee table in August!
Hey, talking about the bandwidth widening when I posted a picture, just posted another one on the Layouts and Layout Building thread, and it came out 'normal.' I must have done something RIGHT, for once! Either that or my computer has given up trying to 're-Train' me!
twhite Okay, another try: http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub/DSC02229.jpg Okay, I've got it. Evidently instead of the Direct Link, I have to use the IMG code at the bottom of the photo. At least on my computer. Tom
I've always had to use the img code line. IE 6, IE 7 AND Firefox.
Looks like they fixed the problem of it jumping back to page one after you post.
Loathar:
Hmm, you re-posted George with the hot ashes in a wooden gondola, and it's back again. Full page. I must have done something different with the last picture. Okay, I'll try again. I think it's MY computer, unless this is doing the same thing one everyone else's. Let me try something--
Uh-uh, but my computer just decided to freeze up. Okay, another try:
Let's see what happens with this one.
Well, it's more sorta/kinda, but it's still taking a lot of bandwidth, at least on my computer.
Well now I am getting this error on several of the threads:--->
Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.
I see no way to report it to the system operators. When I choose "contact us", I either get the magazines contacts or another error --> "The system cannot find the path specified."
Another issue.It seems that the "read" counter is not working on all the threads. Some like this one show high counts. Many others seem stuck at zero. ???
thank you Stein for your great information. Still all I can look at is 10 of my previous posts. That is not as good as the old site on which one could see the very first post one had. This function I find quite useful for keeping track of responses from other forum members and also when doing some research. So here is hoping that this will be changed to what it was on the old site.
Ooowwww, my brain. A new MMR forum look and a new Comcast/Firefox email look all in one day.
Yours In Model Railroading,
John
Littleton, CO
I judged this site last night. And I still stick with what I said about busy. It does look nice other than all the ads. I will have to investigate more on the site when I'm ready.
Texas Zepher Well now I am getting this error on several of the threads:---> Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding. I see no way to report it to the system operators. When I choose "contact us", I either get the magazines contacts or another error --> "The system cannot find the path specified."
I don't work for Kalmbach and have no inside information on how they do things, but I do work with troubleshooting computer problems.
I think that as a general principle you can safely assume that sql timeout errors will not need to be reported as bug reports - that is likely to be some temporary problem - maybe a database is responding slowly during database backup or database reindexing or some such thing.
If you experience other errors at the same time, it is highly likely to be related to the same temporary problem.
In my experience, those kinds of situations are likely around 7-8 am in my timezone, which would correspond to about midnight-1am or thereabouts in Wisconsin - a typical time for database maintenance jobs.
Of course - if the problem accessing those same threads persists over more than 24 hours during the work week, it probably should be reported. Then it might very well be a data error or a functional error.
Smile,Stein
da_kraut Hello, thank you Stein for your great information. Still all I can look at is 10 of my previous posts. That is not as good as the old site on which one could see the very first post one had. This function I find quite useful for keeping track of responses from other forum members and also when doing some research. So here is hoping that this will be changed to what it was on the old site.
Click on your screenname (in the right hand margin, under the "My profile" heading). Then click on your underlined post count. That gets you all of your previous posts (or at least all that have been indexed thus far - for me currently about 34 out of some 900+ posts - guess it takes quite a while to index everything from the old forum).
Stein, thank you very much for helping out...I appreciate it, and so does Bergie and the other mods.
All those who have "issues", if you post them here, Bergie and his staff will read this thread and act on what they understand are common problems, and will probaly have answers for your unique one, which are no doubt very frustrating. Please be patient while they diagnose the problems and correct them...I'm still getting the text running to the right border, while what I have typed wants to run off to the left out of site.
Hello, everybody,
I've waited until I had a chance to play around with the new forum before posting. So far, I think I've got it about as well figured out as I did before the change.
As for my previous posts, I see a few more of them every time I go to look. At the rate that they're showing up, all of my archived 'wisdom' should be available some time in 2010...
So be it!
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Two complaints I have so far:
It goes back to the top of the thread list when I exit a thread, instead of to where I was in the list before selecting the thread.
It apparently will not preview a post.
In general, I don't see any improvement.
Here is a test photo.
OK, that works, at least until AOL tears down its web hosting service.
And the insert photo function works, too.
After playing around with the new forum for a bit, I think it works fine..but there is one feature that makes it "worse" than the old forum..
Yes, "active topics" and "my discussions" show up..but there is no way to tell when new posts have been made in any of them! I always used this forum (old version) with the "active topics" feature..which show all topics with activity since the last time I logged on..that way I knew there was new discussion I could check out if I wanted to..
now, with the new forum, there is no way to tell if threads have new posts without opening up each one individually..much less convienient..
Is there any way to bring the "new posts since you last visited" feature back?
thanks,
I hope so. 2 steps to do if you want to quote a post, whereas the old version had a Quote button on the original page. I seem to remember ads on the old version - weren't they interspersed horizontally between posts?
As to being hard on the eyes - yep! It's like watching High-def TV on a small screen. Can be done, but gives one a headache. As I said in another post, the loading speed for me isn't too much of a problem since I just upgraded from 3 MBPS dsl to 10 to 20 MBPS Verizon FIOS. Killer web access, HD TV (which I had to go to since my old analog non-hd set quit on me last week), and clear phone, and all on 1 bill. Now I just hope my laptop's screen doesn't totally go south - getting color bars down the left side, and Mac monitors aren't cheap.
de N2MPU Jack
Proud NRA Life Member and supporter of the 2nd. Amendment
God, guns, and rock and roll!
Modeling the NYC/NYNH&H in HO and CPRail/D&H in N
Texas ZepherWell now I am getting this error on several of the threads:---> Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.I see no way to report it to the system operators. When I choose "contact us", I either get the magazines contacts or another error --> "The system cannot find the path specified." Another issue.It seems that the "read" counter is not working on all the threads. Some like this one show high counts. Many others seem stuck at zero. ???
Noticed that too. Mega replies, but no views?
I wonder why they changed it?
It seems odd that they buried some stuff that was useful. It's still there, but you have to fish. In the olld site, the forums button was to the top of the page, clear and distinct and one push you went there and had all the forums - including the trains.com one there. Now, towards bottom and side of pages. Just odd and a nuisance.
The ads on the side are just baffling. I can't imagine that anyone will pay attention to that white noise. I'm guessing that since they appear on the message writing page as well they get extra impresssions, but what a mess on the side. Guess that's why they buried our profile infor among those ads. But if they like their advertisers, why did they get rid of the premium banner spot at the top? I generally think it's a more modern but busier and not better design.
I don't really see anything that is markedly better, though maybe they just had to switch because of a operating platform issue. Or a new web master who needed to leave his mark, sometimes these tech changes happen for entirely internal reasons.
ScottI have the same concerns. the (active topics and my discussion) showed if I had any response were ones I used every time I logged on. Also in my discussions you could go directly to the page you wanted. Why are some of the pages larger than others? The text runs off the right of the screen.Aside from being lost all the time, those are my biggest complaints.
we're baaaackkk........ Happy railroading
scottychaos After playing around with the new forum for a bit, I think it works fine..but there is one feature that makes it "worse" than the old forum.. Yes, "active topics" and "my discussions" show up..but there is no way to tell when new posts have been made in any of them! I always used this forum (old version) with the "active topics" feature..which show all topics with activity since the last time I logged on..that way I knew there was new discussion I could check out if I wanted to.. now, with the new forum, there is no way to tell if threads have new posts without opening up each one individually..much less convienient.. Is there any way to bring the "new posts since you last visited" feature back? thanks, Scot
SteamFreak I like the new look, and I find it easier on the eyes. The beige expanse is gone, and the built-in Firefox spellchecker works with this software. I'm not crazy about the thread/ad space ratio though, and I notice there's no additional sub-categories, like a tutorial section. Oh well.
jeffrey-wimberlytwhitejust noticed--I've got 6 out of 8 little green Thingies filled in below my Avatar. Does this mean anything? That means you're a top 50 contributor.
I'm likin' this new format.Slicker'n grease on the track.