Wow! What happened? (Or, Georgia on my mind)

[Overmod]

Norm48327

A step in the right direction has been taken. The previously read threads now turn grey.

 

And, as far as I can see, the 'reverse order' problem has been fixed. 

I may be seeing things -- but yesterday it appeared that the 'descending order' control had been made persistent on a thread-by-thread basis: an thread I 'reversed' stayed in reverse order once I changed it, but new threads still came up initially in regular order (ignoring the global 'show threads in reverse order' control).

Now it appears that all threads come up 'properly' reversed when selected.  Thanks!

BTW -- on my system I now see that 'Font Family' and 'Font Size' have quietly been restored as controls ... and Georgia is included there as an option.

[K. P. Harrier]

Are My Eyes Playing Tricks On Me? Just noticed overlapping pages, possibly something that just happened! (????) The stack is as follows: Home > Trains Magazine > Forums … “Trains Magazine” and “Forums” are the SAME, except for old and new formats! Is Kalmbach converting back to the old, more acceptable ways as this is posted, or did someone spike my drink?

[Norm48327]

A step in the right direction has been taken. The previously read threads now turn grey.

[Norm48327]

My Choice of fonts is Times New Roman 14, and I'd like that option back. This font is not fun to read nor is is easy on the eyes. Till they fix that, I'll continue to bold.

[MikeF90]

 

Here is a example track layout composed with 12 point Courier New font:

 

 

 

---\-------D--------/---

 

----\---/--C--\----/----

 

–----/-/---B---\--\

 

/ \

 

---/-------A--------\---

 

 

 

It does not paste in from Wordpad but it does from Libreoffice Writer, sort of, NOT.

 

 

 

[vsmith]

Oooh goody the same virus known as Model Railroader forum eye strain disease has struck here as well, glad to know posting pictures and making edits here will be as big of a PITA as it can be there....seriously Kalmbach are you INTENTIONALLY trying to drive us away?

[Euclid]

 

I did not like the new forum revision eliminating the choice of fonts.  Fonts are not just a matter of style.  They also affect readability, especially on a monitor.  I understand that the Georgia and Verdana fonts were developed for optimum readability on a monitor. 

Readability can be somewhat subjective because it is not just a matter of deciding whether a character is legible.  They all are.  Readability is an assessment of how characters behave in a group.

This current default forum font strikes me as sort of sparkly in a text body.  I see that some have decided to bold the font for improvement.  Normally, I don’t have a need for all text being bold, but for this default font, making it all bold is huge improvement.  On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the most readable, I give this default forum font about 5.    

For this objective of readability, I think Verdana is the best.  This is 1o pt. Verdana.  A lot of people feel that the larger the font, the greater the legibility.  I think this can reverse at a certain point.  I would say that 10 pt. Verdana is more readable than 12 pt.   

Anyway, I am pleased to discover that you can control fonts here by setting them in a WORD document, and then copy/paste them in here.  That is what I have done all along anyway.    

[Deggesty]

Let’s see if it works with WordPerfect, as well as with Word. 12 point type, Times New Roman.

Well, this version does not like my choice of font or size, even when I try to import it.

I'll try again:

Montréal--it did take the accented "e"!

[K. P. Harrier]

But, on the second post attempt, some buttons disappear!

 

Euclid:  Do you have any god-like powers for that problem?

[K. P. Harrier]

This is a test!

----

Hey, the above "Georgia" WORD thing worked!

Euclid:  Are you a god? (Hehehe.)

[Euclid]

Here is Georgia font typed in an unsaved WORD document as default Calibri 11 pt.  I then changed it to Georgia font, 12 pt. in the WORD document.  Then I copied and pasted it from the WORD document into the post composition box. 

 ***********

 

I then come back and edit the post, and it apparently reverts back to the default font of the forum.

[Overmod]

Euclid

I compose in Word, and then copy/paste into the forum message composition box.  I don’t see a problem.

 

Are you formatting the document in .doc or .docx format for this purpose?  (Not that I think it has much to do with cutting and pasting from an unsaved document window...)

 

I suspect, going back to the original topic's detail, that we have found a way to get the Georgia back past the idiot art-department style sheet -- look at the formatting of Euclid's post.  Euclid: if you have Georgia on your system, see what happens when you paste from Word using it...  ;-}

[Euclid]

I compose in Word, and then copy/paste into the forum message composition box.  I don’t see a problem. 

[K. P. Harrier]

The Missing "W" Button

WORD is an excellent word processing program.  Unfortunately, the new trainsmag.com forums does NOT have a provision for composing in WORD, copying. and then pasting that composition into the forum posting screen.

WORD documents have a hidden section for internal use, and the "W" button document hides the internal use material and allows the typed text to be seen.

Apparently, without a WORD use provision, everything (from WORD) inserted is hidden, and post material can't be seen.

It is unknown if the technical people for the forums (apparently new) didn't know that, or they were trying to cut corners and costs.  But, without the "W" button, the forum is second rate, and hardly something Kalmbach can be proud of.

 

[blue streak 1]

zugmann

 

Paul of Covington

One thought crosses my mind: the MR forum has been using this format for some time. Where there a lot of complaints/problems when it started using it?

 

 Model railroaders complain?  Nahhh.. that never happens!

 

 

So why did trains Mag not tell us that changes were coming and to vet the MR web site ?  Rail fans might have noted most of these problems ?

[NorthWest]

Angela, thanks. My two big requests are:

1. Spell check. Regardless of browser and settings, it doesn't work for things typed in the main post box, but it does for quick replies and in the box on the blogs. Hope this helps.

2. Active linking. I cannot put in a link to another post and have it be active, even if I use the [url] HTML tags.

[MikeF90]

Paul_D_North_Jr

Great photo of CWR buggies moving a string for the Gold Line ? Where exactly ? Any other details ?

The photo was taken on the construction of the Los Angeles county Expo Line extension, just west of Overland Ave. Here's a regular link (TEST) to the topic:

http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/742/t/229021.aspx

UPDATE - test of link still FAILS. BI-zarre ....

UPDATE 2 - add another external link for testing:

http://www.ipernity.com/doc/expo-line

End of test. That one seemed to work by Not highlighting existing text. I just clicked the Insert Link button (chain icon) and filled in the URL. Even wierder, I can't redo the first link - the blank line seems to have some magic curse that prevents linking properly. Maybe I have to wait for some cleanup behind the scenes. It is now 12:36 PDT and waiting to restore http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/742/t/229021.aspx

UPDATE 3 @ 7:10pm, returned to above space and tried to Insert Link, still no active link.

[zugmann]

Paul of Covington

One thought crosses my mind: the MR forum has been using this format for some time. Where there a lot of complaints/problems when it started using it?

 

Model railroaders complain?  Nahhh.. that never happens!

 

 

(full discolsure - I have some HO and O stuff)

[AgentKid]

How do you get spell checking to work in posts here with Firefox. I have uploaded the suggested fix from Firefox and it does seem to work in other text boxes I have tried, but not in the box format used here. I just checked and it still wants me to add the suggested fix here. Apologies for any spelling mistakes in this post.

Bruce

 

[Paul of Covington]

   Other than trying to get used to the new format, I'm not having any serious problems, but I don't know enough to use some of the sophisticated approaches some of the posters are talking about.

    One thought crosses my mind: the MR forum has been using this format for some time.   Where there a lot of complaints/problems when it started using it?

[Angela Pusztai-Pasternak]

Hello!

As promised, Steve and I met with our online department to discuss some your problems and requests. They are working hard to look into some bugs and also add some of the functionality you're looking for. I will post in this thread as changes and updates appear.

Thanks again for your patience.

[K. P. Harrier]

Well stated, Mr. North, well stated.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

MikeF90

[snipped - PDN] . . . OTOH I just visited the topic on the Gold Line extension and noticed that there are page buttons labeled '0' and '-1'. Apparently the new forum theme includes a Time Machine option.  Forum stability has not yet arrived ....

UPDATE - time to try an inline image in the 'new' theme forum:

Looks like the Insert Image worked, but the Description field entered does Not appear when you hover the cursor. Another FAIL! . . .

to the first comment quoted above.

Great photo of CWR buggies moving a string for the Gold Line ?  Where exactly ?  Any other details ? 

This Forum nonsense is barely tolerable because it's free to me, as a subscriber to the print edition.  If I had to pay more than $10 a year for it, though, I'd drop it about now.  Sorry, Kalmbach, this kind of stuff is pretty poor and arrogant treatment of your customer base - there's no defensible excuse for it !

- Paul North.   

[466lex]

Unable to post on Fred's blog.  Wondering if I can here? Testing, 1, 2, 3.

[MikeF90]

I doubt that a virus is causing some of these strange page displays. For comparison it might be helpful to post which kind of browser one is using - I'm using the latest Firefox and don't see 'missing buttons'.

OTOH I just visited the topic on the Gold Line extension and noticed that there are page buttons labeled '0' and '-1'. Apparently the new forum theme includes a Time Machine option. Forum stability has not yet arrived ....

UPDATE - time to try an inline image in the 'new' theme forum:

Looks like the Insert Image worked, but the Description field entered does Not appear when you hover the cursor. Another FAIL!

UPDATE 2 - this edit uses Google Chrome to add a normal link:

http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/238722.aspx 

Whoops, another bizarre FAIL!

UPDATE 3 - use Firefox to add and activate a link:

http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/238722.aspx

The bizarre FAILURES just keep on coming! Back to square one ....

 

[K. P. Harrier]

In posting, since the button display gets altered after the first post or editing session, at least on my computer, is it possible a virus is spread through the TRAINS Magazine website?  I use Deep Freeze by Faronics to protect my computer from viruses, so any virus is eliminated upon the computer's being turned off.  Are you too experiencing the icon arrangement being altered after the first post, or is this peculiar to my computer?

[Semper Vaporo]

Sorry it didn't work... I tried it myself and it does not work for me either. I'd think it would be something that would "take" immediately (though it would require a refresh of any already displayed pages). Seems it might be a configuration item that the new code does not look at to decide what to do (more of that code that the programmers didn't change!)

[blue streak 1]

Semper Vaporo

Semper:   waited over hour and did not work.  evidentle Newest to oldest advance settings is not working.  Has anyone else had any that do not work in settings ?

[blue streak 1]

Semper Vaporo

The sorting thing... look just below your user name at the top right of any Trains dot com page... click on the "Settings" link.  On the page that comes up click on the "Advanced Options" tab near the top, then click on "Reverse" next to "SORT POSTS:" and see if that will alter the sort to your liking... I assume it will remember that setting, but since I like the "Oldest to Newest" sort, I have not tried to change it.  Be sure to click on "SAVE" at the bottom of the page!

 

Still waiting  appears not to work.  Setting was already that way

 

---

 

[Paul of Covington]

    Funny thing:  if you use "quick reply" you don't have the tool bar with all the options, but you do have spellchecker.   If post then go back and edit, you have all the tools but no spellchecker.