I use a "fingerprint reader" and its associated software to handle log-ins, not only Windows itself but also all web forums to which I belong.
I started having trouble with this some time ago with changes to the log-in sequence where I had to click two different log-in buttons on different pages to get to a page that allowed me to actually enter the ID and password and then it returned me to the Model Railroader magazine forum home page instead of the Trains page.
But at least I was able to use the Fingerprint reader...
Now, with the new "popup-and-grey-out the-window" log-in method, the Fingerprint reader cannot find the two text boxes to fill in the data in the pop-up.
To log-in this morning... I had to use a Favorites link to a different Kalmbach publishing forum that still has the old "Log-in" button which takes me to another page that has another "Login" button, that takes me to another page that has the UserID and Password text boxes and I can run my finger over the fingerprint reader and the software fills in the blanks... Then I have to click one more "Login" button that performs the actual log-in and updates the present page to show the log-in is complete. THEN I have to click a "return to the previous page" link that takes me to the Model Railroader forum home page and THEN I have open my Favorites menu to select the Trains forum home page. There are no shortcuts in that sequence, and I have to wait for the Model Railroader home page to fully load before I can select the Trains page.
{bleah!}
And I notice that the built-in spellchecker of Internet Explorer does not work when entering text here.
And the stark white background is a bit disconcerting.
And the text size when entering this is kinda small.
And it seems others have found a way to make it bigger when entering their missive, but that then produces much larger font size when I read it later, but since not everybody plays with the font size, the size of the text when I am reading things varies from posting to posting. I don't mind limiting the number and styles of fonts to a small subset of all the bazillion that have been invented, because too many people think that because others fonts are available they have to pick the most obnoxious and unreadable one for their missives. I also like that alternate colors are not available because too many people like to use wierd colors that alsoproduce unreadable text.
I always thought that the opposite of Progress was Congress, and that politics was verboten on this website, but it seems that the present update is certainly NOT PROgress, so it must be a verboten subject to discuss here.
Nevertheless...
Your programmers may have stated that they didn't change any code, but I think you will find that their definition of 'change" and "code" are not the same as anybody else's definition of "change" and "code". If they didn't change anything, then how come there is this discussion of what CHANGED. I am quite certain that nobody snuck into my house and ripped the monitor off my laptop PC and substituted a different one and I seriously doubt if they did such to all the denizens of this forum.
There have, in the past, been some suggestions to use the same format as the Model Railroader forum because it has bigger avitars and a few other niceties, but it also has a lot to be desired in format and useability... maybe that is what your programmers meant by 'no changes'... they just took the code from that forum and CHANGED it to display "TRAINS" instead of "MODEL RAILROADER" and that was not a "change" to the "CODE", but an alteration in some database or file that is used to present the image on screen, but I suspect there is LOTS of CHANGES to LOTS of subroutines and other "code" that is called from that "didn''t change" code (that was copied from the other forum) and that is what all this discussion is about.
Oh, and I find the big, page-wide, dropdown that appears when I roll the mouse over the menu banner at the top of every page to be an annoyance since it often covers what I came to the page to read. I have to move the mouse totally away from the dropdown to get it to go away so I can read what I came to read. Irritating! Things like that should only appear if I CLICK on an entry in the menu banner.
I also miss the little box that was at the right side with the avitars of the members that are presently logged in.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
blue streak 1Do others find that there is not enough color contrast between the read threads and not read ones ?
Yes, but it is only a problem when I open a menu where I have read all the posts. I liked it better when the links turned a different color. FWIW, I have almost no controls or toolbars, either.
I'll get used to it...
I'm going to be straight to the point. Despite it's shortcomings, the old software was better than the "new and improved" version.
Norm
blue streak 1Angela: You are really going to have to become a fireman to put out this fire. Best way is to hold IT's feet to a fire and make them explain to us posters their thinking.
Frankly, the whole Apple/Ive 'beautiful' approach with too much white, flat icons, mystery-meat navigation, and equal opportunity of dysfunction across multiple platforms has 'jumped the shark' long ago. Wasn't good design then (except by creative rebranding) and certainly isn't usable design now. May I gently suggest that the 'art style sheet' merits some fairly urgent rethinking...
If we are going to have to use systems with menu actions like Format -> Blocks -> Blockquote, Div, Pre ... someone in IT better get off their duff and either provide a help system or set of tutorials showing how to use the fancy stuff they've generated. Most of the people on this list aren't gamerz, techies, or kids brought up to relish 'playful discovery of key functionality through aleatory activity'. It isn't exactly fair to make them have to learn by guessing or surfing the Web for clues and then guessing...
I have had far too much fun with the revised Yahoo Groups /neo/ fiasco to take another instantiation of this sort of fuster-masquerading-as-an-upgrade quietly. When did UI design get involved in the current race to the bottom? Perhaps it's time for normal users to take a stand and 'make it stop'.
tree68 As usual, the stuff I used is gone.... Test of Forum Code Pat Boylan adds: I hit reply>add quote to tree68's post.
As usual, the stuff I used is gone....
Test of Forum Code
As blue streak 1 mentioned, it looks like quotes have had some fixative action.
I did not need to cut and paste it and surround it with the "quote" tags.
Where's the preview button to show me if "test of forum code" is still gray like a quoted item? In edit, or should I say compose, mode it doesn't show gray, but when I put my cursor on it the box below the compose window says "blockqoute>div", so hitting "add quote" seems to have done something that's not immediately editable. I don't remember noticing anything like that under the old system, so I find it hard to believe that this change happened with no software changes. Perhaps they made software changes reacting to the sink or swim user responses in threads like this.
Copying from the compose window to notepad doesn't seem always to retain or throw away the formatting that it used to, another indication to me that there must have been some software changes.
In reply I can't see the thread's title. That sets me up for embarrasing moments at 4am, which of course is when I do all of my surfing, never on company time.
Patrick Boylan
Free yacht rides, 27' sailboat, zip code 19114 Delaware River, get great Delair bridge photos from the river. Send me a private message
No, it's experience on the road to the internet of things. Code, load and go, don't look back! As they say in the IT world.
Angela: You are really going to have to become a fireman to put out this fire. Best way is to hold IT's feet to a fire and make them explain to us posters their thinking. You appear to have been blindsided. The US president fired his secret service director when she did not answer up to congress properly. Do make IT answer as well.
Change for change's sake to protect their jobs ? ? ? ?
I much preferred the old format; and the new setup has made it hard to impossible to see all newswire stories. I give the new format a solid F.
I am sorry. Having been a long time reader and suffering through 'improvements' this is over the top! It is very toy like on a normal PC screen. Yes, it may look good on a IPad or an Iphone, for a majority of people this is a waste of space, fonts and navagation (took 5 minutes to find the forum.) I've been in the IT business for 30 years with a eye to useability and productivity (my company measure productivity to the mirco-second between key strokes), would never sign-off on deploying something this poorly designed for usability. I'll give credit for many hours of deveoplement and testing, someone never bother to ask the subscribers/readers about this 'improvement'.
Sorry to say this folks, this format is now becoming the norm, see MSN.COM for like example.
To sum this up, did Trains pattern after the BOB Operating System from MicroSoft?
Not bad, but no real improvement. I note the Kalmbach IT people appear to be like IT folks everywhere. They usually fail to give the staff who use the service any heads up in advance.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Dear Lord, what a mess, requiring multiple moves where one or two used to do. Why must TRAINS torture us like this once a year? This is called improving things by making them worse!
The Classic Trains forum, I'm happy to say, has not yet received the disfigurement.
Do others find that there is not enough color contrast between the read threads and not read ones ?
I am viewing this on a new 32" HP Monitor. so the new format looks fine.
Tell us what device you are using to view the new format of the Train Forum?
Watch my videos on-line at https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewNeilFalconer
I visit the site on a Nook, so my options for making adjustments are limited. The white background is too bright and the letters are too skinny, so that reading is unpleasant. This is more change for the sake of change, which I hate.
Norm48327 It's in the tool bar at the top of the reply window.
It's in the tool bar at the top of the reply window.
Not on my IE 11 view via Windows 8.1
When I called this screen up on my Windows XP machine with IE8 - the Icons for inserting a link, inserting a picture and inserting a video exist - in IE11 w/8.1 they don't. Who is doing the platform testing for these changes?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
WOW! When'd this happen? I see the main page is a LOT bigger now, possibly as a concession to those who's eyesight isn't what it was, or NEVER was in my case.
I'll get used to it.
NorthWest blue streak 1any one know how to get the order descending funtion as the default that we have had for years ? There should be three tabs at the top of the thread... look for the "order descending" one.
blue streak 1any one know how to get the order descending funtion as the default that we have had for years ?
Alas, it only works with the thread you're looking at - if you change to a different thread, you have to click on the button all over again...
Need it to be persistent for all threads. It certainly made reviewing recent additions to any given thread a lot simpler.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
There should be three tabs at the top of the thread... look for the "order descending" one.
blue streak 1 any one know how to get the order descending funtion as the default that we have had for years ?
any one know how to get the order descending funtion as the default that we have had for years ?
There are buttons at the top of the thread for that.
One positive thing I've noticed. That annoying yellow banner is gone from the bottom.
I don't post here anymore ( guess I lied a bit) since jeffery whatshisname deleted posts and hreads wholsale even though he was a toy train member and never made a post to the trains forum. I deleted all of mine rather than have him do it.
You people are surprised? remember when the yellow bar showed up and EVERYBODY complained? Did it go away? Of course not. This "forum" is an organ to encourage you to subscribe and nothing else.
You want it to have relevence to you? How about stop posting entirely. Of course the loony tunes will still post that oil fired engines should come back immediately but without posts of any substance you will have a voice in this forum . If not, easy enough to start one.
There doesn't appear to be a button any longer for entering pictures to a thread - they have to have their own HTML activators placed manually
When getting a new PM - the Messages icon does not change color or intensity to indicate that a new one has arrived
BaltACDThere aren't any 'bread crumbs' at the bottom of a thread page to navigate away from the thread. You have to return to the top of the page.
The blue triangle brings you back to the top, which helps, although I wish the links were still there. Also, it is really easy to hit the "Report Abuse" link when trying to click the triangle.
BaltACDWhen clicking the 'last post' from the thread menu screen - you are taken to the 1st post on the last page - not the last post.
(Test of quote feature.)
NorthWest I would like spell check back, though! Edit: also, I'd like to set the time zone back to Pacific Time, but it seems stuck on Central Time. Can that be fixed?
I would like spell check back, though!
Edit: also, I'd like to set the time zone back to Pacific Time, but it seems stuck on Central Time. Can that be fixed?
BaltACD Murphy Siding Alright, who moved my cheese- again? Remember - only the 2nd mouse gets the cheese!
Murphy Siding Alright, who moved my cheese- again?
Alright, who moved my cheese- again?
Remember - only the 2nd mouse gets the cheese!
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