Admin, please note...

[Colleen]

Thanks, Bob (et al) for the work you're putting in to this new format. I noticed (and you posted regarding) the change you made with the subject lines. You said in an admin post:

1. In threaded view, the entire subject line will now show up (previously it was limited to the first 30 characters).

Word of warning: This doesn't work well. Groups that switch to this format, in my experience, try this and then realize what happens. Most people don't type in a subject line. Therefore, the "subject line" that shows up is endless and people have to scroll wa-a-a-a-y right in order to try to read what it says. It's a royal pain. You have to set a character limit. Thanks muchly.:)

[Claire]

I was wondering why, in hybrid mode, I can no longer scroll down through the posts to pick out the unread ones. This must be the reason! I agree that it does not work well.

[Colleen]

Yep. You can't scroll through because long subject lines (or lack of subject lines, in which case the post/text itself is used) run too far over on the screen.

[Colleen]

My previous post is a perfect example!:D What happens is that people have to remember to use a somewhat short subject line. But of course they don't, because who wants to have to remember that? I trust it'll be changed.

[Karin]

Yes, it would be helpful if it could go back the way it was!

[Peek a Boo]

actually, *I* don't mind the complete threaded view :-)
Most people are reading linear anyway.

[Colleen]

In the linear mode, this is a moot point since each post is shown individually, with no "box" showing all the opening lines of each post. In the hybrid (which is what I think most people use) and threaded views, though, that "box" is now next to impossible to read conveniently, because the subject lines/opening lines are stretched all the way across the screen. That's why a character limit is needed. This has come up on other forums that use this format.

[ELaurie]

Hi Colleen -

Just hijacking this thread for a moment to say your avitar is lovely. It's relaxing just to gaze at it.

ELaurie

[WTMCassandra]

I have a MacBook Pro laptop, and when I experimented with the size of the WTM window, if I stretch it almost the full width of my screen the subject lines come back within their proper "borders." And, I must admit, it's pretty easy to read that way, although it's not conducive to having several windows open at once. I don't know--I could grow to kind of like it.

[WTMCassandra]

Whoaaaa, unless I post a message like that! Since I have no subject line, it's posting the first part of my message. And that is so long that the line is now out of control. Colleen, you're right! This is a pain! And I agree with ELaurie that your avatar is beautiful.

[Sharon in SC]

Yep. You can't scroll through because long subject lines (or lack of subject lines, in which case the post/text itself is used) run too far over on the screen.

Hear, hear! Pretty, pretty please can we go back to being able to scroll through?! :)

[Colleen]

your avitar is lovely. It's relaxing just to gaze at it.

Yes, isn't that beautiful? Looking over to Mt. Baker from the San Juan islands. Lovely! I can't take credit for the picture, though!

[Colleen]

Whoaaaa, unless I post a message like that! Since I have no subject line, it's posting the first part of my message. And that is so long that the line is now out of control.

Yep, see what I mean?:p

And I agree with ELaurie that your avatar is beautiful.

Thank you!

[Robin in Tx]

You can still scroll down through the thread... all you have to do is click somewhere in the display that has the threaded view, and then hit your down arrow... it will scroll down as you wish... that way you don't have to go all the way to the right margin to access the scroll bar.

Other than that, I agree that it's a little too much width there :).

HTH,
Robin

[Colleen]

I didn't mean to imply that we can't scroll through the thread now. But the easiest way (in my experience, and I am familiar with this format from other online communities) to "browse" a thread is by glancing through the subject lines/opening lines. It's more time-consuming to look through the entire thread. Limiting the character length allows you to quickly glance and see who's posted, etc. Clear as mud?;)

[Sharon in SC]

You can still scroll down through the thread... all you have to do is click somewhere in the display that has the threaded view, and then hit your down arrow...

Ahhh!! Thanks for sharing, Robin. That makes all the difference for me. I don't mind if the subject line takes all the way over. I can still see who's posted and the gist of what they're saying (maybe even more so). I just didn't like not being able to scroll down. Thanks for enlightening me! :D

[Robin in Tx]

Oh, I know you weren't saying that! I was replying (or at least trying to... still figuring this all out) to Claire when she said she couldn't scroll through the threads to find the unread posts. At first, I thought the same thing, but then I realized that as long as you clicked on somewhere in that window, that the up and down arrow on your keyboard will scroll you just the same. I agree that this is not a good display format... I was just trying to help Claire because I had gone through the same frustration, and was glad to stumble on the quick fix :).

Robin

[Claire]

You can still scroll down through the thread... all you have to do is click somewhere in the display that has the threaded view, and then hit your down arrow... it will scroll down as you wish... that way you don't have to go all the way to the right margin to access the scroll bar.
Robin


Oh, thanks! That helps a lot! :)

[Rhonda in TX]

Another vote for returning to the way it was, pretty please. I'm glad to know a work-around (clicking in the window, then using arrow keys), but I prefer how it looked before.

[Peek a Boo]

i just meant what Robin shared --that i could still scroll through it just fine and like having as much there as possible. But i just learned that "click and roll the mouse wheel" trick a few weeks ago, lol. I do wish that when you hit 'threaded' it opened it up to the whole page instead of just a little box at the top.

On the old board, Pam mentioned a few times that on HER computer the threads weren't stretched down the right side of a page when the threads scrolled off to the side. I'm guessing a lot of this is dependent on the computer itself.

i wonder if they could set the threaded view so it limited the line length to maybe 40 characters, but displayed multuiple lines? kinda like it did on the old board? I could handle that!!

[Colleen]

I don't mind if the subject line takes all the way over. I can still see who's posted and the gist of what they're saying (maybe even more so). I just didn't like not being able to scroll down.

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse here; I'm not sure if I'm being clear about the problem I perceive. The thing is, you can scroll through the thread post-by-post, but you can't scroll through the box that just lists the subject lines. So once a thread has more than a few replies, the only way to see who's posted ~ or the subject lines ~ is to either go through the entire thread; or, go all the way to the right of your screen, scroll down, return left, and repeat. Does that make any sort of sense?:o

[Peek a Boo]

actually colleen, you CAN scroll thru the little box at the top that just lists the subject lines. click anywhere in the box like Robin mentioned, and you can scroll down w/ the little wheel on your mouse or the arrow keys.

However, if you want to read the entire reply that rolls off to the side, then yeah, you gotta sli-i-i-i-i-i-de that-a-way. I'd probably just change the format if the thread looks interesting enough and I already got a "feel" for how the discussions line up. I'm just pleased as a pickle that i can get a better idea of what was being said even if someone doesn't put text in the title.

[Robin in Tx]

Yes! That's exactly what I was trying to say... you can scroll through the thread window WITHOUT going ALL the way to the right to access the scroll bar. You do so by clicking ANYWHERE in the upper window thatdisplays the threads, and once you do that, your arrow key works as a scroll tool.


Robin

[mcconnellboys]

Yes, please help! It's killing me!

Regena

[Sharon in SC]

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse here; .....you can't scroll through the box that just lists the subject lines.....

First of all, trust me, no apologies are necessary for potentially "beating a dead horse"! I, truly, felt your pain a couple of days ago when I was desperately trying to discern if I was the only one who felt posts were getting buried (and ultimately missed) with the new format.

The good news for you this evening is you really CAN scroll through the box!! Just do what Robin turned us all on to - click in that box and then use your keyboard arrows. "Try it, you'll like it, take a tip from me!!" :-D

[Cindyg]

Click Quick Response on the post you want to reply to. Then click Go Advanced. Then you get a subject line. But your quick response will still be under the post you want to be under.

[Colleen]

Okay, Robin & Peek, I see what you're saying; thanks for explaining that. I am going to stand by my original request to the Powers That Be, though. From my experience with other boards, a character length limit makes far more sense and promotes better ease of use. Why would I want to have to click on the threaded box and scroll up and down with my arrow key? Just one more hoop to jump through, kwim?

[8FillTheHeart]

Ditto!! If it was complicated before, this is definitely worse. I have tried scrolling, but my laptop is too sensitive and it ends up scrolling the page 1/2 the time vs the replies.

Ironically, I am reading the title above this reply box..."just for hanging out and chatting"...........this is just getting too difficult for me. I am incredibly disappointed b/c I have loved hanging out here. This is more like a resource now then a place to hang out, visit, and chat.:(

On the bright side, I should become much more productive. ;)

[Robin in Tx]

I can't speak for Peek, but I certainly wasn't arguing for this format or against your suggestion... I was trying to give a helpful hint that I discovered which makes navigating the "threaded view" window easier until they fix this. Just trying to help! Wasn't disagreeing at all.

Robin

[Trivium Academy]

We won't type in a subject line because we're using the Quick Reply and we're not taking the time to "Go Advanced" when we post.

[mcconnellboys]

I tried that, but it doesn't work for me.....

Regena

[Robin in Tx]

Regena, are your pointing your cursor inside the window that shows the threaded subject lines? Instead of clicking on one of the actual posts, click in the general white area (nothing will happen), and then your arrow keys ought to work. I am viewing the board in hybrid view, if that makes a difference.

Robin

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I didn't feel "advanced" enough yet. :o}

This helps a lot.

[Maxine in WA]

On the old board, Pam mentioned a few times that on HER computer the threads weren't stretched down the right side of a page when the threads scrolled off to the side. I'm guessing a lot of this is dependent on the computer itself.


I think it does depend on which browser you are using. I am using Firefox and I have both a right scroll bar and a bottom scroll bar when I'm in the top box and in threaded mode. Yes, the messages are very long to the right, but I just ignore them and am able to do what I did before. If I wanted to read the entire message without going down to the actual message box, I can do that using the scroll bars. So, at least for Firefox users, we have flexibility. It would be so very frustrating to those of you who don't have the scroll bars.

This is the hardest part for Web Site people to deal with: there are so many different platforms people are using and it's almost impossible to test for each and every scenario. Hope there is a quick resolution for everyone.

[Peek a Boo]

Ironically, I am reading the title above this reply box..."just for hanging out and chatting"...........this is just getting too difficult for me. I am incredibly disappointed b/c I have loved hanging out here. This is more like a resource now then a place to hang out, visit, and chat.:(


I agree. it feels like it's lost the "hive" mentality.

However, i do kinda agree w/ Colleen on the character/letters thing. as I posted above, i wonder if they could set the threaded view so it limited the line length to maybe 40 characters, but displayed multuiple lines? kinda like it did on the old board? I could handle that!!

i DO like that now it shows the actual message. before, when they didn't recognize the message, it was a list of "RE: ditto whatever was above." That was a bit less than helpful, lol.

[Jill, OK]

...so if someone has posted this already, forgive me, but...it doesn't always work for me, the clicking your mouse on a part of the threaded area at the top, and then using the wheel on the mouse to scroll it. (I think someone mentioned this below). Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

And, help me out with this, too...how do the 'Quick Reply' and regular ol' 'Reply' differ? Sometimes, I'm finding my reply doesn't go under the OP, but it will be about halfway down, under someone else.

And here I thought I just about had this format figured out, lol. ;o)

[mcconnellboys]

Yes! That's what I'm doing. It doesn't work for me. Why doesn't it work for me? OY....

Regena

[Cindyg]

now that we can scroll through these messages (by clicking in the thread window at the top, then scrolling with the cursor), this is much more like the good old board.

Honestly, this small change is making me feel much better about this board.

[Chris in CA]

Yes, please change this
thanks

[Colleen]

Since our friendly admin (who conveniently lives in my time zone;)) is online right now, too, I'll bump this up and keep hoping for a fix.

[Cindyg]

You can still scroll through the threaded mode by clicking in the thread and using your cursor.

Really, I rather like it this way.

(To get a subject line for a Quick Response, click on Go Advanced.)

[Colleen]

...people often won't remember to use a short-ish subject line. And many were pleased that they didn't have to think of a subject line with this new format. And some find that it's not working to scroll through the thread as described. That's why I believe, based on how this played out on the other communities I frequent which use this same format, that a limit to the character length is needed.

[Cindyg]

But wherever TPTB cap the posts, that where we're going to get those horrid "more posts below this level" message. (Right?) Which ruins the whole thread.

I've come to like scrolling through the thread, even though the right side of the subject-line-less posts rolls off to the right.