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Trying to like it here

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25 replies

by saabnut

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

I love the idea behind the site with the customization touches and the "myspace-like" touches... but the forums... er um... "Discussions"....
Wow.
Awful.
Unwieldy is a term that comes to mind. It can take 10 minutes to read a thread with 14 replies.
Any plans to move to a more traditional "forum-type" format?
If not, any tips for navigating the "discussions" that I may be missing (although it looks pretty simple).

25 replies

by old guy

somewhat unwieldly. You can click on the Print button and it will put all the posts in that discussion in a print out type format. This makes it a little easier to read.

by stargazerr

TR is fun and Old Guy's recommendation should solve your problem.

Speaking of which, old guy, where have u been? I thought, I was the only one away from TR.

]:)

by old guy

didn't think to welcome you aboard. You can always count on Stargazzer to remember to welcome new folks.

Star,

I've been around. I started a post that IMO had some really good discussions and I've been in a few of the other ones. I have been keeping a little busier than I've wanted to be.

by onbliss

...I have never used that option in the last 5 years :( But definitely a forum like UI will help. Say the one that IMDB has, where the user has control on the view type - flat, thread etc.

by stargazerr

Like I so like to say these days, I have stopped hardly working and started working hard.

Dont look at me. It isnt like I have done this by choice :D

]:)

by mjd420nova

I've been a member for 5 years, and after a while you will get used to who will provide useful information and who'll rattle you chain. The ratings are just for activity and not for usable content in the posts. I get alot of information without even joining in a discussion. The Q & A is important for those who are trying things with their hardware and software. After a short time you'll know who's
good and who's not. I often skip over comments by some users as they have never offered anything in the past but friction.

by deepsand

Beneath any post that you are viewing is a "Print" button; using this will give an expanded view containing the full text of the entire discussion.

So as to be able to both read the full discussion, while retaining the ability to Post, "Right Click" on the Print button; and, depending on your browser and your personal preferences, select either "Opne in a New Window" or "Open in a New Tab."

Now you'll be able to toggle between the 2 views as needed.

by hugo

yep thats a really good tip, but there is no doubt that the poster is right - we all get so much info these days, you can miss some good stuff cos you cannot scan whats in the message quickly.
i use ctrl+f a lot on forums, no use on an expandable tree.

by tig2

I have never seen the print button within the site and using "print" from the file menu in IE doesn't do the same thing.

I have no idea why I never see a print button. It would serve to simplify negotiation through a thread.

by old guy

It's under the part that has the profile section. There is a Post Reply button, a Subscribe button, and then the Print button. See it?

by sleepin'dawg

Hope that helps. BTW once there use the preview function; you don't have to actually print anything out. It's fairly simple but easy to overlook it. You can scroll up and down to your heart's content and catch the gist of every post in a thread, even all the off topic ones.

[b]Dawg[/b] ]:)

by deepsand

Until such time as I have time to review the source code for the discussions page, I can't say why you are'nt seeing the Print function.

In the mean, try cruising the area to the right of the Subscribe link with your cursor and see if you discover any "hidden" links; is so, try it/them.

by deadly ernest

a real bugger if you are on dial up or slow dial up. I am restricted to a 28.8 kbps dial up due to Telco line quality problems. Tried this once and it took 30 minutes to set the page with everything.

Now I get the post title list and only open those that I think look interesting from the title or the poster. Things would be better if TR used frames, or something similar to just have the message section change as you click on the list below.

by tig2

I AM on a broadband connect. I log in and out every two or three days to TR. I don't see anything invisible that I haven't already tried.

TR just hates me. *sniff* . I have no idea why!

Truthfully, I think that MS may have something to do with this...

by x-marcap

Right click on the threads from bottom up that way you get things in order of a thread...

I like Firefox, but my home laptop has the latest IE, and it isn't as nice, or as fast, but the overhead limits you to about 10 tabs MS /Gig ram for ie 15 for Firefox.

by sleepin'dawg

It adds tabbed browsing functionality to IE and provides additional security items like pop-up blocking etc. It's fairly easy to use and has an intuitive and responsive interface, unlike FireFox, which has a bit of a learning curve to it. Remember though even with the added items all the IE vulnerabilities are still there, you have to actively activate all the security features, which can be enabled or disabled at will. You have to remember to reactivate anything you may have, by choice, disabled. It may not be quite as secure as FireFox but it is one hell of a lot faster.

[b]Dawg[/b] ]:)

by tig2

Did you have a pop-up blocker in place prior to installing Avant? If so, did you have to uninstall the stand alone blocker in order for Avant to work properly?

Thanks!

by tig2

You guys won't believe this but I don't have any icons next to Post a Reply EXCEPT the subscribe icon. I don't know what about my system would display the page differently for me but that appears to be the case.

I'm not sure this makes me feel special...

by old guy

Did you ever send your nominal fee to me? I thought I had forgotten about that. Hey, send me my fee and I'll release your Print button unharmed... :^0

I don't know why it wouldn't be on your pages as well. Dawg, do you have any ideas? You may need to contact Smorty or one of the other TR powers that be.

by justin james

... figuring out where in the thread you are is miserable at best, the only way to see if to scroll up and down and look for the grey post title. When replying (and after replying) there is no easy way to see the post you are replying to. There is no preview of your post. The thread tree does not support any type of sorting. It does not flag items as "NEW" when you have not read them, it seems to be date based, as far as I can tell. It can be difficult to reply to the original post, first you have to go to it and reply.

The fact is, the discussion system is bad enough that previous posters in this thread felt the need to post tips on how to use it. If simple system like a discussion board cannot be understand in five seconds or less, someone has made some major usability/interface design mistakes.

J.Ja

by deepsand

Simplicity & ease of use are 2 quite different matters.

A hammer is quite simple; trying to use one may in fact be unwieldy.

Main Entry: un?wieldy

Function: adjective

: not easily managed, handled, or used (as [b]because of[/b] [b]bulk[/b], weight, complexity, [b]or awkwardness[/b])

The tree structure used for discussions is simple.

The inability to expand/collapse sub-threads, or read messages [i]in situ[/i], makes large discussions unwieldy by virtue of their bulk.

by saabnut

Thanks!

As to the "why is it "unwieldy" comment:
Look at most other forums. You can see the thread in its' entirety. Here you have to continue clicking > follow this tree >backup to a different tree> click again follow that tree... I started reading a 9 page thread but gave up after trying to navigate the first page!

Not to mention it looks like something from the early 90's. ;)

But the print thing works well.
Thanks everyone!

by deepsand

Only the Tech Question & Answer forum is linear; that's because it's intended to deal with a single specific matter.

Conversations are, by nature, non-linear; therefore, a tree structure is required if sub-threads are to be accomodated.

by deadly ernest

as their only goal is to rip off EVERYONE, so they are not singling out any individuals beyond the Linux software developers, that is :p

I have found that certain TR capabilities work in different browsers and with different security seting on the browser. The more you try to secure MSIE the more it misbehaves - so I switched to Firefox and have had no problems since.

However I would like to see TR switch to some sort of frames solution so that I do NOT have to download the banners, adds, and message tree with every bloody message that I choose to read. The Banners and adds should be the same on every page (they are already but why resend them), download the tree when you go to the thread, and then have the messages appear in the 'message' window as you click on them in the tree - simple huh. But not happening.

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