New Rich Text Editor in Beta (from our forum software supplier "Vanilla")

Dave Angelini

Thank-you! and thanks for the rain this season, 46+ inches and pouring right now😎

BB.

We have gotten a fair amount of rain this season, but much has gone north and south of us (right on the rain path dividing line on the San Francisco Peninsula).

Between mudslides and lots of grass/growth that will turn brown in the California summer (fire hazard)--More yet to come... Fingers crossed.

-Bill

BB.

An update on the "corrupted Radon" Thread.

At this point, Vanilla is leaving the thread in the nuked state so that they can better trace and understand what is causing (this second) thread problem and find/fix the root cause for the rendering issue.

They hope to have the thread back working next week.

If anyone wants to continue the Radon discussion now, feel free to start a new thread to continue.

https://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/354319/solar-system-design-for-home-radon-fan-remediation-system-off-grid#latest (nuked thread).

-Bill

Vic

Hi Bill,  Thanks for all that you are doing in getting the new Text Editor improved.

Earlier,  you had mentioned that some of us always get a Double-spaced line for each Enter.   With Win7 and IE 11.xx this has been the case on two different computers.

With the earlier Editor version,  one could get the Editor to create a single space (to separate Paragraphs),  by using Shift & Enter.    This trick does not any longer work in the new Editor  --  notta biggie,  perhaps this may be why some members appear to use no separation at all (no Enters),   27 topics  all in one 1500 word Paragraph (?).

FWIW,  probably not worth any time to try to fix it.    Thanks for all that you do Bill !   Vic

BB.

Thank you Vic,

I will forward that on to Vanilla support.

-Bill

BB.

Vic,

They agree that the shift+enter behaviour is an issue:

Andrew Dodson said:

Hey Bill, 

I'm going to make a ticket for this. I talked to a few devs and we agree that shift+enter should bring you down just a single line. I'll see if we can get that implemented.  

Thanks!-

Thank you Vic,

-Bill

mcgivor

Bill

Attempted to attach a photo to a post, the wheel of death is all that happened, draft saved message appeared, after waiting some time pressed cancel, nothing happened, had to page back to escape, clicked the draft button got the " something has gone wrong " message.

Ivor

BB.

Looks like we have another "nuked" thread.

https://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/354352/inverter-bought-now-panels#latest

I am reporting to support now.

-Bill

BB.

All the broken threads should be working again... Except the "Radon" one.

https://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/354319/solar-system-design-for-home-radon-fan-remediation-system-off-grid#latest

I think they are letting the developers work on the problem before they fix.

-Bill

Vic

This has been reported,   but ...

Cannot Edit a post. The cursor changed to the Hand when over the gear symbol,   but clicking on the gear does absolutely nothing.

Windoze 7 Home Premium,  IE11  on a Toshiba Laptop.   FWIW.   Not a huge deal,   but,   we are not the most-accurate touch typer.   Thanks,     Vic

BB.

Vic,

I have forwarded your post to Vanilla--Just to be sure it is logged and they have all the information available.

And, by the way, the Radon thread is still (mostly) DOA. I have asked Vanilla (again) about it (they say it is fixed).

-Bill

BB.

Vic,

This was support's reply:

It sounds like the user doesn't have javascript enabled. Have them double check the settings on their browser (I believe it's called 'Active Scripting' in IE11) and make sure that nothing has been set to block Javascript.  

You have Java Script disabled (like using "StopScript" with Firefox)?

 -Bill

Vic

Hi Bill,

Thanks for that info.   YES,  IIRC,   JavaScript had been judged by EXPERTS,   IIRC,  JavaScript had been judged as being a security threat,   as it was no longer supported by its originator,   or similar.  So we did send it off to the Dustbin.

Perhaps it is needed on this site to support multiple types of user devices   ...

The only editorial comment,   might be,   that all of the other Forums,  web sites,  etc still seem to function well   ...

I do not know enough to know,   but  will just need to be a bit more careful when composing Comments/Discussions,   such that no Editing is really required.

Thank you very much,   Bill.         Vic

BB.

Vic (and others that block Javascript on our site),

If you need a post deleted or edited, just make another post and tell me what you need (edit or delete post #xx). And I will take care of it.

With Firefox, I can use the NoScript add-on and disable JS everywhere except fo the few websites I have to use it (a few banks, here, etc.)...

But other browsers may not have the site by site block/allow option.

-Bill

Vic

Just noticed     a new thing,   that probably is due to my computer setup,   but for about 10 seconds prior to the Saving Draft message appears,   this computer just freezes  --   no scrolling,   no typed  characters appear,   just nothing for about 10 seconds prior to the Draft message.

THis may  be similar to the situation where one cannot Post a Comment,   and the Post button is grayed-out  ...   perhaps,   FWIW,   Thanks,   Vic

Tecnodave

I am seeing the same thing as Vic same screen freeze

Apple iPad MC707LL/A iOS 9.3.5 (13G36)

Tecnodave

BB,

something is wrong, upload 1caracter at a time several seconds a word, no edit....david

BB.

Everything seems to be OK for me... Just running on Comcast cable modem and a Chromebook over home wifi (yea--I got tired of the Microsoft windows updates every week or two just for web browsing and having to "fix" weird stuff once in a while).

Using a website checker:

https://www.isitdownrightnow.com/forum.solar-electric.com.html

And there is a history/outage weblink for our forum:

https://status.vanillaforums.com/

Everything seems to be OK.

Is the time and date correct on your computer? We are (recently, the last few months) using HTTPS secure connections... If the date/year is way off, it can invalidate security certificates (does not sound like your issue).

And the old reboot your computer (modem, router) thing... I had to reboot my Verizon Cell phone (Android) a few days ago because of very slow/spotty access. And a friend just had to do his yesterday (both are "smart" Android phones, different mfgs and ages).

-Bill

Tecnodave

I mostly using iPad, probably my isp, dead slow. Still doing it , only transmitting one character at a time, I stop typing ipad continues, loosing stuff.....lowest you isp response time. I will check later from better locations

Tecnodave

Strange...NO edit but page load time ok , MidNite pages ok

BB.

You can also try some version of speedtest:

https://www.speedtest.net/

11 msec ping, 70 MBit/Sec download, 6 MBit/Sec upload on my cheap Chromebook.

-Bill

BB.

Vanilla does use JavaScript for the "fancy editor"...

-Bill

Estragon

I wonder if it's something to do with auto-saving drafts over funky connections? Maybe waiting for a dropped confirmation packet or something.

BB.

The few times I have have had autosave fail, I generally get a big warning message that the "Cloudflair" network connection has failed (or similar error messages) and try again in a few minutes. I don't think I have seen any "simple" slowdowns (that I recall).

-Bill

Tecnodave

BB,

Im logged In at Starbucks , still one character a time time, deleted all saved in iOS, reboot, same issue, no slow web here, several seconds to enter each character, annoying, page load speed ok.

BB.

OK, Will ask Vanilla support...

-Bill

Tecnodave

Test, just watched multiple videos on utube, no pauses, still1 character at a time

BB.

OK David, I have already filed the report.

-Bill

BB.

This is a reply from Andrew at Vanilla about his IPad issues, and regarding Vic's concerns about JavaScript security (with a further follow up):

Andrew said:

Hey Bill, 

You should be getting a message from Paul, our security officer today about the Javascript concerns your user brought up. Don't hesitate to bring up any security questions to either Paul or myself - Vanilla takes all those concerns pretty seriously and everyone works to make sure our software stays secure.  

As for Tecnodave's issue with the iPad, right off the bat, I want to note that iOS version 9.3.5 came out three years ago. I highly recommend that they update their software so their browser is completely up-to-date against possible security issues.  

Then, if the issue continues, I would have them completely close Safari (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201330) and make sure they clear all data within the browser (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265). Then be sure they don't have a lot of tabs open or other applications running, as all of those could potentially slow performance in the browser.  

I hope that helps!  

-Bill

BB.

And here is Vanilla's Information Security Officer's comment on JavaScript:

Hi Bill

Thanks for passing on your users concerns RE Javascript - I hope the below helps out. 

JavaScript is very widely used (depending on the source, probably the most widely used language in the world) and is used across all major web companies (Google, Facebook, New York Times, Amazon, etc). The original developer (Brendan Eich) has moved on from Mozilla to a new startup (Brave), but I wouldn't say it's a fair characterization to say that Javascript is "no longer supported by its originators". 

Having said that, as with most web technologies JavaScript does introduce certain security risks - Vanilla follows best practices to mitigate these risks, including running a Hacker One campaign, coding with security front of mind, and using up to date frameworks. In terms of functionality, the majority of Vanilla works with Javascript disabled - however, as your user identified there is some functionality dependent on JavaScript. 

Based on our experience, more than 99% of users have Javascript enabled, and therefore we currently do not have any plans to re-implement these features without using javascript. My advice to the user would be to enable Javascript when he needs to edit a post, or to request an edit by another user (as you suggested in your thread). 

I hope that all makes sense! If you would like to read more on Javascript, you can check out the following:

https://www.howtogeek.com/138865/htg-explains-should-you-disable-javascript/

-- 

Paul Johnston

Information Security Officer

vanillaforums.com

There are other web sites that that are not "safe" or "reliable" when using JavaScript... And when I can, I use Firefox and NoScript to only allow JavaScript on a few websites that need it (here, my bank, etc.).

And there are slow mobile connections (and devices) where blocking JavaScripts helps speed things up...

Day to Day, I am mostly using Chrome browser on a Chromebook--I am getting tired of being the IT Admin for everyone that is running Windows. And, so far, I cannot run Firefox and NoScript on it.

-Bill