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  • vtmaps
    vtmaps Solar Expert Posts: 3,741 ✭✭✭✭
    I don't see a "my drafts" button.  I will save this as a draft and see if the button shows up...

    OK... there it is.  It is apparently not there unless there are some saved drafts.  --vtMaps
    4 X 235watt Samsung, Midnite ePanel, Outback VFX3524 FM60 & mate, 4 Interstate L16, trimetric, Honda eu2000i
  • Mountain Don
    Mountain Don Solar Expert Posts: 494 ✭✭✭
    edited November 2015 #213
    It's in the sidebar on the right side. If the page post you are looking at is down near the bottom of the page you have to scroll up to the top to see it. There are other links to; Activity,   My Bookmarks,    My Discussions,    My Drafts,    Unanswered........


    The screen must also be wide enough to see the right sidebar
    Northern NM, 624 watts PV, The Kid CC, GC-2 batteries @ 24 VDC, Outback VFX3524M
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    And many of those buttons are not present in the mobile version of the software.

    I believe that the mobile the version is supposed to be updated sometime in the future.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • Mountain Don
    Mountain Don Solar Expert Posts: 494 ✭✭✭
    Right, there is no sidebar at all when I view on the phone or tablet. But that's ok with me. I love the fact that there is a mobile version, many other forum software do not have a mobile version built in like Vanilla.
    Northern NM, 624 watts PV, The Kid CC, GC-2 batteries @ 24 VDC, Outback VFX3524M
  • Mangas
    Mangas Solar Expert Posts: 547 ✭✭✭✭

    Again,  thanks to you Bill and Windsun for this great site!



    Ranch Off Grid System & Custom Home: 2 x pair stacked Schneider XW 5548+ Plus inverters (4), 2 x Schneider MPPT 80-600 Charge Controllers, 2 Xanbus AGS Generator Start and Air Extraction System Controllers, 64 Trojan L16 REB 6v 375 AH Flooded Cel Batteries w/Water Miser Caps, 44 x 185 Sharp Solar Panels, Cummins Onan RS20 KW Propane Water Cooled Genset, ICF Custom House Construction, all appliances, Central A/C, 2 x High Efficiency Variable Speed three ton Central A/C 220v compressors, 2 x Propane furnaces, 2 x Variable Speed Air Handlers, 2 x HD WiFi HVAC Zoned System Controllers
  • Vic
    Vic Solar Expert Posts: 3,208 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2015 #217

    YES,  this has been a great site,  over the years ...


    BUT,  as a very old hand at using computers,   have ALWAYS used,  Hi-light and Right Click to Copy,  or Cut.    Just tried to Cut half a sentence from a post that had not-yet been Posted,  and it took about 300 words out of the post,  and going to 'My Drafts' resulted in NO recovery of the rest of the Post.


    I wonder just why Modern Programmers will NOT support traditional Editing means,  and furthermore,  not only are these historic REFLEXES NOT supported,   any attempt to use many of them DESTROYS  what someone has invested many minutes in typing.  These traditional Editing techniques are really REFLEXES.   In one instant ...   POOF,  there goes 98% of a Post.


    Guess that this is just a filter to discourage those who are experienced,  but OLD.


    WWAAAAAAAAAAAAHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.   Vic

    Off Grid - Two systems -- 4 SW+ 5548 Inverters, Surrette 4KS25 1280 AH X2@48V, 11.1 KW STC PV, 4X MidNite Classic 150 w/ WBjrs, Beta KID on S-530s, MX-60s, MN Bkrs/Boxes.  25 KVA Polyphase Kubota diesel,  Honda Eu6500isa,  Eu3000is-es, Eu2000,  Eu1000 gensets.  Thanks Wind-Sun for this great Forum.
  • Mountain Don
    Mountain Don Solar Expert Posts: 494 ✭✭✭

    Computers doing things I never wanted are a real drag. However, the "highlight and right click" works for me here the same as in any other software on my computer. I have snipped out as little as a three letter word, or as much as the entire post above. It works on my touch screen with my finger in place of using the mouse too. I believe that experience has to have some other root cause other than the Vanilla software, or was a one time kerfuffle. 

    Northern NM, 624 watts PV, The Kid CC, GC-2 batteries @ 24 VDC, Outback VFX3524M
  • Vic
    Vic Solar Expert Posts: 3,208 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2015 #219

    Hi Don,


    Well,  this behavior is a bit random ...  each time that I reflexively Right Click,  the application appears to retch,  and varying amounts of text is lost.


    This errant behavior is on two different computers.   Each of these computers run Win 7HPE,  with IE 11 (that is eleven ...  this Font makes those ones look like they are from a different Alphabet).


    Each of these machines appear to have the Double-Space on a single Enter key-stroke,  AND the Right Click = vomit behavior.


    If the issue were Win 7 or IE 11,  then would guess that about 30 - 50% of the Posters here would also be having these issues.


    Furthermore,  this is the ONLY Site where this occurs ... absolutely NO OTHER sites,  or environments evidence these issues,  at all,  whatsoever.


    Do not know how this double-spacing looks to others,  but have stopped editing out the extra  CR/LFs.


    I do not know about any of the details,  but,  perhaps it is good that it makes Posting here somewhat less pleasurable ...   hate to keep carping on the same stuff ...  perhaps the double spacing might be an attempt of some Programmers,  somewhere to try to force SOME  Paragraphs,  as opposed to none at all ...  although,  guess that most modern folks do not do any Enters (for spacing) at all,  just one long stream of text ...






    Dunno,    FWIW,   "It's all good!"     Thanks,   Vic

    Off Grid - Two systems -- 4 SW+ 5548 Inverters, Surrette 4KS25 1280 AH X2@48V, 11.1 KW STC PV, 4X MidNite Classic 150 w/ WBjrs, Beta KID on S-530s, MX-60s, MN Bkrs/Boxes.  25 KVA Polyphase Kubota diesel,  Honda Eu6500isa,  Eu3000is-es, Eu2000,  Eu1000 gensets.  Thanks Wind-Sun for this great Forum.
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Vanilla has an open ticket about the wysiwyg editor. Hopefully will improve in time.

    I an not having the double space and right click problem. Just issues with quoting and editing some quotes.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • Mountain Don
    Mountain Don Solar Expert Posts: 494 ✭✭✭
    Have you tried a different browser?  It may be a reach but maybe try Chrome, Firefox or Opera and see what happens. If for no other reason than to satisfy curiosity.  Some days I almost miss the days of DOS.  
    Northern NM, 624 watts PV, The Kid CC, GC-2 batteries @ 24 VDC, Outback VFX3524M
  • Mountain Don
    Mountain Don Solar Expert Posts: 494 ✭✭✭
    edited November 2015 #222
    It might also be interesting to find some other forum that runs Vanilla. Sign up and see what happens with it.  Do the same errors happen? then copy the url and post a "same thing" or "runs OK" note so the Vanilla folks might gain some insight. 

    The Showcase link on the Vanilla site has some links to sites that run Vanilla.  Link to Vanilla is at page bottom, right on here. 
    Northern NM, 624 watts PV, The Kid CC, GC-2 batteries @ 24 VDC, Outback VFX3524M
  • Vic
    Vic Solar Expert Posts: 3,208 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2015 #223

    OK  BB Bill,  and Don,


    Thanks for the replies.


    Have tried Firefox,  but sure do not like the way it handles "Favorites",  so just do not run it.   Could try the latest version just to see,  though.   Refuse to run Chrome.


    Could try another site that runs Vanilla,  believe that you,  Don,  had posted one or two,  earlier in this Thread (or whatever the Moderns call them,  now).


    OH,  and in the past few days,  have noticed,  that sometimes the 'Post Comment'  button dims for some period of time,  and,  at that time,  it is not possible to Post a comment by clicking on that button   ...  just happened,  when trying to Post the above ...   Am in the big city,  and on DSL,  but perhaps this intermittency might be caused by "loosing" the internet connection,  intermittently.   Am directly wired to the DSL Modem,  but perhaps MA Bell is working on her lines.   Who knows!?

    Thanks again,   old Vic


    Off Grid - Two systems -- 4 SW+ 5548 Inverters, Surrette 4KS25 1280 AH X2@48V, 11.1 KW STC PV, 4X MidNite Classic 150 w/ WBjrs, Beta KID on S-530s, MX-60s, MN Bkrs/Boxes.  25 KVA Polyphase Kubota diesel,  Honda Eu6500isa,  Eu3000is-es, Eu2000,  Eu1000 gensets.  Thanks Wind-Sun for this great Forum.
  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    Properly handling wysiwyg editing of HTML formatted text is not simple. Among the hardest things to do is to edit properly when the region being edited spans the boundary across the begin or end tag of an element. Or when editing nested tags.
    You might try using the </>  button to view the HTML behind what you are posting. It might allow you to edit with more repeatability and lower chances of data loss.
    A lot of other forum software uses a different set of formatting tags, using the "[" and"]" characters and that seems to have fewer browser dependencies and better editing while posting and quoting. Maybe just more mature software, or maybe the variations of HTML handling from browser to browser cause problems.
    SMA SB 3000, old BP panels.
  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2015 #225
    I'm with Vic on this,  Just tried to copy and paste from Inetdogs post to start this reply and it will 'copy'  but NOT paste in the 'comment space..  see that this typing was 'autocopied' already but I'm not going to test it now...

    I'm back via "edit" and this seems to be working OK

    A lot of other forum software uses a different set of formatting tags, using the "[" and"]" characters and that seems to have fewer browser dependencies and better editing while posting and quoting.

    And now the copy paste works?????

    and 'edit' does NOT allow you any emoticons or other editing features, this is really a WYSIWYG  @!

     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    I think that is called WYSIAYG. (What You See Is All You Get).
    SMA SB 3000, old BP panels.
  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    inetdog said:
    I think that is called WYSIAYG. (What You See Is All You Get).
    exactly...  !!!
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    A quick update... There was a problem importing old links into the new forum--The problem being that VBB did some internal renumbering of threads for displayed links vs what was coded in the data base (through the various VBB version upgrades through the years).

    NAWS had tasked Vanilla with adding some code to properly link to the old/original posts.

    The first pass of the work has been completed and seems to be working pretty well now.

    There is one issue--Which may be rare--Most links to the forum look something like this:

    http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?5556-Working-Thread-for-Solar-Beginner-Post-FAQ

    With "showthread?xxxx" in the URL. However, I have seen at least one URL that looks like this:

    http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?p=25665#post25665

    This URL appears to link directly to specific POST ID "p=zzzzz" -- At this point, the Vanilla fix does not properly recognize these "post" type links (and I do not know if it will in the future).

    Please feel free to post any other "historical URL" issues you may find in this thread.

    Thank you Vanilla and NAWS for the fixes. The historical links in old posts are very useful.

    -Bill

    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • techntrek
    techntrek Solar Expert Posts: 1,372 ✭✭✭
    Yeah I noticed that about the links.

    As you scan through the forum listings, there is a lot of "white space" (really, gray space) on the right side.  The posting dates are left-justified along with all the other info on the post.  It is hard to read the dates as a result.  It would be nice to right-justify the dates so they sit in that empty gray space, as most forum software does.
    4.5 kw APC UPS powered by a Prius, 12 kw Generac, Honda EU3000is
  • Blackcherry04
    Blackcherry04 Solar Expert Posts: 2,490 ✭✭✭
    Will someone tell me how to sign out of this forum ?? It's become a waste of time to even try to post anything here.
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    I am very sorry BC4... There is a "gear" in the upper right of most pages... Click on that and there is a sign-out button there.

    I know I saw some double posts from your account... Is there some other problems that you have seen?

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • techntrek
    techntrek Solar Expert Posts: 1,372 ✭✭✭
    So I assume there will be no attempt to improve this software?  It isn't any better than the last one.
    4.5 kw APC UPS powered by a Prius, 12 kw Generac, Honda EU3000is
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    The next step is the user interface... This is a generic CSS setup right now (modified based on our feedback to date). I will bug our support person at the beginning of the year to find out where we are at.

    The software is improved from the fact that there are quite a few email notification options (my thread, my bookmarked, my private messages, etc.). And so far, I have had few (if any) outright software bugs in the last month or two.

    And for Moderators, the anti-spam stuff is much better. 95% of the time, the software has intercepted spam before I even have seen it. The down side, if a member posts a bunch of links, it may go in the "moderator bucket" for me to approve--But I only have to approve a member once, then the software should not do that again (for that member).

    I believe there is a way I can "approve" everyone in the forum with (for example) more than 5 posts... But home life has been pretty time consuming for me lately and I have not had the time (or energy) to "fix" that yet.

    For me, a major weakness in the new software is the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor... That has taken us back a few years vs what VBB had (and we had been using). I believe that Vanilla has some open issues about that weakness--But I have not heard anything about it.

    The last major upgrade issue was the "broken" historical links--VBB had several major methods (in the data base) that remapped thread/post IDs over the years/VBB upgrades. That, for the most part, is now working. There is a "#posts" link that does not remap--But other than one I have found, I am not sure there how many are left in the Database (I have informed Vanilla about that "broken" mapping function--I don't know if the old VBB database has enough information to "fix" that mapping issue.

    One major (I hope) improvement is that the forum is now hosted directly by Vanilla on their servers and their overall DataBase infrastructure--This should mean that we don't get "orphaned" like we did several times in VBB over the years.

    What would you like to see as major improvements that I should push for the new year? Me:
    • WYSIWYG editor (major improvements--Better "quote" management/editing, sub and super scripts, fonts, etc.).
    • New/updated CSS forum page formatting.
    I will go through this thread and see if I can put a summary of open issues too.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • Aguarancher
    Aguarancher Solar Expert Posts: 315 ✭✭✭
    My Christmas wish is for individually numbered replys within a thread.
  • Mountain Don
    Mountain Don Solar Expert Posts: 494 ✭✭✭
    That would be nice for when we want to refer to a particular message /comment.

    Another feature that I find handy on forums that have it, is the ability to copy the url / address of a particular message.  Then when that address is sent to someone, when they click on the link they go directly to that message or posting. I hope what I mean is clear. If not I could work up an example. 
    Northern NM, 624 watts PV, The Kid CC, GC-2 batteries @ 24 VDC, Outback VFX3524M
  • vtmaps
    vtmaps Solar Expert Posts: 3,741 ✭✭✭✭
    Another feature that I find handy on forums that have it, is the ability to copy the url / address of a particular message.  Then when that address is sent to someone, when they click on the link they go directly to that message or posting. I hope what I mean is clear. If not I could work up an example. 
    I asked that question and Bill answered that earlier in this thread.  The url is in the date, just under the poster's name.

    --vtMaps
    4 X 235watt Samsung, Midnite ePanel, Outback VFX3524 FM60 & mate, 4 Interstate L16, trimetric, Honda eu2000i
  • Mountain Don
    Mountain Don Solar Expert Posts: 494 ✭✭✭
    Oh sorry.  I read that but didn't remember. 

    Different forum software uses different methods to achieve the same thing.  Sorry.   Maybe now I'll remember  :)
    Northern NM, 624 watts PV, The Kid CC, GC-2 batteries @ 24 VDC, Outback VFX3524M
  • vtmaps
    vtmaps Solar Expert Posts: 3,741 ✭✭✭✭
    Oh sorry.  I read that but didn't remember. 

    Different forum software uses different methods to achieve the same thing.  Sorry.   Maybe now I'll remember  :)
    Sorry ? ! ?  You've got nothing to be sorry about.  Software developers who design counter-intuitive interfaces should be sorry. 

    --vtMaps
    4 X 235watt Samsung, Midnite ePanel, Outback VFX3524 FM60 & mate, 4 Interstate L16, trimetric, Honda eu2000i
  • techntrek
    techntrek Solar Expert Posts: 1,372 ✭✭✭
    edited December 2015 #239
    More info and rearranged info on the thread listings, like other forum software.  Such as a preview of the text if you hover, the ability to see if you've replied previously on a thread (more likely to want to check in on it), seeing "today" and "yesterday" (bolded) in place of the date (if you check in regularly you know you want to check on those posts).

    BB codes, so you can do things like shorten URLs.  Note the long URL in my signature that didn't need to be there before.
    4.5 kw APC UPS powered by a Prius, 12 kw Generac, Honda EU3000is
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Techntrek,

    You can use the link shortening in signatures too... Just go to your profile and edit signature.

    Type the link description you would like, highlight it, then click on the three chain links in the WYSIWYG editor above the box
    You do not have to use the "naked" link (I think--If you do not have the WYSIWYG editor, you may have to enable that in your profile).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • techntrek
    techntrek Solar Expert Posts: 1,372 ✭✭✭
    Thanks, I've made the fix.  But I swear none of the WYSIWYG functions showed up until recently.
    4.5 kw APC UPS powered by a Prius, 12 kw Generac, Honda EU3000is
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