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[#1]

So I was going to edit the above post with some new information but it appears there is some sort of timer on that function, but then the forum rules say that I cannot post multiple posts as this is considered spamming (which I agree with) but the forum features are preventing me from not doing this so I do not expect to get a warning. Other forum software does auto-merge consecutive posts fro the same member so maybe this is something to add to the Lithium feature list?

Anyway, todays bug is the notification feed and the clearing of notifications. If I browse a topic that has new posts and I am subscribed (either by clicking the toaster popup or just happening to browse the thread) then the notifications are not cleared. They remain as a notification until I go into the notification feed and view the posts from there.

And another small issue (pun intended) is the editor window is only resizeable vertically, which is a bit odd/useless. It would also be handy if it was a decent size to start with.

[#2]

There isn't much I can do about the notification feed. I am hoping that it will be a bit more intelligent in the future and keep the 'new' status until clicked (like Facebook notifications) and that it would clear the new status if you visit those links via a different route like the popup on the bottom right or email link.

I am unable to change the behaviour of consecutive posts either as that would require a lot of backend changes to implement (something I do not have access to) but I could submit the idea to the Lithium ideas exchange and see what others think.

As for the resizing of the editor, I can override the CSS property for this so there is something I could do to change this. The CSS is currently set as resize: vertical; and I could change it to resize: both;

If I do change that I would also need to take into consideration how it overlaps with the right side container as currently the text on the right shows through the text editor when expanded horizontally. I will add this to my list of enhancements to consider.

edit: sorry, almost forgot.. there is a time limit on editting a post so you can go back and edit a post within 19 hours of creating it.

[#3]

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@jaread83 wrote:

There isn't much I can do about the notification feed. I am hoping that it will be a bit more intelligent in the future and keep the 'new' status until clicked (like Facebook notifications) and that it would clear the new status if you visit those links via a different route like the popup on the bottom right or email link.

I am unable to change the behaviour of consecutive posts either as that would require a lot of backend changes to implement (something I do not have access to) but I could submit the idea to the Lithium ideas exchange and see what others think.

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Yeah, these were more of a 'pass up the chain' type things, I wasn't necessarily expecting you to sort these features out. I have just noted another bug related to these though, in my notification feed it says @jaread83 and @Anotherone have replied in this thread, but @Anotherone replied days ago and that notification was already clicked so it does cause some confusion as notifications are reused for no sensible reason.

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@jaread83 wrote:

As for the resizing of the editor, I can override the CSS property for this so there is something I could do to change this. The CSS is currently set as resize: vertical; and I could change it to resize: both;

If I do change that I would also need to take into consideration how it overlaps with the right side container as currently the text on the right shows through the text editor when expanded horizontally. I will add this to my list of enhancements to consider.

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For me personally I sometimes feel cheated on the internet as a lot of content fills 1/3 of my screen width, and that is just 1 monitor, there are 2 more to use as well. Obviously the monitors primary purpose is stuff for work so the internet is a secondary use in effect, but it still irks me that everything is fixed width and most of my monitor is background/whitespace everywhere!

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@jaread83 wrote:

edit: sorry, almost forgot.. there is a time limit on editting a post so you can go back and edit a post within 19 hours of creating it.

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It makes sense to have the timer, I was just pointing out how it conflicts with forum rules.

[#4]

For the screenspace being used its 1140px max width which will reduce as your screensize goes down for responsive layouts. This can't be changed as its part of the corporate brand guide so it matches the main plusnet website. With this in mind, I cannot change the width. I am also using 3 screens and two of them are 27" wide so I know how you feel.

However, you can easily update the CSS for your browser if you feel the need using Stylish (for Firefox) or the Chrome equivalent. Here is a post I made about custom themes on the community. And if you want to make the community use the most of your screen, try adding these to the browser custom CSS styles (after following the instructions in my post):

.wrapper {
    max-width: 95%;
}
.lia-content {
    max-width: 100%;
}

 Doing that will make the community full width if you want to customise it for yourself.

[#5]

A number of things here to pick up on, but I'll have to do so later, so just for now, as the forum search is so clunky, I can't blame you for not discovering these few things about the Notification Feed. See This thread and here are some posts that are helpful -

@Anotherone wrote:
Not a lack of interest by any means. the Notification Feed is ONE of my pet topics. Just clarification for starters, the time refers to the last poster, not the 2nd or previous ones - I know - it's not clear, someone else mentioned it last week as well.
If you go to My Settings : Preferences >Display you can change your "Display dates as" to an absolute date if you'd rather that than "yesterday", "last week" etc.

Lithium have made changes to the Notification feed since our testing and also since live, none of which are in-line with what we wanted.
We used to get a notification for each and every post that was made - which was fine as far as I was concerned - you could see who had responded since you last looked. Also the link on each notification took you to that specific post. Now you only get the Notification for the last post with the last two posters named and the link goes to the last post which means you can miss previous posts especially if they are on a previous page.
Also the size of the list (the actually history) is limited, when I checked recently it was barely two weeks.

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@jaread83 wrote:

The notification system displays the last few users who replied to your topic. It isn't indicating that two users replied at the very same time. The latest user to reply would be the first on the mini list and if there are more who replied, the last one is shown in the list. There is no issue here with what you are describing.

Edit: Maybe a better explanation of this would be this...

User A replies to a topic you are subscribed to. You get a notification feed item that says 'A replied to your topic'. Now user B replies to the same topic, the last notification feed item is updated to then say 'B and A replied to your topic'. This notification item is then moved up as  more recent reply has occured. Now, User C also replies to your topic, the notification item is then updated further to now say 'C, B and 1 other user has replied to your topic'. The timestamp is then updated again.

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@Anotherone wrote:

@Anotherone wrote:
.......Now you only get the Notification for the last post with the last two posters named and the link goes to the last post which means you can miss previous posts especially if they are on a previous page.

Allowing for Jack's explanation above in my remark about only getting the Notification for the last post - it's this link going to the last post that is the problem   I just missed some previous replies to a thread for that reason.
However many people have replied, the link should go to the First Unread post. I hope this has been raised to Lithium @jaread83 @LouisaMartin.

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[#6]

@jaread83 wrote:
edit: sorry, almost forgot.. there is a time limit on editting a post so you can go back and edit a post within 19 hours of creating it.

Where did the 19 hours come from Jack? 24hours was what was agreed previously, as we had on SMF.

Lurch wrote:
So I was going to edit the above post with some new information but it appears there is some sort of timer on that function, but then the forum rules say that I cannot post multiple posts as this is considered spamming (which I agree with) but the forum features are preventing me from not doing this so I do not expect to get a warning.

You won't get any warning, I guess you are misinterpreting the rule slightly, it's effectively bumping a thread or adding a further post that adds no additional information/comment. Also editing a post to add something is often OK, but sometimes it's better to add a post as others may already have read the previous post and the edit may add important extra information that should not be missed.

[#7]

sorry, I miscalculated the number of minutes when I wrote that! It's 1440 minutes which is 24 hours.

[#8]

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@Anotherone wrote:
sometimes it's better to add a post as others may already have read the previous post and the edit may add important extra information that should not be missed.

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I suppose that brings up another bug/feature request regarding marking posts as unread if they are modified, or again with some sort of timer so anything edited after 5 or 10 minutes or so of posting flags the post as new.

As a forummer of many years I am starting to get slightly lost in all of the bugs.workarounds/strange default options, which is more down to Lithium doing another 'reinvent the wheel' on the forum for no good reason. AFAIAC this is still in beta, or should be on staging at least. I though Jeff and his ridiculous Discohorse was about as mad as you could get, but the Lithium folks are in the same mental asylum by the looks of it!

[#9]

Well as this forum is barely usable I won't be visiting again now unless I am really bored. The fact it is so difficult to use is one thing but this also means that most of the technically inept users (which is a good majority I think) also struggle to maintain any sort of order so the whole thing is a mess.

I think the community spirit is OK here, as I had alluded to before there are some forums where the admins are a bit power mad so I haven't fallen out with the place yet, it just irritates me that nothing works properly.

[#10]

I do hope you will come back again @Lurch. I have found your comments insightful and helpful so far (this also applies to a lot of you regular users.. you know who you are ).

I agree, the software has its flaws and I am trying to make the best of what we have got to make this place as good as it can be. That's not to say that the platform will remain stagnant, I am always looking to make improvements (and I got a bunch lined up as we speak) and we are always asking for advice from the Lithium engineers to get things sorted and bugs fixed.

Remember to @ mention me if you have an idea or suggestion and we can talk it through. I am always one for instigating change around here and my main goal is to make this community a great place to be a part of that has been moulded and changed in a way that those using it would like it to be While I don't have much power over how the platform works or performs, I do have many years experience in web development and can always find a way around things (at least.. I try to get around some of the weird bugs) and there is some (but not much) wiggle room when it comes to the corporate branding guide.

[#11]

I hear you @jaread83 and I do believe in your efforts to make the best of things, but an old banger is always an old banger on the inside no matter how much you polish the outside.     All of the major problems identified early on are still with us:  Unusable search;  multiple problems with the editor;  unfinished Notifications system; unpredictable Forum counts; going to last unread post etc............. and as of yet no dates for any fixes!   As I understand from another thread the imminent lithium releases fixes nowt just tidies up a few features and the next release of your fixes is "hopefully in the next few weeks".  

Lithium should have made much more progress in the elapsed time frame, so confidence in their capabilities has waned.

My scepticism is showing now and I hope to be proved wrong, let's see.