Another upgrade - another problem!

So the forum software has been upgraded yet again. Oh Dear!

You want to post a reply … The box to type it into is now grey … Black type, grey background = low visibility. Just that little bit harder to spot the typos that people with MS are prone to making. But it gets worse …
Now I can only resize the box up and down. The ability to change the width has gone. I typed a reply to one thread and the line of text just kept going across the box until I can no longer see the whole line and have to use a slider control.
Just that little bit harder to spot the typos that people with MS are prone to making. But it gets worse …

Being of a scientific mind, I switched on my faithful Apple machine, and the “post a comment” box is now white.
In the interests of controlling at least one variable, I used Firefox on both machines (but the screen sizes are different).
The “User Experience” on both machines suggests that we will lose a few more people thanks to changes that have not been properly tested.

Geoff

Hi Geoff,

The grey background that users might be seeing is not the correct version. People maybe be required to do a ‘hard refresh’ in order to see the changes from the upgrade. This can be done by pressing Ctrl and F5 together. We were un sure how many people this was affecting so we hesitated in mentioning it.

Thanks for alerting us.

Steph (admin)

1 Like

OK, Steph, Ctrl+F5 made no difference.
Still got a grey box, can still only resize the height.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” has been replaced by “If it ain’t broke, fix it till it is”.

I think the goal is to get even more people to leave the site and then you’ll get a monthly update through the post.If you can please read it, put the next next address on the envelope,affix a stamp then post it.There will still be the facility to donate as envelopes don’t buy themselves

Wb

Definitely getting the grey box here - AND I can only resize it vertically (I’m on Chrome, on a laptop). Yep, AND it’s not wrapping round at the edge of the box, so I have either to keep scrolling backwards and forwards (hard when you have a stiff shoulder and other ailments), insert hard returns - which I’m sure will format all wrong once it’s posted, OR just trust what I’ve typed in the bit I can’t see is correct.

I’m lucky if what I’ve typed in the bit I CAN see is correct, so that sounds like a good idea - NOT.

As an aside, I now have a different and separate set of buddies on Page 2 of Everyday Living, to those on Page 1. Maybe I always did, but have only just noticed. I don’t use the buddies thing at all, as I’ve never been able to see the point of it. It doesn’t do anything special, and I don’t feel the need to advertise who I’m friendly with: that’s between me and them.

So the only people on my list are those who’ve chosen to add me as a buddy - which I do take as a compliment, but it doesn’t alter the fact I don’t really use it.

Even so, shouldn’t “my buddies” (those who’ve added me) always be consistent (with the exception of any who add or delete themselves)? Not vary according to what page I’m on?

I thought I’d accidentally stumbled onto someone else’s profile page at first, because different page, different buddies. But no, the list of MY buddies really does change, according to where I am in the navigation!

As it’s a pointless feature anyway, it doesn’t really matter to me that it’s now a pointless bug. But if we’re going to have frills that don’t really add anything, it still looks more professional if they’re correct.

Oh, happy days!

Tina

I like the grey background and as for continuous type press return I am on

my kindle typing this and return key is how I get to see all my type. We now have spell check

For the dreaded . Typos but I never check mine.

Don.

Exactly the same here, Geoff.

Steph, while typing this reply I tried your Ctrl+F5: the screen refreshed and for a second I had a white reply box to type in, but then it immediately reverted to the grey with the dodgy side margins/wrapping problem.

Alison

Hi all,

Our developers are looking into the resize issue, thank you for reporting it.

In regards to the grey background issue, pressing Ctrl and F5 should do the trick, but we are asking them now why that might not be working and seeing if there is an alternative.

Yesterday’s maintenance was supposed to fix many of the issues you have been experiencing. The upgrade we carried out in the last months was essential and not something we wanted to do.

The platform we use was becoming obsolete and we had to upgrade in order for it to be supported. Unfortunately many software upgrades come with their bugs – these are clearly not acceptable for the user and we apologise for the annoyance and inconvenience this is causing.

Please be assured that we’re working hard to resolve the issues. While it may be of no consolation, we can assure you, we’re experiencing high levels of frustration too.

We’ll keep you posted. Thanks for your patience.

Steph (admin)

So, just to see what happens, I tried using an IMB laptop with a 14 inch screen. The “post new comment” box came up white, and very small vertically, and while the type does not run out of the edge of the box, it is not possible to re-size the box at all. Steph, maybe you should ask your developers if they have ever heard the expression “Software V&V”, be cause it looks like they don’t know what it means. And now I have filled the box up … And it scrolled but singlespace this time. Geoff

Just to confirm: Ctrl+F5 works momentarily when the screen refreshes (the ‘reply’ box becomes white instead of grey) but it then immediately reverts to the grey screen with the margin/wrapping errors.

Thanks for the update.

Alison

I’m getting the same thing on Firefox ctrl-refresh didn’t work for me either