Editing posts and other ideas.

The site is a real gem and I have found it very helpful and useful. Nice members all over the place.

There are a number of ways in which actually using the Forum could be improved and which would bring it up to the level of the other,' better' forums I use. (The ergonomics not the people and the info)

One really confusing thing is how the Return key takes you back to the top of the page. I don't know where that feature came from but I haven't come across it before in my twenty years of Internet use. Could that be changed, without costing an arm and a leg?

Also, a 'like' button is very useful for commenting on a post without actually launching into a formal answer.

A facility for multiple quotes would also he helpful, where you snip one or more passages from a post and insert it, along with the name of the poster, in your reply. It's possible, of course, to do the quotation yourself but it would be a useful facility which is used elsewhere.

But the one thing that I can only describe as 'broken', is the action of the Return Key. Please - pretty please - could that be sorted out?

Andrew (and I just did it again!!!!)

Andrew - are you using an iPad or other Apple machine? I find I get the same result as you with the return key, but only when using the iPad. It's perfectly "normal" on my PC with Windows 7 pro.

I may have misunderstood your comment about multiple quotes, but there is the facility import sections of another's post already incorporated within the forum. Use the ""Quote at the bottom of the post from which you wish to quote. I can't see why you wouldn't be able to do that multiple times.

John

John

I use an iMac with the Apple bluetooth keyboard. It talks correctly to all my other software and on all websites that I use. This is the only site where Return gives you a return and then Home. It can't be hard to fix and just has to be an anomaly of the site. I am surprised that no one else has found the problem with an Apple / Unix Desktop machine. There must be some US members with Apple, even if the UK members all use PCs.

On quotes: if you quote a post, it seems to put a copy of the post in a new edit window. Going to another post and pressing 'quote' starts a new edit window (losing your original text) and puts that quoted post in it. On other forums I use, you can highlight a passage and 'quote' it - then another and another. The quotes are stored and you can insert them, putting comments between each quote. Alternatively you can pick and insert quotes one at a time into existing text. It's really very useful on some threads where a number of different people are presenting arguments.

I don't know how long ago the forum software was installed but it could definitely benefit from a bit of an upgrade.

Andrew

… "One really confusing thing is how the Return key takes you back to the top of the page"...

I have the same problem with my desktop running Win 10 & have had for some time now, Never have got a sensible solution. The only way I have circumvented this is to press 'Shift' & 'Enter' together which then drops the cursor down to the next line, & do the same if a new paragraph is started, as with other comments this is the only forum where this anomaly happens, on all others I use I can simply press the 'Enter' key & it drops down automatically. It must be to do with the web page original formatting is all I can conclude.

George.

The return key issue has been ongoing for several years and affects some Mac users, I think there is a way round it but not being a Mac user I don'r remember it. It is not an easy fix otherwise it would have been done.

The forum software used here is different to a lot of other forums as it has to incorporate subscribers sections, adverts etc that you don't get on a lot of other ME forums and is not likely to be changed any time soon.

The last time the "like" subject came up I think the majority did not want it.

I regularly offer my advice on what the 'next generation' forum software should be like.

The return issue seems to have arrived as a result of a change in how apple devices work. It's unlikely to be fixed until we change the system at some point in the future.

Neil

I know that there are differences in the codes but, as I have pointed out, the problem never arises anywhere else and it should really be up to the writer of the (minority) software for the forum editor. Windows, throughout its history, has been littered with this compatibility thing and a lot of it goes back to the DOS Operating System . Apple software has its quirks too and there's been what amounted to hostility between Microsoft and Apple at times. But this Return issue has been solved time after time elsewhere. Cntrl Return does the job for me but it's just an on-going niggle.

Same problem here on Win10.

My solution; Just keep typing, then back peddle to where you want the new line/paragraph.

Then hit 'Return'.

Regards, bear..

Interesting

I get the return issue on my PC Win 10 and I'm pretty sure I did on my old Win 7 machine too.

Yes, I too find the quoting facility unusually inconvenient. On the rare occasions I've wanted to multiquote, I've opened new edit boxes in new windows, copied the quoted text from them, closed these boxes, then pasted the new material into the original edit box. If someone can suggest a quicker solution, I'd be grateful.

I'm glad "likes" are not a part of this forum. They can certainly be useful in signalling helpful or interesting comments, but too often they are simply a way of expressing personal loyalties or disloyalties, as the case may be, and as a result can create even wider discord and divisions than may exist already.

Not making excuses for the quirky forum but Apple's Return/Enter eccentricity has certainly caused trouble elsewhere - Facebook being one example.

More chance of getting a fix if large numbers of users are inconvenienced. Unfortunately I don't suppose iPads are popular with forum members many of whom seem to prefer Windows XP!

Anyhoo, it's the Browser (Safari?) that negotiates with the Web Server to decide how your device will be handled, not the operating system or the hardware. Try querying this website to get your Browser Identification String. Mine is "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:64.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/64.0". Sometimes they're corrupt. It's possible to change the identification string at the user end, for example, when Internet Exploder was king I sometimes told fuss-pot microsoft-centric websites I was running Windows just to keep them happy. (Such tricks are rarely necessary these days.)

However, easier to try another browser (Chrome, Firefox, Puffin, Dolphin, Perfect etc. ) than to mess with settings - you can always uninstall should it not fix the problem.

The forum software is fine once you get over the initial culture shock! (Posting photos is fun too.) Persist - I feel the content matters far more than the presentation.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 08/01/2019 17:55:29

As invited, Dave:

MichaelG.

Agree. I would snip the middle of the quote but fear I'd then have to chase the cursor all around the page trying to get it back in the right place to make this comment.

Have the same problem with the return key on win10 however if I hold down the Ctrl key then hit return the cursor goes to it normal place

H

It's not written in house, it's off-the-shelf editor software which may make updating more difficult than if it was a bespoke solution.

Neil

For Apple, mine is a MacBook just press Shift & Return to move down -- return twice if you want an extra line space

John

John - thanks, that (Shift & Return) works a treat, much better than typing on then going back to where you want the break and then 'returning'!

Chris

If this forum complied with accepted standards it should work fine with all the common platforms, Windows, Apple, Google, Android etc. The internet is not just for Microsoft users. The fact is this has always been the worst forum software I've used apart from Google Groups. I Never have the problems I get on here with any other site. Some of the forums I visit clearly use the same basic software package and work very well. When IT related things haven't worked properly in some of my past jobs it's often been down to lack of investment, poor staff or both.

What a good idea. I will try it.

Amazing that I haven't coma across that particular Return problem with any other software. At least, not consciously. There is a sort of problem with some of the 'media' when a Return will launch your post and not go to a new line but I just put it down to a programmer's choice between hard and soft break. At least the result leaves the cursor in a position to type on a new line.

I just did it AGAIN!!!! I will experiment with browsers.

@Dave

Well dang me - it's OK on Firefox.

Cheers my boy