deskthority - Suggestions and Changelog

[7bit]

I'm a minimalism guy!


I don't use a GUI where I can use the commandline.


I don't use Java Script where I can use HTML.


I don't use flash, where I can use high ISOs, a fast lens and a steady hand.


Edit:
And can I have now my buttons back?

Seriously:
Just let the script that builds up the page generate special code if user 7bit is logged in, can't be too difficult!

[andrewjoy]

just out of interest 7bit what browser do you use ? There are many browsers that you could switch to that are lightweight modern and follow the unix philosophy

UZBL and surf being but 2

I white-list javascript even now for security reasons, cross site scripting attacks are not fun i think you could even run them against the framebuffer no x needed

[Muirium]

Even on my MacBook Pro, I'd like to whitelist JavaScript and cookies for security's sake. If anyone knows good Safari extensions for the purpose, tell me! I've not had luck with a couple I tried.

[xbb]

blocking javascript is not enough, unplug the network cable

[andrewjoy]

https://www.ghostery.com/en-GB/download

it does not block javascript outright but its a very good privacy and security tool

for outright blocking http://javascript-blocker.toggleable.com/ but never tested it

[webwit]

I'll <noscript> some buttons for the fanatic.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

- spoiler tags that require JavaScrap
- it does not scale well (too wide)
- serach does not really work as it should
- attachment tags are too verbose, could be shorter names
- file upload gives uploaded files the wrong order (last uploaded file becomes first)
- :?
...

Since we're into ranting in vain …

WTF is with the attachment system that puts the filename after every inline image, then a blank line? It makes a mess out of post presentation! Who cares what name I gave the picture? It's a picture! I just want the picture to appear as a picture where I said I wanted a picture! Why is that too much to ask?

Also, pictures don't open in a new tab with middle-click, since they were created by yet another fool who's never figured out that the wheel on the mouse goes clickety-click as well as spinnity-spin (in my case, slickety-slick and crankety-crank, since the detent mechanism on the one IMO 1.1 has mostly failed (leading to scrolling too far) while the other is still ratchety enough to wake the dead).

Plus, they load inline full-size with browser scaling, instead of pre-shrunk at the back-end, so one page with 40 pictures and that's several metric and Imperial tons of senseless JPEG rendering. For the one or two pictures you might want to see full-size, you've just churned through a heap of traffic and tied up the CPU needlessly. Also, since phpBB is too retarded to store the image width/height in the metadata, the page is trying to expand and reflow as every image is rendered, while trying to render the rest of the images, jumping up and down like a maniac on a sugar rush since it has no idea where you're trying to scroll to while the page size is constantly changing. Unless you use spoilers, and you can't actually find the picture you thought you saw somewhere without playing with a no-it's-really-not-Christmas-yet advent calendar.¹

phpBB tables — they're so incomprehensibly abhorrent that I can't imagine how even the person who programmed them could use them. They're so hypersensitive to misplaced whitespace that they're virtually impossible to edit without a visual editor, that's not included.

No complaints about the revised header though :)

¹ Some people load the page in full and use JS to collapse hidden elements, and that can work well so long as the page load isn't held up with slow-loading ads or CPU-intensive calculations. In reality it tends to suck.

[Muirium]

I've got the opposite opinion re: full size image loading. It's perfect for retina displays. We're all going high pixel density anyway, no need to fuzz things up by downsampling! DT's one of the most retina friendly sites I frequent. Way ahead of GH, which insists on doing things bass ackwards like we're all on dialup and need those precious baud prioritised for the egregious bawdy avatars!

[7bit]

WTF is with the attachment system that puts the filename after every inline image, then a blank line? It makes a mess out of post presentation! Who cares what name I gave the picture? It's a picture! I just want the picture to appear as a picture where I said I wanted a picture! Why is that too much to ask?
...

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[attachment=0]foo bar keyboard[/attachment]

This should show "foo bar keyboard" as image title. The whole attachment thing is crap!

Ideally

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[att=imagename.jpg]image title[/att]

or if it must be numbered (then in upload order, for reasons of sanity):

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[att=0]image title[/att]

Those bandwurm tag names are a pain. Language elements should always be short!

just out of interest 7bit what browser do you use ? There are many browsers that you could switch to that are lightweight modern and follow the unix philosophy

UZBL and surf being but 2

I white-list javascript even now for security reasons, cross site scripting attacks are not fun i think you could even run them against the framebuffer no x needed

I too whitelist JavaScript. It just bugs me that it is used for stupid featureism where plain HTML would do as well.
If coded clever, the JavaScript code hides the additional HTML that is needed if it is switched off, so both can exist.

An example are attached images, that are visible even if JS is switched off.

When I switch JS on, there is no file upload button visible, if it is off, it is there!

So it sholuld be possible to please people from both worlds!

[webwit]

This is now the top topic last week!

[Madhias]

And i was not sure what has changed, but wanted to click all the time on the top right onto the spy button, where it was before. I like it as it is now! Maybe the alignment would be much better when the complete spy button is aligned on the optical axis, and not the text only. Somehow it looks wrong. I can feel it in my smallest toe!

Oh my, browsing without JS and cookies is like beer without alcohol, coke without sugar, a keyboard without tactility,...

[7bit]

------- <-------7bit
<--- rest of community
----- <---------7bit, again ...

[kbdfr]

------- <-------7bit
<--- rest of community
----- <---------7bit, again ...

[webwit]

If you have javascript disabled, the header now shows all navigation elements without drop down menus.

[7bit]

Thanks!


Now, I only need that "new messages" button at the bottom left of the header. Just make it "Msg." or "PMs" or whatever ...

[xbb]

I'm a minimalism guy!


I don't use a GUI where I can use the commandline.


I don't use Java Script where I can use HTML.


I don't use flash, where I can use high ISOs, a fast lens and a steady hand.

Just use curl then

[Halvar]

... I could use a shortcut for the Forum Spy, which I head to after making a post. Browser history bounces me back to the post-post-posting page if I simply hit Command+[ (previous page).

Things I'd like shortcuts for, in order of interest:

• Spy.
• Private message inbox.
• Search.
• Wiki.

Forum search and wiki both have good (autocompleting) URLs currently, so I'm almost there already with those. But getting to the Spy means Command+L, D, down, down, Return right now for me. And I do it often enough an improvement will count indeed!

That's pretty easy, e.g the attribute

Code: Select all

accesskey='s'

would just have to be added to the <a> tag of the spy link in the header template. Works without javascript, so it could probably help 7bit, too. Only problem: nobody would know...

Just thinking out loud here. To really open up keyboard navigation for the site, I could really use a cursor that allows me to pick threads to open from the forum spy, and then for selecting individual posts to hit Reply on etc. A shortcut for the Submit button would be useful too! I often type out all the BBCode tags myself just because it's quicker for me than context switching to the pointer anyway.

That's a Javascript problem for someone's long winter nights (not me) ...

[webwit]

Give me a logical list of accesskeys you want and I'll add them. Don't use them myself because I use pentadactyl.

[Muirium]

How about:

S = Spy
I = Inbox
T = Top Topics
W = Wiki (with the cursor in the search box!)

I guess I could be IRC if people want, with M for Messages (Inbox) instead. I'll get used to it, whatever.

[Halvar]

How about:

S = Spy
I = Inbox
T = Top Topics
W = Wiki (with the cursor in the search box!)
V = View your posts
F = Search (=Find)
C = IRC Chat

L is Logout, H is Main Forum Index, P is Print, J is "Jump to", Z is "go to bottom of page" and U is "User Control Panel" already.

Extra Credits for the unfound Javascript winter evening hero for Underlining letters in the (English) menu when modifi
ers are pressed ...

EDIT: Wait, S is "Submit" and F is "Full editor" on the Quick reply part already ...

[elecplus]

What about go to top of page? It is kind of a pain to scroll all the way to the top on long pages to get to the top menu.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

Press the Home key on your keyboard. Press End for bottom of page :)

(When Apple introduced the iMac, they left off the End key, which was really annoying.)

[elecplus]

Thank you!

[Muirium]

Command Up/Down does the same thing as Home and End on the Mac. So they're not that essential!

Option Up/Down does Page Up/Down too.

[Daniel Beardsmore]

They're not the same thing. One moves the view, and the other moves the caret and the view with it. Pressing home on a Mac is the same as scrolling to the top with the mouse, whereas cmd+up moves the caret at the same time. In a browser they may work the same, but in a text editor, home/end/page up/down let you browse through the document without losing your position in the text.

[Muirium]

True, I meant for browsing DT etc. True Mac style home and end (moving the view without moving the cursor) isn't something Windows even does, via the keyboard, as far as I know.

[Findecanor]

Just let the script that builds up the page generate special code if user 7bit is logged in, can't be too difficult!

Hmm.. Like a "7bit layout" huh? Now, where have I heard that before ? ...

[Findecanor]

Way ahead of GH, which insists on doing things bass ackwards like we're all on dialup and need those precious baud prioritised for the egregious bawdy avatars!

GH does in-browser image scaling. My browser absolutely chokes on some threads on GH that are full of large images.

I think that thumbnail generation should be compulsory for images that are larger than the thumbnail size.
Then click the thumbnail to load the full image somehow: popup or in new tab/window.

[7bit]

Good idea!

[Muirium]

Shitty idea! Points don't equal pixels… increasingly they mean FOUR of them, and sometimes NINE!

1:1 mapping of pixels to points is the new "640 kilobytes ought to be enough for anybody."