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[hanhphuc]

4 hours ago, SLW210 said:

I believe hanhphuc is referring to the home page at cadtutor.net where it has recent and hottest posts not being connected to the forum now.

 

yes. thanks for the explanation

[nukecad]

A small tweak if possible, it's by no means important and I'm sure you have a lot on your plate.

Would it be possible to enable the uploading of animated gif's to our avatars/profile pictures?

The software doesn't allow it at the moment, although they are allowed in posts.

Obviously you would want to put a size limit on what could be used, but a small 3 frame animation like this Is what I mean.
This ones 26.5 kb and I believe the current limit for a profile picture is 150 kb.
(I have this as my avatar on other forums).

Edited August 22, 2018 by nukecad

[CADTutor]

This is something I thought carefully about when setting up the forum. The key philosophy I've adopted is to provide the best reading/user experience that I can. Animated gifs, although fun, can be very distracting and therefore detract from the reading experience. I know there are ads on here and they are often animated but, the difference is that if it weren't for the ads, this site wouldn't even be here - they are essential. Animated gifs would just add to the visual noise and so I have not enabled them. Sorry to be a killjoy

 

[Jef!]

I agree with the "killjoy" approach. Animated gifs have the same effect on me as laser pointers on cats... makes me go (setq concentration nil)

Are our signatures gone for good, or retrievable somewhere?

[CADTutor]

36 minutes ago, Jef! said:

Are our signatures gone for good, or retrievable somewhere?

Signatures are still in the database but not enabled for the same reason = killjoy

[Jef!]

Some programmers use it to link their websites. Gaining visibility might be one of the main reasons why they give their free time in forums like cadtutor in the first place, don't you think? 

[Cad64]

9 minutes ago, CADTutor said:

Signatures are still in the database but not enabled for the same reason = killjoy

My signature had links to my online portfolio/art galleries. I understand you don't want to distract from the purpose of the forum, but it would be nice if we could add links on our profile page so people could directly connect to our off-site personal websites, galleries, etc.

[tzframpton]

2 minutes ago, Jef! said:

Some programmers use it to link their websites. Gaining visibility might be one of the main reasons why they give their free time in forums like cadtutor in the first place, don't you think? 

Agree 100%. As a business owner, I liked having a link back to my website. For me, as active as I am on this forum, signatures don't even register in my eyesight anymore. 

[CADTutor]

49 minutes ago, Jef! said:

Some programmers use it to link their websites. Gaining visibility might be one of the main reasons why they give their free time in forums like cadtutor in the first place, don't you think?

That's a good point and it's only fair that there should be some quid pro quo for your contributions. Let me think about the options.

[CADTutor]

OK, how about this...

It seems only fair that those who contribute to this forum get a link back to their personal site or business each time they post. Traditionally, this would be included in a forum signature but the problem with signatures is that they break the flow of a topic/conversation for those reading it. So why not include a link as part of the author information in the block on the left-hand side of the post. It could look like this:

The link will be part of the member's profile and will only appear in the author details block if there is a URL in your profile to display.

It seems to me this is a good arrangement since members get what they are entitled to (a link to their portfolio/business site) and the reading experience of topic is not disrupted.

Let me know what you think.

[Jef!]

Quote

OK, how about this...

Thanks. Yeah, it looks like a fair win/win option. I like that. While i'm here, here's some more feedback
Positive:

• I really like when you are on a thread you get a popup telling you if someone posted something new even as you are writing something. That is awesome.
• (edit:) THIS FORUM KEEPS MO LOGGED ON FOR MORE THAN 120 SECONDS WITHOUT DISCONNECTING ME!! WOOT!!

What I think I like less:

• The "shift+enter" for a line return instead of just "enter" (might get used to it some day, but try fighting it while adding bulleted lists....^^)

Uncertain:

• The reputation points/leaderboard system (still not sure it is a good thing...)

Why I'm not sure the point and leaderboard is a good thing? I think we have here an excellent example. I brought a good argument for signatures. One agrees at 100%, another that it is a good point, Yet the argument has no reactions, while you got one merely stating "That's a good point and it's only fair that there should be some quid pro quo for your contributions. Let me think about the options.". Not only it could be somewhat frustrating, but might lead to some unhealthy competition if we focus on it too much. It is also quantitative more than qualitative, as a user with 100 points over 1000 posts might look better on paper than a user with 50 points over 75 posts. To make a qualitative comparison one can check the reputation/posts ratio, but the result is biased since they are not spanned over the same time frame and people can have lots of posts without reputation as of now. On the other hand it might help positively influence since the good comments can be "rewarded" but I have the feeling that one could get more rep points by being fast to copy and paste a code snippet than taking the time to make lengthy discussions, suggestions and explain concepts in detail. If so, it could potentially lower the academic value. I guess time will tell.

(edit) I just figured out how to vote. Wondering the different effects of different voting options...

Edited August 22, 2018 by Jef!
added another like :)

[Cad64]

18 minutes ago, CADTutor said:

OK, how about this...

The link will be part of the member's profile and will only appear in the author details block if there is a URL in your profile to display.

That's great. I like it.

[steven-g]

Great idea, but any chance of splitting those author details into 2 columns, at least on a PC screen there is a lot of empty space left and right (no problem) but with all that author information it makes every post really tall, even for single line answers a post is taking well over a dozen lines of screen space. If the author column was split into 2 and made wider to the outside it would compress the content area and still have author details off to the side in an unobtrusive way.

[CADTutor]

13 hours ago, Jef! said:

I really like when you are on a thread you get a popup telling you if someone posted something new even as you are writing something. That is awesome.

I know! It's like it's 2018 or something... oh, wait!

13 hours ago, Jef! said:

The reputation points/leaderboard system (still not sure it is a good thing...)

Let's see how it goes - if it becomes a problem, we may have a re-think. I've looked at a number of other boards that use the same system and in the majority of cases, it works well. First thing here is that people need to get used to how it works. After that, success will depend on how consistently it is used. Mostly, the content on here is non-controversial, so it's unlikely reputation would be used as part of a flame war. But it does provide another insentive to contribute good quality content. Us old-uns are happy without that sort of fancy frippery but we ought to be attracting a younger audience too and they have grown up with gamified interfaces. It's all about striking the right balance for all members of the community.

[CADTutor]

6 hours ago, steven-g said:

Great idea, but any chance of splitting those author details into 2 columns

Unfortunately, that would be difficult but it's a good point. I'll see what I can come up with.

[CADTutor]

7 hours ago, steven-g said:

on a PC screen there is a lot of empty space left and right (no problem) but with all that author information it makes every post really tall

So, we can do this:

The two software items are now on the same line (which makes sense), recovering the space used for the website link. Optionally, we could close the gap between "Website" and "AutoCAD" but this arrangement has a nice vertical rhythm IMO.

[steven-g]

This does it in Chrome when added to the CSS

aside.ipsComment_author.cAuthorPane.ipsColumn.ipsColumn_medium.ipsResponsive_hidePhone {
    column-count: 2;
}

Edited August 23, 2018 by steven-g

[steven-g]

And with a width of 300px and 3 columns the difference is hardly noticable but makes the content much more compact

 

[CADTutor]

Yes, that could be done in CSS but there are additional considerations in the way the software operates, plus the responsive aspect of the design. Although more compact, I don't find those solutions visually apealing. We could add extra padding, change content order and left-justify etc. to make it work but by that time it's practically a whole new theme. My aim with this install is to make as few structural changes as possible so that when it comes to upgrades, it remains intact. I fell into the trap of over-hacking the last forum theme and the result was that every time the software was upgraded, it took me a whole weekend just to get it working again. It's not that I resent the extra work (much) but I have to think about the future viability of the forum and a light-touch approach to theming helps me in the sort-term and whoever takes over as admin when I retire

 

[steven-g]

Understood. I do a lot of programming in Excel and have learnt (still learning) that quick fixes are usually not that quick, when you have to go back some time later and try to fix something unforseen.