Also, in addition to the issues with the site logging me out, about 1/10th of the time after I type a post and hit submit, I just get a blank page. There's no HTML content, and no redirect, and the post is not submitted. Going back, copying the post text, reloading the page, pasting the post text, and submitting again correctly submits the post.
I'm thinking that may be a result of the authentication server and your personal status. As a moderator, you have more "power" than a regular user and therefore require a different security clearance. I may be wrong.
I had an issue setting my avatar for the forums. I had to do it about five times before it would take. I still can't set my avatar for the projects page...and am of the opinion that maybe I should be able to recycle my forum avatar. At any rate, until I can do something that simple I am certainly not going to go through the process of attempting to submit any code...
What is the appropriate place to post about issues with this site? I guess it's this thread. I clicked the Site Suggestions link in the forum and it sent me to a CurseForge tracker, and I really don't like the idea of going to a CurseForge page to report WowAce site issues.
It's nearly impossible to navigate. In order to find someone, I have to do a binary search by manually manipulating the page numbers in my browser's address bar. It needs an alphabetical index like the forum members list link has. It needs to let you jump more than 3 pages at a time without having to jump to the end or manually enter page numbers in your browser's address bar. Also, it should filter out any users who don't have any projects; apparently it's actually a CurseForge user list in the guise of an Author list?
HunterZ: rather, because of the way our database is laid out its a very expensive query to figure out who's an author vs not. I do need to fix it though you're right.
I also want to setup some basic alphabetical navs vs whats there currently. and yes we can get more #s.
Quoting this issue, and I disagree that it's minor. Having to scroll up on every page to return to the parent fora is a pain in the ass, especially when I'm viewing 40 posts per page.
I decided this issue was minor because I can use the Home key on my keyboard to immediately return to the top of the page. If that doesn't work in all browsers, though, then it becomes a more significant issue. Also, I'm sure it's an enormous issue for anyone using "alternative browsing software". That doesn't just mean things like screen readers, which I doubt are much used by people involved in a forum devoted to addons for a visual computer game -- it also means cell phones and PDAs. I remember at least one person posting on the old SMF forums (maybe a year and a half ago) about how the "wowace" theme didn't work on their mobile device, but that another theme did. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to try to use vB on a mobile device. :p
Ooh, I didn't know about that. That's nice. If it had just a little bit more information on the index and forum-view pages, I'd probably just use it full-time.
Also, I just did an experiment. I turned off JavaScript. I used the "Quick Links" link in the top header. What happened? The page reloaded, and "Quick Links" was replaced by two - yes, only two - of the links that appear in the "quick links" menu: Mark Forums Read, and Open Contacts Popup. How on earth is a function to open a contacts popup deemed more important than viewing subscribed threads? This is a forum, not a social network or email client. For that matter, why do we now have "friends lists" and "social groups" and "photo galleries"? What is this, MyAceSpaceForge?
On thread view pages, though, having JavaScript disabled meant that the "thread tools" (including moderation functions) were all placed at the bottom of the page. Partially this is good (placing all the moderation functions together) but partially this is bad (placing important user functions like subscribing to the thread and searching the thread at the bottom of the page).
Typing a post without JavaScript enabled still showed all 500 WYSIWYG buttons, even though they had no function.
In general, I'd probably leave JS disabled all the time here... if it didn't get rid of the link to subscribed threads, and didn't require extra page loads to get to basic functions.
And yes, I know that these are mostly issues with vBulletin itself that may or may not be addressable via theming.
I expected that someone would post that response. I disabled JS, for this site only, as an experiment. However, I feel that using these forums without JS is an improvement, as it makes some features easier to use, and gets rid of the multitude of slide-in drop-down menus that I so despise. I posted about it because it is an accessibility issue, and that was my whole point in starting this thread. I've always hated Curse websites because they are difficult and unintuitive to nagivate and use. Now that WowAce is officially and obviously a Curse website, I can no longer just go "oh well, at least I don't have to use Curse very much" and ignore the problems.
Any way to stop the page from automatically jumping to the quick reply box instead of the last posted message?
Edit...oops dumb mistake it's jumping to last post just placing it right at the top of the page. Would prefer it more in the center but thats just me:P
Some of the fonts in the "wiki" are a bit small (like when previewing a mod's description), the colors aren't the easiest on the eyes, though I don't have a problem with the colors themselves. (Maybe pull out some of the red out of the "parchment" color and lighten it a bit).
As far as accessibility goes, coding/designing for accessibility is well and good, but only applies to the viewer types that you're targeting. For example, I would never make my site screen-reader/hand-held accessible because it's a VIEWING experience made for real web browsers. But if you're serving the type/amount of content where it becomes necessary, that's another story.
Most of my gripes have to do with the wiki anyhow. :P Can I mention that here? I'm going to... I AM!
We have a project's main page. But if we create additional pages, the only way a user can access them is if we link directly to them. Would it be possible to incorporate a small navigation box above the rest of the project's info (on the right) that links to the available pages?
Edit:
PS. Tahoma is a great font, but tends to be t0o "smooshed" together to read easily. Might I suggest a 1px letter-spacing and 1.1 - 1.25em line-height? :)
On the subject of readability, what do you guys think of the basic typography (not the complete lack of non typography styles) on b-list.org I find his site, while I think too minimal, to be very easy to read and its that type of typography I'm thinking of bringing to the site.
That's a ton more readable. The only reason I typically use Tahoma is when I need ~9px font for something. It looks the best at that size. Otherwise, I prefer Arial/Helvetica.
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I'm thinking that may be a result of the authentication server and your personal status. As a moderator, you have more "power" than a regular user and therefore require a different security clearance. I may be wrong.
I had an issue setting my avatar for the forums. I had to do it about five times before it would take. I still can't set my avatar for the projects page...and am of the opinion that maybe I should be able to recycle my forum avatar. At any rate, until I can do something that simple I am certainly not going to go through the process of attempting to submit any code...
this won't work if the authentication plugin redirects you away from your current action .9
That inorder to do any moderation they have to confirm their login before they do it.
I guess its to prevent unauthorised modding if they stay logged in all the time.
Weeeee 1337 post :p
As for the readability, I miss some space between lines of the same paragraph, like line-height: 1.5em;
The theme images could use some tweaking, but nothing major. Quite happy with the overall forum as it is ATM. GJ Kaelten & co :)
I do want to fix these usability problems though.
That inline moderation authentication required feature can be disabled.
Also, what did the [ tt ] tag in the old forum that people are missing do?
Anyways, I was looking at the Authors link at the top of the page: http://www.wowace.com/profiles/?authors=1
It's nearly impossible to navigate. In order to find someone, I have to do a binary search by manually manipulating the page numbers in my browser's address bar. It needs an alphabetical index like the forum members list link has. It needs to let you jump more than 3 pages at a time without having to jump to the end or manually enter page numbers in your browser's address bar. Also, it should filter out any users who don't have any projects; apparently it's actually a CurseForge user list in the guise of an Author list?
I also want to setup some basic alphabetical navs vs whats there currently. and yes we can get more #s.
I decided this issue was minor because I can use the Home key on my keyboard to immediately return to the top of the page. If that doesn't work in all browsers, though, then it becomes a more significant issue. Also, I'm sure it's an enormous issue for anyone using "alternative browsing software". That doesn't just mean things like screen readers, which I doubt are much used by people involved in a forum devoted to addons for a visual computer game -- it also means cell phones and PDAs. I remember at least one person posting on the old SMF forums (maybe a year and a half ago) about how the "wowace" theme didn't work on their mobile device, but that another theme did. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to try to use vB on a mobile device. :p
if you want read only or print something you could also use the archive http://forums.wowace.com/archive/index.php
Except that CurseForge and WowAce have vB's skinning feature disabled, with no alternative skins available. :(
Ooh, I didn't know about that. That's nice. If it had just a little bit more information on the index and forum-view pages, I'd probably just use it full-time.
On thread view pages, though, having JavaScript disabled meant that the "thread tools" (including moderation functions) were all placed at the bottom of the page. Partially this is good (placing all the moderation functions together) but partially this is bad (placing important user functions like subscribing to the thread and searching the thread at the bottom of the page).
Typing a post without JavaScript enabled still showed all 500 WYSIWYG buttons, even though they had no function.
In general, I'd probably leave JS disabled all the time here... if it didn't get rid of the link to subscribed threads, and didn't require extra page loads to get to basic functions.
And yes, I know that these are mostly issues with vBulletin itself that may or may not be addressable via theming.
Edit...oops dumb mistake it's jumping to last post just placing it right at the top of the page. Would prefer it more in the center but thats just me:P
Some of the fonts in the "wiki" are a bit small (like when previewing a mod's description), the colors aren't the easiest on the eyes, though I don't have a problem with the colors themselves. (Maybe pull out some of the red out of the "parchment" color and lighten it a bit).
As far as accessibility goes, coding/designing for accessibility is well and good, but only applies to the viewer types that you're targeting. For example, I would never make my site screen-reader/hand-held accessible because it's a VIEWING experience made for real web browsers. But if you're serving the type/amount of content where it becomes necessary, that's another story.
Most of my gripes have to do with the wiki anyhow. :P Can I mention that here? I'm going to... I AM!
We have a project's main page. But if we create additional pages, the only way a user can access them is if we link directly to them. Would it be possible to incorporate a small navigation box above the rest of the project's info (on the right) that links to the available pages?
Edit:
PS. Tahoma is a great font, but tends to be t0o "smooshed" together to read easily. Might I suggest a 1px letter-spacing and 1.1 - 1.25em line-height? :)
So feedback?
http://www.blueprintcss.org/