Forum Upgrade

[SoftWareRevue]

We'll be updating the forum software today (Dec. 15).

 

We will have to shut the site down for a few minutes while we do.

 

We've managed to keep the style looking basically the same. The only things you may notice are some advanced features throughout the forum and a skyscraper banner to the right.

 

If anyone encounters any bugs after the upgrade, please let us know.

 

Thanks!

 

Dennis

Edited December 15, 2006 by SoftWareRevue

[snarfblam]

What happened to syntax highlighting on VB and C# code? I've gone color blind, and I have double vision (or, at least, all the newlines are doubled). And to make matters worse, the new advertisement banner squeezes this hard-to-read code into a tighter space. Is this a temporary issue?

[Eduardo Lorenzo]

YEY! Congratulations on the upgrade..

[MrPaul]

Wasted space in threads

 

The new multi-quote feature is pretty neat, and post editing is a lot nicer too. There are obviously a few small issues that need to be fixed - syntax highlighting, some missing images (all these), and probably a few others - but it's nice. However, I really don't like the skyscraper ads being on every single page - it would be much better laid out if they weren't used within threads. The height of the ad typically only spans one or two posts, meaning the rest of the thread contains a considerable amount of wasted space at the right hand edge.

 

:)

[mskeel]

I'm not a huge fan of the side banner but I understand the business requirement for more ad space. I'd rather have that than have ads interspersed with threads. The ability to close the ad (like on the front page) on every page might be a good compromise for the regulars while still serving the ad to all users. The giant gap is a little annoying. Why not go all out and just server ads down the entire right side? If you're going to do it, go all out.

 

Bringing back the syntax highlighting in the VB/CS tags should be a top priority.

 

Edit: By the way, sweet in place editing.

[snarfblam]

Frankly, I don't see the need for multi-quote. What will it do except clog up the threads? (I'm not being sarcastic, I'm just wondering if there is something I'm missing.) And the skyscraper ad banner... well, I'd rather see an extra ad at the top or bottom of each page. I can't see anyone, not even the regulars, closing the ad on each and every page. Vertical space is infinite on the web. Of horizontal space we have precious little. But anyone who has been around these boards long enough knows it takes me a while to warm up to new things. That's all I'm gonna say because it's not like I'm the one paying to host the site. Edited December 20, 2006 by snarfblam

[Nerseus]

On the banner... is it possible to get a different set of advertisements? They seem to be geared mostly towards the server-hosting market. If you want click-throughs, the best ads would be geared for developers - 3rd party controls, visual studio plug-ins (such as extra refactoring tools), etc.

 

I haven't had a chance to use many of the new features yet, though the "edit post" looks much nicer.

 

-ner

[MrPaul]

[PLAIN]

and

[/PLAIN]

 

Has there been any action towards getting [PLAIN]

and

[/PLAIN] working again? I've been using them since the upgrade with the expectation that at some point they will work again and all those posts will become "fixed", but if that's not likely to happen soon I might start colouring code "manually" (ala marble_eater).

[snarfblam]

I wouldn't really call my syntax highlighting "manual." I actually use two programs I've written: one that applies syntax highlighting to C# code with the output in vB code and an RTF-based formatting tool that produces vB code (which I use for VB, not to be confused with vB). I could (and will, if asked) share them, but I should also point out that PHP syntax highlighting will also usually do the trick for C# code.

private bool CheckChar(char c) {
   if(text[chrOffset] != c) return false;
   
   chrOffset++; // seek past char
   return true;
}

[SoftWareRevue]

... but if that's not likely to happen soon I might start colouring code "manually" (ala marble_eater).

It may not be "soon." :)

 

It isn't very high in the queue right now. But it is in the queue.

[MrPaul]

Small CS bug

 

Good job! The line numbers and scrollbars are a welcome addition. Not sure about the VB colour scheme, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. However, I don't know if you've spotted the little bug with the [PLAIN]

[/PLAIN] tag. The open square bracket [ character is causing a problem:

[code=csharp]string[] strings; byte[] bytes; int[] ints;
string astring; byte abyte; int anint;
bool abool, char achar;

abool = (bytes[10] == (byte) ints[20]);
/* Brackets [] in a comment */ astring[2] = "brackets outside a comment";

 

Original code:

 

string[] strings; byte[] bytes; int[] ints;
string astring; byte abyte; int anint;
bool abool, char achar;

abool = (bytes[10] == (byte) ints[20]);
/* Brackets [] in a comment */ astring[2] = "brackets outside a comment";

 

It appears the first non-comment [ on a line is being converted to [ (HTML code for the bracket) which is then being converted to [ with the result of the line becoming a comment starting at the #.

[mskeel]

Re: Small CS bug

 

Not to sound too ungrateful, but editing and copying the new code blocks results in funny, terrible things. To demonstrate I will post a code block, then edit and post another code block. I'm using the cs tags.

 

Code:

1. class super
   
2. {
   
3. public int yoyo()
   
4. {
   
5. // do stuff
   
6. MessageBox.Show("YOYO!");
   
7. }
   
8. }
   

 

 

And now the same code block reentered after editing:

 

class super
{
  public int yoyo()
  {
     // do stuff
     MessageBox.Show("YOYO!");
   }
}

[mskeel]

Re: Small CS bug

 

I did switch editing modes becuase I couldn't get any more editing space outside of the code block at the end of the editing space. Perhaps that had something to do with it?

[MrPaul]

Scrollbars and wide posts

 

I like the idea of horizontal scrollbars on code segments to prevent posts getting ridiculously wide, but at the moment they're totally ineffective, as can be seen in this thread. It's hardly worth using a scrollbar at all if the box is almost as wide as the code it contains.

[mskeel]

Re: Scrollbars and wide posts

 

It's hardly worth using a scrollbar at all if the box is almost as wide as the code it contains.

Remember that because pages are rendered client side and not everyone is running the same screen resolution/size as you, relatively sized boxes may not appear the same sizes for everyone.

[MrPaul]

IE problem

 

I think it might just be IE making code blocks so wide. In Firefox they display fine.