PF5 Problems & Errors: Report & Discuss

[fresh_42]

I have found something very strange. Note the name of the vanishing set!

1. Chrome - before interpreted

2. Chrome - after fully loaded (and interpreted)

3. Opera

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I have found something very strange. Note the name of the vanishing set!

Can you link to the post?

 

[fresh_42]

Can you link to the post?

It was an Insight article (chapter "Eigen World" in the lower half):
https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/hilbert-spaces-relatives-part-ii/

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

It was an Insight article (chapter "Eigen World" in the lower half):
https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/hilbert-spaces-relatives-part-ii/

hmmm I see the equation using Chrome 77

 

[fresh_42]

I haven't checked it on a "naked" version of chrome, so it might well be due to an add-on.
I use version 78.

But why this specific formula? And why can it still be recovered via the process: mark and show Math as TeX commands? I stumbled upon it by chance and wanted to correct it as I saw it didn't need a correction. And it is reproducible: loaded correctly, interpreted wrongly.

It probably doesn't need fixing, but it's "funny" and / or "annoying" in a way. I would normally say "tell the developers", but as it is worldpress ...
Maybe I should send a note to Google. Not that this would change a lot ...

 

[Tom.G]

Shows here on an old, Ver.43 Firefox.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Shows here on an old, Ver.43 Firefox.

That's 4 years old, why not update?

 

[Tom.G]

That's 4 years old, why not update?

That requires updating Windows version - that requires replaceing printers, scanner, etc, because drivers are not available for newer Windows - then there are some commercial applications that would need replacing; overall a few $,$$$.

Also, much of the customization I've done for convenient workflow and maintenance is not available because current versions have locked down customization to reduce support needs, and for "improved security." For instance printers used to allow specifying custom paper sizes and margins, from what I've found, that is rare these days.

Overall, "It works for me"... most of the time.

 

[Orodruin]

Overall, "It works for me"... most of the time.

https://xkcd.com/1172/

 

[OCR]

Workflow

Lol. . .

.

 

[Tom.G]

This is one is a bit closer to what happens.
https://xkcd.com/1174/
I recently tried to order some Hard Disk Drives from the manufacturer. After each step in the process was filled in, there was a "Continue" button. I got thru the
Model No.
Quantity
Name & Address
Payment Method
Clicking the Continue button after each.

That last one would high-light but do nothing else. Wouldn't even send anything over the Internet. Therefore I couldn't get to Place Order.

I tried this on two computers and 5 browsers, no luck.
I tried their Customer Service and they have no way to order by phone.
I finally grabbed my wife's tablet and placed the order.

I'm not sure whether to call this "Advance to The Rear" or "Progress, Our Most Important By-product".

Ordinarily, I would find a different supplier. In this case other sources were 27% higher. And by Creating Account on their site, they took off another 10%.

Oh well.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Awhile back we removed the base URL for the "Forum" navigation link forcing the drop down every time. Unknown to me this actually messed up our breadcrumb navigation because the root breadcrumb inherits the URL from the "Forum" navigation link. For now, I've restored the link so to get the drop down items you must click the down arrow. I am looking for another solution.

 

[fresh_42]

If I may suggest three changes for a future version, I'd like to say

• A cancel button in the reply mode which deletes the edit field from the buffer would be great. I often use it if I want to copy something, because +quote does not work as it destroys the MathJax code. Unfortunately this keeps the entire thing in the buffer if I return later. Sometimes I delete the edit box manually, insert ".", and keep it open for a while, just to "delete" this buffer.
• A navigation path back from the page "Watched threads" to e.g. "Threads with no replies" (1) would be great. Now we have only the general frame, no sub-navigation as on (1).
• A post-wise "mark read" option in the drop down menu of the "Alert" button would be convenient.

 

[phinds]

• A cancel button in the reply mode which deletes the edit field from the buffer would be great.

Indeed !

 

[BvU]

How come a user name without any J gets a default avater with a J ?

 

[mfb]

The J is not in the current username

 

[gleem]

Currently 3:26 EDT navigating on forum takes many minutes. e.g. it took 7 minutes to access this thread.

 

[gleem]

Currently 3:26 EDT navigating on forum takes many minutes. e.g. it took 7 minutes to access this thread.

 

[fresh_42]

Currently 3:26 EDT navigating on forum takes many minutes. e.g. it took 7 minutes to access this thread.

The webserver had good response times, but the database was very busy I guess.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Sorry all, I ran some cleanup processes I didn't expect to be so tough on the server.

 

[russ_watters]

In mobile, the date/time under the name of a thread is the creation date, not the last posting date/time. Was that always true? I may be slow, but I noticed this a couple of days ago and it is confusing to me.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

In mobile, the date/time under the name of a thread is the creation date, not the last posting date/time. Was that always true?

As far as I know, that has been true since I joined.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

I ran some cleanup processes

I thought so when it was taking forever to reach the site.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

In mobile, the date/time under the name of a thread is the creation date, not the last posting date/time. Was that always true? I may be slow, but I noticed this a couple of days ago and it is confusing to me.

This should only be the case if you are logged out. I need to check that. I was trying to think what was more important to a visitor. The thread start date or last post date and I think last post date.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

This should only be the case if you are logged out.

This seems to be independent of whether I am logged in or out.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

This seems to be independent of whether I am logged in or out.

ah I was thinking about thread list view. In thread view, the top time and date has always been creation alongside the creator name.

 

[mfb]

This should only be the case if you are logged out. I need to check that. I was trying to think what was more important to a visitor. The thread start date or last post date and I think last post date.

Inconsistent behavior between logged out and logged in is confusing. Not that I would personally care, I don't browse PF logged out.

 

[russ_watters]

This seems to be independent of whether I am logged in or out.
View attachment 252876

ah I was thinking about thread list view. In thread view, the top time and date has always been creation alongside the creator name.

No, I was referring to the thread list view:

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

No, I was referring to the thread list view:

Do you want to see creation date or last post date?

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Do you want to see creation date or last post date?

Last post date seems to be a better option in case of thread list view.

 

[russ_watters]

Do you want to see creation date or last post date?

Last post date makes more sense to me. I check in on threads based on activity.

 

[fresh_42]

Last post date makes more sense to me. I check in on threads based on activity.

The desktop view is

so it's a matter of right versus left. If we swapped them, then the desktop view would get strange, i.e. confused: post starter avatar + last post info on the left, timestamp last post + post starter on the right. This would be a mess in my opinion. I understand that the information of the restricted view is in a way meaningless.

An optimal solution would be a source sensitive view, which is likely a matter of programming. As more than 50% of all users are mobile viewers, it seems to make sense to live with a messed up desktop view. But we could get similar complaints because of that. In any case: a headline in the "Filters" field should be a consequence as the views aren't self explaining anymore.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Today I logged out of PF after many months due to clearing of browser cache and cookies. While logging in, I saw this in the overlay:

Aren't the icons of Facebook and Twitter supposed to be there instead of boxes, like that of Google? (BTW, I have ad blocker disabled.)

 

[fresh_42]

Aren't the icons of Facebook and Twitter supposed to be there instead of boxes, like that of Google? (BTW, I have ad blocker disabled.)

This could still be a browser issue: load not finished, memory capacity reached, or similar. It looks as if it is the same as on PF. As long as the interpreter hasn't properly gone through the page text, as long we see another layout of the page. Sometimes it even does not finish at all. I am not sure why it is the case, but it's a client phenomenon.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

This could still be a browser issue: load not finished, memory capacity reached, or similar. It looks as if it is the same as on PF. As long as the interpreter hasn't properly gone through the page text, as long we see another layout of the page. Sometimes it even does not finish at all. I am not sure why it is the case, but it's a client phenomenon.

When you have an alert, and you click on the dropdown, do you see something like this:

Specifically, do you see a box before "Mark unread", or do you see something else? (I used to see a star, now it has become a box.)

 

[fresh_42]

I only remember the box.

 

[mfb]

It used to be a star, but there seems to be some display problem. I get a "character I don't understand" box, too.

 

[fresh_42]

It used to be a star, but there seems to be some display problem. I get a "character I don't understand" box, too.

Me, too. On the login page. Another possible explanation is the following:
AFAIK do we work with an AJAX system. By clicking the login button, there would be another external dialogue necessary to fetch the icons, since they are probably nowhere stored in our system (or somewhere else). But as we are in the middle of a dialogue between server and client, no external dialogues take place, hence we can only see the box. The login dialogue box is simply no reconstruction of the page, it's only an additional window.

 

[mfb]

Cleared the cache now the symbol is gone completely.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

This is a result of me removing the brands css from font awesome. It’s a large file that is relatively unnecessary. I just need to find the templates to edit out the missing brand symbols.

 

[fresh_42]

Another "bug" for a next release.

If the page renews itself while on the screen, the alert box entry isn't renewed, fine. But the list of "watched threads" sets it as new.

 

[BvU]

Not really a PF5 error, but for sure problem eligible for fixing:

I find the editor has provisions for tables and e.g. Excel (yuck) tables can be copy/pasted. Good.
Formatting from Excel (yu..) is lost. Not so good, but: oh well...

However, once the deed is done, formatting in the edit window is limited to formatting per cell ! Very not so good.
How about e.g. centering, bold-facing etc. for a selection of cells ?

 

[WWGD]

It seems some alerts ( the bell icon on the upper-right ) is not triggered, i.e., does not show a number in red, despite the presence of messages. I mean I check the icon when it is not read and I see that there are messages I have not yet read. Sorry, sounds confusing, don't know how else to put it.

 

[fresh_42]

It seems some alerts ( the bell icon on the upper-right ) is not triggered, i.e., does not show a number in red, despite the presence of messages. I mean I check the icon when it is not read and I see that there are messages I have not yet read. Sorry, sounds confusing, don't know how else to put it.

This usually happens if you have an open tab of this thread. It updates the page and it is assumed that you saw what was new.

 

[PeroK]

This usually happens if you have an open tab of this thread. It updates the page and it is assumed that you saw what was new.

I was just going to post about this, as this is a problem. It's a dangerous assumption. There are two issues:

1) I miss these updates quite often. Especially if I'm helping more than one student at a time. It's embarrassing when someone replies and I completely miss it. I imagine you have to scroll down to see the new reply, but I'm not aware of anything really obvious that tells me there is a new reply.

2) I got used to relying on the red icon. As an end-user you learn these things and it takes time to unlearn them, even if you are explicitly told about the changes.

 

[WWGD]

I too have missed replies and other messages for this reason. Maybe redundancy is better than missing out.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

1) I miss these updates quite often. Especially if I'm helping more than one student at a time. It's embarrassing when someone replies and I completely miss it. I imagine you have to scroll down to see the new reply, but I'm not aware of anything really obvious that tells me there is a new reply.

Alerts are just simple notifications. Once you open the alert list drop down it records everything as read. For thread tracking you should be using https://www.physicsforums.com/watched/threads

 

[PeroK]

Alerts are just simple notifications. Once you open the alert list drop down it records everything as read. For thread tracking you should be using https://www.physicsforums.com/watched/threads

That's not really the point. I got used to the alert system. The big advantage was that it pushed notifications so that I could see them even if wasn't actively online any more. Even if I'm not going to look at new HH threads I like to reply to those I've been helping.

I could just look over at the computer to see whether there was a red alert!

Now, if I'm not careful, I miss alerts and have to proactively refresh pages.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Now, if I'm not careful, I miss alerts and have to proactively refresh pages.

Are you saying if you get an alert and don't check it during the day, it will disappear?

 

[PeroK]

Are you saying if you get an alert and don't check it during the day, it will disappear?

No. If I leave a thread open, then I don't get an alert. I'm undecided now whether to get into the habit of closing windows so I get a red alert or some other modus operandi. Like having a "watched threads" window permanently open and refreshing that.

In any case, I need to change the way I operate so I don't miss things.