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What script is running on this page that causes safari to reload the page due to an error? That is so annoying but not as bad as waiting for the page to load up whilst you try to keep an eye on the forever moving thread title you wish to look at but it does create a great new game of “guess which thread opens when you have pressed the thread link not realising the section of page you cant see is still loading and thus moves everything about”.
Malvern Rider - I appreciate that you shouldn't have to, but try using a different browser. Safari does seem to be a common denominator with complaints about the forum.
Autocorrect I've discussed before. When Swype disappeared I switched to Swiftkey and had the problems reported. It wasn't just on STW but a few other sites too, notably Facebook. Then an update came out for Swiftkey and the problem went away. Make sure you're using the latest version of your keyboard app in the first instance.
This Christmas is the 10 year anniversary of the Big Hack.
It's all them hackers fault. They'll be growed adults by now.
Autocorrect I’ve discussed before. When Swype disappeared I switched to Swiftkey and had the problems reported. It wasn’t just on STW but a few other sites too, notably Facebook. Then an update came out for Swiftkey and the problem went away. Make sure you’re using the latest version of your keyboard app in the first instance.
Its android, nothing fancy. The problem is with STW, not everyone else.
It’s all them hackers fault. They’ll be growed adults by now.
Probably web developers, I wononenofonenofothe.is having the last laugh somewhere nenofo
(I cant be arsed to correct that).
My new phone uses SwiftKey keyboard and has 'paste as plain text' as an option (once I've managed to find the point I'm allowed to paste into). Sort of progress for me I guess.
Autocorrect I’ve discussed before. When Swype disappeared I switched to Swiftkey and had the problems reported.
It may have happened with SwiftKey but it is not a SwiftKey issue. Really. It isn't. It happens with various keyboards in various devices. Not just swiftkey. Honest.
It may have happened with SwiftKey but it is not a SwiftKey issue. Really. It isn’t. It happens with various keyboards in various devices. Not just swiftkey. Honest.
Point is, it's a compatibility issue. It's easy to argue "it only affects STW so it must be STW's fault" (which as I've said, wasn't the case for me, a small number of other sites were also affected) but one could equally argue "it works fine with other keyboards so it must be a keyboard issue." The problem lies in the interoperability between the two, you can't just point the finger in one direction. If you have a screwdriver which doesn't fit a screw, is it the screw or the screwdriver at fault?
Back when I was having issues, it was a far less frustrating experience just to switch to a different keyboard when using symptomatic sites. Takes a couple of clicks. I appreciate that in an ideal world the forum should work with every esoteric combination of browsers, operating systems and keyboards out there, but in the interim it's possible to work around it. And as I said, the ultimate fix for me personally wasn't even to change keyboards, just to update the one I was using.
Interesting comments from someone whose account is a month old.
Used to have an account a long time ago but didn’t have details of it so after a long long break I started a new one.
Was going to get a P but issues with the site have put me off to be honest, and has been stated above it seems a lot quieter than a few years ago.
If you have a screwdriver which doesn’t fit a screw, is it the screw or the screwdriver at fault?
So you're saying that we need a collection of screwdrivers when a single screwdriver fits all but one of the screws? The more sensible approach would be to remanufacture that single screw. That would require the manufacturer to stop pretending that they don't have a problem.
Blimey just took me 10 minutes to post that last post ofmine “sigh”.
I appreciate that in an ideal world the forum should work with every esoteric combination of browsers, operating systems and keyboards out there
Android, chrome.
I've no idea what swiftkeyswiftkeySi but is would suggest its more esoteric than whatever most people use.
It does it for me on Gboard though so it's not just a Swiftkey issue.
It does appear worse here than anywhere else.
Interesting comments from someone whose account is a month old.
You're right Cougar, only a month to come to the same conclusion as those that have been here for years, you may have discovered a genius!
Once
I have the autpcorraut problem too. Standard Google androiA keyboard, and chrome browser. No issurs on any other site.
You’re right Cougar, only a month to come to the same conclusion as those that have been here for years, you may have discovered a genius!
More of a genius than you, tried reading my reply to Cougar? No didn’t think so. 🙄
FWIW, I get the autocorrect issue on Android 8.1 with Gboard on the forum, but it works fine on the PM system.
Four attempts to post a new thread.
Glad that I saw this thread first otherwise I would just assume it was me.
Malvern Rider – I appreciate that you shouldn’t have to, but try using a different browser. Safari does seem to be a common denominator with complaints about the forum.
Dunno about that, Cougar, there seems to be a significant number of members using Chrome and Android having issues. I occasionally get the garbage text when I’ve c’n’p’d text from another post but I learned fairly quickly not to include the posters name in the quote.
One thing that’s a bit odd is the autocomplete built into Safari works really well, most of the time, often getting the word right with the first or second letter, just from context. However, if I hit return and start a new sentence, it won’t put a cap first letter, or auto complete, but will after the first couple of words.
I use Safari all the time, what I don’t use is Google as my search within Safari; not sure if that would work for everyone, but it’s been working fine for me for at least a couple of years, if not more.
I use Safari all the time, what I don’t use is Google as my search within Safari; not sure if that would work for everyone, but it’s been working fine for me for at least a couple of years, if not more.
I use Google and a few issues some of which you've mentioned above.
I occasionally get the garbage text when I’ve c’n’p’d text from another post but I learned fairly quickly not to include the posters name in the quote.
Yeah, that's not a browser-specific issue, that's just TinyMCE (the editor) being an arse.
Oh, and that post was first go, it’s published exactly as I posted it, no errors. Not ‘victim blaming’ (insert eye-rolly emoji here), just pointing out that, for whatever reason, not every poster has constant issues on here - it was a bit shonky when the new system went live, but I rarely get any issues any more.
Posted from my iPad Pro, using Safari with DuckDuckGo as search engine.
Posted from my iPad Pro
Dear God don't say that I did once and never heard the end of it.
Yeah, that’s not a browser-specific issue, that’s just TinyMCE (the editor) being an arse.
Oh, right. Can’t you make him stand in the corner with a dunces hat on, then send him to bed early with no pudding?
The UK fatbike forum has just been resurrected by a couple of kindly chaps who frequent this forum.
Just signed up, posted to say hello, popped a picture in. Easy. Well done chaps.
– Attempt to click on thread
– Open different thread, as the page is still loading
– Read a bit of that thread
– Close it
– Try again to open the thread you’d originally been looking at
– Go to stage 2 above
– Repeat a few times
This x100000
It drives me crazy.
I wait, wait more. Has it loaded?..
It jumps! Some more random crap has loaded. Do I risk it?.. No! Wait... All seems quiet; it should be ok.... press..
Bollocks!!!!
I'm trapped in the bloody Brexit thread when all I wanted to do is look at weekend ride photos 😫
Just signed up, posted to say hello, popped a picture in. Easy. Well done chaps.
the number of nights I sweated over getting that right ....
one
Hi all,
For those that don't know I'm one of the two web developers at STW HQ. There has been a few issues pointed out in this thread but the one that stands out the most that is causing people the most agro is the autocorrect / spell-check, right? I want to say we don't provide support for third party keyboards. However, we will try to provide support for this issue. (I can say myself that I am also experiencing this issue so I understand the frustration).
One thing we might be able to do is revert to a plain text editor as opposed to the current WYSIWYG editor. One of the downsides to this is loss of features / functionality such as the tools to insert links and images. Would you guys be happy with reverting to a simple text editor if it meant it solved the autocorrect issue?
(By the way, I'm not saying this will solve it but rather it might and I'll look into doing this if you guys are happy with a simple text editor.)
Would you guys be happy with reverting to a simple text editor if it meant it solved the autocorrect issue?
since when did what the users want count for anything on here? 🤔
want to say we don’t provide support for third party keyboards.
What is a third party keyboard? I'm pretty sure most folk are just using whatever came with their device.
I know we keep doing this, but how come STW is the only forum / website folk are having problems with?
One of the reasons given for the redevelopment of the site was to do away with all the custom bits of code that had been added over the years. From a users perspective it seems that all sorts of issues have been introduced precisely because of the amount of custom coding now going on. I honestly can't believe that it's impossible to create a plain text entry field that supports the addition of pictures and links given that such a thing is available on thousands of other forums.
Oh - and a WYSIWYG editor is what we DON'T have at the moment. When I copy and paste stuff I do not see DIV tags everywhere, but they magic up when formatted.
iWould you guys be happy with reverting to a simple text editor if it meant it solved the autocorrect issue?
Don’t forget all the other issues too that affect far more people than the autocorrect. Like the pages crashing repeatedly (“there’s a problem with this page so it is being reloaded” - never seem this on any other site ever) or the pages loading erractically so you can spend multiple times trying to select a thread (why oh why does the main forum page HAVE to reload every time I press back on my browser to come out of a thread back to the list? No other website I have ever been on does this) or the jumbled up order of posts on older threads (surely that’s web development 101 - “display posts in order of time” surely cant be that hard?) or the crap search function (actually it’s not crap as crap would indicate it has some tiny measure of usability) or the extra code cutting and pasting generates.
These are issues that forum members have been complaining about for months since the forum changed and nothing has been done. The site is noticeably quieter and the response from STW has been either nothing or obtuse or denial.
A lot of people post far less and I’ll guess a lot have left and some have cancelled P status. I’ve come back after a long time away and lurking for a while and the site is far worse than a few years ago.
A simple question - why are you (or STW) ignoring all the issues people have flagged up repeatedly?
STW is the only forum / website folk are having problems with?
Soon I might end up putting this into the swear filter...
A third party keyboard would be something like swiftkey. And before anyone asks, I classify Gboard - Google Keyboard to not be third party (even though you can download it) as it is shipped as the default system keyboard for the Pixel range.
We make minimal changes / modifications to the codebase. But we have to make small changes because believe it or not, you guys (the STW forum users) push some aspects of the codebase in ways they were never meant to be pushed. For example, the sheer volume of forum posts you guys have created over the years pushes the codebase of the forum and the database structure. It was never intended to handle so many posts but we change it so it can handle it.
We are not ignoring you guys but rather caught up with other things that you guys don't see. Like the fact we had to fight off a DDoS attack a couple days ago. We were able to defend the website against it with minimal distruption to you guys but it took us away from everything else including bug fixes. Its just these things that we have to deal with in the background that make it look like nothing it being done but trust me they are.
And I'd like to reiterate that there is only two of us in the tech dept. That means two of us to run and develop an entire website and manage the internals at STW HQ. Currently I am handling the front end of the website and STW internal stuff as my colleague handles migrating from a legacy system which has a dependency on a third party system which is being sunseted for the end of this year.
One thing we might be able to do is revert to a plain text editor as opposed to the current WYSIWYG editor. One of the downsides to this is loss of features / functionality such as the tools to insert links and images. Would you guys be happy with reverting to a simple text editor if it meant it solved the autocorrect issue?
(By the way, I’m not saying this will solve it but rather it might and I’ll look into doing this if you guys are happy with a simple text editor.)
Yes please.
The current one doesn't work. We still get people asking how to post videos, or struggling to insert pictures. The preview doesn't look like the output. The messages get filled with divs and spans (see above). As long as we can still insert links and images some way it'll be a vast improvement
... then if you can stop the page jumping around while it loads 🙂
One of the downsides to this is loss of features / functionality such as the tools to insert links and images.
Nah, half the fun elements on here is posting YouTube and Pictures and Links to other stuff.
And I’d like to reiterate that there is only two of us in the tech dept. That means two of us to run and develop an entire website and manage the internals at STW HQ.
Just think what you'd be able to accomplish if funding for your team wasn't being diverted to subsidise a failed magazine.
Would you guys be happy with reverting to a simple text editor if it meant it solved the autocorrect issue?
Tom, why not have it as an option? Is that possible? Those who are happy with the current editor can carry on using it, those who are having issues can switch to a basic one.
Only, I guarantee that if you switch it globally we'll have thirteen separate threads started all going OMG WHY HAVE YOU CHANGED IT THE OLD ONE WAS MUCH BETTER WE FEAR CHANGE I WAS JUST ABOUT TO BUY A [P] BUT I'M NOT NOW IT'S ALL SHIT THE SKY IS FALLING.
Bottom line is, people are using all manner of different client combinations and you'll never please everyone as what you do. Choice is good.
Bottom line is, people are using all manner of different client combinations and you’ll never please everyone as what you do.
True, but if you please those using modern, bog-standard equipment (e.g. a stock Android phone and Chrome) then you'll please a lot more people than is presently the case. I don't think anyone has suggested that the forum should work perfectly on obsolete or obscure devices.
The problem there is that "stock" Android ain't all that stock. Different manufacturers bundle different keyboards as default, and in any case if we take "stock" to mean Google's own keyboard there's still going to be variations. Is Gboard on my Android (9) Pie going to be the same keyboard and behave in the same manner as someone stuck on Kitkat? I doubt it.
Case in point, albeit anecdotally: some people have reported problems with Gboard. Gboard worked fine for me last time I tried it. Why's that? Could be different versions. It could be down to people's usage even, maybe swiping words fails but hunt-and-peck typing works fine. It might not be the keyboard at all, maybe Gboard + Chrome works and Gboard + Opera fails. And so on.
There's a vast array of variables here, it's not as simple as testing one perceived "common" setup and going "there, it works now." It's not helped by the fact that many people (understandably) won't even know which keyboard they're using. "It's the one that came with the phone" isn't helpful in diagnosing issues.
The problem there is that “stock” Android ain’t all that stock.
Yet it works perfectly absolutely everywhere else.
Perfectly Ok everywhere else for you maybe but for others, it doesn’t.
Perfectly Ok everywhere else for you maybe but for others, it doesn’t.
Sigh. Given that I have not accessed every website that exists in the world, it's not terribly surprising that some people have had some problems in some other places. The fact remains that my bog standard Moto G5 has problems on one single site, and no problems on many, many others. From the comments here, I'm not alone with this observation.