Tech: I always open a thread from the title column

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: DaveRo
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 12:23 PM

FreddyHeadey wrote: Thanks DaveRo, yes I'm rather used to Chrome and finding my current bookmarks. I think I'm unlikely to swap to Firefox unless something drastic happened

Well, if you change your mind - or something drastic does happen - here's the userstyle:

mudcat - reorder index columns

You can convert Chrome bookmarks to Firefox - but if you're used to Chrome, and especially if you sync bookmarks and stuff on several machines, I can understand why you'd want to stick with it. You could of course use Firefox just for Mudcat.

It'll work with Chrome on Windows and Linux.

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 11:43 AM

I think I need to hire you as a proofreader, Nigel. I get these things confused...

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 08:46 AM

Joe (01:24)
The "d" link does the same thing, but displays the thread in reverse (descending) order, with the earliest message first.
Silly me, I always thought it gave you the latest message first.

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: DaveRo
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 07:33 AM

BobL wrote: What I'd find useful is a feature to start me at what was the bottom of the thread when I last looked at it.

That's exactly what my browser tools addon does - link in my last post.

Works in Firefox and Chome - but not Chrome on Android. (Works in Microsoft Edge too, but I've not published it.)

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: JHW
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 05:48 AM

I never knew there was a way other than from the title list - but I would never open an enormous new to me thread as I would't be bothered to read it all; ie have never considered looking at the 'Mother of'

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 05:29 AM

Thanks DaveRo, yes I'm rather used to Chrome and finding my current bookmarks. I think I'm unlikely to swap to Firefox unless something drastic happened.    :-(

I have the same problem with indexes and contents pages when the varying width column is on the left with lots of white space before getting to the fixed width column, whereas the fixed width column could be on the left with the text right next to it.

Food recipes invariably go... quantity/unit ingredient. ?

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: DaveRo
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 04:12 AM

I sympathise with Freddy. I've had the same problem on several forums - to make the text big enough to read I have to zoom in by reverse-pinching, but that makes useful information - or in this case the number of messages and the 'd' link - fall off the screen.

So I often write 'userstyles' to solve it. These can change the position of the columns and the size of the text. I wrote one for mudcat to magnify posts so that I can read them on my phone: there's a screenshot in the page linked at the bottom.

A userstyle could almost certainly be used to move the number of messages column to the left hand side of the screen. I knocked up a proof of concept: screenshot

BUT the only mobile browser than supports userstyles is Firefox for Android, and I guess, because you don't say, that you're using Chrome, Freddy. Are you prepared to change to Firefox? You'll also be able to use my other mudcat tools. (The disadvantage would be if you're using Chrome elsewhere - you'd lose syncing bookmarks etc. The answer, of course, is to use Firefox everywhere ;)

Anyway, I'll see if I can produce a publishable userstyle. I think I'd use it myself.

Mudcat_browser_tools

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: BobL
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 03:33 AM

Unless it's a new thread I've got a choice of
   1) Starting at the top and skipping down over everything I remember seeing before,
   2) Starting at the bottom and skipping up until I see something I don't remember seeing before.

What I'd find useful is a feature to start me at what was the bottom of the thread when I last looked at it. Trouble is it would need a cookie to be stored every time I open a thread, and I'd guess this ability would need to have been built in from the start. So I shan't ask for it.

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 02:04 AM

Hi, Stanron - the "d" link on the forum menu for long threads does exactly what you ask - it displays the last 50 messages in a thread (but in reverse order). Yeah, it would be possible to make a link in forward order, but we had to stop somewhere. Otherwise, the Forum Menu page would get too cluttered. We already giver three options for viewing every long thread.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: Stanron
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 12:30 AM

I use DaveRo's Mudcat add-on tools and if your device is compatible I recommend them.

As a request could we have an option to only open the last, say 50 or 20 posts of a thread, or just the last page of a 50 plus post thread? Some time in the next year I hope to ditch my phone line, (and it's rather high costs) and access the internet using a data dongle. I'll be paying for the amount of data I open so super long threads will be costly as well as slow.

The 'click on the number' option is good but it means opening the page of numbers first and then selecting the required page. In my experience I usually only want the last page. There are no complaints here, and certainly no 'outrage!' but a 'one click' access to the final page in normal order would be fast, economical and welcome. Cheers.

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 07:39 PM

Thanks Joe.

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 06:39 PM

On a tablet, you can often make type larger by doing the opposite of pinching (or make it smaller by pinching).

On a keyboard, CTRL + (Control-plus) makes print larger, and CTRL - (Control-minus) makes it smaller.

So, there are ways to make that tiny "d" larger or smaller.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 06:05 PM

Thanks keb' & Joe.

Thanks DaveRo
It is a 10inch Lenovo Android, Dec 2013.

If there are instructions in a "click this, slide that...." form I might have a go if you have a suggestion.

I'm the op, didn't notice till I got the bottom of a bs thread :-(

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: DaveRo
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 03:09 PM

If the 'd' was larger than the normal type size and to the left of the thread title or just after ...

What tablet are you using, and what browser? It may be doable on Android.

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 01:24 PM

Hi-
That number in the sorta-kinda-middle column tells how many messages are in a thread. If there are more than 50 messages, the number becomes a clickable link and should change appearance. If you click that number link, the thread appears in normal order, but separated in page blocks of 50 - there's an index at the top for the pages in the thread, so you can select to read any section you like. The "d" link does the same thing, but displays the thread in reverse (descending) order, with the earliest most recent message first.


Now, at the top of every thread, you'll find a link titled Sort Descending, which also displays the thread in reverse order. For those of us who think from beginning to end, this can sometimes be helpful.

We do not yet have links that allow us to display threads upside-down or backwards. Bill D, who seems to have a lot of time on his hands, did figure out at one time how to do that. You can find some of Bill's handiwork in many of the threads with HTML. For that matter, you will see a lot of Joe Offer's handiwork in those threads, too. That was when Joe had a lot of time on his hands - he wasn't married then. You may also be able to find some interesting things from Jeri, the Mistress of Magical HTML.

Oh, but back to the original question - it probably doesn't hurt to open an entire thread at once if it has fewer than 500 messages. Threads longer than that do put a bit of a burden on Mudcat's mechanisms (and on your tablet). Please use the "d" or number links to open those longer threads.

-Joe-

Oh, and that catfish on the main forum page is a link that directs you how to donate to Mudcat. Note that the CAMSCO information is no longer valid.

Subject: RE: Tech: I always open a thread from the title column
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 12:36 PM

There is a third option.

When that number-of-posts column has got a tiny 'd' in it, then, and only then, I can also click on the thread-count number itself INSTEAD OF the 'd.'

Click on the number, instead of the title, and then you will not get the entire thread on a single scrolling page, as you do when you open from the title.

Subject: Tech: I always open a thread from the title co
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 11:06 AM

I always open a thread from the title column, not the 'd'.

Am i wasting mudcat resources?

I do it because I am viewing on a tablet in portrait orientation and to be able to read the typeface I need to enlarge it to the degree that I can't see the thread count or 'd' without more faff than I can bear.

If the 'd' was larger than the normal type size and to the left of the thread title or just after I'd be happy to use it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've not chipped in to the kitty for a very long time.
Has anyone ever calculated the cost of mudcat ... averaged over per hour of browsing or column inch of typing?