Tech: Mudcat front page (with addon)

Subject: Tech: Mudcat front page
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 05:35 AM

With Firefox, which is what I normally use, the main Mudcat page has changed its appearance from what I'm used to. The column of message numbers has moved to the left of the thread titles, and the Lyrics & Knowledge Search pane and the donate pane have disappeared. With Chrome all appears the same as I'm used to. I am using NoScript but have all those for that page either Trusted or temp Trusted.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mudcat front page
From: DaveRo
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 01:25 PM

ooops. Sorry about that.

Tools > Addons > Mudcat browser tools > Options/Preferences

Reorder index columns and Move search box to bottom should both be No.

If they are already No then click Save at the bottom, then restart Firefox.

That reformatting has always been available but is aimed at mobile devices with small screens, where the numbers were off the screen. They were turned off by default so you never saw it before. I seem to have turned it on accidentally when I updated the addon the other day.

The update was to work with the new Firefox for Android.

I didn't update the Chrome version - if you use that too.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mudcat front page
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 03 Oct 20 - 05:48 PM

Thank you, both for the explanation and for the instructions for returning the appearance to normal, which I have done.

And while I'm about it, thank you very much for providing the addon.

Subject: RE: Tech: Mudcat front page (with addon)
From: DaveRo
Date: 04 Oct 20 - 03:23 AM

I should have added, by way of explanation, that you only get the wrong settings, and unexpectedly see the format changes, if you've never set any options yourself.

There are only a few of us using the add-on (you're only the third who has admitted it) - about 5 on Firefox and 5 on Chrome, who may be the same five. The only thing I know, from the Firefox statistics, is that most are in the UK and one is Czech - or at least using a Czech version of Firefox. Maybe any users in the US are more likely to use Chrome.

The reformatting, which Richard described, is the one thing that does not work in the new Chromium Edge browser. The main features - locating new posts, one-click linkifying - all seem to work.

The full list of features is given under About this extension on the Firefox Addon page.
The Chrome version, which also works-ish in Chromium Edge, is here.

If you try the Firefox version, you may want to set the options as I described above.

The support thread on Mudcat, for questions or observations, is here. I usually post there about new versions but I thought - well, nothing's changed, nobody will notice ...