# Major bugs in SDMB re-skin fixed. What do you think? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 6, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663 "2017-09-06T18:32:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/341 "2017-09-12T19:42:45Z")
Wait, what’s this about the code tag? ```auto This is a test of the emergency coding system. Had this been an actual program, the message you see here would have been followed by a syntax error. ``` EDIT: Looks fine to me. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/342 "2017-09-12T19:46:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wait, what’s this about the code tag? > > ```auto > > This is a test of the emergency coding system. Had this been an actual program, the message you see here would have been followed by a syntax error. > > ``` > > EDIT: Looks fine to me. It’s not on my end. Old posts that used the ```auto function parsed lists so they looked somewhat decent. Now, it doesn't work, and those old posts look whack. ``` ---
**Author:** ![HeweyLogan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heweylogan/32/547_2.png) [@HeweyLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeweyLogan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/343 "2017-09-12T19:54:03Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Bloody hell! That obtrusive drop-down box in the bottom right that I only used to see on the tablet now displays on the PC, too! It disappears if you reduce the text size (ctrl + mouse wheel up/down increase/decrease quickly (assume you know this, but just in case)). Go small and it’s gone. > [@wolfpup](#): > > The reply with quote windows is still half-size, squished on the left half of the windows, and the amount of white space between thread titles has tripled because of bad formatting of the info on the right-hand side which spills over onto multiple lines. It’s getting worse instead of better! :eek: Same as I mentioned above. Increase/reduce the size and both of these sort themselves out/get back to normal looking increasing/decreasing on the fly whatever page you’re on. Makes for a lot of constantly changing the size to get things ‘right’. Which seems to be the biggest problem - text sizing is widely all over the place, whereas before it was more consistent and maintained itself. .02 cents. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/344 "2017-09-12T20:02:10Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Quotes look exactly the same to me as they did on the old interface, with a distinct black line forming a box around them with the word “Quote” just outside, making them unmistakable. Must be your device or browser – the new interface does seem to like presenting different features to different devices. I don’t see a black line around quotes. They do have the word “Quote” above them and the body of the quote is a little narrower, and it is in italics, but that’s the only distinction from the main post. Samsung Android browser in desktop view, FWIW. I hate the mobile site and am actually comfortable using the desktop site on my phone. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/345 "2017-09-12T20:07:40Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Bloody hell! The reply with quote windows is still half-size, squished on the left half of the windows, You do know that you can drag the window to enlarge it, right? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/346 "2017-09-12T20:08:29Z")
You’re right that the floating dropdown box (which is identical to the “Forum Jump” box at the bottom) disappears when you CTRL-minus the text size. Though the floating up-arrow remains. And the dropdown remains problematic on the tablet because it obscures the rest of the text in that area. However, the half-size reply box remains no matter what. And it’s not just “Reply with quote”, just “Reply” is also a half-size box squeezed onto the left side. Only the fixed “Quick Reply” box is full width. I’m curious to hear back from Ed about the large font size after he looks at my screen shot. As I said, quite a few others have complained about it, too. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/347 "2017-09-12T20:21:09Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > You do know that you can drag the window to enlarge it, right? Yes, via the little icon in the bottom right-hand corner. But the change doesn’t stick, you have to do it each time. In fact every time you do a “Preview Post” it goes back to the original size. It’s a bug, I think just introduced today. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/348 "2017-09-12T20:21:37Z")
It is completely amazing to me how many people see things I do not see and don’t see things I see. I have a box around quotes. I do not have huge font. I use Windows 10 and Firefox. I have to say, all these different things that appear differently to different people on different platforms might help explain why the fixes are hard. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/349 "2017-09-12T20:37:31Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > It is completely amazing to me how many people see things I do not see and don’t see things I see. I have a box around quotes. I do not have huge font. I use Windows 10 and Firefox. I have to say, all these different things that appear differently to different people on different platforms might help explain why the fixes are hard. Can you download my screenshot [from here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20473437&postcount=331) and tell me if those big fonts are not the same as what you see? The old format had the fonts the same size as in the quote boxes. Notice how big the fonts in the body of the posts are compared to the normal 12-point font in the MS Word window on the left. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/350 "2017-09-12T20:48:00Z")
The change from blue bars to grey is better, but it’s still not right. When reading a forum of consecutive, non-threaded messages, they key concept is _flow_. It should read like a conversation. That means when you finish a message, your eyes should be drawn to the start of the next one, and to the name of the person who wrote it. Putting a thick grey bar between those elements breaks up the flow and makes for less satisfying reading. A good usability test for this type of UI - scroll to the middle of a conversation, then look away from the screen. Wait a minute then glance back at it. What’s the first thing your eyes see? What’s the most prominent aspect of the page? If you’re like me, the biggest weight on the page is a bunch of thick grey bars. What you _should_ be seing is text and names. The separators and other non-content elements should be just perceptable enough to make it clear where one message ends and the next begins, but you need very little of that because the other information (user name. Etc) already acts like a separator. The shade of gray the bars were originally was just about perfect. Don’t break something that didn’t need fixing. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/351 "2017-09-12T21:01:25Z")
> [@Ed\_Zotti](#): > > On experimenting, I see that, when narrowed to phone width, the forum display page collapses from four columns (one of which is Last Post) to one column (the forum descriptions). Is that what you’re referring to? > [@Bone](#): > > Unfortunately, no. [This is what I see when on my phone in landscape mode.](https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/36343113754_39511276bc_h.jpg) > > This is max zoomed out, you can see the select box for moderation options but no view of who posted last. I believe that is part of the cause. This skin is “responsive” to the platform and the individual settings of zoom and whatnot, so for mobile devices it appears to omit those columns entirely. I think it may be something size limiting how small you can make the text so you can’t zoom out far enough to have those columns show. On a desktop platform, the columns show or not depending upon zoom level. > [@Crazyhorse](#): > > A mobile emulator may be of some help in tracking down things that one poster sees and another doesn’t. This one is free and pretty good: > > [http://quirktools.com/screenfly/](http://quirktools.com/screenfly/) > > From a desktop computer you can view the pages as if you were on a variety of different phones, tablets and web TVs in portrait or landscape mode. That is probably what is necessary to debug this fully, as there are so many “responsive” elements. > [@Chronos](#): > > First, when you hit the “Reply” button (as opposed to using the Quick Reply), the text box is very small, less than half the width of the screen. I believe that this just cropped up; I don’t think it was doing it yesterday. On my Android Samsung Note 3, the window is reasonable given the text size and zoomability - the text is actually a bit small, but the screen scrolls to keep the cursor on the page, so it is usable. On my desktop, when running Microsoft Edge, I find the underlying box with “Logged in as” and “Title” fitting about the middle half of the screen, say from about halfway between “FAQ” and “Community” to the n in “Quick Links” (on the menu bar at the top of the page; that won’t make sense on mobile because that menu bar is displayed differently). The “Message:” box stretches from about an 1/8th inch inside the left underlying box edge all the way over to the scrollbar on the right side of the page - the line is right up against that scrollbar. However, when I opened the same page in Internet Explorer, the underlying block is the same size, but the “Message:” box is fully within the edges of the underlying box, with the left edge the same but the right edge under the Q in “Quick Links”. This forces the edit window to run from the C in “Community” to the second s in “New Posts”, i.e. even with the hash line above the “remove hyperlink” tool in the edit toolbar. On both pages, the “Title” box runs from even with the “Message” box on the left to the edge of the page on the right. In consistent, ugly, and practically unusable in IE. (I wanted to use the WYSIWYG availability IE has that ME does not, but the window size scratched that idea.) > [@Chronos](#): > > Actually, the width of the “Last Post” column appears to be inconsistent: In Cafe Society right now, there’s room to fit “Today 11:46 AM” on one line, but in GQ, the “AM” needs its own line. So apparently the width is being dynamically set somehow, and the way they’re dynamically setting it is stupid. > > EDIT: Looking at it more closely, it appears to be because the longest thread title in GQ is longer than the longest thread title in CS, which is forcing the title field to be wider. No thread title is wrapping. A better solution would be to give the “Last Post” column a minimum width that’s sufficient to fit everything in, and then to force the title field to wrap if necessary: That way, we’d only stretch vertically on those few threads that have long titles, not on every one. I think this is again an issue of the “responsive” feature of the skin, combined with the baseline column length for the “Thread/Thread Starter” to be entirely too wide compared to the other column widths, and the “Last Post” is conversely a little narrow. Setting the reference column width for the Thread title proportionally narrower and allowing the titles to wrap earlier and widening the “Last Post” column to keep it from wrapping so often would reduce the vertical spacing between the post titles, which is where the bulk of the “white space” occurs. Additionally, the “Last Post” column has a blank top line so that the content actually starts on the second line of that column, irrespective of other spacing. That also causes the content to wrap further down, increasing the white space. > [@septimus](#): > > I agree with most of this. But the part of your message I’ve italicized (:)) must refer to the OLD design. On the new design, the boundary of the quote box is **almost completely invisible.** _ **I have already had trouble identifying quotes.** _ On my platforms the quote box lines are visible, though the phone one is a bit thin. > [@](#): > > And I’m surprised that no one else is screaming about CODE tags. I’m with you on the code tags, but this is apparently broken by the skin creator - it behaves the same way on his demo page. > [@Chronos](#): > > Wait, what’s this about the code tag? ```auto Each word is on it's own line. I have a carriage return directly after each word, no spaces. ``` > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > You do know that you can drag the window to enlarge it, right? My edit window has no arrow to allow resizing. It used to, but now not on either browser. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/352 "2017-09-12T21:02:48Z")
For me, the variance in text size between standard text and quoted material isn’t huge, but it is enough to annoy on my phone. I’m much more concerned about the forced italics, but both should be simple fixes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/353 "2017-09-12T21:05:11Z")
OK, here’s a weird one. A recent [post by **Bricker**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20473896#post20473896) contains a nested quote. The inner quote box is narrower than the outer one… but not enough narrower, and so it ends up poking out the side of the outer quote bars. Attempting to reproduce it here: > [@](#): > > This is a first-level quote, that contains a second level. > > > [@](#): > > > > This is a second-level quote. > > The first-level quote continues here. > [@](#): > > This is another first-level quote, with multiple levels below it. > > > [@](#): > > > > This is the second, but not final, level. > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > This is the third level > > > > Continuing the second > > And a bit more of the first-level quote ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/354 "2017-09-12T21:30:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, here’s a weird one. A recent [post by **Bricker**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20473896#post20473896) contains a nested quote. The inner quote box is narrower than the outer one… but not enough narrower, and so it ends up poking out the side of the outer quote bars. It’s surprising that you only just noticed. People have been saying this repeatedly from the start. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/355 "2017-09-12T22:28:58Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > It is completely amazing to me how many people see things I do not see and don’t see things I see. I have a box around quotes. I do not have huge font. I use Windows 10 and Firefox. I have to say, all these different things that appear differently to different people on different platforms might help explain why the fixes are hard. > [@wolfpup](#): > > Can you download my screenshot [from here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20473437&postcount=331) and tell me if those big fonts are not the same as what you see? The old format had the fonts the same size as in the quote boxes. Notice how big the fonts in the body of the posts are compared to the normal 12-point font in the MS Word window on the left. When I look at your screenshot I cannot see what you are describing. The screenshot is very small and surrounded by advertisements; I can’t really see any difference in the font. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/356 "2017-09-12T22:37:08Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > It is completely amazing to me how many people see things I do not see and don’t see things I see. \\“wtfscreenstuff”Preach it.\\
\temporary image hosting\\
I dunno what you guys are seeing, but I still have blue bars. And bold/italic/link/smiley buttons are still missing. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/357 "2017-09-12T22:44:44Z")
\*&^% it where are the report buttons??? how can I say ‘mods this post is borked please delete it’ if there’s no report post buttons??? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/358 "2017-09-12T22:50:45Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > When I look at your screenshot I cannot see what you are describing. The screenshot is very small and surrounded by advertisements; I can’t really see any difference in the font. You’re looking at it directly on the imgur site! Right-click and download the image, and look at it in the original resolution with an image viewer – even MS Paint will do! Be sure to compare the font size with the 12-point fonts in the Word document just to left of it. The new fonts are huge in comparison! I don’t know if you’re seeing the same thing in your browser but that illustrates what’s been bugging me. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/359 "2017-09-12T22:55:59Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > You’re looking at it directly on the imgur site! Right-click and download the image, and look at it in the original resolution with an image viewer – even MS Paint will do! Be sure to compare the font size with the 12-point fonts in the Word document just to left of it. The new fonts are huge in comparison! I don’t know if you’re seeing the same thing in your browser but that illustrates what’s been bugging me. I won’t dictate what is allowed to bug you, but I’m confused by the description of a 12-pt to 14pt font difference as ‘huge’. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/360 "2017-09-12T23:00:07Z")
Wait… where did the “Reply” button go? 😕 It appears to be white text on white background. And not a button any more… well, maybe it is a button, but a white button on a white page background, labeled with white text. (Possibly with white highlights. :dubious:) This isn’t some race thing, is it?😃 Internet Explorer 11, Windows 7, YMMV, void where taxed or prohibited by law. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663.md?page=19)