# Major bugs in SDMB re-skin fixed. What do you think?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663>\
**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:** 8

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/141 "2017-09-07T21:16:36Z")

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Is there a way for force desktop mode on mobile devices? I feel like I read someone talking about it, but I didn’t catch what I need to do. I just can’t use the site on my particular phone. Seems like you if you have the bigger phones, it may work okay, but on the iPhone SE, it’s a royal pain.

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**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/142 "2017-09-07T21:20:35Z")

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> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> None of those sites, except for the very last one, show the annoyance we’re talking about. It’s the deep blue lines in between posts within a thread. Look at the example of the old vs new I linked to in my previous post.
> 
> ETA: Better yet, [here it is again](http://www.pawinskiphotography.com/public/oldnew.jpg). The post separators are much less distracting and annoying in the old version.

Are you sure you not using mobile device or big monitor? On my iPad the blue lines seem thinker and bigger than my laptop.

Not the color just bigger and thinker.

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**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/143 "2017-09-07T21:25:11Z")

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I’m not keen on the thick blue bars but what I really really cannot stand is the drop down forum menu hovering about on the bottom right, together with that stupid arrow. I’ve been telling myself I’ll get used to it and not notice it anymore but it’s still there, annoying me. And it’s pointless. I read threads in different tabs. If I get bored reading one I just shut it down. When would I ever want to change to a different forum from a thread? Would anyone?

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**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/144 "2017-09-07T21:34:02Z")

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> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> I can’t see last posted in portrait OR landscape mode on my phone.

I just turned on rotation and looked and you’re right. It’s not visible in landscape. I thought it was but i may have misremembered.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/145 "2017-09-07T21:38:32Z")

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> [@sweat209](#):
>
> Are you sure you not using mobile device or big monitor? On my iPad the blue lines seem thinker and bigger than my laptop.
> 
> Not the color just bigger and thinker.

That’s a screenshot from my desktop on my high-res monitor (2560x1440), where things generally look smaller, not bigger. The other monitor is 1920x1200, and everything looks (as to be expected) scaled up there and even bigger.

I’ve posted shots from my phone if you look upthread.

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**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/146 "2017-09-07T21:41:00Z")

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> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Sometimes readability \*is \*functionality. The light gray bars separated the posts but did not interfere with continuity. One post flowed into another the way a conversation does on a book page.
> 
> Those huge blue bars box each post into a separate space, distinct from everything above and below it. Reading a series of individual boxes is more taxing and less understandable than reading a continuous stream. Hundreds of years of book design have taught us what works best.
> 
> Links and buttons and such are important, but reading the dialog between and among posters is the core purpose of the Dope. Damage that and everything else is secondary.

I’ll 5th or 6th or whateverth this: the thick, dark blue bars are a difficulty.

Also, I noticed that the box to “Show your signature” is now by default checked. I noticed because I posted twice in a thread in the Game Room and noticed two signatures, where there should have been none or one (per page). Is it possible to reset this so it’s an action taken and not the default?

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**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/147 "2017-09-07T21:48:10Z")

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> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> That’s a screenshot from my desktop on my high-res monitor (2560x1440), where things generally look smaller, not bigger. The other monitor is 1920x1200, and everything looks (as to be expected) scaled up there and even bigger.
> 
> I’ve posted shots from my phone if you look upthread.

It just the blue bar seems bigger and thinker on my iPad than my laptop.

On my laptop it more similar to this forum [Recommend a book - Blu-ray Forum](http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=162790)

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**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 7, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/148 "2017-09-07T23:32:36Z")

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Either some of these problems have been fixed, or else I am just special, because I do not see most of them. Windows 10, Firefox.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/149 "2017-09-08T00:20:57Z")

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Aaaand, TPTB drop a shitty change on us and then vanish. Has anybody seen anything done to address the myriad complaints in the last 24 hours?

I thought not.

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**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/150 "2017-09-08T00:30:27Z")

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It doesn’t help that the forum menu is spread out vertically by the five lines required to display “Today at 06:36 by fairlylong postername”. It brings to mind the lack of forethought on those forms you fill at the doctors office, giving the same line length for “Age” and “Previous illnesses”.

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**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/151 "2017-09-08T00:33:10Z")

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> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> I’ve been looking at it on my iPhone, using Safari, and the text isn’t breaking at the spaces, it’s breaking mid-word. That’s very hard to follow.

> [@cmyk](#):
>
> That’s not happening on my iPhone (iOS 10.3.3/Safari/iPhone 7). I wonder what the difference is?

I wonder too because it’s breaking mid word for me as well and I have an Android not an iPhone.

While I like the bigger text needing to have the phone held in landscape is going to drive me batty - I don’t know if it’s just me but I can’t reply in landscape because the keyboard completely covers up the text box so I can’t see what the hell I’m writing…unless I flip it to portrait.

We shouldn’t have to hold the phone one way to read posts and the other to write them.

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**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/152 "2017-09-08T00:41:08Z")

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> [@Debillw3](#):
>
> Well, now you’re going to get a lot of complaints that it’s not desktop/laptop friendly.
> 
> Are we just going to cycle between mobile and desktop/laptop optimized sites every few years as the complaints from the other side come in?

We shouldn’t have to: there’s a built-in, default, plain vanilla vB option that allows users to choose whichever theme they prefer. It’s a little drop down box that would allow a user to choose “mobile” (this one, which is still buggy as hell and looks like shit on an iPhone) or “desktop” (the old version, which is complete and still sitting on their server). And you can switch them on the fly.

Shouldn’t take someone with admin rights more than 5 minutes to click the button that turns that feature on, and then select the two themes that users can choose between. 5 minutes, tops. Worst case scenario. And this way? Everyone is happy.

I still haven’t seen anyone in authority say what the hold-up is for allowing their users this choice.

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**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/153 "2017-09-08T00:49:38Z")

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> [@silenus](#):
>
> Aaaand, TPTB drop a shitty change on us and then vanish. Has anybody seen anything done to address the myriad complaints in the last 24 hours?
> 
> I thought not.

The owner may nor be able to fix the problems with this software. The worse order may have to look around for some other forum software that will take time.

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**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 8, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/154 "2017-09-08T01:39:24Z")

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> [@silenus](#):
>
> Aaaand, TPTB drop a shitty change on us and then vanish. Has anybody seen anything done to address the myriad complaints in the last 24 hours?
> 
> I thought not.

We’re keeping tabs, but sometimes move less quickly than is desired. Thanks for your patience.

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**Author:** ![Debillw3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Debillw3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debillw3)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/155 "2017-09-08T01:48:53Z")

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> [@Fenris](#):
>
> We shouldn’t have to: there’s a built-in, default, plain vanilla vB option that allows users to choose whichever theme they prefer. It’s a little drop down box that would allow a user to choose “mobile” (this one, which is still buggy as hell and looks like shit on an iPhone) or “desktop” (the old version, which is complete and still sitting on their server). And you can switch them on the fly.

Yes, but, given that we’re all on the mobile site with the justification that there have been complaints about the lack of one, which spawned immediate complaints about the lack of a desktop site, it seems to me that they’d prefer to keep doing the dance.

So I’m just wondering how long we’ll doing that dance for.

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**Author:** ![GythaOgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@GythaOgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GythaOgg)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/156 "2017-09-08T02:09:13Z")

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> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#):
>
> My 2 cents.  
> On my iPhone 5 the site is significantly worse. It is really quite a mess, whereas before it was quite readable.  
> The floating thread selector and jump to top button are sealing easily over 5% of the screen real estate and are distracting. They have to go.  
> If I hold the phone vertical the words break at odd letters making the text wretched to read. Held horizontally the text breaks correctly at word boundaries.  
> I never had any issue with anything that the new style is supposedly fixing when using my iPhone before, but the style has made things much nastier.
> 
> The entire style looks like the work of a child learning how to code for the Web. It reminds me of stuff one would see in the 90’s. Strange spacing, inconsistent use of icons and text, gratuitous colours. I struggle to believe this has been implemented by anyone with any sort of professional training.
> 
> \<grumpy\_mode\>  
> Given the consistent denial that there would ever be the time spent to upgrade the broad to a later version of vBulletin, I find it disconcerting that time has been found to put into this ill considered botch job.  
> \<\grumpy\_mode\>

I am having the exact same issues - iPhone 6S, in Safari, OS 10.3.3. It’s so awful and distracting I probably will spend significantly less time here. I generally use my desktop to view the board at home, but I use my phone from work or anywhere else, which is most of my browsing these days.  
I’m not overly fond of the new look on my desktop, either - the excessive white space emphasizes the recent decrease in content. It makes it look like there’s just not much here.

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**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/157 "2017-09-08T02:20:44Z")

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I see that the problem with CODE has already been mentioned.  
_ **But it is important enough to merit multiple screams!** _🙂

```auto

This
code
block
has
only
one
word
per
line.

```

_ **This bug is absolutely intolerable.** _

Obviously, never using “CODE” again is not a solution. _ **Eighteen years of old posts that used CODE can no longer be viewed.** _

For the same reason, the change of default size from 2 to 3 was a huge mistake. Many old posts can no longer be viewed properly. Whether 2 or 3 is the better default for size is NOT the issue. The problem is rendering old posts carefully formatted for size 2. (For example, old use of “Size=3” for emphasis now fails. There are other, less obvious, reasons why the old posts will not be rendered properly.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/158 "2017-09-08T03:30:19Z")

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This is size 2. This has no size. This is size 3.  
This has no size.  
This is size 3.

[On my system, at least, it seems that the default size is actually in between size 2 and size 3, [del]and closer to 2.[/del] (The preview doesn’t match the actual post. :eek:)

I agree about the code blocks and spoiler block. \*\*That’s why I’m here to offer Ed the styles from my Userscript that will fix these issues. \*\*The following addtional styles, added at the bottom of the last style, should fix the problem.

td.converttodiv \> div \> div.alt2 \> div[style\*=“display: none”] { display: none !important; }  
pre { white-space: pre !important; }

An additional bit of styling that will fix the fake ads that keep sneaking in:

img[src^=“images/SultanThemeVB3R/ads”] { display: none; }

But there are a lot of other fixes. See my extension for details. The CSS is between addStyle(`and`)

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/159 "2017-09-08T03:34:20Z")

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Also, here’s a fix for the bad selection color on Chrome (and adds the same color on Firefox).

::selection { background: #bec8ff !important; color: #000 !important; } /\* CANNOT COMBINE THESE! \*/  
::-moz-selection { background: #bec8ff !important; color: #000 !important; }

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**Author:** ![Debillw3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Debillw3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debillw3)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-bugs-in-sdmb-re-skin-fixed-what-do-you-think/795663/160 "2017-09-08T03:46:21Z")

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> [@BigT](#):
>
> \*\*That’s why I’m here to offer Ed the styles from my Userscript that will fix these issues. \*\*

Or, here’s a crazy idea: instead of working to fix issues caused by a broken skin that was foisted on all of us to fix problems that a lot of us didn’t have, we just go back to an unbroken skin.

There was never any reason for there to be such a widespread change in the first place.

When I saw the announcement that they were working on upgrading the site for mobile users, I thought “hey, that’s cool; maybe I’ll check it out at some point”–I didn’t realize that I’d have no choice in that matter if I wanted to keep reading it.

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