Yellowbox

Q: Using the new-look forums, asking for positive comments

Dear Fellow Users,

 

I am starting a discussion on how to make the most of this revised website for Apple Support Communities. Please keep this discussion positive. Please confine complaints to one of the many negative threads.

 

Remember that many of these changes are the result of feedback to Apple. We may have got what we wished for.

 

Gains:

- Spell checker in the Reply box;

-

 

New ways of working:

- The blue dot has gone. I can't tell which discussions I have or haven't read.

Tip by deggie. In the home page of a forum, click to the right of the address bar of your browser, add /content at the end of the URL. Press enter. You will see three options across the page just above the threads: All Content, User Tips and Discussions. Click on Discussions. Threads with new content will have titles that are in bold. Now save that page in your browser bookmarks. For example, my bookmark for the 'Using Apple Support Communities' forum, shows this URL:

https://discussions.apple.com/community/using_apple_support_communities/content? filterID=contentstatus%5Bpublished%5D~objecttype~objecttype%5Bthread%5D

 

And the view is Bold for unread

 

Screen Shot 2014-06-22 at 12.20.17 am.png

 

 

- The forums keep logging me off after a period of inactivity.

Good. That may stop the spammers posting multiple messages that have nothing to do with the purpose of a forum.

 

 

More gains or workarounds, anyone?

 

Regards,

Ian.

 

<Link Edited By Host>

Posted on Jun 21, 2014 9:55 AM

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Q: Using the new-look forums, asking for positive comments

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  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jun 27, 2014 10:41 AM in response to R C-R
    Level 5 (7,778 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 27, 2014 10:41 AM in response to R C-R

    R C-R wrote:

     

    The threaded view style works until the discussion accumulates more than a set number of replies (I think it is 50, or at least it used to be), then it switches automatically to a paged, 'flat' (chronological) view. It has been like this for the last several versions of the ASC software -- it is not a new feature of this one.

     

    Aside from designing the site to allow unlimited page lengths (so discussions never would be broken up into separate, numbered pages) there is no good way to preserve the value of the threaded view that I'm aware of, & there is a different & probably much harder to resolve set of usability issues to deal with if unlimited page lengths were allowed. So in that respect, I think they have made the best choice for this option that they could have.

     

    R C -R

     

    No wonder I couldnt find an example in this thread !! Experience shows when one opens Kimono.

     

    All your logic sounds reasonable.

     

    There could be a big difference in gobble power of a really long Thread as oppose to  really long List.

     

    Who knows, could be that the " 'View More' bug " may not be a bug at all, but a method used to save on processor power ?

     

    Logic goes like this:

     

    User has already looked at THAT (2nd) section of list. He now wishes for the next (3rd) portion he hasn't viewed- and so on. I guess we should be grateful that the list doesnt update on the fly !!

     

    Interesting

     

    CCC

  • by imac-since-late2013,

    imac-since-late2013 imac-since-late2013 Jun 27, 2014 11:39 AM in response to martin from
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 27, 2014 11:39 AM in response to martin from

    With the old design it was possible to see under my stuff all threads I have participated (have started, joined) in.

    Now in the new design the Activities shows just some last participations in threads.

  • by PlotinusVeritas,

    PlotinusVeritas PlotinusVeritas Jun 27, 2014 12:41 PM in response to R C-R
    Level 6 (14,806 points)
    Jun 27, 2014 12:41 PM in response to R C-R

    The new format is not a new 'format'  it is a pure obfuscation of clarity 

     

     

    You can only blame coincidental/ accidental obfuscation of clarity on poor or inept HTML and code writers.

     

    You cannot blame accidental obfuscation of clarity on some of the best HTML and code writers on earth, as per the case in point.

     

     

     

    You can blame loss of momentum (in productivity) by accidental breaking

     

    You cannot blame momentum loss from simultaneously deflating all 4 tires.

  • by R C-R,

    R C-R R C-R Jun 27, 2014 4:39 PM in response to PlotinusVeritas
    Level 6 (17,675 points)
    Jun 27, 2014 4:39 PM in response to PlotinusVeritas

    PlotinusVeritas wrote:

    You cannot blame accidental obfuscation of clarity on some of the best HTML and code writers on earth, as per the case in point.

    Except that the site runs on modularized commercial software created by Jive Software, not by Apple, & it is unlikely in the extreme that Apple's top code writers are involved in customizing it for this site.

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jun 27, 2014 5:31 PM in response to imac-since-late2013
    Level 5 (7,778 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 27, 2014 5:31 PM in response to imac-since-late2013

    imac-since-late2013 wrote:

     

    With the old design it was possible to see under my stuff all threads I have participated (have started, joined) in.

    Now in the new design the Activities shows just some last participations in threads.

     

    imac-since...

     

    many of us feel the same way.

     

    For myself, I wa pretty peeved. As we forced ourselves to explore the new interface, out of necessity, we have discovered that many things we thought were gone are really just in different places and/or with different look and feel.

     

    If I were to start fresh today, I would begn at the replacement for MyStuff, now referred to as Your Stuff, and take some time to explore the entirety  of that area.

     

    I would start with the Bio heading link and click every link I could from there. Then back to Bio => Content. repeat click on everything.

     

    One thing I found right away was (I may be alone in this or not), I needed to manually track down a thread I had authored and click "Following", then click "Follow". This seemed to kick the SiteWare awake to my followings.

     

    Again, take some time to explore and, like the rest us, get used to it.

     

    If you are like me, you will be presented with many things that are frustrating. I cannot just give up so I workaround the obstacle. Look backwards from this page for where Yellowbox published the link to his User Tip v.1.0.

     

    I would provide it, but looking through some stuff you may not have read may provide some more answers. You will definitely find many like minds.

     

    CCC

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jun 27, 2014 5:44 PM in response to R C-R
    Level 5 (7,778 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 27, 2014 5:44 PM in response to R C-R

    R C-R wrote:

     

    PlotinusVeritas wrote:

    You cannot blame accidental obfuscation of clarity on some of the best HTML and code writers on earth, as per the case in point.

    Except that the site runs on modularized commercial software created by Jive Software, not by Apple, & it is unlikely in the extreme that Apple's top code writers are involved in customizing it for this site.

    R C -R

     

    To be fair, Jive is running on many big company sites so the developers there are no rookies. This site is probably the most taxing on server load that they have to deal with. I am not tryinfg to make excuses for them though. It kinda seems like they may have rushed it some though. Jive is the backend. Methinks the GUI may well be Apple Graphic Designers. It looks like print design to me.

     

    If graphic designers did create the WorkFlow, the result would be Jive just had to implement it, good or bad. It really does look that way once I consider it carefully. They missed a spot or two

     

    CCC

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Jun 27, 2014 6:03 PM in response to Yellowbox
    Level 5 (5,442 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 27, 2014 6:03 PM in response to Yellowbox

    The new view is doing a great job of running off the volunteers who answer the questions. On top of that they make the Microsoft forums look good. Two positives that I see as a result of the new changes.

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jun 27, 2014 6:39 PM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 5 (7,778 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 27, 2014 6:39 PM in response to dianeoforegon

    welcome to this fray, di

     

    You prolly heard an earfull over in your normal stompin grounds

     

    like minds

     

    check my early posts on the ms subject. substitute "hard" for "soft" in my case

     

    i gotta be a good boy

     

    I Have Turned Over A New Leaf

     

    CCC

     

    PS - be nice to Ian, he really means well n seems a genuine nice guy. rare in anonymous Wonderland

  • by martin from,

    martin from martin from Jun 28, 2014 4:41 AM in response to R C-R
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 28, 2014 4:41 AM in response to R C-R

    Isn't that the rub though when companies or governments start using other companies to carry out tasks and distance themselves from the results and therefore avoid responsibility for resolving things or, doing them badly in the first place?

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jun 28, 2014 5:32 AM in response to martin from
    Level 5 (7,778 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 28, 2014 5:32 AM in response to martin from

    B-I-N-G-O, and BINGO was his name-o

    CCC

  • by martin from,

    martin from martin from Jun 28, 2014 5:40 AM in response to ChitlinsCC
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 28, 2014 5:40 AM in response to ChitlinsCC

    No Comprende.

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jun 28, 2014 6:08 AM in response to martin from
    Level 5 (7,778 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 28, 2014 6:08 AM in response to martin from

    lo siento mucho, martin

     

    oops 4got to quote!

     

    martin from wrote:

     

    Isn't that the rub though when companies or governments start using other companies to carry out tasks and distance themselves from the results and therefore avoid responsibility for resolving things or, doing them badly in the first place?

     

     

    I wrote:

    "B-I-N-G-O, and BINGO was his name-o"

     

    = last line of lyrics from a kids' song about a dog named BINGO(google "bingo kids song") = dubble on-ton-dray = you are right in your eval = nuff sed

     

    I can't say  that the "distancing" was the goal, though - it is likely just the side-effect of the action. problem then is that the more complicated chain results in Apple can't respond to us because they don't know the answers.

     

    es mejor?

     

    CCC

  • by martin from,

    martin from martin from Jun 28, 2014 6:11 AM in response to ChitlinsCC
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 28, 2014 6:11 AM in response to ChitlinsCC

    Fair enough. I'm not saying that it was the goal. I'll stick with my earlier comment.

  • by ChitlinsCC,

    ChitlinsCC ChitlinsCC Jun 28, 2014 6:21 AM in response to martin from
    Level 5 (7,778 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 28, 2014 6:21 AM in response to martin from

    martin from wrote:

     

    Fair enough. I'm not saying that it was the goal. I'll stick with my earlier comment.

     

    as well you should. was my round about way of saying "SPOT ON!"

    CCC

  • by Yellowbox,

    Yellowbox Yellowbox Jun 28, 2014 6:28 AM in response to ChitlinsCC
    Level 6 (10,485 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 28, 2014 6:28 AM in response to ChitlinsCC

    Hi CCC,

     

    In this updated User Tip, you and others have been acknowledged for your contributions to this discussion. Apologies to those whose replies I could not locate (some replies have been deleted, and it is now difficult to trace the history).

     

    Getting the best out of the 'New-Look' forums (2014)

     

    Regards,

    Ian.

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