Shoutbox

Ronin Storm

Ronin Storm

Administrator
Staff member
So, you'll probably notice that the shoutbox has changed. It's got these little tabs on it, for starters.

Now... this is a bit of an experiment. We're missing a couple of features and we've gained a few features.

The big features we're missing, now, are the archive and stats, longer lists of shouts, and shout editing.

Instead, we have an indication of active users, idle timeouts (to prevent idle users from eating gigs of bandwidth, currently at 10 mins), and an announcement widget inbuilt.

There is a Pro version of this, for around €23, if we want the archive et al back again. Maybe we could invest but let's see how it goes.

The old shoutbox is just disabled. Over the next week it'll empty as the nightly pruning trims it down. It can come back really easily, though, if the new shoutbox doesn't cut it.

Constructive thoughts always appreciated. :)
 
Wraith

Wraith

Active Member
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of the new version. The tabs at the top don't seem to do much as far as I can tell (I've never seen it showing any active users) and they make it look a bit cluttered to me.

My main gripe with it though, is that I tend to scroll to the bottom and read the days shouts (sort of a "previously on THN" - like you get on some TV shows), but the new version makes that very difficult. After about 3 seconds it automatically jumps back to the top, even if no-one has added anything. I have to hold the mouse button and keep the mouse moving slightly in order to stand any chance of reading what's there.

I realise that this is a very minor issue, but it does annoy me a bit.
 
E

elDiablo

Guest
I found the same problem as you there, Wraith, but only with IE. Firefox (2, newest version) seems to have no problems with it. Which browser are you using?
 
thatbloke

thatbloke

Junior Administrator
I don't have that issue with it at all, wraith.

I'm usinf FF, latest version. Same as elD
 
Ronin Storm

Ronin Storm

Administrator
Staff member
First, thank you for the considered and helpful feedback! :)

Wraith said:
The tabs at the top don't seem to do much as far as I can tell (I've never seen it showing any active users) and they make it look a bit cluttered to me.
Click to expand...

They really seem to come into their element during the day when people are failing to do any work and hanging out in the shoutbox. Around then, it does give a better feel for who is really there and who is just idle on THN and won't be reading for ages.

Wraith said:
My main gripe with it though, is that I tend to scroll to the bottom and read the days shouts (sort of a "previously on THN" - like you get on some TV shows), but the new version makes that very difficult.
Click to expand...

Some others have said the same thing to me, albeit from a different angle. In part, this is because we've no longer got an archive (at least not visible to us) but we could pay to upgrade to the Pro version (for ~€23) and we'd get that functionality back, plus some other stuff too. With the archive, I believe one would be able to view the current screen plus the older shouts without the updating problem, sidestepping your issue entirely.

For a relatively small quantity of money, despite my reluctance to spend real money on widgets, maybe this one would be worth it.
 
Wraith

Wraith

Active Member
Ronin Storm said:
First, thank you for the considered and helpful feedback! :)



They really seem to come into their element during the day when people are failing to do any work and hanging out in the shoutbox. Around then, it does give a better feel for who is really there and who is just idle on THN and won't be reading for ages.
Click to expand...

That'll be why I never noticed. When I'm at work I'm not allowed to idle on here, I actually have to work :rolleyes:


Ronin Storm said:
Some others have said the same thing to me, albeit from a different angle. In part, this is because we've no longer got an archive (at least not visible to us) but we could pay to upgrade to the Pro version (for ~€23) and we'd get that functionality back, plus some other stuff too. With the archive, I believe one would be able to view the current screen plus the older shouts without the updating problem, sidestepping your issue entirely.

For a relatively small quantity of money, despite my reluctance to spend real money on widgets, maybe this one would be worth it.
Click to expand...

It's not an archive of old posts I'm after per se, as I only scroll to the bottom of the shoutbox and don't bother with anything older. It's just the shoutbox not holding it's position while I'm reading. It would actually bother me less if the shoutbox only showed the last 5 posts. That way, I'd be able to read whats there without it jumping around, and wouldn't worry about the older stuff.
 
Ronin Storm

Ronin Storm

Administrator
Staff member
The shoutbox has now been upgraded to the Pro version. This appears to have resolved Wraith's issue with scrolling on IE.

As a side note, you'll be pleased to know that two features are now back and a whole new feature is in play...

  • The archive is back. Just click on the Shoutbox title.
  • Editing shouts is back. Double click on your shout to edit. Use this with consideration for others, please, or I'll disable that feature again.
  • Private messages in the shoutbox.

The last feature you do as follows:

Code: 
/pm <name>; <message>

e.g.

Code: 
/pm Ronin Storm; Testing 1 2 3.

The semi-colon is important.

Instead of "/pm" you can also use "/t", "/w", "/p", "/tell" and "/whisper".

If you misspell a name then nothing will happen. If you miss the semi-colon your whisper will be shouted.

Hope you like the update!
 
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