What could I be doing better? - Page 5

Well, I've never had that problem. However, today I noticed I was back to being unable to upload files under Firefox 18.0.1 (I was on 22 but I had to reload a system image from Feb 1). I was not being presented with the browse buttons or associated textboxes. I tried clearing the cache and I tried restarting Firefox. I finally had to use IE 9 (ugh). I've had this problem so many times that I can see that annoying the Firefox users (assuming I'm not the only one having this problem). Would it help to track down the problem If you were to watch while I try an upload?

Chrome doesn't seem to have that problem.

Possibly not but I think it makes more sense to ensure that DaniWeb works properly with the three major browsers. Recent numbers that I've see show Chrome at roughly 35%, IE at 31% and Firefox at 20%. I think saying that Chrome works and Firefox does not does nothing for that group of users that prefer Firefox. If my preferred browser was Opera (just over 2%) I'd have a different opinion. If a Firefox user finds that DaniWeb has problems but SO does not that what do you suppose that user might decide?

A user other than me, of course.

When I was doing maintenance/development on an AGC/SCADA system, we had a set of basic functional tests that had to be performed on every system change (integration of OS, database, image and application changes was tightly controlled). I would think that DaniWeb has a basic set of operations that could be easily verified on the big 3 browsers.

Well, I've never had that problem. However, today I noticed I was back to being unable to upload files under Firefox 18.0.1

Is it a flash uploader?

No, we use the IFRAME technique.

I would think that DaniWeb has a basic set of operations that could be easily verified on the big 3 browsers.

I regularly do desktop regression tests using IE9/10, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera (latest versions due to obvious difficulties in testing back versions) on both Windows 7 and Windows 8. While I have seen the upload problem in Firefox once or twice since the current system went live, it's thus far proven too intermittent to effectively troubleshoot on my end. :(

I get the feeling that these small irreproducible things are what are causing problem to the majority of the folks out there. I wish there was a simple flag to flip and bring back the old vBulletin board so that we could be sure that the new design is or isn't the cause for the drastic drop in post/view count...

I'd be willing to let James or Dani remote in with Teamviewer to have a look the next time I have a problem. At least they could look around on a non-functioning browser.

honestly, I 'm not sure that the drop of views is proof of an unexpected drop in users. might just as well be less new users.

nowadays, there are so many other platforms where questions can be asked. I'm personally (a bit) active on a Java page on Facebook. sure it has the downside that it 's not meant for long posts, and that code posted there looks ridiculous, but still: you get an update as soon as there is one, without having to refresh your page, and most students are on there anyway. maybe they guess it's easier to just check groups like that compared to registring here as well?

@stultuske, now that you mention Facebook, my classmates and I set up a forum on there last year as a help platform for students in the ACS department. You're right, it doesn't show code nicely and it doesn't allow too lengthy of posts but it was instant and always reliable. And (as you said) we students were always on Facebook anyways so it was a good platform for us. That being said, I think the amounts of OP asking questions is down and know of other forums where thread starts is down too.

@Dani, you're doing a great job here and I'm sure this site will pick up (again) soon.

Stuugie: the group on which I'm active is 43k plus members (and rising each day), questions there slowing down? not really.

As someone that joined in 2009 and look in every now and then. What is Dani's mission? Are you just a forum where people post and others answer and then a week, month later someone else post virtually the same post and again the cycle starts over?

Knowledge is great, but shouldn't there be a goal to take that knowledge and make some money for those that come here? A path to earning a $1/day or per domain etc.

Having a course section (I don't see one) where people go thru and then ask questions in your forum when they have issues. The newbie is learning, moving forward to his monetary goals while having a plathara of expertise at thier disposal as part of their experience on Daniweb. Charge a $1/day for access.

People will stay & comeback if Daniweb is providing relevant content to keep them engaged!

How stupid is that??? I tried to engage chat and it said no. I haven't engaged enough to use that feature! Give me a break. Having a forum isn't enough to keep people coming here. Wake up before you're truly history! See ya!

Is it just me or did the whole UI change in the last hour or so?

@reseller7, please be patient as Dani is making some changes to the forum right now. That's probably why the chat option wasn't available to you. I know that I cannot properly access the chat right now either.

@NathanOliver, no it's not you, there are some significant changes happening right now.

It is certainly different -- will take a little while to get accustomed to the new look.

I don't know if it is me but I found the new layout a bit big. I don't know what anyone else thinks but I prefer it on 90% zoom. Just to put an idea out there.

For as far as I can say now: I like the new looks. Only thing is that I find the topic overview pages too busy. I think it is because there are suddenly so many images and colors because all avatars are now shown. A bit too many colors, if you ask me, but the topics themselves look great :)! Oh, and I'm typing this message right now, and underneath it are 4 options: join daniweb, log in using x, x or x, but no login using daniweb option :(.

Thank you for your feedback. It's going both ways now, so I am gauging success based on user interaction. Actions speak louder than words :)

You can log in by clicking the link to log in at the top of the page. It's presumed that most members remain signed into the site, and I want to present prospects with the fewest number of options to streamline the process.

In my shoutbox you said Rev, are the live chat notifications in your footer not working? When I logged in at 9:15pm I saw Chat(3) at the bottom of the page but that was only when happened to scroll down to the bottom. If the bottom of the page is not on screen then there is no way I am going to see the notification. I'd attach a screen shot but, as usual, that isn't working again.

I made it so that the bottom toolbar isn't fixed for people with small vertical browser dimensions, so that the content area isn't so squished. I'll loosen up the restrictions a bit.

On an unrelated note, I think the Related Articles panel is taking up way too much screen space.

It's really a give and take. When showing the screenshots in Area 51 before launch day, Sanjay's main comment was that his favorite part was how I ditched related articles taking up so much space below the first post in a thread (where you had to scroll past it to read the replies).

How difficult would it be to add additional preferences in a user's profile. Similar to disabling ads, what about disabling/hiding other panels (an ASP.NET reference :-) haha) such as related articles, tag cloud, etc.

I think it would be great to provide the flexibility . Yes/no?

How difficult would it be to add additional preferences in a user's profile.

First rule of UI design is not to offer the user preferences to enable/disable or manipulate main elements of the UI.

Says who?? Phooey!!

What do I know. I'm a networking guy that happened to learn to love web dev. Lol.

Says the UI rule maker people.