OT - forum operational irritations

[specfab]

First, let me preface the comments by stating that this is an invaluable resource as all the participants realize, not least me. I just want to find out if this is my computer setup (I don't think so), or a general issue following changes in the last few months.

1. The loading of pages to the point where they can actually be used (scrolling the page) is now a waiting exercise, and 100% of the time I am watching the bottom task bar waiting for the appearance of the idiotic social network widgets/gadgets/plug-ins for Twitter/Facebook and whatever else. This seems to delay the usability of the pages by 2-3X compared to previous. Once those icons appear at the top, the page is active. This applies to every page. It does make the visits to this site for purposes of info-sharing and entertainment less enjoyable and efficient.

2. The first screen that shows up is the "Recent Threads" screen (for me anyway), and this screen formerly had a classification column that stated in which sub-forum the listed threads were contained. I found this information very useful as an initial screening for where to navigate, as sort of a guide to statistical distribution of where most of the new posts were, and a way to budget my time if needed.

If this has been beaten to death already, forgive me. I haven't been here as much recently, for both workload reasons and the above issues. For purposes of technical details, I am running Win XP SP3 on a Dell dual-core system, with CenturyLink (Qwest) DSL at alleged 7mbps download speed rating (it's typically close).

[Metalcutter]

This is the start of a good thread. My suggestion: Trade the RED SHARE pop up for the FACE BOOK position.

Because the Red SHARE Pop Up gets in the way and you have to shake it off the cursor so you can go where you want. It would be out of the way on the far left.

Regards,

Stan-

[Gordon B. Clarke]

Here's something I'd like to see.

When I open PM I see all the latest posts and sometimes one catches my eye and I open it. Sometimes I even write a reply or comment. The "thing" is that I have no idea in which sub forum the thread is in and subsequent searches are often futile.

Isn't it possible to write the subforum in the overview of the latest threads and posts?

Gordon

[Mud]

This is the start of a good thread. My suggestion: Trade the RED SHARE pop up for the FACE BOOK position.

Because the Red SHARE Pop Up gets in the way and you have to shake it off the cursor so you can go where you want. It would be out of the way on the far left.

Regards,

Stan-

+1. That is constantly popping up, a real PITA for me, wish I could turn it off.

[Mark Rand]

Here's something I'd like to see.

When I open PM I see all the latest posts and sometimes one catches my eye and I open it. Sometimes I even write a reply or comment. The "thing" is that I have no idea in which sub forum the thread is in and subsequent searches are often futile.

Isn't it possible to write the subforum in the overview of the latest threads and posts?

Gordon

Use the "View New Posts" button at the top right of the forum view. That lists the theads' forums and when you go into a particular thread, it's sub forum is listed in the top left hand side. That's how I got to this thread.

[adama]

The links in text is a fairly dark blue and does not stand out too well. Would be a lot easier in say red - at least something brighter and diffrent to the general blue screen tones :-)

[APD]

My pages load in less than a second, and I dont have any of the "pop-ups" that were mentioned. It must be your browser. I use chrome. If you are not, try it. It is noticeably faster than Internet explorer or firefox (yes Ive tried them all). Internet explorer just sucks, always has. Firefox is good, but once chrome along, Ive never looked back.

[IronReb]

I use plain ole Internet Explorer and have no issues here what so ever,pages load in about 2 seconds.

One thing you might wanna try is first..go to Malwarebits and run a scan then DL Adaware free edition and update and run them too to be sure your system is not loaded with malware.

Next,from you browser click on tools and select manage ADD-ONS and disable all of them.I have seen issues were add-ons cause havok with your browser and slow it waaay down.

[JoeE.]

1. The loading of pages to the point where they can actually be used (scrolling the page) is now a waiting exercise

Yes, it has been beat to death and they more or less said "buy a new computer"!! There were a number of us who had the same problem. The excruciatingly long time it took for those facebook and other icons to get loaded (or whatever is loading) on the screen when nothing was navigable until they did.

Google Chrome seems to have fixed that. Here a while back I thought chrome was going haywire, so I deleted it and tried firefox. Seems I'd read on here that guys who used it said it was blocking all the ads and popups and all that, so I was all for trying that. Well, it made Practical Machinist and everything else on the web run slow. How come, I don't know. I deleted it, too.

I went back to plain old I.Explorer. It made Practical Machinist load slow as molasses again but most other things loaded normally.

So, I reload google chrome again and am running it. Practical Machinist runs smooth as glass. So does everything else.

I was really disappointed with firefox. I was expecting to view P.M. here with no advertisements at all, just text and that's it. When I loaded it, I didn't adjust any settings (cause I don't know where to look to find them) so maybe that's my fault. I just thought it would eliminate all the fluff on web pages and do away with ads. That's what I've taken from what I've read about guys using firefox on this site when someone would ask about what it would take to make all the advertisements disappear and let the pages load fast.....

[Screwmachine]

The links in text is a fairly dark blue and does not stand out too well. Would be a lot easier in say red - at least something brighter and diffrent to the general blue screen tones :-)

This is the only real gripe I have. It's almost impossible to see a link, and I usually miss them, unless the poster says something like 'see link', then I hunt around and find it. That should be an easy fix.

[Mike_]

Yes, it has been beat to death and they more or less said "buy a new computer"!! There were a number of us who had the same problem. The excruciatingly long time it took for those facebook and other icons to get loaded (or whatever is loading) on the screen when nothing was navigable until they did.

Google Chrome seems to have fixed that. Here a while back I thought chrome was going haywire, so I deleted it and tried firefox. Seems I'd read on here that guys who used it said it was blocking all the ads and popups and all that, so I was all for trying that. Well, it made Practical Machinist and everything else on the web run slow. How come, I don't know. I deleted it, too.

I went back to plain old I.Explorer. It made Practical Machinist load slow as molasses again but most other things loaded normally.

So, I reload google chrome again and am running it. Practical Machinist runs smooth as glass. So does everything else.

I was really disappointed with firefox. I was expecting to view P.M. here with no advertisements at all, just text and that's it. When I loaded it, I didn't adjust any settings (cause I don't know where to look to find them) so maybe that's my fault. I just thought it would eliminate all the fluff on web pages and do away with ads. That's what I've taken from what I've read about guys using firefox on this site when someone would ask about what it would take to make all the advertisements disappear and let the pages load fast.....

Firefox itself will display ads the same as any other browser. If you download the add in "Ad Block Plus" you can block the vast majority of ads. I can show you how to do this if you would like.

Also, another add in called NoScript can be set to keep Practical Machinist from loading the facebook and twitter integration on this site, it loads 100's of times faster this way! It's also just a good idea to have it and leave it on, as any and all viruses/malware that can be loaded off a website must do so with flash or javascript, both of which are blocked for each new website you visit until you mark them as safe. You would be amazed how many sites are running scripts in the background to track you too...

You might try visiting the Twitter and Facebook websites and logging out of your account though. I'm not sure it would help, but it's worth a shot.

[Xunil Ung]

I use a hosts file to remove most adverts, which will help with all sites, not just this one. PM has definitely got slower recently; it takes me about tens seconds to load a page, using chrome.

[atomarc]

Use the "View New Posts" button at the top right of the forum view. That lists the theads' forums and when you go into a particular thread, it's sub forum is listed in the top left hand side. That's how I got to this thread.

To my knowledge, this option doesn't pop up until you have opened at least one thread that takes you past the home page...at least the way I have the site configured on my computer. I wish this wasn't the case.

Stuart

[Milacron]

PM has definitely got slower recently; it takes me about tens seconds to load a page, using chrome.

PM has not gotten slower...something in your system is slower. I use multiple platform, ISPs and computers and PM is lightening fast* on all of them....pages load in less than one second with all the ads...and this on high speed cable, Mac Safari, Windows Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, 3G via iPhone, 3G via iPad and 3G "hotspot" on iPhone to Windows laptop. (3G is high speed cell phone service, in case you don't have that in UK**. 4G is even faster but we don't have that in this area yet)

=============

*Well, ok...it's not quite as fast on the iPhone, but interestingly, it is lighting fast on the laptop when using the iPhone as hotspot for the laptop. I'm told this is because the processor on the laptop is much faster than the phone processor. Regardless, that was a pleasant surprise...that 3G can be just about as fast as high speed cable if the 3G is processed thru a device more powerful than the phone it is receiving the signals from.

**I'm guessing UK by "Cornwall" but for all I know there is a Cornwall, Afganastan....would be helpful if you could add in the country (or state, if USA)

[Xunil Ung]

PM has not gotten slower...something in your system is slower.

Quite possibly a chrome 'update'.

[JoeE.]

Firefox itself will display ads the same as any other browser. If you download the add in "Ad Block Plus" you can block the vast majority of ads. I can show you how to do this if you would like.

Also, another add in called NoScript can be set to keep Practical Machinist from loading the facebook and twitter integration on this site, it loads 100's of times faster this way! It's also just a good idea to have it and leave it on, as any and all viruses/malware that can be loaded off a website must do so with flash or javascript, both of which are blocked for each new website you visit until you mark them as safe. You would be amazed how many sites are running scripts in the background to track you too...

You might try visiting the Twitter and Facebook websites and logging out of your account though. I'm not sure it would help, but it's worth a shot.

Is this "NoScript" compatible with Google Chrome or Internet Explorer, or just firefox? I just went a googled noscript and a brief glimpse mostly makes mention of firefox in the description....

[S_W_Bausch]

The links in text is a fairly dark blue and does not stand out too well. Would be a lot easier in say red - at least something brighter and diffrent to the general blue screen tones :-)

I just type Ctrl-B (bold text) immediately before I Ctrl-V the link.

OT - forum operational irritations

Or you could type Ctrl-U (underline) before inserting the link.

OT - forum operational irritations

Or you could do both (craigslist style)

OT - forum operational irritations

Should I research flashing text?

I haven't considered italics:
OT - forum operational irritations

Google's style is larger font & bold, but this board's font sizing gets too big, too fast.

If the Link icon is used, the link would look like:

OT - forum operational irritations

Which isn't a change. However, if that function could include bolding and underlining, that might be all that's needed.


Or, simply have "Link: " inserted before the link??

Link: http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/ot-forum-operational-irritations-248895/

[Mud]

If you haven't deleted your cookies for PM since the new forum software debuted, try doing that and see if it speeds up. I found my browser was looking for old cookies that weren't there and that was causing various difficulties posting plus running slow. I use XP and Firefox and it takes 6 seconds max from the time I click a link until a page is fully loaded, only 3 or so to see the page onscreen.

[SteveF]

PM has not gotten slower...something in your system is slower. .................

Don, I use a number of different forums on the Net and PM is far and away the slowest one I use. Don't know the technical reasons (flash ads, facebook, twitter, ??) for why the PM forum is so much slower than any other forum I use, but it is. So much so that it is an annoyance and I don't visit this site as much as I used to.

Can't do anything about my DSL connection but I'm shopping for a new computer and when I get it I'll look into browser add-ons for script and ad blocking but I don't need those add-ons for any forum except this one.

Steve

[wrustle]

So, I reload google chrome again and am running it. Practical Machinist runs smooth as glass. So does everything else.

I just loaded Google Chrome here and it is as you stated.......smooth as glass. My wait time is no more than a second or two whereas IE was forever it seemed sometimes. I am NOW a Google Chrome believer!

Later,
Russ