A week ago I asked what readers though about the new format updates, and overwhelmingly, readers have approved of the changes as seen in the results at right.
About 25% of the respondents were unsure, and I get that, you have to try new things out to decide.
Some people hate it. I suspect a lot of that has to do with the threaded comments that I enabled that day, though some people are simply resistant to change. I get that too.
Today I want to do three things:
1. Pass on some tips for using the new format (which I have decided to keep)
2. Put some misconceptions to rest.
3. Query readers about threaded comments, which some people love and some people hate.
First let’s cover some things I’ve learned in the past week.
1. Tips for using the new format
Issue: The front page may look different to different users based on your browser window size and/or screen resolution.
This is normal, because the theme is designed to detect and format the output of WUWT based on your display.
For example, if your screen resolution is set for 1024×768 pixels (such as many older computers and monitors) you’ll get a front page that looks something like this:
For those running larger monitors, such as an HD monitor at 1920×1080 or larger, you’ll get a screen that looks something like this:
Note that when running a larger screen size, you get a drop shadow edge with grey background on each side. Some people reported this as some sort of problem, but this is normal. The design has an upper width limit. If it didn’t, things like the sidebar would never work right.
Note also when running higher resolutions, you get the vertical capsules of the 4 most recent stories where when running the lower resolution, you do not. If you aren’t seeing these, you may want to increase your browser window size and/or your screen resolution if your monitor allows it.
Having used every computer monitor style since the era of ASR-33 teletypes and 80 character 10″ CRT green screens, I can tell you that if you not upgraded to a wide screen HD computer monitor yet, you are missing out on a lot.
TIP: To get the most out of WUWT, run a screen/monitor resolution of at least 1280×1024.
Issue: Some people complained about font sizes, either too large or too small. That is easily remedied.
If you have not figured this out yet, use the browser zoom function. All browsers support this. I’ve played around with fonts for over a week now, and I think I have a good mix that “most” people can read. However, there are some older or oddball computer and or browser setups that don’t render fonts correctly, and they look bad on a handful of those.
TIP: Use the CTRL key and the mouse wheel (if you have one to change the zoom up or down) Pressing the CTRL and + keys or the CTRL and – keys simultaneously will change the browser zoom. Pressing CTRL and 0 (zero) will reset to default.
Issue: Some people reported that they can’t see elements on the screen we have been discussing, or that the page rendering looks odd.
This is likely related to your computer hardware and/or browser.
There’s not much I can do about that except to say that the current theme expects a modern computer and a modern browser. If you are still running IE 6 and FireFox 4, then you’ll never get the benefits of the improvements we made. Here is a breakdown of browser versions in use on the net today:
Source: http://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=2&qpcustomd=0
And by browser name:
Source: http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201308-201408-bar
TIP: Use a modern browser, and one that is updated. Chrome works best I’ve found, followed by Firefox 31, and IE9 or better. Opera, not so much, and it is not recommended. Android web browsers are still hit and miss, but Apple users on modern versions of Safari seem to be doing OK with WUWT.
Issue: With the new threaded comments, some people say they won’t be able to determine if somebody replied to them without reading through the entire comment thread, and thus that’s a reason not to participate anymore.
I can understand where you are coming from, but there is an easy solution to this that is actually more precise than simply looking at the bottom few comments in a linear comment thread, and hope to see replies to your comments there.
TIP: Use the “find within the page” search feature supported by all browsers. Pressing CTRL and F keys simultaneously brings up the search dialog. It looks like this on FireFox:
Commenter Kadaka sums it up nicely:
I have adapted.
I can find new comments by searching the page for a day like “august 31″, I can find by hour like “august 30, 2014 at 11″ and note am or pm. I can find replies to me by my handle.
In a small way nested comments are better, as before there were a-holes who would give derogatory replies using my words without using my handle, or use some version of my name. I’d have to scan the list to catch them.
Now, when they use the reply option, there it is near my handle, easy to find.
So with that in mind, the comment threading has advantages if you learn how to make use of them.
2. Put some misconceptions to rest.
A number of people have made suggestions about moving WUWT off of wordpress.com and onto some self hosting. Likewise a number of people have made comments about using wordpress plugins to solve issues or add features.
I can’t do either right now. Moving WUWT to private hosting is a HUGE undertaking and has large risks. We have over 10,000 articles, over a million comments, and over 3 gigs of image and video content that must all remain perfectly linked and synchronized.
I’ve studied the issue for months. I studied it more last week. It won’t be easy, and then I’m at the mercy of a company that may decide later to terminate the arrangement, get sold, go broke, or start censoring content because they get pressure from outsiders. I have less risk on my current setup with wordpress.com
Right now, WordPress.com and its parent company, Automatic are in my corner. Why? Well it has something to do with something I can’t talk about by an agreement I have. Suffice it to say that Al Gore got involved in an issue a couple of years ago, and WUWT was the focus. WordPress/Automatic took the high ground on my behalf and WUWT remains in the top 10 blogs on wordpress.com worldwide.
While wordpress.com almost lost me to the recent “beep boop editor” change, they have shown by their actions that they are still a company that listens to its users, and they rescinded the change last week.
So while I’m limited to what I can do on wordpress.com hosting (like being unable to install plugins, edit code to provide special tweaks beyond CSS, or provide some specialized themes) I can say I have better safety with them from attack, not only from things like IP based DDoS attacks, but also from business/dogma attacks. They hold the First Amendment dear and reject the calls of those would see WUWT shut down. I can’t really find a better deal anywhere, especially since wordpress.com hosting is free for unlimited traffic.
So, I’ve decided to stay awhile longer. I really don’t need more work to manage WUWT nor do I want to live under the threat of censorship for daring to speak an unpopular truth.
3. Query readers about threaded comments, which some people love and some people hate.
OK we’ve had a week trying threaded comments. Let’s find out how the readership feels about it.
Again, thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading WUWT.
– Anthony Watts
P.S. Many people have expressed their thanks to me for keeping WUWT going, and I appreciate all those notes. To help keep WUWT strong, please always remember to SHARE on Facebook, TWEET stories, and use other forms of social media to tell others about what we do here. There’s a bar at the bottom of each story with easy links. Please use it:
One thing the Pro AGW crowd does better than climate skeptics is to make use of social media to “get the word out” I’m asking that we all do better there, even though you may find much of social media unpalatable. – Anthony
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I love it all……except for the threaded
I stopped reading Jo’s and Judith’s blog because of that…..it’s impossible for me to keep up
….and no, I’m not being resistant to change…I’ve never liked it
Might as well be playing a jigsaw puzzle trying to put all the pieces together……..
..or just stop reading the current threads and pick them up stale
I have the same problem over at Jo Nova’s. I’ll still work through them if I’m really interested, but it’s a bit off putting and I’m not over there nearly as often as a result. It just depends on how long the comment sections get – and how many nested replies get made. The fewer the comments the easier it is to know where you are. A lot of comments however, and I find myself having to put my finger on the page at the nested level I’m at, then scrolling up and up to find out just what comment that person was even replying to so I can understand the context and not misinterpret, then scrolling back down to find the place I left off at. It can get VERY tedious.
it’s a love/hate kinda thing. I like the threaded feature when I’m in the conversation and I keep checking back on that particular thread, otherwise, I pick up from the bottom to see new statements. But really long comments section means you can never go back and read all the new additions to individual threads….what to do?
It’s still scroll fatigue hell on most iPhone browsers. The paragraphs narrow down to a single word when threads branch down. It simply refuses to load as a desktop site despite my usual ability to set browsers to pretend to be desktop ones.
Hey, Nik –
Part of that may be the text size you are using. Even so, try holding the iPhone in “Landscape” position and you get more text across the screen.
Further, two tricks may help you:
To go to the top of a page (Safari), tap once at the very top of the screen.
While there is no iOS “go to the bottom” touch method, I’ve been using this:
save an page as a “bookmark”. Doesn’t matter what page.
Copy the following line in the “URL” area:
javascript:window.scrollTo%280%2C100000%29
Now “Edit” that bookmark, and rename it “Go to bottom of page” (or whatever makes sense to you). Make sure the info in the “url” section remains that “javascript” info.
Now when you are looking at a loooong WUWT page, to go to the bottom, select that bookmark and it will take you to the bottom of the page.
Viola!
Cello!
What’s missing is the good old link at the bottom to display a desktop site. Of dozens of sites a day I view comments at there is no bizarre two word wide paragraphs. The era of mobile sites is over now anyway now that I have such a high resolution screen in my pocket with just as many pixels as most laptops. The site was fine before the update. Landscape mode is even more confusing since though it allows longer lines, I must scroll even more to scan down in posts. My font size has little effect on the line breaks, a screen shot being here that is representative of quite a few browsers I’ve tried:
http://i58.tinypic.com/2aj6fx5.jpg
Since this only occurs on this site but not on the hundreds I’ve visited this month, it’s a bug that should be fixed now that so many people are on iPhones, especially Democrats who haven’t been convinced yet.
The changes have come along just fine with one small quibble … I miss the color change which denotes previously visited stories/links.
I’m on IE11, so I don’t have those issues associated with dated browsers.
As for nested comments, as a routine matter, they’re just fine. The only problem I expect would be on a hot-button story, when everyone’s jumping in with their own 2¢, and then commenting on other comments. As for reverse order, I don’t see any advantage to that … if I want to go to the latest comment, I have this magic button on my keyboard marked “end” that takes me to the latest comment.
I like the new format and love the nested comments.However, that black toolbar across the top bugs me. Is there any way to get rid of it? Please
Are you logged in to WordPress? If so, that is a WordPress feature and you will see it on any WordPress blog you visit. I am not logged in and I don’t see it.
Does the black toolbar have a WordPress logo on the far left, right next to “Watts Up With That?” That one automatically comes from being logged into WordPress (and your blog(s)).
If so, you can get rid of it by being completely logged out of WordPress. Or run two browsers, for example have Firefox logged into WordPress for those duties, use Chrome (or Epiphany or Midori) for WUWT.
Would it be possible to have the amount of comments posted on each article on the front page. At the moment you can not tell whats hot and whats not.
A tip about whether or not to nest a reply.
If you use the “Reply” button, you can compose your reply in an edit box immediately under the comment to which you are referencing.
If you then click the “Cancel Reply” link, what really happens is that it de-nests the pending comment. You still have the comment text in the edit box but it will be a Level 1 comment now. You can then click the Post Comment and your composed reply will appear as a Level 1 comment at the bottom.
So, you can start with a short reply that you want nested, but if you go long and decide to make it a Level 1, click Cancel Reply, then Post Comment.
Anthony: “Issue: Some people complained about font sizes, either too large or too small. That is easily remedied.
If you have not figured this out yet, use the browser zoom function. All browsers support this. I’ve played around with fonts for over a week now, and I think I have a good mix that “most” people can read.”
Thanks for spending time and listening to comments. It is more readable now than when I raised the issue following the initial change.
The comment font is still rather heavy but is at least readable. The article text is fine.
I still prefer the ligher weight, smaller fonts we get in the reply box, but I can live with it. It is no longer detremental to using WUWT.
I did not vote because I don’t “love it” but I would agree with “let’s keep it about the other poll options.
Thanks again for the time you’ve put into this ( and the excellent resource that WUWT is generally ).
BTW replies seems to work better here than over at Judith’s. Not sure why.
This web-site is the best if I am honest which I always try to be . Sometimes to zealous for my part which Anthony has brought to my attention and I have benefited from it.
Anthony you are doing a great job and I sincerely believe you are seeking the truth when it comes to all of this climate controversy and will always to new thoughts and ideas on the subject within reason.
Meant to say will always be opened to new thoughts and ideas
The “thread” is in the eye of the beholder, or in this case the moderator, which can be confusing to us who post and, I am sure, the moderator as well. I say this as there is sometimes no “reply” button so I assume the moderator must make the call as to if the comment belongs in the thread. I voted “on the fence” at this point.
The reply button does not appear on the third nest deep.
Look upthread for the appropriate reply button.
The suggested reduction of the indent size would allow a couple more depths, unless this would create one word lines on mobile devices. Less indent would be an improvement anyway.
I have done enough computer programming to reject nesting greater than three layers as a visual hazard, even with continuous 132-column line printer output and a straight edge to mark off the indent edges.
I miss tractor feed and green bars. Easy to follow, fit right into the ring binders.
People are already complaining about one word lines on phones with this setup
I enjoy reading the nested comments. It is more like a conversation than otherwise; and on the other hand, some conversations I don’t care for, so I just scroll on past and the threading makes that easier. 🙂
Leon says:
I miss the color change which denotes previously visited stories/links.
Yes! Sometimes a link is the same in another post. It would be nice to see that it has already been viewed, like we could before this update.
And:
…the block quote typeface is horsey, cheesy, and extraordinarily inelegant… It is a rare and evil typeface… Ditch it please, and revert to standard practice for displaying quoted text, i.e. the italic font in the same size as the body text typeface.
Have to agree with that comment, too.
I don’t like the nested comments either, but it looks like I’m outvoted. So I’ll just suck it up.
Otherwise, excellent!
I don’t get how a typeface can be “rare and evil”.
I think that’s just over the top as far as complaints go.
I think that’s just over the top
But it’s humorous while still conveying the intent, which I suspect may be how it was meant. 🙂
I hadn’t noticed that yet – but haven’t been able to visit in the last few days. I would very much miss the color indicator for a previously visited link also. And now I’m trying the blockquote with this post to see what it looks like, but since others have already fussed about it I won’t complain if I feel the same.
I rather like the blockquote as it is now – I’d get rid of the big quote mark if possible and let the text go closer to the left hand side of the shadow box, but the shadow box certainly does make the quote stand out nicely.
“I don’t get how a typeface can be “rare and evil”.”
97 % of experts say that use of Comic Sans is evil (except for comics, of course).
Anthony – the inline browser search function does not work well with Firefox and possibly others. The JetPack infinite scroll mod actually brings new pages in and tosses out earlier pages as you scroll, so for posts with a lot of comments over several pages the inline search will find a pattern only if that content is in the visible page. I haven’t explored a solution as time is limited at the moment.
Example – from the top of the current home page a search for All Rain is Acid Rain will not find anything. Scroll down far enough and it will pop up. So far this is my only complaint with the Expound theme (which I like so much I’ve adopted it for one of my blogs, too).
I have a 256K copper DSL connection, coupled with several personality anomalies. Although I am a computer, programming, Internet enthusiast … I balk at some of the predictable developments that digital trends bring. I am WordPress-experienced, run my own localhost with WP and other wares … and just received the Bluehost invoice for my new hosting package. I hope to start putting my site up and have a web-presence again, in coming days.
I run Firefox with NoScript, which controls/blocks JavaScript. The usual reason to run this, is that many sites do things with JS, which they know folks don’t want going on, but heh – you can’t live without JavaScript!. Well, actually you can … and if you do require a JS-mediatated functionality, you can turn it on temporarily or selectively, easily. (Some people running sites, don’t know how much JS their pages require, nor what kinds of things JS is doing on the visitor’s screen … mostly fairly innocuous, but some of it ‘edgy’.)
Although it used to be excessive graphics that were the leading ‘offender’ at many websites, JavaScript has for some time been the big download-hog. This is pretty weird when you think how much code this represents. 100s, even 1,000s of times more JS code, than all the HTML code for the ‘native’ functionality & content, combined. whoa.
Ok, here’s how it works. With a slow connection and with images and JavaScript turned off, one first enables images and lets the page reload, noting how long it takes to load the pictures. Then JavaScript is turned on, and the download-time for all the script is observed. Normally these days, it takes much longer to download the JS, than it does the graphics. With a fast connection it might take some software measuring tools to get good numbers.
Most folks using NoScript (it’s a popular Add-on/Plugin) are not concerned about download times, since most have a fast connection. Rather, they are blocking JS, due to the ‘antics’ it is being used for. They don’t notice what a colossal mass of code is involved, since everything happens quickly for them anyway.
I normally ‘force’ webpage colors in the browser, mainly because so many places do not show link-colors, which becomes a problem for me because I can’t tell at a glance which links I have already visited.
So when I visit WUWT, it doesn’t look like the Expound WP Theme. The JavaScript is broken; images are blocked; and the element-colors are all overridden. But … this is how I see most of the web. And mind, many other folks in my area, even business folks with online responsibilities are still on original 28K dial-up. I was able to upgrade to low-ball DSL ‘fairly’ recently, but we still have a lot of locales where people will never have fast terrestrial service. Gulp – I will probable move, and rejoin them.
Ted, unfortunately, Javascript is pretty much a necessity these days. Pure HTML coding can only take you so far. I suspect that you have a very limited set of sites that you visit, and that even on those you are missing a large percentage of the content/functionality.
I just finished a website that has maybe 10 lines of HTML, and several hundred lines of Javascript. its the only way to do a lot of things that users need/want these days.
Hi Philip,
About 2% or 20-some million in the US have JS off. NoScript (to not just block but ‘manage’ the JS activity (and Flash)) is well-up on the short-short list of most-popular browser plugins.
That’s roughly the same as the Linux usership, and several other markers for ‘post-consumer’ Internet usage.
NoScript is actually about “security”, rather than download bandwidths or JavaScript-driven ‘foolishness’. Folks using it for the latter, though, push its popularity almost into ‘mainstream’ ratings.
No doubt about it: A typical Internet user slaps NoScript on their browser (unawares), they will be put-off by the changes in the browser-experience. But it’s more just ‘change’ than breakage.
JavaScript is a “necessity” only in certain functionality-contexts. You can tell what they are easily-enough, and you just click an icon in the toolbar, the page reloads, and JS works.
I will also say, there is a certain activism, advocacy or ‘message’ aspect to running NoScript … for a meaningful number of users. The lead “security” role it plays is to fight tracking, spying & surveillance (all these are done with JS). Eg, each time another NSA story comes out, NoScript downloads jump.
I have 20,000+ links in Bookmarks, and ‘roam’ heavily online.
Javascript is not a security threat on modern browsers that run these in a sandbox. All such vulnerabilities are browser exploits that are fixed by keeping the browser patched (Chrome does this automatically). NoScript is a waste of time and simply breaks functionality on pages. Oh please, if you want to fight NSA surveillance NoScript is not going to do jack. You have to use more advanced methods of masking your IP.
What sort of masochist is still on dial-up? If you can get cell phone service you can get Broadband from your cell phone provider otherwise Satellite broadband is widely available in remote areas.
Anthony,
I didn’t participate in the poll. The new format takes some getting used to visually but is plenty functional and more importantly has a high end look which should help WUWT continue on its path to take over the entire internet.
Thanks for the huge continuing effort you put toward taking WUWT to the next level. Your efforts are much appreciated.
Thanks for all the effort! Reminding me of the zoom function of my browser was what I needed. Now WUWT looks fine with 125%. (Chrome on Mac, fn + cmd + “+” or “-“)
I do like the better readability, but I miss the reference to “puzzling things in life”. Will Willis’ and Anthony’s personal stories be banned? Hope not.
I am unsure about the new comments format. I tend to read less comments than before. My favorite format for comments is like this:
1. Headlines
2. Reply – but not moved inward, just different background color.
3. Likes – but only for registered users
4. Sorting function to rearrange comments by time, likes, most recent first, etc.
5. Background color for replies of the author, Anthony or mods.
6. Featured comments
What I don’t like so much is the new header jpg. The image is not as sharp as before. And for me the green color of the aurora is evocative of venom. I liked the warm orange glow of the older header images better. They were more inviting.
Now:
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/wuwt_test_header91.jpg
Before:
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/wuwt_header10.jpg
My favorite header was the old one without the red thermometer line:
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/wuwt_header_final.jpg
But whatever Anthony choses to do: WUWT is a fantastic resource. Thanks again!
I had actually put in a random rotator for 9 different header images (that included your favorite) over the weekend, but then ran into a bug, which wordpress.com support says they can’t see, so I’ll enable it again now.
Well, so much for that. The randomizer is still broken.
Yeah! I don’t mind the broken randomizer. It got stuck with my favorite header… 🙂
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/wuwt_newheader32.jpg
Fonts readability seems to have improved. I view WUWT at 75% zoom now as that’s about right size for me and it feels like it’s easier to read now than it was right after the change. It’s good the browser only applies the zoom to this site and not to other sites I’m visiting. Only this comment entry box font feels a bit tiny.
I like the new comment nesting. In the old format i had problems finding replies to my comments as most people failed to copy my nick right to their reply. This way it will be at least immediately obvious who replied.
If possible, it would be nice to have all replies to comments initially collapsed so only root level comments are visible at first, and only expand discussion to individual comments when I press a button at that comment. Not all sites have that option, but it is very comfortable to have since discussion to comments often more or less diverges from topic of the article.
It’s all wonderful but even so, we all would like something extra….my extra would be…when you click on the date/time of a comment, it slightly changes (maybe colour? Or maybe the whole comment appears ‘over’ a shaded box?) so that when you come back to the comment later you can see instantly if it has had any extra new comments added. These in turn will change after you’ve read them. This would also be useful when trying to find where you’d got to in a long thread.
Nifty idea, if there’s a way Anthony could easily do it. It certainly would help us tell at a glance what we’ve already read vs. what’s new.
I’ve seen a slightly different version of that with comments at the Washington Post and a few other sites – you don’t have to click on anything, but new comments come up automatically with a horizontal bar along the lefthand side… and if you hover your cursor briefly anywhere in the text of that reply the horizontal bar disappears. I’d like the entire comment very lightly background shaded as you suggest better… I’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that those things wind up hogging memory – oh, plus, if you close and reopen the page later it’s all refreshed and no longer shows what you’ve read or not read. But it’s still helpful.
I voted “Hate it” on threaded comments, but that’s the only thing I disliked about the format changes. Everything else seems to be an improvement to me and to borrow a phrase, “I’m lovin’ it!”
I’m always mindful that this isn’t my blog, and if the host is doing only one thing I don’t care for – in just the format, fer cryin’ out loud, this isn’t a content issue – then it’s my problem to deal with and not our gracious host’s problem.
Anthony has enough on his plate wrasslin’ aligators, running a business, keeping up with family, and running this blog of the finest kind. I’m not a child who has to pout because I don’t get an extra scoop of ice cream when Anthony and WUWT is serving up the whole bloomin’ ice cream factory to me. I have sense enough to know when I’m getting a good deal.
Thanks for all you do Anthony. Threaded comments or not, I’m with WUWT all the way.
Steve P September 2, 2014 at 11:58 am
I like to read all comments before making my own. In the previous format, It was trivial to read top to bottom, and to pick up at that point the next session. Now it is a chore to keep up with comments, because they’re all over the place. I voted ‘hate it’.
I cannot express in words my distaste for threaded comments. It is so easy to copy and paste what you are replying to as I have done above. Those who simply hit “reply” often do so in reply to a multi-paragraph comment, but don’t bother to single out the sentence or specific issue they are replying to. New comments wind up jumping all over the thread, and frequently result in reading old comments for a second time before realizing, hey! I’ve seen this before.
This is a vote that I sense Steve P and I will lose, but the fact is that the blog was far more easily followed with the old format, and those who can’t take the few extra seconds to copy and paste for clarity are, in my opinion, lazy. Not having button forces you to be clear.
Sorry, but I gave the reply thing my best shot, and it just ruins the readability of a thread with a lot of comments on it. I hated it at first, made an honest attempt to adopt it, but I hate it more now. You may see a larger number of people vote to keep it, but the true measure is what happens to the quality of the debate. I think it will decline.
Comment to both H.R. and davidmhoffer:
You know, I don’t see why one can’t continue to do the “cut & paste” old method if they prefer.
I see the new change as giving us an “either/or” choice.
Can it not be?
I know Anthony can’t do the following but WordPress could so why don’t they?
1) first of all, comments sitting in the Level 1 chronology (old style) could have an unobtrusive icon at top left along with the wording “reply to [name]”. Stand-alone comments would not have the icon (but see ‘mini menu’ below).
2) When you click on the name it immediately culls that comment from way above in the list and sets it into the Level 1 chronological list temporarily for you to read first. If you want the full thread you click the icon- this drops down a bubble that says “set in thread?” . Click on that and the comment immediately appears nested in its place along with all the other comments for that thread as if they’ve all been temporarily culled from the Level 1 thread. When you’ve read all you want in the thread, you click on the icon again (in any comment in that threaded list) and click “return to Level 1?”. If you were then to scroll up and down the Level 1 thread you would see those same comments separated into chronological order as it always used to be. You would know which were threaded because they would have the icon. A stand-alone comment would get a thread icon added only if someone replied (ie the first respondent).
3) Mini menu: the icon could drop down a small menu with a veritable cornucopia of options. You wouldn’t ever have to use it (or the ‘set in thread’ function) if you didn’t want to- it’s just an icon sitting at the edge if your familiar old thread. But I would use it for sure.
4) often when you start to scroll up and down the comments they turn into a blur and you have to keep stopping to see where you are even with numbered comments (4a- number the comments!). So there should be small window at top right that appears after a certain speed of scrolling (or time of scrolling) that shows the comment numbers going up and down. That way you can scroll to your hearts content and stop dead on the comment number you want. You could even have the date scrolling with the number or select that option from your drop-down mini menu in every comment.
5) include a function (driven by cookie information) that highlights all the new comments since you last visited that page. That could apply in level 1 or threaded. Looking through Jo Nova’s threaded comments for recently added replies is difficult to say the least. The highlight of course could be toggled on and off from the mini menu in any comment.
6) allowing the option to click on ‘reply’ but carry the other comment with you to the comment box, temporarily, to refer to if it’s a long one (I know some blogs do this already)
7) an option in the mini menu to ‘save comment to file’ so all your comments are sitting in your own WUWT account. The file could be arranged by date or blog post at will. The Economist does something like this.
8) an option in the mini menu to save other people’s comments to file in the same manner as above. In both 7) and 8) you could click on the comment and see it in context in the post. Also a ‘reply later’ or ‘add to clipboard’ option- I often read a hundred comments and wonder if I might reply to comment 50, 80 or 99, depending on what transpires in the thread and how much time I have. Trying to find the one I really do want to reply to is time-consuming.
In conclusion, old timers who like things as they were would never have to bother with any of this. They could even hide the mini menu icons and read on in bliss. Others could use it as much or as little as they liked- they wouldn’t be a slave to any WordPress system sending them down avenues they don’t want to go. The mini menu sitting as an icon in every single comment means that it’s your baby and you’re in full control. Many would suddenly find these indispensible tools while others would happily continue with the old way.
These are just a small number of things that I thought would be commonplace on all blogs by now when I dreamt them up years ago due to shear frustration. I can hardly believe how unimaginative programmers are. And we’re talking about just text and files/fields here. No video or massive data crunching. It would all happen in an instant and requires minimal programming when compared to say gaming and animation.
Scute
For everyone using internet explorer 7 or 8 with vista or windows 7 you can change the fonts and colors with a few simple clicks http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/change-webpage-colors-fonts#1TC=windows-vista
This also restores the color change after clicking a link so you know you have been there ;0)
No one should be using IE7 or IE8 both are obsolete browsers.
Anthony, this is a truly excellent site both in terms of content and its new format. The threaded comments format is a great improvement for both reading and the occasional contribution. I hope that the majority of users want to keep it.
I find that the most user friendly improvement is the one that seems to be unheralded: Now, when you click to read a link you return to the same position in the thread when you hit the ‘back’ symbol. Previously, on an Ipad1 at least, you would always return to the main post and have to scroll down to find the point at which you left the thread to read the link. On a long thread this became a real disincentive to click on a link. No such problem now.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/tapatalk/
is this type of plugin allowed?
if so it MAY help with mobile users as well as being another ad revenue tor you.
I have never installed on WP but have installed on many invisionpoer/smf/phpbb setups and its very useful.
” is this type of plugin allowed?”
I still don’t understand why people can’t seem to pickup the fact (mentioned several times now on WUWT and also in this post) that I can’t install plugins when hosted on wordpress.com.
Zero, zip, none, nada. No plugins allowed.
♪ Yes!… we haaave no plugins, we haaaave no plugins today! ♫
I thought items listed on WP site itself were ok but all others were not.
The key word is “install”.
and….
wordpress.org [self hosted, self installed software]
wordpress.com [ready to run but with limits]
There is ‘self-hosted’ WP, and ‘WP-hosted’. Having WP host WP for ya means they take care of the workings (and fend off evil) … but the cost is you only get the ‘stock’ version.
If you tend to the hosting of a WP installation yourself, you can add plugins and themes and tinker with the code, ‘but hey dude – yer on yer own’.
WP recommends that when you self-host & go crazy with add-on & custom stuff, you stick to stuff they host in their free repositories, because it’s relatively safe … but even then, it’s just a suggestion.
Now I’ve got to deal with that little jingle on my mind for weeks to come. LOL
Self hosted WordPress installations work great for small blogs, and even some big ones that have a lot of financial resources and full time tech staff.
For us claimed “big oil check” recipients, not so much.