Announcement Site Updates Coming: Editor Toolbar

Kevin

Code Monkey 🐒
I know the last time we talked about site updates it was pretty big that involved a major update of the site software. This time it's nothing that big but a few changes are coming sometime in the next few weeks.

Most of the changes will be minor or behind-the-scenes stuff and, really, likely wouldn't warrant an announcement thread. There is one change though that most regulars will notice right away. The editor toolbar is changing.

The revised toolbar aims to be less 'busy' by moving many of the icons from always being displayed to instead be in the secondary drop-down menu (when you click the 3 dots). All of the current options are still available, just re-arranged where they appear in the toolbar.

The "Preview" button has moved from being a dedicated button at the bottom of the post and is now in the upper-right corner. When you click "Preview" the editor changes from 'edit' move to 'preview' mode, clicking the button again goes back to edit mode. For anybody who had used word processors it's akin to viewing 'print mode' versus 'edit mode' when working on a document.

For comparison, here's the current editor toolbar and then below it the new one.

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1600219579419.png


Another change with the editor is how images are attached. Attaching an image is the same as it is now but they'll look a bit different.

Instead of attachments appearing as a list with each thumbnail in its own row the thumbnails will now appear in a tiled view with the options for it. The options for the attachment, like deleting it or inserting it into the post, are now options shown as an overlay on top of the thumbnail instead buttons.

For comparison, here's how attachments look in the current editor and then below it the new one.

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There will be some learning curves as the new editor interface gets adjusted to but, in testing, the changes really do help streamline the process of creating a new post & saving it. We'll be able to make minor adjustments if wanted, like which icons always appear in the main toolbar versus the drop-down secondary list but when the time comes give it a bit of time to try it out. :)
 
The time has come 😬... the update will be happening within the next 24 hours, either late today or late tomorrow night.

If anybody gets a "site not available" type message, it's just the update happening.
 
So far so good. The new compose box appears to be working. Shades have been altered, the contrast is better with medium gray theme.

My alerts notification misbehaved but we can probably blame the update. It showed 17 items, yet opening the list only showed 6. It also cleared the notifications upon clicking (just like that one time) even though I still have the setting in preferences. One-time glitch I think.
 
Seems like EXIF info is not posting automatically on images like is use to.
Not sure if it is related to the update. But I always like to see it from those that opt to show it.
 
Sorry if this is a technologically dumb question but - in the old layout, when a photo was inserted in a post, it (usually) displayed some interesting information beneath the photograph - what kind of camera, what lens, the f stop and aperture, that kind of stuff. Now, I don't see any of that intriguing minutiae anywhere....is it still there? Am I missing it? Is there a button one must click to see it? Or was there some simple part of the new interface explanation that I have just glossed over......?

Hoping for illumination .... ;)
 
Sorry if this is a technologically dumb question but - in the old layout, when a photo was inserted in a post, it (usually) displayed some interesting information beneath the photograph - what kind of camera, what lens, the f stop and aperture, that kind of stuff. Now, I don't see any of that intriguing minutiae anywhere....is it still there? Am I missing it? Is there a button one must click to see it? Or was there some simple part of the new interface explanation that I have just glossed over......?

Hoping for illumination .... ;)
Miquel, greetings.... make sure that you have the option to view EXIF turned on in your account settings. :)

Head over to https://cameraderie.org/account/preferences and then change the option for View EXIF information in the forums to "Yes". After that the EXIF data should show again for those images that have date.
 
So far so good. The new compose box appears to be working. Shades have been altered, the contrast is better with medium gray theme.

My alerts notification misbehaved but we can probably blame the update. It showed 17 items, yet opening the list only showed 6. It also cleared the notifications upon clicking (just like that one time) even though I still have the setting in preferences. One-time glitch I think.
Mike, thanks for reporting this. The way alerts behave at the moment is due to using a 3rd party add-on to extent the stock functionality. On the test install I tried testing all of the various stuff before doing the update but I missed noticing the alerts.

With that I mind I've just updated the add-on to the most recent version but it's possible there may be some issues yet with the add-on running on the most recent version of the forum software. I'll put this on my 'short list' of issues & items to keep on eye on.
 
Miquel, greetings.... make sure that you have the option to view EXIF turned on in your account settings. :)

Head over to https://cameraderie.org/account/preferences and then change the option for View EXIF information in the forums to "Yes". After that the EXIF data should show again for those images that have date.
Uhhhh.....guess what?

I DID already have the option for "View EXIF information" checked - in the 'YES' box.
I went back and double-checked it. Then I turned it off and on and SAVED it again just to be certain.
BUT....alas....STILL no EXIF information is showing, at least in perhaps 90 % of the uploaded photos I am looking at.
In about 5 or 10 per cent of the images, there IS EXIF info visible.

Sounds like a software bug to me.
Or perhaps it could be a function of my computer (a Mac desktop, running a relatively recent iteration of the Apple Mac OS, on a Chrome browser).

Any other ideas as to how this might be solved?
 
Mike, thanks for reporting this. The way alerts behave at the moment is due to using a 3rd party add-on to extent the stock functionality. On the test install I tried testing all of the various stuff before doing the update but I missed noticing the alerts.

With that I mind I've just updated the add-on to the most recent version but it's possible there may be some issues yet with the add-on running on the most recent version of the forum software. I'll put this on my 'short list' of issues & items to keep on eye on.
Let's hope the addon gets an update soon!

Another place that has seen regression is the search box popup in the upper right corner. It would preview the search results (by threads) and that was my quick access way to jump to threads. If that's lost, no biggie. Easily replicable using bookmarks or something.
 
Another place that has seen regression is the search box popup in the upper right corner. It would preview the search results (by threads) and that was my quick access way to jump to threads. If that's lost, no biggie. Easily replicable using bookmarks or something.
Oh, but for me it is (a biggie) - and you're right ... :( Search suggestions were always much more helpful than the actual results, alas.

And, totally conincidentally, I just found Preview not to be working either ... It did yesterday, so there's some instability or bug at work, I guess. Or else something has stopped working, cause unknown ...

M.
 
As to the search button I quite agree with Matt. I found the search suggestions more helpful, too.
Is ist possible to include "both worlds"?
Another important thing: you moderators are doing a great job. :bravo-009::2thumbs::drinks:
 
So, I did the same as Miguel. The EXIF data is still not appearing in uploads.

Post in thread 'Day to Day 122'
Challenge! - Day to Day 122
OK, at first I was thrown off because earlier posts in that thread is showing EXIF for me but not your newest post.... then the lightbulb went on.

Long story short, there's two things going on. Members must opt-in to viewing EXIF and the boneheaded Code Monkey who does the site upgrades must write himself a huge note to remember to apply the manual edits needed to preserve EXIF data when doing updates.*

If you try uploading that one again, it should show now.






* = Normally the forum software strips out all EXIF data of images posted in the forums. In order to have it show up a core XF file needs to be manually edited to not strip the EXIF data and then a custom add-on is used to actually retrieve & display the data when an image is viewed. Doing a standard XF upgrade results in the manual file edits being lost so they must be re-applied every time.
 
OK, at first I was thrown off because earlier posts in that thread is showing EXIF for me but not your newest post.... then the lightbulb went on.

Long story short, there's two things going on. Members must opt-in to viewing EXIF and the boneheaded Code Monkey who does the site upgrades must write himself a huge note to remember to apply the manual edits needed to preserve EXIF data when doing updates.*

If you try uploading that one again, it should show now.






* = Normally the forum software strips out all EXIF data of images posted in the forums. In order to have it show up a core XF file needs to be manually edited to not strip the EXIF data and then a custom add-on is used to actually retrieve & display the data when an image is viewed. Doing a standard XF upgrade results in the manual file edits being lost so they must be re-applied every time.
Thanks Kevin! I like seeing the data from those who opt in. 😀
 
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