Site Upgrade - The Aftermath

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voltaire

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My problem with the new site is it takes 20 seconds on so to load now before my mouse will work on any links, then if I back from a page it does it again, getting annoying, just thought i'd mention it. And no it just started with the new site and doesn't do it on any other site. It's just glitchy.......any ideas?

Sounds like you use Internet Explorer - am I right?

If I am, then you should try Firefox or Chrome. You can import all your bookmarks and stuff, you won't even miss IE, I promise. :firefox:
 

rolygate

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Website construction has now got to the point where some sites cannot be viewed fully on some browsers. I don't like this as my personal opinion is that for best accessibility, all sites should be viewable on all equipment anywhere in the world. But this ideal cannot be fully supported now because modern full-feature sites are simply beyond the capability of some browsers to view properly. Unfortunately a heavily-extended forum solution like this is one of the worst offenders as it is so script-heavy, that is, it depends on a lot of JavaScript for full functionality.

There is no way round this as the forum can't function fully otherwise. Since everybody everywhere at least has the option now to use a real browser, the negatives should be minimised. (There is a major issue with limited bandwidth visitors such as those on dial-up and mobile devices, and at some stage we'd like to offer a cut-down version of the site for them. Currently mobile device users are less than 1% of the total though so there is no drive to fix this.)

To view a site like ECF you have to use a modern browser like Firefox, Opera or Chrome. We no longer support old versions like the worst browser ever produced, Internet Explorer 6.

You may not be aware of it but Internet Explorer has a very slow JavaScript engine and it does not perform well on modern websites. It can't be used for some modern website management tasks, for this reason. Opera has the fastest JS engine of all and will provide you with a very satisfactory experience on ECF - the site is very fast now, when viewed on a real browser.

If you are limited by your work PC, then get a portable version of your chosen browser and load it on a USB stick. I have heard of some organisations, particularly in the public sector, where IE6 is still installed on PCs. This represents incompetence of the highest level since IE6 is about the most vulnerable browser to exploits in existence - it's a pipeline into the PC for malware. But at least if they are that incompetent then USB portable apps should run fine.

CAUTION: if a PC is still running IE6 then you should treat it as compromised, ie infected by malware. These things often transfer themselves onto USB drives in order to propagate. It would be best not to plug the USB drive back into your home PC after use on a potentially compromised machine, unless you know how to stop autorun and the infection of your clean machine via the USB device.

If you still experience problems even with a good browser then generally, if you carry out the following, it will fix it (as the problem is at your end, not here - the site is fast now):

1. Delete all cookies and the cache, in the browser Tools / Settings options. Don't delete passwords and (most) bookmarks though.

2. Delete your bookmark for ECF. Close the browser, type the address of ECF in, go there and re-bookmark it.

3. Upgrade your PC's Java install by going to:
Java Downloads for All Operating Systems

4.Remove all old and vulnerable versions of Java and its installers from your PC, with JavaRa:
http://raproducts.org

5. Remove the 'deep cookies' or Flash cookies from your PC (LSOs). These cookies can't be removed (or even found) by the browser. Don't delete those set by your bank or you'll have to answer the full range of security questions when you login next.
Download Flash Cookies Cleaner 1.2 Free - Removes every Flash Cookie from your system - Softpedia

6. Please don't complain about the site if you are using Internet Explorer. We do what we can but if you choose to use that type of program, there is little to be done to help you. The site works on IE8, but there may be issues such as slow loading. We recommend you try a real browser like Opera.

Please note
The ECF site is now faster than it has ever been. It's faster to load the front page, and all the pages load much faster.

If that is not the case for you THEN THE PROBLEM IS AT YOUR END. Of course, we will try to help you fix it.
 
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pedromj

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voltaire

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well, i run ie8 on xp and connect through an aircard and have not had any major problems through the whole upgrade unless it was systemwide.
but 'my posts' is still not loading with newest first. am i alone in that or is that still tied in to new search function of the upgrade?

Yeah, the issue with the order of "My Posts" is a known issue that is not just on your end. I believe Alex said it was due to a bug in the new software, so I imagine he has reported it and is just waiting for a fix for it to come out. So we may be waiting on that one for a while.
 

tiburonfirst

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thanks, voltaire, i didn't think it was just on my end but wanted to be sure. i have no idea why roly is so deadset against ie. i have had no problems at all with that browser during the upgrade.
btw roly, if you're checking in, this is the little blue winky that's desperately needed in the line up
winking0006.gif
 

rolygate

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Why Internet Explorer? Hmm, where to start...

It was a rogue browser that completely ignored internet standards until forced to start to comply when people woke up.
IE6 was the absolute worst browser ever made, it caused web designers endless problems and that basic issue still isn't fixed even now. Web developers still have to take account of IE's problems.
IE had far and away the most, and the worst, security issues of any browser. Sure, every webapp has exploits; but they are patched and the problem is fixed. IE's seemed endless.
Microsoft probably had the worst patch and upgrade schedule of any browser authors, they were unlikely to fix issues for months, most other software devs fix their browser issues in days or even hours.
IE was so wide open that it was a virtual pipeline into the PC for malware.
The words 'total crap' didn't even begin to do justice to IE. It may have looked nice, but this is one of the biggest issues with software and especially webware - all the effort going into making it look nice, but how it actually works being way back in the queue.
Webapps need one thing above all else: a responsive, alert dev team who are on the case. Holes need patching fast. IE had no such thing, in fact to an outsider it looked like there was nobody home.
Because MS had a virtual monopoly they could afford to forget about any effort to make or maintain the product to a high standard. It was simply crap, painted to look nice, foisted on a captive audience.
And as you can guess, it has caused me a few hours' extra work. Multiply that by everyone in the web industry to produce millions of hours lost time and you might begin to understand why we all despised MS and their useless crap.

For legal reasons I have had to refer to the issues in the past tense, as they cannot be denied. You will have to decide if something with such an utterly lousy history has now become acceptable.

ps Thanks for the blue winky.

/rant :)
 
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tiburonfirst

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"ps Thanks for the blue winky."


roly, i brought you the blue winky so you could take him and tuck him away in the ecf line up where he has been dearly missed, lol

seriously though, all through the upgrade i had NO problems running ie8. maybe that was due to the extra work on your end but i was pleased as punch.
 

rolygate

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Well, TBF, I am very happy for you :)

Anyway the site is a lot faster now although there are endless issues to resolve. In fact the vB3 >> vB4 upgrade on the whole is the worst I have ever seen in webapps. I'm wondering if MS are involved somewhere.

Some day we'll have it all finally sorted out, with luck...
 

rolygate

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I dislike phpBB for several reasons. But the main issue is that it just doesn't have the range of plugins that vB has. As an example, vbSEO is really good and is something missing from other forum software.

Forum code is about the worst of any webapps, measured by any quality standard you want to use. Validation, accessibility, script loading, pagecode quality - everything is very poor compared to something like a good, modern CMS. Then you must consider popularity of a community site or alternatively commercial success of the site. The main factor here is SEO, whichever way you want to define that. For me it's simply a quality thing: if you improve every aspect of quality then your site does better. So for me, good SEO = good quality. I recognise that I may be in a minority with that viewpoint; nevertheless it works for me.

The vbSEO plugin fixes over 100 faults in the core software. Or perhaps to be more exact, it fixes 100+ 'factors' that impede good results in search and so on. All forum software has these issues (all database-driven server software in fact), but at least vB is fixable with this plugin. In contrast one of the more serious faults in phpBB, IMO, is that those faults are not correctable without extensive custom coding. Add to that the very poor usability of the admin backend, and the fact (when I last checked it out) it had no plugin system whatsoever - thus making it unique among modern webapps and a throwback to the 90s - I prefer not to use it, especially when there is such a good alternative.

In the end these things are a matter of personal preference. For me there are too many negatives to phpBB - but someone else would feel differently. Each to his own.
 
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