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The picture is blocked.

I use AdBlock Plus to block pictures or frames. I select the item and ask for it to be blocked by choosing  how I want it to be blocked.

I can block ALL pics from a specific website, or all appearances of a particular pic across  various websites, simply by selecting the right option and a judicious use of wild cards.

See HERE for screenshots.

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[quote user="woolybanana"]Q, top Post button may not work, though bottom does![/quote]

When I normally press the top one the screen flash's but does not post. It is as if I had not even clicked on the button. Text I have typed etc is still there. This time it went back to the thread, like you would expect if it were working normally but the post was not there. I guess I simply have to remember to use the bottom one.

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Now I am getting annoyed.

"Learn to live with it" "Change your browser to one you detest" "choose how you want it to be blocked" "download programme x y and z" etc (sorry you guys in the front line, I really do know you do your best) are not good enough.  I don't get this on other fora - they just work without my having to do anything or alter anything, as did this one last week.  The very idea that it won't work properly with IE is bonkers. Like it or not it's still the most used (I won't say popular or the MS nay-sayers will arrive in droves) browser so why isn't the software designed around it and adjusted for the minorities instead of the other way about?

I'm doing my best to be nice but honestly, this is too much.  I'm going to bed to get rid of my fourth headache in as many days.  The forum looks revolting and I've lost the will to live, let alone mess about or download any more attempted fixes for tonight.  Let me know when the lavender is dead.

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[quote user="Clair"]The picture is blocked.
I use AdBlock Plus to block pictures or frames. I select the item and ask for it to be blocked by choosing  how I want it to be blocked.
I can block ALL pics from a specific website, or all appearances of a particular pic across  various websites, simply by selecting the right option and a judicious use of wild cards.
See HERE for screenshots.
[/quote]

Yes but does the frame in which the forum is displayed bigger to cover all of the browser window or are you left with just blank stripes down the side?

 

I have discovered an easier way. If you click on the 'tile' button, the one between minimise and maximise located in the top right of your browser you can then pull the sides in and the top and bottom up and down to get ride of the picture. Once you have done this you can alternate between maximise and 'tile' size and Windows remembers where you have set it.

 

The actual problem is really to do with resolution.

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[quote user="Quillan"]

Where did my post go? I hit Post and it disappeared!

 

So does the background disappear but the forum later/frame stay the same size or does it expand to fit the width of the browser.

 

What I meant is that the picture is not an advert, just a picture.

[/quote]

Quillan, I posted a screenshot a page or so back, showing what happens (on my laptop, anyway). I'm using Windows 7 and Firefox.

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If you click on the 'tile' button, the one between minimise and maximise located in the top right of your browser you can then pull the sides in and the top and bottom up and down to get ride of the picture. Once you have done this you can alternate between maximise and 'tile' size and Windows remembers where you have set it.

Yep, you could, but you shouldn't have too.............

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[quote user="Quillan"][quote user="Clair"]The picture is blocked.[/quote]

Yes but does the frame in which the forum is displayed bigger to cover all of the browser window or are you left with just blank stripes down the side?[/quote]

No, the frame does not get bigger to fill the screen.

The picture simply disappears.

Look back at the pic I posted on pg 4; now just imagine there is no lavender field, only white instead, and there you have it!

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Right I understand now what you both have done and that the forum frame size stays the same size. The thing is looking around the Internet this type of thing is quite the norm these days. Most of the newspaper do it, MSN does it but I guess in this case not many seem to like the actual content of the photo rather than it being there or not? Actually my new website designs for my own business's do it but I don't use a photo or colours that distract readers away from the content.

 

I understand where Coops is coming from, she uses IE, she is happy with it as are millions of other users and she does not want to change browsers just so she can install a piece of software to remove a picture she does not like from one website. The thing is the picture will be part of the master 'layer' template that contains all the navigation at the top and the other 'stuff' at the bottom of the page and other things common to every webpage on the site. To remove it would normally mean that its removed from every page on the website, something I don't think Archant will want to do.

 

I think the quickest and simplest way for Coops is to use the 'tile' solution I suggested, she won't have to change her browser or load any software and learn how to use it.

 

Perhaps in the meantime Archant might consider changing to photo to some thing not quite so vivid.

 

Here is a screenshot (I hope) so you can see what I mean about tiles.

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q99/ckenway/screendump-1Forum.jpg[/IMG]

 

 

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[quote user="Quillan"]

Right I understand now what you both have done and that the forum frame size stays the same size. The thing is looking around the Internet this type of thing is quite the norm these days. Most of the newspaper do it, MSN does it but I guess in this case not many seem to like the actual content of the photo rather than it being there or not? Actually my new website designs for my own business's do it but I don't use a photo or colours that distract readers away from the content.

[/quote]

Thing is, though, Quillan, just because something is "quite the norm" doesn't make it the Gold Standard for everything else. I seldom read newspapers online for any length of time, and I don't think the way they do it bears any relation to what's been done here. I've never bothered with MSN in my life, so whether they do it or not isn't important.

I'm not trying to be difficult. I've found "my" fix, and offered it up for others to try or not, as they see fit or decide. For me, the benefit is simply that I've removed something that I find unnecessary and distracting. I'm one of the fortunate people who hasn't had any other problems with using the new board (although the enormous expanse of white at the top of the page is still there for me, but I suspect that a lot of that space is populated by ads that ABP is blocking for me).

It will, ultimately, be Archant's decision whether or not they make any modifications to the style of the forum, and of course the technical fixes are probably of greater importance as they impede or prevent regular users from accessing the forum itself, or from being able to perform many of the straightforward actions without which the forum will not be worth the virtual paper it's written on.

For me, the photo adds nothing to the forum. I find it distracting and unnecessary, but that's purely a personal view and not necessarily one shared by the majority. Many forums (and, indeed, blogs, where a similar layout is quite common) reduce the photo to a sort of "washed out" pastel version of the full-colour original, in order to leave it as a sort of "watermark" on all their pages yet render it less intrusive. For me (and again, my personal view probably doesn't reflect those of other forum users) something along those lines might be preferable.

ETA: A Certain Other Forum has just reappeared...only about 6 hours behind schedule. I think the smug approach was definitely a bit premature. .[Www]

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[quote user="You can call me Betty"]......(although the enormous expanse of white at the top of the page is still there for me, but I suspect that a lot of that space is populated by ads that ABP is blocking for me).

[/quote]

 

That's gone now, well for us with IE that is. Seems different browsers have different problems yet some have a few that are the same. The forum, according to the 'source' of the page is written specifically for IE according to the script although in actual practice it does seem to have a few problems.

 

Still the white bit has gone (as Wooly pointed out today some pages back) and lets see what they manage to fix on Monday.

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I installed adblock overnight.  I's got rid of the advert for French Property on the main forum list - but not the lavender fields!!!

Meanwhile, I am still having to scroll along to read the text, once I've increaded it to a size large enough to read.  Now it should NOT be within the bounds of probablity to fix that problem!  Just make the print size bigger - pleasse - or, like Coops, I too will loose the will to use this forum.

Now off to see what's happened with the "other" forum now it's back up.

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[quote user="Judith"]I installed adblock overnight.  I's got rid of the advert for French Property on the main forum list - but not the lavender fields!!!

Meanwhile, I am still having to scroll along to read the text, once I've increaded it to a size large enough to read.  Now it should NOT be within the bounds of probablity to fix that problem!  Just make the print size bigger - pleasse - or, like Coops, I too will loose the will to use this forum.

Now off to see what's happened with the "other" forum now it's back up.

[/quote]

It won't "get rid" of the lavender fields unless you tell it to. See Clair's earlier post where she gave the link to the particular url that you need to block to get rid of the lavender.

ABP will only block adverts as a matter of course. If you want it to block other stuff, you have to tell it what you want it to block. It's not programmed to destroy all lavender as a matter of routine![:D]

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[quote user="You can call me Betty"]......(although the enormous expanse of white at the top of the page is still there for me, but I suspect that a lot of that space is populated by ads that ABP is blocking for me).[/quote]

Betty,

I don't have a large expanse of white at the top:

[IMG]http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q296/clair46/0a8facaa.jpg[/IMG]

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[quote user="Judith"]I installed adblock overnight.  I's got rid of the advert for French Property on the main forum list - but not the lavender fields!!!

Meanwhile, I am still having to scroll along to read the text, once I've increaded it to a size large enough to read.  Now it should NOT be within the bounds of probablity to fix that problem!  Just make the print size bigger - pleasse - or, like Coops, I too will loose the will to use this forum.

Now off to see what's happened with the "other" forum now it's back up.[/quote]

Judith,

To get rid of the lavender pic, right-click on the picture itself.

Select "ABP: block image", then select the first option in a list of four. Add filter, Close and reload the page.

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[quote user="Clair"][quote user="You can call me Betty"]......(although the enormous expanse of white at the top of the page is still there for me, but I suspect that a lot of that space is populated by ads that ABP is blocking for me).[/quote]

Betty,

I don't have a large expanse of white at the top:

[/quote]

Clair: I see what I've done now[:$]. I've got rid of the CF logo as well...probably when trying to get rid of the annoying ticker at the top.

I will go and put it back now I know what it is that's missing....[:)]

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[quote user="Suandpete"]I just followed a hint from "another place" and it works here too - just hold down control and use the wheel on the mouse to enlarge the text and you can then fill the page and eliminate the lavender plants.

[/quote]

Sueandpete,

I moved your post as the other thread is meant to help the IT dept sort out whatever technical problems remain.

As far as the lavender field is concerned, have a look at the top of pg 31, where I explain how to remove it using ABP.

As to the hint "from another place", have a look at my post dated 20/03 at the bottom of pg 11... [Www]

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Right, I've slept on this a bit and here's my two-pennyworth having read the various fixes.

 

I've enlarged the type size and it does make this forum easier to read but makes other pages I read horrid because they are now too big and I have to move away from my screen.  They are sensible looking whereas this one is too small if left alone.

 

I've tried the tile thing but if I enlarge it to fill the screen it looks exactly the same.  I maybe missed something in trying to understand what you meant, Q?

 

I've looked at some newspaper sites and see what you mean but they tend to be white along the sides (well, the ones I've looked at) so it really isn't so obvious or distracting.  What's more, I'm not mad about reading them for long periods either which is why I subscribe on my Kindle for my main newspaper fix where I can read long articles all the way through. It may indeed be this very problem which means I find online news very difficult to read "in bulk" as it were.

 

I guess I understand that they want to use the same layout for newspapers and the forum but take a look at the layout of this forum which was also bought out recently by a big publishing house but saw no necessity to change the look of the thing. It has the same white background but somehow isn't anything like as hard on the eyes.  A good designer would be able to explain why this is the case, I'm not sure that I know the technical reason, perhaps it is simply because the purple provides such a stark contrast that makes my eyes ache so much.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/

 

I don't post there, btw, it's just an example!

 

More on the technical thread - the para thing is getting very irritating.

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[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Judith"]I installed adblock overnight.  I's got rid of the advert for French Property on the main forum list - but not the lavender fields!!!

Meanwhile, I am still having to scroll along to read the text, once I've increaded it to a size large enough to read.  Now it should NOT be within the bounds of probablity to fix that problem!  Just make the print size bigger - pleasse - or, like Coops, I too will loose the will to use this forum.

Now off to see what's happened with the "other" forum now it's back up.[/quote]

Judith,

To get rid of the lavender pic, right-click on the picture itself.

Select "ABP: block image", then select the first option in a list of four. Add filter, Close and reload the page.

[/quote]

Sorry Clair,

When I right click (it doesn't actually right-click with a magic mouse on my mac) nothing happens.  Nor can I find out where adblock is on my computer to load it ... [EDIT sorry, now found it, but I don't know how to use it to delete this) but I can get rid of it most of the time as I need to enlarge the screen to see it, but ....

The edit panel to type in is still too large across - to see the whole of it I have to reduce it until to see the dear old lavendar fields, then I can see the whole panel, but the size of font is too small for me to easily see what I am typing.

I know my eyes are not good, but I can't be the only person with this problem surely!

Will somebody please sort this - soon!

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[quote user="cooperlola"] 

 I guess I understand that they want to use the same layout for newspapers and the forum but take a look at the layout of this forum which was also bought out recently by a big publishing house but saw no necessity to change the look of the thing. It has the same white background but somehow isn't anything like as hard on the eyes.  A good designer would be able to explain why this is the case, I'm not sure that I know the technical reason, perhaps it is simply because the purple provides such a stark contrast that makes my eyes ache so much.

[/quote]

Coops, I think it is also because the print size and the choice of font is difficult to read,  That taken with the background is quite enough to cause difficulty in reading.

Font sizes which are narrow, such as ariel, are more difficult to read once you have the juxtaposition of several sizes, screens and colours around you.

All I know is that like you, I cannot get it big enough to read without loosing half the screen off the side.

I just do not know why they did not beta test this, or just change its "location" to the new stable - the forum itself worked well and thus there was no need to change it. And whoever designed it, if designed it was, should be shot for designing something which has produced so much ire and satisfaction.

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I must admit that things do seem a little better now. This background seems easier on the eye, I've taken up the tip to make the lavender sides disappear, although it's maddening to have to use L & R arrows to read some of the posts/post numbers/this post/trying to read names of posters. Plus the overall effect is still too jazzy.

I popped over to the French Entree forum , following the very welcome emails they sent out to say about the work that they were undertaking, and that it was completed. I found their forum so easy on the eye - no complaints at all about size, colour scheme, lavender sides etc. But French Entree forum isn't this forum. We want this forum to be as easy to read as it ever was, without having to fiddle about with arrows etc. We'll probably forgive those who messed it up eventually, but only if it's made as easy to read and use as it used to be, and as easy as other forums such as French Entree forum. Presumably they had to make their pages compatible with all the modern stuff too - so how did they manage so well - just a few hours later than planned?!

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[quote user="Judith"]When I right click (it doesn't actually right-click with a magic mouse on my mac) nothing happens.  Nor can I find out where adblock is on my computer to load it ... [EDIT sorry, now found it, but I don't know how to use it to delete this) but I can get rid of it most of the time as I need to enlarge the screen to see it, but ....

The edit panel to type in is still too large across - to see the whole of it I have to reduce it until to see the dear old lavendar fields, then I can see the whole panel, but the size of font is too small for me to easily see what I am typing.[/quote]

Judith,

I've just asked Mr Clair to show me how to do it on his Mac (Lion), using Firefox:

ctrl click on the image should bring the ABP menu. Select ABP: block image; select the first bullet option; add filter; close; reload.

Having said that, he says he prefers to use Chrome on his Mac... [:)]

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Taking 'five' from the gardening I have had a look round other Archant websites. None seem to have such a 'bright' background picture, they all go for something bland and kinder on the eye. I also found one of their forums (about boats) and that has the same bland background as the other websites. This is the only one I found that has an actual picture although in truth I have not visited every single one of their websites just six or seven.

 

To be honest the background picture is not a big issue for me personally. I would rather they sorted out the top post button, paragraph spacing and make it IE9 compatible (so you don't have to use the compatibility button) and deal with the background photo later. That does not of course mean that I feel no sympathy for those that do find the photo rather annoying. It is very quick to take out and perhaps Archant could do something temporarily, sort the other problems out then come back to it.

 

One idea I had is why not have a photographic competition and let the members vote on what they think is the best?

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Maybe I am not really understanding the problems here, If you have to use L & R arrows to scroll sideways to read the whole post then presumably you have ''overfilled'' the screen ( maybe not the best terminology ).

Originally I had lots of lavender at each side but by holding down the 'Ctrl' key ( Control) and rolling my mouse wheel I got the lavender side bars reduced to approx 1 cm each side. The text is perfectly readable and the computer 'remembers' this setting and uses it each time I open the forum. Perhaps this is peculiar to W7 + Chrome but maybe not.
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