And why can't I choose my font and size?

[Dick Smith]

I wanted to post to the 'Brits Out in Cyrillic' post in Cyrillic, but not only don't I have any way of changing font, size, colour etc., but if I do that in Word and then cut and paste, it reverts to Verdana or whatever the standard font is...

[Ex Forum Admin]

When you post a reply, you have the option of posting in design or HTML, do you not have the font change drop downs when in 'design' and the smilies?

Like this ?

 Are you running a Norton firewall?

[Dick Smith]

I have no options at all - just the control panel, recent topics etc. No smileys, no html options.

I am not using a Norton firewall. The Mac firewall is set to 'off'. I am using Mac OSX (10.3.5) and Safari.

[Dick Smith]

Same thing in IE (this reply) except it looks worse (awful font confusion).

[Ex Forum Admin]

Sounds like it's because you are using a Mac, Eleanor has the same and she is on a mac.

[Dick Smith]

Well it isn't a disease! Can this be sorted out?

[Dick Smith]

In the face of no reply I'll expand a bit.

Because I use a Mac doesn't mean the site doesn't have to work for me. I visit many websites and forums - and they all work fine.

It isn't just Macs, either - there are many examples of people using Windoze (and other systems) who are having problems. Surely your contract must have some open-access requirements in it? (I think that's the law, or if not it's certainly good practice).

I know we get the site for free and all that, but surely Archant must think there is a benefit to them or they wouldn't have paid to upgrade the software in the first place. More likely you've been stuffed by the developers, probably signed it off without full testing on 'other' systems.

You might like to look at the following article:

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2002/jul02/jul22/1_mon/news4monday.html

from which I quote:

  "And it turns out that users of Apple computers are a more desirable demographic to advertisers than are PC users.

   “With above-average household income and education levels, the Mac population presents a very attractive target for marketers, both online and offline,” says NetRatings director and principal analyst T.S. Kelly.

   The report notes that Mac computer users tend to be creative, loyal and tech-savvy.

   Macintosh users constitute a reasonably large group: 10.9 million people go online using the computers, giving Apple an 8.2 percent share of the body of internet users.

   They’re also an experienced bunch.

    Some 52.3 percent of Mac users have been using the internet for at least five years. By way of comparison, just 41 percent of PC users have been online for five years or more."

[Ex Forum Admin]

Hi Dick,

The fact that I didn't reply straight away is due to a meeting and other work. The developers of asp.net are Microsoft and this is what the forum software is written in. Archant IT are looking at the patches available at the moment. I am trying to sort this out, but it may take a bit of time. If you would like to look into it yourself there is a support forum for users http://support.instantasp.co.uk/default.aspx. Hope this helps.

 

 

 

[Stephenlemmon]

Hi Dick.

Here are a couple of quotes you can add to your Mac defense ****nal from the late, and brilliant, Douglas Adams:

• I wrote an ad for Apple Computer: "Macintosh - We might not get everything right, but at least we knew the century was going to end."
• The Macintosh may only have 10% of the market, but it is clearly the top 10%.

Enjoy!

[Stephenlemmon]

Oh, I've been censored. I feel violated!

[Dick Smith]

One of my favourites is

"On the box it said Windows 98 or better. So I bought a Mac".

Didn't mean to be rude, Admin, but this is all a bit depressing - and I meant it about open access.

[Dick Smith]

Following Admin's link I found this on InstantForum's Forum

Q: "Cross-browser WYSIWYG support is essential. You should not design a product that does not perform this kind of function for the Mozilla family of browsers. Many people simply do not like IE or are coming from non-Windows platforms."

A: "We certainly would like the editor to work within Netscape / Mozilla and indeed we will be working towards this.

The standard plain text area presented for older browsers is not ideal. We will need to review this and determine how much work would be involved and if work is justified against the benefits.

We have a zillion other features to implement first but the cross-browser WYSIWYG is certainly on the to-do list. We could easily purchase a 3rd party solution for this like www.editize.com and this would take a couple of minutes to integrate but then you would lose access to the source code for the editor."

Q: "This module can be integrated into this forum.

Ryan, have you checked it?

http://www.kevinroth.com/rte/demo.htm "

A: "This would be great alternative for people not using IE. I still prefer the default forum WYSIWYG for IE but this could certainly be used for Mozilla / Netscape

And the source is available and can be distributed."

So is this a possibility, and will it help people on non-Windoze platforms?

[Hoddy]

Dick

The lack of choice of fonts and smileys is definitely linked to Mac use. When I use my OH's Microsoft I am offered both.

All I have to do now is decide whether I'd rather be a persecuted minority or in the top 10% of the population ! (Insert smiley here if you can

Hoddy

[Dick Smith]

That's interesting - if I log on at work (some sort of Windows - not sure what sort) I still don't get it. Perhaps the 'corporate setup' or a firewall is to blame?

[Russethouse]

I'm on Windoze and I still don't get smileys or font options !

(and I have tried all the different ways suggested to overcome it too)

Gay

[Diana]

My biggest grumble is I can't change the font size when reading the pages.  The normal view/text size makes no difference.  Anyone know how to do this.

Thanks

Diana