Forum links/graphics dead on main page

[MegsMom]

Well, I'm suspecting it's this PC that has the problem, but restarts, F5 reloads, etc haven't cured the problem.  And all does seem to be working on my 2 android tablets & the laptop.  But this getting pretty weird....  links won't work on main page; no graphics/pics on main  page;  ah, did find out I can get to Forum Support area by having it 'open in new window'.  Signed in or not--same results.  Oh and no time stamps on any topics, pages, anywhere. 

 

So have I missed an update somewhere for this PC?  I'd almost suspect my mouse being wonky except...any other pages on other sites seem to have no problems.

 

win7pro, IE9

[bradl]

Definitely weird.  Working same as always on my Mac, my ipad, and my phone. And apparently most of your devices except one PC.  Hmm. 

 

From your description it almost sounds like maybe a filter or security setting of some kind might be blocking javascript or other page components from loading? If "cairntalk.net" isn't in your "trusted sites" or equivalent setting, maybe try that?

[MegsMom]

Yep listed on trusted sites.

 

Gets weirder-- java update came up; everytime I clicked on it sent this PC into a full reboot! After 3x, had enough; went to programs and uninstalled java; went to site reinstalled. No change.

 

This PC does come up with seriously strange things occassionally, but I'm tending towards severing the relationship this time.

 

Feel free to offer any other suggestions; it can't go out the door tomorrow; really can't hurt it further; and I do have a backup laptop & keep everything on a jump drive, in case I have to do a sudden 'bail'.

[bradl]

Frustrating, I'm sure. Has this site ever worked on this particular PC since the move?

[MegsMom]

Move? Ah, the site! Yes, worked beautifully until middle of last week (that's why I checked for new sneaky added progs & updates, before mentioning. Alas, it appears it's this beast's gremlins only.) Not so frustrating--I am soooo used to these 'weirdos' happening, I have an entire repertoire of tricks I try & usually hit something that works......like opening this forum in a 'new window' because directly clicking sure doesn't work.

 

Still, I'm not noticing any problems with any other sites I've visited--and I've been hitting some sites I don't normally visit because of researching some new business problems. Thinking it's just a software update/failure, though, with your responses-- appreciate the input. Certainly not a 'first'-- had printer software suddenly go wonky, and after happening on an easy alternative solution while exploring a fix, simply haven't revisited the initial problem (& doesn't seem to have 'bled over' to anything else). No need to tinker with what's actually working just as well

[bradl]

The only change I've made recently was to add a responsive style sheet that will only be picked up by mobile devices. One last ditch thing (that you've probably already tried ) might be to try some different browsers: safari PC, chrome, firefox, Internet Explorer ... whichever one you've never used before. 

[bradl]

Last, last ditch: try changing the "theme" of the site to the default skin, as shown below. This will be very similar to the old blue skin. If that works, I'm guessing there may be some caching issue going on with your browser. 

 

 

 

[MegsMom]

Um, yes, well, it appears that this now bleeds into the next lower topic about 'tag line lengths'....? That my problems are another result of that problem...?

 

First, the bckgrnd I had was the default...um, so I clicked that 'off'. Where any of the first page/pics/forum headings were supposed to be, I had nothing--just large blank grey areas; and clicking on what supposed links I could see went nowhere.

 

So I was gonna do a screen capture for you, but closed several tabs first, then closed my favorites bar on the left.  ....wth? Everything came up as it should--whole page; every page.

 

Too weird. So I did a reboot. Clean slate to recreate.

 

Messing around again--it's directly related to how wide my favorites bar is. Widen it to my more 'preferred' width and the graphics go; back to large grey areas. Narrow it, and Presto! all graphics are viewable & clickable areas, work.

 

So, interestingly, if I set my favorites bar width, so all the site's graphics show, I have a horizontal scrollbar show up; but I widen the favs bar to eliminate the horizontal scroll bar, bye-bye graphics.

 

Well, I'm off to adjust some screen resolutions and see if I can get 'the best of both worlds'...... and see whatever else might pop up as a result     Murphy's Law, you know.

[bradl]

Ah, well you tracked it down perfectly! Excellent troubleshooting.

 

What you describe is the expected behavior as the window size is reduced. (If the attached is similar to what you're seeing ... to get it I grabbed the lower right corner of my browser and sized the whole window down.)

 

 

The mobile view on a phone -- particularly in portrait mode -- is basically an extreme version, where things are just rendered in a top-to-bottom, one-at-a-time fashion in order to deal with the extreme lack of screen real estate. Things like the decorative graphic get tossed right out, the black bar with account-related links links gets stretched vertically (along with the black background) and so on. Ugly, but the main links are still usable (or should be).

 

I'm still stumped if the forum  names aren't clickable for you though. That's just wrong

 

From a design intent perspective, the link to the last-posted-topic on the front page is sort of in the "nice to have" category and not intended as primary navigation. The reasoning for showing any specific content there at all is half teaser and half the purpose that  remltr pointed out in the other topic ... an easy means to see that something has happened recently without actually logging in. Since it only can show the very last item, I might not see that there may actually have been 11 topics in that subforum with new content. That's why it's considered expendable when the display area gets too small. 

 

Logged-in users will see black highlighted markers (white starburst against a black background) that indicate new, unread content exists in a forum. 

 

In some ways, the main page is a 'cover' page and not the actual "table of contents." Sort of like a magazine that has a few cover stories highlighted on the cover ("Five Famous Cairns Reveal Workout Secrets! ... page 3"  "Washington Westie Scandal! page 19 ). A teaser, but so much more inside.

The two main reading modes by design are browsing the Forum View Topic Lists (drilling down from the Forum view to the relevant forum or subforum) and Search (not the search bar, but the "new content" link). I use New Content almost exclusively here, because I sort of need to read nearly everything.

 

In contrast, on the support forum for this software itself, I mostly don't care about 99% of what gets posted, nor could I ever keep up (it's very, very active). So I tend to just scan a select few subforums, in browse mode, from the Forum View. 

 

Between layout considerations (favorite bar on the side versus at the top or bottom of browser window) and screen resolution -- high vs low, old vs new, widescreen vs regular, netbook vs laptop vs desktop, phone vs tablet vs ... what's next? -- it's hard to get a layout that works exactly the same for all conditions.

 

I hope you find a happy medium somewhere that allows you continue to enjoy participating. We enjoy your contributions

[MegsMom]

Ah, well you tracked it down perfectly! Excellent troubleshooting.

 

What you describe is the expected behavior as the window size is reduced. (If the attached is similar to what you're seeing ... to get it I grabbed the lower right corner of my browser and sized the whole window down.)

 

Cairn_Talk_Forum-3.png

 

The mobile view on a phone -- particularly in portrait mode -- is basically an extreme version, where things are just rendered in a top-to-bottom, one-at-a-time fashion in order to deal with the extreme lack of screen real estate. Things like the decorative graphic get tossed right out, the black bar with account-related links links gets stretched vertically (along with the black background) and so on. Ugly, but the main links are still usable (or should be).

 

I'm still stumped if the forum  names aren't clickable for you though. That's just wrong

 

From the boxed links "Cairn Terriers" and 'Suppport & Test Area", on your pic, I get zip but a large grey area.  Did find out if I happpen to slowly drag a mouse through it I get the descrips, but can't 'hit' the links blind or... they don't work, just like the "CT" & "S&T" links wouldn't for me.  If I scroll really far down I do run into the "Recent Status Updates", and Can click on those individual posts.  Pretty much means I'm scr messed up if I don't get a 'proper screen' to work with or resort to 'tricks'.

 

OK, gotta say you kinda blew me away with the highlighted comments above, so I had to check.  On both my 7inch and 10inch android tabs *held horizontally* I get exactly what one sees on a ( :)properly functioning) PC screen, nothing missing, nothing squashed, nothing out of line.  But, held vertically, then the graphics disappear & the posting times on the topic posts, and "Recent Status Updates" moves below the forum titles group--into the linear/vertical setup you describe. 

 

And I tend to use my tabs on the horizontal mostly, so I hadn't noticed the differences.    

[MegsMom]

Just to add to the 'muddle', the PC is busy so I had to swap to my IBM laptop...and can stretch the left favs column as far as it will go and nothing changes on the site, except a lower scroll bar gets added to my screen--how's that for a kicker. 

 

This has got to be boiling down to graphics handling-- hardware and software.  And my PC has a 'fail' set.  At 8yrs old could be an inconsistent hardware failing situation--those are really fun, esp if it's memory.