Dear WaterGirl,
I just travelled around the world in my hot air balloon, and now that I am back, I’m wondering if you guys made any changes to the new site while I was gone.
Dear Wow, That’s Amazing!
And here I thought we had accomplished a lot this week! Let’s see… We switched from the lovely blue-green-gray background on block quotes to a possibly-more lovely blue outline with a shadow. People seem to like that a lot; hopefully you will, too.
We increased the size of the space you get when you press RETURN, so we think people won’t feel the need to press RETURN twice between their paragraphs. That should go a long way toward decreasing extra white space we’ve been seeing.
We also made a change to the comment numbers; they are a bit smaller and should size better on all devices. (Bye-bye tiny little numbers on phones!) Oh, and we changed the pie filter font that you see when you select quotes instead of images.
Dear WaterGirl,
What about the loyal On the Road people? What have you done for us lately?? Writing not just for myself, you understand, but for all of us.
Dear On the Road Peeps,
Well, let’s see. We moved On the Road from Featuring in the sidebar to the category bar at the top. We hope that was a nice surprise! But we took away something, too; we hope you won’t mind. You won’t see duplicate images anymore when the most recent post on Balloon Juice happens to be an On the Road post. Going forward, you’ll just have to be satisfied with a single copy of all those gorgeous images.
Dear WaterGirl,
Have there been any changes that would specifically affect front pagers? We love change!
Dear Front Pagers,
At long last, we added a plugin for filtering Categories and Snark to the Classic Editor, so those of you who don’t typically use the Block Editor won’t have to go to the Dark Side for ease of adding categories and snark to posts.
Dear WaterGirl,
Are there any little things we might want to know, that we may not know already?
Dear Inquiring Minds…
Yes! That’s an excellent question!
Did you know you can make the comment box longer, so you can see your entire comment, even if it’s long? Just drag the little thingie (technical term) that’s at the bottom of the comment box until it’s the size you want. The little thingie is to the right of the little P that people ask about, and it works in the Reply box as well as in the comment box at the bottom.
Speaking of the little P, what does it do? P stands for Paragraph, so it’s saying you are in Paragraph mode. If you put your cursor inside a blockquote, it will say P and Blockquote. If something is in color, it will say P and Span (which indicates color).
Speaking of white space… the block quote feature automatically adds space around the outline of the quote, so now if you add an extra line manually, either above the quote or after it, you get a boatload of extra white space.
The RSS feed now includes the name of the BJ author, but that won’t show up in your old feed; in order to see it, you have to subscribe again.
Sometimes we refer to a location for something on the site as if that location is true for everybody. (I am definitely guilty of this!) For instance, the Pet Calendar Info is located at top right on the site, but only for computers and for tablets that are in landscape mode. Tablets in portrait mode, and phones, will show that under the hamburger. (aka the 3 lines located top right on a phone) The same is true when we talk about the sidebar – that’s only true on computers and tablets in landscape – on a phone, or a tablet in portrait mode, that’s all located after the comment window at the bottom.
THAT’S ALL THE LETTERS FOR TODAY. I’LL CONTINUE TO DO THIS FOR A BIT UNTIL EVERYBODY IS UP TO SPEED.
Humdog
I frequently encounter comments displayed on top of each other. Oddly, it happens to comments 20 and 21, 50 and 51, and once 100 and 101. Refresh does not fix it. On Safari.
Thanks for all your work and continued fine tuning.
WaterGirl
@Humdog: You are most welcome! Have you seen that is the past few days? Because the developers made a tiny change last week to the ad placeholders that they thought might resolve that.
edit: Guessing that you read BJ on a mac, an iPad or an iPhone? Those are the only devices where we’ve seen reports of this happening. So far, at least!
Baud
I only have old bugs to report, but I can wait because there’s nothing major. Site looking good.
Sab
@Humdog: I have run into that also. I am on an old Nook with Chrome browser. Steeplechase thinks it might be related to an adjoining blank ad box. My example was comments #70 and #71 in Cole’s late night Wilds of Virginia post.
MattF
I’ve noticed that the comment box sometimes appears with only the header and field for the ‘Text’ tab and no ‘Visual’ tab.
David ??Booooooo?? Koch
Dear Watergirl,
What have the Romans ever done for us?
J R in WV
Things are looking good. Thanks for the educational and informative post!!
Hurray for the NEW Balloon Juice, now better than ever before…
I know how hard tuning up a new system is from painful personal experience, so my praise is based in that historical knowledge.
John Revolta
@WaterGirl: I was getting that too. Haven’t seen it today yet. Safari 11 on an old Mac desktop.
WaterGirl
@Baud: You can use the site feedback form to send me a list of your old bugs. (old bugs, all in a single form, please)
Baud
@MattF: I’ve seen that on the mobile site.
WaterGirl
@Sab: Oh, it’s definitely related to the ad placeholder box. That’s why they tweaked that in the hopes of eliminating that error.
edit: I noted the time of the potential fix – 4pm on Dec 4. So if anyone is certain that they have seen the overlapping comments since then, let me know please.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I’ve seen that as well on a Win10/Chrome desktop, especially when I go to a new post.
Sab
@Sab: Otherwise, I really really love the new site. Of course I am a luddite and unwilling to bother to learn anything complicated. But I think the site is really clean and attractive and easy to work.
I love the refresh button on the mobile. I never had that before. I used to just back out of and then into the site to refresh. The button is so much easier.
I really like the slightly wider paragraph space. New today?
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Ok, I’ll try to do that.
WaterGirl
@John Revolta: I noted the time of the potential fix – 4pm Eastern on Dec 4. So if anyone is certain that they have seen the overlapping comments since then, let me know please.
that was an edit on a previously posted reply to someone else, but I’m not sure people ever see edits, so I thought it might be a good idea to copy it here, as well.
WaterGirl
@Sab: Yes, it is new! Details are in the post up top.
WaterGirl
Curious: Did anyone learn anything new from this post? Are these helpful? Or not so much?
edit: besides J.R. :-)
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I think the big problem is that your responsiveness makes it harder to complain like a true jackal should. It leaves is a bit empty inside.
oatler.
@David ??Booooooo?? Koch: The aquaduct?
Sab
@WaterGirl: There were a fair number ( 2 or 3 per thread) before, but the only one I have seen since Dec.4 was that one I mentionned above on Dec.8. So for me it seems to be mostly fixed.
JustRuss
I like it.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Ah. So you prefer Fuck You (!) you’re doing it wrong? I could try that, I guess, but it’s really not my style.
When I reply to Site Feedback forms, some people are really surprised and I hear “I didn’t think anyone would actually respond.”
I think people hate no response more than “sorry, we can’t give you the thing you asked for”. Nothing makes me crazier than feeling like I am talking into the wind.
MattF
@WaterGirl: I did wonder what that ‘P’ signified.
It might be useful to expound a bit on the capabilities of the different codes that can be deployed in the ‘Text’ tab. I promise not to use a Comic Sans font, even if I know how to.
WaterGirl
@Sab: Sorry, I missed this:
Reading comprehension error on my part.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Dear WaterGirl,
There’s a line in the right margin, is this related to the missing ad content?
Confused in Glendale.
John Revolta
@WaterGirl: Well I learned about the overlapping comments thing about which we’re speaking about. Before that I’d just learned to ignore them so I can’t say for sure when they stopped.
Humdog
Water girl, the comment sandwich happened on Saturday the 7th for me on an IPad.
WaterGirl
@MattF: That’s what everybody says, but comic sans can be hard to resist, at least one time.
Sab
@WaterGirl: I have loved this whole process from my side, because the other commenters and you are teaching me things that I never knew about how to work it.
This blog has always had the computer professionals and sophisticates, and then the rest of us that just type. It’s what I love about the place, but as a mere typist I often feel very lost. It was enjoyable to learn a few more things as the pros talked through their learnimg curves.
WaterGirl
@Humdog: This is my sad face. But good to know, thanks.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MattF: Baud was on that on Day 1, testing various fonts and I think only one worked.
Baud!2020!
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I really appreciate the format of your comments in these threads. :-)
I am confused, too, because I am not sure what line you mean. Can you describe what it’s next to, or between?
edit: we do have lines with an empty space just above and below Cole’s twitter feed, are those the ones you are asking about? If so, yes, I am certain that those are spots for ads.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I tried but failed. I thought it might work because I thought I saw someone else’s comment with a different font.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl:
Here’s a screen shot with the line highlighted.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I thought you got one font to work.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I got the Heading 1 tag to work, but I haven’t been able to reproduce it.
Baud
@Baud:
test
ETA: Nope.
ETA: Nope.
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Ah, yes. That’s the bottom of the two lines at the bottom of John’s twitter feed. I am virtually certain that an ad will go in that space.
JWR
Ooo, is this the complaint department? Well, here goes. ;)
My Visual and Text buttons are missing, (unless I’m replying to a comment), but the biggest bug for me is my browsers Back button. It doesn’t remember where I want to go. And I hope this is descriptive enough: After clicking back through 3 comments in a conversation, clicking my browsers Back button first takes me back to the correct comment, the second click takes me to a comment of my own, (and in a conversation in which I was not at all involved), and the last back click sends me to the previous post. And it’s been this way for awhile now.
Oh, and I see the same behavior after editing a comment. I have to refresh the entire page for the edit to show up.
All up to date Windows 10, Firefox version 70 something.
ETA, and suddenly, my comment shows up immediately. Maybe just hadda few slow electrons in there. Will report back on the back button issue. (Nope. Back button issue still not resolved.)
WaterGirl
@Baud: I was brave enough to go with colors, but I did nix all the heading options we could have had in the visual tab. I didn’t think any good could come from that one.
Besides what if the TRUCKLOADS OF CORPORATE CASH guy comes back, he should at least have to type all caps and manually bold it. Can you imagine that in Heading 1?
WaterGirl
@JWR: I’m sorry, but this is Arguments. :-)
okay, now i’ll read the rest of what you wrote.
WaterGirl
@JWR: Yeah, next up on the priority list is “I have to manually refresh in order to see my comment”. My guess is that the weirdnesses you just described are all cache related, so I picked the one that seemed most important.
My hope is that in fixing that, a lot of the other issues will be resolved too, and then we can focus on anything that remains.
debbie
I have noticed that the tabs no longer have the thread titles. They all have “Balloon Juice” spelled out, then a vertical line (ie, |), and then maybe just the first few letters of the thread title. It’s tough to remember which tab is which.
Love the spacing between paragraphs!
JWR
@WaterGirl: Yeah, that’s what I figured, that it’s all being worked out, and everything will work fine. Aside from these small things, the new site is awesome, the speed is awesome, and you guys are awesome for creating such a nice place, also too!
I’d already decided to send what I just wrote to your contact info addy, but I know it’s a new site and didn’t want to overburden you with gripes. ;) quick eta: especially since I comment so little.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Do you mean that you do not see something like this?
WaterGirl
@debbie: Yay on loving the spacing!
I’m trying to figure out what kinds of threads you are in, because there are 6-8 different places where we have to define what shows up in the titles. e.g. a thread you get to from a search, vs. a thread you get to under View by Author, etc.
Are you by any chance in some threads you found through the search the website feature? Or some other way besides just clicking on the wings?
What threads are showing up without information? How did you get to them?
If you open a new window for the balloon juice front page, does it show up as mine does with the checkmark in the image above? Then if you click the top post to open in a new tab, how does that show up?
Mary G
O/T but more shit from the shitgibbon:
I am so tired.
Kattails
Ummm, I have to subscribe?
@WaterGirl: I did have overlapping quote happen, and didn’t have a chance to send them along. At the same time, there were no ads showing (as later described by Cole), so I figured it had to do with that, but yes I’m on a Mac mini latest whatever. Today I see ads and no overlaps. Just got home from work. Let’s see, I’m on Visual but can switch to text. I knew how to drag the box open. What does clear formatting mean?
I’m old enough to be easy to please. “When you’re young, one thing wrong and your day is ruined. When you get older, one thing right and your day is made.” I’m so impressed with the hard work everyone has put into this.
WaterGirl
@Kattails: What does this mean?
Oh, is that in reference to the RSS feed info in the post up top? If you don’t have an RSS reader, you don’t have to worry about it. I am set up so my RSS reader tells me when a balloon juice post is put up and I can see what it’s about from my reader, before I come to the site. If I guessed wrong about your question, let me know. thanks
WaterGirl
@Kattails:
That’s in case you muck up what you were trying to do. Let’s say color gone wrong, or a quote within a quote didn’t work out as you planned, etc. Clear formatting would leave all your text, but take away the formatting so could try again.
Kattails
@debbie: mine shows balloon-juice.com/2019/12/09/dear-watergirl-did-you and then it fades off but if I click on the header the whole thing shows in blue… but maybe I need to look at more than one tab… No, I opened John’s Twitter feed from the sidebar and both tab headers were enough to figure out which was which, but then again I’m on a real computer with some actual real estate to look at.
@WaterGirl: copying from above, didn’t think to reply to both at the same time.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
For this thread, I see (after the little balloon guy) “Balloon Juice | Dear” and just the first line of the “W.
ETA: My Mac (Window dropdown) doesn’t give me a list like your screen shot with all the titles.
Kattails
@WaterGirl: Oh, it was in your front page piece but had to do with RSS feeds, sorry, got mixed up.
@WaterGirl: I’ll remember that when I get brave enough to try formatting anything……:-) And am saving this page for reference.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Hmm. Are you talking about what you see if you click on Window and can see all your open windows? If so, can you send me a screen capture? And if it’s something else, can you get a screen capture of that?
Also, what device/browser combo does it happen on? Do you see the same thing in a different browser, if you have one?
WaterGirl
BTW, we added the ability to attach screen captures to the Report a Problem part of the Site Feedback form. Or you can attach to an email message to WaterGirl.
WaterGirl
@Kattails: Great! You can also find these later; Dear WaterGirl is the last option under Featuring in the sidebar to the right, and that will bring up all of these.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Do you use Safari?
WaterGirl
@Mary G: We are all tired. The fat bastard wears us down, then we get our energy back and pop back up. My mom once told me that I care too much; I think you might suffer from that, too. :-)
NotMax
Have not encountered the 502 or 542 errors since December 7th. Solved? Or yet lurking in hibernation?
Bumpety bump to top of page with a concomitant raft of refreshes subsequently required still a frequent* occurrence. Sure you already know that remains so, though.
*Have not bothered keeping a strict record but a rough guess is ~4 times out of every 10 after pressing Post Comment button. No discernible difference in occurrence whether javascript is enabled or is disabled. Windows 10, Firefox.
debbie
@WaterGirl
I just sent you screenshots. They’re just FYI, I doubt anything can be done.
WaterGirl
@debbie: At least now I understand what you were referring to! I just wrote you back.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: I’m still thinking that most of those issues are cache related. We didn’t have them on the test site at all, and that’s the primary difference between the real site and the test site.
As I mentioned to JWR, I have “I don’t see my comment sometimes until I manually refresh” at the top of the list, and solving that (I believe) will require getting the right balance of benefits of cache without creating a lot of other problems, which I believe will resolve much of this. We shall see!
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Not quite ready to answer your first question yet.
mad citizen
I’ve never commented on anything on this topic, but this post made me notice how dark (off-white) the background is. Maybe my eyes are tired this evening, but it seems hard to read the text, like there is not enough contrast. Either the background is too dark or the letters aren’t not black enough.
Doug
Thank you for all of your good work!
Another Scott
In case this thread isn’t dead…
Some images in front-pagers’ posts aren’t showing up in the posts themselves, but at least one of them does show up in the L/R flyout buttons. For instance, today:
There’s a birdy in Albatrossity’s L/R flyout buttons and lots of images in Alain’s post for him.
But in Cheryl’s North Korean Christmas Present there’s an image (of a world map) in the L/R flyout buttons but no images visible in the post itself. Apparently the dB issue with images still remains.
Chrome on Win10.
I hope this helps tie things down. Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.