Fate of Io
Problems I Noticed So Far
2002/11/01 10:35:23 PST by Alex [0/0]

Most of those are low-priority issues. I'll edit this message if I think of anything else.

* http://www.ProjectGraveyard.com/foi/ProblemScreen01.jpg -- screenshot of a weird interface problem I'm getting in IE5.

* The splash page is perfect! The "First visit?" link is great. The only problem is that it's not very Lynx-friendly. That means it may not be compatible with some search engine spiders. How about slicing that image into several? This would allow alt text and real links where they are needed, and later we'd be able to add hover effects for GUI browsers.

* The following pages / modules contain simply "Fate of Io" in the title bar: Activity, Register, Change Password, and User List. For bookmarking and search engine convenience, duplicate page titles should be avoided whenever possible.

* The simple "Fate of Io" title belongs on the /index.html which currently contains no title! This is bad for search engines. (Speaking of which, the root page should also have some META tags. The v3.3 site used META tags in conjunction with my search engine and ICRA registration efforts. I can e-mail you the code to insert, if you want.)

* When you post a new topic, the title bar simply says "Fate of Io: ". If you press enter before you type any body text, the title bar includes the "post title" string you entered, and the post page returns with no error message. It would be better as like "Fate of Io: Dell: Posting New Topic" (with the node name). Also, a "blank posts not allowed" response would seem logical.

2002/11/01 12:59:38 PST by Alex [0/0]
Edited at 2002/11/02 11:42:54 PST

Ooh, I just got a nice long "javax.servlet.ServletException: You must login to do that" error trying to open the [Recent Activity] page. Scared me half to death.

(Hmm, [Temporal]'s errordumps are bigger than my errordumps. That's because I almost never code in Java. Hmmm, ever feel like framing your errordump and selling it as a modern artwork? BTW, "login" is not a verb, "log in" is. I think.)

I was logged in, but I guess it timed out. I'm sure the overwhelming majority of us would prefer to cookie in once and forget about it, like in Snitz, but Temporal's security concerns take prescience. I'm serious, I honestly believe this level of discomfort required to get and stay logged in is a good idea. It keeps the "activity gauge" genuine and prevents any unauthorized access.

There is, however, the error message issue, which is what this post is all about. An average user would not notice the "You must login to do that" info among a page-full of what could seem like Jupitertalk, and just think the site crashed and leave. After all, the error page comes up outside the site's default interface, and one must click the back button and then refresh to log in. I guess this was OK in Alpha but not in Beta. Thus, custom user-friendly error messages should be created.

Hmm, while I'm in my "concatenated random ideas" state of mind: it's noteworthy that the switch in forums affects several aspects of one's posting habit. First, if a code tag isn't valid yet, never fear, the chances are it will be valid some time later. And because of how the threads are organized, it's better to double-post than to edit. I think that's nice.

~~Alex~~

2002/11/01 16:26:21 PST by Temporal [manager]
Edited at 2002/11/01 16:27:08 PST
[Temporal's avatar]

Mostly good suggestions... but mostly already on my TODO list anyway. :) The site is not done (hence "beta"), but it's done enough to use.

BTW, your size tag will work if you put quotes around the number. (Also, the end-tag does not need to repeat the parameter.)

2002/11/01 17:15:52 PST by mystik3eb [0/43]
[mystik3eb's avatar]

What I noticed was that there isn't a how-to-use page. The Snitz forum had one, describing the different html uses, tags, smilies, etc. I think we should have one of these here, because I know I need them. I would like to know the capabilities of this site. I already know we can't have banners anymore (which was kind of dissapointing, but I understand the reason), but I'm still in the dark of everything else.

Also, why does it seem kinda hard to navigate this site? Is it just me?

(Sorry, I know these aren't bugs, but they are some things I was thinking about.)

2002/11/02 11:48:29 PST by Alex [0/0]

Mystik3eb, your beautiful avatar now looks pixelated...aww.

There was a "how-to" node explaining the tag syntax in the Alpha-testing version of the Project Manager. I'm sure Temporal will re-post it soon, and make improvements when he has the time. I'm sorry I didn't make backup of the Alpha, or else I could have restored some things myself.

All of us find the site a little difficult to navigate at first, but it becomes easier once you get used to it. After all, it's different from the forum systems we're experienced with. The time it takes for a new user to adapt to this Project Manager will decrease as new navigation, help, and convenience features are eventually added.

Temporal created an extremely elegant solution in very little time. Every time I nagged about flaws in its usefullness and effectiveness, he proved otherwise. We just gotta be patient.

2002/11/02 11:49:48 PST by Alex [0/0]

NEW BUG: Temporal, while I was previewing my dump of your "Basic Gameplay Mechanics - Proposal" article in fateofio.gameplay (reply to topic 227), the word "null" was in place of my avatar on top-right, and my Active Days were 0.

BTW, how are the topic ID's generated?

2002/11/03 04:00:18 PST by Temporal [manager]
[Temporal's avatar]

ID numbers for all types of objects are generated sequentially out of the same pool.

2002/11/11 19:06:48 PST by Alex [0/0]
Edited at 2002/11/16 03:43:57 PST

(Don't wanna waste a new thread on this.) I have made a raw dump [link="http://www.ProjectGraveyard.com/foi/files/FoI-v4PM-Backup-[11-15-02.zip"]v4PM] Snap-Shot[/link] (483KB ZIP`ed) as backup for my personal records, you people may download a copy if you like. Many older FoI files I've been hosting were brought down, but I still have them. Let me know if you need anything.

[color="brown"]EDIT: link updated for backup made on November 15th ([link="http://www.ProjectGraveyard.com/foi/files/FoI-v4PM-Backup-[11-15-02.zip"]DOWNLOAD][/link]).[/color]

2002/11/16 03:00:04 PST by Alex [0/0]

* The "My Profile" screen has "Edit" and "Delete" buttons on top. The "Delete" button doesn't seem to do anything right now (as I found out while trying to commit digital suicide, hehe, j/k). BTW, didn't Temporal once say that deleting users should be impossible? So why not remove that button?

* For topics, it's possible to click on "Delete" by accident when you meant to "Edit". It would be nice to have some kind if a confirmation screen.

* When the topic author clicks "Delete" on top of his/her first post, do all the replies get deleted as well? Doesn't this give too much power to the person who started the topic to unfairly delete the input of any number of other people?

* I hope all "Delete" operations simply mark the data as deleted, not actually wipe it out. As I described elsewhere, that data can be extracted and ZIP`ed by a maintenance script.

* I noticed that it's possible to "Edit" a topic reply but it's not possible to "Delete" it. (Mediocre far-off idea: if the post body is edited to zero-length string, then no one but the poster of that message can see it. This would be equivalent to deleting the post w/o any possible database complexities, and making it possible to undo.)

* I have an [edit] link on top of everyone's message in the topics for which I am the first poster. Looks like somebody mixed up the TopicAuthor and PostAuthor variables. ;) Though this is not a security flaw, trying to edit anyone else's message results in the good `ol 403 error dump.

* I think all my posts should have an "Electrocute" button next to them, which would open a pop-up window displaying a funny Flash animation. That way people can get their aggression out in a harmless way.

2002/11/16 10:14:26 PST by Temporal [manager]
[Temporal's avatar]

When you delete things, they go to the trash node. If you delete yourself, you end up in the trash, which for a user doesn't mean anything, since users are not part of the tree.

Seeing the edit link for all posts within a topic you created is a bug... ooops... but the reason for the bug is likely because usually if you have edit permission to a node, you also get edit permission to all of its contents. For topics that is not the case, but I guess the code that decides whether or not to put the links there doesn't get it right...

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