OK, I get on here, and can't access any boards. The whole thing is changed. What is going on!?!
I'm a NETSCAPE (not 6) user. Some of us don't have the luxury of being able to have new computers. I can't go anything above Explorer 3 and every page you load it comes up with warnings about Javascript errors.
Everything was going nicely until I come here today and I try to click a link on the board and I can't... the links (what few that are there) are a few centimeters above the actual 'word' and invisible. When I eventually TRY to get to post a message, there are no boxes available to type into. And Charles Capps - has no e-mail address. Not in his profile, not at his home page not on the 'solareclipse' web-page - nowhere. SO Please can things be changed back. The white background is also REALLY annoying (but that is the least of the problems).
Not everyone uses IE.
I'll just reiterate this point again for I predict a number of posts (that I probably won't end up being able to read - can someone e-mail me to tell me things have been fixed) saying to download this and that.
Netscape 4.79 user no Netscape 6 - to big for my computer - it can't handle it (have tried it; had to remove it) no Internet Explorer version 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or whatever it goes up to. Too much for my system to handle. Changes too many things on my W95 system.
Can someone e-mail me to let me know things have been fixed. Cause I won't be able to come back here otherwise. (Which I'm sure most of you won't care about).
I've been with all the incarnations of Flare since it's UP web-board days. I like coming here to lend a sarcastic remark or two.
Andrew
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Oh, and Flare just crashed Netscape for the 3rd time for me today.
And a minor point, the new Flare logo - the 'sun' is nice. The writing looks like F/gre.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote: Not everyone uses IE.
No. But 92% of people here do. I know it's not much comfort, but there does come a point where trying to remain backwardly compatible gets silly. Only 1.5% of all requests are coming from NS4, and there's a fair chance that that could just be you, Andrew.
quote: no Internet Explorer version 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 or whatever it goes up to. Too much for my system to handle. Changes too many things on my W95 system.
Trying to help here, so I'll ask, what on Earth do you mean, "Changed too many things on my W95 system"? IE 4 was out before before even Windows 98. And the only changes where those nice little OSR2 type addtions (such as the quick launch bar, I believe).
If you mean your computer actually can't cope with IE 5, then I'm surprised it's coping with Windows at all. I've had IE 5 running on P90s before, no sweat.
Posted by Colorful Cartman (Member # 256) on :
You could always download Opera and/or Mozilla. Both are lightning fast, light weight, relatively small, rock solid browsers with some nifty features built in that neither IE nor NS have. What's more, they support ALL standards -- even the dreaded Microsoft ones.
Posted by Toadkiller (Member # 425) on :
quote:Originally posted by Colorful Cartman: You could always download Opera and/or Mozilla. Both are lightning fast, light weight, relatively small, rock solid browsers with some nifty features built in that neither IE nor NS have. What's more, they support ALL standards -- even the dreaded Microsoft ones.
Opera is a great browser - pretty much all I use at home. I think they even have a "sponsored" version for free these days. I have on rare occasion had it hang up during on-line shopping, but not very often.
I think you are more likely to be able to get it installed than to get the board to change back. Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: No. But 92% of people here do. I know it's not much comfort, but there does come a point where trying to remain backwardly compatible gets silly. Only 1.5% of all requests are coming from NS4, and there's a fair chance that that could just be you, Andrew.
Well, there are two edges to this. One one hand, yes at home I have both IE 6 and Mozilla 1.1b, and swap back and forth with impunity based on mood. All heat powered by Athlon goodness And yes, the place looks great there.
But at school, which does still run on NS 4.somecrap, the place looks just like that....crap. People accessing from libraries, university, work, etc. may not actually have any choice as to which browser they have to use.
I just wonder if it would be possible to "dual boot" the UBB, have one link on solareclipse to some archaic barebones non-modified default UBB version, and another to the current version. The two versions could share content, but not features Considering that all the "content" is plain ascii text we type in, it should be workable.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Hmm. It's a fair point. I wonder how much work it is...
Good grief though, is your school really still running NS4? What OS are they using? Windows 3.1? And are the computers steam powered?
Besides, if you are at school (or work) you should be working (or schooling). Not here. Not at all. No.
Apaprently, the place looks fine in NS3... Posted by Prismatic EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
on my Mac at work (dual 1gHz, OS X), the page doesn't load properly. there are text and image overlaps, and some images don't load properly. that is with whatever version of IE for Mac is current. i use opera 6.04 almost exclusively at home, and this page works perfectly on that.
Posted by Magnus Pym Eye (Member # 239) on :
"And are the computers steam powered?"
MOVE!
I mean, really.
Posted by Captain... Mike (Member # 709) on :
My computer runs on a lawnmower engine! i need a gascan, but the fumes are all right man *passes out*
Posted by Prismatic EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
actually, something did load properly in Opera. CaptianMike said something funky like caffiene in chocolate irritating his stomach lining and killing him, and it was all smushy and overlappy. i had to open up IE to read it. hmmm, problem.
Posted by ThoughtPyminal (Member # 480) on :
Why did you bother, is my question.
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
NS4 is over five years old. It is no longer supported here, and soon everywhere else. Less than 2% of net users are still stuck with it. It's falling off everyone's radars... rightfully so.
If you can't use Opera (it's quite good), you can turn off CSS in NS4 as a workaround (Edit -> Prefs -> Advanced -> UNCHECK Enable Style Sheets). You'll find yourself needing to do this more and more as time goes on and sites no longer work in NS4.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
One suggestion about schools/libraries still using NS4. Tell them! Go to whoever is in charge, and say "Excuse me, but a couple of the sites I use for research/monkey looking/whatever keeps crashing in Netscape. It works fine on my computer at home with has Explorer, and my mate who has NS6 says it works on his, but it keeps crashing on the old, old version of netscape we have. Are they planning on upgrading the browser anytime soon?"
If enough people did it, they would change it. Probably.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
I've had some of the similar problems as AndrewR, although it's not threatening my browser or anything. I use a program called OmniWeb 4.1, that's based on the Mozilla program. It's still an "under construction" browser, and so some of the Javascript features haven't been fully enabled. However, I've also had the problem where the upper left Flare logo overlaps some of the text in the top navigation bar.
I did check the same page using Mozilla 1.0, and it rendered fine, so I know that it's a problem with Omniweb. However, the point remains that not everyone is going to be using perfectly cutting-edge technology, no matter how much programmers would want us all to.
And just to prove that Charles's new layout really IS a bit buggy (no offense, it looks fine when it renders properly! ), I also tried to open Flare using Internet Explorer 5.1 for Mac OS X -- one of the most recent versions. (Windows may be up to version 6, but Macs are only to 5.2, but still have all the same features.) Anyway, the background renders fine, but all of the UBB tables are way off-center:
Isn't programming fun? Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
There are a few bugs, yeah.
To be fair to Charles though, asking someone to use a newer browser than NS4 isn't demanding that they use "cutting edge" technology. It's 5 years old! In computing terms, that's ancient. And the argument falls down even more when you consider that newer browsers are free. And apart from Andrew's undisclosed problems, I've never known a system to crash because it's had too high a version of Internet Explorer on it.
Sure, if he'd made it so that the forums only worked on IE 6, then there would be a valid compaint. But NS4? Come on. Next people will be compaining that it won't work properly when they try to use Windows 3.1
And Chuckie hates the MAC IE. Methinks Microsoft made it bad, so that they could laugh at you! And it worked! HAHAHAHA!
Posted by Magnus Pym Eye (Member # 239) on :
When did you become a Old Technonazi? It's kind of scary.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I have many layers.
I think it's related to my dislike of people who hate change.
Yes. It is.
Either that, or it's because I now have Windows XP. PH�@R M�!
Posted by Magnus Pym Eye (Member # 239) on :
0H N0(5!11 YU0 43r +o l33+ pH0r M3! YU0 43R v@Ry uNique @5 NO 0n3 u353$ w1nd0w3$ xP!11 i+ 1$ r4RE!1
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: To be fair to Charles though, asking someone to use a newer browser than NS4 isn't demanding that they use "cutting edge" technology. It's 5 years old!
Oh, I agree completely there. No offense to Andrew, but yeah, Netscape 4 is nothing but ancient. They're up to Netscape 7 now. (Though didn't they skip Netscape 5? I don't recall hearing about that version at all.)
The problem is that if you're using a computer that's even more than two years old, you're going to get stuck with some problems. And though a lot of Internet programmers/webmasters (myself included, just see the new version of my website, link in signature) like to use the latest and greatest features that new XHTML/Javascript/CSS programming can offer. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but the fact remains that not everyone can consistently keep up with the latest and greatest.
Now, making compromises for a five-year-old browser is certainly a bit much. But if a two-year-old system can't handle some new feature properly, then THAT'S when you're getting into a problem area.
Also, the whole point of an internet community such as this one is that it can be open to as many people as possible. What's the point in that if it's closed to someone who happens to use Mac? Or is stuck running Windows 95? I know you've got to draw the line somewhere, but maybe the line's being drawn too close?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Ah, but where you are being tired and chiched, I was raising the bar to new heights by my clever and unique use of a pound symbol in my crazy young person talk. Yes.
MM: You have a point about Mac users though, and I think Charles is trying to correct that. The fact that it didn't work properly in NS4 was known before he uploaded it, but the Mac stuff is new. Hopefully he'll fix it.
Posted by Magnus Pym Eye (Member # 239) on :
I was overcompensating for the fact that I cannot use the pound symbol without resorting to Alt+random numbering. Which is wholly far too much effort.
Posted by Colorful Cartman (Member # 256) on :
quote:Hopefully he'll fix it.
No. Macs must die.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
quote:Originally posted by Colorful Cartman: No. Macs must die.
Aw, you're just jealous because OS X is cooler than Windows.
See, some people argue about Macs being a non-mainstream system. I argue about how cool Macs are. Now we're both being childish, okay?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
And the Enterprise and Avenger-classes?
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
Omniweb doesn't use Gecko - if it did, things would render as expected.
The MacIE problem seems to be that it hates position: relative. I'll hack on things in a few days to see if I can fix that up.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Liam + + Brit-specific 1337-5p33k = fear
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
What is my university using? Well in short, I have no bloody idea. Its like some UNIX version if you login most rooms, yet in others you get Windows 95. However, all applications, data, and settings don't seem to care. On top of that someone keeps on whispering something about Solaris, which I always thought was a bad Russian movie.....that they want to remake for some odd reason come to think of it.
As for upgrading....yeah.....I don't think they do that, for a world renowned CS school, we seem to have our computers administered by Laurentian, Carleton, or Trent graduates.....
Posted by Magnus Pym Eye (Member # 239) on :
Solaris will be the best movie ever.
Posted by Magnus Pym Eye (Member # 239) on :
It will be!
Posted by Colorful Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Not possible. Clooney's the lead actor, and, well, you know how he is.
Posted by Magnus Pym Eye (Member # 239) on :
Excellent?
Posted by Colorful Cartman (Member # 256) on :
As Dr. Ross, maybe.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Stanislaw Lem rawks. So does Andrei Tarkovsky. Stephen Soderbergh can sometimes rawk and he holds his own camera so that's ballsy, but I'm still more than a little concerned given the history of American 'reimaginings.'
So, the shiny new Flare renders just fine on my Mac running OS 9.2.2 and Netscape 6.2.1. It freaks out a little when people post gigantic images, but then it did that before. I suspect that OSX's Aqua is just jealous of those fey colors and smooth dropshadows.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
If NS4 is such a 'taboo' program - why is it still being offered at netscape.com to download? I don't have a wizz-bang computer and something like a message board you'd think would be a simple thing to use.
I like the idea of a bare-bones version so we (the few) can still participate in discussion.
ALSO, why does everything have to be Microsoft centered? I'm not an anti-microsoft zealot, but when It comes to browsers I've always been a little pissed off at Microsoft.
So Opera is a good browser? Does it have a mail prog with it - I have two accounts one takes the Eudora program, the other uses Netscape as it's mailbox.
Oh and this:
(just realised I can't use UBB on IE3)
quote:The fact that it didn't work properly in NS4 was known before he uploaded it,
Ummm, really? Well thanks for the WARNING.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"If NS4 is such a 'taboo' program - why is it still being offered at netscape.com to download?"
Because the people at Netscape don't want to admit that it's crap?
Posted by ThoughtPyminal (Member # 480) on :
It's still being offered because they want ideas on how to improve on it. STILL.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: ALSO, why does everything have to be Microsoft centered? I'm not an anti-microsoft zealot, but when It comes to browsers I've always been a little pissed off at Microsoft.
What OS does 99% of the world run? Windows. What browser do over 90% of the people here use? Explorer.
Of course there's going to be a bias to making sure this place, first and foremost, runs on Windows platforms and on Explorer. Because that's what nearly everyone uses. Netscape lost the browser war, pure and simple. Why is a whole other mess of reasons.
And you still haven't said why you can't install a newer version of IE on your system. Does it crash it? Does it slow it down? People might be able to help if you gave them more information.
quote:So Opera is a good browser? Does it have a mail prog with it - I have two accounts one takes the Eudora program, the other uses Netscape as it's mailbox.
You could still use them for your mail, even if you download Opera. Or you could use Outlook Express *ducks*
Oh and this:
(just realised I can't use UBB on IE3)
quote:The fact that it didn't work properly in NS4 was known before he uploaded it,
Ummm, really? Well thanks for the WARNING.[/QB][/QUOTE]
Would it have done much good? It was only 1.5% of the total requests here, so I can't imagine it was high on Chuckie's list of things to make sure work. Unless he tested it on AMosiac to make sure it works on my Amiga as well.
Go on, download Opera. If you like it, fine. If you don't, also fine. But you've got nothing to lose.
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
No warning was given because I didn't think that anyone here still bothered using NS4. It's been surpassed in every way by all the other various browsers - IE, Mozilla, Opera, you name it.
You're probably one of the three NS4 users here - I'm sorry, but no matter how bad your computer is, there ARE alternatives out there, and if you want to continue browsing here, then you need to either turn CSS off (I gave directions above) or switch to another browser.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Well just a quick announcement "I'm updating the boards: these browsers wont work anymore" wounldn't have hurt you.
And thankyou, I have now turned off style sheets.
Oh and Liam... NS4 is only a few years ago - there is no need to go comparing it to Amiga...
Oh if I still had my CBS Colecovision... I could have got an 'Adam' extension and THEN you people could have told me to upgrade!! ;o)
Posted by Toadkiller (Member # 425) on :
Opera does have a mail program - I have not used it of late but as I recall it works pretty much like all the others.
Their (Opera's) thing is making a browser that works on less than cutting edge machines so I think you'll be pleased by it.
So, Charles - what is the deal with these boards? I mean, how does the server, bandwidth, etc. get paid for? I don't want to become an accessory to anything but I've posted/lurked here for quite awhile and have wondered who's footing the bill (and why).
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
Me, and because. Posted by Captain... Mike (Member # 709) on :
HOORAY! Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
You should be grateful. He hasn't been able to afford new blades for his razor three years now.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
but I've posted/lurked here for quite awhile and have wondered who's footing the bill (and why).