he can learn new tricks.

I just ran into the new format for posting reviews that has the B I and spell check that I really like.

Problem though. I finished up and clicked through but it bumped me back because

You have an opening B without a closing B
You have a closing without an opening

How do I get out of that. All I did for bold was click and highlight the B

Wasup

pops

he can learn new tricks.

I just ran into the new format for posting reviews that has the B I and spell check that I really like.

Problem though. I finished up and clicked through but it bumped me back because

You have an opening B without a closing B
You have a closing without an opening

How do I get out of that. All I did for bold was click and highlight the B

Wasup

pops

edited to add I did not use the HTML tags of like I usually do.

Dang, I just lost my review.

I'll have to try it in that format again. Wish me luck.

Pops, I'm having the same problems. In fact, I've not yet been able to successfully post in the new format, either comment or review (keep getting html errors, which is ironic...since I'm not using HTML tags in the new format!).

When I originally had the problem with leaving comments, some helpful epinionators on the message boards clued me into the
"remove your epi-cookies" trick. That worked, meaning it got me back to the old format for a few days. Today I seem stuck in the new format and even deleting cookies didn't help.

Sigh. Eagerly awaiting any advice you get on this thread, because I need it too!

Hope your missing review is not gone forever...

Well, I got it published, but I think the engineers need to still iron out a few things. It's very frustrating.

First time I cut and paste my text and then highlighted to bold and italicize text. I got "unacceptable html" messages. So I started again. This time I put in my own html codes in the html code editor, and that worked, sort of . . . it didn't like my italics code. I also lost my line breaks.

Somehow I did get my italicized text in (I think I did it the regular text editor, by highlighting it). But I had to give up on the Italicized words in my title. Just wouldn't accept it.

And I didn't even try to put in any links. I'm sure it would have spit them back out at me!

But so far, I think we're on the right track. It is more user friendly, but I think some of us are so used to the old ways that it way take a while to get used to it.

Peggy

I think that you were all posting as the software was propagating across the server farms - on one edit, you'd get the old review-entry window; on the next, you'd get the new one. The output of the two processes seems to be incompatible. Once all of the servers have the same version of the software, you'll be getting the new version every time.

-30-

rex

Yes, I'm also really frustrated. I've got two to post to get to twenty for the month and was trying to post one of those today. So far to no avail.

It made sense to me that perhaps I had been trying to post while the move to the new format was in process, so I completely deleted my review (after having saved my content in Word) reopened a place to post (and it's one of those laborious search engine searches!) and tried again. I'm *still* getting a HTML code error regarding italics in the body of the review: you know, you have an opening without a closing ...

I actually clicked on the HTML button in the new editor and scrolled through the code several times looking for errors. I can't see one! There was one spacing issue which I fixed, but that didn't do the trick.

Can we still enter HTML tags manually, even in the new editor? Would that be worth trying? I'm about to give up for the day, having spent an hour I didn't really have trying to make this work!

I already got rid of the bold tag in the title. That clearly wasn't working...

Beth

Additionally, a Member Center post just went up detailing some of the features of the WYSIWYG editor. Hopefully that helps a bit.

-Almar

Mmm, I'm working another review right now. The spacing between the bolded paragraph heading I put in changed when I clicked through. That was odd. I re-spaced them to a double space between previous paragraph and the next and now I'm getting the HTML code bit again. I cannot click through to post the review.

Any thoughts?

pops

Thank you for posting the tips in the member center. That does help!

And my patience was finally rewarded. On about my fifth scroll through the HTML code, I saw that the editor had somehow placed a closing italic tag after a new paragraph break instead of before. Not sure how that happened, except that I had created an entire paragraph (with a quote from the book I was reviewing) in italics. Perhaps the necessity for the two tags in a row somehow confused the WYSIWYG editor?! At any rate, perhaps it will help others to know that the editor doesn't seem to be foolproof and that human editing might still be necessary to catch the "errors" it's throwing.

I was able to correct the error and finally post the review. But it does raise a question. Is it possible, I wonder, for the editor to *highlight* code errors, just as spellcheck highlights potential misspellings? In other words, when we get that general "you have an opening this without a closing that" message, we can actually go into the code and see the potential problem highlighted? That would be a huge help. Just curious to know if it's possible!

I do think (and hope!) that in the long-run this is going to be a more user friendly format.

[quote="sleeper54]
P.S. Seriously: that is a major bummer for me ...and I am sure for many others. The engineers got an explanation..?? Seems it would be easy to make it work there also...
.[/quote]

It's a minor simmer for me but I would miss it...


Back to my review. I just noticed that the review I'm working is now back in draft where it should be as I'm trying to figure what's wrong. When I look at it on my profile page there is double spacing between pro and con.

wasup?

pops

looks like I broke the "Quote" feature too!. That one I do have a handle on.

Can this new fangled adaptation be rolled back until after the 1st? It is a nuisance to ones of us wanting to submit the last reviews of the month with only a couple of days to do it in.

With my internet connection off and on lately coupled with this, I am ready to throw my hands up!

Thanks, Rex. Here's a live example of why we've removed HTML in the titles:

Example in Google

-Almar

Yes but this one has a bug in it or something. I like it if it worked correctly but now it is saying I have an opening b without a closing b which isn't true. I had to take out all html to submit at all.

Also there are no options to use our own html to skip this bug and let us submit without using it.

Don't mean to be complaining but it isn't working correctly so we can submit reviews. Or I could without any html I guess! Quitting for a while and hoping it works next time I try it.

I am, wordpad as I always have. I took out my html and used the html provided but it still said opening b and no closing b.I could not submit until taking out all html in the review.

I'm havin probs again. First I'll mention that everything I have done is directly on site.

I just went to update an older review. Dang I did nothing but add a few words, no bolds not nuttin.

It won't click through because of some kind of existing HTML prob.

Is this going to happen every time we open an old review of ours? I don't know how to bail myself out of that review now. All I want to do is put it back in action.

wasup?

pops

Not sure if you had the same problem, but I found a [br /] bracket between my opening [b] and closing [/b] brackets, and taking that out solved the problem.

Ah well, might help someone!

CaptainD

I tried that too. It still said the same thing. I deleted all of my html tags, rewrote everything in the new site editor, and it said opening b no closing b. It doesn't like me.

I hate myself for not working longer last night before this happened!

Oh well who needs html. LOL I will just do without html until it gets figured out I guess.

Great. I've just gone to edit my most recent post, and it's been completely obliterated by weird and not very wonderful HTML codes... plus it's nearly one in the morning here so I'm going to have to leave it several hours to sort out!!

Perhaps it might need a little more bug-testing?!! :-D


CaptainD

Not nesting tags, html illiterate here. Didn't even know that could be done!

I read the thing in the Member Center about the new editor. I saw that it said something about a Word button for people who copy and paste from Word. Will that work for me since I use WordPerfect?

After reading all the posts about the problems people are having with his new editor, I am dreading trying to post another review and I still have 3 more to go to get to 20.

I tried that too and it still came up with the same error. I am wondering if I write my review directly into the site without using Wordpad if it will accept it? Will try that before eliminating all html tonight.

popsrock I have a question...double spacing is good? I thought it looked really empty and you are saying you like it better that way, easier to read? Or did I mistake what you said?

I know I have been complainin' and lookin' for help.


I have found out that I have to read instructions. Specifically, Use the "HTML" button to edit the HTML tags of your review.

That's not a thing I'm used to and I hate that I'll have to do that every time I update an older review but at least I now know how to do it.

Thanks to all for jumpin' in and givin this dude a little help.

pops

It's obvious from the comments posted here that some members are familiar with the new format; having experienced a similar format at other sites.

I have never used this format before. If there was a step-by-step "owner's manual" style document posted before the format's introduction, there would be less time wasted and fewer frustrations necessarily expressed here.

For example: If I hit the "edit html" icon and do the edit, do I need to hit the icon again as a close, or do I simply proceed? How do I deal with the triple-spaces between paragraphs that will correct in edit but post incorrectly when published?

I am currently posting with less frequency due to an upcoming move to another state. I would like to post a review between the periods of chaos, but I don't have time to tinker with this thing right now. The few lines of instruction that appeared in the Member Center are wholly inadequate and are of no help to me whatsoever.

From my perspective, this poorly planned "improvement" has been introduced at the worst possible time.

BTW... I looked at "New Reviews" before this post. Several reviews were presenting rather poorly. Folks are really struggling with this thing.

I'm going to post a review soon.

If it doesn't accept a paste-in from Microsoft Word, I may very well kill someone.

Just thought I'd put out a warning.

I've been fighting with this for more than a half hour. Apparently I can have either normal spacing or bold font titles but not both. ARRRRGGGGHHH.

Michelle

I've been playing with the new editor, just to get a feel for it. For those of you experiencing the You have an opening ... without a closing ... error, it's pretty easy to see what's going on, if you hit the HTML edit button.

If line 1 is bolded, and line two isn't then what you want to see is this:

[b]line1[/b][br /][br /]line2

What you don't want to see is this:

[b]line1[br />[/b][br /]line2

See the difference... the line break is inside the bolding. That's really an error on the editor's part. And hopefully it'll be fixed.

The good news is that it's easy to fix this ourselves. You can use the HTML editor to move those symbols around, then hit "update". Or, you can use the highlight text and hit the bold button method but you have to be really careful to include only the text in your highlight, not the end of line character (the extra space at the end of the line). I've been playing with this for a while, and it seems to work.

Pretty? No. But at least it works.


eta: I've only played with typing directly into the form. I haven't played with cut & paste yet. That'll be tomorrow's task.

Whew!!! What an unpleasant experience. It took me 40 minutes to post a simple review of a garden bean!

First I tried to copy the Word Document as described in the instructions. All that weird spacing. No matter how I tried to correct it, nothing worked.

Then I translated my entire review into HTML. I kept receiving the infamous error (and my HTML was perfect):

You have an opening B without a closing B
You have a closing without an opening

After fudging with this review posting for way too long ... I finally was able to use the Word cut-and-paste feature. However, I had to eliminate all wording in bold font and type them in capital letters instead for emphasis. For some reason, this also helped with the spacing in the review.

I think I've earned a good night's rest! :)

~~ Dawn

Edited to Add: It's the next day ... and everything is working great. I wrote another review in MS Word, and used the Word button to copy-and-paste my review for posting. The text formatted beautifully (bolded headings, proper spacing, links). This is fantastic!!!!!!

I HATE THIS THING.

I quit. I'm posting my reivew in it's craptastic form. I'm not going to wrestle with this @$*^@#(!*&@# thing for another 20 or more minutes.

If my DELETE button breaks in the future for trying to delete all the random added extra spaces or trying to find HTML that ISN'T THERE, Epinions has to buy me a new freaking keyboard.

Once again I would like to know why Epinions is putting out things that don't work...

Huh. I haven't had that problem - and I've been playing for an hour straight, just trying to get a feel for it. Can you email me the html source... I'll be happy to take a look. (Sometimes four eyes are better than two).


eta: That is, tomorrow I'll be happy to take a look. Off to get some shut-eye, now.

I thought I had this thing down but I just can't get rid of html codes because of spacing and bolding.

I'll have to simply do it without codes until this all "clicks" in my mind. I have to try and get five more reviews up for this month which would not have been a problem until this. I could have had two of them finished tonight. I don't have many more hours off work till the end of the month. Poor timing for rolling this out if you ask me. I suppose I can dress up my reviews once I get the hang of this.

I wonder how newbies are doing? Probably OK because they aren't getting involved with B and I yet.

frustratedpops

If we have an editor now, why don't we try writing directly in the Epinions box now instead of in Word or in some sort of Text Editor?

You can always copy and paste back into Word.

I had zero problems, but I always use the Epinions box when I write reviews.

I figured it out from an earlier post here...there is a boo boo in the code making the error. It didn't work even writing directly into the new editor. It come up as the error...b without a / b.

So I hit the html button, searched through every word until I found it, corrected it and submitted. The second review, I deleted all html and did without. Too much trouble to go through so much text to look for the error which wasn't even my fault. I didn't forget to put in the ending / b, the editor did. Hope that makes sense. Hard to search out the issue when I am not doing the code myself but the editor is! Eyestrain!

Will that error be fixed? Seems it isn't just me but everyone having the same error happen.

I used both the bold and italics several times without fail.

I wish I could see the errors (well maybe not).

...
I know HTML tags.

I know how to find errors.

I know how to isolate the problem.

I am now trying to post a review.

This sentence, this HTML code and this HTML code alone is preventing it from posting.:

[i]Argentina[br /]Tango in Buenos Aires:[br /]It's more than just a dance ... the tango, born in the poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, is the very soul of Argentina.[/i]

( square brackets substituted because I am too lazy/tired to double check the ascii code for the caret brackets... )


After 45 minutes of work trying to 'fix it' ...I think I rediscovered Mona's thought here.

You can not have a [br /] tag in between multiple lines of bold or italics. Although I am sure that should work.

So the line above needs to look like this:

[i]Argentina[/i][br /][i]Tango in Buenos Aires:[/i][br /][i]It's more than just a dance ... the tango, born in the poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, is the very soul of Argentina.[/i]

to produce these lines of text:

Argentina
Tango in Buenos Aires:
It's more than just a dance ... the tango, born in the poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, is the very soul of Argentina.


Anyway, I think it is broken as it is now, reference the thought above and Mona's note earlier.

It needs to be fixed.



...tom...

P.S. Can someone explain the odd [br /] tags also..?? Why not the ordinary one I see everywhere else: [br]..?? We are sure that is not part of the problem..??
.

I don't know but dragonfire just depressed me! Shoot! I was working in the editor and now I am going to worry about losing my work if my connection goes down...again.

I have a headache now.

I decided to go ahead and try to post a book review tonight. I managed with the the bold and italics, though it was a pain. I kept trying to get my links to work and they weren't. Well..they weren't working the way I wanted to them to. I like using the hyperlinks, so the name of the book or movie or whatever I'm liking to is the link. Well that wasn't working for me and I couldn't figure out how to do it that way. My review was a mess with all my attempts at the links cluttering it up. I took them out completely at that point. I then tried to just delete it and I couldn't. I got some error about trying back later. I then went back in to edit yet again and fought with the links again. I thought I finally figured out how to do the links the way I wanted, but once I got to the preview page, my changes weren't there anymore so I don't know if I figured it out or not. This is highly frustrating, especially since it is so close to the end of the month.

This is going to make posting a nightmare, especially if I can't get my links the way I want them. That's a huge step backward in my opinion and I'm not happy at all.

I'm beginning to think I should have just gone and beat my head against a wall instead of trying to post. I still wouldn't have my review posted like I wanted, but I would have gotten the headache with less effort.

It's okay. The stress of not being able to post because of the html already had given ME a headache too. Maybe if I knew more about html it wouldn't be so hard to find the code that is messing up. For me it is like trudging through quicksand, slow.

I was writing in wordpad and transferring over but thought it would work better just writing on the site. But when you mentioned it could be lost if internet went down, I stopped doing that! So now working with no html to make it easier to submit with no problems--going through word then pasting it in.

br is code for break. It is ONE of the html codes I know of about three. LOL

I started a new thread on the text editor with a clear "help" title figuring that it would be good to centralize the discussion and it would make it easier for others coming to the boards to find help on the issue. Maybe even get it pinned?

Jeff

Please, nobody has addressed my issue about links in write-offs. When I get a new review for my write-off, what will happen? will I be able to add them? and how, then what happens if I click update on my w/o page to add the new review? I read somewhere on this tread that if you already have HTML codes in your review they won't be accepted until changed, is that true?

I am very unhappy about this and now am going to attempt to finish writing a review to post. I also have no intention of writing directly onto the eps page since I have issues about losing reviews that way.

Is this time for a revolt!

I can't help wonder why they go and do this to us when there are so many other things needing fixing on the site, why mess with something that worked well and didn't need fixing.

Barbara...I guess I may have to end my write-off if there is no solution and its been such fun to host with so many entrys....*sigh*..............

It is SO typical of Epinions SOP that with no warning and clearly inadequate testing a major change is made -- near the end of the month when many are trying to reach whatever multiple of ten reviews.

I have not recovered from the frustration of diacritics being turned to garbage in hundreds of reviews one not-so-fine day.

With the new and wholly undocumented editor, I have not figured out how to link reviews without the whole text being mashed into one paragraph.

Is there no one in Brisbane who had what should be the obvious thought to put a document of how to to boldface, how to do italics, how to do links at the Member Center. No? Let those darned writers sink or flounder!

And considering that the major problem of epinions is a search engine that does not reveal postings (or contents) and what seems to me the problem of not counting outside hits, how did these changes become a priority high enough to get acted on?

I think Stephan was heard! Everything looks back to normal. So now I am once again changing by putting html BACK in my reviews. Sheesh complain about it then complain when it is gone. LOL

My last three maybe four reviews went through without the new editor. Hm maybe I hit a dead in the middle of the night zone and the new editor wasn't working. ;)

Also the message board is back to being the same too. Hm. Haven't tried to submit a review today yet.

Just as soon as I get the kids settled down (sleepover), I will submit one but looking now, I have the old editor in place! I don't know what I did to get the old one back but it is back!

Well I had a 99 and now I have a 1! Maybe it changes each day.

Just submitted a new one and didn't see the new editor. In a way I am glad this happened at all....jps told me something I didn't know and it makes everything so much easier! I was putting in html by hand, typing it in. I had no idea I could highlight, hit bold or italics and it puts it in automatically! Wow that is much easier!

I find it interesting that I got so many replies during and after the intial test of the new editor, both from Almar and a few engineers. And yet after they roll it out (in worse shape than it was in the testing rounds), not one of them has come around and said a thing! And it's been pretty much nonstop irritation for 4 days (going on 5).

'Sup with that?

I think Yoel popped in a couple of times. He said they were, indeed, reading every post, and trying to reproduce the errors we're talking about, so they can fix them. He also acknowledged the issues regarding Word 2007. I suspect they are using their time fixing it, rather than responding here too frequently.


(Not that I don't understand your {everyone's} frustration)