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| divad23 |
Posted: Sep 08 '08, 5:56 pm |
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Reviews written: 570 Member since: Aug 21 '00
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RE: Does anyone test these things beforehand?
Quote: scmrak In case you didn't know, the tool was created by a summer intern.
Was it the same intern who created the search engine, by any chance? </snark>
Quote: scmrak Yes, it was ill-considered to implement it after s/he'd already left (a pox on interns who don't complete their projects until their last day on the job, BTW). Yes, it would've been a good idea to completely debug it before rolling it out. That gets us into spilt milk teritory, I guess.
Hopefully all of the yelling and screaming that resulted from it will serve as a lesson learned. I think that a lot of users are growing frustrated with the very sudden and ill-conceived changes that appear to happen to the site when the site isn't truly ready for them.
Quote: scmrak I think you can be certain, however, that they're never going to roll back to the old editor in toto.
I didn't really expect a complete rollback, but when you're going to make a wholesale change to a vital component of the site, it would certainly be wise to set things up so that you can easily rollback to what you know works in the event that something catastrophic happens. (In other words, "Save As" and change the filename instead of saving over the old one. Or implement some sort of version control, if you want to get a little fancier.)
Quote: scmrak But is it really so bad? Depending on how long your set of lyrics is, it may take eight or ten extra seconds to italicize on a line-by-line basis (especially if there's punctuation on the ends of all or most lines). Think of it as a mechanism for forcing you to proofread one more time.
That eight or ten seconds gets an extra eight to ten seconds added on to it that it takes me to [i]find[/i] the affected lines in the run-on HTML code with no line breaks in it. And I generally quote anywhere between 2 and 6 lines of lyrics (let's say an average of four) per song on a CD that I'm reviewing. Multiply 20 seconds by 4 by 12 and tell me whether that's a trivial amount of time.
As for being forced to proofread - I already do this before I even post the review, so I don't really appreciate the enforcement. If I catch mistakes later on, I catch them while re-reading the posted review (since it's a hell of a lot easier to read outside of that tiny TEXTAREA box).
Quote: scmrak I have no idea why they didn't do that in the first place - surely it would be better to have lots of reviews with huge blocks of italics or bold than peeved reviewers.
Worst case scenario, if Epinions can detect all of the supposed missing end tags in a review, it could just output those immediately after displaying the body of the review. So, if I left out a "b", it could just throw the "/b" in there (not as part of my content, but as part of the display template), and sure, the rest of my review will be bold, but the rest of the page will still display normally and make it clear that the reviewer was incompetent, not the site designers.
And if my HTML is actually correct, that extra end tag [i]shouldn't[/i] hurt anything. That would probably need to be confirmed in various web browsers - I know IE can get fussy with table layouts and so forth when you open tags and don't close them, but I don't think closing tags that were never opened messes up its interpretation of the tag hierarchy. |
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| scmrak |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 6:39 am (Updated: Sep 09 '08, 6:44 am) |
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Reviews written: 1366 Member since: Sep 27 '00
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RE: Yes, we do
Quote: cmuir I got the Word paste function to work for me today, finally and my spacing came out perfectly. The only problem I had is that I ended up with the review copying twice. I had to delete one of them.
What should I be doing at my Word screen (in Word itself) that I must not be doing correctly? AFAIK, the shortest route to posting the same text twice is either hitting CTRL+V twice while in the Paste from Word window, or pasting into the regular editor and then pasting a second time into the Paste from Word window.
If you can't duplicate the problem, then it's a lot more likely to have been a "stutter-step" on the keyboard than a coding error (what tech support people call PEBKAS or the ID-ten-T error). I'd suggest that you create a fake review of any ol' thing, and test to see if you get the same symptom. The practice might be good for you (practicing would be good for anyone out there who's still uncomfortable with the new interface), and if it acts funny again you will have a for-real symptom without having a real-life review messed up, not to mention that an epiEngineer can look at you unpublished content to see the problem.
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rex
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| scmrak |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 6:51 am |
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Reviews written: 1366 Member since: Sep 27 '00
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RE: Does anyone test these things beforehand?
Quote: divad23 Was it the same intern who created the search engine, by any chance?... Probably not. I think that one is still hanging by his/her thumbs downwind of Greely, CO, or Hereford, TX.
Not to duck your answers and/or further suggestions, but most of the problems you point out and solutions you offer are addressed in this post by a local engineer. As he points out, they're using an OpenSource engine to convert Word to HTML, and the bugs are coming from within that product. And he also points out that they're syill working on it and have rolled out a number of patches already.
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rex
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| scmrak |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 10:11 am |
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Reviews written: 1366 Member since: Sep 27 '00
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RE: Does anyone test these things beforehand?
Quote: scmrak I've been attempting to use screen-captures to create some help documents for the membership; they've been uploaded to a geocities site I use. Feel free to take a look:
Pasting from a word processor
Adding links to content
Bolding or Italicizing across Multiple lines.
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rex
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| jurgrace |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 10:33 am |
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Reviews written: 424 Member since: Nov 26 '07
 in Kids & Family |
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RE: Does anyone test these things beforehand?
Quote: scmrak
Your screen shots have been most helpful indeed.
Another trick I learned yesterday for those who don't highlight to bold or italicize, but instead do them as they type is to 'unbold' or 'unitalicize,' add a space and then go to the next line. For example, I always use 'ctrl+I' to italicize as I type, so at the end of a line I:
1. Hit 'ctrl+I' to un-italicize
2. Hit the space bar
3. Hit enter
4. Hit 'ctrl+I' to start italicizing the next line.
Using this method I did not have any of those html warnings when I posted yesterday. Hopefully this is helpful to anyone else who likes to perform those functions while typing, instead of by grabbing the mouse and highlighting.
Grace |
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| pambo |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 4:11 pm |
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Reviews written: 453 Member since: Jan 08 '00
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Still Not Working
I am still getting the "unacceptable HTML" message no matter what I do using MS Word. So under this new "improvement" I can't post directly from Word or use spell check. If I want to count the words, I have to write on Notepad then make a copy on Word for a count, then go back and copy and paste from Notepad. Despite repeated postings about it, no one from Epinions has proffered a solution or even asked about it. It happened yesterday and again today. |
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| ladyconsumer |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 4:18 pm (Updated: Sep 09 '08, 4:19 pm) |
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Reviews written: 634 Member since: Jul 11 '05
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RE: Still Not Working
Pam, I offered to take a look at your Word document once before when you said you were having problems. (I can't find the exact thread).
The offer still stands.
I'm not from Epinions, but I've offered help, repeatedly.
So, Why not take people up on their offers of help (even if they're not Eps-people)?
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| scmrak |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 7:18 pm |
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Reviews written: 1366 Member since: Sep 27 '00
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RE: Still Not Working
Quote: pambo I want to count the words, I have to write on Notepad then make a copy on Word for a count. Suggestion 1): Look at the bottom of sleeper54's profile page for a link to cut-n-paste javascript word counter.
Suggestion 2): You don't have to make a separate copy for Word; Word opens text files. Just close without saving when you're done counting.
Suggestion 3): Take Mona up on her offer. Long experience tells me that a new set of eyes will invariably see what I've been overlooking.
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rex |
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| sleeper54 |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 7:51 pm |
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Reviews written: 496 Member since: Feb 24 '01
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Word Counting Tool Link
Quote: scmrak Suggestion 1): Look at the bottom of sleeper54's profile page for a link to cut-n-paste javascript word counter.
H3ll, lets make it easy, for you and others:
Word counting tool
One could even save that page (as a web page) to their hard drive and have it available without being on line...
...tom...
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| jump_chump |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 8:16 pm |
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Reviews written: 0 Member since: Oct 04 '05
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RE: Word Counting Tool Link
Pambo, the suggestions from the other members are all good. Aside from that, we're definitely working to make things easier for you and everyone else who is having issues with the new editor.
damon
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Epinions Engineer |
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| ladyconsumer |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 8:24 pm |
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Reviews written: 634 Member since: Jul 11 '05
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Neat feature!
Maybe everyone already knew this already, but I just discovered a neat feature tonight. When you use the spell check feature, right-clicking on a misspelled word will bring up a list of suggested replacements. Very convenient! The only option missing is "replace all" so that if you misspell a word multiple times, there's no way to replace all of them at once.
By the way, does anyone else wish the default setting for the spell checker were ON (instead of OFF)?
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| popsrocks |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 8:34 pm (Updated: Sep 09 '08, 8:34 pm) |
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Reviews written: 2186 Member since: Aug 25 '02
in Gourmet, Restaurants |
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RE: Neat feature!
Quote: ladyconsumer Maybe everyone already knew this already, but I just discovered a neat feature tonight. When you use the spell check feature, right-clicking on a misspelled word will bring up a list of suggested replacements. Very convenient!
I've been using that feature a little while. It's perfect for this spell-challanged guy. Cool indead!!
pops
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| pestyside |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 8:40 pm |
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Reviews written: 1053 Member since: Jul 19 '05
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RE: Neat feature!
Quote: ladyconsumer
By the way, does anyone else wish the default setting for the spell checker were ON (instead of OFF)?
Now wouldn't it be fun if we could "add" words--fun in a scary way like going to see the Shining the first time. I right clicked out of habit and was surprised when the spell checker responded. My reaction was cool.
Patsy |
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| ladyconsumer |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 8:41 pm (Updated: Sep 09 '08, 8:44 pm) |
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Reviews written: 634 Member since: Jul 11 '05
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RE: Neat feature!
Quote: popsrocks I've been using that feature a little while.
pops
And, yet, you didn't tell me about it. Keeping it a secret so that YOUR reviews will be correct while the rest of ours have errors!?!? That was mean!!!
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| popsrocks |
Posted: Sep 09 '08, 9:03 pm |
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Reviews written: 2186 Member since: Aug 25 '02
in Gourmet, Restaurants |
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RE: Neat feature!
Quote: ladyconsumer And, yet, you didn't tell me about it. Keeping it a secret so that YOUR reviews will be correct while the rest of ours have errors!?!? That was mean!!!
OK, sorry I was such a meany.
I'll give ya a little more of the secret. It works right or left cluck if I recall.
popsspellin'upastorm
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| ladyconsumer |
Posted: Sep 10 '08, 6:22 am |
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Reviews written: 634 Member since: Jul 11 '05
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RE: Neat feature!
Ah... You are correct!
Still wondering how everyone feels about the spell-checker defaulting to OFF instead of ON. Anyone else besides me think it should be the other way around? |
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| Ed.Williamson |
Posted: Sep 10 '08, 6:24 am |
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Reviews written: 607 Member since: Dec 31 '00
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Dysfunctional Joke
This new text editor is a lemon which should go back to the factory, like they recalled New Coke a few years back. I had some success copying-and-pasting after converting WORD 97 into the plain text format, a pain in itself, but the next time I did that- no go. This thing is as buggy as the underside of a stump in the Okefenokee Swamp.
If they are going to drop such a smelly haggus in our laps to try to work with, the least they could do is offer us the option of still using the old text editor. You know- the one that actually WORKED.
Ed.Williamson |
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| jps246 |
Posted: Sep 10 '08, 6:27 am |
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Reviews written: 849 Member since: Jan 25 '01
in Outdoor Gear, Sporting Goods |
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RE: Neat feature!
Quote: ladyconsumer Still wondering how everyone feels about the spell-checker defaulting to OFF instead of ON. Anyone else besides me think it should be the other way around?
I'd think having it default to on would be helpful.
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| scmrak |
Posted: Sep 10 '08, 8:00 am |
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Reviews written: 1366 Member since: Sep 27 '00
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RE: Dysfunctional Joke
Quote: Ed.Williamson This new text editor is a lemon which should go back to the factory, like they recalled New Coke a few years back. I had some success copying-and-pasting after converting WORD 97 into the plain text format, a pain in itself, but the next time I did that- no go. This thing is as buggy as the underside of a stump in the Okefenokee Swamp.
If they are going to drop such a smelly haggus in our laps to try to work with, the least they could do is offer us the option of still using the old text editor. You know- the one that actually WORKED. Ed, laddie, it's haggis...
OK, once more with feeling: most of the complaints I see are arising from those who had unsatisfactory results while attempting to dive in feet first and post a review. I feel for you, I do. But let me tell you what I did:
I typed one lousy sentence into the editor: "now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party." I didn't care one whit whether or not I spelled everything right. And then I cut and pasted that sentence 'leventy times or so to make certain I had three or four hundred words. Then I practiced bolding and italicizing and linking and submitting and deleting the draft.
Then I pasted the same sentence into my word-processor twenty or thirty times and highlighted and bolded and italicized and even tried a link or two while I was in Word. Then I pasted all that gobbledygook into the "Paste from Word" window, submitted, looked at it, and deleted it. If it was screwed up, I hadn't lost anything "valuable" and I could delete and try again to my heart's content.
Practice - and practice on junk in which you have no investment time-wise. Y'all are tearing your hair out because you're so worried that your review won't look perfect - if you don't care whether the output looks perfect, then you'll feel a heckuva lot freer to experiment.
Just my 3.58 Slovenian Tolar (Interbank rate of 091008)
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rex
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| scmrak |
Posted: Sep 10 '08, 8:02 am |
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Reviews written: 1366 Member since: Sep 27 '00
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RE: Neat feature!
Quote: popsrocks It works right or left cluck if I recall. You were chicken to tell us before, right?
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