Read vs. Unread Icons

_Don Herman · Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2001 7:48 am Post subject:

Yo,

(1) Anyone else having a problem with figuring out what they've read? The icons don't seem to work consistently for me. Every time I think I have a clue, then something happens and I find once again that only about half the posts I haven't read are annoted (by the icon) as unread. Also, if I log in and reply to a post, then everything seems to be cleared (as if I've read all posts, even if I just started before stopping to reply to a post).

(2) I check the forum at work (over lunch, or sometimes when waiting for the computer to finish a simulation) and at home (usually on weekends). Could I be blessed with the name of the cookies which save the "read" info in them so that I can copy it from my work machine to my home machine to avoid duplicate readings? My dial-up connection at home is pretty slow and it's painful to check every thread (topic) to find out if there's _really_ anything new... The new site is faster than the old one, though! Before the obvious is stated; yes, I do try to note the time/day of the last post, but I don't always remember in my rush to leave (work or home).

Thanks! - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

_bugleboy · Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2001 8:06 am Post subject:

The same thing happens to me, Don.

vivace · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2001 5:16 am Post subject:

Hello,

i feel your pain. Just today, after a couple days off of not checking the forum, I log on and all the folders were red, yet not all of them had new messages. And inside the forum, none of the topics were "new"

Also, for some reason, my screen name is gone, and in my preferences, the one year cookie option is set to no!

Strange, huh?
_________________
"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing no song." - Louis Armstrong

Lex Grantham · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2001 9:56 am Post subject:

I will agree. There seems to be something that is not working just right yet.

Sincerely,

Lex Grantham

airegin · Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2001 4:28 am Post subject:

vivace, same here. i just checked and reset it.

_________________
Rob Lauderdale

vivace · Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2001 5:40 pm Post subject:

new problem,

we got a new computer, well it is used, but it has a faster processing speed,
anyhoo....
I will check the forum and a folder, in say, performers is red. I check it, and under the bill cosbey one, the folder is red. I open it, and normally a new post/reply will be there, but on half of the red foldrs I just checked, they were all posts that I already viewed.
_________________
"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing no song." - Louis Armstrong

fzr Phil · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2002 6:00 am Post subject:

Thanks vivace,
I have been pulling my hair out, I thought it was because of my new broadband connection and internet settings.
I just checked my preferences like you suggested, maybe it resets to no by default at the new year.
Did i mention i have got a new broadband?

Phil martin

Ehm?? it still is not working!

[ This Message was edited by: fzr Phil on 2002-01-05 09:11 ]

vivace · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2002 6:22 pm Post subject:

Well,

our new computer is not helping. Does anyone out there have widows 2000? Every time that I check the forum, it shows which forum has a new message, but none are red when I click on the particualr forum. It is really annoying. I never had this problem until we formatted our hard drive and installed windows 2000.
_________________
"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing no song." - Louis Armstrong

_Don Herman · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2002 8:48 pm Post subject:

"Widows 2000" Now, _there's a Freudian slip for ya!

I use 2000 at work and 98SE at home. I have problems with both. It may be more significant that I use IE5.5x both places, which is the common bond.

FWIW - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

fzr Phil · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2002 2:29 pm Post subject:

I use win 98 (updated) and i.e 6 ,Also, i tried with netscape 6.2, which i have installed but don't really use and they still don't work.

The last posts that show as read (not red!) are dated the 2002-01-01
e.g 'the superchops book' in the s.c forum

phil

trumpetherald · Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2002 5:36 pm Post subject:

Hi All:

As far as the red folder deal goes, it will only be effective on a single computer at a time. The system sets a cookie so that it will know that last time you were at the site and can tell you what's new since your last visit, but only on that machine. Another machine, when you log in, will not know. Does that apply to any of you?

airegin · Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2002 7:02 pm Post subject:

yep, that's me. i should've thought about that.

thanks, rob
_________________
Rob Lauderdale

_Don Herman · Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2002 8:52 pm Post subject:

OK, I figured the cookie would only work on one machine; that's why I asked for the name(s) so I could copy them from one machine to the next -- I'd like to keep everything (four PCs, good grief!) synched up. I suppose I could just hunt down the ones which are modified after a session, but I'm lazy...

BUT, I'm having problems with just a _single_ machine not getting it right. The most notable issue for me is that, after replying to a message, the red folders appear to get cleared -- all but the one thread to which I just replied. The rest seems to be more random, and so I haven't figured out the (if any) pattern just yet so can't help much.

Update: This morn, I read some while my computer was running something, then went away, and when I came back ALL the red icons were cleared even though I'd read only about half the new posts. So, it seems to think that if I started looking, I made it through them all (even if I didn't). Maybe this'll help some...
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO

[ This Message was edited by: Don Herman on 2002-01-08 10:13 ]

fzr Phil · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2002 1:34 pm Post subject:

still not working for me, i have tried about every variation of browser settings and have definately enabled cookies, and am a 1 machine user

edtaylor · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2002 9:33 pm Post subject:

I am also experiecing problems, often no reds at all so I have to look at dates. Today they appeared to be working properly. I saw several reds, then after log-in, poof they were gone.

vivace · Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2002 12:15 pm Post subject:

Well,

we now have windows xp, which is nice and all, but the same problem is going on that I had with 98, 2000, and now xp, and trying ie 5.5 and 6
_________________
"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing no song." - Louis Armstrong

trumpetherald · Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2002 2:47 pm Post subject:

It seems to work fine for me, subject to some limitations.

The cookie name which is set is LastVisit and the domain will be http://www.trumpetherald.com.

It merely keeps track of the last time you visited the site. At some point after you revisit the site, for example if you post a new message or linger for awhile, the cookie will be reset with a new time, at which point the folders which were red will revert to tan in all likelihood. This is because a new time has been set, very near to the present, and few if any new messages will have been posted since that time.

So, its function is somewhat rudimentary, I'll admit. The alternative is to build a new table which holds user sessions and validates off of that, etc. etc. That's a significant amount of coding, it won't be practical for me in the short term. Perhaps by the summer, however. There may be an add-on I can fire up, I'll investigate that too.

Best Wishes!

Ed.

vivace · Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2002 6:29 pm Post subject:

YAY!

it works, it finally works!!!
_________________
"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing no song." - Louis Armstrong

_Don Herman · Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2002 6:56 am Post subject:

Thanks, Sir Admin... I think I have most of my problems (with the icons, anyway

) figured out. Your implicit comment is correct -- I had assumed you (i.e., the site/cookie) kept track of threads and posts, not just the time. I frequently begin reading and then have to go do something else for a while. So, the red icons get cleared even though I did not finish all the new posts. This means I'll have to note the time I leave and where I am (i.e., which post I last read) so I can pick it up again. I'm not a computer type per se (analog ICs are me) but can imagine it'd take a bit to track each user on a per-post basis. At least, if I know what the issue is, I can take steps to help myself out (noting the time and last post I read, for instance). Good enough!

Thanks for all you do! - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley