I thought I'd add this thread to add a few hints and pointers to in order to try and help other users find their way around the new design.
If you have any hints and tips that I've missed, please post them and I'll add them to this top post!
~Please note: I am not a staff member and this is not an official thread. Staff are not monitoring this thread for feedback on the new layout...if you have feedback please hop on over to the newly created Redesign Feedback Board which staff will be monitoring. Thanks!
Please note, the following two icons will be used throughout the thread as of September 27th 2008. Once again, I stress that this is not an official thread so where I have used the following icons, this is not an official word from staff:
- I will use this icon against problems that have already been added to the thread but have now been confirmed as fixed by either several users or staff and users. If you are still experiencing issues with the note that has 'Fixed' next to it, please report in the appropriate thread.
- I will use this icon to draw your attention to new hints/features within the thread (these may not be new to the site, just to this thread)Index:
Problems:
Problems using the 'Reply' button (Also affected: New Topic button, Quote button)
Unable to submit a blog
Personal details shown on profile pages
HTML tags not working in Submissions, forum posts and blogs (includes BBCode and Font size/color guides)
'About Me image is stretched or distorted.
Quick Reply box scrolling problems
Line breaks lost in forum posts
Line breaks lost in blog comments
Reading a user's older blogs returns comments for most recent blog
Unable to read PMs from TV.com
Unable to reorder cast/crew (Editor function)
Unable to edit quotes/trivia for person guides
Where can I find....?
Where has the 'Create Blog' button gone?
How can I see when a user was last online?
Forums:
Forum Guide
New Features:
Expandable Dashboard
New Features!
TV Listings for non-US residents
Drag 'n' Drop Profile boxes
Glossary:
Glossary
First up, let's address some of the issues.
Problems using the Reply button
Problem As I type this (18/09/08) the WYSIWYG editor is not currently working with the new design. This means that whenever someone tries to use the Reply button, the site tries to use the WYSIWYG editor but is unable to, causing users to be unable to submit the post. This also occurs with the New Topic button and the Quote button.
Suggested workaround: Until the WYSIWYG editor has been switched on, you can use the Quick Reply or Quick Quote buttons to respond to existing posts. Quick Reply does not use the WYSIWYG editor so you will be able to submit your post. For problems with the 'New Topic' button, use the workaround provided by the next section - 'Unable to Submit a blog' (Back to Index)
Unable to submit a blog
Problem: Cannot submit blog post. Also affects the 'New Topic' button in forums. This is also caused by the WYSIWYG editor and can be resolved by switching off the editor in preferences.
The workaround: Open preferences from either the top of your page ('prefs') or from the left hand navigation bar on your profile, click into the 'Boards Tab' and change the dropdown next to 'Use WYSIWYG Editor' to No. (Back to Index)
Personal details shown on profile pages
Problem: Personal details showing on profile pages.
Workaround: This has been reported in the feedback thread in the General User Support forum and staff are working on a fix to hide the information, but if you do not want other users to see your personal details prior to the fix, you can set your profile to private. To do this, Open preferences from either the top of your page ('prefs') or from the left hand navigation bar on your profile, Click into the 'Profile' tab and choose the 'Communications' button. Change the 'Who can view my profile?' settings to 'Just Me'. (Back to Index)
HTML tags not working in Submissions, forum posts and blogs
Problem: HTML tags will not work on boards, blogs and submissions.
Workaround: For the time being, you can use Strong and EM tags even though B and I tags are not working. Staff are aware of the problem. The tags that you can use look like this:
BBCode can also be used in forums and blogs. Examples of BBCode are:
These tags would give you the following:
Words to be bolded
Words to be italicized
Words to be shown in red
Words to be sized 20
Font Size Guide:
Font size 8
Font size 10
Font size 12
Font size 14
Font size 16
Font Color Guide
Use 'blue' in your BBCode
Use 'green' in your BBCode
Use 'purple' in your BBCode
Use 'orange' in your BBCode
Use 'teal' in your BBCode
(Back to Index)
'About Me image is stretched or distorted.
Problem: 'About Me image is stretched or distorted.
Solution: The new 'About Me' image is 200 x 150 pixels. Resize your image to those proportions, upload to an image hosting site and add the new URL into preferences. The site will take a few minutes to register the change, but once it does, the image should no longer be stretched/distorted. (Back to Index)
Quick Reply box scrolling problems
Problem: Unable to scroll down in the 'quick reply' text box.
Workaround: In Internet Explorer, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll up and down within the text field. In Firefox this is not possible, so I would recommend type your post in a word document, check that you are happy with the post and then copy and paste into the text field. (Back to Index)
Line breaks lost in forum posts
Problem: Words end up as one big paragraph, line breaks are lost.
Solution: Ensure that you do not hit the space key before pressing enter to create a new paragraph. An additional space at the end of the last word of your paragraph will cause the words to run together and paragraph spacing to be lost. (Back to Index)
Line breaks lost in blog comments
Problem: Blog posts all run together in one long paragraph rather than separating into several.
Solution: Line break tags must be used to separate comments. Don't worry that the tags show up in a preview rather than the spaces - the spaces will show up after you post your comment. For blog comments we need to use two sets of line break tags (often referred to as BR tags). Line break tags are used like so:
See the two sets of < BR > tags in between my two paragraphs? Those will create the gap between the paragraphs, like so:
(Many thanks to DanBambridge for providing the information for this section)
(Back to Index)
Reading a user's older blogs returns comments for most recent blog
Problem: Several users have reported that if they try to read an older blog from one of their friend's profiles, they are presented with the most recent blog & comment.
Workarounds: Two options to resolve this one. The first is to head on over to one of the sister sites - mp3.com.
Unable to read PMs from TV.com
Problem: Several users are reporting that their PM boxes are not functioning correctly.
Workaround: Movietome's mailbox is currently much less glitchy that TV.com's so I recommend heading over there if you think you have a PM to read - it's not perfect but it's working way better than here! (Back to Index)
Unable to reorder cast/crew (Editor Function)
Problem: Editors have reported problems with the cast/crew reordering tool for show guides.
Workaround: Thanks to TheOldBill for this information. Don't be afraid...it's not as scary as it looks!
By default, the link for cast reordering is given as http://www.tv.com/show-name/episode-name/episode/xxxxxx/cast.html?sortable=1&flag=1. What you'll need to do is change 'show-name' in the URL to the name of your show, 'episode-name' in this URL to the episode you're reordering cast for and the 'xxxxxx' should be changed to the number of the episode. These can both be found by opening up the episode and looking at the URL (which will show all required information). Once you've done this, you need to change the flag number at the end of the URL as follows:
To sort Recurring Roles, amend "flag=1" to "flag=2"
To sort Guest Stars amend "flag=1" to "flag=3"
So, as an example, if I wanted to reorder the guest stars for Jake and the Fatman episode 'Nightmare' I would open the episode to get the URL (http://www.tv.com/jake-and-the-fatman/nightmare/episode/50435/summary.html). I then need to amend the bold URL from the workaround (http://www.tv.com/show-name/episode-name/episode/xxxxxx/cast.html?sortable=1&flag=1) to include the details for my episode & the correct flag number, giving me: http://www.tv.com/jake-and-the-fatman/nightmare/episode/50435/cast.html?sortable=1&flag=3.
Same concept for cast, slightly different URL. By default, the link is given as http://www.tv.com/show-name/episode-name/episode/xxxxx/cast.html?sortable=1&flag=6 for Writers, Directors & Crew.
To sort Directors, amend "flag=6" to "flag=7"
To sort Crew amend "flag=6" to "flag=8"
(Back to Index)
Unable to edit trivia or quotes for person guides.
Problem: When editing a quote or trivia which is not among those displayed on the summary page, contributors are directed to a wrong URL (http://www.tv.com/usersubmission/episode_quotes.html?episode_id=&blurb_id=2630394&tag=;quotes;edit;%271%27), causing an error upon submission. The URL should be: http://www.tv.com/usersubmission/celebrity_quotes.html?celeb_id=66844&blurb_id=2630394.
strong>Workaround: Thanks to mackymacaspac for this workaround:
Go to the Person guide in question. Click into the Biography via the left hand navigation pane. From here, click on 'edit' next to the appropriate quote or trivia item. Make your changes as usual and click submit - the submission should go through without sending you to another form. (Back to Index)
Edited on 09/28/2008 7:24am
Edited 38 total times.
Edited 38 total times.
).
- A 'Sticky' thread is also known as a pinned thread. This is a thread that an editor or moderator has chosen to keep to the top of the forums, regardless of how many newer threads are created in that forum. Pinned topics for help forums tend to include forum rules & bits of news that everyone should see. Pinned topics in show guides often include submission guidelines, episode discussions and commonly asked question topics. A topic can be pinned by an editor, moderator or staff member. So wherever you see this pin, it means that the thread will stay to the top of the forum for easy access.
- TV.com Staff - This is a great little addition which allows you to see at a glance whether a TV.com staff member has posted within the thread.
- Locked Thread. A locked thread has a small padlock next to it. A thread cannot be posted in once it has been locked.
- Unread Topic. This small blue dot signifies that you have not yet read any posts from the thread.
- New Messages. The small green dot signifies that you have read some of the posts within the thread but there have been new posts since you last entered the thread.
- No New Messages indicates that you have read the thread and there have been no new posts since your last visit.
- Hot. This thread is on fire!! This thread will have lots of posts within a fairly short period of time....it's a super popular thread!
- Replied. This small icon indicates that you have responded to the thread.
