can you help test a forum change?

[eFestivals]

I've just made a small change to the forum skin that's used in the Wychwood forum here.

/index.php?showforum=46">http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.php?showforum=46

(the change is only on that forum at the moment, while it's checked for any problems).

I'd be grateful if people here could go into that forum and then into a topic or two - doing that while both logged in and logged out (some potential problems might only happen when logged in, or when logged out) - and then post back here to say if they encountered any on-screen error messages (and if so, what exactly), along with what operating system (Windows, Mac, Unix, etc) and version they're using, and which browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, etc) and version.

Once I'm confident that this change doesn't create any new problems, it can then be rolled out across the rest of the forums as well as the rest of the website.

Your help with this is appreciated.

[LusciousLucy]

No probs logged in or out.

Windows and Google Chrome.

[oafc0000]

Chrome, Firefox fine...

You have issues with IE...

When trying to log out from that section I get this error:

[#2012] The link you followed to logout appears to be badly formed. Please go back and click the link again.

So I wiped my cookies etc...

And when viewing the forum not logged in I get these errors:

Webpage error details

Message: 'null' is null or not an object

Line: 5456

Char: 6

Code: 0

URI: /index.php?showtopic=148288">http://www.efestival...howtopic=148288

Message: 'null' is null or not an object

Line: 5618

Char: 6

Code: 0

URI: /index.php?showtopic=148288">http://www.efestival...howtopic=148288

Message: 'null' is null or not an object

Line: 5755

Char: 6

Code: 0

URI: /index.php?showtopic=148288">http://www.efestival...howtopic=148288

Message: 'null' is null or not an object

Line: 5892

Char: 6

Code: 0

URI: /index.php?showtopic=148288">http://www.efestival...howtopic=148288

Message: 'null' is null or not an object

Line: 6031

Char: 6

Code: 0

URI: /index.php?showtopic=148288">http://www.efestival...howtopic=148288

Message: 'null' is null or not an object

Line: 6168

Char: 6

Code: 0

URI: /index.php?showtopic=148288">http://www.efestival...howtopic=148288

Message: 'null' is null or not an object

Line: 6307

Char: 6

Code: 0

URI: /index.php?showtopic=148288">http://www.efestival...howtopic=148288

I have display every error ticked etc so nothing is masked....

Viewing while logged in was fine.

Edited July 22, 2010 by oafc0000

[oafc0000]

Ok, it seems these errors happen on every part of the forum so its not related to the new change.

Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced and turn on Display all errors etc...

It happens when you view a thread...

[sifi]

No issues viewing four different threads in that forum both logged in and logged out using Windows XP Pro and IE 8.

[The Nal]

No issues on Chrome/XP.

[philipsteak]

Don't know if its relevant, but none of the posts were quoting properly, like when the forums were first upgraded.

Other than that, no errors or anything.

Windows 7 and firefox (latest as far as I know unless I've missed an update)

[modey]

no problems for me, using windows 7 and firefox

on another note neil, i have been told my pm's aren't getting to me even though my inbox appears to be empty

[The Nal]

Ah, just noticed there the issue with quoting. It doesnt quote correctly and shows something like below

QUOTE (Rebexus @ Jun 7 2010, 04:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I usually love The Levellers but thought they were trying a bit hard to 'out-punk' the crowd (or maybe I've seen them as Drunk-in-Public too many times where they are softer?).

I wondered whether it was lack of didgeredoo but considering it was a festival where lots of people won't be fans I was surprised at some of the tracks they played. That said I'm an 'early 90s' girl and therefore love a bit of Weapon Called the Word/Levellers/Zeitgeist and stretch to Green Day rising so put it down to the set list.

[eFestivals]

Ah, just noticed there the issue with quoting. It doesnt quote correctly and shows something like below

Thanks for the comments on these, but they're not a part of what I need testing.

About them, they only exist for posts prior to the upgrade, and were meant to be converted by a converter - but which doesn't appear to work.

[eFestivals]

on another note neil, i have been told my pm's aren't getting to me even though my inbox appears to be empty

not sure why. Tho it's perhaps possible they're mistakenly mailing a near-identical name instead and not you - some wit recently created an "eFestivals." (with a dot at the end) account, and I know of at least one person who has tried contacting me via that name in error - so it happens.

If you can please send me a PM about it, and include the username of the person sending you PMs too, I'll look into it next week (soz, don't have time today).

[eFestivals]

Thanks for those who have tested already.

Keep 'em coming please.

[strudders]

Can we start new we topic?

ie for testing?

All ok here so far.

Getting the pic and the adds OK

Firefox 3.6.7

Windows 7 Premium

Avast Professional

[eFestivals]

You have issues with IE...

When trying to log out from that section I get this error:

[#2012] The link you followed to logout appears to be badly formed. Please go back and click the link again.

So I wiped my cookies etc...

And when viewing the forum not logged in I get these errors:

<snip>

I have display every error ticked etc so nothing is masked....

Viewing while logged in was fine.

Yep, that's down to a minor javascript error in the forum code (I know exactly what, and it effects no functionality) - but it's not an error that real-world users will be aware of, as with standard settings they get no error message. As such it's something that can be lived with until they fix it (if they fix it. Because of what it is and its no-impact, they might choose to leave it).

I'm interested in what real life users experience - if they're not getting annoying error messages when using these forums, that's the best I can do.

[gratedenini]

I`ve got IE and cant see any problems on the wychwood forum (apart from reading all my shite again . Only thing is it seems that when posts are quoted.... it has in blue << POST SNAPBACK>> .

Pages still take ages to load though but i suppose thats nowt to do with your request on this occasion.

den

[norainplease]

tested logged in and out in IE 8 and all appears well!

[RABun]

this is probably totally unrelated but some links don't seem to be opening in a new tab anymore. The page just navigates to the linked page. I havent changed any settings on my browser.

IE8

[eFestivals]

this is probably totally unrelated but some links don't seem to be opening in a new tab anymore. The page just navigates to the linked page. I havent changed any settings on my browser.

IE8

Thanks, but it is unrelated.

As far as I'm aware, there's no way for a website to force a new page to open in a new tab rather than a new window. If there is, it's certainly not something that's ever been applied on this website, so it's caused by something at your end.

==============

Thanks to those people who've posted after testing. The updated menus will be rolled out on the forums in the next day or two - fingers crossed that there aren't any problems.

[krisskross]

no probs Mac OS X - Safari

[eFestivals]

The change to the skin has now been rolled out across most of the forums.

If you suddenly start getting error messages, please post the details here.

[jump]

I'm on IE 7 & XP, 3 times this morning I written a reply in the bottom fast slot and when I click add my window closes. Is this anything to do with the changes?

[eFestivals]

I'm on IE 7 & XP, 3 times this morning I written a reply in the bottom fast slot and when I click add my window closes. Is this anything to do with the changes?

I doubt it's to do with the change I made yesterday, but it's possible.

How did you post this message? Did you have to do it via the "add reply" option, rather than using the fast reply?

Have you tried clearing your browser's cache (from your browser's "tools" menu option? If not, could you please try doing that, and post back to say whether that's cured the problem?

(I'd be grateful if you could please answer this post asap, as I was just about to upgrade the forum software to the version released at the end of last week - but I didn't want to make the two changes together, as that would make things difficult in tracking down any problems).

[jump]

I doubt it's to do with the change I made yesterday, but it's possible.

How did you post this message? Did you have to do it via the "add reply" option, rather than using the fast reply?

Have you tried clearing your browser's cache (from your browser's "tools" menu option? If not, could you please try doing that, and post back to say whether that's cured the problem?

(I'd be grateful if you could please answer this post asap, as I was just about to upgrade the forum software to the version released at the end of last week - but I didn't want to make the two changes together, as that would make things difficult in tracking down any problems).

Edited July 28, 2010 by jump

[RABun]

There appears to be an error with the database.

If you are seeing this page, it means there was a problem communicating with our database. Sometimes this error is temporary and will go away when you refresh the page. Sometimes the error will need to be fixed by an administrator before the site will become accessible again.

You can try to refresh the page by clicking here

[eFestivals]

I got the above earlier this morning. I assume it was a minor issue as you were fiddling?

It probably was - there's been some problems with one of the efests servers (that isn't used by the forums) overnight, which on investigation was something that actually happened last week but has taken until now to impact on things.

The 'last week' part of that happened to coincide with the date of problems with one of the servers used for the forums, so I went back on those problems as well and did some checking and repairing just to be sure everything was as it should be, and doing that caused the forums to stop working as they should for a short time - I'm presuming that was the time you saw that error.