New Site: Feedback / Suggestions / Challenges / Problems

By David GreenwaldJanuary 22, 201453 comments

UPDATE: In an ongoing effort to identify and address (wherever possible) challenges and problems associated with the new Vanguard site, this article will be pinned to the front page so that everyone has easy access to it in order to post feedback/suggestions/challenges/problems, and wherever possible implement solutions.

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Dear Readers: I want to make sure we are moving in the right direction here.  We are working on an innovative new comment system.  In the meantime, I want to know if there are ongoing problems.

I realize that some people are having trouble logging on.  Please email me: info(at)davisvanguard(dot)org if you are unable to log on to post.  Specify what device and browser you are using.

For all other problems, complaints, or concerns, please post here.

Sorry for testing people’s patience, however, we had to do this on the fly and could not do this over the course of the last month.

Author

  • David Greenwald

    Greenwald is the founder, editor, and executive director of the Davis Vanguard. He founded the Vanguard in 2006. David Greenwald moved to Davis in 1996 to attend Graduate School at UC Davis in Political Science. He lives in South Davis with his wife Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald and three children.

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Categories:

City of Davis Open Government

53 comments

    1. Everyone, the new Comment system is in place. There will be additional features that are implemented in the coming weeks.

      For those who prefer their comments in reverse chronological order, please use the reworked the right panel, the one that is labeled “Latest Comments (By Article).” That panel is in reverse chronological order within each story, and the stories sequence themselves in reverse chronological order as well.

      So the story with the most recent comment appears at the top (with the seven most recent comments for that specific article shown), and then the next story is the one with the second most recent comment posting.

      To get to a specific comment in the actual article so you can reply, just click on the date and time stamp of the comment in the right panel, then you go right to that comment in the actual article.

  2. Things have been working OK for me but for some reason today I had to enter my name and e-mail again.

    I don’t know if it is happening to anyone else but when I am reading comments on the iPhone they “jump” around as I scroll.

    2. The number of comments now appears on the main page next to each article in the right panel labeled “Latest Comments (By Article)”

      Note: To see a list of the most recent comments made for older articles, just click on the “Older” link at the bottom of the “Latest Comments (By Article)” panel.

  4. Just noticed this: that you have the latest comments noted on various topics on the screen, regardless of which page you are on. That is excellent. Good job.

  5. When I try to log in I got this message: The reCAPTCHA wasn’t entered correctly. Please try again.
    (even though the CAPTCHA was entered correctly. But it appears I am logged in?

  9. Reset Password
    Back to Login

    We’ll email you a secret key. Once you obtain the key, you can use it to Change your Password.
    Username or Email
    There is not such user in our system.

    Why do I get this message when I try to log in?

    1. Test

      Race% student population #suspensions % suspensions
      African-American 2.8% 27 4.5%
      White56.8% 305 51.9%
      Asian/PI 15.8% 39 6.6%
      Latino 18.0% 186 31.6%
      Total 588

  11. I had a new and different problem last night. I wanted to reply to a specific comment. There was no “reply” box at the bottom of the comment, and no comment box at the bottom of the page such as I am now using.
    I was and am using my MAC and Safari. This morning, I logged in and all was as usual ! Robert suggested my comment may have been unwanted, which could well be the case, but I suspect other forces were at play.

  12. Trouble logging on on ipad; seems I have to log in every few days like old site.
    Do not like the dark type and think the site is too busy!
    Hope the timing of the comments is now in order of time posted.
    Very confusing up til now as comments were all over the board in terms of times…..
    Know it is a hard time for the blog….

          1. Biddlin, I’m assuming that that problem for you is device specific. What devices can you log in on and what devices can you not log in on?

          2. Both my notebook and desktop. I am apparently logged in, but cannot access member services.
            ;>)/

  13. Sorry, SODA again….I meant the reverse type (white on black) is hard to read, especially on mobile devices. Also, probably bc of the increased graphics (too busy!) the site is slower to load especially on mobile devices…..

    1. SODA, we are working on implementing a toggle that will allow each user to choose between a display with white on black or a display with black on white. That solution will take some time to research and implement though.

  14. Login cookie seems to expire quickly. Not easy to tell if I am logged on our just posting as a guest except for the avatar image.

    The “preview” button is missed… especially since the tags are more complicated.

    Have mixed feelings about the new method of indented comments. It is much more difficult to keep track of new posts since they are all over the tree of posts. I think I prefer a simple ordered sequential list of posts with the standard to copy quotes from others an include them to respond to.

    Emails, when they came, did not include the link to the post. This is especially useful if we are going to stay with indented posting in a tree format.

    1. What’s interesting is that if you log in through Facebook, the log in doesn’t expire very quickly. In fact, I found it very helpful when posting from my iphone and ipad. It does not post to your facebook profile. However, of course you’d have to post under your actual name.

      1. I don’t want to connect to FB. Although some VG posters are my FB friends, not all and I certainly don’t want to mix those universes unless I am sure.

    2. Frankly, the reason we reworked the right panel, which is labeled “Latest Comments (By Article)” is so that you can have both nested and chronological at the same time. The panel on the right is in reverse chronological order within each story, and the stories sequence themselves in reverse chronological order as well. So the story with the most recent comment appears at the top (with the seven most recent comments shown under that story) and then the next story is the one with the second most recent comment posting. Further, if you click in the date and time stamp of any comment in the right panel, then you go right to that comment in the actual article.

  15. How is the decision to indent the comments made? mention of a previous blog commenter? I find it confusing and not helpful. Again, time is more important to me. It seemed the old bloggers would usually mention the blog post or quote it if they were responding to it directly.

    If you have looked at the blog first thing, then got busy and looked later in the day, you (me at least) wants to see the comments in order.

    Also, why is the post comments button below leave a reply grayed out before you ‘click it’?

    1. SODA, given the sudden, unexpected crash of the old site, some of the decisions were made by default. By that I mean, whatever the default capability of Word press is was what the default capability of the new Vanguard site was. Threaded comments is the default value for WordPress because the majority of conversations in life are threaded. Ideally, we want each user to be able to select their preference based on a toggle field. In the meantime, we are giving you threaded in the left panel and reverse chronological in the right panel.

  16. Second SODA re. “Post comment” button comment–should be readable BEFORE posting, not afterwards. I keep trying to post a second time when the button lights up

    Also, this the home page is the slowest page to load of any that I regularly visit. Is it because of all the photos? If so, we could get along with a list of earlier stories and photos for only the first, say, 8.

    The “latest comments” column is really an excellent addition.

    Time to search around for the “post comment” button……

    1. iPad Guy, we have some questions that will help us diagnose your problem:

      •••» what operating system are you using?

      •••» What browser?

      •••» what kind of internet connection?

      •••» what are some of the other sites that you visit that are loading faster?

      The reason we ask these questions is that the site developer has run load tests from multiple different locations and is getting consistent site loads in less than 2 seconds. If he is going to fix the problem, he needs to recreate the problem. Your feedback will be very helpful.

      1. OS 10.9.1 with Safari 7.0.1 and iOS 7.0.4 for iPhone and iPad using current Safari. Have super-duper-fast Comcast at one location and basic Comcast speed at another. Have AT&T phone internet.

        Just went to Vanguard with another window (on the new, fastest iMac) and confirmed that the page takes about twice as slowly as Facebook, Google News, and other regularly visited sites Mediaite (w/lots of photos) opens somewhere in the middle.

        Didn’t pay much attention to the details, but will do some testing on various equipment. I just figured that the use of two dozen photos (including the dissolving ones at the top) might account for the difference.

        P.S.–The problem with the dark “Post Comment” is consistent on all my Apple items. P.P.S.–I just noticed that the button now lights up when cursor rolls over it. Wonder what’ll happen when I click it. Why not just have it lit to show where it is and that it’s active, then go to dark when the new post is recognized?

    3. Jim (and anyone else who has experienced the problem), can you tell me where you were when you tried to log in each time? Was it the exact same physical location both times? Was it the same device you were using both times?

      The rerason I ask is that it is possible that you were using the same IP address as an address from which spam has come, and that that IP address got put on the “banned for spam” list.

        1. Jim, if it was a spam issue (and clearly it isn’t based on your information) it wouldn’t have been from your home IP address, but rather from a roving/mobile IP address.

          Thanks for the info.

  19. Note… the VG site will crash Safari on IOS 6.x on iPads and iPhones.

    I have not updated my iPhone from 4s yet because they changed the connector and I have many expensive peripherals that use the old style connector.

    And upgrading an iPhone 4s to IOS 7.x currently results in a hardware problem where CPU overclocking increases the heat and then causes the WiFi adapter to fail. It will be greyed out when this happens. My son, without asking his recovering IT guy father first, upgraded his 4s to IOS 7 and no WiFi. Then he made the appointment to the Apple Store only to be told that he had to upgrade his iPhone for $300.

    So I might be going to Android over this. Apple sucks after Jobs passed.

    Bottom line here… the VG site causes Safari to crash on IOS 6.x.

    1. Forgot we had this comment opportunity. I am getting used to the site but still do not like it for all the reasons I have voiced before. Now, it is especially frustrating to NOT see new comments on the side bar in a timely manner and if I am away and come back to it mid day, very tough to find the place I left off; usually have to scroll down the entire comment section again. I see the value of replying to a comment but for a reader later on, doesn’t work well. also wish on the front page there would be a total number comments so you could see if there were any new ones. Because the side bar is not timely, it is impossible to see if there is anything new! thanks for listening!

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