# Army.ca To Do List



## Mike Bobbitt

In light of all the recent changes, I've put together a to do list of outstanding problems. If you see something that's not on the list, please let me know about it. If it's already on the list, I'm aware of it but haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

As I resolve problems, I'll remove them from this list.


Smilies and spellcheck don't work on the DWAN
Header block with avatar/userinfo/ads is still not quite right
Chat censor is 4'ed
Chat presence in menu bar stays too long after a user exits
User albums in the gallery do not work.
Trim mod_security logging
Increase quote text size (use override CSS)

Thanks!
Mike


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## GAP

one small item...increase font size in quote boxes...they're hard to read that small (blind old guys  ;D)

put this thread on front page so it's easy to find.


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## Shamrock

I think you may need to add lists to that list.  None of your bullets are showing up this end or in a previous review I attempted to enlisten.


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## Edward Campbell

I see the bullets in your review.


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## George Wallace

I find the individual Threads easy to read, but the Recent Posts pages not so easy to read.  It is difficult to figure out who posted and where the quotes begin and end.  The large grey numbers tend to disappear/blend into the darker background of the even numbered posts.


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## PMedMoe

Since yesterday, when typing a reply, the text box (and subsequently text) extends beyond the edge of the page so that it is not visible until it wraps around to the next line.  Not sure if it's just on the DWAN or not but can let you know this evening.


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## The Bread Guy

One more for your list:

Search box on front page doesn't seem to work (any word I've tried comes back with nothing found, including classics like "infantry" and "Afghanistan")

Not huge, since I use Google as well, but thought you'd like to know.


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## GAP

But isn't Mike still rebuilding the search database?


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## Bruce Monkhouse

Yes, but I think it has it's own thread.


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## George Wallace

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> In light of all the recent changes, I've put together a to do list of outstanding problems. If you see something that's not on the list, please let me know about it. If it's already on the list, I'm aware of it but haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.
> 
> As I resolve problems, I'll remove them from this list.
> 
> 
> Smilies and spellcheck don't work on the DWAN
> Header block with avatar/userinfo/ads is still not quite right
> Menu bar fills up the error log
> SMF menu selections are white on white
> Chat censor is 4'ed
> Chat presence in menu bar stays too long after a user exits
> Gallery logins are not working
> Gallery browse/filename fields are white on white
> User albums in the gallery do not work.
> Links directory doesn't work
> Trim mod_security logging
> Rebuild forums search index (change admin timeout when complete)
> 
> Resume bidirectional backups
> 
> Thanks!
> Mike




SEARCH index is already on his "TO DO" list.   ;D


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## The Bread Guy

My f**k up, then - didn't connect the two.


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## George Wallace

It is 2112 hrs and I think that several of the different parts of this program have their "Clocks" running haywire.  Look at the Time Stamp on this post, the Time Stamp on the same post in my profile, and Time Stamps on MilPoints and all these are different records.


Reply # 10 above isn't even recorded in the MilPoints data.


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## George Wallace

Just an example of how off your MP Clock is; I just logged on and made one post at about 0805:



> *           Date                   User                      Amount                                                        Description *
> 
> 2010-04-09 12:03:32      George Wallace      10      Re: BOOT REGULATIONS: issued vs. non-issued vs. non-standard boots (TODAY)
> 2010-04-09 11:52:51      George Wallace      20      Congratulations! You've been online for 8,329 Hours!
> 2010-04-09 01:18:46      George Wallace      10      Re: TASER OPINIONS?                                            (YESTERDAY)
> 
> 2010-04-09 01:08:48      George Wallace      10      Re: Army.ca To Do List
> 2010-04-09 00:47:10      George Wallace      10      Re: Military commander charged in 2 Ontario murders, confinement and sexual assault.
> 2010-04-09 00:35:45      George Wallace      20      Congratulations! You've been online for 8,328 Hours!
> 2010-04-09 00:33:28      George Wallace      20      MP
> 2010-04-09 00:13:06      George Wallace      10      Re: BMQ July 2010
> 2010-04-09 00:01:11      George Wallace      10      Congratulations! You were Earner #5 for 2010-04-07! (YESTERDAY)


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## Journeyman

Mike, until the Search function is sorted out, maybe add Mike O'Leary's words to the Search page



> When you find problems with the search function use Google as an alternative.  Add *site:army.ca* to your search to limit results to the forum.
> 
> This will also work for site:navy.ca, site:air-force.ca, or other versions of the Milnet.ca url.


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## George Wallace

Mike

I think some of the "clocks" in the site are running on Local time, while others are on Zulu time.  Does that cause 'conflicts' in the programing?


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## Mike Bobbitt

George, you're right about the times... the server has it's time, the forums have an offset, and every user can adjust with another offset. Regular scripts like the MilPoints stuff just rely on the server time, which seems to be stuck at GMT. I updated the timezone last night, but it reverted back to GMT at some point. I should be used to computers not listening to me by now...


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## Mike Bobbitt

Shamrock, I can see your (and my) bullets just fine... Are they still invisible for you? Anyone else? What browser are you using?

GAP, I'll see what I can do about adjusting the quote text size. Sometimes big things turn out to be easy and sometimes small things end up being difficult. This is one of the latter unfortunately.

Moe, I haven't seen misbehaving reply boxes yet... are they doing that consistently or just once in a while?


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## George Wallace

WHOA!  All the text has now changed to a light shade of orange.


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## PMedMoe

Orange?  I'm getting brown which is really hard to read.....   :-\


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## Mike Bobbitt

DO not adjust your set...


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## George Wallace

From DHH


Today in Canadian Military History

■10/4/1917
Private John Pattison of the 50th Battalion, C.E.F. at Vimy Ridge threw hand grenades into the German emplacement, killing and wounding some of the enemy. Before the five remaining defenders could recover, Private Pattison charged the position and overcame them to earn the Victoria Cross. 
■10/4/1937
The Foreign Enlistment Act is passed by Parliament and is designed to prevent Canadians from volunteering in the Spanish Civil War.
■10/4/1953
No. 1 Air Division, Royal Canadian Air Force, completes its move from Paris to Metz, France.


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## Mike Bobbitt

The search index is now complete and searching works as well as it ever did. 

George, are those items for the military history calendar?


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## George Wallace

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> The search index is now complete and searching works as well as it ever did.
> 
> George, are those items for the military history calendar?


No, they aren't. Sorry ...... Yes they are.       I found them by accident on DHH website, and noticed they weren't on our calendar.  I tried to input them, but couldn't.


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## Mike Bobbitt

Thanks George, I've added them now. (A day late, and for the sake of argument, a dollar short too..)


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## GAP

Yahhhh!  The text color bar goes back to "Change Color" after using it....it was such a pain!!!  Thanks Mike!


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## GAP

The top part of my screen is army green, the rest is Milnet grey......gremlins?

I log into Army.ca, I get Milnet screen.


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## Occam

GAP said:
			
		

> The top part of my screen is army green, the rest is Milnet grey......gremlins?
> 
> I log into Army.ca, I get Milnet screen.



There was more quirkiness going on than that, but that was one of the symptoms.  I was getting three instances of the webpage spread across my screen, scrollbar and everything.  Seems okay now?

Checked it on three different PCs, and several browsers...all the same, so it wasn't on our end.


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## PMedMoe

The color for links has got to be changed.  That dark blue is difficult to see.  Lately, I've been changing mine to yellow.


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## Mike Bobbitt

Moe, which site are you on where the link colours are hard to see? I did a quick check and they seem OK to me... but I have low standards. 

GAP and Occam, are you still seeing the same oddness? (Or other oddness, for that matter...)


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## GAP

No, it cleared up within minutes....

I thought you were trying to mate Milnet with Army....bad choice....one of them is weird.... ;D


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## Occam

GAP said:
			
		

> No, it cleared up within minutes....



Same here.


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## Mike Bobbitt

Then it was just me tinkering... I had to make some changes to get the new photo gallery running.


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## PMedMoe

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> Moe, which site are you on where the link colours are hard to see? I did a quick check and they seem OK to me... but I have low standards.



Army.ca.  The link colour is a bluish gray.  Difficult to see on green.


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## Mike Bobbitt

It should be more of a greyish green... Which still may not be easy to see... The site probably qualifies as a legitimate colour blindness test, but can you send me a screenshot so I can see what you see?

Thanks
Mike


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## PMedMoe

Mike, check here:  http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v632/PMedMoe/Stuff/?action=view&current=Armyca.jpg


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## Mike Bobbitt

Gotcha... and you're right... visited links have a slightly blueish tint to them. I'll see if I can come up with a better colour.


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## PMedMoe

PMedMoe said:
			
		

> Since yesterday, when typing a reply, the text box (and subsequently text) extends beyond the edge of the page so that it is not visible until it wraps around to the next line.  Not sure if it's just on the DWAN or not but can let you know this evening.



Okay, this issue still occurs (only at work) for me.  Something I've noticed is that the box remains normal until I type or hit enter.  If I use the little double arrow thingy to change the window size, it immediately goes back to normal again.  Must be a DWAN thing.  Or maybe the screen resolution?


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## Mike Bobbitt

Probably a DWAN thing... it likely removes JavaScript, and without it, the site loses it's mind. I can't guess why this particular issue occurs. Anyone else on the DWAN have the same problem?


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## PMedMoe

It's only occurred since the last server move/upgrade.  It's no biggie, just makes it hard for me to notice my mistakes.   :-\


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## Nuggs

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> In light of all the recent changes, I've put together a to do list of outstanding problems. If you see something that's not on the list, please let me know about it. If it's already on the list, I'm aware of it but haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.
> 
> As I resolve problems, I'll remove them from this list.
> 
> 
> Smilies and spellcheck don't work on the DWAN
> *Header block with avatar/userinfo/ads is still not quite right*
> Menu bar fills up the error log
> Chat censor is 4'ed
> Chat presence in menu bar stays too long after a user exits
> User albums in the gallery do not work.
> Links directory doesn't work
> Trim mod_security logging
> Increase quote text size (use override CSS)
> 
> Thanks!
> Mike



Is this what the bold refers too?


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## dapaterson

"Today in Military History" is describing May 16 - so Today is really Yesterday.


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## Fishbone Jones

dapaterson said:
			
		

> "Today in Military History" is describing May 16 - so Today is really Yesterday.



Groundhog Day! ;D


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## 211RadOp

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> Probably a DWAN thing... it likely removes JavaScript, and without it, the site loses it's mind. I can't guess why this particular issue occurs. Anyone else on the DWAN have the same problem?



I do as well, but again, baseline sucks.


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## dapaterson

Same thing here.  I assumed it was IE6 related...


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## Mike Bobbitt

Crockett... that line item actually refers to another problem, but thanks for reporting yours.

The other problem with the textbox acting weird seems to be fairly widespread, unfortunately. I haven't yet been able to observe it which makes it hard to track down, but I'll keep on it.


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## PMedMoe

Mike, 

Here's a suggestion that I don't think has been made.  Not sure if you can do it.....

When looking at "Show unread posts since last visit", is there a way that each topic can have a check box beside it and be marked as read without having to mark all as read?

I think it would make it much easier to narrow down the list of unread posts without having to go through pages of it.  I was last on Thursday evening and today there were over 3 pages of unread posts.  It's not a huge issue, but it would enable people to check off posts that they aren't interested in and keep the links to the ones they are.  

Just curious if it could be done if it's not too much trouble.


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## PMedMoe

Just thought I'd "bump" this idea up and see if it gets noticed.   _*fingers crossed*_   



			
				PMedMoe said:
			
		

> Mike,
> 
> Here's a suggestion that I don't think has been made.  Not sure if you can do it.....
> 
> When looking at "Show unread posts since last visit", is there a way that each topic can have a check box beside it and be marked as read without having to mark all as read?
> 
> I think it would make it much easier to narrow down the list of unread posts without having to go through pages of it.  I was last on Thursday evening and today there were over 3 pages of unread posts.  It's not a huge issue, but it would enable people to check off posts that they aren't interested in and keep the links to the ones they are.
> 
> Just curious if it could be done if it's not too much trouble.


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## Journeyman

PMedMoe said:
			
		

> Just thought I'd "bump" this idea up and see if it gets noticed.   _*fingers crossed*_


Maybe if you'd put a bit more due diligence into checking in regularly, you wouldn't have to pester Mike with your petty issues   ;D


Now, for _important_ issues for Mike to address  ;D

1) Smilies: I think we could use:
   a) a dead kittty (someone else mentioned this, and I think it's a good idea), and
   b) an angel (we have a devil already, but sometimes I post things in perfect angelic innocence; I'd hate to be mistaken).

2) MilPoints: I get an email notification when I give/deduct MilPoints. Is there any way that the recipient can be notified, other than checking MilPoints regularly? I hate missing out on finding I've hurt someone's feelings (OK, one person on several occasions now   )


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## PMedMoe

Journeyman said:
			
		

> b) an angel (we have a devil already, but sometimes I post things in perfect angelic innocence; I'd hate to be mistaken).



Maybe if you put in a bit of due diligence in searching, you'd find one yourself.   

Angel smilies


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## Journeyman

PMedMoe said:
			
		

> Maybe if you put in a bit of due diligence in searching, you'd find one yourself.
> 
> Angel smilies


We're talking about army.ca click & go smilies, not searching the web.

Man, you go on course for a few days and there's no dealing with you


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## PMedMoe

Journeyman said:
			
		

> We're talking about army.ca click & go smilies, not searching the web.



What's the matter, too much work to bookmark a page and copy and paste?   :



			
				Journeyman said:
			
		

> Man, you go on course for a few days and there's no dealing with you



Like I'm _ever_ easy to deal with.   >


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## navymich

PMedMoe said:
			
		

> When looking at "Show unread posts since last visit", is there a way that each topic can have a check box beside it and be marked as read without having to mark all as read?



Didn't there used to be something like this?  I was sure a few years ago that I could do this.



			
				Journeyman said:
			
		

> 2) MilPoints: I get an email notification when I give/deduct MilPoints. Is there any way that the recipient can be notified, other than checking MilPoints regularly? I hate missing out on finding I've hurt someone's feelings (OK, one person on several occasions now   )



It's ok JM.  Just give me MPs everyday and I won't have to worry about an email...I can just expect them.


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## Journeyman

airmich said:
			
		

> It's ok JM.  Just give me MPs everyday and I won't have to worry about an email...I can just expect them.


You'd just use them to feed your Afghan Ops addiction -- and that would make me just as guilty, for "feeding the hunger"


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## Mike Bobbitt

Moe, I wish we could select topics to 'watch', so we could follow threads we haven't replied in, or ignore threads we have. Doesn't seem to be possible under the current system though. 

JM, here all these long years I thought it *was* sending out notification e-mails. I believe it is now... we should find out shortly!


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## PuckChaser

Someone give me milpoints to check.  >


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## Edward Campbell

PuckChaser said:
			
		

> Someone give me milpoints to check.  >




(As usual) I got an almost immediate E-mail (from Apache@Army.ca) saying I awarded Milpoints. Did you get one, PuckChaser?


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## PuckChaser

Negative, no email. Let me see if there's a setting or something that's off.

Edit: Just sent some points your way, ER. I don't have an email yet saying I sent points so maybe its just my mail server being slow.


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## Journeyman

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> JM, here all these long years I thought it *was* sending out notification e-mails. I believe it is now... we should find out shortly!


Sorry Mike, no change. 
I still get the message (from Apache @Army.ca) whenever I give/take MilPoints, but no joy when anyone else judges my posts -- and I have gained/lost today  ;D


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## navymich

Journeyman said:
			
		

> You'd just use them to feed your Afghan Ops addiction -- and that would make me just as guilty, for "feeding the hunger"



But JM, 'tis the season for giving and feeding the hungry   (P.S. you're off the invite for XMas dinner now!  lol)


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## PuckChaser

Works now! Helps so I can regift points to generous individuals!!!

Thanks Mike.


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## navymich

PuckChaser said:
			
		

> Works now! Helps so I can regift points to generous individuals!!!
> 
> Thanks Mike.



Guess I should change my email address that it sends my notifications too.  I'll never see them over the holidays while my inbox at work is filling up.


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## Mike Bobbitt

Well, I might have broken it... but hopefully it's working again now.


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## navymich

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> Well, I might have broken it... but hopefully it's working again now.



You're allowed to break your own toys!  And yes, it works now.


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## PuckChaser

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> Well, I might have broken it... but hopefully it's working again now.



Works great, thanks again for your hard work, Mike!


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## Sapplicant

Perhaps a merging of all things "Iran" into a superthread?


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## Bruce Monkhouse

Sapplicant said:
			
		

> Perhaps a merging of all things "Iran" into a superthread?



http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/25516.0.html

Not "all" as some things didn't fit but plenty of stuff. As always if someone finds a thread that should be included just let me know.
Bruce


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## Bruce Monkhouse

..and Haiti.
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/98237.0.html


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## Journeyman

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> JM, here all these long years I thought it *was* sending out notification e-mails. I believe it is now... we should find out shortly!


Just an update Mike -- I'm not sure what you did, but I'm now getting notifications when I gain/lose MilPoints. Thanks.


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## Journeyman

Now, for the sake of us 'bah humbug' people, when are you going to take down the Christmas lights?


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## kratz

Journeyman said:
			
		

> Now, for the sake of us 'bah humbug' people, when are you going to take down the Christmas lights?



I thought Mike would have left the lights up year round like the rest of us.  ;D


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## Mike Bobbitt

The Christmas lights have been down since 31 Dec. Try Shift-reload (firefox) or CTRL-refresh (IE) to bring yourself forward to 2011.


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## dangerboy

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> The Christmas lights have been down since 31 Dec. Try Shift-reload (firefox) or CTRL-refresh (IE) to bring yourself forward to 2011.



The DIN likes Christmas as I tried that and they are still there.


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## Mike Bobbitt

Yeah, the DIN has caching servers that hang on to the old images for quite a while. It may feel like Christmas for some time yet!


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## navymich

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> Yeah, the DIN has caching servers that hang on to the old images for quite a while. It may feel like Christmas for some time yet!



If only I was still on leave to go with it.


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## Shamrock

Primarily, I find myself using my smart phone to access Army.CA. Just recently, I posted something not realizing I hadn't actually finished the last sentence. However, scrolling down to correct that was not possible. Before that, I was unable to access the Wiki or advertisers list on the topmost banner. 

I know the idea of a mobile site has been dismissed, but would a link to an older, HTML version of Army.CA be feasible?


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## Mike Bobbitt

ʞɔoɹɯɐɥs, a mobile version of the site has not been dismissed... in fact it exists! Try browsing to http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.php?wap2 on your smartphone. It's ugly and stripped down but should be a better method for phones that have trouble rendering the 'full' site.

That doesn't adddress the Wiki, but I'm not sure what the issue there is... When you say you were 'unable to access the Wiki' can you be more specific? Also not sure what you mean about the advertiser's list. We don't have any such list that I'm aware of!


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## Shamrock

I have diagnosed the problem to be me and not electronic.

The drop-down menu would appear, but sausage fingers weren't hitting the 100-figure grid reference required to activate the button.


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## Rheostatic

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> a mobile version of the site has not been dismissed... in fact it exists! Try browsing to http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.php?wap2 on your smartphone. It's ugly and stripped down but should be a better method for phones that have trouble rendering the 'full' site.


It's not ugly, it's exactly what it needs to be: simple.

That said, it would be nice if hyperlinks were enabled, and if there were some indicator where a post has an image or attatchment (just a simple placeholder like {image} so the user knows what they're missing).


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## Occam

Mike, I've noticed an issue with the site and Firefox 4(.0.1).  When using reply or quote, the right edge of the text box is extended clear off the right edge of the screen, so that when you reach the edge of the box, the text doesn't wrap around so you can see it.  I'll attach a screen shot, if that helps.   I have two computers now showing the same symptoms on Firefox, while Chrome and IE 9 appear to have no problems. 

I have not yet cleared cookies/cache in case you want me to look at/for anything.


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## Edward Campbell

I have the same issue with both _Firefox_ and _Chrome_ (already reported privately) but both _IE-9_ and _Maxthon_ (a relatively less well known browser) work fine.


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## The Bread Guy

Odd....

Home PC + Firefox 4.0.1 = OK
Work PC + Firefox 4.0.1 = run-on reply box
Work PC + IE 7 = OK

Good luck with the fixes.


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## Mike Bobbitt

I was seeing this issue as well, but I cleared out the forum caches and it was resolved. (For me)

It's possible that some pages are still being cached, but that seems a bit unlikely. You can try clearing your cache (cookies should not need to be cleared) and see if that helps.


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## Edward Campbell

That (clearing the cache) worked for me in _Chrome_ - I did not clear cookies.

I will test _Firefox_ later.


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## The Bread Guy

Clearing my cache worked with Firefox - thanks Mike.


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## Occam

Mike Bobbitt said:
			
		

> I was seeing this issue as well, but I cleared out the forum caches and it was resolved. (For me)
> 
> It's possible that some pages are still being cached, but that seems a bit unlikely. You can try clearing your cache (cookies should not need to be cleared) and see if that helps.



Yup, that did it.  Thanks.


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