be prepared for random changes

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be prepared for random changes (much like Windows) that will make you question your
. Sanity
. Eye sight
. Memory

OK not so bad just started to wonder what happened to my computer.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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did you not hear the new login sound when you signed in here? ♫ ♫

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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It’s not random.  Your caching settings may be impacting you.  It’s actually a good test of how the browser settings impact what we are really looking at.

Some people actually like the new look

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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And some actually don’t! Why another change? Change for the sake of change is a pain. I always liked the ‘old Ask Woody’ it was reliable and comforting. Now one never knows what will appear next log on. Follow the leader(MS) now every month all IT firms are bombarding users with update messages – but not MS Edge! You get it like it (or use it) or not. On a more positive note I do appreciae the new Def Con update- so much easier on old eyes. As for the other changes – yawn. Thank goodness the ‘comic art’ is gone.

1 user thanked author for this post.

OscarCP

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I agree on the comic art. I don’t mind the other changes so much. In fact, I like how the page looks now. But I also hope that Susan gets over her compulsion to move the furniture. I’m pretty sure it’s not just some feminine thing, as she has said.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Had an odd effect earlier – I posted yesterday and even reloading the site the today, and after doing a test post,  the “last post” information (as shown in posts in the last day) was unchanged until I forced a reload (F5 in chrome) which I guess might gel with that.

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yes siree Bob!!

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OscarCP wrote:

But I also hope that Susan gets over her compulsion to move the furniture

More like, getting new furniture. The old stuff was dated and didn’t reflect the site at present.
Appropriate updates are a good thing, or we’d still be using floppy disks…

cheers, Paul

2 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, Will Fastie

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Her words, not mine.

I already stated that I like the latest look, as of right now. But having got this far, could someone just breath deeply a few times and take it easy, relax, adopt the lotus posture and say “Oohmmmm!”? And keep doing this for a long while?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Why does even this wonderful site feel compelled to make itself look like the idiot scrawling of a three year old?

Plus, as far as I know, Woody has not died so why the mourning color plastered now all over the top so the site is extremely hard on the eyes and very depressing looking along with the, apparently, obligatory stick figures?

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

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Agreed.

While every computer geek site administrator is gazing at their own naval while implementing yet *another* change, they fail to understand the general public really doesn’t give a damn.  All we want is something that works.  What the perennially internally focused geeks fail to realize is that they are but one entity in a never ending tsunami of updates, remakes, rebranding, that impacts the end user.

As an example, for no apparent reason under god and man, a financial account I’ve had since Lincoln was president stopped accepting my password.  This was after a making their website landing page all shiny and new.  After undergoing thru yet *another* crucifixion of trying to find out why, a password website revealed password length requirements had been shortened.

Earth to geeks:  nobody cares but you.  ESPECIALLY THE END USER.

Why don’t all of you never ending website makeovers nonstop tinkering rebranding computer geeks go away and work on solving something like whirled peas.  At least time spend would be worthwhile.

 

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The latest redesign in this case was an intentional redo to ensure that the MS-DEFCON was way more obvious to the end user.

We have also recently made the forums easier to find how to post a comment.    All of the changes were not done on a whim, but done with the end user in mind.  Since you are not a regular on Askwoody and merely an anon poster you may not also realize that there has also been these behind the scenes fixes.

Bottom line website makeovers aren’t done just for “looks” there are fixes in the background as well.  In the case of your bank they probably changed their authentication process.   It wasn’t just a image makeover, software they use changed as well.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

1 user thanked author for this post.

SueW

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OK Susan, you have asked for it, now you’ve got it. Or: No one is a prophet in her own land.

But back on the positive side: now, at long last, the AskWoody page stays put, and does not shift from side to side as has been doing invariably and most annoyingly for more than a year until yesterday. Or changes suddenly size, zooming in or out without any obvious reason.

Now: Why the black strip at the very top? It does not seem to serve any purpose and, in my opinion, does not look really great. (Must find something to criticize, mustn’t I?)

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Microfix wrote:

did you not hear the new login sound when you signed in here? ♫ ♫

Really??

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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turn your speakers up to full volume

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Microfix: My speakers are turned to full volume and also hear nothing when signing in here. I thought you were jesting. No?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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You may have a separate volume control for FF. I do not hear anything either.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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There’s no log in sound.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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But I have now heard it. Its like a voice talking from above saying “”

OK I get it

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Well, I like the site. It is a bit different from the typical forum site (say for example tenforums, just to pick one at random), but that’s good, IMHO. I find the AskWoody site format to be easier to use than the typical forum site. It’s all subjective and nobody is going to like everything, but it does seem that the changes are a good effort at addressing what many users perceived as shortcomings. So I’d say Ms Bradley and the team did a good job.

4 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, Will Fastie, Charlie, OscarCP

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The new changes do make the site a bit cleaner and easier to read.  I like what’s been done for the most part.  I can only find one thing that I wish wasn’t happening – the slow removing of Woody Leonhard’s presence from the site.  Woody was the founder of this great site, and put a lot of work and his own money into it.  I wonder how many new people visit here the first time and wonder – Who is this Woody?

Yes, there’s a write up about him at the end of the “About” button’s descriptions.  I wonder though how many people look there.  Except for that and his name in the site’s title, he is pretty much gone.  Yeah, go ahead, call me sentimental. I suppose I am.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

5 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, miladytn, Mele20, OscarCP, DrBonzo

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Yeah, that was the one thing I was sorry to see removed, the pics of Woody and Ms Bradley. The artwork left something to be desired (IMHO), but I rather liked the presence of the 2 pictures, Ms Bradley’s being slightly in the foreground to suggest a changing of the guard, but still adhering to the original character of the site – paying homage as it were.

Again, just my opinion, and AskWoody is still the best site out there.

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How about replacing “Emeritus” with “Founder”, and putting his description at the top, not at the end of the “About” list? In that description it can be told that he finally retired as Editor, and when.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Mele20

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You continue to ignore the MOST needed change here. This site still displays on widescreen monitors (Dell Ultrasharp 24″) as though the site thinks it is fifteen to twenty years ago. This is the ONLY site I’ve seen that still does this although it was fairly common when I got this beautiful monitor in 2014. I hate all the black on each side of the screen here. With also the orangy yellow very thick vertical band on the right side and a thick black band on the right of it the site looks like it is perpetually Halloween night.

Maybe this does not happen on Windows 11. I have Windows 10 Pro on my main computer and Windows 8 Pro on my older computer. ALL browsers (Fx ESR and Portable, Basilisk, Edge, Brave and Vivaldi) on both computers display the site in this way. On Edge, if I ZOOM to 150% then the site displays correctly except for the fact that makes the font size ridiculously large! I’m not nearly blind! I suppose I could fix it by adding this site to Settings for Edge where I could tell the browser to display the site correctly but at the same time to keep normal text zoom (to 100% rather than 150%). But to have to open all browsers I use and “fix” it this way….UGH…no thanks. When this sort of silliness was rampant years ago on many sites that had no idea how to display properly on widescreen monitors with zoom at 100% for text and objects, and I had the problem across all browsers, I avoided those sites (after exasperated comments to them by email telling them to fix their sites to display correctly on widescreen browsers). But that is not really an option here because I gotta have this site!

Does this happen on desktop Macs? I ask because I may move to a Mac in the future as I really like my iPhone XR and my Apple watch but I hate fighting with them and Windows 10 to get what should be a simple and quick task (like a new photo on my iPhone to upload to my computer) but it is a big hassle…worse hassle with each update in Windows 10).

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Mele20: I think it is because of the browser, not the operating system, that one needs to make adjustments. I say that, because I am inclined to believe the root cause of the need to make adjustments could be that this site’s page is a composite of many parts and getting them to work together is a bit too much for a common browser. In my Mac I also need to adjust all my three browsers: Waterfox, Chrome and Vivaldi.

But after the latest changes, whether this particular one was intentional or not, now one first adjustment seems to be a keeper, unlike what it was like before these latest changes.

One helpful feature in Macs, but I think it is also available with Windows, is “night shift”, where one can change the colors on the display to warmer (more red) or cooler (more blue) to suit oneself. In Macs one can set it to 24 hours a day or just to a given period during the day. I have it set to warmer and, to me, this makes the colors in the AskWoody page tolerable.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Mele20 wrote:

This site still displays on widescreen monitors (Dell Ultrasharp 24″) as though the site thinks it is fifteen to twenty years ago

That is the forum software – it’s not really designed to be a forum.
The cost of changing is likely to be prohibitive – it was a nightmare moving the old site to this one.

cheers, Paul

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