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I'm pleased to announce that we've released the next major version of slashcode, and upgraded the production systems as of today. Since yours truly forgot that May has 31 days, you're also getting it a day early. Here's the short list of what's in this update.
Slashcode 14.06 Changelog
Hate the red? Not a problem, go choose "chillax", and enjoy a nice refreshing blue look and feel for the site. Right now, we're only using it for CSS changes, but each theme can override the default theme in an inherited matter. At some point, we are seriously going to look at giving SN a facelift and moving away from the stock slashcode red. Now, with any change, there are those who will dislike it for one reason or another, but with a simple click in their preferences, they can simply go back to how the site was before.
Improved Threading (D1.5)
Perhaps our most user visible change with this release, this brings the discussion system out of 1997, and something closer to mid-2000s. For anyone who's ever used the old "Slashdot/SoylentNews Expandable Comment Tree", this is going to look familiar. I took the GPLv2-licensed GreaseMonkey script, modified it into a server-side script, then Paul went and made it work with CSS instead of page-scraping. The upshot?
A *massive* improvement to site usability, and threading, preventing you having to have millions of tabs open to follow any discussion. Now, obviously, there is still some room for improvement, such as an inline "Reply" box, but this should go a long way in helping in browsing comments. Due to the way its implemented, non-JS users will gracefully degrade to the "Threaded" view, and for those who simply hate it, feel free to flip your user preference from "Improved Threaded" to "Threaded" or "Nested.
Improved Threading is now the default for ACs, and if your preferences were set to Threaded or Nested, you were automatically upgraded. This feature, as with all features, will continue to keep evolve. If you're interested in improving it, and are good with JavaScript or CSS, come find us on IRC, and make yourselves known, or write a nifty GreaseMonkey script, and we'll migrate it into a server-side one.
NOTE: There was a slight goof which is causing Improved Threading to not quite work the way most people expect it to, its more "Improved Nested" at the moment. We're discussing on IRC about this right now, but as a workaround, set your browsing score to 4 which will make it work similar to the way its supposed to work).
Dead Code Removal/Site Optimizations
Inspired by the LibreSSL efforts to strip down and clarify OpenSSL, I've started undertaking a similar project through the codebase. As of now, approximately, 50k lines of code and other garbage have been jettisoned from the codebase, including most of the bloated and unused Javascript. As a practical upshot of this, our average page load size is now 3/5ths smaller than what it was in the previous release. There's still a fair bit of cruft in the codebase in the form of unused functions, dead code paths, and other junk, but I'm optimistic that by time we're done, we can skim another 10-15k lines of code out of the codebase, making it easier to audit and bugfix.
The following bits of code were completely removed:
I do hope you enjoy this round of fixes and improvements. That being said, I am sorry that some promised work didn't make it into this release, most importantly, moderation and metamoderation reworks. With luck, I'll find time between now and the next release to really start hammering on it, and then look at releasing it to production in the form of a point release. As always, post below, and know that your comments are helping decide the future of this site.
Until next time, NCommander
Slashcode 14.06 Changelog
- New user-selectable themes, including a Night Mode. Themes are now CSS based and use no images for effects.
- New collapsible comment with the Improved Threaded mode. (Has set as default for all users that have Threaded or Nested set. You can change it back if you dislike it.)
- New message display that shows all messages in reverse chronological order as a full message (now without the email footer). Also set the Daily Newsletter to be off for new users.
- Removed a bunch of unneeded code that will make page loading faster.
- Static pages (FAQ and About) are now dynamic and show the proper user menu and theme.
- RSS now encoded properly.
- Preferences update to make pages work together better. (Most of the work was on the admin side so most of you will never see the bulk of the changes.) Also fixed a issue with the Homepage Prefs where the reset to default would not set everything to the defaults.
- Updates to the Submissions system. The pages look better and now your past submissions are organized better.
- Login system updated to allow passwords with unlimited lengths and user names of upto 35 characters.
- Slashboxes fixed so that they show properly when you change your Homepage settings.
- Pollbooth updates to make pages look better.
- Fixed issue with long words and page elements overflowing their parent divs by adding word-wrap: break-word; to the css.
- Smoke-test of subscriber code; expect to see a few users with stars running around as we get the bugs out
- And a bunch of smaller fixes that you will be sure to notice.
A huge round of applause to paulej72 for going through the bug list and sorting out much of what was there. Furthermore, I'd also like to extend thanks to iWantToKeepAnon and TheMightyBuzzard for contributions to this release.
As always, feel free to submit your issues to our bugtracker where our crack team of flying monkeys will labor to try and make it part of future site upgrades.
Check past the break for more thoughts and comments on these changes.
Hate the red? Not a problem, go choose "chillax", and enjoy a nice refreshing blue look and feel for the site. Right now, we're only using it for CSS changes, but each theme can override the default theme in an inherited matter. At some point, we are seriously going to look at giving SN a facelift and moving away from the stock slashcode red. Now, with any change, there are those who will dislike it for one reason or another, but with a simple click in their preferences, they can simply go back to how the site was before.
Improved Threading (D1.5)
Perhaps our most user visible change with this release, this brings the discussion system out of 1997, and something closer to mid-2000s. For anyone who's ever used the old "Slashdot/SoylentNews Expandable Comment Tree", this is going to look familiar. I took the GPLv2-licensed GreaseMonkey script, modified it into a server-side script, then Paul went and made it work with CSS instead of page-scraping. The upshot?
A *massive* improvement to site usability, and threading, preventing you having to have millions of tabs open to follow any discussion. Now, obviously, there is still some room for improvement, such as an inline "Reply" box, but this should go a long way in helping in browsing comments. Due to the way its implemented, non-JS users will gracefully degrade to the "Threaded" view, and for those who simply hate it, feel free to flip your user preference from "Improved Threaded" to "Threaded" or "Nested.
Improved Threading is now the default for ACs, and if your preferences were set to Threaded or Nested, you were automatically upgraded. This feature, as with all features, will continue to keep evolve. If you're interested in improving it, and are good with JavaScript or CSS, come find us on IRC, and make yourselves known, or write a nifty GreaseMonkey script, and we'll migrate it into a server-side one.
NOTE: There was a slight goof which is causing Improved Threading to not quite work the way most people expect it to, its more "Improved Nested" at the moment. We're discussing on IRC about this right now, but as a workaround, set your browsing score to 4 which will make it work similar to the way its supposed to work).
Dead Code Removal/Site Optimizations
Inspired by the LibreSSL efforts to strip down and clarify OpenSSL, I've started undertaking a similar project through the codebase. As of now, approximately, 50k lines of code and other garbage have been jettisoned from the codebase, including most of the bloated and unused Javascript. As a practical upshot of this, our average page load size is now 3/5ths smaller than what it was in the previous release. There's still a fair bit of cruft in the codebase in the form of unused functions, dead code paths, and other junk, but I'm optimistic that by time we're done, we can skim another 10-15k lines of code out of the codebase, making it easier to audit and bugfix.
The following bits of code were completely removed:
- D2 (approximately 100 kiB of javascript per page load)
- Firehose
- Tags
- Jabber Integration
- World of Warcraft Integration
- Daypasses
- Many unused slash plugins
- Bitrotted support for PostgreSQL and Oracle (both very incomplete)
- Tagboxes (a MASSIVE amount code)
There's still a quite a bit of low hanging fruit, so if you like to blowtorch old codebases, grab the source and start deleting!
Subscriber Code Enabled
We're not offering subscriptions until post-incorporation, but we wanted to start looking and smoketesting this code in preparation for that happy day. Expect to see a few users with *'s after their name that marks them as a subscriber. As a note, the subscriber +1 pseudo-mod is disabled by default, so subscriber posts do not show up higher than they otherwise would.
I'd like to get a discussion going with the community on what sort of things you'd like to see from subscribing, so look for that article, and start brainstorming on what you would be willing to pay for (like shell accounts, USENET access, or some other service we could reasonable provide?)
I do hope you enjoy this round of fixes and improvements. That being said, I am sorry that some promised work didn't make it into this release, most importantly, moderation and metamoderation reworks. With luck, I'll find time between now and the next release to really start hammering on it, and then look at releasing it to production in the form of a point release. As always, post below, and know that your comments are helping decide the future of this site.
Until next time, NCommander
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Site Upgrade: Slashcode 14.06 Released
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
A man was reading The Canterbury Tales one Saturday morning, when his
wife asked "What have you got there?" Replied he, "Just my cup and Chaucer."
(Score: 2) by NCommander on Saturday May 31 2014, @03:20PM
The threading bit got slightly bugged up due miscommunication. You can see the way its supposed to work by setting your score to 3/4/5, and then works the way you'd expect it. We're discussing it on IRC.
As for the Facebook jab, you're right that we updated user preferences, but there were approximately 15 users with no setting when I applied the change. Improved Threading is a hybrid between Nested/Threading, and so it made sense to migrate them. If we were facebook, we'd remove the option to go back.
Still always moving
(Score: 5, Insightful) by martyb on Saturday May 31 2014, @04:18PM
I politely, but strongly, disagree with the decision to change a user-selected preference.
The primary reason I came to this site is that The Powers That Be at another site decided to force a user-interface (UI) change down my throat and did not listen to the community. From what I've seen, many others came here for the same reason.
I followed the other site from before the time they even had user accounts. I have developed a mental model of what controls do what and what I have to do to accomplish a task. This UI change that was decided for me breaks that mental model.
Please do *not* change anything *I* have set. If a selection change is *necessary*, then put up a notification page (for example) with an explanation of what and why and let *me* choose. In as much as possible, the user should be in control.
For those users who had *no setting*, then a default is understandably necessary for database and UI consistency sake. I have no problem with that.
For the Anonymous User, I'm willing to defer to whatever works best for the site. One of the benefits of creating an account is that I get to select what I see and how I see it.
On the other had, I see no reason why this was *necessary*. To my knowledge, there were no system-crashing or performance-degrading behavior problems with the old selection. Please correct me if I'm wrong. If there were such problems, then I could understand the need for a unilateral decision.
It appears to me, as a user, that The New Powers That Be thought *they* knew better than I did what I *should* see. That's the same behavior that drove me away from /. and I'd hate for us to make the same mistake: lack of respect for a user's choice(s).
I understand that many users would prefer the new layout. That is fine and wonderful! A lot of work went into making it work. I *commend* those who implemented and tested it. You are proud of your new "baby", as well you should be. I'll likely give it a try; I'm willing to be open-minded. Promote it, sing its praises, show off how it's so much better. That's as it should be.
So, barring a site-crashing or security-related bug, I ask that the choice be mine, and mine alone.
Wit is intellect, dancing. I'm too old to act my age. Life is too important to take myself seriously.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NCommander on Saturday May 31 2014, @07:29PM
This deserves a long response than I can't do right now. I'm going to write a post once we get the threading situation fully sorted (its about 75% right now), and I'm going to wrap it in with that.
Still always moving
(Score: 1) by martyb on Saturday May 31 2014, @09:11PM
Much appreciated. We chatted on IRC about this a bit, and I think we see eye-to-eye. I know you're busy getting the kinks out of the upgrade. I'd prefer you to put your energies into *that* at the moment. Best of luck at the bug squashing!
Wit is intellect, dancing. I'm too old to act my age. Life is too important to take myself seriously.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Sunday June 01 2014, @04:34AM
I was a bit upset at first, too. But try to balance your uneasy gut reaction against the facts:
A) It's not a big change from old threading/nesting.
B) You can change it back very easily.
C) They have an interest in getting user exposure and testing of new features.
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 1) by ekimnosnews on Monday June 02 2014, @06:11PM
B) above keeps me from caring at all. Maybe to satisfy both sides it could be configurable through your preferences:
[X] Willing to be Guinea Pig
Automatically enable all new features as soon as they become available.
(Score: 1) by WhiteSpade on Wednesday June 04 2014, @08:34AM
And /of course/ I don't have modpoints at the moment...
I think this is a great idea. I don't mind having new features automatically enabled, as long as I can turn them off if I find them to be offensive.
But I think there are quite a few people who would really appreciate the option to opt-out of new features by default.
---Alex