Issues with widgets, announcements, general appearance and posting.

Dec

2011

Hi all,

I've been having a lot of problems today on the forum regarding general appearance and widgets, which has disrupted the usage for many users.

Firstly, the most noticeable change is the fact that both the announcements bar at the top, and also the 'recent topics' widget have both been frozen all day, on both the homepage and the portal, yet the 'falling snowflakes' effect we've been using to decorate for Christmas seems to be working fine.

Another issue that's occurring is in the 'compose message' screen. Whenever I go to write a PM or longer reply to message (we do have quick-reply on, which doesn't seem to be affected by this problem) none of the word processing tools pop up, ie bold, italics, underline, strike etc., only this:

, which is what normally comes up when one uses a piece of equipment with an out of date flash, for example. I usually get this come up on my iPod, but never before on my computer (which has up-to-date flash).

Thirdly, and this is the weirdest problem of them all, the general display of the forum has been messed up. Some members have been complaining that the display of the forum looks like a mixture of our normal skin, and our current Christmas skin (installed 1st Dec.). I opened the forum in a different browser, and sure enough the problem was there - the general background colours and pictures were the same as the old version, however other pictures and pngs were the same as that of the Christmas skin:- the logo, the topic/forum icons and the header links to things (ie home, portal, UCP etc.).
I took some screenshots:
Normal Christmas skin:

Hybrid skin:

NB: The little snowflakes are floating down, but the 'Remember the chatboxect.' is not moving.

I've tried re-syncing the forum, but to no effect. I've checked up on other computers in the house and my iPod, and the problem seems to be there throughout, which is annoying. The only thing I can think of that might have affected/brought on these problems was a widget I installed this morning (around 11am GMT - I'm English), however all this was was a simple html for an image, so I don't think it could have been that.
Come to think of it, the forum did also have an issue last night where it didn't recognise two moderators, and didn't display the assigned sections for them despite them being in the mods group and other moderators being able to see them. I got round this by going into one of their sets permissions, I didn't change anything, and hitting save; which seemed to do the trick, so this may point to the problem going back further. Though I'm pretty sure the first two 'issues' only started happening today.

Thank you for your assistance.
MiloBilo (Osmium76),
Assistant Admin/Head Mod,
http://whovianscreate.englishboards.com

1 WHITESABBATH, on 21/12/2011 at 00h46

remove the snow flakes and see if these problem(s) correct themselves. I had same problem with the quick reply tools not appearing, that was caused by the script. I'm using a phpbb3 also.
you might want to Resynchronize your forum as well. acp>general>config>scroll down to misc options>tick box to resync>save

As for the site not appearing properly, that could be a number of things. Try clearing cache or hit f5 on your keypad, using the browser that site is displaying improperly. I looked via firefox and chrome and both displayed as in screenshot #1.

2 MiloBilo, on 21/12/2011 at 01h19

WHITESABBATH wrote:remove the snow flakes and see if these problem(s) correct themselves. I had same problem with the quick reply tools not appearing, that was caused by the script. I'm using a phpbb3 also.
you might want to Resynchronize your forum as well. acp>general>config>scroll down to misc options>tick box to resync>save

As for the site not appearing properly, that could be a number of things. Try clearing cache or hit f5 on your keypad, using the browser that site is displaying improperly. I looked via firefox and chrome and both displayed as in screenshot #1.

Thanks.
I have tried resyncing it, though I'll try that after the snowflakes have been deleted.
The ones where I got screenshot 2 were all browsers I don't normally use, and more other users have been able to see it all ok, some even said that the non-moving objects started moving for a moment, so I don't know really.

Anyway, I'll try fiddling with the snowflakes and see what happens

3 WHITESABBATH, on 21/12/2011 at 02h19

Yes resync after you remove snowflakes...willing to bet its the snowflakes buddy. It'll speed things up removing script too.
Reason I'm having you clear your cache is because i feel it's on your end and nothing more(referring too display problem). lets hope. Smile

4 m3gsm, on 21/12/2011 at 04h48

I can see the website address link your forum?

5 MiloBilo, on 21/12/2011 at 10h38

Well, I tried resyncing, and that doesn't appear to have done anything Sad

The cache may be the problem for point #3, which other users have complained about, but I shall pass the message on to them.
I logged on again this morning, and it seems that point #1 has cleared itself up, even though the snowflakes are now back in place. I don't understand the syncing process all too well, so I'm not sure if it's down to that, or it's just a glitch in the system that ironed itself out. See, I'm not sure if resyncing has instantaneous effects or not.
EDIT: Point #2 seems to also have sorted itself now too. Still can't say anything for point #3, but I'll pass the message on for users to clear their cache if they're having problems.

Thanks for all your help, I think this is probably 'solved' now.
Thanks again Smile

6 Base, on 21/12/2011 at 10h58

Glad your problem is solved; topic marked as solved and archived.