A bit larger edit panel/window possible?

[Anonymous]

Greetings,
answering someone else's question or submitting a new post is quite difficult using this little edit panel/window; especially line wrapping control is terrible. Would it be possible to increase the size of this edit panel a bit?
Just asking,
kind regards

[Marilyn de Queiroz]

Possible, but not very probable since that page is created by the UBB software which was sold to us by InfoPop. We prefer to spend our time to talk about Java rather than to dig into the software to change the size of the window. You might want to mention it to InfoPop, though, if it really bugs you.

[Bert Bates]

It's an interesting question... there are a few other enhancements that would also make posting replys a LOT easier. Where does the UBB software begin and end ? Is there a place to discuss possible enhancements ?

[Marilyn de Queiroz]

Originally posted by Bert Bates:
Where does the UBB software begin and end?

A very broad question. Basically everything in the forum part of Javaranch (the JavaRanch Big Moose Saloon) is InfoPop UBB software. The jsp pages, including everything linked to on the javaranch home page except the saloon, are not UBB.

Some of the things we can control using the control panel of the saloon are:
search options (none, single forum, all forums)
whether or not an option is enabled ("HTML is enabled" in this forum, user ratings are not enabled, smilies are enabled, UBB code tags are enabled)
if a forum will accept posts by a non-registered person (like this one does)
some of the headings (like "This forum is intended for questions and comments about this web site, www.javaranch.com. It is not for questions about the Java language - that's what all our other forums are for.")
the colors of the pages within the forum.
the logo (the moose)
We have basically no control over the html view, the width of the table or the windows within the table or the way the buttons (like "Add Reply") look.
The user can control the stuff included in his profile, like his display name for example.

[Anonymous]

Ok, thanks for answering my question. It's nothing important much, but typing in a substantial reply sure *is* a bit difficult using a small, simple edit panel the way it is now. Maybe I should just fire up another vi, enter all my text there and copy/paste the whole shebang to that little text entry panel ... that should do the job, I guess.
BTW, some other BB stuff allows for a 'preview message' option; would that be possible? That sure would help a bit (layout stuff, line wraps etc.)
thanks again and
kind regards

[Cindy Glass]

You could ask InfoPop for an enhancement .

[paul wheaton]

What you see now is actually bigger than what infopop provides. I hacked the source to make the change.
I agree that wider still would be nice, but I wonder a bit about people that have smaller monitors.

[Paul Stevens]

I am on a laptop and wider wouldn't hurt.
Like on the Circuit City commercial. There's still space. We could go bigger.

[Bert Bates]

Hmmm...
There's probably a better way, if so I will stand chagrined...
When I'm in intense 'post' mode I have two instances of JavaRanch up in separate browsers. The first so that I can review the question, and the second so that I can answer. There's no way I can answer some of these questions without looking at them at the same time... Is there a better way?
humbly....

[Thomas Paul]

When you reply, scroll down and you will see a window showing all the other posts in this thread.

[Jim Yingst]

When I'm in intense 'post' mode I have two instances of JavaRanch up in separate browsers.
Only two? I use Mozilla, so I usually have one browser instance with many tabs for different posts. Yeah, there's that sub-window down below the text area on the reply page - but it's easier for me to switch tabs than it is to scroll up and down while replying. So I'm with Bert on this one.
As for the original post - yeah, a bigger window here would be nice. If someone does get around to hacking it again - isn't it possible to specify the size in relative terms rather than absolute? I know it's possible in general, but maybe there's something about the current design of the page or code which prohibits this...

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:
What you see now is actually bigger than what infopop provides. I hacked the source to make the change.
I agree that wider still would be nice, but I wonder a bit about people that have smaller monitors.

No need to worry; keep on hacking, because the current edit pane I'm typing this in is still less than one third of my screen (a laptop 1024*768) ...
kind regards,
ps. and even my Jornada 728 PDA can handle 640 across ...

[paul wheaton]

I just went through all the source. I thought I changed some stuff from 45 to 70, but I cannot see any change here. This could take more research.

[Marilyn de Queiroz]

Did you change it (again) after the upgrade?

[paul wheaton]

I thought I did.
Now I'm stumped. I opened about 20 source files and searched for "TEXTAREA" and am not finding the stuff for new posts or replies ....

[Gregg Bolinger]

Originally posted by Jim Yingst:
When I'm in intense 'post' mode I have two instances of JavaRanch up in separate browsers.
Only two? I use Mozilla, so I usually have one browser instance with many tabs for different posts.

I didn't even know Mozilla would open pages on tabs instead of externally. That makes it even better. I am glad I was browsing this thread now. LOL.