Your last line is inappropriate. You speak for yourself and the cheaters. I've been with RPoL for almost 20 years, have GMd games for well over 50,000 posts, and don't need to cheat to have a good time.

I can understand that anonymity may be good to foil certain others, however.
This message was last edited by the user at 02:40, Tue 09 Jan.

You misunderstand.  The cast list lied.  Last login was not accurate and was an obfuscation of last post.

And that was a fault of the old ui that couldn't be corrected? Ok.

Edit: Actually, I'ma leave this one alone. /backs away
This message was last edited by the user at 16:13, Wed 10 Jan.

In reply to azzuri (msg # 113):

No, not a fault of the old UI at all, it was a deliberately coded function of the old UI to help preserve anonymity (one of RPoL's features).  Since it wasn't actually a fault, there was nothing to correct.

Removing the last log in simply makes it so there was no need to obfuscate it any more - the site no longer automatically lies to the majority of its users.  If it was put back it would, once again, have to be inaccurate information.

The old UI based it on the last post (ie: it was a lie, and only accurate to one day since it didn't include an actual time - so if a player posted yesterday, but logged in today (without posting) the last log in would show as some time yesterday).

Note that GMs (ie: the people who might actually need the information) can still see the (accurate) last log in times by looking at the cast list, just the same as before.

There must have been some kind of a time limit on that, though? I vaguely recall checking in on old abandoned games (as a player) and seeing other players with relatively recent logins, even though their last posts were a year+ ago.

Just an observation from a long time user! I am NOT joining any arguments =P

There is nothing to argue. I said that the view helped me as a player. Evidently, it also helped people to cheat. It was "corrected". End of story.

After about a month of use, I have two recommendations.  My basic issue (primarily as a GM) is trying to determine what is new and needs to be responded to and what I have already responded to.

1.  The right column 'Thread Details' has tiny print all in one color except the Group.  To me, the most important thing in that column is who posted last.  After that, probably when and maybe the number of replies.  The Group and who posted originally in a game is far less important, to me.  It would be really helpful if we could change the text color for who posted last, which would tell me immediately at a glance if I have replied to something or not.  It would be interesting if the color could be set to depend on whether or not the character is controlled by the viewer, something that is already done elsewhere.  Ideally, being able to change the colors of each piece of that column would be useful if people care about highlighting different information.

2.  Notices don't really stand out as much to me.  It would be useful if we could adjust the font or background for notices relative to 'normal' messages to help them standout better.  Even just being able to change the color of Notice would be helpful.

3.  Side note, it took a lot of trial-and-error to determine what all of the different settings changed.  Not sure if there is some graphic way to show what corresponds with what?  Like a page with hover-over text or right-clicking an item to be able to show what setting it is?

Thanks for all of the hard work on this.  :)

One thing I would love to change for mobile formatting is the location of the preview button and post message button. I personally rarely preview things, and having to nudge the screen down a few notches to get to Post Message is pretty annoying (1st world problems, I know...)

In reply to IkeEsq (msg # 118):

Ahh, I now understand what you're talking about. I haven't personally felt that the print is tiny, but I do wear glasses so maybe it makes it easier for me.

Being able to customise the colour of the particular aspects of the thread details might not be that bad of an idea. I like it!

I'm currently experimenting with Zoom settings ... I find that with Zoom at 110% I can read the right hand side thread details a lot more easily (and I do wear reading glasses anyway).  Lose three lines of text in terms of height, but the increase in width just eats up some of the spare white space left and right.

Has anyone brought up that "Looking for Players" needs to have a much more pronounced and larger font making it clearer who the GM is and what system is being played?

So, one thing I've noticed tonight, as it's the first time since the changeover that I've really poked around using my phone instead of my laptop (which I definitely prefer...)

The entire right hand column doesn't appear on my phone.  I didn't even notice until I saw I had a PM notification in one game and, instead of my usual procedure of clicking on the game title and then "Private Messages" in the right-hand column, I had to click on the NMI on the Home Screen to get to PMs.  And then I couldn't get from PMs to the Game Menu...I had to go back to the Home Menu and click on the game title to get back to the game menu.  I can't "Mark All As Read" in a forum to clear threads that I'm not interested in reading, or any of the other functions that normall appear over there.

I'm on a Samsung Galaxy S21 running the latest version of Chrome, for what that's worth.  It's not crippling...but it IS highly inconvenient.

I'm hoping your problem is the same as the one which SunRuanEr kindly cleared up for me (since I never access RPoL on a mobile) ... :>

On a mobile there isn't a sidebar on the right hand side, it uses drop down menus instead:

Thank you, yes, that actually does address the issue.  I even vaguely remember reading it, although one of the downsides of accessing RPOL primarily while I'm at work is that sometimes, work demands my attention and what I just read doesn't really get a chance to sink it properly (plus, at the time I read it, I hadn't tried accessing from a mobile device and therefore, lacked context to really anchor it properly in my memory.)

I figured it was likely something that I was overlooking...too many people had said too many things about this being a better option for mobile devices, I couldn't believe that the navigation options would have been omitted.  As is often the case, it's a matter of "operator error"...*grin*

Is anybody else experiencing that the "First" link in the  [ first | last ]   links after every thread title is taking them to the last post in the thread instead of the first post?
This message was last edited by the user at 21:09, Wed 17 Jan.

In reply to Dream Sequence (msg # 126):

Yes.  It takes you to the last post on the first page.

In reply to Dream Sequence (msg # 126):

Was wondering if was my imagination, thanks for giving me the push to check (and it's not!).  Will be fixed in the next version.

Is there a way to increase the size of the website? Each post inside a thread is squished, making long posts or information be warped and forcing me to scroll down. I have a ultra wide monitor and the website is still forced at this squished portrait sized format.

This is very unintuitive especially for long posters who roleplay a ton of details in their posts and it just makes readers scroll down alot.

If you go into the custom themes settings, there's an option to increase the maximum page width. Crank that all the way up, and it should help!

As jase mentioned up above (msg #73), modern design standards limit the width of text which according to those who know about such things actually makes it easier to read - something about being able to see the whole line without turning your head side to side or making your eyes constantly refocus (as I understand it, field of focus is quite narrow, the rest is peripheral) ... so while you're scrolling you're saving your neck/eye muscles.

On a whim, I just compared the RPoL layout to the main online news site I favour (govt. owned, not commercial), and RPoL is still a little wider than that.

I have to say I used to like the text wider too, with a preference for squeezing as much on a page as possible ... BUT I have to confess I'm not only getting used to it, but I'm now at the point where I don't even think about it anymore, yay for me !  :P

I wonder how much of that 'modern design standards' is based on anything scientific? I would bet dollars to doughnuts that the 80 character width is simply a legacy of old computers...I believe punch cards and IBM mainframe terminals were both limited to 80 columns!! Coincidence?

I worked on a mainframe terminal for many years (Federal government) and even when the 3070 terminals were replaced with PCs running an emulator, that 80 column width was still there.

From when I took some ancient web design courses and worked on static pages (late 90's/early 00's) I recall that common web design was to reduce the width of the content, not to save your peripheral vision but because the web users would not read, they would only scan. Even when they needed details they would not focus as they would if reading a paper copy. So web content became short, lots of headings, and IMO helped create a new generation of people who probably couldn't sit and read a book if their life depended on it!!

End of curmudgeonly rant!

US Govt web design standards for typography say 45-90 with 66 as a good target.  https://designsystem.digital.g...mponents/typography/.  One hopes they don't just make it up as they go along !  Though 66 characters is still less than the 80 columns we started out with ... and that would have been mono-spaced back in our day !  :>

We had a similar problem - we were told that if the email was too long management wouldn't read it.  Which makes it difficult when you're trying to discuss legal technicalities (and this from a programming perspective).  But we got around that by putting a brief summary of the problem up top followed by our recommendation ... then finally we got to the background section which was the entire body of the issue (discussion, limitations, pros and cons etc) - that way management only saw problem and our recommended solution before their eyes glazed over.  We didn't get many knockbacks ! <ROFL>

I think it's a similar principle with big TV screens - the ideal size is based on your sitting distance from the screen but factoring in that you shouldn't have to move your head to take in everything that's happening.   I guess the front row in the cinema isn't the best spot then !
This message was last edited by the user at 04:43, Fri 09 Feb.

No, the middle rows are. The back is too far back, and you lose detail. Even

Thanks this really helped.

Is there a way to change the color of the "Notice" Threads? they are the same color as the normal threads so they just all blend in together.