Jay's Grumbles and Grunts and Whinges

I've decided to register here, and be the main voice of complaint on the site.
I will (incredibly often) be poking and prodding and complaining about things, in the hopes that the site will one day become something worthy of the BlitzCoder name.

[b]Complaint : The Very Front[/b]
On BlitzCoder, when you headed to the frontpage, you could immediately see the following.
http://socoder.net/uploads/1/BCFrontpage_Dec2002.png

Recent Topic on the sidebar.
Recent Showcases
Random Showcases
Recent Showcase Updates

Here, the frontpage lists forum sections. Only.
It tells you there have been posts, it tells you who posted them. But that's all you get. To see the topics you need to click one by one into all the different forum sections.
There's the "All Active Topics" link, but that's a whole extra click away, and if you want Code Archives and Showcases and more included, there's going to have to be about 3 or 4 extra clicks to get that information.
eg, already you've separated out the Code Archives, so from the frontpage of the site.
You can't tell that, from the frontpage, that there's 1 code snippet in the archive.
The information just isn't there on the screen.
Anywhere.
You need to click here, then there, then elsewhere, just to find out what's recently been posted.

[b]Complaint : Code Boxes - Part One[/b]
Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C doesn't work in code boxes, nor is there any easy way to "Select all the code within this codebox so I can copy it"
Copying code should be the primary use of a codebox.
Additionally, it would be nice to have scrollable codeboxes, rather than the entire contents filling the page. It might not seem important at first, but imagine 3 people in a thread each post a 100 line code snippet (each "fixing" the previous one) and you'll soon understand how having all the code visible might become slightly frustrating.

[b]Complaint : Code Boxes - Part Two[/b]
Having fancy Syntax Highlighting is nice, it really is.
But .. Wowie!!
Open Task Manager, then open your one Code Snippet, and watch the CPU level as you scroll.
I might be old and grumpy and fussy, but I typically prefer my websites not to set my CPU on fire.

[b]Complaint : BBCode[/b]
BBCode is important to coders, and it's incredibly important to have the basic common BBCode available so that users can copy and paste content between different websites.
Since most people using your site will be copy+pasting between here, SyntaxBomb, Socoder, RetroRemakes and more, it's important to make it easy for them to do so.
As I type this, I have absolutely no idea whether my BBCode will exist once I've posted it. Also, there's no Preview, so I again I can't tell until I click Submit, whether it's being interpreted or not. I apologise if, upon clicking the Submit button, this turns out to be an invalid complaint. But you've not explained the text entry method anywhere, so I honestly don't have a clue.
[update]Not only does it not support BBCode, but it also formats the newlines differently in the topic view than the editor view, so what I've written looks entirely different when read back.[/update]

[b]Whinge : Theme[/b]
This site looks nothing like BlitzCoder

That'll do for today. I've a newsletter to write.

Hello Jayenkai, Welcome to the site, thanks for signing up and finally we meet.

First things first and I think we are getting somewhere here. I don't know, but I think you are mistaken, as the purpose of the site was not to copy or replace BlitzCoder.com, which I did not get the chance to take part or be a member of back then. This is more of a blitzbasic.com theme and features.

The main objective or intention of this site has nothing to do with original BlitzCoder site. It just so happens that this was the available domain that I could register that can be related name-wise to what I am trying to accomplish here. You can refer to my older threads on SyntaxBomb, so you have some history on how this got started. If that still struck a cord with you, I am sorry but that is not my concern anymore. Domain names are for sale and available from registrars, and the owner has every right to do whatever he wants with it. Perhaps you should have bought and reserved it if you are too concerned with the name itself and that's how it goes in reality. I already published a non affiliation disclaimer if that somehow helps. For your additional info, this was not my first choice and again this was the most available that is familiar and related to anything Blitz.

I also see most of the complains here are related to the editor, and yes the site is using markdown, not bbcode, as this is now common in today's collaborative and code sharing sites like Github and modern forum systems like Discourse. With that in mind, I don't have other complains so far with cpu spike problems so there's nothing that I can do if your system cannot handle it. In regard to other issues, the features are again similar to blitzbasic.com, not blitzcoder, let's make that clear.

As for the common editor commands like Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, I'm not sure at your end but it does work so far, even on my not so latest android phone.

In summary, the site has a familiar look (again blitzbasic.com, not blitzcoder.com) with some of these modern methods/features that you can see on other forums, but as I have stated, there's still room for improvement and also I welcome issues or complaints like yours, if warranted.

Nothing like the original BlitzCoder.. yes I could not agree more and that was not the intention, so at least we can agree on one thing there.

Thanks and have a good one.

I did take note though with the scrollable code boxes and that will be updated soon, thanks.

Go to your one code snippet's page, hit Ctrl+A, then Ctrl+C. Open Blitz, and Ctrl+V, then hit F5.
... That's the problem, there.

And, perhaps the main issue here is that you shouldn't have called your site BlitzCoder, if you don't intend to honor the greatness that is BlitzCoder. BlitzCoder in the hearts of MANY BlitzBasic users is NOT a no-name nothing site. It's one of the most important sites. that brought a lot of us together as a community. If you intend to continue to use the name, you'll need to please, not just me, but an entire community of users who will be expecting BlitzCoder.

As I have mentioned, the site is a work in progress, so there are still some issues and yes, the copy code shortcut can be added next time, thanks for the reminder.

perhaps the main issue here is that you shouldn't have called your site BlitzCoder, if you don't intend to honor the greatness that is BlitzCoder. If you intend to continue to use the name, you'll need to please, not just me, but an entire community of users who will be expecting BlitzCoder.

Like I said, the name was by chance and so honestly anything serious or beyond that was not part of the agenda. I put up this site simply to collaborate and try to provide a new home and some support for Blitz and Monkey-X only coders, similar to and which was blitzbasic.com back then when it was up for everyone.

I don't plan to live up on someone or some group's expectations and make promises that I do not intend to keep and so particularly with this honor thing, it's nice to have though, but in reality the site is only built for this sole purpose that I have mentioned above, still with every good intention and now planning for newer things.

Consider this site project for now as a part of what a blitz coder can contribute.. for old and new blitz coders.

cheers.

To answer your newsletter http://socoder.net/?Newsletter=63716, I see everything has been discussed aside from the fact that this is not a generic forum script. As far as I can tell and see, this is the only blitz related site with the GNet service attached to it and the idea is to have the functionality and familiar interface of the official blitzbasic community site along with new and planned features.

Try to replicate all of this, including upcoming changes and you can call it a generic forum script, that's all.

Think blitzbasic.com, not blitzcoder.com, please keep that in mind.

At the end of the day, ask questions, find out the origin and motivation behind it before you jump into conclusions.

Good day.

..now im wondering, what is this all about..