Things are getting worse - new forum software was due out weeks ago

[ILoveLilyAllen]

Greetings

Just to report that now as well as not being able to login using my main game account (something that has been reported numerous times by many people) I now find that I cannot reply to any PMs in my Inbox - I type and nothing happens. I can send a reply of "invisible ink" (goodness knows what the recipient sees!) but when I try the same thing on a new message it says I need a message body - can someone please resurrect the developer responsible for implementing the forum changes?

[Sapience]

We've been keeping everyone super updated on the forum software and it's looking like the end of the month is still the target and not going to change.

In the meantime, on the very rare occasion I've seen this reported it's under IE and clicking 'compatibility" usually clears it up.

If you're using a different browser or something else is happening, I'll need mroe information before I can make a guess as to why.

[ILoveLilyAllen]

This PC is Windows 8 (please don't yell!). I have tried to reply to a message using an old laptop with Windows Vista and "hey presto" it worked - so it must be the operating system then (but the laptop overheats too much to be usable). Where is this magic "compatibility" button to press under Windows 8 please?

[edit] I tried both computers using IE as browser although I do have other browsers if you need a test - and one more computer with windows 7 if you want a third opinion!) [/edit]

[Thoronthor]

We've been keeping everyone super updated on the forum software and it's looking like the end of the month is still the target and not going to change.

In the meantime, on the very rare occasion I've seen this reported it's under IE and clicking 'compatibility" usually clears it up.

If you're using a different browser or something else is happening, I'll need mroe information before I can make a guess as to why.

that reminds me, please tell me your are also optimising for Firefox and Chrome. No self respecting pc-gamer in the world uses IE.

[Sapience]

This PC is Windows 8 (please don't yell!). I have tried to reply to a message using an old laptop with Windows Vista and "hey presto" it worked - so it must be the operating system then (but the laptop overheats too much to be usable). Where is this magic "compatibility" button to press under Windows 8 please?

[edit] I tried both computers using IE as browser although I do have other browsers if you need a test - and one more computer with windows 7 if you want a third opinion!) [/edit]

I'm going to guess you're using the version of IE that came with Win 8?

[Sapience]

that reminds me, please tell me your are also optimising for Firefox and Chrome. No self respecting pc-gamer in the world uses IE.

Considering the only thing I use is Firefox at both home and the office, and have no problems with the forums, I'm going to have to ask if there is a specific version you're referring to.

[ILoveLilyAllen]

I'm going to guess you're using the version of IE that came with Win 8?

I love people who guess correctly first time IE 10 - personally I would have downgraded but I have to keep up with the times (I still do a bit of work and if people have IE 10 I'd be a bit stuck without learning a bit about it). I've searched for "compatibility" and drawn a blank by the way.

[Sapience]

I love people who guess correctly first time IE 10 - personally I would have downgraded but I have to keep up with the times (I still do a bit of work and if people have IE 10 I'd be a bit stuck without learning a bit about it). I've searched for "compatibility" and drawn a blank by the way.

I've never used IE 10 so I can't so with 100% accuracy, but in previous versions there is a small icon that looks like a piece of paper torn in half in the URL window. If you click it it should enable compatibility modem (Assuming IE10 still has such a thing).

[ILoveLilyAllen]

I've never used IE 10 so I can't so with 100% accuracy, but in previous versions there is a small icon that looks like a piece of paper torn in half in the URL window. If you click it it should enable compatibility modem (Assuming IE10 still has such a thing).

Quite correct - and it worked - I managed to reply to an IM having done that - you know more than Microsoft does 'cos none of what you explained was in a sensible place where anyone without a university degree in geek-ism would be able to find.

By the way one reply I got to a message I sent with the problem was

Ack! a message with no message!

I can only surmise that you were bitten by the forum "I ain't lettin you send anything!" rat ...

So it looks as though others do have this problem and hopefully the "piece of paper torn in half" will work for them too

[Moonhawk]

Considering the only thing I use is Firefox at both home and the office, and have no problems with the forums, I'm going to have to ask if there is a specific version you're referring to.

I would suggest that the LOTRO team has had more than enough time to get this forum and site to work properly on IE. Suggesting people use another browser or compatibility mode, is a cop-out. I have not seen any other forums or websites that work as poorly as this one. Simple issues such as having to click and wait several times on the "Forums" tab for it to actually go there from "Home", is an issue that has been there for years, and is a bit inexcusable. It's a very frustrating site to have to use in comparison to what's out there.

[Malhirviel]

I would suggest that the LOTRO team has had more than enough time to get this forum and site to work properly on IE. Suggesting people use another browser or compatibility mode, is a cop-out. I have not seen any other forums or websites that work as poorly as this one. Simple issues such as having to click and wait several times on the "Forums" tab for it to actually go there from "Home", is an issue that has been there for years, and is a bit inexcusable. It's a very frustrating site to have to use in comparison to what's out there.

All of which is why the forums are being updated at the end of the month. Complaining about how long it's taken will do exactly nothing except make people irate. And we really don't need any more of that around here ... so, let's all go outside instead, and enjoy some fresh air while we wait for the (hopefully) sparkly new forums to be installed.

[Khafar]

I would suggest that the LOTRO team has had more than enough time to get this forum and site to work properly on IE. Suggesting people use another browser or compatibility mode, is a cop-out.

Not really. IE was awful from IE5.5-IE7, requiring all sorts of browser-specific hacks to try and make it behave like other browsers. IE8, IE9, and IE10 each made good advances in making the browser more standards-compliant, but what this means is that the old/bad behavior which all sorts of web software was designed to adjust for no longer exists (except in "Compatibility Mode"). This breaks plenty of web pages designed for older versions of IE.

Also, common frameworks like jQuery or ExtJS developers use to create richer web apps have these version-specific IE hacks built into them too (because part of their reason to exist is to reduce the amount of browser-specific code that developers have to create). When a new version of IE comes out, the new version of the framework will generally get some fixes to adjust to the new version - only some of these frameworks (ExtJS, I'm looking at you) can change quite a lot between releases, slowing down the rate at which companies will be willing to adopt the new version.

Bottom line: while increasing standards compliance is a good thing, it can and does break existing software. The project I'm working on has dozens of IE10-related defects filed against it, and we're busy trying to fix those. Sometimes it's relatively easy, and sometimes (as when the fix requires a new version of a framework) it can be painful. In the meantime, we're telling those few business customers using IE10 to run it in "Compatibility Mode" until our next release cleans it up for them.

Khafar

[Elderban]

I would suggest that the LOTRO team has had more than enough time to get this forum and site to work properly on IE. Suggesting people use another browser or compatibility mode, is a cop-out.

Ever try to code for IE? Not to mention making it backward/forward compatible with earlier and newer versions of IE and having to make sure it also works in Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari (to name a few)?

Not an easy task.

Granted the site does have issues, but they are mostly back-end related and cross-script related, not forum related.

[cdq1958]

I use IE 10, Firefox, and Chrome. They all have pluses and minuses. They all have been 'exploited' (indeed any useful system will get parasitized, sooner or later) for nefarious purposes. My own experience with IE 10 is that web sites that are good with HTML 5 and related standards works just fine under IE 10, unless they have lots of specialized, hmm, er, hacks needed to be viewed in older IE versions or deal with some kinds of 'active' content that costs too much to be redone to current HTML5 and related standards.