Hello, yellow, my old friend

[UTUSN]

Welcome back to yellow highlighting that used to be here (DU2? - 1?) that went away for some not known reason. Lately there have been posts to the effect that "change for the sake of change" ain't a thing. I posted that between DU2 to DU3? Or perhaps DU1 to DU2, but rapidly took to it, especially DU3.

One of the things I was happiest to see go away is something I won't name here from fear that it might come back. I liked the Jury system that was a bit unpopular at first, although the abuse of it from malicious Alerting is a thing of gnawing awareness.

Highlighting in yellow was one of the innovations of my youth and I loved it here, along with the adjustable size fonts for titles. I had to adjust to emphasizing words by using asterisks *word*.

So hello, yellow, my old friend. Also the Strike and probably other things I haven't found yet. Since there are many posts liking the night mode, the original lyrics apply:

[Nittersing]

1. Ha!

Had to sign into DU4 to see the changes...

I like it!

[UTUSN]

2. I think I won't be going back to 3 at all. Once the change is inevitable, no looking back.

Well, "no looking back," yet here I am praising some things that used to be here and are back!

Now if only I could satisfy the now-rare posts complaining about my all-caps for Surnames (nostalgia for USN).

[highplainsdem]

3. I'm glad you like it, UTUSN. I'm disappointed with DU4 so far because it has no

settings to allow me to see as much of each DU page as I do on a vertical tablet with the DU3 format set to Standard rather than Mobile - which allows me to see, for instance, not just the entire top of each page, as I would using one of my laptops, but the first 33 threads in the Lounge (I just checked) on the screen all at once.

Going from that to DU4 is like trying to read a newspaper through a magnifying glass in the middle of a piece of cardboard covering the rest of the newspaper page. Frustrating.

I hope EarlG and Elad will be able to provide settings for those of us who don't want large print and only a fraction of each page visible.

[UTUSN]

5. You "don't want large print"? - Seems it's smaller. I barely ever have used most features that

have been available in all versions, just my basic/standard stuff. Overall, I don't ask for more/much because what DU provides is a cornucopia. There seems to be more white page in these Replies, and between the single-space text pages and Subject titles.

Not to give advice not asked-for, just to say that adjusting to an inevitable new thing might go easier by jumping right in instead of easing into it.

[highplainsdem]

7. DU4 isn't set in stone yet, as EarlG has told us, and I hope to see

some changes.

The print on DU4 is much larger for me because of the settings I prefer on DU3. Think of the DU header and the first 30+ threads on a page visible on a vertical tablet screen without any scrolling. I dislike having to scroll to see much of what's on a page. I find it a nuisance compared to being able to see the 30+ threads with the most recent replies and skim down the thread titles in a few seconds. So DU4 without the format I use most often on DU3 is like trying to run while hobbled.

And yes, I know most people don't view DU the way I do. And I know Dave had to make some changes helping users of mobile devices (who are viewing DU3 with the Mobile format) happier.

I first got online and first moderated a forum back in the 1980s when it was text only and connecting at 1200 baud. So I always applaud improvements (though I've always thought phpBB-based message board designs like vBulletin, which works great for admins, were amazing and stayed popular for good reason).

But for me, for my specific case and how I view and use DU3, DU4 doesn't, so far, offer enough improvements to offset the problems it causes me.

I know a lot of DUers like it, though, and I have to applaud EarlG and Elad for the effort they put into it.

[UTUSN]

8. I'm totally low-tech, and a Generalist/superficial, so I'm out of my depth in your info.

As David BRINKLEY said after an early space mission's reporter gave his piece, "I don't understand most of that, but I don't need to."

I agree with this part:

"...able to see the 30+ threads with the most recent replies and skim down the thread titles in a few seconds."

[BComplex]

4. Wow. Simon and Garfunkel & The Sound of Silence.

Gives me chills all over again. Iconic.

Good luck with the new DU4, my friend. Some of us find change hard, uncomfortable or disturbing, me especially. And as I approach my 74th birthday very soon, I find I hold on to silly things a lot tighter than I used to.

DU hasn't failed us for 20+ years, so I'm not going to give up just yet.

[UTUSN]

6. Salute to you! - I'm 76/gag!1

I remember when my beloved grandmother told a store cashier that she was 72 and my mother said outside, "DON'T tell people how old you are because they think we look like sisters and they're going to think I'M that old!"

I loved my grandmother, to the point that Mother was slightly jealous.

[BComplex]

10. LOL!

That's a great story!

[erronis]

9. I'll up-rec this but am aware that EarlG would like these

to be put on one of the DU4 forums.

Just for the record - I mainly read DU on a very high-DPI large monitor. I don't want/need a lot of extra white space that takes up room that could be used for good information.

The "web2.0" format seemed to be focused on people who interacted on small screens with their thumbs. (I won't say anything about these types of people and their appendages.....)

[UTUSN]

11. Thanks. There have been several/many threads here & GD (the only places I go)

and Admin has been tolerant of them so far, and has Replied inside those threads. But what we've mostly said here has been personal subjectivity as in Lounge, more than heavy issues for addressing as concrete "fixes," no?

Am wit-ya on the so-much white space.

[highplainsdem]

13. I agree on the extra white space.

[highplainsdem]

12. I think EarlG meant that for particular problems with DU4 or bugs

there that people run into, not just general discussions of it. I could be wrong, though.

I like seeing casual discussions of it. Especially as reminders of what different people like about it and how different all of our preferences and needs are.

I know very well he can't please everyone with DU4, but he's making a great effort to get DU4 to work well for as many people as possible.

[erronis]

14. Totally agree about the great effort. It's a monumental and never-ending task.

I've taken many pretty big web sites through some major changes and I have many battle scars to show.

From every one of us who prefer a different font/color/size, to those that argue about the responsive layouts (phone/tablet/desktop), to those that want different content in I18L (multiple languages).

The biggest PITB are the people sitting above the technical types, especially C-Suite that have pet ideas that totally throw the design off the tracks. Don't know about DU's structure, but hoping that people like EarlG have control of the reins.

[UTUSN]

15. Whups! Just saw this thread in GD:

( Can't Paste URL)

From Admin asking for DU4 issues to be posted in appropriately dedicated threads instead of "all over the place."

I think this one is just Lounge, but if deemed otherwise please give me the chance to self-delete instead of dire consequences. Tia.

[highplainsdem]

16. DON'T WORRY! EarlG specifically said he wants questions and bug reports

in those two forums visible only on DU4.

He did NOT say he doesn't want any discussion of it elsewhere, and I'm sure he's especially happy to see that people are checking it out and finding things that they like.

The last thing he needs is for those two forums only on DU4 to be flooded with general chitchat about DU4 that he'd have to sift through to see if they contain any specific problems or bugs that need his attention.

Here's the link to his thread:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218250671

[UTUSN]

17. I want you as my lawyer! - white space, white space, white space!1

[highplainsdem]

18. Funny. The dean of my college once told me the same thing. :)

[highplainsdem]

19. UTUSN, have you tried looking at yellow hightlighting while using Night Mode? It's white text on yellow,

and very hard to read.

Noticed that for the first time myself just now, when I came here planning to add a reply about DU4 looking much better using my laptop instead of my tablet.

Haven't added that yet because I was shocked by how difficult it was to read the yellow-highlighted text in Night Mode, and I posted about that problem in the Bug Report forum.

It isn't exactly a software bug, but it's more than a question-and-answer sort of thing.

Because in Night Mode, that yellow-highlighted text does NOT stand out the way it should.

[UTUSN]

20. Nah, looked at night mode & not for me

[highplainsdem]

21. That's okay...but everyone using Night Mode is going to have trouble reading every bit of

the yellow-highlighted text people choose to highlight, UNLESS the admins can somehow have all the white text you see with Night Mode change to black text when it's highlighted with yellow...and that's still going to make for weird reading, I think, even if it's possible, and it might not be. And even if it is possible, a switch from white text on a black background to black text on a yellow background will be more distraction than highlight.

Yellow highlighting with a white background and black text is fine. But a lot of people wanted Night Mode. And if it comes to a choice between keeping the yellow highlighting and keeping Night Mode, it's going to be a tough choice.

You should switch over to Night Mode just for a couple of minutes - it takes just seconds to switch - and then look at this thread in Night Mode and see what it does to the highlighting in your OP and my reply 19.

[UTUSN]

22. Not my thing

[highplainsdem]

23. You don't have to stay using Nght Mode, just switch to it for a couple of minutes to see what a

problem the yellow highlighting will be for anyone looking at it using Night Mode.

[UTUSN]

24. Not looking for a problem

[highplainsdem]

25. Okay.