Preview Question

[Josette]

When I first tried it, I couldn't figure out Preview.  I had assumed it would show what the actual post looked like, with smileys and any special effects included, and all I ever saw was the same "writing box" I had used.  Then, after a few times, I finally realized that the board takes you back to the little gray box, but that the real preivew is above it!!

Anyway, I thought that Preview would be an exact duplicate of what the actual post would look like.  But, last night I used it to make sure that my inclusion of a URL would actually come through as a link.  When the actual post was up, the spacing was different.  The obvious example was that in the preview, a smiley I had put at the end, didn't fit at the end of the line and was at the end on a line by itself.  When the actual post appeared, the text ended in the middle of the line with the smiley right after it.

That turned out to be better, in my opinion, but I didn't like the fact that the preview didn't show it correctly.  Some time if the spacing would matter, there would be no way to know how it would actually appear.

[Midnite]

I finally realized that the board takes you back to the little gray box, but that the real preivew is above it!!

Raineypark and I were talking about that in another topic here (Re: Junior v Full Registration?)-- some users have to scroll up to see their previews and others must scroll down.

Some time if the spacing would matter, there would be no way to know how it would actually appear.

The preview feature on eboards displayed the line lengths exactly as they'd appear in the posted message, but what you have here that you didn't on the previous board is the ability to modify your message after it's posted, which includes making cosmetic changes such as line length and spacing.

[Josette]

Well, obviously if the spacing is really troubling, one could go back and edit the post.  But I still don't understand that a preview wouldn't be an exact preview of what will appear.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Well, obviously if the spacing is really troubling, one could go back and edit the post.  But I still don't understand that a preview wouldn't be an exact preview of what will appear.

Well, the only thing I can recommend to you, Josette, is that you post these sorts of grievances on YaBB's Community Support boards because their Development Team are the ones who've written the code that runs this forum.
As it happens I was already working on this particular issue myself and was able to resolve it quickly because it only required minor modifications to one of the system's scripts. But that won't always be the case because I'm still in the process of learning Perl (the computer language at the core of YaBB). I've been able to pick some things up quickly because Perl has a lot in common with C++ and Java (two languages I know well). But there are many things that are very different from anything I've worked with before. The YaBB Development Team are the real experts when it comes to how their system works, and I'm sure one or more of them would be very happy to address why certain features of YaBB were written the way they've been.

There's a link to YaBB's home page at the bottom of every page on this forum. All anyone has to do is click on it, pass their mouse cursor over the word "support" on the top menu bar at YaBB, and click "Community". I'd suggest posting issues like the one you've addressed here on their "Troubleshooting" board under "YaBB English Support" because it's most likely to get attention there. Who knows they may even take up your suggestions the next time they work on an update...

[Josette]

Hi MB!  It isn't really that serious of a problem - I was just rather surprised to find it working that way.  I assumed that Preview meant and exact Preview!

Actually, I read your notice of new things just before reading this, and it sounded as though you had adjusted it!