[[All right, this didn’t get through the first time, it seems. Reposting - sorry if this turns up twice.]
In the topic listings, each topic has a small icon to the left, which I suppose represents a sheet of paper. In most cases this is a white, still sheet, but sometimes it is yellow, and/or pulsating. What do these variations mean, and how does one (if at all) choose them?
I couldn’t find this in the FAQ. Did I overlook it, or is there another source of information I missed?
White means no new posts in that topic. Yellow means unread posts.
The wiggly icon (in either color) means that it’s a “hot topic” which is basically meaningless.
You can change your theme in User Control Panel, Board preferences. Choices are subsilver2 (the default) and prosilver.
Thanks! Would it be a good idea to add this info to the FAQ?
And off-topic: is there a way to avoid being logged off automatically by extended inactivity? I do have the “log me in automatically” box checked, but I don’t see a box for “keep me logged in”.
I stay logged in here forever, as long as I don’t wipe the site cookies.
The FAQ is just a standard phpBB document. It probably won’t be modified because it would be one more thing to babysit during an upgrade.
Also you may be the first person to have read it.
All right - my random log-outs seem to be related to hiccoughs in my connection. Would it be possible to have the box checked by default (e.g have the previous setting be the default)? Time and again when re-logging in I forget to check it, then go back and re-re-log in, this time with the box checked.
…and calling up a new page can take several minutes here in Bénin.
The more reliable method is to have your browser remember your username / password. Then even if the session cookie is gone, the browser will automatically supply your credentials and you’ll only have to click the login button.
Even so, if I just click the login button (forgetting to check the box first) I have to go through the login screen every time I want to do something on the forum. Which is a minor annoyance for me, but apparently much more annoying in Benin.
I second the request to leave the box checked, if it’s feasible.
Well, my browser does know my credentials; it fills them in for me. But a page which at one point says “[ Logout ] Biep” in the left top corner, at a later point says “Login”. This always seems to happen after the connection has been dead for a while and then comes back. It seems Firefox does some reloading when that happens, or else the page would not look different…
Maybe my “provider” changes the IP at that point or something like that - I don’t know.
I tend not to see it until I try to search or post - logging in again is no big deal: every page load may take a lot of tries, so one is quite accustomed to it. But if it is easy to make this change, then yes, please!
Rather on-topic: there are also the little arrows pointing to a sheet of paper - I understand they mean “click here to go directly to the relevant post”.
And continuing the off-topic part: it would also be nice if off-site links would automatically open on a new tab. Again: returning from them may take a while in these world parts, and it is nice to be able to continue reading one page while trying to get the other loaded. Of course I usually right-click and choose “open in a new tab”, but occasionally I forget.
Yes, if by “relevant post” you mean “first unread post”.
Well, on the “View your posts” page the column “Last post” has them too, and there they seem to link to that last post, read or unread. Maybe they appear in more locations. That’s why I formulated it circumspectly.
And I just realised the little black dot on the Topic icons seems to mean I have written in that thread.
This is not in the overview at the bottom of the page. (Has this overview been there from the beginning? I wouldn’t have started this thread in the first place had I seen that.)