Quoting broken on Windows Phone 8



  • It's almost impossible to quote more than a single word successfully on Windows Phone 8. Something (presumably JS related) interrupts the resizing of the selection making it impossible to select the specific text that you want.

    Here I've selected one word (this works fine as I just tap the word):

    Now I'm going to try to select from there to the end of that paragraph. Here are three attempts:

    You'll notice that sometimes the selection goes in the opposite direction that I'm dragging. Also, the grab handle disappears, so I can't attempt to resize further.


    Now, here's me selecting text on a normal site. First a single word:

    Now extending it to the rest of the paragraph:

    No weird selection problems. No broken grab handles.

    This wouldn't be so bad if I could quote the full post, but that button is unavailable on mobile view.


  • Banned

    Actually, you can select text on WP8 - it's just that after first selection resize, only left-hand handle is available, you can only expand the selection and not shrink, and you have to make pause every half second because longer moves are treated as click.

    Just saying.



  • You've got more patience than me.


  • BINNED

    Semi workaround: If you can scroll without breaking the selection (never used WP8 so I can only buttume), hitting the "Reply" button will quote the selection.

    This, of course, works only for the first quote, and only if you quote first, then type your reply.

    But at least it's something you can do until / if this gets fixed proper.


  • Banned

    The problem isn't quoting. The problem is selection.


  • BINNED

    @Gaska said:

    The problem isn't quoting. The problem is selection.

    Re-reading the post: I'm a dumbass. Misunderstood the problem.

    Not deleting the post as proof.



  • Well, same thing on Dolphin on Android. Also a slew of other problems, like randomly being thrown at the top of the page when entering a topic, or the notification menu not completing its animation and being mostly transparent, or the timings less often updating than not.


  • FoxDev

    That's not the only WP8-related issue. When going to a thread with new posts, it starts loading the correct post, then randomly decides 'no, actually, I'm going to scroll you to a post posted three days ago, because Atwood'.

    To be fair, that issue could exist with all mobile browsers.


  • kills Dumbledore

    @RaceProUK said:

    To be fair, that issue could exist with all mobile browsers

    Happens on desktop Chrome sometimes


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    Yup. It's annoying and there seems to be no consistent set of steps to repro.



  • @RaceProUK said:

    it starts loading the correct post, then randomly decides 'no, actually, I'm going to scroll you to a post posted three days ago

    In my experience, it tends to jumps up about a load chunk. If the forum is configured to load 50 posts at a time, it will jump up about that much. When it was set to 20, it was only jumping about 20.

    It's annoying because you can't get back to the first unread post easily. You end up having to scroll down for a while, looking at the posts to see if you recognise them.

    When I'm on my phone, I generally look at the total post count and the unread count before clicking the link, so I can calculate where I need to scroll to if it jumps.



  • @Keith said:

    When I'm on my phone, I generally look at the total post count and the unread count before clicking the link, so I can calculate where I need to scroll to if it jumps

    I do this too!

    Discourse is terrible on mobile. The parts that aren't broken are slower than molasses in January. Ember basically requires the CPU power of a small server farm.

    Posted from my Windows phone.


  • FoxDev

    @jaming said:

    Posted from my Windows phone.

    So this is where we all hang out... 😄



  • @jaming said:

    Posted from my Windows phone.

    Hey, what sorcery did you use to quote an appropriate amount of my post using your Windows Phone? :angry:

    Also, out of interest, which version is everyone running and are you experiencing the same issues? I'm on 8.1 (8.10.14157.200 apparently) on a Lumia 930.


  • BINNED

    @Keith said:

    Hey, what sorcery did you use to quote an appropriate amount of my post using your Windows Phone?

    Quote all, delete the rest?

    Oh, no sorry, no "quote" button on mobile! Because Atwood!



  • @Onyx said:

    Quote all, delete the rest?

    Oh, no sorry, no "quote" button on mobile! Because Atwood!

    You're intentionally riling me aren't you?


  • BINNED

    @Keith said:

    You're intentionally riling me aren't you?

    No, I'm pissed at that as well.

    I can kinda quote on Android, but it takes ages because fucking Ember and Discourse re-render shit every time you move the selection around (buttuming here, but I saw it doing some weird shit while playing with userscripts previously) so it's an exercise in frustration.

    If I could quote a whole post and delete any excess text it would be approximately 247 times faster.



  • @Onyx said:

    If I could quote a whole post and delete any excess text it would be approximately 247 times faster.

    QFT.


  • FoxDev

    @Onyx said:

    would be approximately 2y47 times faster.

    i think that's a conservative estimate



  • Discourse corrected your estimated speed improvement, but to be fair, the new value is probably more accurate.


  • BINNED

    @Keith said:

    Discourse corrected your estimate speed improvement, but to be fair, the new value is probably more accurate.

    I planned it that way!

    Yeah.. let's go with that.


  • FoxDev

    @Keith said:

    Also, out of interest, which version is everyone running and are you experiencing the same issues? I'm on 8.1 (8.10.14157.200 apparently).

    8.10.14203.306 running on a Lumia 920.



  • @Keith said:

    which version is everyone running and are you experiencing the same issues?

    I am still running 8.0, and yes, I have experienced issues with quote reply as well as the "random scrolling tour of a topic."

    @Keith said:

    what sorcery did you use to quote

    The ability to quote reply for me seems to change with each update–this update seems to work okay1 for me.

    @RaceProUK said:

    So this is where we all hang out...

    All being the operative word there...

    1: okay within the context of discourse



  • I need to test more thoroughly. Lumia Icon running the latest developer preview, here. The last time I messed with discourse on my phone, it seemed to function, but I wasn't expecting much. I may have ignored all these wtfs.



  • @jaming said:

    The parts that aren't broken are slower than molasses in Jötunheimr in January

    CTFY



  • @Onyx said:

    No, I'm pissed at that as well.

    I can kinda quote on Android, but it takes ages because fucking Ember and Discourse re-render shit every time you move the selection around (buttuming here, but I saw it doing some weird shit while playing with userscripts previously) so it's an exercise in frustration.

    If I could quote a whole post and delete any excess text it would be approximately 2<sup>47</sup> times faster.

    I thought about fixing the formatting, but decided not to, because Discourse.

    Anyway, I think the jittery selection on Android is because of Dicsourse constantly trying to position the Quote Reply button. That, and the long polling it's doing in the background. Of course, sometimes the Quote Reply button just gives up and doesn't make an appearance until after you've already posted what you were going to say.


  • Banned

    I can repro this on IE11 touch, definitely a known issue.



  • @Keith said:

    Also, out of interest, which version is everyone running and are you experiencing the same issues?

    v8.10.14203.306 on a Lumia 920.
    I've had trouble quoting from the phone before. Even had trouble when trying to edit the post before submitting. I think I often just switch to desktop mode on the phone and, while cramped, it works a little better (it's very rare that I'll post from mobile). Or replied via email (after having to remove everything from the original email, because Discourse will sometimes forget to clean it out and post your email address in full view).



  • @codinghorror said:

    I can repro this on IE11 touch

    << implying it's also broken in "Immersive" (aka Metro/Modern) IE in Windows 8.1/RT?


  • I survived the hour long Uno hand

    @Spencer said:

    "Immersive" (aka Metro/Modern) IE

    Ok, serious question: WTF is the right word for "Weird Windows 8 style apps" versus "Regular-ass applications" nowadays?



  • According to (the ever accurate) Wikipedia:

    @The Ever Accurate Wikipedia said:

    In September 2012, "Microsoft design language" was adopted as the official name for the design style.

    and

    @The Ever Accurate Wikipedia said:

    Microsoft temporarily used "Modern apps" before starting to use "Windows Store apps" and "Windows 8 apps".

    In answer to your question, I'm still not entirely sure.


  • I survived the hour long Uno hand

    Windows 8 Apps versus Windows 8 Applications? Because that's not confusing :/



  • Windows Store Apps. The goal is to have the same apps work on 10, and to have the phone and tablet versions of 10 use the same ones. Including 'Windows 8' in the name is one mistake even Microsoft wouldn't manage. Also, I'll try quoting someone on my tablet later.


  • I survived the hour long Uno hand

    So I am to say "Since I wanted to focus, I launched Windows Store Chrome instead of Windows 8 Chrome today"? Or "I launched Chrome in Windows Store mode"?



  • I think you'd call it immersive/app mode. Of course, the difference will be rather blurred with 10, since both can be in windows...



  • @Magus said:

    immersive/app mode

    That one came out of left field.


  • ♿ (Parody)


  • Banned

    Well, yes, on the Surface Pro 3 (which I actually love a lot) I can't really quote using IE11 touch in exactly the manner described above on Windows Phone.

    The problem is that IE is such a tiny percent of our users.



  • I like how when you try to select the left edge, it selects the entire universe above that word.



  • @Keith said:

    In my experience, it tends to jumps up about a load chunk. If the forum is configured to load 50 posts at a time, it will jump up about that much. When it was set to 20, it was only jumping about 20.

    It's annoying because you can't get back to the first unread post easily. You end up having to scroll down for a while, looking at the posts to see if you recognise them.

    The following works for me on desktop (I don't know about mobile; I don't use it) browser history spamming disabled: Reload the page. With history spamming disabled, the URL still points to the post you were originally trying to get to, and whatever causes the jump rarely, if ever, happens twice in a row.

    As to what causes it, my pet hypothesis is that a like, or a new post, or an update to the suggested topics — something that changes the page — happens at just the wrong moment in the process of populating the DOM, and causes Discourse to have an ADHD moment.



  • @codinghorror said:

    The problem is that IE is such a tiny percent of our users.

    Well duh, the site doesn't work for them.

    Here's an idea - have Discourse redirect to goatse on Android. That way you can claim that you have zero Android userbase and stop bothering with those pesky performance problems!



  • Googling info for the app I'm writing I've found the most useful keyword to be ‘Windows Runtime’ (WinRT).



  • Covered in hope and vaseline, still cannot fix this broken machine.

    Sent from my Windows Phone



  • Smashed up my sanity
    Smashed up what's left of me
    It's discoursistency
    I don't know what else to be

    Sent from my Windows Phone



  • Don't think you're getting all the fun, you know me I hate everyone.

    Sent from my Windows Phone


  • Banned

    @codinghorror said:

    The problem is that IE is such a tiny percent of our users.

    What about Android?



  • Back when I was a high-school dropout, working as a fiberglass technician, I think I had gone to the office for something, and on the way back I was singing that song to myself (“big time, hard line, bad luck...”), anyway, just as I'm yelling “Fist Fuck!” into my ventilator (which I'd spray-painted black, obvs), I look up and there's the super cool gay girl that worked in the other half of the warehouse with me, doing graffiti art, who I was always too shy to talk to, smirking quietly into her cigarette.

    Would've been Sent from my Windows Phone, but I zoomed in to click on something and lost the post.


  • Banned

    Quoting works fine on Android.



  • @codinghorror said:

    Quoting works fine on Android.

    No it doesn't. I still can't quote more than a single word.



  • Also, apparently my post is invisible now.


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