Mahz's Dev Journal

[Shienvien]

I also noted that if you scroll up through the chat, it retains it's position while the chat scrolls on. (Can't remember if it stays there even if you post a message)Could we make it so when you post it'll jump down to your latest message?

Eh. I sometimes like going through conversations and occasionally reply something in between.

I don't believe it should scroll down for every message that appears as it makes it a nightmare to read previous lines.

This. So much this. I've been quite annoyed at active IM conversations which don't just want to let me read the backlog...

[Isotope]

/me in the new chat?

It'd be a cool feature!

[Mahz]

P.S I was actually surprised that no one requested some kind of ordering of the subscriptions. There are a few I joined ages ago and which are no longer alive that I'd just love to archive or something so that my subscriptions are not so cluttered, but so that I can easily access those dead RPs if the needs arises. Is that something on the list? Would be nice to see in the future :)

@Kho

Good idea. That's a good use-case.

Man, I can't wait to see the chat system fully implemented, I do a lot of 1x1 RPs and after a while the numerous PMs that are just used for communication get pretty ridiculous at times. Being able to comfortably chat with my partner would be great, and maybe the ability to save the conversation in someway, though that might be me dreaming too much.

Anyway Mahz thanks a bunch for starting to work on this, I been waiting for something like it for sure.

@Damiann47

I save the chat log to the database, so I'll continue to do so with future versions of chat, like group chats and 1-on-1 chats.

Something I noticed about the Chatbox to look into. Whenever someone types a long message the new line reverts back to the left past the time stamp. Probably look nicer and a bit easier to read if it was indented for additional lines of text.

@NuttsnBolts

Agreed. Good idea. Thanks for mocking it up for clarity.

not a bad idea. There's space enough in the chat.
One could even consider having the : after each name line up vertically, but that might require a slight sideways extension of the chat window or lines can get very short.

We have another suggestion, @Mahz...

Right now, the chat lists who are online and who are muted. How about dividing it a little more?
Who are online.
Who are lurking (not actively using the chat for 10 minutes).
Who have been muted.

In addition, some functionality that would make the chat more practical. We know several of these are probably on your list, but it doesn't hurt to make sure.

• automated Join/quit messages
• /me function
• A letter + tab key - scrolls through online names starting with that letter
• Ability to ping and be pinged through name mentions while not focused on the chat tab
• link to the master log file
• ability to control width of the chat window

We could probably think of more, but these are a start.

@Ellri

Good ideas. Another idea: Pressing up-/down-arrow when inside the input box will cycle through your latest messages. As in, load them into the box. Used to that feature on IRC, like if I typo'd a URL in my previous message and want to re-post it with the correction.

[Mahz]

I also noted that if you scroll up through the chat, it retains it's position while the chat scrolls on. (Can't remember if it stays there even if you post a message)
Could we make it so when you post it'll jump down to your latest message? I don't believe it should scroll down for every message that appears as it makes it a nightmare to read previous lines.

@NuttsnBolts

<Snipped quote>Eh. I sometimes like going through conversations and occasionally reply something in between.

<Snipped quote> This. So much this. I've been quite annoyed at active IM conversations which don't just want to let me read the backlog...

@Shienvien

Yeah, I also hate it when chats don't let you read the history. It's actually enraging.

The current chat will only auto-scroll if a new message comes in while you're within 100px from the bottom (i.e. you're within a few messages from the bottom). If you're scrolled up more than 100px, then it assumes you're reading history and leaves you alone.

One improvement would be to add an indication when new messages have been posted while you're scrolled up.

@Mahz You can already tell because every line shifts up since only 100 messages are kept by the client. A more obvious indication wouldn't hurt, though.

[Sypherkhode822]

Not sure if you can already do this or not, but:
Being able to delete/lock threads would be great, especially since I made an oopsie and made a thread in the wrong sub-forum.

[BBeast]

Not sure if you can already do this or not, but:
Being able to delete/lock threads would be great, especially since I made an oopsie and made a thread in the wrong sub-forum.

@Sypherkhode822

I think such powers are reserved for moderators (locking, that is. Deletion has not been added). And as to your issue, I think mods can also move threads, which may be more appropriate for you.

[Sypherkhode822]

Excellent.
Locking threads is typically a nice power for a threadstarter to have, but different community's have different idea's of what's good.

[Shienvien]

Good ideas. Another idea: Pressing up-/down-arrow when inside the input box will cycle through your latest messages. As in, load them into the box. Used to that feature on IRC, like if I typo'd a URL in my previous message and want to re-post it with the correction.

Do you know how many times I have accidentally posted one of my previous messages instead of the new one due to this functionality. >.o

[Mahz]

Chat updates

1. /me support

Example: /me said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

2. @Mention support

- Mentioning someone in chat will now highlight the message on their screen:



- If they have chat open in another tab, then the tab will display their unread mention count and blink:



- Finally, to make mentioning more convenient, you can easily add mentions to the message you're typing by clicking anyone's username (from the sidebar or from within the chatbox itself)

Lemme know if you have issues. For example, sometimes the unread mention count in the tab title did not change after I focused the tab. Not sure if I fixed it or not.

[Ellri]

Excellent updates. They appear to work well, though we have yet to have tested the flashy thing.

[SpiritedDream]

Every time I try to refresh a page or click the button to take me to the latest comment in a OOC thread from my subscriptions page, it takes me to the start of the IC thread instead, and I have to work my way back through to the latest comments. Is anyone else having this problem?

[NuttsnBolts]

Nice. Will have to play around with it tonight. :)

Also noticed you've hidden who's looking at a page. Not a bad little option.

[Ellri]

That is not something we've noticed, @SpiritedDream, so it must be a bug of some sort.

@Mahz Any ideas on what his / her problem could be?

[SpiritedDream]

It seems to have fixed itself now...which is odd but I'm not unthankful.

[Mahz]

@SpiritedDream Hmm, let me know if you experience this again. I didn't touch the code related to that system in a long time. It's possible that there's a bug where it sometimes takes you to the first page. If you think there is (if it happens again), then I'll investigate the code.

Arena Update

As per @Rilla's request, I threw together a quick mini-leaderboard at top of the Arena forums to display the current ranked standings.



TODO: Make a sticky that explains what the ranked system actually is, how it works, and link to it.

[SpiritedDream]

Will do. Thanks Mahz.

[SgtEasy]

@Mahz

Hello! I've just been wondering, is the "mos ago" instead of "months ago" thing supposed to be like that? Not that I'm telling you to fix it or anything, I was just wondering.

[Mahz]

@SgtEasy It's the standard abbreviation: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mos though I wish they went with something else.

Just an effort to shrink the length of timestamps so I can use them in more cramped spaces.

[SgtEasy]

@SgtEasy It's the standard abbreviation: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mos though I wish they went with something else.

Just an effort to shrink the length of timestamps so I can use them in more cramped spaces.

@Mahz

Ahh ok. Thank you for clearing that up :). You've been giving RPGuild a lot of features that help a lot lately. I just want to say thank you for being such a good website creator thingie