Recent Changes @ FreeRepublic

[John Robinson]

A few changes have been made to the forum over the past couple days.

• All replies, and for consistency all articles, are now wrapped in HTML <BLOCKQUOTE>s. This indents the text on both left and right margins. It should no longer be possible to convincingly spoof replies.

• An HTML filter has been installed into the forum software. The primary job of this filter is to remove unsafe HTML constructs. As a side-effect and benefit, it closes open tags. No more HTML shotguns.

• Due to the above mentioned filter, the STYLE attribute has been disabled. Though it has many legit uses, it was used to position text and images at the top of a thread, or in other unsavory places. The STYLE attribute will make a comeback once a style filter is written.

• Since the STYLE attribute was disabled, the use of <SPAN STYLE="background-color: xxxx"> to highlight portions of text was also disabled. To compensate, the <EM> tag has be enhanced for highlighting purposes. At a later time the HTML sequence used to highlight text may change.

• <BLOCKQUOTE> has been enhanced for it's intended purpose: quoting blocks of text. Unfortunately, <BLOCKQUOTE> is often used to indent text without implying a quote, and therefore at a later time the HTML sequence used to quote text may change.

• A quick-and-dirty program now exists allowing you to customize the appearance of Free Republic articles. To use a custom style sheet, use your favorite style sheet editor (or plain text editor) to create a style sheet, save the file to your hard drive, and then follow this link to upload your style sheet to Free Republic.

  This is a technological preview and is geared for a technical audience. At a later date a kinder gentler interface will be created.

A sample customized style sheet:

BODY
{
    BACKGROUND-COLOR: ivory
}
EM
{
    FONT-STYLE: normal;
    BACKGROUND-COLOR: #eeee00
}
BLOCKQUOTE
{
    FONT-FAMILY: "Bookman Old Style"
}
BLOCKQUOTE BLOCKQUOTE
{
    BORDER-TOP: black thin solid;
    PADDING-BOTTOM: 1%;
    PADDING-TOP: 1%;
    BORDER-BOTTOM: black thin solid;
    FONT-STYLE: italic
}

[invoman]

John,

I've already gotten used to the new settings....and one thing is standing out. The hyperlinks at the end of each post are starting to stand out like a sore thumb.

I would think the most important part of any thread is the articles and the replies, and thus the last line, the 'reply', 'private reply', etc. are probably the least important.

Would you consider making the font smaller for those? Or perhaps a lighter color? THey "seem" to "stand out" right now.

[John Robinson]

I tried various work-arounds to no avail. Negative margins are not valid, and absolute positioning affects not only the left position but the top as well, causing a real good mess.

Give 'em a couple days, I think they'll grow on you. The indents look even better with the new forum software, I'm hoping for a public preview sometime next month.

[Lazamataz]

It sucks. I'm leaving. I hated this place all along. Everyone sucks. Opus Opus Opus. People hate things. I'm going liberal. Pout Pout Pout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psyche!

[John Robinson]

Author and Source searches are currently broken, as well as Topic listings.

[John Robinson]

What error code?

[beekeeper]

Thanks for keeping all informed.

[zip]

Thanks Ada. I didn't want to be the first to say that. LOL

[John Robinson]

That squishy ol' squid is at it again, eh? I'll have a looksee.

[Movemout]

"Page cannot be displayed" and then when I go back to the post article page my content i.e. author, date, source,article text, etc is blank. It's kind of frustrating after you type all that stuff.

[dennisw]

Personal style sheets? I shall try it out. No other forum in the universe offers this. Until I do, I thank you for ditching bookman font. Please leave at default.

I like Tahoma and everything else bugs me. I set my browser fonts to tahoma font.

[Lazamataz]

LAZ WON!

I won. You lose. LOSER! HAH! Look at the message after this one. Ha!

[Inspector Harry Callahan]

Well, thanks for trying. I'll get used to it.

[dennisw]

Also it would be good if we could highlight in colors other than yellow #FFFF00. How about at least a light yellow option and a green and light green?

[Chemnitz]

Some people, even on this page of replies, need a spell-checker. How about that?

Thanks for Free Republic. I log on all day long and forward good stuff to a list of friends.

[Lazamataz]

On a serious note, I think a lot of the effects are good in certain peoples hands. Like mine. I use many effects to humorous purpose. PROGRAMMING CHALLENGE #28934: Make many effect (such as CSS and so on) available to certain trusted users.

Unless you're not up to the challenge, of course. :o)

Okay, okay, that was mean and manipulative. But, I might as well be myself. :o)

[AppyPappy]

unsafe HTML constructs

You mean FR is dangerous to us?

[LoneGOPinCT]

HTML challenged bump

[John Robinson]

Can you publish a list of forbidden tags for us?

Squeeze here

Any chance you'll ever let 's come back?

I doubt it.

Can we use all tags in our custom style sheets or only the ones you've listed?

You can use any tag and attribute in your custom style sheet. Since your style sheet will not affect others, it will not matter if you make use of absolute positioning. You're free to do whatever you want in there.

Can you tell us more about <p class=thisclass> tags?

For a general overview, see my links in reply #2. Classes specific to Free Republic have not yet been conceived. I'll post another notice with a list of classes when one exists.

When we upload a style sheet, does it become our default style sheet

Yes.

It looks like you're planning to let us use other people's style sheets too. Are you going to give us a list of them to choose from?

Yes. I will provide a list of style sheets made public. When you select such a sheet, it will be copied into your default style sheet. You can then make changes to it.

Are we going to be able to select a default style sheet when we post a thread?

The style sheets are local to each viewer.

Wheew! :-)

[zip]

Laz, Have some coffee. LOL. I saw the reply and was hoping that it was________ posting it. (supply your favorite phony conservative's name) Have a great day. Zip

[John Robinson]

Okay, I will have a looksee. I have a few suspects in mind, and if I can reproduce the problem I should be able to fix it.