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Public Class GeoffAppleby

Inherits Microsoft.VisualBasic.MVP : Implements IBrainFart
What I Want To Change About CS 2.1

I've finished the upgrade to Community Server 2.1 and had it running stably for a couple of weeks now. I've had a chance to use it in anger instead of just dicking around on my local machine checking out the new stuff.

And I've compiled my list of what sucks :)

With the upgrade a few things have changed. Probably the one that affects me most is the changes to the composition page where you write new blog posts (I've never really liked using a smart client, although I admit I haven't given the Live Writer a burl yet). Most of the changes have been for the good, but there's a few things (in enough number in different places) that irritate me enough to whip out the source code again and create some custom mods.

So here's what I want to get done as spare time permits.

  • CS now has a neat feature where the tabs considered 'Advanced Options' are hidden by default. This is great except that it includes the date and time of the post you're writing. I often take over an hour to write any given post, so I almost always want to update the time stamp. Move that control to the main typing window.
  • The new editor (TinyMCE I think) is fine, but it's lacking a couple of things. The hyperlink editor is a popup window rather than a dialog, so on a slow link it takes forever to load. Try to change it back to a dialog as it was for FTB.
  • There's no color controls on the text editor. My wife has complained that she can't make pink text without editing the html. :)
  • I'm fairly happy with the skin I've chosen for my blog (although I need to redo the banner image a little to stop it being so grainy on my guys) - but it's fixed width, which would be fine if it was wider :) So I need to open it up a bit.

You know, I realise now that it's not really that long a list (although I'm sure my wife will come in with a few more she wants me to do), but it's enough. It's the little things that detract from the experience. Each of those things is tiny in it's own right, but added together it can slow you right down.

So sometime soon when I get the time, that's my list of things to tick off. Hopefully it won't be too hard :)

Posted: Saturday, September 16, 2006 8:59 AM by Geoff Appleby
Filed under: ,

Comments

Public Class GeoffAppleby said:

I've been manfully trying to resist giving Windows Live Writer a try. I don't know why, but I just didn't

# September 15, 2006 11:03 PM

Jordana said:

You've pretty much covered the things that annoy me. The HTML editor is slow to open and the font colour can't be changed without opening the slow to open html editor.

Also I was going to complain about how long it took to open the tags window but you showed me last night that I can just type a few letters and it adds them without opening that window.

That's all I've found so far. Oh except one more thing... the link window takes awhile to open (even on dsl) and the cursor doesn't go to the link text box by default and it should let you select the default value for the opening style so you don't have to keep changing it to "in a new window".

That's all.

# September 16, 2006 3:48 AM

Community Server Daily News said:

news of the day a grab bag for what's happening in Community Server Anyone whose been part of the Community

# September 18, 2006 1:02 PM

Alex Lowe said:

Hey Geoff,

Thanks for the feedback.

Regarding the time stamp, the default behavior for this should be changed in the next version which will help alleviate this problem all together. I mean, it was dumb of us to not make the time the publish button was pushed the time of the post.

We'll have to see what it would take to modify the pop-up behavior of tinymce. Considering that it may make future upgrades a pain I'm not sure on this one but we can take a look.

Regarding the editor options, you should go into your profile, choose the Site Options tab, and then change your content editor to enhanced.

Regarding blog skins, the debate of fluid versus fixed width (and what width is right) is a great one. =) We're contiously building new skins and I expect many more new skins will pop up for CS 3.0 (both fixed and fluid). One of the major work items for CS 3.0 is a revamp of the skinning engine (making it much simpler) and adding in the ability for some UI customization using the control panel admin UI (ideal for non developers of course).

# September 18, 2006 6:02 PM

Daily News Faq List said:

Geoff Appleby tells us from Australia what he doesn't like about Community Server 2.1, issues involving

# November 22, 2006 8:17 AM

Community Server Bits said:

Geoff Appleby tells us from Australia what he doesn't like about Community Server 2.1, issues involving

# March 12, 2007 8:22 AM
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