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[Honeybit]

Forgot to also thank MacDuff for this post:

If you see a (nearly) all blank white screen after hitting "post" do this...you end up back in the thread you just posted to (rather than on the blank white Q wilderness).  YAY!

Go to "edit my preferences"

It should default to Pref Options

(if not, click Pref tab, then click Pref Options)

Uncheck the last box "show confirmation pages for posts"

Save

When I first started using this new system, the "Confirmation Page" actually worked, and you saw your just-entered post.  I never realized that going back to Preferences could free me from what has now become the "white Q wilderness". 

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Also,while typing this post I discovered that I can highlight the text I just typed with the mouse pointer and then click on the underlined A (font color) above and change the color of the text to the color of the underscore without needing to go into the dropdown color box.  YAY again!

[ChynnaBlue]

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@Honeybit wrote:

MacDuff in a post here said:   "Search/find all your recent posts:"

One bit of info is a thought bubble with the number of posts you have.  That is clickable.  Click there and you'll get a list of your recent posts.

I haven't found that particular "thought bubble" yet.  I'll have to go back and reread MacDuff's post more diligently.

@Honeybit   After you search for your own name with the Users search, the results should look like this:

Click on the number of posts to see all of your past postings.

[bebe777]

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@Honeybit wrote:

I still can't believe how awful this has been for a commercial software rollout -- my most frequent comment is still WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?   I saw a couple of questions in this thread that I didn't see comments to, so here's mine:

If you see this message after you hit "post"

"Your post has been changed because invalid HTML was found in the message body. The invalid HTML has been removed. Please review the message and submit the message when you are satisfied."

Hit "post" again...it seems to override the message and posts anyway...?

This mainly seems to happen to me with fonts or formatting that I've copied from somewhere else instead of choosing from the menu at the top of the REPLY box.  QVC's program "corrects" them in the post, so you're not really overriding the message.  You're accepting  the correction (which frequently isn't even obvious to you in the box).

Not that anyone cares, but HTML is "Hypertext Markup Language" which, in simple terms, is a way of telling the software by codes how to display text on the screen (centered, bold, large size, etc.).

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@Himi lover said:

Someone mentioned that when they went back to a thread, it showed somewhere how many new posts there were from the last time she opened a thread. Where is that?

If you haven't found it by now, it's on the main page of the Forum (RECIPES).  There are columns with the headings:  SUBJECT, REPLIES, NEW, AUTHOR, and LATEST POST.  To the left of each SUBJECT there is what some are calling a "Thought Bubble" which can be an arrow, a filled in "circle", or an empty "circle".  The arrow means you replied to that thread, the empty circle means there's nothing new since you last looked at it, and the dark circle means there's a new post since you last read the thread.   Also, if there's new content, the title of the thread will be in dark ("bold") type; if there's nothing new since you read it, the title of the thread will be a lighter gray.  (Also, if you let your mouse pointer rest on the "circle" you will see a little pop-up with a brief explanation.)

The REPLIES column shows the total number of responses to that thread.  The NEW column shows how many replies there have been since you last read that thread.  AUTHOR, of course, is the poster who started the thread.  The LATEST POST is the date-time-poster of the most recent reply.  It's not obvious, but you can put your mouse pointer on the date there and you will be taken directly to the most recent post in the thread.  HTH  (Hope This Helps).

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MacDuff in a post here said:   "Search/find all your recent posts:"

One bit of info is a thought bubble with the number of posts you have.  That is clickable.  Click there and you'll get a list of your recent posts.

I haven't found that particular "thought bubble" yet.  I'll have to go back and reread MacDuff's post more diligently.

@MacDUFF and @ChynnaBlue Thanks for your help and especially to ChynnaBlue for including a link to this thread in all her posts.  VERY WELL DONE!

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HoneyBit, I had just about finally figured out most of what you so clealry wrote regarding how to read the forum information. 

Thank you for going through it step by step. That was really, really helpful!!! 

And thanks again to MacDuff, ChynnaBlue  and DooBdoo fro all their harp work. I acan'rt thank them enough for everything they've done to make this very bumpy transition easier.

-- bebe

[Honeybit]

@bebe777  bebe777,  I totally agree with your compliments to MacDuff, ChynnaBlue  and DooBdoo for all their harp work, especially with the unintentional typo.  They really have been our "Angels" during this transition! 

I'm glad you found my post helpful.  I just realized reading your quote that I left out a word:

The LATEST POST is the date-time-poster of the most recent reply.  It's not obvious, but you can put your mouse pointer on the date there, CLICK, and you will be taken directly to the most recent post in the thread.

I edited my post to add it there and not imply that the link is automatic by just "pointing".  .

[Honeybit]

@ChynnaBlue  Thanks, now that I know about "Thought Bubbles" (not to mention "Breadcrumbs"), I found the one you described.  You picked the right Avatar -- you truly are a Wonder Woman!  I'm now pondering how you posted the highlighted picture of what you were describing.

Two more questions, if you come back here, (1) what is a PERMALINK, and how do we use it?  I've seen that term other places around the WWW, but never thought to look up a definition.  I saw it in one of your posts to the Restoration blog.

(2)  Has anyone started a list of threads that conain helpful hints from posters?  I found this one from your posts, and (probably somewhere in here) I found "So Far We've Had This Board For About a Week" with an explanation about how to post pictures.

Maybe we need one titled "Are We Having Fun Yet?"........

[ChynnaBlue]

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@Honeybit wrote:

@ChynnaBlue  Thanks, now that I know about "Thought Bubbles" (not to mention "Breadcrumbs"), I found the one you described.  You picked the right Avatar -- you truly are a Wonder Woman!  I'm now pondering how you posted the highlighted picture of what you were describing.

Two more questions, if you come back here, (1) what is a PERMALINK, and how do we use it?  I've seen that term other places around the WWW, but never thought to look up a definition.  I saw it in one of your posts to the Restoration blog.

(2)  Has anyone started a list of threads that conain helpful hints from posters?  I found this one from your posts, and (probably somewhere in here) I found "So Far We've Had This Board For About a Week" with an explanation about how to post pictures.

Maybe we need one titled "Are We Having Fun Yet?"........

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@Honeybit: To post the picture, I took and edited a screen shot and saved it as a .jpg image on my computer. Then I came to the post and clicked on the Insert/Edit image option and uploaded it. Uploading an image is similar to adding an avatar, so check the link in my signature for directions on how to upload an avatar.

(1) A PERMALINK is a permanent link to an item. Sometimes you want to send someone to ONE post, but as a thread grows, the post gets buried and you don't want the person to have to search for the right post. A Permalink for the single post allows you to link the person to one post within a large thread. I used a Permalink to create my forum signature to take a user to the post I keep updating, not to the whole thread.

On these forums, the permalink to a post is in the message number on the left of each post.

Right click on the message number (6 in the above image) and choose the option to copy the link/URL. (The exact language depends on the web browser you use. In Chrome it reads: Copy link address.) Once copied, you can paste the link anywhere you need it or save it as  Favorite. This trick also works for Facebook and Twitter posts. With Facebook or Twitter, you use the date/time stamp instead of a message number.

(2) No. Maybe you should start one!

[Eva-QVC]

Hello @Honeybit! I'm happy that our wonderful community members have been so helpful to you with the new forums. For additional help, you can check out the Welcome Get Started category for postings with step by step instructions that may also help you. 

Enjoy your day!

Eva

[Honeybit]

Looks like I'm on a roll here, so I might as well make a complete nuisance out of myself.  I was just on the RECIPES Forum and saw a question from sfnative.  I answered it there, but thought I would share it here too since I've seen (somewhere in all the confusion) references to the "Mustard Yellow" background before.

From sfnative:

Tech help needed:  I just copied this recipe to Word; however, it came with a mustard yellow background, such as we experienced in the beginning with the new forums.  Am unable to highlight and delete the background yellow.  Anyone with a fix?  Thanks!

sfnative,

That "mustard yellow" and reformatting in Word is one of the banes of this new format.  Using your mouse pointer, highlight all the text with the background.  I'm using WORD 2010, so on the HOME tab, look in the section with PARAGRAPH written at the bottom (where you can Center or Left-Justify text).  There's a little icon that looks like a paint can slightly tipped over with one drop coming out of it.  If you "hover" over it, it is called "Shading."

Click on the drop-down arrow to its right.  Go down to the next to the last item in the drop down and click the box to the left of "No Color". 

Alternately, if the little rectangle under the paint can has no color in it, you should be able to just click it without using the drop-down to No Color.

As a side note, I've discovered that the Text Size I select under my "Preferences" on this new board has a drastic effect on what and how threads copy into WORD.  And if I'm copying without logging in to QVC, I get completely different results again.

Edited to Add:  For a little more drastic "cleaning" look on the HOME tab in the FONT section.  The top right icon in that section is an inscrutable litle "eraser" with a tiny "Aa" in a box next to it.  "Hovering" reveals it to be "Clear Formatting".  It will work, too, but it may clear more formatting than you want.

Something else that works is the "quick and dirty" trick of highlighting and copying the text.  Either delete the original (or go into a new document), right click your mouse, and select the "A" (text only) option from the "Paste Options" near the top of the box you get after you Right Click.

And somewhere there's probably even a better way that I haven't found yet!

@Eva-QVC -- Thanks for your note.  I do read all the posts in Welcome Get Started periodically.  I'm sure the "growing pains" of the new system have been an ongoing nightmare for all of the QVC Support Staff.  You have my sympathy.

[Honeybit]

@ChynnaBlue  Thanks, Wonder Woman, for the PERMALINK info.  I'd start a HELP RECAP thread if I had figured out myself where to find all the scattered helpful tidbits other posters have written.  By the time I do, we probably won't need it! 

[MacDUFF]

@ChynnaBlue

@dooBdoo

@Honeybit

@bebe777

@debic

@Eva-QVC

I don't think I've ever been called an angel with a harp...an angel with horns, yes, but that's another story LOL!!

Thanks for the kind words...I'm just happy the thread is still helpful.

As for a recap thread, I'm all for it.  I don't know if it's in this thread or another one, but I practically begged the mods to go ahead and lift the info from this thread and create an in-house, locked thread with these  helpful tips...this was in that 1st week or so of The Utterly Disastrous Board Meltdown of 2015, when really Q should have thought of that idea themselves.

As far as I know, there is still no thread that gives step-by-step instructions to help us.  Y'all can do it, if you want...but QVC doesn't pay me enough to do their thinking/working.

BTW, I just noticed the bold/ital/underline, etc. = not working.  SIGH.

Don't know if it's been done...didn't see it...but debc had a question (not too far downthread, message #14?) about how to do an animated avatar...that might be a good one to put in here...?

Hope everyone is having a great day! 

Sincerely,