The new page format just appeared when I reloaded the "Updated Serials" page and I noticed the high-lighting on stories and authors you are reading is no longer there, which makes it a bit awkward unless you write down everything you read or have a much better memory than me. I'm hoping this is a glitch which will be remedied soon.
Has anybody else noticed this or is it just my computer having a hissy fit.
the high-lighting on stories and authors you are reading is no longer there
This sounds like you are referring to the browser highlighting of visited links, which will behave as you describe if you clear cookies for the site, or clear all cookies trying to fix a browser problem, or open the browser with a different profile (or use a different browser or computer, or even just leave the site unvisited for a while as the browser history expires in some configurable time, often 3 or 6 months).
If you have a premier membership, there is a history function available; if you are a basic member, your best be is to keep a text file of story URLs as you visit them, as the basic version of this premier function expires each day.
Mind you, I've just had the home page load in Modern Dark theme (just once while typing this, I always leave it on Classic), perhaps there's some work being done so I'd leave off making any changes for a few hours at least.
I lightened up the 'visited' links color.
Maybe you'll be able to see it now.
I set the default theme to the most recent one.
You can switch themes any time you wish:
https://storiesonline.net/sol-secure/user/my_account.php?cmd=listingFonts
Lazeez,
Your lightening change has fixed the problem - many thanks, now I don't have to rely on my (according to my wife) somewhat questionable memory.
I fixed the system to show the new theme only to new users. So you may be seeing whatever you had set before.
When I typed the address for SOL a few minutes ago, the screen seemed completely changed and very colourless. I guessed I had to click on 'account' to get to 'login'. When I entered my credentials, I was rewarded with the familiar home page.
Was that because my browser clears out cookies when I shut it down, and SOL thought I was a new user?
AJ
Was that because my browser clears out cookies when I shut it down, and SOL thought I was a new user?
No. Now the site shows the new style, which is almost monochrome to new users and not-logged in users.
You see the new style until you log in and then the site shows you your preferred theme.
I hopped over to StoryRoom and was greeted by an unexpected 'Modern Dark' theme. I switched it back to 'Modern Light'.
AJ
Same here.
I stay logged in (I don't clear cookies) but Storyroom and SciFi had switched to Modern Dark.
SOL stayed on Classic.
I've just noticed a Classic theme change under (Author Name): Favourites.
On clicking 'More Details' I get a
green/black icon for bookmark
down arrow in a box
then bullet points for Zip, TXT, EPUB and Kindle, all formatted as white text on a green background.
All on separate lines. A visited button is browser default link text colour.
The down arrow doesn't seem to do anything, and is there whether or not it's been read or downloaded.
An Authors' page shows the buttons as normal (Bookmark, Zip, EPUB in my case).
I've just noticed a Classic theme change under (Author Name): Favourites.
The classic theme has not been touched in years.
Maybe it's a cache adjustment glitch, one them overwrote the other in the cache.
If you can send me a screenshot, I would be able to tell what's going on.
My email is [email protected].
So I have switched back to the classic theme 3 times now.
Ive never logged in or out.
It sticks for a while but the next day when I come back it has switched me back to the dark modern.
I don't hate the modern theme but dark mode makes long form reading significantly more difficult.
Not sure why it keeps changing. Only logged in on the one device.
Give me the lie - this morning SciFi and SR switched back to Dark theme. SOL stayed on Classic.
Give me the lie - this morning SciFi and SR switched back to Dark theme. SOL stayed on Classic.
When you go to the theme switching page, what theme image shows 'Current Selection' with an outline and a shadow?
All 3 show the theme that is displayed
SOL - Classic
SciFi - Modern Dark
SR - Modern Dark
I switched SciFi to classic and browsed around a bit and it stayed.
I fired up my Linux PC which currently has Firefox 146 ( I know - still out of date).
Logged in to SOL - Classic.
Opened SR by pasting the url and logged in - got the pale theme. Hit My Account and it changed to Modern Dark despite being set to Classic on the other machine..
Followed the home page link to SciFi (logged in automatically) - Modern Dark.
Reverted to the original PC and refreshed SciFi - it was changed to Modern Dark.
I've also noticed that Advanced Search by Content has similar download links to the Favourites, but it's just undelined text, without background colour.
I think this may be cookie related.
In usual browser I set SciFi to Classic, then looked at Linux - Modern Dark (checked settings).
Usual browser - refresh page - Classic. Checked settings - Classic.
Refreshed the home page tab on both machines - the difference remains.
So I'm logged in on two machines and different settings are shown.
Perhaps (somehow) Modern overrides Classic, but Classic does not override Modern?
Strange that (for me at least) SOL is not affect by the theme switching.
Updated to add: -
Five minutes later, having closed the Linux browser, I refreshed SciFi home page on my usual machine and it changed to Modern Dark.
It's weird.
If it was failing to load your selected theme, it should load the default, which is the 2025 theme.
But it's falling back onto the old id number of the classic theme.
When I made the update, I couldn't have a theme number of zero anymore, so I bumped all of them up by 1, so modern with auto-dark went from 0 to 1, and classic went from 4 to 5, modern dark became 4.
There is no place in the code that it perform any calculation on the theme number, so not possible to have a bug there.
I'm suspecting a caching issue with cloudflare. I added extra code for caching.
If you see the wrong page, please view the page's source code and look in the header for a section like this:
< script>
var totis = '13pt';
var tstamp = new Date(1791874671000);
var thname = 'n2025';
var uit = '62961';
< /script>
I need the two lines:
var thname = 'n2025';
var uit = '62961';
For you it should be:
var thname = 'classic';
var uit = '(some other number)';
initially ScifI showed Modern Dark
var thname = 'modern';
var uit = '11717';
I changed it to classic
var thname = 'classic';
var uit = '11717';
refreshed the page - classic
Hard refresh (ctrl+F5)
It switched to modern Dark
var thname = 'modern';
var uit = '11717';
This seems to happen after a random wait time.
SOL is solid on classic so far
var thname = 'classic';
var uit = '603163';
SR behaves the same as SciFi
var thname = 'classic';
var uit = '21053';
or
var thname = 'modern';
var uit = '21053';
I've set SciFi to classic and SR to Modern light, we'll see what happens...
Um - SR (modern light)has
var thname = 'modern';
var uit = '21053';
same as modern dark???
same as modern dark???
Modern auto-dark, modern light and modern dark are all 'modern'.
This is highly frustrating. I searched and confirmed that the only place in the whole code base of storiesonline's engine that the 'theme' setting gets touched at all is in the theme selector. Nowhere else.
So, unless you go in and change the theme yourself, no place in the code modifies the setting unintentionally for you.
I added more diagnostic info.
If you can get me these two lines (before and after a glitch):
var thname = 'n2025';
var diag = 'uit:988787;uth:6;uthm:2;dth:6;dthm:1;thnum:6;';
From the pages you're served, I would appreciate it.
So I am still having it change on me.
Just came back to modern dark after several hours away.
This is what I currently see.
var thname = 'modern';
var diag ='uit:245142;uth:4;uthm:1;dth:6;dthm:1;thnum:4;';
I don't have a tab with the diag before the glitch. (I do have a fair few tabs just none since that line was added.)
When I switch back to classic I get this.
var thname = 'classic';
var diag ='uit:245142;uth:5;uthm:1;dth:6;dthm:1;thnum:5;';
I will report back with the lines once it changes on me again.
So I am still having it change on me.
Considering what I know about the system that I built, I'm starting to think that some browsers refetch URL from their history.
var diag ='uit:245142;uth:4;uthm:1;dth:6;dthm:1;thnum:4;';
var diag ='uit:245142;uth:5;uthm:1;dth:6;dthm:1;thnum:5;';
These two lines tell me that my code that selects the theme to load is working as expected.
I've changed the code that sets the theme to expire links, so the links have an expiration time (two minutes).
Let's see if this fixes this issue.
Also, of note, all the people that have so far reported theme preference reversion are on Firefox.
I'm starting to think that some browsers refetch URL from their history.
I'm pretty sure Opera does this after it's been forced to free up some memory (using another browser -- Firefox -- on a videos site and browsing round for a while) then returning focus to an Opera tab opened earlier. This is on Win7(32bit), FireFox 115.43.0esr (32-bit), and the latest version of Opera that will run on it (can't find where to read the version) on a 4GB dual core Pentium 20-odd years old.
I've set SciFi to classic and SR to Modern light, we'll see what happens...
So both of them were Modern Dark.
Just looking at SR
var thname = 'modern';
var diag ='uit:21053;uth:4;uthm:1;dth:6;dthm:1;thnum:4;';
Switched to classic
var thname = 'classic';
var diag ='uit:21053;uth:5;uthm:1;dth:6;dthm:1;thnum:5;';
Both F5 and Ctrl-F5 refreshes remained on classic.
I've recorded http headers for the switch and 2 refreshes, I'll send those by email as they are quite large.
There is still the issue of the downloader buttons from the other theme leaking into classic?
So I just refreshed with F5, and got
var thname = 'modern';
var diag ='uit:21053;uth:4;uthm:1;dth:6;dthm:1;thnum:4;';
There is still the issue of the downloader buttons from the other theme leaking into classic?
From the reports you emailed me, you're on Windows XP with Firefox 52. (12 year old system and a 10 years old browser).
I do my best to support older systems, but I can't spend so much energy trying to predict how a really old system behaves.
Once I realized you're on XP, I fixed the downloader issue (I think) try it.
However, how the setting for your account is getting switched back to the old value for Classic, which is correspondent to 'modern' now, I have no idea.
I know my code. The strings you're providing (var diag) tell me that my own code is working as expected.
I even modified the one place where the theme gets switched to block unintended changes.
There should be no reason why your settings are being changed.
The next time you get the modern theme, email me either directly or through the system here and tolerate the modern look for a while until I can check your account and see if the record itself was changed. I'm in the Turkish time zone, so it will be a while between you sending the message and me receiving it if you do it in the evening in the west.
Try clearing the browser's cache for the site; maybe it helps (doubt it, but worth a try).
Sorry for the late response, it's been a rough few days.
So I had a deeper look at the favourites More info thing, and does appear to be the old browser - there is a href="javascript:void(0) in the first div which is not present in the new browser.
So that can be ignored.
Reverting to the Storyroom issue, and looking on Linux Mint with FF 158 (latest available): -
I deleted all data and history for SR and WLPC.
Opened SR by typing in the url. It opened in Modern Dark (left from before).
Logged in.
Opened the settings page in a new tab and switched to Classic.
Refresh home page - Classic.
Opened a Private window and entered the SR url.
Logged in - Modern Dark. Checked the settings page to confirm.
Refreshed home page on both windows a few times - they both stayed on their different themes.
Left it for a while. About 30 minutes after I logged in, I refreshed the Classic home page and got Modern dark.
The private window is still open, but I did not touch any links.
I have no open tabs for SR on the old browser (just to eliminate that).
I switched the theme back to Classic and refreshed the home page in the normal window - Classic.
Refreshed the home page in the private window - Modern Dark.
Opened My account in new tabs on both windows - one is Classic, the other is Modern Dark.
My Account page: -
var thname = 'classic';
var diag ='uit:21053;uth:5;uthm:1;dth:6;dthm:1;thnum:5;';
var thname = 'modern';
var diag ='uit:21053;uth:4;uthm:1;dth:6;dthm:1;thnum:4;';
Opened a Private window and entered the SR url.
Logged in - Modern Dark. Checked the settings page to confirm.
It's becoming a real puzzle how the theme is being switched for you in the database.
For a day or so after the switch, I had few reports of users of classic getting modern dark, but as I fixed bugs, the reports stopped.
You're the only one reporting it.
I've personally almost caused the site to go offline with how much I hammered the server with various tools in order to maybe replicate the issue and the million or so hits all returned the correct theme for the account it targeted as in zero failure.
If there is anybody else having this issue, please let me know so that I can tell if this is a widespread problem or very limited as I can't replicate it.
I reworked the theme loading code to account for almost anything. I can't replicate any of the bugs, but I'm taking guesses and fixing would could cause such hypothetical bugs.
Please, keep reporting any visual/behavioral bugs you encounter.
I'm now observing something which is not necessarily a bug, but it is "changed behaviour".
Browser: Seamonkey 2.53.23 (since the end of July)
Desktop.
Let's say I start off with the main page, then click on New Stories or Updates. Before, if I then hit the "back" button I'd get the main page as it was before, now (maybe since yesterday, = Thursday) it works as though I'd clicked on Home.
In order to try to solve the wrong theme problem reported in this thread, on Wednesday I changed the caching headers the site sends to no-cache.
I guess your browser is obeying it to the letter, and not keeping it long enough even for the back button.
Very strange, I saw that behaviour a few hours ago but now things have reverted to the way they used to be.
If you have not changed anything in the last 2-3 hours then my observations were in error.