This is topic Having technical problems with this website? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-11-2002, 06:44 PM:
TO ALL:Please do not post website problems on the forum. I cannot possibly read every single post here and frequently miss such complaints, plus it distracts from the topic of the thread.
If you are having a problem, email me. That is the best way to get assistance or to alert me to an issue I may not be aware of.
Please bear in mind that almost all problems reported are by members using Netscape version 6-whatever or IE version 6-whatever. These are BETA browsers and I will not lift a finger to assist anyone using them as they have tons of bugs in them. Downgrade to Netscape version 4-whatever or IE version 5-whatever before complaining, as those are stable and far superior browsers. If you do not want to stop using your Netscape/IE version 6 browsers, please keep any website problems to yourself. I don't want to hear about it.
That being said, this last week I have tried the Opera browser and I can tell everyone that I am NOT EVER GOING BACK! This browser is beyond words. It can be fully customized for a variety of uses. Don't like popups? Simple, just select "refuse popups"! The browser will cancel ALL popups pointing to a different domain (meaning the elimination of popup advertisements). If you are on a dialup and want to make the forum surf faster, simply tell it to "never cache, except pictures" and once it loads the member pictures the first time, it won't have to download them again as it will pull them straight from your hard drive. Even on broadband connections this saves time. Also, unlike the infernal IE, the Opera browser when told to not cache the documents will always display the most recent version of a page, which saves me from a LOT of explaining over and over to the members that "yes your post was made and it is on the server, but your browser is cacheing the old page which is why you are not seeing it yet". (I think I have wrote those words about 500,000 times now.)
I strongly urge everyone here to download and try the Opera browser. You can download a free version at www.opera.com that has ads. For a one time very minimal fee you can buy a license and get rid of the ads. This will make a marked improvement in your surfing speed for ALL websites. 
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 05-11-2002, 07:51 PM:
Brad is finally a convert to a reel browser (now if only we can get him to convert to changeovers)
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-11-2002, 07:53 PM:
I am converting to changeovers, Gordon. The second projector is set up now. All I have to do is find the time to configure the automation, for human controlled changeovers is a no no. 
Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-11-2002, 08:45 PM:
I insisted that Brad try Opera. For that reason I think everyone needs to give me $10,000 (apiece, not collectively).
Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 05-11-2002, 10:05 PM:
I've tried Opera... but I much prefer film...>>> Phil
Posted by Sean M. Grimes (Member # 445) on 05-12-2002, 02:42 AM:
Wow!!! Now that is a better plug for Opera than I ever could of mustered, thank you Mr. Miller!!! I have been using Opera now for about approx four years, it really is a wonderful browser. And when they bring out new versions, the have just about every bug ironed out. Now some pages that are specifically built for a browser (i.e. specifically) there can be some problems, but for 98 percent of my surfing Opera is it. I mean just for the mouse combo buttons (to go back or foward in your browsing pages) is worth it alone. Come on everybody give it a shot!!! 
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 05-12-2002, 10:52 AM:
I gave in to peer pressure yesterday, downloaded & installed Opera 6, am running it now. So far so good. One odd thing: on my.yahoo.com some of the banner ads appear twice, stacked one on top of the other. Have never seen that with IE6. Also, yahoo (like many sites) uses java, so it's almost a requirement that the Java compiler component of Opera be installed (unless you disable that kind of stuff for extra security).
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-12-2002, 04:21 PM:
Once you "buy" the browser, the banner ads disappear and it turns into the most wonderful browser ever designed. Here are some tips that Joe emailed me on configuring it:
You will want to customize the browser a bit to make it look better. Here's what you'll want to do.Under the VIEW menu, select the following:
Hotlist: OFF
Main Bar: Simple (unless you want TONS of buttons)
Personal Bar: OFF
Status Bar : OFF (you can leave it on but it does take up screen real estate. You can have it on the bottom like Netscape if you like).
Page Bar: OFF
Address Bar: TOP
You'll have to bookmark pages again, but there may be a way to import bookmarks. Haven't looked around enough. On the Mac version you CAN import bookmarks from Netscape or IE so I assume you can on the Windows version as well.
Welcome to Opera. It is almost perfect, but not quite. It's waaaaaaay faster than IE or Netscape, and it can draw pages correctly. Also unlike Netscape the text isn't gigantic huge.
Here are some other settings I recommend:
under FILE/PREFERENCES
START AND EXIT
Make sure to check "show my home page" and set it to http://www.film-tech.com This will save you much time in having to go to a pesky bookmark.
BROWSER LAYOUT
Make sure "show search field and button" is checked. This gives you a direct link to the Google search engine without having to go to the Google website.
WINDOWS
Make sure under "pop-up windows" you have it set to "refuse pop-up windows"
HISTORY AND CACHE
Under "disk cache" check "cache images" Do the same for RAM cache. I highly recommend you do NOT "cache documents".
Under "check modified" select "always" for all 3 options.
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 05-12-2002, 06:38 PM:
I meant Yahoo's banner ads, not Opera's ad window. When I go to my personalized Yahoo home page, with Opera there are always 2 identical Yahoo-generated banner ads stacked one on top of the other. Weird. I think those ads might be compiled locally using Java, so this could have something to do with the new Java compiler that Opera installed.That Opera ad window isn't really bothering me much (yet).
Thanks for the config tips. So far I'm liking Opera. It's overall performance is definitely snappier than IE6 which seems very bloated in comparison.
Posted by Dennis Atkinson (Member # 345) on 05-12-2002, 06:39 PM:
It took me longer to tweek Opera to my liking than anything else. It's really good, but once you choose the skins, fonts, butttons and the rest, you will REALLY enjoy staring at your CRT. It's like having your cake and not sending Joe money 
Posted by Bill Hallsworth (Member # 1240) on 05-13-2002, 12:15 AM:
With the ads on the free version, has anyone checked into spyware being included in the package? If there is, it's a real pain in the @$$. You can check for it by downloading and running a program called Ad-Aware from www.lavasoftusa.com Also get the Ref Update program, as it will find and install updated spyware lists automatically.Just a thought...
Bill
Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 05-13-2002, 01:20 AM:
Actually I like AdSubtract much better. Tried 'em both.>>> Phil
Posted by Sean M. Grimes (Member # 445) on 05-13-2002, 02:19 AM:
no spy-ware with Opera!!! If you want you can specify your advertising preferences. But no spy-ware.
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 05-13-2002, 10:47 AM:
There is under a way to import bookmarks
Go to Navigate and click on manage bopokmarks it will open a window on the side with the book marks and there is a import user bookmarks that can be pointed to the netscape directory
It took several trys
Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 05-13-2002, 01:48 PM:
Sold!I have installed Opera again and bought it this time. Now I can print from the browser.
I am about to do all of Brad's mods.
Question:
Has anybody tried the email client yet? If so, what do you think? Does it spell check? (Most important to me.)
If we keep this up would could have a whole society of Film-Techers who avoid Microsoft like the plaque.
Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-13-2002, 01:51 PM:
Hey now most of Brad's "mods" are mine! His mods affect caching and pop-ups (which are good suggestions). I still have not received $10,000 from anyone. What's up with that? OK I'll lower it to $5,000 and Brad can get $2,000 for his mods.Just be careful visiting any sites that use Javascript because it still doesn't work well.
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 05-13-2002, 01:55 PM:
I am kinda-sorta using the email client. Haven't made up my mind on it yet. I like Outlook's interface better (sue me! ). And nope, Opera's email does not include a spell checker. Although there are 3rd-party solutions, they sound clumsy: Opera Email Spell Checkers
The javascript stuff does seem a little flakey.
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-13-2002, 02:59 PM:
Members will find the chat room forces you to click the mouse in the text box every time you want to make another post. That's very annoying. For chat room purposes, I am sticking to Netscape or IE. For the rest of the internet, it's Opera!Joe, so far people have sent in about 40 $10,000 checks. Did I forget to forward them to you?