Today I wanted to show a friend and fellow woodworker how to research via FWW. He is interested in buying a new lazer miter saw, so I typed the apropriate words in the search field and all I got was threads that had the word(s) rather than than in the title. Is there a better route?
I also noticed that there is over 32,000 threads in the tools forum but couldnt access more than about 50, how do I get deeper into the forums?
Thanks for any help
bake
Edited 5/17/2004 12:20 am ET by bake
Replies
>> Is there a better route?
To my knowledge, there is no way to search on thread titles. You wouldn't want to anyway, because people frequently leave important key words out of their thread titles.
For the most effective searching, use the Advanced Search button near the top of the left hand frame, not the Search near the bottom of the left hand frame.
Is lazer a brand name, or do you mean laser? I just searched for
lazer miter saw
and got one hit. A search for laser alone got seven hits, and a search for
laser miter saw
got 19 hits.
>> ... but couldnt access more than about 50 ...
There is a 'Next 50' link, but it is near the bottom of the frame, after the Woodworkers Cafe folder, not right after the particular folder you're scrolling through.
Uncle Dunc --
Could I call on your expertise on a related matter?
I see that some are able to use a different color or type size in their replies when they want to emphasize something.
I've tried, but I can't find the necessary "help" information that tells me how to do this.
Can you lead me to this info?
Thanks.
I've got my forums set to WYSIWYG (immediately below the reply window)
Immediately above the eply window is a set of controls for formating your reply. One of these is font size, another is font colour highlight the text you want to emphasise and select the characteristics you want
Now if you're not seeing those controls you may have to change your forum view to enhanced
Thanks for info, but I am not seeing any of these controls around my reply window.
I have the "Advanced View" checked (at the bottom of each thread). Is that what you mean by "enhanced?"
Thanks.
That's what I have.
Sorry I can't help further
Ian
Can you help?
I'm running a Mac OS 9, using either IE (5.2) or Mozilla (1.2) as a browser.
Thanks.
nikkiwood,
Unfortunatly the Propsero plaform is not very friendly to Macs. Which is why you do not see any of the WYSIWYG editor functions. I am a Mac person myself and have worked with Prospero over the years to try and get them to support Macs more. Hopefully they will in the near future. In the meantime the only suggestion I can make is that you learn some basic HTML tags. If you have further questions let me know. -MarkSYSOP[email protected]
Maybe it would help if you threw out one of those quick surveys across all the Taunton boards. Ask simply if the respondent uses Mac or Windows -- and tell them why you want to know.
If only 5% of the people here use Mac, I would'nt blame Prospero for not wanting to make the effort. But if the number is 50%, that should help your case.
Mac systems may only have a 5-6% share of the universe, but that takes into account all the PC used in businesses. It is my theory that if you look only at individuals (i.e. forum members), the percentage is probably much higher.
Thanks for your response.
Actually I did just that a while back and your right the percentage was closer to 25%. Here is a link to the Poll I did.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages?msg=6317.1
I will continue to bring it to their attention but I don't really hold much hope for any resolution in the near future... -MSYSOP[email protected]
You're way ahead of me!
Does 154 votes seem like a good response -- given the traffic in these forums?
Is there any reason to believe things have changed much in the two years since you did the poll?
Thanks again for your efforts.
>> Actually I did just that a while back and you're right, the percentage was closer to 25%.
Which doesn't mean that 25% of Knots readers use a Mac, only that 25% of those who responded to the survey use a Mac. A self selecting survey is not very useful statistically.
Yes, you are exactly right. But, of course, it's a lot cheaper than doing a statistically valid survey.
I have no idea how many people participate in these forums, but if Sysop thinks 154 votes is a pretty high number (given the total number of forum participants), then the 25% figure is probably close enough.
After all, apparently the only downside to using a Mac in these forums is that you don't have access to the formating tools. And that's a pretty small potatoes issue in the larger scheme of things. It falls in the classic category of " nice to have, but not essential."
The statistical problem isn't just the size of the sample. It's that the people who care enough to respond to the survey may not be representative of the whole readership.
Uncle Dunc,
That is very true. This most definitly was a self selecting survey and was done several years ago and Macs have certainly increased in popularity since then. Going by some stats I got off our website just the other day, Mac usage ranks around 25% of the total. Which is much higher than it was 2 years ago where the # was closer to 10%. Based upon Web site stats not on any surveys. I did this original survey to get some kind of idea of what was going on as far as Mac vs PC. And it did give me a very vague Idea. Not information worthy enough to pass onto Prospero but good to know. -MarkSYSOP[email protected]
>> Going by some stats I got off our website just the other day ...
Does that mean a web site knows or can know what OS visitors are using?
Do you mean the FWW website or Knots?
YepLazarus"Wisdom is the toughest of teachers! She gives the test first and the lesson after."
Yes websites know what Platform what OS and what browser. This would be our FWW site not the Knots site. I am sure the data is available from Prospero also I have never had a need to look at it. By having this info it allows us to better design the site. All websites, at least most higher end sites, track this information. If you have further questions let me know.
-MarkSYSOP[email protected]
Yes websites know what Platform what OS and what browser.
which begs the question of why you did a poll if you already have the data?
Amazing folks, simply amazing. I post a question and it gets hijacked immediately, then the sysop comes along and helps the hijack further!
Bake
I post a question and it gets hijacked immediately
au contraire...Uncle Dunc answered your question in post #2 - - "there's enough for everyone"
Bake,
Sorry to have helped in the HiJacking of this thread but I thought the question had been answered.
The search function is not the best but here are a couple of tips to help you find things more quickly.
- Make sure you use advanced search not the regular search:- As with all search engines put quotes around the words your seraching for this will eliminate many unrelated answers.- Also I have found that using the "containing some of the words" search option tends to get better results.- Try to narrow down the time frame helps to speed up getting resultsI have never tested it but I do not beleive that titles of threads are indexed for searching. I will look into that and see what I can dig up.
I hope this answers your questions but if you have more please let me know. -MarkSYSOP[email protected]
>> ... why you did a poll if you already have the data?
The way I read it, he had the data from the FWW website, but not from the Knots website, where the survey ran.
I have access to all of the Data that our FW site creates but I don't have access to the stats that are generated through the forums I have access to some of the stats but at the time I didn't have access to most of the info. At the time I was trying to understand how many users are on Macs. I hope that clears up the questions but if you have more please let me know. -MarkSYSOP[email protected]
Nikkiwood,
I use Windows, and can compose a reply with the font formatted (bold, in color, underlined etc.) using my word processing program and paste it into "Knots." Don't know whether that's easy or convenient in the Mac world. I generally only do this when I'm researching before replying, or pasting something already written, but it works well in those instances.
Good luck,-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
jazzdog ---
Yes, one could certainly compose a message in Word, and then copy/paste it on the reply window.
But I don't know why you would bother; I certainly don't have anything to say that "demands" this sort of formatting.
This is a good idea though, which I hadn't thought about.
Nikkiwood,
I decided to mention this method largely For Mac users who want to add emphasis through italics, bold type, color or underlining, as it may provide an option not otherwise available to them.
I find this most useful when I'm researching a subject to be posted to Knots later, or when I'd like to reprise an answer I've given previously without having to re-type - usually in response to a question posed by a newbie. -Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
Now I get it!
I'm still not so concerned about formating, but I do like the idea of using WORD to compose a reply of any length. There have been a few times when I was in the midst of replying, and tried to go off to find a web site, only to find that what I had composed to that point was deleted. Your technique solves that problem.
It also gives one a chance to think more and perhaps even reconsider, especially with those matters that require more than a paragraph or two. In the past I have pulled my words together, and then just fired them off.
Thanks for the thought.
Edited 5/19/2004 11:46 pm ET by nikkiwood
Re: Composing in WORD, using the formating tools, and then copy/paste into the reply window.
I tried this on my Mac, and it didn't work. The Prospero software apparently stripped all the formating I had applied (in Word).
Did I do something wrong?
Nikkiwood,
This sounds like a challenge for SUPER SYSOP!
Based upon your experiences, I don't think I'll be switching to Mac any time soon.
Back to the good old, reliable, table saw,-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
I don't have any of that stuff either. I suspect it's specific to Windoze. I'm running Netscape 4.73 under Solaris, Sun Microsystem's version of Unix.
I do have a button in the message composition window that says "Check here if HTML tags are in the message (not including signature).", which I have used for italic <i>...</i> and boldface <b>...</b> tags. I have not tried specifying colors or font sizes this way. I don't even know what the HTML tags are for font size and color.
If you select HTML with this button, you also have to put a paragraph tag, <p> at the beginning of the second and subsequent paragraphs of your message, or it all gets globbed into one big paragraph. Also, I suspect the Prospero code that automagically turns a URL into a link is disabled if you select HTML, but I haven't confirmed that.
Whenever there's a feature that seems to be "missing" from your Knots window, check to make sure you're in Advanced View. Look at the bottom (very bottom) of the right-hand frame. If you see an option to "Switch to Basic View" then you are already in Advanced View. If the option is to "Switch to Advanced View" go ahead and click that.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled