List archive page - cannot select most recent item

Ron · January 23, 2024, 10:03:52 PM

The List Archive pages were recently updated. Since then, the last entry (currently 'The Bulb Garden Newsletter') in the middle column can be scrolled up far enough to see it, but as soon as you let go of it, it scrolls down a bit till it is hidden & the link cannot be selected. The last 2.5 lines are hidden. This is on an iPad 2.

David Pilling · January 24, 2024, 03:29:21 AM

Hi Ron - thanks for noticing the new interface to the list archive - try scrolling the entire screen contents. Find a bit of page that is not an active component and drag it upwards.

The page is designed so that it is the right size with the URL bar off screen which is what all the phones/tablets I tried do. Maybe this is something you can configure.

Hardware beyond me was always going to be a problem.

David Pilling · January 24, 2024, 04:39:58 AM

I have an idea - I'll do a new version and let you know.

Until then, as a work around, you can get to the last message for the month on display by using the button for that (right arrow going into a bar). Or by infinite scroll on the message on display, keep scrolling the current message text up and it will step to the next message. Or by stepping to the next message with the single arrow buttons.

Phones and so on are in a state of sin, they implement "over scroll", by design you can scroll beyond the contents, and its all a bit of a mess as regards standards.

David Pilling · January 24, 2024, 09:07:18 AM

OK, I've done a new version of the software with a bit more blank space at the bottom of both scrolling areas.

The next question, how do you force a page load on devices where Ctrl+F5 is not an option. You need to do that to get the new software.

One answer is wait until tomorrow, after 24 hours the browser will download a new copy. The only other technique I have found is to use incognito mode, which is probably a Chrome speciality, at any rate every page view in that mode downloads a new copy of everything.

Ron · January 24, 2024, 05:55:09 PM

I tried it just now, the spaces seem to have done the trick. I can see and click on the last line, which is half visible. All of the other work arounds you mentioned also do the trick. Somehow I missed seeing the two at the top of the text portion. Thank you!

Ron · February 13, 2024, 02:48:38 PM

Quote from: David Pilling on January 24, 2024, 04:39:58 AMPhones and so on are in a state of sin, they implement "over scroll", by design you can scroll beyond the contents, and its all a bit of a mess as regards standards.

I found another issue seemingly related to the over scroll to skip to the previous or next message feature, so it may not be fixable. In my iPad I touch & hold on a word to highlight it, release it, drag one end to select the rest of the text I want to copy, and then let go. A menu should pop up with 'copy' and other options. But when I let go, it jumps to the previous message in the list.

David Pilling · February 13, 2024, 04:42:18 PM

Ron - thanks for the comments. Gives me something to think about, I had not considered the issue.

If you can drag without moving the screen into the over-scroll zone then there should be no problem. But I can see it is difficult to distinguish all the different touch and drag actions.

I found this:

"How do you drag and select text on iPad?
Select a word: Double-tap with one finger. Select a paragraph: Triple-tap with one finger. Select a block of text: Double-tap and hold the first word in the block, then drag to the last word"

which may offer another way to select text.

David Pilling · February 14, 2024, 04:43:27 AM

... on Android, I don't have access to an Apple product, double tap gets you a marked word with 'ears' which can be used to expand the selected area.

But a suggestion, start playing on message #1 of a month and drag downwards, no infinite scroll is then possible - this may at least show if what you want is possible.

Ron · February 14, 2024, 01:30:56 PM

David,

Thanks for taking a look at this. I tried the multiple tap methods, but none of those highlighted anything. Press & hold until word highlighted, then slide marked a section of text easier than the way I first described (the hints David provided led me to this method). But it still jumps to the previous entry when released, unless it is the first entry of the month, in which case the text stays selected. Marked text near the bottom of longer entries does not show this behavior.

This may be one of those unsolvable problems given the many types of devices that need to be supported. I can work around this. For anything serious I can use my PC, where selection works normally.