zabkat support forum

OK, let's talk seriously: This board is ugly.
Barely ugly.

Why is it in our world of SXGA screens that some weirdo says "hey, let's make the page extra-narrow and put some large bars on its top"? OK, 650 pixels are a fine size, but why not make it 100% which is - on very. very bad resolutions - also 650 pixels, most likely more?

What's with the weather bar on top of this board? And why do we need the (%/§)& date as an extra line?

And as I am a smart guy, I decided to solve all of these problems. (Also because some other board user asked me for the code.) All you need is Mozilla Firefox and the latest Greasemonkey extension.

Then copy this code into some text file and install it as a user script (name it netez.user.js or smth - the .user.js part is important! - and drag&drop it into the Firefox window to do this):

Code: Select all

// ==UserScript==
// @name          enlarge netez.com board
// @description   does what its description says
// @include       http://forum.zabkat.com/*
// @include       http://forum.zabkat.com/*
// ==/UserScript==

function XPath(Params) { return document.evaluate(Params, document, null, XPathResult.UNORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE, null); }

var checkRegex = /topicreview/;
var checkFid = checkRegex.exec(window.location);

if (checkFid) {
    // don't do it in the review frame!
}
else {

// make that 650px table wider first, don't forget that we also should enlarge the post fields
if (XPath("//table[@width='650']").snapshotLength>0) {
    XPath("//table[@width='650']").snapshotItem(0).style.width="100%";
    // and while we're at it:
    if (XPath("//textarea").snapshotLength>0) {
        XPath("//textarea").snapshotItem(0).style.border="1px solid black";
        XPath("//textarea").snapshotItem(0).style.width="150%"; // yay...
        XPath("//textarea").snapshotItem(0).style.height="300px";
        XPath("//textarea").snapshotItem(0).style.fontFamily="Consolas,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"; // looks way better :)
        XPath("//textarea").snapshotItem(0).style.fontSize="12px"; // now that there is more space...
    }
}

// we know the current date, we don't visit the board to learn about it
XPath("//table").snapshotItem(0).style.display="none";

// we also know that we're on netez.com, so ...
XPath("//table").snapshotItem(2).style.display="none";

// the Google logo is ugly as hell
XPath("//img[@width='97']").snapshotItem(0).style.display="none";

// haha, you really think someone is actually using the search thingy for WWW?!
for (i = 0; i < XPath("//input[@name='sitesearch']").snapshotLength; i++)
    XPath("//input[@name='sitesearch']").snapshotItem(i).style.display="none";
XPath("//input[@name='btnG']").snapshotItem(0).value="search netez.com";

// also remove the radio buttons' text fields
for (i = 0; i < XPath("//font").snapshotLength; i++)
    XPath("//font").snapshotItem(i).style.display="none";

// "copyright", yadda yadda, phpBB, alright, so what?
for (i = 0; i < XPath("//span[@class='copyright']").snapshotLength; i++)
    XPath("//span[@class='copyright']").snapshotItem(i).style.display="none";
    
} // end checkFid

Very, very "quick and dirty", but I thought it would be a good idea if you actually knew what I'm doing here, so ...

I hope you'll like it.

@ why ...

It's a long-time gift to nikos at from host/owner Sal Pileggi.
( note the last line under Credits in x2help.htm )

If you are volunteering to host and administer a new forum, talk to nikos.

The "why hosted" is not the point here; the "why so ugly" is.

so you would look a gift horse in the mouth? :shock:

I would not ride a decrepit horse, no matter how cheap it was.

At the risk of

I applaud the eliminations and remunerations of histoire, and bid the superfluous 'javii' a happy flight in the aether...

Thanks to the German Contingent of Esoterica...

(And Fred, while we're discussing previous generations, what's the story with the Horse Boards? Was it in our distant past that equines knew the secrets of x2, and have now ascended, forsakening us poor humans to the remnants of stabled knowledge? I do know a thing or two about shovelling shite - human, equine, canine, and bovine. Some verbal, too, as is my Irish wont.

)

...and the previous addition of Reply box expansion:

Code: Select all

if (XPath("//textarea[@name='message']").snapshotLength>0) {
   XPath("//textarea[@name='message']").snapshotItem(0).style.width="<EnterNewWidthHere>";
}

...finds a home, too, though "Consolas,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" is rather old-skool. 'Segoe UI semibold' suits all needs, if not as technically effete, aesthetically in a widescreen world...

Well, I did the above script "from scratch", not everything is taken from our personal conversation. Anyway, the fine thing here is that you see what does what and can change it to make it suit your personal needs even without a clue about userscripting.

Tuxman wrote:...you see what does what and can change it to make it suit your personal needs even without a clue about userscripting.

True, and at play in the fields of the Lord am I.

(That said, the second page of the emoticons seems to have gone AWOL...)

If only I could eradicate... <src="/bbs/templates/BlueMist/pics/logo.gif"> too...

I rarely use any special built-in emoticons anyway. I prefer the SmileyXtra extension.

(OK, except

and

and such, of course.)

Kilmatead wrote:If only I could eradicate... <src="/bbs/templates/BlueMist/pics/logo.gif"> too...

Hmm, less than elegant, but a quick adblock sends it to the fishes...

We need more users. Were getting Less popular as the day draws on

!

We could always advertise. I mean, spread the word to everyone, and we could all try to visit more often and make loads of improvments on the boards. That way, the board would look better and be popular.

I doubt that it matters how many users are here.

Updated. Those who did own modifications: Remove the "related links" and "weather bar" lines, and all is fine again.

zabkat support forum

This board needs improvement. (Incl. Greasemonkey script)

This board needs improvement. (Incl. Greasemonkey script)