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Poster: smoker137 Date: Jul 27, 2023 11:19pm
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

It sounds like you're encountering issues with parts of your website becoming unusable after updates. This can happen due to a variety of reasons like compatibility issues, code conflicts, faulty updates, etc.

Here are some steps you can take to try and resolve this issue:

1. Identify the Issue:

Pinpoint the specific areas of your website that are not functioning as expected. Are they failing to load? Are there broken links? Do buttons not respond when clicked? Gathering as much detail as you can will help you diagnose the issue.

2. Check for Errors: Inspect the browser console for any error messages or warnings. You can access this in most browsers by right-clicking on your webpage, selecting "Inspect", and then clicking on the "Console" tab. Any errors there might provide clues about what's going wrong.

3. Revert to Previous State: If you have a backup of your website from before the updates, you could revert to that version. If the website works fine after the revert, it means the update is causing the issue.

4. Test in Different Browsers/Devices:

Sometimes, issues might be browser-specific or device-specific. Try accessing the website in different browsers and devices to see if the issues persist.

5. Disable Recent Updates/Changes:

If the issue started occurring after a specific update or change, try disabling it to see if that resolves the issue. If your website uses plugins or themes, try disabling them one by one to check if any of them are causing the issue.

6. Debug the Code: If you're comfortable with code, you could try debugging the parts of the website that are causing issues. If you're not comfortable with code, you might need to get a developer involved.

7. Contact Support:

If your website is built using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or a website builder like Wix, reach out to their support teams. They might be able to help diagnose and fix the issue.

Finally, to prevent issues like this in the future, it's a good practice to test updates on a staging version of your website before applying them to the live version. This allows you to identify and fix any issues before they affect your live website.

Regards:https://smokerschef.com/best-pellet-smokers-and-grills/


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Poster: Farmer Jeff Date: Jul 28, 2023 5:40am
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

Smoker137, I appreciate your thoughts. They might be helpful Ii I were trying to access my own website but I'm not. The website I'm inquiring about is the Internet Archive and the new look. I've already determined that it is not my browser, I';ve tried from 2 different browsers and the problem persists.

I have been a "Low Vision" computer user for over 20 years. I use screen magnification at an 8x level with speech. On a 1280x1024 screen resolution my window on the world is roughly 160px by 120px. The popups definately obscure the text I'm trying to read and there's almost no way to avoid the,

The previous "List View" was so much easier to browse.

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Poster: Bri-Elma-NY Date: Aug 15, 2023 4:58am
Forum: general Subject: update frustrations -- double ditto

Ditto previous comments.
Hate the giant preview popup. Maybe it's a good idea, but was poorly implemented.
An on/off button for IA's info popups is needed.
IA: thank you in advance for listening to real users. That is, real users who cannot try new features and then comment on them before they're implemented.

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Poster: Farmer Jeff Date: Aug 16, 2023 3:28am
Forum: general Subject: Re: update frustrations -- double ditto

The Archive Support Team has recommended using the "Extended " List View as there is no popup in that view. I have previously updated my post regarding this to advise other blind and low vision users that it works. There is no popup in Extended list view. I have been browsing the Archive for almost 2 weeks now without the popups.You should give it a try:)

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Poster: Bri-Elma-NY Date: Aug 16, 2023 6:06am
Forum: general Subject: Re: update frustrations -- double ditto

That's called a bandaid solution. IA programmers didn't properly test the update before implementation, and now don’t want to perform any more work to fix issues identified by disabled members. Shame on IA for not caring about disabled members.
I prefer seeing the thumbnails as it's the faster way to review many hits to determine if I should open an upload, so I’ll put up with the GIANT ANNOYING POPUPS until IA decides to do right by disabled members. Sorry to repeat myself again and again over and over repeatedly about disabled members.
“IF YOU DON’T STAND FOR SOMETHING, YOU’LL FALL FOR ANYTHING!”

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Poster: dowassy Date: Aug 16, 2023 12:10pm
Forum: general Subject: Re: update frustrations -- double ditto

I totally agree! The last update is completely ill-conceived!

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Poster: Bri-Elma-NY Date: Aug 16, 2023 2:00pm
Forum: general Subject: Re: update frustrations -- double ditto

Thank you for posting. I appreciate confirmation that I'm not the only one who finds the updates poorly tested.

I was once told to go elsewhere if I was unhappy with IA. That's not an appropriate reply. If someone at IA doesn't like their job they shouldn't take it out on members, especially those who donate regularly, and while on a disability income at that.

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Poster: PD_Pol Date: Aug 16, 2023 4:34pm
Forum: general Subject: Re: update frustrations -- double it too

Oh yeah. During the March 2016 "upgrade" my old account was permanently block by the Archive for posting the usage numbers they were posting to prove users liked the new format. I pointed out the numbers had been massaged and how to view the actual user "satisfaction " numbers.

Banned. As I find your manual uploads very useful and interesting, I hope you criticism doesn't get you blocked.

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Poster: PD_Pol Date: Jul 28, 2023 3:26pm
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

Farmer Jeff, the Smoker response is from a bot trying to get people to click on his links. The text is from another web page.
Unfortunately this version of the Internet Archive may not be more useful and feedback from the users has been historically ignored. As someone who is in the beginning stages of vision loss I hope they fix it.
I wish they would have a version without pop-ups and the other "improvements..

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Poster: fronflower Date: Jul 29, 2023 2:47am
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

Thanks for explaining the problems you're running into on your website after recent updates. I understand how frustrating it can be when parts of your site break or stop working properly.

Based on the details you provided, it sounds like a good first step would be to roll back any recent changes if possible, to see if reverting to a previous version makes the affected areas usable again. That should help confirm whether a particular update, plugin, or code change is the culprit.

If rolling back doesn't resolve it, I'd recommend checking the site in different browsers and devices, as you mentioned. Look for any error messages in the console, inspect the code for issues, and try toggling plugins/extensions on and off to isolate potential conflicts.

If you have access to a staging/development copy of the site, you could also test any problematic updates or code there first before deploying to production. That would allow you to catch and fix bugs without impacting the live site.

For sites on platforms like WordPress or Wix, reaching out to their customer support teams is also a wise move, as they may be able to spot and address problems with core code, incompatible plugins, etc.

Hopefully with some targeted troubleshooting you can get to the bottom of what's broken and prevent similar issues going forward. Let me know if any of those tips help or if you have any other questions!

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Poster: dowassy Date: Jul 28, 2023 11:35am
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

The new gui is totally unfriendly to the eyes. My eyesight is quite poor, and if before it was possible to orientate on the covers, now I have to read out the titles. It's almost impossible to enlarge the cover cards, as the margins are mostly enlarged, but the covers themselves remain minuscule. This is completely inhuman. And, yes, the search engine is broken!
Alas, old good legacy text version(((
PS And then there's these popups coming in
This post was modified by dowassy on 2023-07-28 18:35:28

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Poster: Antena Web GC Date: Jul 28, 2023 3:47pm
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

Thank you. Was my idea to said, but my english is too bad.
Unfurtunately, i think that Internet Archive's maintainers are not worried. When I explained to them that the site was inaccessible to blind people, and why it was inaccessible to blind people, they stopped responding. Although I admit that, as there are so many people and so many criticisms, it is difficult to respond to everyone in a timely manner. But simple: is a big big fail. you must revert imediately to the previous version, and you don't even have to admit that you made a mistake, everyone will understand. And from then on, they make changes designed for users. Currently, these serve no one.

However, a week after these terrible changes, everything remains the same. Despite the reactions, all of them negative.

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Poster: Farmer Jeff Date: Jul 29, 2023 11:08am
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

What's important is that you got your point across and it was in an area that I haven't explored.

To be clear I am not totally blind. I am one of those who benefit from seveen magnification. Most people couldn't sit down in fromt of my computer and use it without first exiting the screen magnifier. By the same token it has allowed me to do some things most people wouldn't inagine. I've dabbled in video editing with VirtualDbb for over 15 years. The security camera videos on my pages is alll stuff I've edited with VirtualDub. It might not be Adobe Preme4ire but it is free.

I am a firm believer in what the Internet Archive aspiere to do and am a supporter in my limited way. I do hope they roll back the updates or otherwise4 fix the issue.

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Poster: Antena Web GC Date: Jul 29, 2023 2:20pm
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

You are not totally blind. But i am.

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Poster: Farmer Jeff Date: Jul 30, 2023 3:40am
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

Clearly Accessability is important to both of us then and you are probably already familiar with Audiobooks. Some interesting things coming in the not too distant future. Are you familiar with
AI Natural Speesh? When it gets incorporated into a TTS screen readers are going to sound a lot better.

Aside from that this isn't getting either of our issues resolved.
I think the problem stems from the digital worlds move away from the desktop computer towards mobile devices and the Internet Archive seems to be following suite. I have also noticed that keyboard navigation isn't that well supported across most Operating Systems anymore. How do you deal with ICONs? Tab and Shift+Tab seems to have given way to Left Click or Right Click to get to any usable options.

I've been dragging my feet about it but it might be time to make the Archive staff aware that these latest updates aren't working for some of us. When I started this thread I noted bthat the as a last resort the Archive staff could be contacted
by emailing to info@archive.org

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Poster: Antena Web GC Date: Jul 30, 2023 6:52am
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

Tab & shift doesn't improve navigation. Honestly, I don't know how this error got so widespread, even among blind people. Tab jumps from link to link, button or form. ignoring anything text or headings. And even as for the forms, it depends on sorts. That is, tab is not ideal for browsing. It's a secondary feature. And it doesn't matter what the screen reader is. Narrator, NVDA or JAWS, for example, all do the same thing in this regard.

I don't use navigation on mobile devices, except to watch videos on Youtube. Or, for that matter, listen to them. I'm a very practical person. If I can do something in 15 seconds on a PC, why should I do it in 3 minutes on a smartphone? That's me thinking like that. But anyway, the percentage of users who use a Desktop or Laptop is so high that nobody should ignore it. He who ignores is not inteligent. And as for info@archive.org, that's what I said earlier. When I spoke about accessibility, they stopped responding. There must be a lot of e-mails with criticism, and now it's the weekend.
But it's much simpler than all that. Someone should see the Internet Archive forum. So far, 100% of the reviews I've seen have been negative, with serious flaws. Going back to the previous version was something that should have been done several days ago, such was the impact it had on the navigation of all users. Oh, by the way, apparently there's a lite version of the Internet Archive. Can you tell me if there is any URL to access it? Perhaps this one is still accessible to blind people.

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Poster: Farmer Jeff Date: Jul 30, 2023 9:08am
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

Tab & Shift+Tab was old school desktop navigation. Got me through all the course oblectives for the computer training at the VA Blind Center and later through a Ubuntu install with Orca on a second hand PC years ago. I thought it might help in getting from link to link in your browser.

I know what you mean about "watching" videos. I used to love action movies but when it gets to the point where you can't tell what's going on what's the point. A video with a good clear audio track is greatly appreciated.

I have a different reason for aviiding smarthpones. The little tiny buttons just don't work well with fingers that don't always work like they used to. Just a fact of life due to my work history.

I haven't heard anything about a lite version of the Internet Archive. Well worth looking into though.

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Poster: dowassy Date: Jul 30, 2023 3:00pm
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

This is purely my opinion on what's going on. A few weeks ago there was a massive DDOS attack with massive batch content pumping. At the moment the gui have been rewritten and good old html is gone. The pages are scripted to the max. The frame with titles (links) is protected from external reading by robots as much as possible. That's why tabulation doesn't work, because the field is like "glass". That's why no extensions work on the page, zoom and font size cannot be adjusted. But in the pursuit of protection, no one thought about basic convenience and respect.
But I would use Python scripts, not page scrapes, if I had to do a batch download. So, in my opinion, such a drastic change of the site is just a trick of the programmers.
This post was modified by dowassy on 2023-07-30 20:25:32
This post was modified by dowassy on 2023-07-30 22:00:16

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Poster: Farmer Jeff Date: Aug 2, 2023 2:55pm
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

I'm more of the opinion that it's more likely an error in one of the scripts and nobody was aware of it. Being a donation funded project which doesn't have commercials cluttering up the site and is Totaly Free, they have a very great deal of work to be accomplished by a reletively small staff. The annual donation drive has been supporting the work but nobody anticipated the volume of traffic that came due to the pandemic.

I sent an email to the Archive with a link to this forum thread and outlined the issue I have been experiencing along with an attatched photo of my desktop as it looks from my view.

I got a response this afternoon saying that my my information was being forwarded to the appropriate team. They also added a tip that in the "Extended" List view I shouldn't have any popups.

Lets Please Be Patient and give them an opportunity to get this worked out.

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Poster: Antena Web GC Date: Jul 30, 2023 2:46pm
Forum: general Subject: Re: Updates make parts of the website Unusable

It's exactly what I think. But if I want to avoid a denial of service attack, I have a good way to do it: close my website. That, or send users away. The Internet Archive programmers chose the second option. For me it's a surprise. The Internet Archive has been through so much, this is not even the 1st attack, there have been others and much worse, not just computer attacks. And they make this decision that the only thing they can do is drive users away? It's a decision, but I still think it's unintelligent. All the more so, as recognized by the Internet Archive, it was not an attack. It was an accident.