ATX Community Maintenance

[Eric]

I'll be performing some maintenance on the site this coming Monday and Tuesday. There will likely be a bit of downtime here and there, and times when things don't look quite right.

There will be another maintenance time before the end of the year with some bigger upgrades, but I'll post again when that time comes.

Thanks for your patience!

Oh, one other thing, please take a second to vote in the poll. I'm interested in how many people use a smart phone device like an iPhone, Blackberry, Android phone, etc

[Jack from Ohio]

I'll be performing some maintenance on the site this coming Monday and Tuesday. There will likely be a bit of downtime here and there, and times when things don't look quite right.

There will be another maintenance time before the end of the year with some bigger upgrades, but I'll post again when that time comes.

Thanks for your patience!

Oh, one other thing, please take a second to vote in the poll. I'm interested in how many people use a smart phone device like an iPhone, Blackberry, Android phone, etc

I don't have a smart phone yet. When the price wars start, and I can get a decent price and no contract, I WILL have a smartphone of some sort. I am predicting 12 months or less, the majors will offer unlimited service, <$50/mo. and no contract.

[JohnH]

I use a Blackberry and an iPad constantly.

Should I vote twice? :)

[GeneInAlabama]

I haven't even learned how to use my cell phone other than to talk on it. I'm afraid I'm not smart enough to use a smart phone.

[Eric]

I use a Blackberry and an iPad constantly.

Should I vote twice?

Forgot about the iPad. You can check multiple answers.

Does the iPad have a big enough screen to render a normal website layout and still be useable (without lots of zooming to read text)?

The reason for the poll is to see how many would find a mobile version of the forum useful.

[Eric]

I don't have a smart phone yet. When the price wars start, and I can get a decent price and no contract, I WILL have a smartphone of some sort. I am predicting 12 months or less, the majors will offer unlimited service, <$50/mo. and no contract.

I don't think you're going to be seeing any price wars any time soon.

We'll probably never see a price war here. The US and Canada have the highest cell phone plan prices in the world, here are a few of the reasons.

Phone companies here subsidize phone prices, so you pay $100 for a $300 phone, and then spend the next two years of your plan with an expensive monthly bill.

Phone companies here all have to maintain their own cell phone tower infrastructure for the most part, which requires three times more towers for the same coverage area. Smaller companies can never enter the market because infrastructure costs are in the billions, limiting competition to very few very large corporations.

In the US, phones are exclusive to each provider. You want an iPhone, then you use AT&T. You want a Droid, you use Verizon. In most of the world, every phone works on every network, so companies compete based on plan pricing instead of the hardware.

[mcb39]

I haven't even learned how to use my cell phone other than to talk on it. I'm afraid I'm not smart enough to use a smart phone.

Same here.!

[Catherine]

I lust after the iPhone, but my husband doesn't want to switch to AT&T. And despite how much I like it, the data plan cost didn't sit well (I'm rather tight-fisted).

So I looked hard and long for a Verizon phone that didn't require an additional $30/month (per line!!) for the data plan. Got the last Palm-OS, no-data-plan-required phone Verizon sold, and I'm hanging on as long as I can with that one.

[JohnH]

The iPad screen is about the same size as a netbook screen. However, layout isn't really a problem with the iPad. It becomes second nature to zoom in & out on the fly using the "finger pinch" feature. (no mouse or keyboard needed). An iPad user is equally at home using it or a full-size screen on a desktop computer.

[TAXBILLY]

I am still in the uncomplicated world of cell phones. I have no contract, I can use the $10, 20, 30, etc. monthly plan depending on my use (AAA using Consumer Cellular).

taxbilly

[Lion EA]

With my husband's old Palm, he did not have to have a data plan at AT&T. But, when he decided to get an iPhone, he had to get the data plan. They now have $15 plans, but he's keeping his unlimited $30 plan. Since he's only $9.99 as an extra line on my AT&T service, it's really not too expensive for the high usage he has. Our daughter is also only $9.99 and has a non-iPhone smart phone so NO data plan, just pays when she does download.

[SunTaxMan]

One problem while you are "on the line."

About 3 weeks ago, I changed my email address so postings would go to Droid phone.

So far, posting only appear on the web site, no emails are being forwarded.

Thanks,

[joanmcq]

I love my iPhone. you can also tap the screen to make the font larger. BTW, I have the lower (2MB) download plan, and have had no problems with overusage. I don't download movies (who wants to watch a movie on an iPhone anyways??), so checking email, weather, stocks, & general netsurfing is fine with the smaller plan. And I'm usually on WiFi, rather than 3G at home.

[Catherine]

I love my iPhone. you can also tap the screen to make the font larger. BTW, I have the lower (2MB) download plan, and have had no problems with overusage. I don't download movies (who wants to watch a movie on an iPhone anyways??), so checking email, weather, stocks, & general netsurfing is fine with the smaller plan. And I'm usually on WiFi, rather than 3G at home.

Every time I have come back to the forum in the past two days, this thread has shown up tagged with "new messages" -- but it keeps coming back to this one from joan. I'm adding this reply in the hopes that whatever loop it's gotten stuck in will un-stick now.

[Kea]

It shows back up every time someone votes in the poll. So, as long as people are voting and not commenting, it will be in a loop.

[HV Ken]

Please take a second to vote in the poll. I'm interested in how many people use a smart phone device like an iPhone, Blackberry, Android phone, etc

I voted NO now, but I anticipate moving up to a smart phone around the holiday season. Since I am a Verizon customer, that would probably be a droid.

[MAMalody]

I have smart phone. It is a verizon pc, can't remember the model number. Have had it for about three years. Works great.

[Eric]

The maintenance is running a little longer than anticipated, and there are still some quirks that need working out.

I've opened the forum back up, but I'll be tinkering with it more tomorrow.

Anyone who was using the CleanCut forum skin may need to choose to use it again, since it had to be deleted and replaced with a new version.

Anyone who was using the Larger Text version of the regular skin may have to do the same after I finish up tomorrow.

Thanks again for your patience!

[JohnH]

Eric:

Thanks again for all your efforts.

We really appreciate everything you do for this forum.

[Bart]

On the lower right there is a drop down box for "Forum Jumps". What happened to the go button that used to be there?

[Eric]

On the lower right there is a drop down box for "Forum Jumps". What happened to the go button that used to be there?

Selecting an option from that drop down box should bring you to the selected forum without having to push a button.

[NECPA in NEBRASKA]

I can't see mine either.

[Eric]

Alright, I think I'm done.

If anyone's got any questions or having any trouble since the update, gimme a shout.

Here's some stuff that's new. If any of these things sound worthless, speak up, and I'll remove them.

• A mobile template was part of the upgrade, which should automatically be shown if you browse from a phone. If not, it can also be selected at the bottom-left corner of the screen just like the other templates.
  
• Rating system on each post. You can vote individual posts up or down to increase or decrease their rating. The icons to do so are in the bottom-right corner of each post. The idea is that higher rated posts are more likely to be accurate/helpful
  
• Topic Preview. When you hover over a thread title in the forum, there's a little icon to the right. Clicking it will show you a quick topic preview where you can switch between previewing the first and last posts in the thread without actually going to the thread.
  

The Rating System icons look like this:

The topic preview icon looks like this:

There will be one more short maintenance day coming before the end of the year, but I'll try make it as painless as possible since I know it's getting close to that time of the year again.

[Eric]

I can't see mine either.

See my reply above. The Go button isn't needed, it automatically brings you to the page when you select something from the drop down.

[Lion EA]

Eric, I love you! :wub: