The point is is that from the OP's pics we can clearly see that the problem is not any design problems in DS but that the OP has too many toolbars. If the OP wants to have that many toolbars and still have a decent amount of screen space he should buy a taller screen, period.

Ok, so the site doesn't work at all in IE8. Just a black screen.
It crashes Maxthon3.
It doesn't render properly in Cyberfox.
Chrome and Maxthon Cloud do manage to load the forums with certain add-ons installed.


Here's a minor point though
Is anyone else finding that the forums aren't updating.
If you enter a thread then go back to the index the thread is not shown as being viewed.
If you add a reply to a thread and then go back to the index the page is not updated. Still shows the previous thread order and last poster and not your new post and username.

If it just a matter of the one user and his tool bars why the lengthy patronising lecture about the way screens are manufactured?

Because it's a combination of the short 16:9 15.6 inch laptop screen he is using in combination with the excessive toolbars and the new DS title bar is why the OP is complaining. If he was using a taller 4:3 15.6 inch laptop or a bigger desktop monitor, he may never have felt the need to post this thread.

Laptop screens have got shorter over the past decade, belive me. They used to be tall and wide, now they are just short and wide.

They said they would fix the floating bar on Monday, still not done. And they should have tested the site on 16:9 15.6 inch laptop screens, as well as lots of browses.

Steffan

My Toolbar Clutter is displayed deliberately because I like it that way.
I like my letterbox Browser set up.
I like my Double Height Toolbar.

I have a spare 19" 4:3 monitor and a spare 24" Widescreen.
I use my laptop from my armchair in the living room. It is totally impractical to use an external monitor, even if I wanted to. I like 15.6" displays.

Although I am an advanced user, I was not aware of Element Blocking when I started this thread.

Other kind users have repeatedly posted how to do this for all our benefit.

The Nav bar is now just a bad memory on my system.

If DS had provided a persistent Close option on it, this thread would not have been necessary.

I thank you for your misplaced concern anyway.

If DS code their site so badly it makes it unusable, people will stop using the site, they won't go out and by a 4:3 ratio screen just to look at DS. 4:3 screens are totally useless for anyone working in visuals, film and even sound.

The thread is also referring to the fact that the black bar at the top of the screen (which i don't have because i added code to remove it) covers the entire screen with adverts for people accessing the site on their phones. Perhaps they should wander around with a 4:3 screen under their arm?

Statements like the bit in bold, where you both talk to me like i'm an idiot and also totally disregard the fact that screens are designed for a whole variety of uses both work and entertainment, make it pointless trying to talk to you.

I'm finding that it's not updating properly, but it's a little different for me. If I add a post and then click on the Index, I see "unread posts" on a thread but I'm the last one to reply, and there are no sneaky ninja posts just before mine. Annoying.

Ahh... bliss and no more stupid intrusive black bar cheers

Thank you! It still flashes up momentarily (for me) but I can live with that.

DS...can it be right that so many people are finding ways to undo what you have inflicted on us? Do you think you have made a mistake? Are you big enough people to acknowledge that you have got it wrong?

I've installed Firefox add-on 'Element Hiding Helper for...'

I'm not entirely sure I need it, but I'm not faffing about now.

The Nav bar may need right-click and a block and then another (2 Layers?)


For those who are having severe problems, make a Linux Live USB Flash or a VMware Player or Virtualbox machine with Ubuntu download (Laptops and Desktops)

Or use another tablet or phone.

It's advanced stuff for many and very inconvenient.

Maybe the DS Techs will at least get people back online this week, now the weekend is over..

I am not filled with confidence knowing their track record. How long has the search feature been u/s, for an example, it used to work OK?

Digital Spy don't have technical staff anymore so they may have to borrow some from somewhere else?

Are the Mods lying when they say they will pass that on to Tech Support then?

(Of course, Tech Support may be one person. Perhaps a part-timer intern or semi-retired)

Just out of interest, can ANYBODY actually type in the "Title" box at the moment or does everybody have to type thread titles in Notepad and then copy & paste them into the "Title" box?

I just got around to reinstalling W7 on my PC (instead of W8.1) and I can, at least, now c&p words into the "Title" box, which I couldn't do under W8.1

I know everybody's different but I just don't get on with Firefox at all so I hope I'm not going to be forced to use it just to access DS.

I haven't tried it on my PC yet. If I have problems I am sure I can refer to the advice on this thread. However, I can't do anything about my work PC, so my lunchtimes browsing will remain kaput. It's so irritating. And bloody annoying.

I'm on chrome with windows 8.1
i can't type in the title box for either thread titles or PMs which means you can't complete the task and start a thread or write a mail.
Quite randomly sometimes it works if you refresh the page sometimes it doesn't sometimes i can cut and paste from an email into the title box sometimes i can't.

I have a 15.6 laptop and it works fine for me. Not sure why anyone would want a load of toolbars they're spammy in the extreme. I can also start a thread if I wish, I'm on Chrome using Stylish add on and no issues for me.

Just for the sake of completeness...

If you're using Stylebot with Chrome, you can also scroll down a bit then right-click on the dreaded black bar, click on "Style Element" from the Stylebot menu then scroll down to "Layout and Visibility" and click on "Hide" to make it go away.

If you do that it will still appear at the top of the forums so you can access the drop-down options from it but it won't follow you as you scroll down the page.


Also, regarding the search function, you can search DS via google.
From google type "Site:forums.digitalspy.co.uk cabbages" to search DS for every mention of cabbages.
You can search for things aside from cabbages by putting a different word in there.

For users of Firefox Stylish "Digital Spy Forums - Retro"

I have just uploaded a new version of this style to https://userstyles.org/styles/96242/...y-forums-retro.

Changes are:
-- Restored the black banner to its original colours (or, at least, as near as possible)
-- Reduced the height of the banner
-- Stopped the banner auto-expanding
-- Stopped the banner following you down the page

Thanks for that, Retro is one of my favourite styles.

A quick question: I've tried to change some elements of these styles by manually editing them but it's a bit trial and error as I don't really know what I'm doing. Do you use software to make these changes easier? If not, is there a good tutorial you could recommend?

Sweet, thank for this

Holy Toolbars!!!

Thanks EmJay:

http://i.imgur.com/dnl0nwN.png

Mind your language please. Calling my setup 'spammy in the extreme' is not far off calling me 'chavvy'.
I do not have 'a load of toolbars' as you might think you understand them.

My system is working perfectly too. I was able to make the necessary changes to rid myself of 'that bastard black bar' soon after starting this thread, thanks to some enlightened responses.