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<<“The mouse focus is a Windows setting isn’t it?
Signed; Happy Mac User”>>
Good to hear that you are happy! It is always unfortunate when an important contributor to the forum gets grumpy.
Lacking full understanding of this very thoughtful but esoteric feature that allows the user more choice in how his or her system operates, I searched using Google for
“What is mouse focus in Windows.”
I learned that there a whole lot of people other than yourself want to enable it. Of course, mostly, they are not upside down. 😉
Slowpoke
You crack me up Slowpoke. I’m far from grumpy in my Apple ecosystem surrounded as I am by Easter Eggs with not the slightest need in the world to anguish over “mouse focus”. 😇
<<“I’m far from grumpy”>>
Good news!
Slowpoke
Oops – looks like I opened a can of worms. Worms always make Apple owners nervous.
(BTW – thank goodness for Linux, on which iOS runs, or I couldn’t get my work done, and Rockoyster would indeed be grumpy)
Keep digging. 😉
Hello Arno
I’m sorry to report that fixing the aberrant keystroke behaviour is a little more complex than a “one-line HTML” tweak. If the search box was part of a form with the “autofocus” attribute set then it might have been otherwise, but alas, no.
The problem is that the search input box has an event attached to it which triggers some Javascript event handler. Can’t be 100% certain but pretty sure it is instantsearch.js.
I’ve tested this in Safari on a Mac, Chrome and Firefox (and even, contrary to my religious beliefs, Internet Explorer) on a Windows 10 PC. Unfortunately I don’t have a Unix or Linux box lying around to test it on but am sure the results would be the same.
Each combination tested behaves slightly differently. eg PgUp/PgDn work OK in Chrome and IE.
The underlying problem is that the JS event handler takes control of the up/down arrows (and in Firefox at least, the PgUp/PgDn keys) and thereby nullifies their natural response.
If you key a phrase in the search box then you will find the Up arrow moves the cursor to the start of the phrase and the Down arrow moves the cursor to the end of the text in the search box.
I don’t have a mouse on my MacBook but I tried changing the Pointer Options mouse settings by disabling the Snap To option. I thought this might prevent the cursor from automatically snapping to the input box but it had no effect. Even if it had worked it would have been a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
I suspect there is some other javascript in the packaged software you are using for your forum which causes the search box to automatically assume focus when a forum page is loaded.
There are no “frames” on the pages involved.
You’re welcome, now back to the easter egg hunt.
Grumpy Not Grumpy 😇
ps The easiest way to remove focus on the search box is to hit Tab.
pps PnB also said “Ctrl-F searches work, but the search result is placed at the bottom of the page, and one has to go to a mouse to read below that. That’s bad enough on a desktop with a mouse, but on a laptop the situation is worse because one is relegated either to a delicate and flaky multi-finger touchpad operation, or the most primitive of all – two-hand slider bar operation.” On Firefox Ctrl-F switches focus to the “find on page” box so the navigation keys revert to their natural state.
Thanks Rockoyster, you dug real deep to find all that! Things can get really complex when combining techniques and external libraries from several sources. In this case it’s not something I can easily solve any time soon. I need to focus on the site wide architecture and what its future should be. More on that later, again not any time soon 🙂
Good luck hunting the eggs!
Enjoy the rest of your Easter break. I will never eat chocolate again. Thinks “I may have said that before”.
Nice work!
Just for future reference Slowpoke, Australians don’t get grumpy they get cranky. Getting cranky brings out my best work. 😉
Precision in all things!
I greatly appreciate the refinement to my lexicon that you have provided, and will certainly keep it in mind for future use when needed.
Slowpoke
I thoroughly enjoy this site both as a regular reader and occasional contributor.
I notice the same questions being asked over and over again. It’s probably not a big problem but the resources ARE here. Research and planning is half the fun.
At the same time, there are areas that are rarely covered; such as the lesser known regional or rural rail lines and local buses to incredible locations.
Sometimes, I feel, there is too much emphasis on the well known tourist (some would say “hack”?) spots at the expense of equally rewarding lesser known locations.
And – there’s always a little humour such as rockoyster’s comment above. Some older Aussie blokes can come across as grumpy old men (not suggesting that’s the case with rockoyster of course) but we’re a long time dead so it’s time to “do it now” and enjoy life (particularly if we are in the mature/senior age group) as best we can.
Paul in Melbourne Australia (aka gunzel).
Picked me in one Paul. I did think of auditioning for en.m.wikipedia.org/wik i/Grumpy_Old_Men_(TV_series). 😉
Hi Paul-
<<“At the same time, there are areas that are rarely covered; such as the lesser known regional or rural rail lines and local buses to incredible locations.”>>
With luck, I’ll ride this one in early June.
It runs on standard gauge track where freight still runs, but passenger service was discontinued….much to the disgust of the locals.
Once I have done so, what would you consider an appropriate report?
And, how many people would read it?
I wrote a report on the Emmental several years go. Have had occasion to link it less than a dozen times.
Here is one moretime:
http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/langnau-in-may/page/2
Also,I have pointed out the rather nice Treib-Seelisberg Bahn a few times. Never have received any signs of enthusiasm.
http://www.seelisberg.com/bah nen/treib-seelisberg-bahn/fahrplan.html
We are here mostly to respond to queries. Often, lazy queries. Once in a while, somene wants to know about obscure rail lines. If you want see more of those, keep posting queries like the one you posted a few months ago.
Slowpoke
We’re wandering off topic a little but please be assured the Trieb-Seelisberg Bahn is high on my list for a 10 day TellPass late August/early September!
My partner and I will certainly get our money’s worth from the TellPass!
Will put the Emmentalbahn on my list but preserved lines are not our highest priority when there is so much “real” stuff.
Another enjoyment is when staff (e.g. waiters) tell you they don’t see many English speaking tourists; the lovely cafe at the top of Niesen Kulm was a good recent example.
Anyway, we digress from the topic of this thread…
< I notice the same questions being asked over and over again. It’s probably not a big problem but the resources ARE here. >
That’s the most irritating problem about this forum. One guy just asked what is the elevation of Wengen. No doubt the moderators will give him the information, withon a couple of hours, but asking Google would involve less keystrokes and provide an instant answer.
Indeed there are a lot of repetitive questions. But I must say I’ve never seen a forum where that’s not the case. People can’t always find what they need, or they can but want to hear it from a person directly. So here we are, happy to help 🙂 I recently added FAQ’s, but in the end all our pages address frequently asked questions one way or the other.
- http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/please-read-these-faqs-before-you-post
- http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/please-read-these-faqs-before-you-post-1
Google is good but it isn’t someone who lives in Switzerland or went there multiple times. That’s a key difference I guess 😉
Hi Snowman –
<<“That’s the most irritating problem about this forum. One guy just asked
what is the elevation of Wengen. No doubt the moderators will give him
the information, withon a couple of hours, but asking Google would
involve less keystrokes and provide an instant answer.”>>
I suspected that you would notice. 😉
I wrote – <<“We are here mostly to respond to queries. Often, lazy queries.”>>
Maria has established a good pattern. She links to lots of pages, and that keeps the ones who are happy to help themselves busy learning. For the ones who don’t want to learn how to figure it out for them selves, it allows one to say ….”You got the answer in the earlier posts from…” …..”
After a while, they begin to notice a pattern.
Remember the boundary conditions to being active on the MSA forums. And, we have to work within them.
( How’s that for engineer-speak? 😉
Finally, it is clear that things that are really simple for you, and sometimes simple for me, occasionally are not simple at all for some posters. Add lack of comfort with English plus limited understanding of what a computer+internet does/can do, and some questions get generated that arise from difficulty understanding, not laziness.
The posts on the forum are remarkably free of personal attacks ( except when I complain that Rockoyster is upside down) and free from much of the name-calling found on may others. Arno and Annika have a really nice place, and a bit of tolerance helps keep it that way.
By the way, this forum contributor would not answer that question about Wengen.. He would send the questioner a link to a map with altitudes.
And, it is possible that the question about Wengen arose during a thread in which a generic reference was made to “high-altitude hikes” instead of hikes above 2000 meters..
Slowpoke
Slowpoke makes some excellent points.
This forum is well managed and people generally conduct themselves in a gentlemanly and ladylike manner. Everyone involved should be complimented on that.
Contributors are clearly from various cultures and not everyone speaks English as their first language. We (on this forum) handle that very well.
We are also free of elitism that certainly creeps into other forums I read, particularly those for railway enthusiasts who can come across as “know alls” and can talk down to those with lesser knowledge. There is also a digital divide on some of the hobby forums – older folk tend not to be involved saying the younger ones “know nothing”. We don’t see that on here.
We are all different. In my case, I am happy to spend countless hours researching and planning a trip to, say, Switzerland (as I am doing right now for my “TellPass” adventure in August/September). It comes easy to me and I am happy to do it. My partner tells me the results speak for themselves; she loves to “turn up and go” knowing everything has been taken care of and she’ll enjoy a wonderful time!
But, say, as a handyman. I wouldn’t know one end of a hammer from other. We are all good at some things and “duffers” at others! But, like me in any “handyman” pursuits, I have a couple of good contacts who are experts and happy to offer advice. I guess that’s not too different to being on here?
This has been a very interesting thread. Like some others, I do look forward to questions about lesser known parts of the magnificent Swiss travel system and it’s always good to see a considered question from someone like me in my handyman context.
Finally, the managers (if that’s the appropriate term) of this forum deserve a pat on the back from everyone on here; ranging from the “experts” down to the “newbies” asking their first, sometimes very tentative or basic, question.
Paul in Melbourne, Australia (aka gunzel).
PS: for those who many be wondering, “gunzel” is the Australian term of affection for a railway enthusiast. Originally it was a put down, emphasising the eccentricities [real or perceived!] of the interest and the persons involved, but over the years “gunzel” has evolved into a positive, supportive label.
Hi Arno,
Maybe a tall order but is it possible to consider some sort of rating system for answers? I often see an answer somewhere which makes me think “gee that really nailed it”. As an example I cite 1960man’s answer to this question.
Rather than reply, it would be nice to be able to give him a gold star. Perhaps threads with the best rating answers could then gain some sort of priority in search results.
Too ambitious?
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