Are we there yet?

Hi there!

The on-topic page https://electrical.codidact.com/help/topics might need a bit of tweaking and discussion.

I think it is important that such a page attempts to be as specific as possible early on, so I quite like it and agree with most stuff there. But a few other things might need to be addressed:

• "The physics behind how circuits and circuit components work" should probably be expanded to all physics involving electronic design - including things like magnetism, radio, optics etc etc.

• Soldering, electronics assembly and ESD should explicitly be on-topic.

• Electronic component identification. Potential hot potato. A lot of people find this interesting - do we want this & to what extent?

• Repair questions. Definitely a hot potato that probably calls for a discussion thread of it's own. This needs to be made either explicitly on-topic or off-topic. Should we allow them or not? If allowing them, we need rules. What's required from the OP other than the question being researched & answerable? Basic electronics knowledge? Basic tools like solder iron and multimeter? A scope?

• Similar to repair questions: DIY questions where someone is trouble-shooting/fiddling with the household mains voltage or the electronics in their car etc. On-topic or off-topic?

• Electronics approval/certification/legislation (FCC/CE/UL etc approval) questions should probably be on-topic. Possibly also including electric environment questions such as climate testing, IP class, EX etc.

• General programming questions that are not unique to embedded systems should be off-topic.

posted over 4 years ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

Lundin‭

1553 reputation 35 55 279 70

$\color{purple}{\text{Are we there yet?}}$

No, it's not ready: -

• The embed image doesn't seem to work anymore on the EE part of the site and neither does it work here. It did yesterday because I added an image to an answer I posted; but not today - I just get a message saying: -

javascript:void()

_{I have javascript enabled for this site and I have no sites listed as blocks for javascript in Google Chrome}

• I get no preview pane while editing or writing an answer or question on the EE site - it works here on meta because I can see it below. Here's what I see on the EE site: -

• I get two underscores but that doesn't italicize the text. Deleted due to user incompetence.

• Regards posting images (when it works for me), "the other place" allows you to use CTRL-V to place an image you have previously copied. Going through the rigmarole of saving to local drive as an image and then trying to find that image via the current embed_image button is tiresome and not as sleek and quick as "the other place".

$\color{red}{\text{hello everyone}}$

• I'm glad to see that mathjax or latex (or whatever it's called) works but it's a bit flaky in that as I add to this sentence it temporarily results in it going back to: -

\$\color{red}{\text{hello everyone}}\$

• Also, when I use blockquote on the above latex phrase I get this: -

$\color{red}{\text{hello everyone}}$

• And not this: -

\$\color{red}{\text{hello everyone}}\$

I guess it might be monospace font: -

\$\color{red}{\text{hello everyone}}\$

• Yes it is! Hurrah. Previously I used the "`" character to make it work. OK, so blockquote and monospace quotes work - I just got them the wrong way round because they are in different places on "the other site". $\color{magenta}{\text{Another case of user (me) incompetence.}}$

• I started editing something and I ended up making a mistake that I wanted to rectify with an undo button - I can't find it. So, I tried cancelling the edit but couldn't find that either so it ended up a bit of a head-scratch and I bodged my way through laboriously and with pain.

• Another annoyance (and it is an annoyance) is that when you drag your mouse (left key pressed) over text already written so that you can block-quote it, after pressing the block-quote button, the edit pane drops right to the bottom and you easily forget where you are and have to search for the bit you were trying to modify. Yes, that is very annoying.

$\color{blue}{\text{Recent "observations": -}}$

• when getting a notification of a comment added, it takes you to the page where the comment is added but doesn't help you find that new comment - in other words you have to wade through all the other comments on the original posting and answers to see if that might "be the one". Not a show-stopper but a right royal pain.

• The "EE" top banner should remain fixed in place as you scroll down unless there's an overriding reason (based on user experience) that takes precedence over my desires.

$\color{red}{\text{Newer "observations": -}}$

I really, really don't like the ability to change comments beyond the 5 minute limit. I don't like it at all, not one bit, ever. It leads to confusion and time wasting trying to figure out what someone originally said when you are trying to explain to them where their original comment was incorrect and, suddenly (and out of the blue) you "see" that what you thought they originally said has possibly changed and then, you doubt that what you thought you originally read was a mistake on your own part. Not a good idea.

Of course I'm used to how "the other place" does things but the fewer the differences the better for me. Did I mention I was selfish and want everything done my way no later than this Thursday?

_{For my sins I have previously taken part in beta testing of new websites.}

_{Anything I list as user incompetence means yes, I was incompetent but, if enough folk also demonstrate the same incompetence then it potentially becomes something that is worth fixing.}

posted over 4 years ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

4y ago

Andy aka‭

2319 reputation 19 75 268 282