Are you having trouble editing your lenses?

[John Dilbeck]

Maybe it's just me.

Lately, I've been having more and more trouble editing my lenses. There are certain things that just aren't working correctly.

I'm using Firefox 2 on Mac OS X 10.4.11. I have javascript and java turned on.

Squidoo has completely changed the way we add modules to our lenses, and it isn't working for me properly.

I can choose from the popular modules and add them, but I can no longer choose from all the modules. When I try to, my system seems to do nothing for a couple of minutes, and then everything is messed up. The scroll bar doesn't work and I'm unable to continue editing the lens.

OK. wait a second, I just had an idea...

As a further test, I fired up Safari and I was able to add the modules and even go to the old module system that I prefer over the new one.

So, it's not Squidoo. Is it Firefox or the Mac version of Firefox?

Anyone have any ideas on this?

I don't really want to use Safari to edit my lenses, because I have a lot of tools loaded in my Firefox browser that makes it easier, but if I'm unable to select modules, that's going to make it a lot more difficult - if not impossible.

Act on your dream!

JD

[Joan]

John, I have not had that problem and I do use firefox on a pc......... maybe the mac version?? i don't know what version of firefox I have. how would I see that?
day before yesterday, squidoo did have a few hours where any editing at all was practically impossible, but that glitch seems to have passed.
have you tried the new photo module? it's really really great. look at bottom of
http://www.squidoo.com/seabrook-island-vacations

[John Dilbeck]

Good morning, Joan

I don't know how to find the version of Firefox on a PC. On my Mac, I just go to the Firefox menu and select About Firefox. The resulting dialog box shows the version number.

I missed the glitch you mention.

As someone who is still chained to very slow dial-up, I tend to avoid photos. Some photos take several minutes to load on my connection. I'll take a look at your Seabrook Island lens sometime during the middle of the night when my connection runs faster. I have a lot to do right now, "and miles to go before I sleep."

Hope you and Whitey are doing well. It looks like my Winter newsletter is going to become a Spring newsletter, but I haven't forgotten. It's been crazy around here, lately.

Act on your dream!

JD

[Joan]

I forgot you were on dialup.............I cannot imagine all the work you do -- on dialup! amazing!

[John Dilbeck]

Good morning, Joan.

(grin)

Sometimes it is an exercise in patience.

There are some lenses that take so long to load that I can play two or three hands of solitaire while I'm waiting. Usually, however, I'm writing something in one tab while waiting for one or more sites to load in other tabs.

If they ever run cable by here or offer broadband, I'm jumping on it. Right now, the only option is satellite broadband and I'm not so happy with what I've seen, so I'll wait.

As time goes by, this may become more of a problem. I'm working on building a new site to market local businesses in Murphy, NC, and plan to have photos and videos on the site. Right now, when it comes time to work on the videos, my options are to go into town and use a computer at the library, or go visit my daughter and use her computer. Neither is a good option, because I don't have access to all the tools on my computer.

I'm going to have to get a laptop sometime this year.

Act on your dream!

JD

[Joan]

I am surprised that cell phone service is not better than dialup. I have a friend who lives in the country who battles those same issues - rare for any area not to have fast internet access, for sure! You must have the patience of Job himself! :)

[John Dilbeck]

Would you believe that I don't have a cell phone and don't really want one?

I don't like talking on the phone. I think it stems from all the consulting work I've done. I want to have a written record of what was discussed, and so I prefer email to phones.

I do enjoy talking to family and friends on the phone, but rarely.

With all the mountains around my house, cell phones aren't reliable here, either. When friends visit, they usually have to go outside and walk around until they find a place with a good signal.

Still, I'd rather have the mountains and the peace and quiet than broadband or a cell phone.

Act on your dream!

JD

[Joan]

oh for sure. there is no comparison to the quiet and peace of the mountains. I used to have a friend in Salem, NC. she died some years ago, but oh what a peaceful spot to visit! as children, we vacationed at Oconee State park every summer and have loved the mountains ever since! Treasure that peace and be patient with the dial up. ! lol

[Pat]

Reading your post, I was thinking small price to pay to live in paradise, eh?

I was having trouble editing for a few days, but haven't had many problem today. I'm on a PC with Firefox. I use the old way most of the time, also.

One problem I do have is that cancel means the same as save on the modules that I've tried it. Once a change is made, it's made.

[John Dilbeck]

Good morning, Pat.

I've been so busy planning a new site for promoting businesses in Murphy and taking on some local marketing consulting clients that I really haven't had time to think about editing Squidoo lenses for a few days.

However, since Squidoo will play a large part in what I'll be doing, I really want to solve this problem.

I don't know how I missed it, but there is a version 3 for Firefox on the Mac. I guess I'll need to download it and give it a try. Maybe that will fix it. The only problem is that it is an 18 MB download and that will take forever.

I haven't seen the issue you mention about Cancel being the same as Save, but I'll watch out for it.

Yes, all of this is a small price to pay for living in paradise!

We had our last snow of the season, probably, on Tuesday and it was beautiful. All of it was gone by mid-afternoon and it was warm enough for t-shirts yesterday afternoon and is forecast to be a little warmer this afternoon.

Tomorrow they're talking about thunderstorms with the possibility of hail.

It never gets boring.

(grin)

Act on your dream!

JD

[John Dilbeck]

Good evening, fellow lensmasters!

Problem solved, I think.

For someone who knows as much about computers as I think I do, sometimes I feel like such an idiot.

I tried updating my Firefox app to version 3 a couple of times last month, but kept having problems.

Today, I decided to slow down and do nothing else until I managed to upgrade to Foxfire 3 and get everything working correctly.

(Do you know how long it takes to download a 17MB upgrade on a 21.6KB dial-up connection? Sheesh!)

What turned the tide was remembering that I originally installed Firefox 2 on my old computer, before moving everything to this one. It seems that Firefox 2 was owned by my OldAdministrator account. Well, that's not much of a problem, I made Administrator the new owner.

That's when the light bulb went off! (I smacked my forehead a couple of times - even though I didn't want a V-8.)

I could not upgrade the application in the account in which I was logged into. I didn't have the proper permissions.

This is one of the things I really like about Linux/Unix systems. They protect us from ourselves. Since I'm using Mac OS X and it's based on a Berkeley Unix version, I suddenly knew the right way to approach this.

I logged out of my account, logged in as Administrator, and started Firefox. Bingo! It told me that there was a new version of Firefox and that I should upgrade. That was the missing key to the puzzle. It was a wet-ware error!

I clicked the upgrade link, played a few hands of solitaire, and saw that it was going to take more than two more hours to download, so I went and watched Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD.

(I'm currently watching the entire series on DVDs rented from NetFlix. Over the years, I was sure that I'd seen every episode multiple times, but I learned that there were five episodes in season 2 that I never saw, and so far, on Season 3 disk 1, I found one episode I've never seen.)

So, while I was watching Star Trek, eating microwaved corn dogs, and then taking a short nap, my computer was busily working away to download the upgrade file.

When I woke up and went back to my office, everything had downloaded. I followed the easy instructions to update the application.

When I started Firefox, everything looked good.

So, I logged out of Administrator and back into the account I use for working with Squidoo.

This time, when I started Firefox, it said there were several plug-ins that needed updating. Two of them failed the compatibility test and I deleted them, but they weren't essential to what I do. After downloading and installing the updated plug-ins, I made sure that javascript and java were turned on (since I don't know exactly what Squidoo requires these days).

I went to edit one of my new lenses that I've never published and tried adding a module. It worked like a charm. No problem at all. I was able to move modules around, and edit them with ease. (Slow, but easy.)

So, I'm a happier camper than I was when I was trying to build a new lens, yesterday.

It wasn't Squidoo after all. It was using an old browser, and not being smart enough to get it all working weeks ago.

Now, I can get to work building new lenses, editing old ones that I no longer like, and deleting a few that promote things I no longer want to promote.

Lots of work to do and not much time to do it. Where's my coffee!?!

(grin)

Act on your dream!

JD