Two new features

February 13, 2007 10:32 AM

Recent changes: 1) I finally updated the MetaTalk posting page to be more like the rest of the site, and added titles. RSS will soon have titles added. Also, no more "bugs" category as the generic catch-all, as I force you to pick one.
2) - For firefox 2.0 and IE7 users, you might notice being on a mefi site, the upper right search box is glowing or highlighted. If you click it, you can add a server-wide MeFi search (using the Google aggregated results from all *.metafilter.com sites) and search directly from your browser.
posted by mathowie to Feature Requests at 10:32 AM (71 comments total)

woah - MeFi site search! Awesome!
posted by GuyZero at 10:44 AM on February 13, 2007

I do not see a search box on the upper right of the page. (FF2.0, XP Pro)
posted by Kwantsar at 10:56 AM on February 13, 2007

Not the page, Kwantsar; the chrome.
posted by timeistight at 10:58 AM on February 13, 2007

I'm with Kwantzar. I don't see see what it being referred to there on Firefox.

But, then again, I'm a little dense.
posted by dios at 11:11 AM on February 13, 2007

Oh, that MeFi Site Search thing is gonna come in all kinds of handy. Lovely!
posted by Greg Nog at 11:13 AM on February 13, 2007

Here's where you should look (small screenshot of firefox).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:17 AM on February 13, 2007

It doesn't always glow, but it's there.
Hey, look, an explanatory screenshot.
posted by boo_radley at 11:18 AM on February 13, 2007

Dang!
posted by boo_radley at 11:18 AM on February 13, 2007

Nice, the MetaTalk post form doesn't ask you to describe the link anymore. But if there are titles in MetaTalk now, why doesn't this post have a title?
posted by Plutor at 11:18 AM on February 13, 2007

For the benefit of those of you asking "what search box"?
IT'S OVER HERE.
Now, don't say I've never done anything nice for you.
posted by wendell at 11:21 AM on February 13, 2007

so many great minds with the same thought.
OK, now you CAN say I've never done anything nice for you.
posted by wendell at 11:23 AM on February 13, 2007

Double dang! The MeFi site search for firefox is a great addition.
posted by Gamblor at 11:23 AM on February 13, 2007

If we still had the image tag, I'd post something in celebration right now.

I keed...I keeeeed.
posted by Gamblor at 11:25 AM on February 13, 2007

MeFi site search also shows up on IE7, XP Pro.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:34 AM on February 13, 2007

Really? Huh, I guess they did implement it into IE7 (I heard it might be in Vista).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 11:35 AM on February 13, 2007

My bad. I don't have Firefox 2.0, so it doesn't appear in that drop down for me. Thanks for the visual proof. It helps us lay peeps.
posted by dios at 11:35 AM on February 13, 2007

I don't have Firefox 2.0, so it doesn't appear in that drop down for me.

Same here. I hate you all. Except dios, my partner in deprivation.
posted by languagehat at 11:42 AM on February 13, 2007

Okay. Duh. Hey, boo_radley, what skin are you using?
posted by Kwantsar at 11:44 AM on February 13, 2007

*clings desperately to Safari in the face of yet another reason to switch*
posted by Kwine at 11:44 AM on February 13, 2007

I always get rid of the seperate search box as fast as I can and use the location field for everything; I'd imagine there's nothing in the new dropdown search I can't do there, right? Might be nice to provide a quick summary of the various URL search parameter options somewhere.
posted by freebird at 11:46 AM on February 13, 2007

Excellent. The MeFi site search in my toolbar makes me feel like I am somebody.
posted by OmieWise at 11:47 AM on February 13, 2007

>>I don't have Firefox 2.0, so it doesn't appear in that drop down for me.

>Same here. I hate you all. Except dios, my partner in deprivation.

It's a free download and well worth the less than five minutes it takes to install.

http://www.firefox2.com/
posted by timeistight at 11:55 AM on February 13, 2007

So where's the glowing search bar?

*ducks*
posted by eyeballkid at 11:57 AM on February 13, 2007

Safari users: Install Sogudi, add the following rule: http://www.google.com/search?q=%2Bsite%3Ametafilter.com+@@@, and give it a name -- I suggest 'meta'.

This has nothing to do with Matt's hack, but replicates the behavior closely enough. (I prefer it because it keeps the Google search field general-purpose.)
posted by ardgedee at 12:08 PM on February 13, 2007

I keep forgetting to set my searcher back to Google. Fortunately, MetaFilter answers all my questions usually anyhow.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:09 PM on February 13, 2007

More Kool-Aid, Ms. West?
posted by timeistight at 12:11 PM on February 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

It helps us lay peeps.
Anything that helps me lay peeps just has to be good.
posted by Abiezer at 12:20 PM on February 13, 2007

More Kool-Aid, Ms. West?

Thanks Señor Grumpus, don't mind if I do.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:23 PM on February 13, 2007

Woo!
posted by cortex at 12:38 PM on February 13, 2007

Sweetness!
posted by soundofsuburbia at 1:00 PM on February 13, 2007

It's a free download and well worth the less than five minutes it takes to install.

It also has a built in spell check. Which is useful.
posted by anastasiav at 1:03 PM on February 13, 2007

It also has a built in spell check. Which is useful.

I don't know if I get a defective version of the dictionary, but I abhor FF's spelling suggestions- they're nowhere as useful as Word's when I'm not sure how to spell a word. For the shitty speller in me, FF's spell check just doesn't cut it :(
posted by jmd82 at 1:11 PM on February 13, 2007

Thanks Matt!
There's a nice little British english dictionary FF addon for those so-inclined too. I used to hate spellcheckers but I really like this.
posted by peacay at 1:28 PM on February 13, 2007

This is really cool.
posted by Brittanie at 2:20 PM on February 13, 2007

This glowy thing...does it vibrate?
posted by NationalKato at 2:29 PM on February 13, 2007

The spellcheck thing in FF2 is great for me—I'm a pretty good speller in, and so it's (for most words) the mechanical errors that get me. Having a red line under that is nice; I wasn't even aware there was a spelling-suggestion engine tied to it. Makes sense, though.
posted by cortex at 2:44 PM on February 13, 2007

I'm a pretty good speller in,

but in general a pretty lousy sentencer. Oy.
posted by cortex at 2:55 PM on February 13, 2007

"I drank what???" -- Jessamyn.
posted by boo_radley at 3:31 PM on February 13, 2007

_.,-*~'`µ`'~*-,._.,-*~'`µ`'~*-,._
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:54 PM on February 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

In Safari, the new MetaTalk titles appear in a much larger font than titles across the rest of the site.
posted by cribcage at 3:59 PM on February 13, 2007

cribcage: reload the stylesheet. (I don't know what the mac key combo is, PC is ctrl+shft+R)

Wigged me out too for a minute.
posted by carsonb at 4:18 PM on February 13, 2007

same with firefox 1.5. huge titles. huuuuuuge tracts of land!
posted by sergeant sandwich at 4:18 PM on February 13, 2007

well ok, thanks carsonb.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 4:19 PM on February 13, 2007

Well, it's fixed now, but I didn't do anything. Go figure.
posted by cribcage at 4:20 PM on February 13, 2007

Oh, and my genitalia is tingling from the site-wide search bangle. ¡Mucho gusto!
posted by carsonb at 4:21 PM on February 13, 2007

genitalia is?
genitalia are?
eh, tater tomater.
no problem, sergeant sandwich.
I'll just head off to figure, I guess. Who needs it, anyway?
posted by carsonb at 4:24 PM on February 13, 2007

Well, it's fixed now, but I didn't do anything. Go figure.

Your browser and/or proxy cache will usually take of things themselves given enough time or activity, but the shift-reload is a sort of ass-kick if you want to be sure or quick.
posted by cortex at 4:28 PM on February 13, 2007

Thanks, Matt. Still no insert-html buttons on the metatalk post box? Intentional?

*downgrades to FF1.5 hoping to see the huge tities*
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 4:29 PM on February 13, 2007

Oh, hey mathowie, now that MeTa has fancy page titles is it gonna get a URL makeover too?
posted by carsonb at 4:29 PM on February 13, 2007

Still no insert-html buttons on the metatalk post box? Intentional?

If you're using anything but Safari, you should see them just fine.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:36 PM on February 13, 2007

Oh, hey mathowie, now that MeTa has fancy page titles is it gonna get a URL makeover too?
I guess so! Teach me to speak too soon.

Still no insert-html buttons on the metatalk post box? Intentional?

If you're using anything but Safari, you should see them just fine.

I see them on the comment box but not on the new post box.
posted by carsonb at 4:49 PM on February 13, 2007

Oh, hey mathowie, now that MeTa has fancy page titles is it gonna get a URL makeover too?

Ok, I know what's makin' me crazy here. After posting a comment one is still automatically directed to the old URL format. Rinky-dink thing.
posted by carsonb at 4:50 PM on February 13, 2007

FWIW, links from the MeTa front page still adhere to the old URL format as well.
posted by carsonb at 4:57 PM on February 13, 2007

Yeah, I'll move them over to the new url scheme this week, and start redirecting old urls to new ones.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 6:08 PM on February 13, 2007

I see them on the comment box but not on the new post box.

no insert-html buttons on the new post box here either. firefox 1.5.etc ubuntu...
posted by quonsar at 6:26 PM on February 13, 2007

hrm. i'm not seeing them anywhere. damn. i'm sure it's some firefox/linux quirk.
posted by quonsar at 6:29 PM on February 13, 2007

ooOOoooOooOoohhh all glowy. Nice.

For those of you who want FF 2 - just grab it at mozilla.org (the firefox2 website from timeistight sends you to the google toolbar).
posted by Salmonberry at 7:10 PM on February 13, 2007

I had been using the Google SiteSearch Bookmarklet, so this is a boatload of swell, thankee!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:40 PM on February 13, 2007

I just upgraded to firefox two via the mozilla site. Very painless, less then two minutes start to finish. Everything looks pretty much as before (including the few addons I run) plus the glowing search box. The new metatalk stuff is nice too.
posted by shelleycat at 7:56 PM on February 13, 2007

Bizowww goes this feature's awesomeness!
posted by localhuman at 9:55 PM on February 13, 2007

Oh, bugger.

*stomps off to finally upgrade to FF 2.0*
posted by deborah at 10:32 PM on February 13, 2007

I have to say the search feature is the opposite of what I'd like. Taking over a browser feature like that is a bit wierd. And I'm surely not the only one who uses that there web search box to search the web all the time, particularly on ask metafilter?
posted by handee at 4:48 AM on February 14, 2007

Handee — you understand that you can choose from a drop-down menu what site to search using the form, right? For example, mine is usually set to Googe, so I type in a query and hit enter and it searches Googe. However, if I want search MeFi, I type in a query, select MeFi from the drop-down and then hit enter.

However, you do have to change it back to Googe, or whatever you use, after each search — perhaps that's what you don't like?
posted by Brittanie at 4:52 AM on February 14, 2007

The title displayed on metatalk pages is huge compared to the way it's displayed elsewhere on the site.

Class "posttitle" is undefined in metatalk.metafilter.com/default110.css, so it's only using the H1 setting.

.posttitle {
margin-left:50px;
font-weight:normal;
color:#ddd;
font-family:Arial,sans-serif;
margin-bottom:15px;
font-size:20px;
font-style:normal;
}
posted by Dave Faris at 5:10 AM on February 14, 2007

I see them on the comment box but not on the new post box.

Same here.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 5:45 AM on February 14, 2007

Brittanie - you are right, and I am wrong. I was mislead by some sort of browser mishap which stopped that box from functioning (Firefox crashed shortly afters, and now I can see how it is supposed to work).
posted by handee at 5:50 AM on February 14, 2007

I just noticed the comment preview doesn't show the titles. For a moment I thought this post about better titles had no title.
posted by scottreynen at 8:30 AM on February 14, 2007

The comment page has very limited functionality. IIHMD, it would be brought up to par in terms of site-wide functionality.
posted by carsonb at 10:01 AM on February 14, 2007

dang. The comment preview page has very limited functionality.
posted by carsonb at 10:01 AM on February 14, 2007

No glowing box for me on IE7 (yes on FF 2), but the MeFi Site Search is in the drop-down for both. And thank you mathowie for forcing the category. I imagine this will cut down on the requests to fix them (like mine from last week, doy).
posted by nj_subgenius at 3:26 PM on February 14, 2007

Dave Faris, force a reload of your css, and it'll be there.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:54 PM on February 14, 2007