# dictionary popup



## pwmeek

Is there a possibility to create some way to access the WR dictionary(s) in such a way that one does not have to leave a half-written composition window? When I want to make a dictionary search while composing a post, I frequently open a second tab in my browser and make my dictionary (and previous thread) search in the new tab. When I finish my post, I then discover that most posts in the forum have been marked as "read", because (I think) the forum-access in the second tab has rewritten my cookies with a more-recent time.

If the dictionary was available in a popup window that did *not* rewrite cookies, it would be much easier to get exact wordings from the dictionary, and recommend previous threads while posting.


----------



## mkellogg

Hi Pete,

Dictionary searches should not affect forum cookies or "marking as read" at all.  Does anybody else see dictionary searches affecting "read" status?

Pete, if you want to investigate, you can look at the cookies before and after dictionary searches.  I don't think you will see any difference.


----------



## pwmeek

Then it must be something else. I open a composition window; need a reference; open a new tab on my browser (Chrome on a Mac); go to WR.c and look up a word.

Now I copy a bit of the definition, or go to an older thread and copy the URL; paste it into my open composition window on the first tab; and post it. Then I close the second tab (could this be the cause?).

(The process above may take an hour or more, as I am easily distracted, plus I am a very slow two-finger typist, and revise my posts a lot.)

Now I go back to the English Only topic list, and instead of a page or two of unread topics, there are only a half dozen or so of the most recent which are marked as unread.

Does the site update my cookies after some fairly long period of time?  Or might it be closing a tab which is open to WR.c?

At any rate, a popup window does not seem to be needed.


----------



## jann

pwmeek said:


> (The process above may take an hour or more, as I am easily distracted, plus I am a very slow two-finger typist, and revise my posts a lot.)


I suspect that's the key.

If you don't tick the "Remember me" check-box when you log in, then your  forum session expires after 30 minutes of inactivity.  Using the  dictionaries or typing a post does not count as activity, because those  actions do not require any communication with the forum server.  So if  you take your time checking a reference, typing slowly, revising your  post, etc. to the point that 30+ minutes pass without a forum page load after you begin your reply in a thread, you will be prompted to log in again when you try to preview or submit your post.  And at that point, the only threads that will be bolded will be those with new activitity since your previous session timed out.

I suggest using "Remember me" and seeing if it solves the problem.


----------



## pwmeek

jann said:


> I suspect that's the key.
> 
> If you don't tick the "Remember me" check-box when you log in, then your  forum session expires after 30 minutes of inactivity.  Using the  dictionaries or typing a post does not count as activity, because those  actions do not require any communication with the forum server.  So if  you take your time checking a reference, typing slowly, revising your  post, etc. to the point that 30+ minutes pass without a forum page load after you begin your reply in a thread, you will be prompted to log in again when you try to preview or submit your post.  And at that point, the only threads that will be bolded will be those with new activitity since your previous session timed out.
> 
> I suggest using "Remember me" and seeing if it solves the problem.



That's not it; at least not directly. I have "remember me" set already. If the session time out can occur when no new page-load has happened for 30 minutes even when signed in with "remember me" checked, then maybe this is what's happening. I frequently take an hour composing a post, especially if it requires research, or careful rewording until I think it is comprehensible to learners.


----------



## jann

Well if you're using "remember me," and if you're not being prompted to log in again between when you start the post and when you finally submit it, then what I described shouldn't be the issue.  Hmmm.  I'll think about it.

There's something else you could try: leave your Contacts pop-up open while you're on the forums (Quick links > Open contacts pop-up).  It refreshes itself automatically every 30 seconds or so, so it will definitely prevent any time-out issues.  You may need to add a least one person to your contacts list if you don't have any contacts yet.  If that solves the problem, it might provide some clues... or at least a way around the annoyance of losing track of what you have and haven't read.


----------



## pwmeek

Jann, I'll try that. I have added you as a contact while I experiment with the contacts popup. I'll drop you (no offense) once I figure this out.


----------



## pwmeek

Progress report:

Preliminary results seem to indicate that keeping the Contact Popup open will prevent spurious marking of topics as read. It seems to be a work-around for a rare problem.

I added a contact and opened the Contact Popup. I worked all morning (with a few breaks) and left the English Only forum open in a tab. 

I composed, opened and closed other tabs (WR and other sites), posted. No topics were marked as read except the ones I had actually read. 

I left and returned to the English Only forum index both by the browser "back" button and by refreshing or clicking on the English Only link.

I then closed the Contact Popup and *completely spoiled further investigation by manually marking the forum as read* (Forum Tools). 

Now I have to do it all over again tomorrow to see if simply closing the Contact Popup will cause threads to be wrongly marked as read.

Thank you for all the suggestions.


----------



## pwmeek

Further results:

With the Contacts Popup NOT open.
I left the index page open tonight when I went to dinner. There was about a page and a half of unread posts. When I returned I refreshed the page and now saw only about 15-20 posts which were still in boldface, indicating unread posts.

I think we can assume that the norm is to mark all but recent posts as read when the index page is not refreshed for a period of time. Keeping the Contacts Popup window open somehow circumvents this effect.

On some other forums I think the cookie actually records the index number of the last post which I read and keeps all posts from after that index number marked as unread. I have to actually click on a button which marks all posts as read to clear older posts. (As a side note, this method occasionally gets messed up and requires you to delete all board cookies in order to get things back under control.)

I suspect that this issue is likely to be a problem for only a very few people like myself who take an extraordinarily long time to compose posts (if you walk away for several hours, you deserve to have older posts marked as read).

If a few other people have this problem, we can hope that they will find this thread and learn to use the Contact Popup work-around. 

Thank you all.


----------



## jann

Thanks for the update, Pete.  

I wonder if those 15-20 threads that were still bolded were those that had new posts since the last time the "remember me" feature had kicked in to prevent you being logged out for inactivity.  If so, then using "remember me" might mean that all posts are marked read every 30 minutes...  

I don't use the feature myself, so I've never tested this!  I'm glad the Contacts work-around seems satisfactory for you.


----------

