Patch notes

Change log 2017-07-22:

• Re-enabled wildcard support for search terms. If you write aw*th it should henceforth yield awarth, wheras *aw would yield a words ending with aw, e.g. aw, baw, daw, gaw, maw etc.
• Increased comment field size.
• Added a polyfill for requestAnimationFrame to enable scrolling animations for Android devices.

Change log 2018-09-29:

• Changed the website's overall appearance. The new design is intended to emphasize the texts on the website. Headers have been made bold, and text colours stronger. We also removed images irrelevant to the content.

These changes are experimental. I will be correcting and fine tuning the design the coming weeks.

Regards, Aldaleon

Change log 2018-09-30:

• Reduced the maximum width of paragraphs to 600 pixels, which is far more readable on wider screens.
• Added pagination to Discuss.

Change log 2018-10-05:

• Made all tables responsive, which should improve the experience on mobile devices.
• Removed auto-scroll in Discuss, but I will bring it back soon for posts accessed from the community activity list on the front page.
• Fixed a bug where a p tag could be positioned within another p tag.
• Made a few changes to the positioning of ads. I am not entirely satisfied with the results just yet, but I am experimenting.

Change log 2018-10-10:

• Made flashcards public - it is no longer necessary to log in to access the Flashcards. Of course, if you are logged in while doing them, you will benefit from all the perks.
• redesigned the Phrase section and aligned it with Flashcards.
• added language descriptions, an optional field per language.
• improved ad placement and scaling, and improved the auto-hiding algorithm which hides empty ads.

Known issues:

• the main menu item for Flashcards should be “Flashcards”, not “Flashcard.” Fixed!

Change log 2018-10-11:

• Changed "Flashcard" to "Flashcards".
• Moved the ad on phrases to a less disruptive location.
• Implemented "jump to post" from the activity list on the home page.

Change log 2019-11-23:

This will be a very short update as it is currently 5:20AM and I have not slept for close to 20 hours.

The new version of the website is up and running, but there were multiple complications I had to overcome to get to this point. Most basic functionality should be back up and running now, so I will go and catch some sleep.

I will pick this back up tomorrow.

Thanks,
Aldaleon

Change log 2019-11-23 (B):

Today has been a resounding success! All parts of the website is now working as intended, with the exception of phrase contribution which is a feature still in the development pipeline. It is going to be great, so stay appraised!

However, the website as it is today offers many new improvements over the old version - it is a complete rewrite from the previous version, which has enabled me to evolve some core features. I would love your feedback, so please keep it coming! It will help me prioritize the exciting transition from augmentation and refactoring to the implementing of new features.

Here are some new features now available:

• Search: Searching the dictionary has never been easier and more powerful. As of today, inflections from phrases are included in the search, and indicated in the search results to the left of the > sign. Performance has improved tenfold and glosses are sorted based on what you are looking for.
• Contributions: Gloss (and soon phrase) contribution is now easier than ever and the contribution subsystem is now the only way through which you can modify the glossary. The form has been streamlined and adapted for ease-of-use on mobile devices. Additional metadata fields that were previously hidden (gloss details, gloss group and more) are now accessible by everyone, hopefully reducing overhead in the review process. You can propose changes to any gloss by clicking the pen-icon next to a gloss.
• Discuss: Now completely overhauled, Discuss has been re-imagined as a fully-fledged discussion forum with smart categories and threads. The link with accounts, dictionary entries and phrases (et al) still remains, but posts will be automatically grouped based on their subject. Additionally, you can now subscribe to individual threads, a group of threads, or entire Discuss by clicking the "Feed" button below. Parf Edhellen currently supports JSON feed and RSS (of course).
• Profiles: Debate is an essential function of this website, so I have re-imagined the profile page, and aligned its editing experience with the rest of the website. Avatars are now up to 3.2 times larger, and the image resizing function that some of you complained about before has been replaced, yielding much better images. Additionally, new transcription and Markdown editing tools are now also available on the profile page.
• Enhanced editing experience: While in portrait mode or while on a tablet or desktop, the text field now offers a live preview as you type. It is useful, especially if you are unfamiliar with Markdown. Additionally, enters now helps you by creating paragraphs. You can disable this feature by holding shift, or by unchecking the Enter key inserts a paragraph checkbox to the right.
• Transcriptions: A new transcription dialogue lets you experiment and preview a variety of different Tengwar modes, and soon Cirth and Sarati. It is built on top of the Glǽmscribe engine. The dialogue is accessed by clicking the Transcribe button to the right of the text field.
• Performance improvements: Parf Edhellen now only loads resources you need, and components cache and share commonly used methods improving performance across the board. Additionally, the fleet instances have been upgraded 2x to accommodate for our growth and the evolving complexity of our service.
• Error handling and isolation: This may seem like a weird "feature" to even mention, but it is actually pretty important! Knowing when something fails and how it fails is essential to fixing the root cause of the problem. Parf Edhellen is now very verbose and noisy and lets our administrators know when you - our visitors and contributors - are having issues with the website.
• Phrases: Completely rewritten from the ground up, Phrases now supports in-line translations, a much more intuitive word browsing experience (with detailed grammar) and beautiful Tengwar transcriptions. Some new features will require changes from our authors/contributors, and the tools are unfortunately not yet ready... so more is coming, and now that the "heavy lifting" is complete, expect it to come soon.

... and a lot more. I will continue to report on these changes in the coming weeks.

Thanks,
Aldaleon

I apologise in advance for inappropriately placed ads. I am experimenting with a feature called “AutoAds”, but I may decide to just place the ads myself if it will not do better soon.

Change log 2019-11-25:

I have temporarily disabled ads while I investigate why flashcards are not working as expected on iOS.

Change log 2019-11-29:

• Fixed flash cards on iOS.
• Implemented backwards compatible path resolution for Discuss (i.e. your bookmarks will work again!)