Login and registration changes

[richard]

Hi everyone,

A site update has been made which changes some of the ways login and account registration works.

Registration now requires email verification before a new account can be used, so you'll need to click on a link emailed to you before you can use your new account.

As part of this change, Email address, and password changes can now be made using the preferences on the home page (instead of being hidden away in the forum). These account related settings are available on the 'Account' tab of the home page preferences window. Note, that as we transition towards this new preferences panel, not all pages will have a link that shows the 'account' tab. All pages will eventually be updated, but at the moment the old preferences panel is still required for some pages. For now the four pages that have been updated are the home page, the online playing page, the beta PGN viewer page and the beta tactics UI (soon to be the default tactics UI) at:
http://chesstempo.com/chess-tactics-beta.html

The login changes have modified the way passwords are stored in the main database. All accounts have been automatically updated to use the new format, however It is possible the updates were not successful for a small number of people, which may lead to difficulties logging in. If you think you are affected, and the 'lost password' link isn't able to reset your password, please email admin@chesstempo.com for help.

There were also some site layout issues that occurred when the update was first uploaded, these have hopefully been fixed, but you may need to reload pages you have visited since the update for the fix to be applied. Please post bug reports if you notice anything unusual that is not fixed by a page reload (or browser cache clearing, if the reload doesn't seem to have helped).

Regards,
Richard.

[bogidorus]

The changes are very frustrating, I am not able to change the preferences before solving the first problem. If I try to change the preferences immediately after logging in, only a weird window opens (problems sets). Therefore I had to solve the first problem according the default settings (which means, that the difficulty is normal, and problems are standard and theory).

I tried this for the second time now.   (after closing the browser and deleting browser cache)

On top of that all my old settings dissappeared, I just wanted to solve some blitz problems.

EDIT: I tried the Beta page now. Here it's completely impossible to change the usual preferences, there is no sufficient reaction, if I click on the preferences in the right corner of the window. The same weird window opens like in the normal UI.

At least I am able to change the problem set, I saw a button "change set" under the board window.. And this button works. But how can I change the difficulty?

[richard]

Hi bogidorus,

It sounds like the new preferences window is not working properly for you, can you please provide a screen shot so I can see what is happening (it should be bringing up a preferences panel much like the old one, with the difficulty settings etc).

Can you please also check your browser error log to see if any error messages (as opposed to warnings, which are usually not relevant) are listed there.

Regards,
Richard.

[richard]

Hi again,

I just checked the logs and noticed your browser version is quite ancient. The first major release of that browser version was nearly 5 years ago, and hasn't been officially supported by the browser maker for over 3 years. This is an eternity in the fast moving browser market. It is possible there is some incompatibility with your browser version, as I don't test new code changes directly against browsers that are that old with close to 0% share of the browser market. Are you able to try using another more recent browser?

Regards,
Richard.

[bogidorus]

Yes, my browser is ancient, as well as my OS and my computer. Maybe I am updating this, but probably not in the near future.

I found a workaround for my issue  . When I am in the statistics window

http://chesstempo.com/chess-statistics.html

then I am able to change all preferences without any problem.

In the normal window (with the board after having solved a problem) this does not work.

[richard]

Yes, my browser is ancient, as well as my OS and my computer. Maybe I am updating this, but probably not in the near future.

You should probably consider upgrading for reasons other than CT compatibility. There will be a lot of vulnerable security issues in the browser you are currently using that are fixed in the most recent version. The latest version is also going to be very noticeably faster than the one you are using, not just on CT, but on all sites.

I found a workaround for my issue  . When I am in the statistics window

http://chesstempo.com/chess-statistics.html

then I am able to change all preferences without any problem.

In the normal window (with the board after having solved a problem) this does not work.

I'd still be interested in knowing the contents of the error log. While I'm not planning to spend a lot of time trying to support these very old browser versions, if the error logs shows there is something obvious I can change easily, I'm happy to look at it.

Regards,
Richard.

[bogidorus]

There is no error message. Instead of the usual big preferences box with all kinds of settings I am just getting a very small box, where there is "problem sets", and on the bottom I am able to click "cancel" or "save", which does not change anything of course.

I am using the preferences window quite often and I experienced this since yesterday, in the time before there were never any hiccups.

For some strange reasons I am unable to attach a file here, maybe also due to my ancient browser.

Is it possible to email that picture to the address admin@chesstempo.com ?

It's a png file (I don't no, if this is a common picture format, in Ubuntu you should be able to open it, but I can convert it to jpeg too).

[richard]

There is no error message. Instead of the usual big preferences box with all kinds of settings I am just getting a very small box, where there is "problem sets", and on the bottom I am able to click "cancel" or "save", which does not change anything of course.

Thanks, when you say "there is no error message", do you mean you don't get an error message displayed at the time, or that you checked the browser error log and didn't find any errors there? I would not expect any error dialogs at this point, but suspect you may find something useful in the browser error log. it is possible your browser's age isn't the cause of the problem, and that your personal preference settings are breaking the new preferences in some way, but the lack of complaints from others, combined with the age of the browser suggests the browser may be the issue. It would be very handy if you could install a different browser and try with that, as if a different (more recent) browser works, it is much less likely to be an issue with your particular preference settings, and rather a browser incompatibility. You might want to look at installing another browser completely, from a different browser supplier, as that way you will not be uninstalling/installing over your old browser, and can return to it if the new browser is a problem. Google Chrome is probably the best performing browser available on your operating system right now.

For some strange reasons I am unable to attach a file here, maybe also due to my ancient browser.

Is it possible to email that picture to the address admin@chesstempo.com ?

We don't allow attachments for security reasons, that is not an issue with your browser. The easiest thing to do is email the image to the admin address (you can link to the image in a forum post, but then you'd need to host the image on an external site).

It's a png file (I don't no, if this is a common picture format, in Ubuntu you should be able to open it, but I can convert it to jpeg too).

Png is best for this type of screenshot.

Regards,
Richard.