Workaround for issue with "New Posts" in Safari browsers

[pipedwho]

For anyone using a recent version of Safari (Mac/iPad/iPhone) when browsing this site, you may have noticed that the "New Posts" link doesn't always work correctly.

A simple workaround is to create a bookmark from the "New Posts" link and use the bookmark to access the "New Posts" link instead of clicking it directly in the forum user interface. The link to use is:

http://andersonforum.com/board/search.php?do=getnew

But, for the workaround to work, it can't be clicked from within a page in this forum. You need to click it from another location not in the andersonforum.com domain - eg. your bookmarks bar.

(Technical version for those interested: vBulletin incorrectly uses a permanent redirect (instead of a temporary one) for the New Posts search which causes the browser to go to a cached copy of the redirected search link address. By accessing the New Posts link from a bookmark, the browser is forced to ignore the cached address since the referrer is no longer from the same site.)

[dannopelli]

Or just use Firefox or Chrome.... ;) :D

[pipedwho]

Or just use Firefox or Chrome.... ;) :D
That's definitely a solution for the Mac. But since all the browsers on the iPad and iPhone are just wrappers around Safari, it's still a problem for iOS users. ;)

[dannopelli]

That's definitely a solution for the Mac. But since all the browsers on the iPad and iPhone are just wrappers around Safari, it's still a problem for iOS users. ;)

Did not know that about Chrome. Interesting. I rarely use Safari for anything, even on my iPhone.

Dude, when it comes to technology - and many other things - you are the most erudite guy on any forum anywhere.

[pipedwho]

Did not know that about Chrome. Interesting. I rarely use Safari for anything, even on my iPhone.

Dude, when it comes to technology - and many other things - you are the most erudite guy on any forum anywhere.
Sadly, Apple only approves browser apps that use the iOS built in HTML rendering engine. So basically, every browser including Chrome are just UI wrappers around 'Safari'. The "New Posts" problem shows up because Safari is strictly following the HTML redirect standard. I'm pretty sure it's been fixed in a more recent build of the vBulletin forum software.

I thought I'd post this workaround, because lately I've been using my iPad to browse this forum and not having a reliable "New Posts" was getting annoying. This is one of the few sites I frequent where that feature is useful, on most larger sites it just returns an excessive volume of drivel. I figured there are probably at least one or two others in the same boat.

[Briggs]

Just out of curiosity Piped, what is the issue? I haven't noticed it and I use Safari almost exclusively. Is it limited to certain versions? Just wondering.

[pipedwho]

It started happening after some updates to Safari on the Mac and iOS from about 6 months ago. Worked fine before that.

[pipedwho]

Sorry, I just noticed I never completely described what the problem looks like to the user:

What happens is that when clicking the "New Posts" link, instead of listing all the new posts (ie. the ones that are shown in bold when you go into each individual forum), it shows "Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms".

You can go into each forum and manually click each new post to find and read them all, but that's nowhere near as convenient as having them all listed on one screen.

The problem doesn't occur the first time you use the link after clearing the browser cache, and it doesn't occur in certain other circumstances that I can't yet reliably repeat. But, it does happen often enough to be annoying, and repeatedly clicking the link doesn't help.

On my iPhone/iPad if I see there are no 'new posts' (but at least one forum is showing the coloured 'new posts' icon), I just long hold the link, select 'copy', and then paste the link into the address bar. That will then cause all the new posts to be listed instead of returning the error 'Sorry -no matches...'.

[Briggs]

Thanks piped! I haven't noticed it happening to me yet but I'm still running Lion and Safari 5.1.6. I may hold off on the upgrade for a bit...

[pipedwho]

Thanks piped! I haven't noticed it happening to me yet but I'm still running Lion and Safari 5.1.6. I may hold off on the upgrade for a bit...
It was happening before I upgraded to Mountain Lion too.

It's not so much a bug in Safari, but appears so because the other browser don't fully implement that part of the HTML standard. The fix is in a more recent version of vBulletin (the software running this forum).

You can also click the link in my first post above to get it working.

[morty]

I cant even log in with my Ipad! Anyone else who have problems? I have to admit that my Asus microsoft shit PC is only used for storing pictures and updating Itunes with my Iphone and Ipad..Tha Asus was very fast and nice when it was new, then its starting to get slower and slower.. i have deleted many programs and stuff, and the disk space used is very small, that doesnt matter.. Next time i would by a MAC.