Journals R11b Status Update: Displayed Screen Names, Hot Pink and More

Hi folks -- here's a couple of update on some issues identified yesterday from the Journals R11b release. (Sorry, it's really too noisy around my pod during the day to record video):

* Display Names in Comments and Entries -- Fixed: We had a bug where some people who posted blog comments and blog entries were having their first names show up instead of their screen names. The team installed a patch late last night that fixed this.

Why did this happen? We didn't account for a group of people who had customized their Welcome Screens by doing this:

* Inside the AOL software, going to AOL Keyword: Change My Welcome Screen [AOL in-client link] ...

... and changing it to show a name different from your Screen Name (say, "Funky Chicken") on the Welcome Screen, like this:

"Good Afternoon Funky Chicken"

The Journals comments and entry author field picked up on this display name and showed it (though if you noticed, in your Alert mails, it had the author's screen name, not display name.)

(I think this Welcome Screen display name option is an older feature that they don't highlight much any more: here's the help doc about it.)

Although it's not a huge deal, it was an unexpected behavior change; also, there was some potential for mischief (you could appear, at first glance, to be posting comments from someone else's Screen Name, though looking at the underlying hyperlink address would show who really posted it). So we fixed it -- comments and entries should now be showing screen names again.

Thanks to Mary and Nightmaremom for pointing this out -- it was very helpful and probably saved us some time and consternation.

* Updated Font Color Picker: I got a complaint that the hot pink color was missing from the font color picker in the editing toolbar for entries. I checked with the team, and as it turns out, we do have a new color picker: it's an industry standard color picker with 70 colors (used in a bunch of other places on AOL & elsewhere):

AOL Journals font color chooser
Because it's a screen shot, the colors are a little off.

The previous color picker had 48 colors, so we picked up 22 new colors, but we apparently lost that particular shade of hot pink -- I think this is the closest equivalent.

I am honestly not sure what we can do about this -- it's a tradeoff -- more colors, versus a particular shade. You can, of course, specify the color using RGB or hex values using HTML or inline styles, but you have to do it by hand, which is inconvenient.

If you feel strongly about that shade of pink, leave a comment below.

* New Embedded Photo Albums: The team is still trying to find out what our options are for some non-Flash or other implementations of the embedded AOL Pictures albums, for folks who don't want to use the Woohoo galleries for embedded picture albums with multiple photos.

I'm going to have to take some of the blame on this one, since I didn't realize the new Woohoo picture display galleries were going to replace albums that had already been published. If I had connected those dots, I probably would have pushed back on that change. I will keep you updated on possible solutions.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: aol journals, journals features, r11b

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This entry has 13 comments: (Add your own)

#13 Comment from frankandmary
5/19/07 9:44 AM | Permalink

I just HAVE to say, before it was fixed, I found out some interesting Uhm stuff about people. A rose is still a rose & all, but :-). ~Mary
#12 Comment from heavenlybama
5/18/07 10:17 AM | Permalink

It's nice to get more colors but I want my hot pink back please.
#11 Comment from drb1064
5/18/07 5:22 AM | Permalink

I have not made an entry since the changes. However, a friend of mine viewed my journal to show her son some photos from a previous entry and they were showing out of order in a slideshow on the page which caused her son to have a grand mal seizure and landed him in hospital. This update is dangerous and irresponsable, the doctor at the hospital who viewed the offending entry said that who ever set the slideshow had made the animation move at a very dangerous speed for those with epilepsy. My friends son who is only 4yrs old could very easily have died due to the actions of aol. I will now have to delete all entries with pictures on and add them in future by pasting them on the page, unless you can tell me how to do it differently. I don't know why you make these changes without bothering to ask those of us who use the journals none of them have made anything better. I am seriously considering giving up writting mine and reading others. THANKS FOR NOTHING AO HELL.
#10 Comment from jeadie05
5/18/07 5:03 AM | Permalink

I read on average of forty journals a day ,and get the impression no one is happy with the new photos format,we like to look at the pictures individually and read the caption,yes its possible if you ...catch the picture as it goes whizzing by ! click on it ,but then you click out of it ,all time consumming.!!and sometimes we want to tell a story in pictures ,you are showing them in no particular order,when we have arranged them in order .. on the other hand thankyou for the wider range of colours ...love Jan xx
#9 Comment from astoriasand
5/18/07 4:14 AM | Permalink

Have you any idea since the changes why my graphics are not animated now in the new postings.Grr it is most annoying and I am sure the graphic makers will not like this.I have tried alsorts and still no success.This has only happened since the change this week in my latest posting.So I reckon it is AOL Grrrrr ,If I am doing something wrong,we are not all so technically minded tto understand how to do all these changes with knowone at home to help either, I would appreciate an e. mail if you have time that could maybe help .Thanx a million.Kath
Astoriasand http://journals.aol.co.uk/astoriasand/MYSIMPLERHYMES

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Journals R11b Status Update: Displayed Screen Names, Hot Pink and More