Fan Tool Gone Haywire !!

My fan tool creates weird shapes down the right hand strip of images. I'm on Firefox and using Windows 7.

Screenshot: https://www.dropbox.com/lightbox/home/Screenshots

(Being able to decorate all the way round would be nice though) 😃

Posted March 11, 2014 4:40 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator

HI,

I can't see anything in the folder. Can you please copy the images to your public folder on dropbox and then copy and paste links to the images.

Thanks,

~Meg

Posted March 12, 2014 1:58 AM

by Kitharode moderator

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q5mi3ifx4lv0gpc/Screenshot 2014-03-11 16.27.49.png

Any better?

Posted March 12, 2014 11:19 AM

by mschwamb scientist, translator

Does it happen every image?
Cheers,
~Meg

Posted March 12, 2014 11:42 AM

by Kitharode moderator

I don't know exactly. If it happens when I start a session, I move elsewhere and return later. When I return, the problem will still be there with a different image.

However, if the problem is not there when I start a session (on a different day) then everything seems ok all day.

Posted March 12, 2014 1:47 PM

by Kitharode moderator

PS: Have just checked - It's doing it again today.

Posted March 12, 2014 1:49 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator

Support ticket is in - can you list what version of Firefox you are using?

Cheers,

~Meg

Posted March 12, 2014 3:46 PM

by bumishness admin

Having trouble viewing the screenshot. Says "Nothing here". Could you upload it again somewhere else?

Posted March 12, 2014 3:56 PM

by bumishness admin

Nevermind, Meg forwarded me a screenshot. That's wild!

Just tried it on a Win7 machine here and couldn't replicate. Could you try two things for me to try to narrow down what's going on?

Press Ctrl-0 to reset the zoom level. Any effect?
Open the site in Private Browsing mode. Any effect?

Posted March 12, 2014 4:45 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Wild and wonderful, eh? The problem was there when I logged on today, before I read your post above.

Ctrl-0 did change the zoom slightly, but the problem was still there.
Private Browsing mode - the fan and blotch tools worked fine. However, having marked the image I pressed 'Finish'/'Next' to try another image and a new image does not appear. I tried four times and cannot get 'Next' image.

I upgraded recently to the latest version of Firefox, but I don't know what version that is. (I'm guessing you do) 😉 Cheers.

Posted March 13, 2014 4:42 PM

by michaelaye scientist

i believe the version number is indicated in Help->About under Windows?

Posted March 14, 2014 3:01 AM

by Kitharode moderator in response to michaelaye's comment.

Thanks for the tip. Help>About says "Version 27.0.1 Firefox is up to date".

Have logged on twice today (Friday) and everything is working fine so far. Will report again tomorrow. Cheers.

Posted March 14, 2014 11:52 AM

by Kitharode moderator

Everything still ok. Looks like it's sorted. Ta.

Posted March 15, 2014 2:14 PM

by bumishness admin

Great! Definitely post again if it shows up again.

Posted March 17, 2014 2:54 PM

by Kitharode moderator

It's back ... now with two edges! Can you see the image? https://www.dropbox.com/s/gm7w60xvvxb8c9f/Screenshot 2014-03-26 19.10.25.png

Posted March 26, 2014 7:17 PM

by bumishness admin

Does the error only occur if you start the fan from the edge of the image? What if you start the fan from inside the "inner" image?

Posted March 27, 2014 12:56 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Starting inside the right-hand 'border' gives artwork straight away. Also, this time, starting in the bottom border is the same. Marking fans on the 'inner image' has no effect.

Strange that it's not a constant glitch. It was fine all last week. Happening again today - bottom and right edges.

Posted March 27, 2014 1:37 PM

by Kitharode moderator

PS: Like this ... https://www.dropbox.com/s/fu5t46mvokdpkzt/Screenshot 2014-03-27 16.39.42.png

Posted March 27, 2014 4:42 PM

by bumishness admin

That's so... bizarre.

Could you open the Web Console (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Web_Console) and pass along any errors that show up? If something in the code is causing this, it should print out some error message there.

Posted March 27, 2014 6:27 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Bit scary going there!

I've followed your link and met this: "To open the Web Console select "Web Console" from the Web Developer submenu in the Firefox Menu". I can't find a 'Firefox Menu'. Where will I find it?

If I get there, what should I be looking at/for? Where am I passing along errors to? (I'm better with guitars) 😉

Posted March 27, 2014 8:15 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to Kitharode's comment.

Try this - works for me - Tools (on top menu bar)--> Web Developer--> Web Console

~Meg

Posted March 27, 2014 8:35 PM

by bumishness admin

Just pasting them in here would be OK.

Pressing Control-Shift-K should open it up. Also looking under the "Tools" menu at the top. Sorry I can't be more precise, I'm on a Mac!

Posted March 27, 2014 8:36 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Ahhh! Yes. My 'Tools' menu. Not been there before.... more later.... 😉

Posted March 27, 2014 10:41 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Later ... I've got this far. All the menu's have options ticked already, except 'Log' at the bottom of each.

What's my next move? https://www.dropbox.com/s/0fi698p6dis712z/Screenshot 2014-03-27 22.50.29.png

Posted March 27, 2014 10:54 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to Kitharode's comment.

When you see the drawing tool program have the weird issue - open that the same way you did this time and take a screen shot.

Cheers,

~Meg

Posted March 29, 2014 8:19 AM

by Kitharode moderator

That's more like it. https://www.dropbox.com/s/z5c52kliz3sggx2/Screenshot 2014-03-29 13.32.53.png

Posted March 29, 2014 1:37 PM

by bumishness admin

Eh, that looks all fine. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

Happen to remember if you installed an add-on or theme around the time the bug started to occur? Just trying to pin-point the cause, as I can't replicate the issue on my Win7 machine with Firefox.

Posted March 29, 2014 8:53 PM

by Kitharode moderator

A few weeks ago I clicked to upgrade the latest version of Firefox when I got their notification. I've done this a few times and no problems. Everything was fine this time too, for a couple of weeks or so, before the bug. No other add-ons that I know about.

If you need me to try other things I'm happy to do so, but you'll have to bear with me. 😉

Posted March 30, 2014 5:27 PM

by Kitharode moderator

PS: My blotch tool is the same. Doesn't do music, but great for explaining Kepler's laws of planetary motion. 😉

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhsltumbs82rgab/Screenshot 2014-03-30 17.30.31.png

Posted March 30, 2014 10:28 PM

by bumishness admin

Still trying to figure this out. Stymied so far but will keep investigating.

Posted April 1, 2014 4:03 PM

by bumishness admin

Still at a loss on this one. I'll try to research it more this weekend and finally crack what's going on.

Posted April 10, 2014 3:21 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Thanks 😃

Posted April 10, 2014 3:44 PM

by bumishness admin in response to Kitharode's comment.

Kitharode,

I made a minor change to the site this morning that I'm hoping fixes the issue. Though honestly I'm mostly guessing because I haven't been able to replicate it!

Posted April 14, 2014 3:05 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Sorry to report, but no fix this end. Maybe you need a bigger hammer ... hahaha 😉

It seems that I'm the only person with this problem, so perhaps (as JM jokingly suggested) the fault lies in my laptop. But I'm not experiencing any problems with my website, blog, facebook pages, etc, so I can't offer any clues in that direction.

Obviously, if only from a techy point of view, you probably want to know what's going on so you can find a fix if it happens to others, but don't worry on my behalf please. I've got a good number of legitimate 'blotch and fans' under my belt (yes, I did cheat on a few in the early days) and I've got plenty of martian reading to catch up on.

I'm around if you want me to try stuff out for you. Cheers.

Posted April 14, 2014 5:02 PM

by EA2014 in response to Kitharode's comment.

Just relating an experience: for the 1st time, I had problems classifying - I could click on 'fan' or 'blotch' but could not resize or move either of them; had no other problems on blogs or facebook however. I got out of Chrome & used CCleaner to rid temporary files. Everything's fine now.

You've probably tried this - along with 100 other things - but I noticed the situation was not improving, so thought it wouldn't hurt. When you say you've "got a good number of legitimate 'blotch and fans' under your belt" ..... didn't I read you've classified something like ~30,000 images? That's a crazy number - I think you just broke it! 😃

Posted April 23, 2014 8:27 PM

by Kitharode moderator in response to EA2014's comment.

Thanks Elizabeth. Well worth a mention. Yes, I've done all the cleaning I can this end but it remains a mystery.

In the very earliest days of P4, before we knew properly how things worked in the background, I didn't mark all the images that came up, so there's probably a couple of thousand 'non-legitimate' clicks to admit to there. There's also about 2,000 clicks belonging to 'Ancient Lives' which I did before coming here.

So my 'zooniverse counter' isn't a true count and isn't quite as impressive as it first appears. A 'good number of legitimate clicks' is nearer the truth. (Exits stage left with head held low in shame) 😦

Posted April 24, 2014 5:17 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Yee Haar !!!

My paint brush problem has disappeared. Don't know how, but all seems normal - for now. So I'm back in the game. 😃

Posted June 23, 2014 6:26 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to Kitharode's comment.

Glad to hear it's resolved though I'm not sure anything was done on our side. Maybe something with a browser update fixed it. If you see it again, please let me know.

Cheers,
~Meg

Posted June 23, 2014 10:35 PM

by Kitharode moderator

IT'S BACK ... https://www.dropbox.com/s/jumem555ggid9wb/Screenshot 2014-07-21 15.48.09(2).png 😦

Posted July 21, 2014 3:53 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to Kitharode's comment.

I've submitted a support ticket. Can you give the version number and other browser details? Do you know if your browser updated when this went away?

Thanks,

~Meg

Posted July 21, 2014 11:39 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Thanks Meg, but it's probably not something that can be sorted at your end. I'm using Windows 7, with Firefox (latest version), just like lots of other people, but I'm the only one experiencing this particular problem. It first appeared some weeks after an update, then fixed itself perhaps due to an update, then it's gone again for no apparent reason.

I'm happy for the tech team to give this a miss and get on with more important stuff and I'll wait for it to fix itself again. Just wanted you to know about it, so you don't think I've given up marking. 😃

Posted July 22, 2014 4:11 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to Kitharode's comment.

Sorry for the inconvenience. The development team can't reproduce it, but Michael from the science team had the same issue. It does look transitory. Do let me know if it goes away soon.

Cheers,

~Meg

Posted July 24, 2014 1:27 PM

by PaulMetcalfe

I don't know if everyone else has got rid of the problem, but on my return I found marking practically impossible, whereas it used to be okay. The problem as depicted previously seems to only occur when marking within about half-inch of the edges. So at the moment I just leave anything near the edges or just look and not mark.

Paul

Posted August 9, 2014 12:38 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to PaulMetcalfe's comment.

Hi Paul,

I'm sorry you're having issues with the drawing tool. Can you give me details of browser, version, and operating system. Also if you try a different browser does the issue go away?

Thanks,

~Meg

Posted August 9, 2014 1:27 PM

by PaulMetcalfe in response to mschwamb's comment.

On the current machine I am using the O/S is Windows 7 Home Premium and the browser is Explorer 11. I haven't tried other browsers on this machine as I will be replacing this and another machine with a new one shortly (not because of this problem). I will try another browser later today but as I say, this worked fine until recently.

Thanks
Paul

Posted August 9, 2014 4:08 PM

by PaulMetcalfe in response to mschwamb's comment.

Further to my first response, I have just re-installed Google Chrome and the fan tool appears to work okay now. I know I removed it before because it upset something else I was doing, so I can still use this machine for 'travelling to Mars' if the new one gives me problems on the site.

Paul

Posted August 9, 2014 4:30 PM

by PaulMetcalfe in response to PaulMetcalfe's comment.

GUESS WHAT? I have just happily marked a couple of dozen pictures and the problem has reappeared. (This is with Google Chrome)

Posted August 9, 2014 5:16 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Hi Paul. This is a weird one, eh? Very few of us experiencing this problem (you, me, Michael so far) and the way it comes and goes is very strange. Do let us know if you make any changes that work. Cheers.

Posted August 9, 2014 5:24 PM

by PaulMetcalfe in response to Kitharode's comment.

Just in case a Tech is working on it, the only thing I can add at this stage is that the problem appears to be confined to drawing close to the Bottom or Right edge of the pictures (about half inch in from both edges).

Posted August 9, 2014 6:35 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator

Thanks all for the feedback. The issue has been the development team have had a hard time replicating the issue and for example I haven't encountered the issue myself so it makes it hard to fix it if you can't see how it's causing this in the first place. So all info is helpful for us to track the issue down. I'll relay this to the development team and see if they can take a look again.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for staying with Planet Four.

Cheers,

~Meg

Posted August 9, 2014 11:02 PM

by PaulMetcalfe in response to mschwamb's comment.

Just for information - The problem as described before has returned. It is as though the drawing overlay has moved up and left and outside of it the expanding fan/blotch tool is not erasing its previous traces.

Posted August 17, 2014 4:33 PM

by PaulMetcalfe

A possible clue to this problem. It may be connected to anyone who has 2 or more browsers set up on their computer. The only way to see if this is a possible connection is for those affected to say 'Yes more than 1' and those not affected to say 'No only 1'. Any other mixture will void this clue.

Earlier on I was using a computer that had both Explorer 11 and Google Chrome on although when I first reported having this problem I thought Google Chrome had been removed. Anyway I am at present using another computer with just Explorer 11 on and the problem (fingers crossed) has gone. I expect that now I have said that, the problem will reappear.

Additional (5 minutes later)
I have just tried another computer that has E11 and Google drive on and the problem reappeared.

Posted August 17, 2014 11:52 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to PaulMetcalfe's comment.

Thanks. People have reported it on safari on a mac yet I have a mac and so do most of the Zooniverse devopment team and we can't make the issue appear. . The main problem is that it's not consistent so it's hard for the development team to replicate it and then try to debug it They've tried several flavors of windows and different browsers.. Have you tried clearing the browser's cookies? did that do anything?

I'll pass the information you've reported on to the Zooniverse development team to see if it helps diagnosis the issue.

Thanks,

~Meg

Posted August 18, 2014 6:23 AM

by PaulMetcalfe in response to mschwamb's comment.

I carry out a thorough clean and scan of the computer/s (includes Browsers and Temp files) at least once daily when they are in use. Because I have always done this I cannot really tell you if it makes a difference to the problem.

Paul

Posted August 18, 2014 10:57 AM

by Kitharode moderator

Just to let you know I'm still trying to help - But still unable to do so. I've tried all the aforementioned tips and tricks, but so far no luck. Maybe the next Firefox upgrade will sort it. I'm still working in the background though. ** 😃 **

enter image description here

Posted November 3, 2014 4:50 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to Kitharode's comment.

I'm sorry it's still happening. We can't seem to replicate it. I use firefox with no problem. If you change browser's does it go away? I'll update the support ticket, but I'm not sure if the development team can do much to fix it, but they are and have been trying.

Cheers,

~Meg

Posted November 3, 2014 5:59 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Don't worry about it. I've plenty to keep me busy!! It has gone away in the past and then come back, so Firefox update may well fix it again. But I'll try another browser again just to make sure. Cheers.

Posted November 3, 2014 6:22 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Just to clarify: When I visit P4 I go to the Classify page to see what comes up. If there's nothing to mark then I Finish and go Next. If there's something I can mark that's in the upper left of the image I do so, but when I meet an image that needs marking in the 'weird area' I shut down that tab and come back later. Cheers.

Posted November 4, 2014 5:03 PM

by Kitharode moderator

Good News - for now at least. Internet Explorer seems to be working ok, so I'm back in the game. ** 😃 **

Posted November 5, 2014 6:49 PM

by mschwamb scientist, translator

I updated the support ticket with this info in case it might be useful for the developers in continuing to try and track this bug down.

Cheers,

~Meg

Posted November 6, 2014 11:06 AM

by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to mschwamb's comment.

The developer who was the original lead on the Planet Four build put in a patch that has worked on other projects that had a similar issue. Kith, do you notice any improvement on Firefox and Chrome on your computer?

Cheers,

~Meg

Posted November 6, 2014 12:06 PM

by Kitharode moderator in response to mschwamb's comment.

I've never used Chrome so can't comment on that. Firefox is still troublesome with the marking tools today. Internet Explorer is fine for classifying.

Although I prefer using Firefox, I'm happy to switch to IE when I visit here. Cheers.

Posted November 6, 2014 3:58 PM