Boardsie Enhancement Suite

06-08-2021 11:17pm #1

I've put together a couple of my personal scripts and stylesheets into a single package. As you may gather from the name, it's draws inspiration from the Reddit Enhancement Suite.

Features:

Keyboard shortcuts (a/z to go up/down, left/right to change pages, r for reply, q for quote, m to mark as read, f for follow, and more. Press '?' on any page for a full listing)
Full-width
Tooltips on hover and keyboard shortcut on thread listing pages (not currently working on homepage, but works on forum listings and https://www.boards.ie/discussions)
Restoration of full list of thanks after every post (limited to 100)
Complete timestamps on all posts
Reduced vertical whitespace
Displays follow buttons on forum headers, allowing you to follow forums on desktop
No sticky header
Notifications of new posts and draft saves go in the bottom-right instead of bottom-left
Some other appearance tweaks

To install this, you need a "userscript manager" extension for your browser (essentially, it lets you run custom javascript on websites). Personally I recommend Violentmonkey. Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey are also popular options, although I haven't used them myself.

Once you have a userscript manager installed, go to https://github.com/28064212/userscripts/raw/master/boardsie-enhancement-suite.user.js, and the extension should prompt you to install it.

Caveats and Warnings:

Use this at your own risk, I wrote it for personal use only, it may not work on all configurations
It's not safe to install this, unless you either trust me, or can read code. If you install this blindly, it's possible for me to do a whole bunch of stuff, up to and including capturing your password
There's definitely personal design decisions made here. Feedback is welcomed, but ultimately my primary target for this is me, I just hope others find it useful
Parts may occasionally break as the site gets more updates
If you're reporting any bugs to Boards, make sure you can reproduce the bug with this script disabled

Eoin · 07-08-2021 12:28am

I think you need to make your repo public

07-08-2021 8:58am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117718373#Comment_117718373

Nope, Vanilla's editor doesn't recognise that a link ending in ", " probably shouldn't include the comma in the link 🙄

Thanks, it's fixed now

fritzelly · 07-08-2021 1:48pm

Looks great - only thing that is visually unappealing is the height of the comment boxes as in when there is just a line or 2 (makes it look very cramped) - maybe make a min height on it and add a bit of space above the flag... buttons

iLikeWaffles · 07-08-2021 3:11pm

@28064212 Anything in the markdown file (readme.md) in your repo will show when someone visits the github page, like an image of how the changes look, for example ![alt_name](boards.png) will show on the repo page as it is in the same directory as the .md file. Easiest option would be to post an image of how the changes look here of course.

07-08-2021 9:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117719983#Comment_117719983

I do appreciate the feedback, but... no 🙂 This is one of those personal design decisions, I don't like unnecessary vertical space, cramped is what I'm aiming for. Of course, if you like most of the features, you can still have your own css to sit on top of it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117720199#Comment_117720199

Yes, I do intend to add some screenshots there, but I have some repo cleanup to do first. Will also add some stuff here when soon, and will keep this thread updated as new features are added

08-08-2021 4:58pm

New feature added - full forum menu dropdown (hover over "Categories"). Should be able to update directly through your userscript manager, or using the link in the OP

09-08-2021 6:03am

Looks good.

Shlippery · 09-08-2021 9:33am

Nice one love the drop down nav and the 'thanks' list!

Kudos!

Neowise · 09-08-2021 7:45pm

you've removed access to settings inside your profile :(

09-08-2021 8:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117730343#Comment_117730343

Ah, never noticed that. Will fix ASAP, thanks

09-08-2021 9:21pm

And fixed 🙂

Have also got thread previews working on the homepage

Inviere · 10-08-2021 6:01am

@28064212 I'd love to give this a go, but this bit (total transparency by you tbf) confuses me - " If you install this blindly, it's possible for me to do a whole bunch of stuff, up to and including capturing your password"

^^ What could a user do wrong during installation to break their security so badly?

Andrew76 · 10-08-2021 7:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117731465#Comment_117731465

From my understanding it's not related to how you install the script - I think he's pointing out the fact the script has the ability to capture your password if he added that logic. You can see in the code that it's listening for certain keystrokes so it can perform the keyboard shortcuts mentioned in the OP. The line below is monitoring your keyboard input and calls the 'keyShortcuts' function to check what was entered and act accordingly.

window.addEventListener('keydown', keyShortcuts, true);

I'm not familiar with that ViolentMonkey extension but if it automatically updates the scripts for you then you'd need to be constantly checking the code to make sure nothing dodgy was added (assuming you understand what it is doing), or else just trust the OP as he mentions. 🙂

10-08-2021 9:09am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117731465#Comment_117731465

Pretty much what @Andrew76 said. By "blindly", I don't mean installing it incorrectly, I mean if you install it without checking and understanding the code yourself, you have no way to verify it's not malicious. It's really no different to installing (for example) an application like Google Chrome on your PC - unless you can verify the code yourself, you have to trust the publisher.

Obviously, I think you should trust me, but I know me better than you do. The warning is more of a general "Don't install stuff that some randomer on the internet tells you to". I've been on Boards since 2005, so you might think that's enough of a reason to trust me. Whereas if some other poster started a thread with their own scripts claiming to do everything you could possibly want, but they joined Boards yesterday and their username is "notascam", you should probably be more wary 😉

Inviere · 10-08-2021 10:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117731950#Comment_117731950

Ah, I get you. I misunderstood your original post and thought that installing this wrongly could throw all my passwords at you! Thanks a mill, will give this a go at some stage later on!

10-08-2021 11:55am

v1.2.4 - fixes for keyboard shortcuts for marking forums read and following forums

stronglikebull · 10-08-2021 3:21pm

I've tried it, and I like it. The site is at least becoming usable now with these mods. Good work. Boards should give you a job.

10-08-2021 4:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117733775#Comment_117733775

Glad you find it useful

v1.2.5 - fix for displaying thanks after OP, show alert when thread bookmarked

11-08-2021 11:10am

v.1.2.6 - usernames in thanks listings now link to their profiles; press 'c' to bring up the categories dropdown menu

11-08-2021 6:34pm

v1.2.7 - remove bold from read threads on home page

fritzelly · 11-08-2021 6:56pm

There's a glitch on mouseover threads for the comment - if you hover the first 3 letters its fine but any other part of the title is showing and hiding rapidly

11-08-2021 7:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117739658#Comment_117739658

Are you using v1.2.7? It should be fixed there. If not, what page are you seeing it on?

fritzelly · 11-08-2021 7:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117739776#Comment_117739776

Yeah updated it there and working fine

fritzelly · 11-08-2021 10:30pm

@28064212 How is your code unbolding threads on the home page?

I've looked at the code and there is nothing there to do it

HasNew and unread don't exist on that page

p.s. it is still doing that show/hide thing on titles but only when they are bolded

12-08-2021 12:56am

better_boards1.1.zip

I am too busy with work and I've started the Full Stack Open course, so I've attached my extension folder which I uploaded to Google but didn't end up publishing. I'd recommend having a look and turning what you've done into an extension so it's easy for people to use. It's only my second attempt at an extension so it's not great or anything. You can run it my switching on developer mode for extensions in Chrome and then loading unpacked and clicking the folder.

Notes: initial.css at document_start is there to make the pages dark when going to a new page instead of flashing white. It also hides everything so that adjustments like adding thanks happen before the page content displays. init.js which runs at document_end injects the rest of my css because I was having issues with running at document_start. The auto-bookmark is messy but it works. There are probably easier ways to make it work. I didn't know how to use the page's jQuery so I included it along with jQuery modals. The extension adds links to the top right of the page which open in these.

Use anything you want.

12-08-2021 8:12am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117740612#Comment_117740612

I'm calling the vanilla API to get the details of the discussions. It's pretty good, although you do have to be careful with rate limits, if any client calls it 300 times in a minute, it'll lock that client out for an hour. Found that out the hard way when I was calling it for each item on the home page (200 items across all the tabs, one refresh did it). Thankfully, you can call the endpoint once and pass up to 500 discussions at a time

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117740894#Comment_117740894

Thanks, I do intend to convert it to an extension at some stage, going to wait until both it and Boards are a bit more stable, code-wise.

12-08-2021 9:00am

p.s. it is still doing that show/hide thing on titles but only when they are bolded

@fritzelly is that on the homepage? Any chance you have custom CSS running on that page? The previews should be pushed down below the title you're hovering over, but if the height of the row is taller, the preview will attempt to display above it and you get the flicker

Andrew76 · 12-08-2021 10:36am

@28064212 - Do you know if it's possible to identify if a forum is followed or not? Looking at your Categories hover functionality I was thinking a simplified version of it, that just listed followed forums (basically the list of forums you see when clicking on Categories and filter is set to Following) would be really useful.

12-08-2021 11:46am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117741904#Comment_117741904

Yes, I like that, definitely going on the todo list 🙂

Andrew76 · 12-08-2021 1:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117742259#Comment_117742259

Excellent thanks. 😎

Great work so far btw, I'm using a combination of some of your code and some JS from the DIY thread along with a mix of CSS. It makes a huge difference to the usability of the site.

iLikeWaffles · 12-08-2021 1:44pm

@28064212 Just looking at using your unbold my threads. Don't know JS enough to know which snippets to use. Which line numbers of the code only deals with unbold read?

fritzelly · 12-08-2021 3:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117741455#Comment_117741455

This is on the home page only = seems to be if the thread title TD is not a single line

12-08-2021 6:42pm

v1.3:

Show followed forums in the categories dropdown (@Andrew76 🙂). Initial version at least, it's just an alphabetical list of them at the moment, will probably try to add some categorisation and make it more usable in a future release
Beta version of showing bookmarked status on https://www.boards.ie/profile/comments/. Only works for the initial set of loaded comments at the moment, and the bookmark icons aren't interactive (you have to go to the thread if you want to follow/unfollow), but at least it's convenient for double-checking whether you've followed the last couple of threads that you've posted in

12-08-2021 6:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117742905#Comment_117742905

On the homepage? It's the function addThreadPreviews(). The API calls and code structure needed are basically the same as what's needed for the previews, so I just added it in there.

12-08-2021 7:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117743461#Comment_117743461

Ah, got it. With the full package installed, none of the titles should have line-breaks, so I hard-coded the values. I'll see if I can get the offset dynamically instead

Andrew76 · 12-08-2021 8:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744343#Comment_117744343

Brilliant, will have a look at that now. 👍️

iLikeWaffles · 12-08-2021 9:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117744408#Comment_117744408

Does unboldReadThreads() not do anything so?

Andrew76 · 12-08-2021 9:59pm

@28064212 - your 'initial version' of a followed forums dropdown is mighty impressive, thanks a mil! The only issue I noticed was the placement of Regional directly underneath it - it meant you couldn't move the mouse straight down or the Followed forums were replaced with those from Regional - you had to move the cursor around Regional to access them.

I did a bit of a hack job to get rid of the other categories as Followed is the only one I really use - ended up with this which works perfectly for me! 🙂

P.S. Not sure how legible these screenshots will be after boards compresses the crap out of them. 😥

12-08-2021 10:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117745106#Comment_117745106

Not since Boards implemented it natively. It only worked on "non-frontpage" pages, and now that it exists by default, it probably doesn't do anything.

Marking threads as read on the homepage is more complicated, because there's nothing in the default rendering that says whether a thread is read or not. Instead, for each comment/post, you have to use the API to get the parent discussion, and then use the API to check whether that discussion has been read or not

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117745230#Comment_117745230

Hmmm, that's kind of annoying. There's supposed to be four columns in the header, so Regional should be at the end. The custom CSS is loaded by the userscript extension, but I'm not certain how the caching works, it may have an old version of the CSS even after the Javascript is upgraded to v1.3. I suspect if you uninstall and reinstall the script, it would display as expected, but that's not ideal, will have to think about a different approach.

On a better note, I'm pleasantly surprised how well it looks on dark mode 🙂

17-08-2021 10:05am

v1.3.1 - Bookmark status on https://boards.ie/profile/comments/ will now also show on comments loaded with "More Comments"

Saadyst · 19-08-2021 8:01pm

Hey, I have this working using tampermonkey, and it looks a whole lot better - thanks :)

Just wondering what's the best way to implement a 'dark mode' so I stop getting blinded by the site?

iLikeWaffles · 19-08-2021 8:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117777957#Comment_117777957

There's a dark mode extension for chrome. Dark Reader, fairly decent and can customise intuitively.

Esel · 19-08-2021 9:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117777969#Comment_117777969

It's also available on Firefox as an add-on - probably other browsers too.

25-08-2021 9:48pm

v1.3.2

Unbold categories if all child threads are read
- Works on https://www.boards.ie/categories and parent forums
- Limited to only checking the 30 most recent threads
Refactor of the categories menu, removed delay on hover

25-08-2021 9:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117777957#Comment_117777957

Don't have an answer for this, I don't use dark mode myself. I do plan to implement it at some stage, but well down the list. @iLikeWaffles's suggestion sounds the best route for the moment

byte · 26-08-2021 8:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117804071#Comment_117804071

Just a query, does the script update itself? I've enabled Allow update in Script Settings, but I'm still on v1.3.1

26-08-2021 8:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117808098#Comment_117808098

What userscript manager? Some of them only check for updates once a day, some of them are configurable. If you can manually trigger an update through the manager, it's not an issue with the script

byte · 26-08-2021 8:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117808170#Comment_117808170

Ah, I'm using Violentmonkey, but only enabled Allow update a while ago, so it will probably update by tomorrow.

26-08-2021 8:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117808248#Comment_117808248

Yeah Violentmonkey only checks once a day (at most, you can configure it for fewer checks in the settings). But you can also manually trigger an update for any particular script by clicking the refresh icon beside the script in the Violentmonkey dashboard

byte · 26-08-2021 9:05pm

Found the manual update, cheers!