Extra line breaks being added to posts (Firefox)

MJohnston

I don't know how to better describe this one, but here I go:
When I type a new post, extra line breaks get added into it after I submit the new post.
I don't know if this will happen with this new thread post, but let's see.

Edit: okay, that didn't happen with the new thread, but it seems to happen to me constantly with all new Quick Replies.

MJohnston

Okay, so it doesn't seem to happen with new threads, but if I use the Quick Reply form here,
and add a single line-break here...

Boards.ie: Mark

The best place to start might be a cache clear. That tends to fix some technical hitches.

All looks fine to me, but as you say it's a hard one to describe.

MJohnston

It's weird, it was happening almost constantly until I posted this, and now I can't replicate it.

A Heisenbug.

I don't think it's a cache problem, but I'll try disabling some browser extensions in case something there is interfering.

New Home

I have been having the same problem for the last few days on different platforms - when I press enter to get a new paragraph, the system seems to add an extra line which doesn't show while Im still typing.

Boards.ie: Mark

What browser, OS, device, and version of the site are ye using?

New Home

Windows 10 and Vivaldi on a tablet.
Windows 7 (IIRC) and Firefox on another.
Legacy site on both.

MJohnston

Boards.ie: Mark wrote: »

What browser, OS, device, and version of the site are ye using?

I'm using Firefox 61.0 on MacOS High Sierra, Macbook Pro.
It's on the desktop version that I'm seeing it happen currently.

MJohnston

Here's a screenshot of me composing a post using the Advanced Editor:



The immediately after I submit, here's what results from that:



The line breaks have been duplicated.

New Home

Hi folks, this is happening again, now in PMs too.

MJohnston

New Home wrote: »

Hi folks, this is happening again, now in PMs too.

It was never really fixed for me, I've just had to edit all my posts to remove the extra line breaks so far.


I see some other posters with more line breaks than seem necessary, though it's hard to know whether they're doing that on purpose or not!

Irish Steve

Firefox 61 on Windows 10, using original site, and seeing the same issue on quick reply, even if I switch to advanced reply during the reply, the extra line feeds are in the post before it is posted, and can be edited out either before posting or as an edit after it's on line. I've tried clearing cache and cookies, which made no difference to the issue

pleas advice

MJohnston wrote: »

New Home wrote: »

Hi folks, this is happening again, now in PMs too.

It was never really fixed for me, I've just had to edit all my posts to remove the extra line breaks so far.


I see some other posters with more line breaks than seem necessary, though it's hard to know whether they're doing that on purpose or not!

seems to be a feature on the responsive site
i think

New Home

pleas advice wrote: »

seems to be a feature on the responsive site
i think

That wasn't the case up until recently, though.

Edit: Also, I'm using the legacy site, anyway.

Boards.ie: Mark

Firefox seems to be a common factor here (with the one mention of Vivaldi). There was a new version released recently which looks like it coincides with when this issue started arising; it could be coincidental.

I'm running it by the guys to see if they have any insight.

MJohnston

Okay, so I used the test forum to narrow down the circumstances under which this is happening for me:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=107549504#post107549504

In short:
1. Firefox only, Chrome seems fine.
2. Legacy desktop site only, Responsive site seems fine.
3. Happens when creating a new thread, or when using the "Quote Reply" or "Post Reply" buttons to reply to an existing thread.
4. Does not happen when using the Quick Reply form, or when I press the "Go Advanced" button to reply.
5. When it happens, the number of blank line breaks is doubled (although when creating a new thread, it added 3 blank lines for the 1st blank line I typed)

New Home

In my case, it also happens with Quick Reply. However, in every instance, if I add one line, then I delete it, then I add it again before posting, it usually doesn't happen.

Irish Guitarist

For the last couple of weeks anytime I post anything there's a gap of three or four spaces between paragraphs.


If I edit my post and keep deleting these spaces eventually it just leaves one space like I intended it to.


Anyone else getting this? This post is an example of what I'm talking about. I pressed enter once between each paragraph so I don't know why it looks like I pressed it three or four times.

HeidiHeidi

Yep, noticed it as well. Thought it was just a thing.

New Home

Yes.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057886081

Boards.ie: Mark

Hi Irish Guitarist,

I've merged your thread into the existing thread about the issue so it's easier to track and update where possible.

TallGlass

Hi, not sure if this has been reported and not sure if everyone can see it. But when I go to a new line in a post it basically looks to create about 5 lines between the new line. Example below


Testing, this is line 1.



Testing, this is line 2, with 1 blank line between.

Boards.ie: Mark

Hi TallGlass, I'm just going to merge your thread with the existing one in Help Desk so that we can update everyone where possible.

MJohnston

So I've found the culprit, and have a temporary fix until phpBB or whatever gets fixed:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1430551

In Firefox, you can turn this behavior off by typing 'about:config' in your address bar, and then searching for "editor.use_div_for_default_newlines". Change the value of this entry to 'false'. This will fix the issue, but not the root problem. That needs to be fixed either by Boards.ie or their phpBB source - likely the problem is that the phpBB code had something built in that was mimicking this newly fixed behaviour, aligning Chrome and Firefox. But now that the fix has reached most people's Firefox browsers, we're getting the fix and the phpBB workaround 'fix', which is duplicating the line breaks.

So, while the config change I mentioned above will temporarily fix this issue on Boards, what will happen is some services will start adjusting to the new default of 'true', and then anyone who has modified the default will have the opposite problem of not enough line breaks!

CelticRambler

Not a major problem, but visually annoying! Typing a double return while composing in QR - to create an easily readable paragraph with a one-line gap between it and the preceding text - shows up as a two-line space in the posted message. It's no big deal if there are just two paragraphs in the message, but creates an awful lot of empty space in a longer post.

[using Win7/Firefox on a laptop, behaviour seen when using QR box or full Message dialogue box ... but not all the time, e.g. this para added after two previews!]

Boards.ie: Mark

Hi CelticRambler,

I've merged your thread into an existing one in relation to this issue. MJohnston posted a workaround above that might help rectify this in the meantime:

So I've found the culprit, and have a temporary fix until phpBB or whatever gets fixed:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1430551

In Firefox, you can turn this behavior off by typing 'about:config' in your address bar, and then searching for "editor.use_div_for_default_newlines". Change the value of this entry to 'false'.

CelticRambler

Ahh, OK. I did search for previous reports but obviously didn't look hard enough ...

Thanks to MJohnston, too, for identifying the problem and suggesting a solution.