I didn't even ask for this pony, but I'll take it! November 2, 2012 5:40 AM Subscribe
Same account, two different browsers - my Theme preference isn't respected in both browsers. I like this "feature," so I'm just mentioning it - not requesting a change.
I recently noticed that my phone was displaying the Plain theme, but my browser was displaying the Default (blue background) theme. So I decided to do some testing on two different browsers. This could be useful if you like to use one theme on your PC and another on your phone, because you can set up the theme you want for your phone, log in on your phone, then return to your PC and change the theme the one one you want for your PC. As far as I can tell, as long as you stay logged in on your phone it will keep the old theme.
Summary of findings: if I'm logged in to the same account on two different browsers (or two different devices), changing the Theme or Font preferences in one browser does not automatically change that preference in a second browser. BUT! If I visit the Preferences page in the second browser, the Preferences page shows all of my newly-saved preferences. It appears that MetaFilter’s back-end saves the Preferences, but the page’s appearance is controlled by cookies and the cookies for each browser don’t get reset until I log out or save preferences in the new browser.
Details:
(note that in this example I’m using Chrome to make the change and IE to demonstrate that the theme doesn’t change, but it works equally well if I use IE to make the change and then go to Chrome to show that it doesn’t change)
1. Log in to my account (PCup) on Chrome. Theme is Default.
2. Log in to same account (PCup) on Internet Explorer. Theme is Default.
3. In Chrome, go to Preferences, change theme to Plain, hit Save. Return to main page (www.metafilter.com) - it shows the Plain theme.
4. Return to Internet Explorer and navigate around. It still shows the Default theme. Going to ask.metafilter.com doesn't change this, doing a hard refresh (Ctrl + F5) doesn't change it, closing the browser window then re-opening it and returnong to MetaFilter doesn’t change it. As long as I a) stay logged in and b) don’t hit Save on the Preference page (more on that below), IE sticks with the Default theme even though I changed my Theme to Plain in Preferences in Chrome on the same MetaFilter account.
5a. If I log out of MeFi in IE and log back in, then I get the Plain theme.
5b. If I visit the Preferences pages, it shows the correct saved preferences (Plain theme), but the page is still displaying with the Default theme (blue background). So the data (which theme) is correct, but what the browser displays is out of sync with that data. If I don’t touch any of the preferences and hit Save, then IE gets the saved theme (Plain).
I’m guessing that when I hit Save a cookie in my browser gets updated and from then on the browser requests the new Theme from the site?
I actually like this. I want the Plain theme on my phone and the Default theme on my computer, so as long as I change the setting on one device and not the other and stay logged in then I get that desired behavior. But I’m guessing that this is a border case where if I’m logged in to MeFi on browsers A and B, I can change the Preferences on browser A and the cookie that holds the Preferences on browser B is not changed.
Just an interesting border case. And possibly helpful to people who, like me, want different themes on different devices. Anyway, I’m not looking for anything to change, just describing the behavior because it's more interesting than doing my real job.
I would like to hear if my theory about why the two browsers using the same account can simultaneously display the different Theme is correct – is it due to cookies not being updated in one of the browsers?
I recently noticed that my phone was displaying the Plain theme, but my browser was displaying the Default (blue background) theme. So I decided to do some testing on two different browsers. This could be useful if you like to use one theme on your PC and another on your phone, because you can set up the theme you want for your phone, log in on your phone, then return to your PC and change the theme the one one you want for your PC. As far as I can tell, as long as you stay logged in on your phone it will keep the old theme.
Summary of findings: if I'm logged in to the same account on two different browsers (or two different devices), changing the Theme or Font preferences in one browser does not automatically change that preference in a second browser. BUT! If I visit the Preferences page in the second browser, the Preferences page shows all of my newly-saved preferences. It appears that MetaFilter’s back-end saves the Preferences, but the page’s appearance is controlled by cookies and the cookies for each browser don’t get reset until I log out or save preferences in the new browser.
Details:
(note that in this example I’m using Chrome to make the change and IE to demonstrate that the theme doesn’t change, but it works equally well if I use IE to make the change and then go to Chrome to show that it doesn’t change)
1. Log in to my account (PCup) on Chrome. Theme is Default.
2. Log in to same account (PCup) on Internet Explorer. Theme is Default.
3. In Chrome, go to Preferences, change theme to Plain, hit Save. Return to main page (www.metafilter.com) - it shows the Plain theme.
4. Return to Internet Explorer and navigate around. It still shows the Default theme. Going to ask.metafilter.com doesn't change this, doing a hard refresh (Ctrl + F5) doesn't change it, closing the browser window then re-opening it and returnong to MetaFilter doesn’t change it. As long as I a) stay logged in and b) don’t hit Save on the Preference page (more on that below), IE sticks with the Default theme even though I changed my Theme to Plain in Preferences in Chrome on the same MetaFilter account.
5a. If I log out of MeFi in IE and log back in, then I get the Plain theme.
5b. If I visit the Preferences pages, it shows the correct saved preferences (Plain theme), but the page is still displaying with the Default theme (blue background). So the data (which theme) is correct, but what the browser displays is out of sync with that data. If I don’t touch any of the preferences and hit Save, then IE gets the saved theme (Plain).
I’m guessing that when I hit Save a cookie in my browser gets updated and from then on the browser requests the new Theme from the site?
I actually like this. I want the Plain theme on my phone and the Default theme on my computer, so as long as I change the setting on one device and not the other and stay logged in then I get that desired behavior. But I’m guessing that this is a border case where if I’m logged in to MeFi on browsers A and B, I can change the Preferences on browser A and the cookie that holds the Preferences on browser B is not changed.
Just an interesting border case. And possibly helpful to people who, like me, want different themes on different devices. Anyway, I’m not looking for anything to change, just describing the behavior because it's more interesting than doing my real job.
I would like to hear if my theory about why the two browsers using the same account can simultaneously display the different Theme is correct – is it due to cookies not being updated in one of the browsers?
Yep, you've got it right. There is a pretty concise explanation in the FAQ:
How do MetaFilter display preferences work?posted by taz (staff) at 5:49 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
When you click Save at your Site Preferences, the display settings you chose are saved as cookies to your browser. That means you can have different display settings for different browsers. For example, you might use the default theme on your home computer, but the plain theme on your phone. Keep in mind that adjusting your display settings will change them for the browser you are currently using, but not other browsers. So if you want to update a particular display setting across all of the browsers you use, you'll need to re-save your display preferences on each of them. Also be aware that saving your display preferences will make those settings the default choices next time you load the preferences page.
Yes, this is a client-side preference.
posted by OmieWise at 5:57 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by OmieWise at 5:57 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
is it due to cookies not being updated in one of the browsers
More precisely, it's due to cookies being unique between browsers; each browser has its own set, controlled independently.
posted by inigo2 at 6:04 AM on November 2, 2012
More precisely, it's due to cookies being unique between browsers; each browser has its own set, controlled independently.
posted by inigo2 at 6:04 AM on November 2, 2012
*Duh* note to self: never assume it's not in the FAQ.
Feel free to remove the thread if you'd like, considering this is already covered in the FAQ.
posted by PCup at 6:17 AM on November 2, 2012
Feel free to remove the thread if you'd like, considering this is already covered in the FAQ.
posted by PCup at 6:17 AM on November 2, 2012
Feel free to remove the thread if you'd like, considering this is already covered in the FAQ.
It's fine, there are always people who won't know that this is the case. I think the "What you set last time is the default next time" is the thing that people sometimes find quirky. But mainly this is useful for mobile browsers who want to tweak the settings for smaller screen devices but then have a different set of choices selected on their home machine if they have one.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:35 AM on November 2, 2012
It's fine, there are always people who won't know that this is the case. I think the "What you set last time is the default next time" is the thing that people sometimes find quirky. But mainly this is useful for mobile browsers who want to tweak the settings for smaller screen devices but then have a different set of choices selected on their home machine if they have one.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:35 AM on November 2, 2012
This made me wonder if there were preference creeps amongst the various browsers I use (work, home, mobile), you know, like a different font set on one, or slightly larger/smaller text, etc. But this,
Also be aware that saving your display preferences will make those settings the default choices next time you load the preferences page.
Makes me think they're probably all identical since I update the free form field fairly frequently, and every time I did that and clicked 'Save' I'd be saving the preferences I'd set in the last different browser I'd edited my profile text from. Hm.
posted by carsonb at 8:43 AM on November 2, 2012
Also be aware that saving your display preferences will make those settings the default choices next time you load the preferences page.
Makes me think they're probably all identical since I update the free form field fairly frequently, and every time I did that and clicked 'Save' I'd be saving the preferences I'd set in the last different browser I'd edited my profile text from. Hm.
posted by carsonb at 8:43 AM on November 2, 2012
This was handy for me back when I had a dayjob; I've always preferred the default colorful theme but Professional White was a better call when killing time in the office because it looked even less like fun than normal.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:51 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:51 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Can somebody mark my response as Best Answer? Please?
No?
posted by slogger at 9:03 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
No?
posted by slogger at 9:03 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
I switched to Professional White about a week into my first Real office dayjob when my new boss asked what the "blue website" I was always typing into was. I told her it was a website where people exchanged advice on how to use Excel and promptly switched the theme. She was never fooled, though, and I was regularly "reprimanded" for doing too much non-work-related typing.
She was later let go when it became plainly obvious I was doing 90% of her workload and she wasn't doing a particularly good job on the remaining 10%. My new boss couldn't bring herself to give a shit about anything I did as long as the work got done.
posted by griphus at 9:10 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
She was later let go when it became plainly obvious I was doing 90% of her workload and she wasn't doing a particularly good job on the remaining 10%. My new boss couldn't bring herself to give a shit about anything I did as long as the work got done.
posted by griphus at 9:10 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
slogger:Can somebody mark my response as Best Answer? Please?
No?
I tried, I really did. Then I realized this is MetaTalk and Best Answer doesn't exist here...
Here, how's a lollipop instead? There you go.
posted by PCup at 9:58 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
No?
I tried, I really did. Then I realized this is MetaTalk and Best Answer doesn't exist here...
Here, how's a lollipop instead? There you go.
posted by PCup at 9:58 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
I still use this feature to this day, plain on the phone, colorful on the desktop.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:27 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:27 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
I forgot the website has colors.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:48 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:48 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
Metafilter: it looked even less like fun than normal.
My new boss couldn't bring herself to give a shit about anything I did as long as the work got done.
Sad to say, but this is pretty much my definition of "actually-possible-to-achieve American dream" if you're working in corporate America these days.
(And I say that as someone who has happily achieved it.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:27 AM on November 2, 2012
My new boss couldn't bring herself to give a shit about anything I did as long as the work got done.
Sad to say, but this is pretty much my definition of "actually-possible-to-achieve American dream" if you're working in corporate America these days.
(And I say that as someone who has happily achieved it.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:27 AM on November 2, 2012
Yeah, I've got that situation going right now as well and I am really, really thankful. Although I always think of this one exchange from Andy Richter Controls the Universe:
"You have never taken this job seriously!"
"...but I'm still good at it."
posted by griphus at 11:29 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
"You have never taken this job seriously!"
"...but I'm still good at it."
posted by griphus at 11:29 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
I also found that the standard blue regalia of MeFi was attracting the attention of my line manager. However, I simply came into the office one weekend and painted all the light bulbs and fluorescent tubes blue. Now my superiors can't tell that what blue website I may be visiting. I also painted myself blue, and could therefore work naked without censure. Unfortunately I got sacked because management thought I was never in the office. My point here is that I am a naked, unemployed man who is desirous of any spare or residual change you may care to proffer.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 11:38 AM on November 2, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by the quidnunc kid at 11:38 AM on November 2, 2012 [5 favorites]
My point here is that I am a naked, unemployed man who is desirous of any spare or residual change you may care to proffer.
There's gold in them there hills.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:17 PM on November 2, 2012
There's gold in them there hills.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:17 PM on November 2, 2012
As far as I can tell, my boss doesn't care if my screen is blue or white but I had to change it to professional white most of the time because reading all day on the blue, et al, sort of fucks with my eyes. But then I open in another browser occasionally and get the blue/green/grey, and that feels soothing. In other words, I'm pro choice! And pro cookies!
posted by taz (staff) at 1:24 PM on November 2, 2012
posted by taz (staff) at 1:24 PM on November 2, 2012
In other words, I'm pro choice! And pro cookies!
My cookies are retaining their amateur status for the next Olympics.
posted by arcticseal at 3:04 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
My cookies are retaining their amateur status for the next Olympics.
posted by arcticseal at 3:04 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I rock the PROTHEME at work and FUNCOLORWOO at home. This is a good thing.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:59 AM on November 5, 2012
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:59 AM on November 5, 2012
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posted by slogger at 5:46 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]