[ANSTHRLD] Help with OSCAR from my Electronic Commenting class

[Doug Bell]

This is from my class on Electronic Commenting. It may be of help to new OSCAR commenters. This lists issues with OSCAR that make it less easy to use and suggestions to make OSCAR easier to use.


The Problem: 
OSCAR on rare occasions will turn part of a comment into bold type, italics, or underlined.

The Solution: 
None known. The cause hasn't been found but it looks like something is interpreted as an unexpected HTML command by OSCAR. Editing the text doesn't seem to fix the issue. Deleting the entire comment and reentering is the only solution but OSCAR is purposefully designed so you can't do that. This example (and comments put in the wrong place) is why a Delete last comment command is required on a tree structure like OSCAR. Only the terminal node of commentary could be safely deleted to avoid breaking the chain links of the commentary tree structure. 
Fortunately, this bug is quite rare and the damage here is only cosmetic. It can be safely ignored. Your comment looks slightly odd but no data is altered.


The Problem: 
OSCAR will turn the careful format of a comment into a brick of text due to lack of carriage returns.

The Solution: 
use HTML commands <p> and <br>.
Example:
<p>This is the first line of comment.<br>
This comment will appear on the next line.<br>
The third line will appear here.

A blank line added appears normally and doesn't need the br command. Actually two of the br commands will insert a blank line.
</p>


The Problem: 
Under Firefox and Opera (I don't know about Explorer), when you have entered a comment recently OSCAR will freak out if you press the Back Page button on the Browser.

The Solution: 
If you need to view a graphic of armory or an image of documentation use the mouse to open it in a separate tab or window. That way you can close it when finished without using the Back Page button.


The Problem: When you post a comment OSCAR sometimes takes you to a random letter instead returning you to the letter the comment was posted. Thankfully, the commentary still goes to the proper place but this issue occurs regularly.

The Solution: This appears to be caused by having more than one OSCAR screen open on the Browser at one time. Why would you need to do this? One tab is open for entering a comment and another is open to view the letter the comment is for. Still another is open to use the OSCAR search feature to check for conflicts within OSCAR records, check for documentation for a previous registration of a name, or check for previous submissions. The search function will open several more tabs linked to OSCAR. And it gets cranky when the comment is finally posted.

Of course, it is easy to go to the LOI/KLOI list of letters and restart the letter you were commenting on. The bug is only annoying and doesn't cause loss of comments.

My solution is to open a file in my word processor to enter the comment and another file to hold a copy of the letter being worked on. This allows the comment to be entered in its entirety, proofread, and spell checked before it is posted. Book and precedent lookups can be added to complete it. This avoids people replying to comments in the middle of entry if the comment takes more than one session to enter.

OSCAR doesn't show any documentation or commentary on a submission if you are editing an existing comment. Download a copy of the entire submission letter in an open word processor file and you can review documentation and commentary while using the edit comment screen.

Best regards
Magnus