Subject: The mailing list web archive seems broken

From: Rob Sayre <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2019 17:39:36 -0700

Hi,

I've seen a new JS-driven web archive for IETF lists pop up lately. I think
it's a bit broken, as the scrolling web interaction isn't very good.

I often can't scroll down the list of messages. I'm also not sure how this
UI is an improvement over basic HTML representations. Active participants
to any list will interact through their email programs. This UI seems to
obfuscate list traffic.

thanks,
Rob

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From: Benjamin Kaduk <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2019 19:42:23 -0500

> to any list will interact through their email programs. This UI seems to

Is the "static mode" any better?

https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/static/ietf/2019-07/

(There's a settings dropdown in the top right.)

-Ben

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From: Rob Sayre <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2019 17:46:03 -0700

> Is the "static mode" any better?

It's way better. Could we change it to be the default?

I'm writing from a fairly nice computer with a big screen, but that
JS-heavy UI just didn't work.

thanks,
Rob

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From: Rob Sayre <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2019 18:50:37 -0700

Actually, it's not ok.

The static interface works a bit better for about 100 messages, but it's
still broken. In the process, I also discovered a few hot-button threads
that I did not know about.

I'm sort of irritated that I wasn't able to accurately assess the IETF
contributions of *several* DNS folks because someone decided to stop using
a really basic HTML email list archive.

thanks,
Rob

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From: Benjamin Kaduk <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2019 18:42:34 -0500

> a really basic HTML email list archive.

The JS version lets you search across all lists, which might actually be
more useful for what it sounds like you're doing.

I wasn't involved in the decision or implementation of this stuff, but
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf/89Lo0-f3aCgznBIN6_1HibbyCd4 and
https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf/oms1Ew-BNXM39kQdQXbpqbZXp5k may
be useful background reading (or pointers thereto).

-Ben