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Comments on Puzzle #19432: Simple Blot 1
By Gator (gator)

peek at solution       solve puzzle
  quality:   difficulty:   solvability: line logic only  

Puzzle Description Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

#1: Bruce Yanoshek (yanogator) on Jul 30, 2012

This software isn't working. I "peeked" at the solution, because I keep getting red dots (indicating that I have squares marked wrong), but I have them right, according to the solution. Now that I'm farther along, the software won't even let me shade a square - only a dot or empty.
#2: Gator (gator) on Jul 30, 2012
Not sure what is going on for you. I just solved it again and it works fine for me. You may want to post in Topic #333: Blots about what is happening so Jan can look into it.
#3: Nancy Anthony (nancya) on Jul 30, 2012
Worked fine for me. Using Safari on a MacBook. Love this new twist.
#4: Tom O'Connell (sensei69) on Jul 30, 2012
worked for me... took a few head scratches lol
#5: Kristen Vognild (kristen) on Jul 30, 2012
Bruce, I had the same problem. I had to turn off the Option that stops scrolling through a color when you've solved that color completely.

This was the trickiest Blotter I've solved so far. :)
#6: Jan Wolter (jan) on Jul 30, 2012
I think that all or most of these problems are due to browsers persistently using cached copies of the old Javascript code. Two things to try:

(1) while solving a puzzle, type a TAB while the mouse is over the puzzle. It should display a message like:

          Version 3.3; HTML 3.2; FSA 3.3;
If it displays no message, you definitely have old Javascript.

(2) Check topic 338 for instructions on how to freshen your cache. This may help even if you get the correct version message, as that doesn't report on all the files that might be cached.

#7: Kurt Kowalczyk (bahabro) on Jul 30, 2012
ditto comment #4. interesting...
#8: Bruce Yanoshek (yanogator) on Jul 31, 2012
I do these at work, where nothing is ever updated, so that's probably the problem. Thanks.
#9: Jan Wolter (jan) on Jul 31, 2012
Some clarification: caching is a trick all browsers do to make websites load faster. If there is a large file you load a lot, they will save a copy to your computer's disk, so that the next time you load it, they don't have to fetch it over the net again. The Javascript code used by webpbn is one such large file that your computer probably caches.

Theoretically, when using a cached copy, it is first supposed to ask webpbn.com if that copy is still current. A lot of browsers seem inefficient or inconsistent about actually doing that, so they run webpbn with a mixture of old code loaded from cache, and new code loaded from webpbn.com, and the result doesn't work well.

So updating the cache is not the job of your company's tech department, it's supposed to be done automatically by your browser. Eventually your browser probably will do it. Notice all the people saying "I have a problem" and then coming back to say "it fixed itself". There are various ways you can trick it into doing things faster, but they tend to involve burrowing deep down into the "settings" or "options" menu to find the thing that flushes the cache.

I'm thinking about ways I can redesign the website to eliminate these problems, but none of them are entirely easy either.
#10: Tom King (sgusa) on Aug 1, 2012
No problem here.
#11: Joel Lynn (furface1) on Aug 2, 2012
No problem using Google Chrome.
#12: Teresa K (fasstar) on Aug 5, 2012 [SPOILER]
Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers
#13: Elizabeth Krull (beth) on Aug 7, 2012
I'm also having problems with all the "blot" puzzles. I've emptied the cache as suggested, still not letting me do them. Any thoughts?
#14: Kristen Vognild (kristen) on Aug 8, 2012
Did you uncheck the option of no longer cycling through all the colors once one is complete?
#15: Jan Wolter (jan) on Aug 8, 2012
The caching should never again be a problem. I've made changes to the site that should prevent that from happening.

The cycling through colors things should also be fixed. Blotted colors shouldn't be running out too soon. They may not run out when you'd like them too, but if the software were smart enough to tell for sure when you've finished all the blots, then it would be a bit too smart. Figuring that kind of thing out is your job.

So if you are still having problems, then it's a bug I don't know about, and I could use a more detailed description of what is going wrong, that is, what exactly it is doing instead of working right.
#16: Kadou (Kadou) on Aug 10, 2012
Nice solve!
#17: Gator (gator) on Aug 10, 2012
Thanks all.
#18: Bryan (Cyclone) on Mar 10, 2013
This obscured clues thing is definitely making puzzles trickier! Can't complete a clue, it has to fill itself.
#19: Ailsa Hebert (bazette3) on Jul 27, 2013
Excellent! Love it when I have to work at it!

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