The New Forum Software

[leviat]

This is the official thread for discussing the new forum software. Hopefully I can answer questions that people have and work through any of the problems that come up.

Smileys
All the smileys are here from the previous forums however there seems to be one slight caveat that has to be worked out. Basically, all smileys must be seperated by a space. That is why mana symbols appear to be having problems. I'll see what I can do to fix this problem. (ex. works but {G}{U}{W}{B} does not).

Pending Issues

- No [card][/card] bbcode.	Partial
- Sticky topics are hard to differentiate.	Solved
- Multiple smileys in a row.	Solved
- Unable to upload avatars.	Solved
- Everyone is showing up as a Basic User.	Solved
- No calendar function for tourny owners.	Solved
- Quotes are hard to read.	Solved
- Clicking on banner should take me to forums home.	Solved
- Forums forget which topics I have seen.	Non-Issue
- Permission problems with editing.	Solved
- Basic users unable to post to Proven Legacy Forum.	Solved

Edit:
I'm doing a HUGE taboo and deleting messages for resolved problems in this forum... if you had an issue, and it's still not fixed, but I deleted your messages... then that means you should repost your problem.

[Bram]

1. I find the blue backdrop that quotes have, annoying.
2. I find the line with the thread title in every post annoying.
3. The top bar of these boards is ugly. I kinda mean the TheManaDrain.com font, and the fact that the old logo's color scheme doesn't make any sense here.

I'm sure you find me annoying, too, but that's just how it is

Update: Lightened the quote background color. Removed the thread title (but I really just blanked it out, does it help?). If the top bar is ugly... design us a new theme .

[Jacob Orlove]

The little icon that you could rightclick to get a direct link to a specific post is gone. Part of hiding the header thing?

Edit: also, thanks for doing all this. The interface has improved a lot since this afternoon.

Edit again: is there some way to disable smileys in all our posts, rather than one by one?

[Eddie]

Old links to posts in this forum don't work anymore. The old soft used the viewtopic.php, while the new uses the index.php.

Update: Yes, and there's nothing I can do about that. Sorry.

[Anusien]

At least as of yesterday (haven't checked today), some threads seem to have -1 replies.  I think it's because they're moved threads.  check the Legacy forums.

Update: Yes . Unfortunately there was no way to convert moved topics over, so empty topics will show up as having -1 replies. It will be up to the forum moderators to clean these up.

[Komatteru]

I have a very important question that is undoubtedly the biggest issue facing the board at this current point in time. 

What are those little circles under everyone's name?  Are those like the "rate this user" function SCG used to have on their forum, and if it is, is that a mod decided thing?

Update: No, those bubbles are nothing more than looks. However, there IS a karma system which is currently disabled which can be used to rate people. Hoever, after looking it over, it doesn't do much and until it's enhanced will probably remain disabled.
-Leviat

It appears to be nothing more than a visual representation of your usergroup. New user = one bubble. Basic User/Tournament Organizer = two bubbles. Full user = three bubbles. Vintage/Legacy Adept = four bubbles. Mod = five bubbles, with the color varying between mods, global mods, and admins.
-Jacob

[Jacob Orlove]

We're back to the dropdown menu above the thread:
    
+  TheManaDrain.com
|-+  Anything Magic
| |-+  Basic User Community
| | |-+  Post reply ( Re: The New Forum Software )

I liked it better when it was more like:
    
TheManaDrain.com - Anything Magic - Basic User Community

And it was at the top and bottom of each thread.

Also, if you could bring back the little icon that we can click to get a link to the post without the huge title, that would be cool.

Edit: I also had the "everything is marked as new" when I first signed on today, but it hasn't happened again. I think whatever you did at 4am overwrote what people did yesterday (I had to re-update my avatar and signature)

Update: All of these issues should be solved now.

[Bram]

If I sound like I'm complaining all the time, that's probably because I am  :lol:

Um, I don't like how it's really difficult to tell a stickied thread apart from an unstickied one.

Update: What would you suggest in how to fix it? Would a more vibrant icon we enough? ... and if so, would you be willing to make one for me?

[leviat]

Is there any particular reason why basic users can't post in the Legacy Proven forum? I know I'm no master, but I have some contributions to make to a thread, but can't, where we could before.

This is most likely an oversite on my part. I didn't realize basic users had permission to post there. Let me verify with the mods and it should be fixed soon.

Edit: Fixed!

[Kasuras]

I might be missing something somewhere, but is it possible that only mods are able to make a poll? If not, could you please say to me where I can because really.. I can't find it anywhere.

[SpencerForHire]

I might be missing something somewhere, but is it possible that only mods are able to make a poll? If not, could you please say to me where I can because really.. I can't find it anywhere.

If you do get that option it will be right next to "New Post"

[Bardo]

I miss the the divider between the stickied threads and all the other threads. For instance, under the last software in the Vintage Open Forums there was a hierarchical divider between the 'TMD Promotion Exam', 'Tourney Organizer Status', and 'Read These Articles...' threads and all of the other threads in that forum. This was something apart from their 'stickied' look. That made the page a lot cleaner to look at. I also liked the appearance of the older stickied threads. They're hard to distinguish from every other thread now.

I also like the 'Quick Reply' options at the bottom of the page of other BBs.

Edit - I see the stickied thing has come up, but what about the divider?

Edit 2 - I like the toned down look on quoted text, but think it would look even sharper if the contrast between quoted text and regular text wasn't so high. Also, what happened here?

[Jacob Orlove]

Also, what happened here?

He used [ code] instead of [ quote], so that his post would be extra-ugly.

[Bram]

OK, here's some sugegstions:

1. The sticky icon (1). It looks way too much liek regular posts. I suggest using the sticky icon in the phpBB software. I resized it to the appropriate size for these boards and put it up:



2. The sticky icon (2). You could do something ewlse that phpBB got right. Besides using the new icon, is it possible to make every stickied thread title start with the word 'Sticky:' in bold?

3. What in god's name is the second row if icons good for? Can't we just delete it?

Implemented, these suggestions would make it look something like this:



4. The backdrop in the banner loosk really bad. The gradient color is all fucked up with the line in the middle and in the bottom left cornder of the I toolbar something goes wrong, too. I think it's look better to just have an even color. I changed the xtHEAD.gif file (the background) to this one:



5. Please please delete the text 'themanadrain.com' in the banned. It looks so unprofessional.

6. I altered my logo to coincide with the background I just suggested. This would be it:



7. Please please make it so that after posting, it doesn't jump back to the main page but rather to the (end of the) thread that you replied to.



Oh, this is a mockup of what it could look like. I think it looks nice. Any other opinions?

[Malhavoc]

I don't like the fact that I don't have a "view your post" button anymore (or if there is one, I cannot find it...). The "show new replies to your posts" is not the same thing: for instance if I post in a thread, and then click on that "show new replies", that thread won't show up. I know it could be almost useless to find it if nobody have answered.. but sometimes I could just like to read again some other posts posted before mine, and I'm forced to look around to find the thread manually.

[Eddie]

There is a "Show the last posts of this person." in your profile window.

[Jacob Orlove]

Bram: I like that design, except for the empty space in the top middle.

As for jumping back to the main page after posting, you can change that in your preferences, but I agree that it shouldn't be the default.

[Malhavoc]

@eddie: I don't like it at all. It does not show me the threads I've posted into, but the posted I've made. It's quite different when I've made a lot of post in some thread the list can be a lot more crowded and confusing... oh, well, maybe it's my taste and I'm just too much used to the usual forum layout, much similar to all the other forums I crawl into.

[Bram]

Bram: I like that design, except for the empty space in the top middle.

Yeah, that's true. It shouldn't be quite as bad as that if leviat chooses to implement it, however. Keep in min that that mock-up /jpg I posted is a screenshot off my widescreen notebook monitor (forgot to 'resize' it to 4:3). Since the bar resizes automically in your browser window, it should't be as bad.

As for jumping back to the main page after posting, you can change that in your preferences, but I agree that it shouldn't be the default.

Um...yeah. OK, thanks. That works

One more suggestion...can we have the quote font set slightly smaller than the regular font after all? I know you already changed it the other way around, but I believe it'd look much better (and I believe it was a smaller font on the old boards, too).

[Jacob Orlove]

Bram: I like that design, except for the empty space in the top middle.

Yeah, that's true. It shouldn't be quite as bad as that if leviat chooses to implement it, however. Keep in min that that mock-up /jpg I posted is a screenshot off my widescreen notebook monitor (forgot to 'resize' it to 4:3). Since the bar resizes automically in your browser window, it should't be as bad.

Well, it looks like Leviat made the change, and you're right that it's not as bad.

One more suggestion...can we have the quote font set slightly smaller than the regular font after all? I know you already changed it the other way around, but I believe it'd look much better (and I believe it was a smaller font on the old boards, too).

I like the current setup, actually. The color is enough to differentiate the two.

Edit: the new sticky is great, as are the new buttons. <3. Thanks so much Leviat.

[leviat]

First of all. Thanks to Bram for redoing some of the graphics and spurring me to fix some stuff.

1) Sticky icon has been changed.
2) 'sticky:' text has been added.
3) Changed the button to a different set that don't hurt my eyes.
4) Made everyone defaulted to "Return to topic after posting"
5) Removed the extra column that shows the post specific icon.
6) Replaced the header per Bram's suggestions.

... I think I also added some new "Quick Moderation" stuff ... but that's just for mods.

Update:
I also cleaned up the BBCode buttons too. Remember to clear your cache or do the "Shift-Refresh" to make sure you can see all the new changes in graphics.


Update2:
Hey Bram, how about a better graphic for the UGLY diamonds attached to Admins and Mods? (I guess I could just turn it off...)

[leviat]

I also like the 'Quick Reply' options at the bottom of the page of other BBs.

You can enable the Quick Reply option from within your profile. Go the the Look and Layout settings...

[Bram]

Awesome, dude. Looks much better now. Now if we can just make the quote font ever so slightly smaller than the regular one after all, I'll shut up from now on ;-)

I finally think it's actually an improvement over the old boards at this point. Also, I wanna give some serious props to Leviat for pulling this off. I can only guess at the amount of time it takes for him to do this, and he implemented like 95% of our outrageous requests with no problems. Hats of to you, sir.

[leviat]

Awesome, dude. Looks much better now. Now if we can just make the quote font ever so slightly smaller than the regular one after all, I'll shut up from now on

I finally think it's actually an improvement over the old boards at this point. Also, I wanna give some serious props to Leviat for pulling this off. I can only guess at the amount of time it takes for him to do this, and he implemented like 95% of our outrageous requests with no problems. Hats of to you, sir.

Thanks for being our "Official Gimp/Photoshop Whore".

As for the quote stuff... since there's differing opinions, I'm going to wait for comments.

PS: Feel free to make an icon for the locked topics as well since those are hard to distinguish too.

[Bardo]

@ Leviat - That is some quick and fantastic work. Really excellent. Thanks! 

I think Bram's logo is an improvement, but it looks a little too blury. Those ... uh, embelishments on the 'TMD' are too jagged and they give the logo an unflattering pixelated look to my eyes. Otherwise, I think the color scheme is quite awesome. Very clean and sharp.

A more distinct 'lock' icon would be a significant improvement, as has been pointed out.

Also, I don't see the value in the 'hot topic' differentiation. Most people look at the reply count to see if a thread has a lot of activity. If you're taking suggestions, I'd suggest disabling it. They just add distracting elements to already complex looking pages.

[Mixing Mike]

I think it's a little hard to see what topics I've posted on.  Any way to make this easier to see than just the little corner right now?

[leviat]

I for myself find it very annoying that I cannot scroll with Page Up/Page Down buttons. This only happens when having clicked on the text I read. I have a bad habit of marking text with cursor as I read. Can anything be done?

See if this is fixed now. I changed some of the overflow settings. Looking through the Theme code... it's amazing anything shows up at all. UGGGGGGLY. If I didn't have a life I would redo the damn thing in compliant xhtml... but... uhh... screw that.

[Bardo]

Since the new software's been loaded I often get this warning: "Session verification failed. Please try logging out and back in again, and then try again." When I try to log out I get the same message and I'm forced to stay logged in. Has anyone else had this problem?

[Bram]

New lock buttons, eh? I initially wanted to rip the phpBB one, but it's real ugly resized. So I came up with some other stuff.







I am strongly in favor of either one with the balloon, since it doesn't fall so much out of the style of the regular trhead icons while still conveying the point. Personally, I'd opt for the brown lock, since it really screams NOTHING TO SEE HERE - MOVE ALONG HOME.

Also, I agree with whoever suggested to not have diffrent colors for hot topics.

And can I please have some opinions on a slightly smaller quote font?

[Bardo]

@ Bram. - I like the last of your lock icons the best. The first two still look like the icons for open threads; the contrast isn't strong enough. The last one, to me, says MOVE ALONG.

I have no opinion on having smaller quoted text. It doesn't make a difference to me. However, I'd honestly like to see the background of the quoted text even lighter than it is. It's still too dark and looks unpleasant.