Major board upgrade

[Big Cam]

Man, shadows and seigy you guys rock, as well as any other admin or staff who isn't as vocal.

So many good changes in a brief amount of time.

The posts/member number being changed, explaining my weird pm issue, fixing the sigs and sig line.

Thank you so much for giving is an awesome board to be apart of.

We ran a script to fix those after the upgrade as IPB changed some important code. Most of them took, a few didn't. Any remaining errors will have to be manually fixed, they won't heal automatically

What do I need to do to fix my sig? It seems the acronym part is the only part not working, are those no longer allowed?

ALSO is it possible to have the "View active content" link accesable from the frontpage as well?

and is "Location" gone for good?

And Shadows, enable commenting on your profile, how else can we stalk you.

[filip skywalker]

In one word: Awesome!

I love the sleek and mordern style, and everything works just fine for me! Altought I feel that the status bar on the profile page is a litte off the sites original purpose...

But, as a very wise swede once said, (aren't all of us swedes wise? ) EB is the new Facebook!

Yep Ras, I'm stalking your profile...

[Commander_Rob]

A new look? Why do all my favourite websites have to update to a completely new look recently?

So here's my thoughts:

• Personal complaints (minor rant): Personally, I hate the new look, at least for now. Too flashy and too generic, it looks like it was designed to be "modern" and "stylish" and ends up looking like a bad fake of what Eurobricks was. To me, the "user control" box blocking out part of the banner is completely unnecessary and the overly large boxes for topics/subforums in the overview pages make the forum, to use a term often seen in describing Lego sets, <insert that tiresome argument>. And I feel like I have read the explanation "it's a feature!" far too often in this thread. Even if I will eventually get used to the new look, I am not sure whether I look forward to that time.

• Now, more serious complaints: The overviews could be a bit smaller, the forum index feels like it is at least twice as long as it was. Also, all forum sections seem to have lost their unique little icons for New Replies/Hot Topic/Poll/etc and pinned topics don't really stand out as much as they probably should.

• Finally good stuff, yes I have to admit there is some: The new reply window is good, even if it looks much different. Smilies and bold/italics being actually shown when writing the post are also positive.

So in total, I have very negative feelings about this new look. I understand it was a necessary step, but I still don't like it. So, that was my complaining for today. Sorry.

[Carbohydrates]

External links now open to a new window (or tab, depending on your browser settings). That's how it was on the old board and it seems that a majority of members liked it that way, so back it goes.

Thank you for the fast response!

[smokebelch]

So no change?

Still has ONLY the lo-fi version when viewing on my Ipod touch- looks ok but as I do most of my browsing on my Touch its nice to have the full site accesible as well.

[CP5670]

It did. <ctrl>-<f5> to REALLY reload the page and it'll appear.

I'm pretty sure the text was still gray at the time I made that post, even in new threads, but it looks all good now.

There are actually a few other forum sections that have this problem too. The Sci-fi section has the same kind of gray text in posts. In the Town and Train Tech categories, the post text is black and looks fine, but the thread titles in the topic listing are gray. (those don't necessarily need to be black but should be something darker, such as the bluish color used in most of the other sections)

[Eskallon]

Can we not do something like the above box but with the pinned topics in it. It looks much better this way and you can see them easier.

[Big Cam]

Can we not do something like the above box but with the pinned topics in it. It looks much better this way and you can see them easier.

Having moderator experience on a Vbulletin powered forum, I can be pretty sure announcements are usually meant to be up for a certain time frame, so they have date ranges you set and they dissapear on their own, when the date is up.

Of course you could leave that date open, it is all up to the staff if they want to replace pinned topics with announcements.

Sounds like Kim is kind of thinking about it, according to the sweet thread on talking to the sweet mod.

I don't think the pinned topics are that hard to see, o mean te pinned badge is pretty visible.

I guess its all personal preference.

[Bonaparte]

Having moderator experience on a Vbulletin powered forum, I can be pretty sure announcements are usually meant to be up for a certain time frame, so they have date ranges you set and they dissapear on their own, when the date is up.

Of course you could leave that date open, it is all up to the staff if they want to replace pinned topics with announcements.

Sounds like Kim is kind of thinking about it, according to the sweet thread on talking to the sweet mod.

I don't think the pinned topics are that hard to see, o mean te pinned badge is pretty visible.

I guess its all personal preference.

Yeah, we are playing with a lot of ideas, testing them out. Also we are trying to minimize the number of pinned threads because they are now less separated from the normal threads. We are trying to go for max 3 pinned ones per forum (with of course exceptions). Not only with this we are experimenting but also with a lot of other things. I think we're making some good improvements knowing it's only day 2 after the big upgrade.

[Big Cam]

Yeah, we are playing with a lot of ideas, testing them out. Also we are trying to minimize the number of pinned threads because they are now less separated from the normal threads. We are trying to go for max 3 pinned ones per forum (with of course exceptions). Not only with this we are experimenting but also with a lot of other things. I think we're making some good improvements knowing it's only day 2 after the big upgrade.

Oh I must agree, after only two days I went from "not quite sure" to "loving it"

You guys work fast and make good decisions.

[OneSnowTrooper]

Also we are trying to minimize the number of pinned threads because they are now less separated from the normal threads.

I don't understand why this isn't fixed in the template used. It's about 3mins of work and gives you a diver line again between the pinned topics and the rest.

Making anouncement topics, with links to important topics, seems a bit unlogical and not what anouncement topics are for (like what is done in the Star Wars forum).

To get a divider line again in IPboard version 3.x.x :

ACP> Look & Feel>your_skin>Templates tab>Forum View>forumindexTemplate

Find:

<!-- BEGIN TOPICS -->

<if test="hastopics:|:is_array( $topic_data ) AND count( $topic_data )">

{parse striping="forumTable" classes="row1,row2"}

<foreach loop="topics:$topic_data as $tid => $data">

and add this below:

<if test="$data['pinned']">

<if test="$this->hasPinned=1"></if>

<else />

<if test="$this->hasPinned">

<if test="$this->hasPinned=0"></if>

<tr class='subhead altbar'>

<if test="$this->memberData['is_mod'] == 1">

<th scope='col' colspan='6'>

<else />

<th scope='col' colspan='5'>

</if>

</th>

</tr>

</if>

</if>

Go...

ACP> Look & Feel>your_skin>CSS tab>ipb_styles.css

Find and change the padding px to whatever you want (changes the bar height )

table.ipb_table tr.subhead th {

font-weight: bold;

font-size: 1.1em;

padding: 8px;

}

it's about 3 min of work, did this on my own IPboard forum version 3.1.1 and works great.

[JimBee]

Just wanted to say that since I've had and experienced my first PM "conversation" as they're now called, I have to say that the PM system is excellent, much improved over the old version. I can compose PMs like posts now (emoticons easier to access, etc.), and even view the whole conversation with ease. The quotes are even color coded.

I'm very impressed with this.

[Shadows]

What do I need to do to fix my sig? It seems the acronym part is the only part not working, are those no longer allowed?

Sometimes it's hard to tell what is and isn't allowed at different ranks, so honestly, I'm not sure. Check the "Other styles" pulldown above and see if it's there. If not, it isn't allowed right now and should just be edited out.

ALSO is it possible to have the "View active content" link accesable from the frontpage as well?

Maybe.

and is "Location" gone for good?

Still being debated.

And Shadows, enable commenting on your profile, how else can we stalk you.

That's why I made it disappear before the board went live.

Altought I feel that the status bar on the profile page is a litte off the sites original purpose...

It's odd, but if you think of it as a title you can change yourself, it's kind of neat, and certainly harmless.

To me, the "user control" box blocking out part of the banner is completely unnecessary

Ditto, but Invision felt differently and coded it into their current system. I'm already used to it, but I've been looking at this board in test form for a while. It'll virtually disappear for you eventually.

and the overly large boxes for topics/subforums in the overview pages

... are the same size they used to be. Make sure you're not viewing a cached page because they were reduced to the exact specifications of the former board yesterday.

Also, all forum sections seem to have lost their unique little icons for New Replies/Hot Topic/Poll/etc and pinned topics don't really stand out as much as they probably should.

Agreed, but oddly enough, looking at the old board we didn't have very many of those icons. Most forums used the default set with only SW and Town being different. Whatever the case, I am planning to bring those over and try to put together a generic set for all of the other forums.

There are actually a few other forum sections that have this problem too. The Sci-fi section has the same kind of gray text in posts. In the Town and Train Tech categories, the post text is black and looks fine, but the thread titles in the topic listing are gray. (those don't necessarily need to be black but should be something darker, such as the bluish color used in most of the other sections)

I'll check Sci-fi after this post. The grey you describe in town and other areas is an unfortunate biproduct of poor planning by IPB. We're going to work around it eventually, but for now, it'll just be a little less bold than we'd like.

I don't understand why this isn't fixed in the template used. It's about 3mins of work and gives you a diver line again between the pinned topics and the rest.

This has already been covered if you read the full topic. As for why it isn't "fixed", it isn't broken. It's a style difference and we haven't decided if it's effective or not. The input we've received so far hasn't been conclusive and we're not going to just change it on a whim. As for 3 minutes, that may be the case if you run a simple board with one skin, but aside from the inherited template change, which is easy, the css change would need to be done to each of the 27 skins we currently have in our system (starting with the ones we're currently using, of course). I can assure you, for a change we haven't even decided to make, that's more time than 3 minutes.

To get a divider line again in IPboard version 3.x.x :

We know how to do it, but thanks for the info.

Thanks everyone for your input!

[JCC1004]

I don't know if it's possible but it'd be really nice if the smiley codes worked on profile comments. I'm getting used to the update and it's new but it does seem to run a bit faster. Things are easier to access and less complicated. At least I was able to get adjusted quickly. The PM System the the hardest to figure out. It wasn't that hard really. I was on while it was being updated and I saw all the banners you had on here. It was Technic for a bit.

Best regards,

JCC

[Siegfried]

Still has ONLY the lo-fi version when viewing on my Ipod touch- looks ok but as I do most of my browsing on my Touch its nice to have the full site accesible as well.

OK, I'll try some more things.

I don't understand why this isn't fixed in the template used. It's about 3mins of work and gives you a diver line again between the pinned topics and the rest.

I like it the way it is, but we might do something similar.

I was on while it was being updated and I saw all the banners you had on here. It was Technic for a bit.

Yeah, that was me. I needed to create the skins one at a time and I set some as board skins for a short time.

[OneSnowTrooper]

Yeah indeed it's 3min per theme but I assumed that was obvious.

What I was trying to say that if you need announcement topics to make up for the loss of pinned topic it seems to me there is a need for it.

just my 2 cents.

[Siegfried]

Yeah indeed it's 3min per theme but I assumed that was obvious.

What I was trying to say that if you need announcement topics to make up for the loss of pinned topic it seems to me there is a need for it.

just my 2 cents.

Well that's good logic, but KimT's just experimenting. It's not like we're doing this site wide...

[OneSnowTrooper]

Well that's good logic, but KimT's just experimenting. It's not like we're doing this site wide...

I understand and it's not criticism, just trying to hand a possible solution with the code (if needed or decided later).

[Siegfried]

I understand and it's not criticism, just trying to hand a possible solution with the code (if needed or decided later).

Can you post a link to your forum so we can see how it looks?

[OneSnowTrooper]

Can you post a link to your forum so we can see how it looks?

Made some pinned topics in the public forum for you so you can access it and see how it looks (pix with can be different)

http://www.omegaforces.com/index.php?/forum/4-public/

[Siegfried]

Made some pinned topics in the public forum for you so you can access it and see how it looks (pix with can be different)

http://www.omegaforces.com/index.php?/forum/4-public/

I need to log in...

[Bonaparte]

Made some pinned topics in the public forum for you so you can access it and see how it looks (pix with can be different)

http://www.omegaforces.com/index.php?/forum/4-public/

I've created an account and logged in.

I like it!

[OneSnowTrooper]

I need to log in...

send you a PM with login info..

[Bonaparte]

send you a PM with login info..

I took a screenshot and send it to Sieggy so he can take a look.

[RileyC]

Ive had a look at the new icons for topics in the Star Wars forum and while its good to have Lego in a Lego forum, its difficult to see if a topic is locked or whatever the dots mean. I prefer the old heads. Maybe you should get Joey Lock to whip up some cool SW heads