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New forum interface

Posted: 29 Nov 2009 18:58
by Stu
Troy,

Your new "look" is terrific! A lot of work and congrats on a great web site.

Stu

Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 29 Nov 2009 19:00
by troy
I could not sleep this morning, so guess what I did at 4AM? Yeah, you're looking at it. I upgraded the phpBB forum software to the latest version---I was barely behind. While I was at it, I looked through a few dozen available "styles" until I found the one you see here. I of course tweaked it a bit to get the moto photo at top.

There is one major feature that I have enabled that you all may appreciate--we'll see how it goes. I turned "File Attachments" on. This means that when you post a message, you can now choose to attach up to 5 files in a single message. The files become download links in your post. The primary use of this will probably be to share GPS files, but I enabled lots of file extension types. Let me know if you have any issues.

Feel free to reply here with your thoughts on the forum, but my motivation is little and does not last long, so don't expect me to do much about criticisms! :)

Enjoy!

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 29 Nov 2009 19:24
by Kware
Thanks for all your work on this Troy. The new file attachment feature should be a welcome addition.
This layout looks great!

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 06:54
by troy
Kware wrote:Thanks for all your work on this Troy. The new file attachment feature should be a welcome addition.
This layout looks great!
Thanks, Kevin! We need to go for a ride and hang out over a burger or something--it's been awhile.

The sky's the limit as far as styling the forum goes---it has a very flexible system that allows you to create your own themes. Problem is, it's a heck of a lot of work to make it look good and get it right. So, they provide a database of available styles to pick that other people have created and uploaded. There are probably 100 or more, but very few of them are what I'd consider professional. Many are tacky and some are broken. The only thing (so far) I dislike about this one is the narrow fixed width. Normally, a designer makes it simple to increase the width, but this one is not built that way. I can do it, and I might later, but it means creating a lot of new images for the borders, etc.

In any case, it's a step up from the default forum we've been running for so long. Oh, and guess what?! Tomorrow is the 3rd birthday of the forum! I started it on Nov 30, 2006. We have 187 members, 704 topics, and a total of 6,588 posts. It's been great to see fellow riders using the forum to share knowledge and hook up for rides.
8)

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 10:35
by MacWildcat
Thanks for all your work Troy. The file attachment feature will be a great addition! I also liked the "online/offline" feature.

I'm gonna give my knee a couple more weeks of rehab before I ride. Would anyone be interested in a Wabaunsee county ride some time mid December? Been thinking a start/end location of Maple Hill would be a good meeting spot.

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 19:44
by Savage
troy wrote:Feel free to reply here with your thoughts on the forum, but my motivation is little and does not last long, so don't expect me to do much about criticisms! :)
Looks like shit, good job! :lol: j/k I like the bikes at the top.

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 30 Nov 2009 22:42
by ajayhawkfan
LOOKS GOOD!!

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 09:00
by Hayden
Very Sweet dude. I ment to ask you in AR about putting a picture back up on the top of the site. I like it a lot and is a nice touch to making the site attractive to others who visit. Great work and I know it takes a lot of time. Keep it up because I love it here and have met many new friends to ride with.

Hayden

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 22:32
by gagnaou
Troy,

this is looking great, keep up the good work!!!

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 23:48
by troy
gagnaou wrote:Troy,

this is looking great, keep up the good work!!!
Thanks, Luc, and thanks, all.

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 08:29
by troy
So we had a little server date/time issue. The server time was ahead by over 12 hours. So I fixed it, setting the correct time. Funny thing is, this caused an issue in that when time went backwards, anybody who had posted in the last day is unable to post again because of the "post flood prevention" feature that says basically, at least 5 seconds must pass between posts.

Sorry! Things are working now.

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 03 Dec 2009 10:04
by ajayhawkfan
troy wrote:So we had a little server date/time issue. The server time was ahead by over 12 hours. So I fixed it, setting the correct time. Funny thing is, this caused an issue in that when time went backwards, anybody who had posted in the last day is unable to post again because of the "post flood prevention" feature that says basically, at least 5 seconds must pass between posts.

Sorry! Things are working now.
I experienced that posting problem. Thanks for all you do.

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 04 Dec 2009 19:59
by will_kc
Troy,
I just got to see the site today. Love it ! :D

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 04 Dec 2009 20:07
by troy
will_kc wrote:Troy,
I just got to see the site today. Love it ! :D
Thanks, Will! Thanks everyone. :D

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 04 Dec 2009 20:11
by will_kc
Troy,
Did you notice that today (Sat.) is Friday on the board?

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 05 Dec 2009 08:16
by troy
will_kc wrote:Troy,
Did you notice that today (Sat.) is Friday on the board?
I've had a heck of time with the server time during the past week. I must have been 12 hours off when I set it a few days ago. It's correct now...and the good news is the fix was to move the time forward. Moving time backwards causes many issues. :)

Thanks!

Re: Forum Upgrade, New Features, New Design

Posted: 17 Dec 2009 17:51
by troy
You may or may not notice, but today I made a tiny improvement so links in posts actually look like links. They were not underlined and the same color as the text. Now they are dark red and underlined.