New Site Layout And Features

[Mark H]

Well its taken too many hours to count but the site is finally upgraded

 

Here is a list of just some of the new features

 

* Rich Text (WYSIWYG) Editor

Allow your members to easily format their posts, signatures and personal messages.

* RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Import

Import RSS content from all over the 'net as new topics in any forum you choose.

* RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Export

Allow others to syndicate your content by setting up exclusive RSS export streams from forums of your choice.

* Multiple Question Polls

Create new polls in our easy to use interface. Set different questions for multiple question polls.

* Member's Display Name

Optionally allow your members to choose thier own display name which is separate from their log-in username, and change it as often as you allow.

* Components Framework

Download pre-written components and install them with a few clicks. Create new functionality without needing to

touch a line of IPB's code; future-proof your modifications!

* Improved Forum and Topic Marking

Forum are topic markers are now stored in the database. Our comprehensive system accurately tracks all your unread

topics regardless of which computer you use to access your account.

* Topic Rating

Allow your members to rate each other's topics. This can be set per forum and per usergroup.

* Concurrent Post Capture

Optionally merge concurrent posts within a settable time-limit. Prevent "And another thing..." from creating a new

post!

* In-line Topic Editing

An IPS innovation: Edit topics from the forum listing without a need to refresh your page!

* In-line Post Editing

An IPS innovation: Edit posts quickly from the topic view page without reloading the topic!

* Member Name Suggest

An IPS innovation: When composing a new PM or pruning a forum, enter part of a member's name and IPB will bring up a

list of suggested matches, instantly!

* MyAssistant Re-Designed

An IPS innovation: A combined floating palette comprising of instant notification of new PMs with the ability to

cycle through recent PMs. Instant "new posts" listing, and quick search - all used without a single page refresh!

* Re-designed Admin Control Panel

A totally re-worked ACP. A new tab system categorizes the ACP menu making it much easier to find what you want!

* Re-designed Template Editing Screen

Taking advantage of the very latest scripting tools, we've totally re-worked the template editing interface making

it much easier to find the correct template bit you need to edit and even allowing you to edit several at once.

* Log In Authentication

Choose between different types of authentication. Use existing member databases to authenticate your users; allow

a single password for your current member systems and your forums! LDAP and .Net PassPort modules being developed

now.

 

 

The features that will be most relevant to members are:

 

New Feature: WYSIWYG Editing

 

IPB 2.1 comes with Rich Text Editing capabilities (also known as WYSIWYG). This editor, which works in IE 5.5+, Mozilla and Firefox (Safari is being worked upon) makes it much easier to generate posts which require a lot of formatting.

To enable rich text editing, make sure you're logged into the board as a member. Click on "My Controls" and click on "Board Settings".

This is a per-user option and the administrator has the option of disabling the rich text editor board wide.

 

The standard editor has been recoded to look like the rich text editor for consistency.

 

New Feature: Topic Rating

 

IPB 2.1 can now let your members rate topics. This can be enabled on a per-forum basis and you can enable rating on a per-group basis. You can also allow your members to change their rating (on a per-group basis, also). We have enabled rating in our community forums and in the customer's chat forum.

 

New Feature: Multiple Polls

 

IPB 2.1 can now let your members create multiple question polls. The administrator can set the maximum number of allowed questions and the maximum number of allowed choices per question. The poll form utilizes javascript to enable you to manage your poll without the need to refresh the page. You'll notice that there no longer appears to be a "Add Poll" button. When creating a new topic you can optionally create a poll at the same time. Editing the first post in a topic with a poll lets you edit the poll (when allowed) or to delete the poll (where allowed)

 

New Feature: In-line editing

 

Moderators can now edit a topic's title simply by double clicking the topic's table cell. This changes the topic title into a little text box. Clicking away from the text box updates the topic title and saves the edit. All without refreshing the page!

 

New Feature: PM Notice

 

IPB 2.1 has a new style PM notice. When you have a new PM, you'll notice a semi-transparent box in the bottom left hand corner of your browser. You can drag this to any point on the screen and IPB will show the PM notice box there from then on. You can click the "1/2" link to cycle through your PMs without leaving the screen.

 

New Feature: Get New Posts

 

When you click "Get New Posts" in the board header, you'll be provided with an instant review of them without the need to leave the page you're on. This is a very handy feature and will auto-update on each click!

 

New Feature: Member Name Auto Complete

 

When you compose a new PM, typing three characters or more into the "Recipients" box will bring up a list of possible matches. You can use your cursor keys to scroll through them, or your mouse or simply continue typing and the list will update until you click away from the name box.

 

The list of known problems are as follows:

 

* Garage link on profile page doesnt work

* Site needs optimising as its too large, images and css need compressing

* Skin layout needs further playing around with to make it look cleaner

* Logo looks stretched

 

Please feel free to add to this thread any problems you encounter. In the first instance it would be wise to delete your cookies and clear down your browser cache to see if that fixes the problem.

 

 

P.S. The RSS links have changed, they are now at the bottom of the page (Orange RSS Logo), you will need to update your RSS reader with those changes.

[Mark H]

Problem in Firefox when sending a PM, you cant type inthe box if the Rich Text Editor is enabled. Works ok in IE.

 

For the moment change your editor to plain text by slecting it from here:

http://www.midlandslotus.co.uk/forum/index...=UserCP&CODE=04

 

I will look into it. Sleep calls

 

It seems that if you click in the editor window with Firefox 1.5 it doesnt flash the cursor, so it looks as though you cant type when you actually can. Spent a whole day looking into this and it was working all along

[neural9]

Really nice Beefy! The only thing I was going to say was can you make it 200px wider - and then I noticed the themes down the bottom. Good stuff.

[B3N]

Nice stuff & good work. This is one of the nicest and advanced forums I come to. It's the little things that make gossiping easier

[Daniel]

Looks really cool. Just in Firefox i get: "Live Bookmak Feed Failed To Load" when trying to do that RSS thingi? Here's the URL I used to use:

 

http://www.midlandslotus.co.uk/forum/ssi.p...how=10&type=rss

[Ian_km]

Looks good, but even better once I'd sussed the 'Wide' option

[Mark H]

Ok, I've made the "wide" skin the default as I think it is better. You can still choose narrow if you wish.

 

Modman, if you recreate your Livebookmarks then it will correct the URL. Otherwise the URLS to do it manually are:

 

 

Latest Topics

http://www.midlandslotus.co.uk/forum/index.php?act=rssout&id=2

 

 

Latest Posts

http://www.midlandslotus.co.uk/forum/index.php?act=rssout&id=1

 

 

Links to the garage have also changed, so if you are using that URL in your signature or on another site you will need to update it.

[christurbo]

I really like it beef

[darren5591]

Very nice Mark , took me a bit of getting used to but now I know where things are its fantastic .

 

If you see the garage page, there used to be some stats about who has spent most on there cars etc, this seems to be missing

 

also, the writing on the top taskbar (home,garage,blogs) seems a bit distorted on the words Gallary and links.

[darren5591]

Im sure last time you were able to refresh the page through clicking on the logo at top, it seems you cant on this one.

[Mark H]

Very nice Mark , took me a bit of getting used to but now I know where things are its fantastic .

 

If you see the garage page, there used to be some stats about who has spent most on there cars etc, this seems to be missing

 

also, the writing on the top taskbar (home,garage,blogs) seems a bit distorted on the words Gallary and links.

 

Garage stats are now not on the main page, see the option for statistics on the left hand side in the garage

Link images do need changing I agree.

[darren5591]

On the previous version, when you hovered over the post it showed a preview,this version seems not to have this feature

[dobbo]

New site *looks* good, unfortunately I can't access anything (I've removed the skin - seems to work with narrow and wide skin though).

 

 

 

Whatever I try to do results in this error or something similar :

 

 

 

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: member_ol_date() in /home/mlocipb/public_html/forum/sources/action_public/topics.php on line 1103

[simonk]

Site seems to be on GMT?

 

Otherwise, looks good from here.

[Mark H]

New site *looks* good, unfortunately I can't access anything (I've removed the skin - seems to work with narrow and wide skin though).

 

 

 

Whatever I try to do results in this error or something similar :

 

 

 

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: member_ol_date() in /home/mlocipb/public_html/forum/sources/action_public/topics.php on line 1103

 

 

Yep Chris, make sure you only use the MLOC skins (Wide and Narrow), the others are only there because there is a bug and the only way to make the MLOC skins available is to make all the hidden skins available (thus why I renamed them to "no skin selected).

 

In the old site you didnt get to see them, so couldnt select them, the reason you get that error is because I havn't bothered to customise them as I never wanted people to use them and thus they dont contain any customised elements like member_ol_date which is the member last online date/time.

 

Hope that helps, I probably should have mentioned it but at 4am it was the last thing on my mind

 

 

Site seems to be on GMT?

 

Otherwise, looks good from here.

 

Your time zone is set here:

 

http://www.midlandslotus.co.uk/forum/index...=UserCP&CODE=04

 

Mine seems ok but them I do have the auto DST button ticked, I'll see if I can perform a quick SQL statement to make sure everyones DST is ticked.

 

Let me know if that doesnt sort it.