Testing the new forum

[Kiriel]

Just testing

[Konoko]

Very nice job Kiriel!

Looks way fancier than the other one...

[Kiriel]

Thanks! This one is on my own server, so we can do whatever we like to it. It's very customizable and has a lot more features.

[Nuvali]

Looks great, Kiriel! Nice job!

[GrayGradi]

I believe this forum s/w has the option to put up the messages in a post in reverse chronological order (i.e., the most recent at the top, as it appears in the Topic Review in the bottom of the posting window). While it takes a bit of getting used to, in the long run it allows a much faster review of new messages. Just my opinion.

(Oh, and if you do it, the first post in a topic stays at the top, so you need to get in the habit of, when starting a topic, doing so in two posts; the first with just a brief topic statement, the second with whatever substantive flame -- err -- statement you re making on the topic.)

One hint on usage (maybe everyone knows this, but it surprised me when I discoverd it) clicking on the WoD logo at the top of any page will take you right back to the top level screen.

On the topic page, there are two different icons to the left of each topic, a regular envelope, and a "fat" envelope if the topic has > 15 posts. I really don't think that distinction adds anything terribly useful, and it makes scanning the icon list for the colored ones (which have unread posts) more difficult, IMO.

Also -- the s/w may allow the forum list on the top page to be arranged in categories. This might be useful.

Now, if only these durn forum programs would include a spell chicker....

[Edited by GrayGradi on 03-18-2001 at 06:29 AM]

[Sargon]

Testing timezone thingy (hoping that PT is PST, we'll see)

[Kiriel]

I made some changes on the forum. You guys let me know if you like them or not. I switched the forum to have the new posts on the top. This might be too confusing so let me know if you want to switch it back. If we do switch it back, there's a link at the top to hop to the newest posts.

I also disabled the "hot thread" notification which lets you know if a thread has a lot of activity. I don't think we really need that :)

I can also create categories. I disabled them because I wasn't sure how to group the different sections, but if someone wants to suggest some category grouping I'd be happy to implement it.

Regarding a spell checker, vBulletin 2.0 has one, but I didn't want to use that because it's still in beta. Once it goes into final release I will consider upgrading- there are several nice features in it (including private messaging and polls) but I don't want to install something that may be buggy or have major security issues.

[GrayGradi]

Wow!! Thank you Kiriel!!

And I was j/k on the spell checker -- I often compose in a Eudora window, use its spell checker, and then copy and paste. Works fine for me.

[Sargon]

Also note that under MacOSX applications get a spell-checker for free. (at least Cocoa-applications)

HWC Sargon

[Konoko]

Look at how many posts I've done! It's like 337 or something! Am I winning? :)

Is there anything after Senior Member? Or is it like lady/lord? :)

[Kiriel]

I have regrouped the forum sections into categories. If you guys think anything needs to be rearranged or changed let me know. I also moved this thread to the OOC Discussion area, which I think should be used for discussions of a technical nature like this one, as well as for any OOC chat such as personal lives, other game recommendations, etc. I'll also be moving threads occasionally to other sections if I notice they seem to be in the wrong place.

[Kiriel]

0-29 posts now qualifies you as a Breeze
30-99 posts is a Squall
100-249 posts is a Tempest
250+ posts is a Monsoon

Input and suggestions for alternate naming schemes is welcome. I'm not really sure of the relative strengths of the various types of winds so I just made some general guesses. Check http://www.thesaurus.com/roget/III/349.html for other windy names.

[Konoko]

A little change to your new wind title suggestions Kiri.

These kinda conflict (or at least get confusing when compared to rhe wind titles based on rank, etc at http://www.windsofdawn.org/windytitles.html)

So how about we use these a combination of these circle titles:
1.Puff
2.Breeze
3.Gust
4.Gale

As well as your Squall and Monsoon titles?


That way we keep the wind titles used for ranking separate from those used to denote profession (tempest).
I'd like to leave tempest out of this as it refers to a fighter. That and I like tempest as a fighter since tempest is a violent or fierce type of wind. Perfect for a fighter! :)


So how about this:
0-29 Puff
30-99 Breeze
100-199 Gust
Gale 200-299
Squall 300-399
Monsoon 400+

How about this?

Puff will most likely just end up being used for those not in the clan so puff might be pretty good. All the Wind members will no doubt go up from Puff pretty quickly...


Konoko

[Konoko]

I replied to Ender's post before I noticed the OOC area, so I'll post this here:

I like the categories you've added but is it possible to sort the topics on the main forum page by last posted date or whatever?

So it works kinda like the old forum.
Or is this something configurable on the user end?

So I guess sort the topics by post date within each category?


Know what I mean?

Konoko

[Kiriel]

I modified the titles to match Konoko's suggestion.

Regarding the forums, I can't seem to figure out how to get the top level sections to order by date. They seem to require a static order (although the threads do order by date). I'll keep checking into that. But in the meantime, there's a "View new posts" link at the top on the front page- you can use that to get a list of new posts since the last time you came to the forum. I find it very useful.

[Kiriel]

Ok, there doesn't seem to be a way to change the setting in the software to sort forums by last post, but luckily the whole thing is written in PHP and it's really easy to modify. I just changed one line in the SQL query to sort by last post, and now it should be better. The forum categories won't get rearranged, but the forums within the categories will be sorted by last post.

[Sargon]

Hi

I like your suggestion, Konoko! It's _far_ better than this 'senior member' stuff which makes me feel old. <G> But now you all have to read even more silly posts by me, because I wanna reach the next level! (still 55 more posts to go) Sowwy! =)

HWC Sargon

[Konoko]

55! Go Sargon go! :)

But it was Kiri's idea - I just had a couple changes to it...


And thanks for looking into the sort order Kiri!

[Konoko]

Another great benefit of this forum is that the read/unread messages are saved based on the session.

I use 2-3 computers to check the forum (my G4 at home, my windoze box at work, and then my PB). Since the message I've read are saved, when at my work computer I don't have to go and try to find the newest messages by going through a bunch of messages I've already read at my home computer.

I think this is one of the best features!
I had no idea how much better this new forum would be. And I thought the other one was pretty good...

Thanks again Kiri! :)

Konoko