New features coming to the forums

[Admin]

Here are just a few of the many new features that are coming soon to the forums part of the site:

 

The IGNORE feature:

 

To access it, click on your name (at the top of your screen, by the Alerts) then select Preferences. It's pretty self-explanatory if you look at the following illustration.

 

 

Notification emails:

 

With the old forum software, if someone replied to your thread you would get an email containing the post text. Currently you just get an email saying a post has been made. Soon, if you are participating in a thread and a reply is posted, the alert email will now contain the full text, a graphic avatar and some useful links pertaining to your thread subscription.

 

Example of the full-HTML email notification:

 

 

Permalinks:

 

All posts are numbered, always have been. But now clicking on the number provides a nice link for sharing the post in other threads or across many different social media platforms automatically.

 

 

Auto Media Embedding:

 

Many people know how to insert a YouTube video or a Vimeo video into their post (simply click the Movie Tape icon on the toolbar when composing your post). However, some still find this to be tricky so they simply post a link. This method requires the reader to follow the link to another site, opening yet another window or tab, and it all gets a bit confusing. Soon, simply insert a link into your post and the software will do the rest, even stripping out the unneeded portion of the URL. It will take care of all the embedding for you automatically and even provide a link under the embedded video, just in case the author has disabled embedding. The site includes support for many different media sites, not just YouTube. But if you happen to stumble upon a site where the site is unable to automatically embed the link, notify me and I can add the site to the software embed engine.

 

Search Enhancements:

 

You will see a new option under the Search window, titled "Useful Searches", which gives you more control over searching.

 

 

Speed Improvements:

 

The new site will use a new Minified (compressed) coding, and a better graphics system (CSS Sprites) to deliver a faster browsing experience. This means faster page loads for you and better graphic caching.

 

Infraction (warning) system.

 

This will allow the Mods to send and track warnings to members. Up until now, this was handled by way of PM/PC in a very manual fashion that made it hard to track. Though we hope to not need to use it very often, it's just a way to say "Hey, don't do that, please" and then track how many times we've had to warn the same member. If you are ever on the receiving end of an infraction, I hope you will take it as helpful advice, but not upset you or causes you to stew over it which only causes greater issues . It's really just an admin tool to identify repeat offenders and provide a 3 warning system.

 

Alerts:

 

Alerts were introduced when we moved to the new forum software. However, some of us forget to notice the red alert in the upper right hand part of the screen. This is especially important when we get a private message. So another feature that will be included in the updated site will help make it more visible when you get a private conversation (message). Now you will get a little pop-up in the lower left hand corner of the screen as well, notifying you of an alert.

 

Standard alert

 

 

Conversation alert

 

 

Both together

 

 

More on the other features like extra Profile Fields, Thread Prefixes and more later

 

Hope you find all this useful