Some site changes and extra features

[Admin]

Hi all

 

This weekend (April 24 2014) I will be updating the software on the site. I will also be doing some other changes which I would like your input on if you disagree, or even agree.

 

I will be removing the Chat Rooms as they don't seem to be used any more. This will result in less scripts running on the site.

 

Subject to your feedback I will also be combining the Aircraft Pilots and Aviation Enthusiasts sites into Recreational Flying. This will provide greater subject matter all on the one site and be in line with other objectives I have external to aviation

 

The site will relax the commercial advertising rules JUST for aircraft suppliers, agents and manufacturers.

 

If you have any other ideas on how we can improve the site then please speak up now, your input is very valuable...thanks

 

 

[DGL Fox]

They all sound good to me Ian.

 

David

 

 

[Admin]

Rather than simply list the changes made to the forum software, where possible I will add a video from the software developers as this I hope will show you how to use some of the new features in this forum software update.

 

In this video you can see how you can now "Multi Quote" other posts and use a "Spoiler" tag

 

Editor Toolbar, Spoiler BB Code and MultiQuote

 

[MEDIA=vimeo]84587188[/MEDIA]

 

 

[Admin]

As you know we have hyad for a long time now user registration and login with your Facebook account, now we also have Twitter and Google+. This means that when you go to login or register on Recreational Flying you will now see:

 

 

in the dropdown login panel.

 

 

[Bernie]

Videos are no good to me Ian they take too much of my limited down load time.

 

It took almost 5 min just to get into your site, yes its crappy W8 worst program on the planet.

 

Also don't use facebook and don't even know what twitter is.

 

Bernie.

 

 

[JEM]

All sounds good to me too Ian Great site.

 

 

[Admin]

The Airstrips List section has been updated...you can access all the different airstrips, see them on Google Earth, update their details with any information like runway lengths, contacts, fuel etc, you can add your own private strips and much more...from the site menu go to Pilot Tools -> Airstrips

 

Note, those on slow connections may have to wait a few seconds for all the markers to appear on the google earth map when you first go to the Airstrips section

 

 

[Admin]

The special Search System we use here on Recreational Flying has been updated. Most other sites use the MySQL search system which doesn't allow for any words less than 4 characters and can't search for explicit phrases of several words together thus dropping the 3 character or less words from the search criteria you enter and then performs a search on the individual words.

 

Here at Recreational Flying we purchased a search system that eliminates all those constraints. It is called ElasticSearch, which is installed on the server as the search engine, and then purchased a front end system to that engine for the site. This means that you can search for explicit phrases with words of any number of characters and the entries that are exact to what you put in to search for come up first.

 

For example if you search for "any number of characters" on most other sites, the "any" and "of" are dropped and posts that contain "number" or "characters" or both come up. Here on Recreational Flying this post will come up first as it contains the exact phrase of "any number of characters"

 

Just one of the benefits of using Recreational Flying as your complete repository of information on anything to do with aviation.

 

 

[Admin]

Forms

 

For some time now some of you may have seen the "Forms" section in Pilot Tools -> Forms

 

This is some software I purchased some time ago to provide the users on Recreational Flying with an ability to submit a form to specific entities. For example we could have RAAus forms here and whilst you were using the site you could submit an RAAus form right from here. When you fill out the form it then submit it, it is automatically sent to any number of specific recipients automatically by email unlike other forms where you have to download a copy, print it out and then either fax or post it to the intended recipient, all taking time and effort. The Recreational Flying forms does it all online and easy.

 

The reason why I am posting this here is that I have just updated the software however I would like to hear from anyone who may be able to suggest what forms we could have here. RAAus forms would need some acceptance by them which I will pursue but you could have forms for "Expression of Interest" to aircraft distributors or ?????...please if you can, think about what opportunities there could be for this system and let me know...thanks

 

 

[Admin]

I have updated the Likes System. There are many times recently where posts have been completely negative without being constructive in any way, so I have added a neutral Like of "Thumb Down" with the title of Being Negative. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and users have the right to post a negative comment (within site rules only) however negative posts should also be constructive in some way, helpful, a basis for the negativity given etc, and hopefully we can lift the site culture up a notch with this new negative Like.

 

Please note...I have the ability to remove/edit any Like that has been given to a post so if you feel the negative Like has been used wrongly then please use the "Report" link in the post and the Moderators can review it

 

 

[crazy diamond]

Any chance we'll be able to use the Forum with Tapatalk?? Almost every other Forum I frequent is on there, and it would be nice to have capability to access it from there when I am on my mobile.

 

 

[Admin]

This site already uses "Responsive Design" so TapaTalk is completely not needed. It took a lot of work to redesign all the code of the site to make it responsive to any device the user is using to view the site, from a 4" screen mobile phone to 5"' to 8" tablet, to 10" to 12" to laptop to PC 15" monitor to 27" monitor. Almost every single page of the site will automatically adjust itself to the screen size being used. "Responsive Design", extensive CSS and HTML 5 are the only way to create websites these days and unless you have extensive coding background, people can throw a web site together but will never be able to keep up. Tapatalk is a third party application that any visitor coming to your site will have to download before they can use your site at its best advantage on a mobile device before they even get to browsing your site plus it is very very limited and is proven to turn people away. Tapatalk is for lazy coders or people that don't know how to build a web site properly...5 years ago, yes, but not in today's web environment.

 

Have a look at this site on any device and you will see how it changes its display to suit your device...it even changes in many cases if you turn your tablet from portrait to landscape, it is smart enough to even know that

 

 

[facthunter]

Maybe you could change the " Nasty" which is a judgement of a personal nature to "unhelpful" which is an outcome based comment. You already have "helpful" so the opposite might be worthwhile. Nev

 

 

[Admin]

Maybe you could change the " Nasty" which is a judgement of a personal nature to "unhelpful" which is an outcome based comment. You already have "helpful" so the opposite might be worthwhile. Nev

Done!