Admin Posted August 31, 2016 Posted August 31, 2016 As some of you know development is underway on version 6 of the Recreational Flying site. This version is a complete rebuild of the site from the ground up with many enhancements, many little bug fixes and a foundation that will enable the site to grow much better. This thread is to keep you updated on the development progress and to announce changes that are being incorporated. It will be sticky in the Announcement forum. There will also be other threads asking for input as decisions are made to how and what that will make it into the final release. As each decision is made it will be added here to keep you informed 2
Admin Posted August 31, 2016 Author Posted August 31, 2016 The current site colour system will be retained in the new version 6 of the site. A couple of little enhancements will be made but basically kept the same. Discussions on this are in the thread: Question - Site Colour Scheme - your preference 2
Admin Posted September 7, 2016 Author Posted September 7, 2016 It was being considered to introduce a User Ranking System based on the number of Likes that a user has. Discussion on this at New site User Ranking System resulted in the dropping of the idea in the site rebuild. Thank you all for your input as without it this resource could not be developed, enhanced and maintained to your liking...thanks
Admin Posted September 8, 2016 Author Posted September 8, 2016 The development of v6 uses the same Smilies as currently being used. Some extra Trophies have been added that when you reach certain milestones like number of posts, likes etc, an alert is displayed to you congratulating you on your achievement.
Admin Posted September 11, 2016 Author Posted September 11, 2016 User Notices that you may see from time to time across the top of the page have been changed in v6 to the bottom right corner. Notices are there to: 1. Inform Guests of the benefits of registering on the site (persistently displayed and can't be turned off by user) 2. Suggests new registered members to add a thread about themselves in the "Just Landed...Welcome" forum (persistently displayed and can't be turned off by user) 3. Wishing a user a happy birthday from everyone here at Recreational Flying (displayed for the day or the user can turn off from displaying again) 4. Upcoming site site maintenance being performed so site will temporarily close at a set time (persistently displayed and can't be turned off by user) There is an opportunity to display other notices with this system so if you can thank of any please start a thread for suggestions.
Admin Posted September 12, 2016 Author Posted September 12, 2016 Version 6 of the site is coming together nicely, there have been some very minor cosmetic changes and bugs are getting resolved:
Admin Posted September 15, 2016 Author Posted September 15, 2016 Tomorrow Friday 16th Sept 2016, the first stage of the v6 site update will be implemented. This will require the site to close for a couple of hours whilst major database restructuring is undertaken. Some of the changes of v6 have already been implemented on the site to gather your comments on them prior to making final decisions on whether to include them in the update. What stage 1 will include is: Major changes to the database structure including data merging and moving from one area to another Structure changes to allow for the future introduction of the complete classifieds and shopping site on Clear Prop and the Off Topic site Whats Up Australia An infrastructure that has been built to integrate John Brandon's Tutorials into the site Cosmetic changes to the site with different colours in some components etc however it is not radically different to what the site has now which should minimise the impact The new menu system that has already been incorporated however some minor changes to it New entries alerts on the main menu for some sections to alert users of new entries in that section New post Likes Round avatars - this has been a bit controversial with a handful however with the lack of comments from many I can only assume that most users are not fussed about having them or not Animation on the site including avatars and animated images in posts and the Media section New user permissions and usergroups A complete advertising manager that allows any user to advertise in selected slots around the site and manage them including multi banner ads that rotate etc Different and more defined categories in different sections of the site A user option to select on whether a user is an RAAus member or other types of flying memberships which is also displayed in their post info Some extra Trophy levels and a few other little bits and pieces At the conclusion of implementing the above some of the features and sections of the site will not be available however changes to these will be done over the following days to bring them back on line and available. Please accept my apologies if this causes any inconvenience but please be assured that many of these changes are necessary for the site, this resource, is to remain viable in the long term and that the structure is there to provide an even greater service to all recreational aviators for many more days to come.
Admin Posted September 15, 2016 Author Posted September 15, 2016 The implementation of stage 1 of v6 has been deferred due to some testing issues found today.
Admin Posted September 20, 2016 Author Posted September 20, 2016 Stage 1 of the v6 upgrade of the site has been completed. There are many changes, some big and some ever so small however the main things are: Major changes to the database structure including data merging and moving from one area to another, the deletion of several tables and table fields for performance Structure changes to allow for the future introduction of the complete classifieds and shopping site on Clear Prop and the Off Topic site Whats Up Australia An infrastructure that has been built to integrate John Brandon's Tutorials into the site Cosmetic changes to the site with different colours in some components etc however it is not radically different to what the site has now which should minimise the impact The new menu system that has already been incorporated however some minor changes to it New entries alerts on the main menu for some sections to alert users of new entries in that section New post Likes Alerts for every post like a user receives Animation on the site including avatars and animated images in posts and the Media section New user permissions and usergroups A complete advertising manager that allows any user to advertise in selected slots around the site and manage them including multi banner ads that rotate etc Some extra Trophy levels...you would have received new trophy awarded alerts for those that have high posts when you first log back in to the site A completely new font to help make the site easier to read A complete rebuild of all site index's and user caches which hasn't been done to the site for several years Indicators when there are new unread entries in the Media and Aircraft sections The removal of the Groups feature The introduction to also automatically post your new Recreational Flying post, thread, Status Update, Media etc to your own Facebook and Twitter timelines at the same time and many more bits and pieces Hope you like the update to v6 so far! Stage 2 is to update and apply changes to the different sections of the site. Stage 3 is to build and integrate a new Clear Prop site that has pilot shopping, Classifieds, own specific forums and more Stage 4 is to build and integrate a completely new "Off Topic" site called "Whats Up Australia" that will have a diversified range of forums, Sport Tipping and many other interesting off topic sections 1
Admin Posted September 21, 2016 Author Posted September 21, 2016 All the currently available sections have been updated and reset. One major change is in the Classifieds section where users can now list their Classified: For Sale...classifieds that are for sale for a price For Sale - POA...a classified that is for sale but with a POA (Price On Application) Wanted...a classified that is something that a user wants Exchange...a classified where a user is willing to exchange something for something else Free...a classified that user is offering for free Another major change has been to the site Permissions System and User Groups. You can discuss this further at Information - Changes to User permissions The Aircraft section is in limbo at the moment as this will be passed to the new site for populating into a complete Aircraft Wiki. The Tutorials section will be converted into a system within the site instead of simple html pages and when a post contains a word that the Tutorials cover, that word will automatically be converted into a link that when clicked will take the user to the relevant Tutorial section. For example if you enter ASI in your post, when you submit your post, the word ASI will be a link to a Tutorial on ASI
Admin Posted September 22, 2016 Author Posted September 22, 2016 Stage 2 of the site version 6 upgrade is now completed. There is minimal impact to users in this stage as it simply brings the forums and different sections together with common cosmetics and some improvements in functionality of the different sections. There has been an overall of site user groups and user permissions including the greater separation benefits between standard registered users and "First Class Members". The new "Advertising Manager" has been configured and ready to go for those that wish to support this great resource and help offset the costs of providing it for you...your support is always appreciated and if this site/resource has helped you in any way at all, including giving you an interest, then please show your support of the site. I am now going to commence Stage 3 of the upgrade. This is a big impact to the site and may take a little time in getting it completed to the highest standard possible. The integration of the Clear Prop shop with registered users here has been developed and works perfectly in the test environment. The Classifieds section is also working great. Now these along with some other bonuses will be combined into a new site called Aircraft Pilots (.com) that will be fully integrated with Recreational Flying (.com). Thank you for your patience and support so far in making this site/resource even better.
Admin Posted September 28, 2016 Author Posted September 28, 2016 The developers of the secondary site integration are still working away at removing any small bugs that I have found during my testing but I hope to have an update from them within the next few days. Meanwhile, I have been working on the Expo section. There is still an enormous amount of work to do on this but it is coming along nicely. Each expo stand will contain the exhibitor's logo and contact details plus Brochures, Photos and Videos. The exhibitor's stand will have an image of a person when they are available for instant chat. When a user lands on their stand after 15 secs a popup opens asking if the user would like help or discuss anything. If the user says yes, a msg is immediately sent to the exhibitor's PC or mobile phone to start an instant chat about their products or services. This is exciting stuff, well I think so, and if the exhibitor is world wide then you will have access to a representative 24hrs 7 days a week. It's not the Virtual Reality expo that I wanted but it's a start and costs a lot lot less.
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