92 replies to this topic

[Chosen]

This thread is to discuss site updates.

[Dave ST]

So far is all looks really cool Cho-Cho. Is there an ETA on when/if you're going to do this upgrade? Oh, and can you bring back the Comic font?

[Chosen]

The soonest it could be is probably a month. I am going to slowly start having people beta test it for me to figure out what the problem areas are. I want to try to fix as many things as possible before it is launch for everyone. It could end up being a few months if we hit some big snags.

One things that I was asked in the chat was if any of the content will disappear. The gallery is the one thing that I know that I will have to rebuild, but other than that almost everything will port over. The current site has 260k+ posts and during the transition there were less than 100 posts that couldn't be ported over. Your avatars will still be there, your signature will still be there, your password will still work and all your PMs will be there.

And I answered your other question in the other thread.

[Joani]

Wow the previews look super-awesome. I like it alot. If you need volunteers for beta-testing sign me up. The mobile feature is especially awesome imho since I often surf the site on my smartphone (iPhone).

Can't wait to see it go live!

[Einherjar]

Shiny. It's looking good, but do you have to let Contessa get her Comic Sans back?

[Courier]

It looks very good.

[Stargaizer]

I've survived one facelift, I guess I can survive another (plus the addition of a lot of new shinies).

I'm glad that we're updating. I'll get over any skin/UI changes.

[Justin OOC]

loos good to me

[Damon]

I reserve my judgement until we see what kind of skins or UI we get. The frames don't really matter all that much to me if what we are upgrading to serve the same functions.

I just hope we get rid of the sickly pale blue template, it feels like a boy's baby shower. If I was visiting the site for the first time and hadn't yet realized I could change the skin, that blue would drive me crazy. (As it still does when I look at the site when I'm not logged in.)

[Stargaizer]

Hey, I like the EON/Default/RPG-Post skin. I happen to like blue (and ironically enough will be planning/attending our baby shower within the next whoever knows how many months).

[Damon]

Originally Posted By: Stargaizer

Hey, I like the EON/Default/RPG-Post skin. I happen to like blue (and ironically enough will be planning/attending our baby shower within the next whoever knows how many months).

Not to derail the thread...but not only are you going to attend the baby shower, you are planning it?!

I weep for your testosterone levels.

[jameson (ST)]

I'm gonna have to say I rather like the blue as well.

[Ensign Minneapolis]

Looks good. But I need a pink skin for the page for me to REALLY sign on for this.

[Chosen]

When the upgrade happens there will only be 1 skin for a period of time. But once we have settled in I'll start to add a few more.

[Dawn OOC]

Chosen, can we help you set up the skins? I don't know if that's possible, but I'm sure people would volunteer their time to have a sexy-sexy skin for their sign-ins.

And by people, I mean me.

[Chosen]

I am open to the idea, but I am not entirely sure how this could be done. The stuff is tied directly into the admin section so I don't know how someone could do it if they weren't the site admin.

The next version of the software is beta with a lot more functionality so I'll see if there is a way to do this when I get close to launch.

[Ashnod]

Thumbs up!

[Chosen]

Glad that people are liking things, except for the existing color that is.

I have a question for everyone. As I said above, the new software has a new version coming out at some point and is currently in beta. That could mean a month or a year, I don't know. My question is will it bother you if we switch and then modify things shortly afterward?

[Damon]

Like a band-aid, I prefer to rip it off and have a short burst of moderate pain than to do a slow tear of agonizing torture.

In other words, I would rather switch once to more or less what the final would be, than to switch over and then have to revise and re-adjust as things change.

[Stargaizer]

I would have to concur with Damon.

[Chosen]

Thanks for the responses.

Regardless of when the transition occurs I am going to slowly unveil certain aspects of the new software. I want people to be able to focus on understanding the forums before I add in a bunch of other buttons that they may or may not use.

[RushingMountain]

I will throw in with Dawn on skinning.

I will also throw in with Damon & SG on getting it over with.

Will RSS be a feature of the new site?

How customizable will the interface be? Specifically, can we remove buttons from the interface that we won't personally use?

[Chosen]

Players will be invited to the beta testing soon so that will give you some time to familiarize yourself with the new software before it goes live.

What RSS feature are you inquiring about?

[Chosen]

Originally Posted By: RushingMountain

How customizable will the interface be? Specifically, can we remove buttons from the interface that we won't personally use?

Unfortunately you will not be able to remove buttons that you do not use. It does have the ability to minimize the sidebar and all areas within it.

I'd like for people to be able to custom build their own portal but we aren't there yet.

[RushingMountain]

I'm wondering if we can get RSS feeds of forums, so that we can subscribe to them and have posts pushed out to us.

Is that a feature that already exists that I missed?

[Chosen]

That currently exists. If you click on "My Stuff" and then "Feeds." That should take you here: http://www.rpg-post.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/myfeeds/show/1.html

The new version's RSS fee system is completely different. I'll post on it later on.

[RushingMountain]

Actually, that's terrific! I don't know how I missed that the first time.

[Chosen]

One image that I have in the New Site Software thread is no longer relevant. The watched content tab in the sidebar has been removed. Apparently it was too resource heavy. I hope to provide another option at some point.

[Chosen]

Rather than post this in the closed New Site Software thread I am going to post this straight in here to stress the discussion prior to announcing it as a feature. Since this changes the way things will work I want to get some feedback.


I am thinking about removing all in game subforums.

We have been using a model for a long time where you accrue X number of posts and threads and you can expand your forum by adding subforums. Then within each forum we have posting icons that partially work that have IC, FI, CH, MD, GN & RU. They sort of works the same way as the subforums. The problem has always been that the icon shown is from the last poster not the first.

With the current system after you have reached the number you can request a new sub forum from me. And I go set it up, tell it that your game is it's parent, set the permissions, make you the moderator, add it to the recent posts sidebar. But the benefit is that you have this nicely organized group of forums for your game.

And yes, I want to kill that and make it so that you'll never get a subforum again.

Categories aka tag prefixes

But I do have an option to replace it. It is by using categories, which are similar to the posting icons, rather than sub forums. Below is an image of how it would display. Aberrant: Infinite Earth currently has 2 subforums. I gave Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire 4 categories.




If you go into the Aberrant: Infinite Earth forum you'll see things pretty much the way they are now with the 2 subforums at the top. If you go into Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire you'll see every post in the game. I know that this is the reason that people want sub forums, but I think this alternative still works better. If there are 5 new posts you can easily scan them all. If you are only concerned with Fictions you can just click on the Fiction Category name on the forum homepage and get a listing of just the fictions. If you click on the Category icon at the beginning of any post within icon you can get the same list of fiction only posts. This gives people the option for how they want to view the game forum.

The benefit to you with this is that you can get access to multiple predefined Categories when you start up your game forum rather than having to wait for subforums.

Over the years this site has had a lot of games. There have been 330+ forums, and 165 are still active. As of this posting I see 32 subforums. Whenever I have to manage permissions, set up a new moderator, add a new forum, etc. I have to navigate through 165 forums to fine it. The benefit to me is that with this option I eliminate 20% of the clutter that slows me down while working in the admin panel. It will also save me the time from having to create subforums. Both of which give me more time to handle other requests.

If people approve of this I will probably also create tags for the RPG games so that I can condense that forum down and remove 7 more forums.

As I said at the beginning, I want to get your opinion. Does replacing subforums with categories sound like a fair trade to you? Feel free to ask questions if I didn't explain something properly.

[Wyrd]

I'd have to see it in action to comment on how well the categories work. My biggest issue is that people will likely mistag threads a lot, whereas the subforums make it easier to post within a clearly defined area.

On the other hand, I'm all for reducing your workload and the stress of what you do for us.