Forums Upgraded

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

Joined: Aug 2000

Well, we've finally made the move to vB3.

I've tried to port our old vB2 Skin (aka TWF Classic), but I know there are some ruff edges. Give me a week or so to work out the wrinkles. After that, you can start posting in this thread or emailing me about things you find.

Things to note:
attachments are now enabled

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to post them in this thread. What do you hate? What do you want added? What limits need changed? etc.. etc..

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

Joined: Aug 2000

BTW, I just started on rebuilding the search index. Looks like it'll be done in about 4 hours. So, searches in the mean time will have limited results.

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

Mark Hensler's picture

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Search index is finished rebuilding. Looks like this server is faster than the one I was using on my LAN.

The Webmistress's picture

She has: 5,586 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

Just to let you know Mark that I'm getting an error on every page:

Line: 237
Char: 24
Error: 'null' is null or not an object

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

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*moan* Outa the box and already JS errors.

They have: 461 posts

Joined: Jul 2003

i'm only getting it on pages after posting a response.

i actually like the changes i see so far, the quick reply change and such... only thing i could even think of complaining about was that it lost my cookie so i actually had to remember my password

POSIX. because a stable os that doesn't have memory leaks and isn't buggy is always good.

Suzanne's picture

She has: 5,507 posts

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Ha! Me, too! I got all the way to the fifth attempt before I got it straight, too... Wink

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

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Also of note... I've been moving documents to the FAQ: About TWF, Community Banner System, and the Rules.

[edit]After posting this via Quick Reply, I still don't have JS errors[/edit]

[edit2]But after editing this post, I do get JS errors. Odd[/edit2]

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

The Webmistress's picture

She has: 5,586 posts

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Now I have looked again I'm only getting the error on threads that I've posted on!

When I go to the 'View Today's Active Topics' it isn't listing them with the newest posting to a thread first like it used to??

Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

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The Webmistress wrote: When I go to the 'View Today's Active Topics' it isn't listing them with the newest posting to a thread first like it used to??

Can you repeat that? It looks like the listing is sorting by "Date" descending, so that the topics last replied to are on the top of the list. Of course, the list I'm looking at right now only has two threads listed.

"Mark All Forums Read" has been re-added to the Forum Home template.

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

He has: 176 posts

Joined: Oct 1999

Congrats on the upgrade!

In regards to the js errors, double check that the body tag of your SHOWTHREAD template reads
<body onload="$onload">' and not<body $onload>'
By the way, some of the clickable smilies links are broken.

He has: 176 posts

Joined: Oct 1999

OK, is it just me or is there no link to "Mark All Forums Read" anymore?

Mark Hensler's picture

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Correct, I haven't added that to the templates yet.

Just checked, and the SHOWTHREAD template does contain
Any other suggestions are welcome.

Busy's picture

He has: 6,151 posts

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That was freaky, this afternoon I came here, only I was taken to the same page that has the old .com addy, thought we'd lost this one too.

That extra 'quick reply' icon on the persons list (profile, pm, www, search, buddy ...) is creating a horz scroll at 800x600

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

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Alrighty... We've had a bump in the carpet (or whatever the saying is).

Saturday night, Chad sent me an email that he was moving TWF to a new server. I took the forums offline, performed a DB dump, moved the files to the new server, imported the data, and turned the forums back on. The site was down for maybe 30 minutes.

Today, I got an email from Chad that he was changing the IP for TWF. So, Busy, you are the first one who has recieved the new IP. I am only here now becuase I put the new IP in my DNS server on my LAN. My ISP still has not picked up the new IP. Things should get back to normal within the next 24 hours.

*whew*

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

Suzanne's picture

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WE'RE BACK! *phew*

Busy's picture

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Just noticed the page links aren't at the bottom anymore. (page 1 2 )

We back for good this time?

The Webmistress's picture

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Yay, we are back Smiling

All looks somewhat different though! Is it staying like this now?

I used to have the link to 'Today's Active Threads' as my home page, but now when I go there it isn't listing them in newest one first, unless I actually go to the 'home' page and then click on the link from there.

Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

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Julia, the link has changed from vB2 to vB3. If you set your homepage to the new page, all should work fine.

Yes, I forgot the page links. I'll try to stick them back in there next time I work on the styles.

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

The Webmistress's picture

She has: 5,586 posts

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Nope, I did change the link as my home page and it doesn't work properly. I'll just have to change it to being the home page and click on the link each time!

Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....

JeevesBond's picture

He has: 3,956 posts

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Whaaa, this is a bit different!
Still can't pick an Avatar though Sad

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

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Awesome! Thanks for all the hard work, Mark! I really like the formatting buttons in the quick reply, and being able to delete messages from edit rather than going through admin options will surely come in handy.

Thanks again!

Mark Hensler's picture

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I put the pagelinks back now.

Julia, did you try "search.php?do=getdaily" ?

The Webmistress's picture

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No, I'll try that then Smiling

Mark Hensler's picture

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I just re-enabled custom user titles for members. I enabled file attachments. And I *think* the avatar thingy is fixed now.

JeevesBond's picture

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Oh yeah! Mark you are the man...Even if you do smell of cheese Smiling

But seriously, it's obvious you've spent a lot of time for the benefit of the forums...So for what it's worth: Thanks!

a Padded Cell our articles site!

The Webmistress's picture

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So you want to be called Baldrick now then do you Laim?? Wink

Mark Hensler's picture

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Alright, I think I fixed the JS errors (in threads you've replied to).

JeevesBond's picture

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Hmmm, I don't think I'm anything like Baldrick (Webmistress might disagree at this point Smiling ) and I don't really want to be named after him either!

Blackadder is just such a great TV programme, I guess that's about as deep as the answer gets Wink

a Padded Cell our articles site!

JeevesBond's picture

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Oh, one more thing...the images for the emoticons are broken. I just get the broken link image Sad

The Webmistress's picture

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Can the 'Mark all forums read' be added to the bottom of the "search.php?do=getdaily" page like it used to be?

Mark Hensler's picture

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Smilies should be fixed, and "Mark all forums read" is back on the search results page.

JeevesBond's picture

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Yep. Works for me too...Didn't know it was there before though - how handy! Smiling

Is it possible that it's a browser incompatibility thing? I know the methods for 'internal links' were standardised years ago, but you never know.

a Padded Cell our articles site!

Suzanne's picture

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<a href="newreply.php?do=newreply&amp;p=139912"
onclick="return qr(139912);"
title="Jump to Quick Reply">
<img src="images/twf_exp-buttons/quickreply.gif"
alt=""
title="Quick reply to this message"
border="0" /></a>
'

Looks like it! It fails in Safari, probably some funky JavaScript.

However, I can't seem to find that function at all! Doh!

There are some things that apparently don't work in Safari that are cancelled out in the global JavaScript file, but I can't see the function.

I wish that there was just a link to the bottom of the page, lol. Wink

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

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Can I get someone to test the avatar and let me know if works or not?

Also, current avatar dimensions are restricted to 50x50 pixels. I've thought about enlarging the size, but there needs to be a balance for 56k users.

Speaking of 56k users... Can any 56k users tell me how the new site loads? (and maybe what options you have turned on - wysiwig, etc.)

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

druagord's picture

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I added my avatar without any probleme. Sorry can't test for speed from here i'm on a large band

The Webmistress's picture

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It works for me - if you mean that when you click on the quick reply icon it takes you to the bottom where the quick reply box is.

Busy's picture

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I'm on 56k and have what ever the default options are set, site loads good (as good as or better than before)
A bit had to judge the load speed yet as things keep changing, maybe once the banners are introduced (if they are) it might slow it down a bit. I'll let you know if it gets slow Wink

avatar works ok, uploaded from pc - no problems

Mark Hensler's picture

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Yes, banners will be back up as soon as I have time.

Suzanne's picture

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oh! the quick reply internal target doesn't work...

Mark Hensler's picture

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Suzanne wrote: oh! the quick reply internal target doesn't work...

"internal target" ?

JeevesBond's picture

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Yeah, what's wrong with '#quickreply' Confused

Any ideas Mark?

Mark Hensler's picture

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I'm a bit lost after reading the above, sorry.

The Quick Reply button in each postbit is new to vB3. It is not a simple link to the quick reply form at the bottom. It is actually used to identify which post you are replying to. This is then used in the Threaded and Hybrid display modes (which I currently have disabled).

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

Renegade's picture

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Well its probably obvious but I'll point it out anyway...the "Quick reply to this message" icon isn't done Sticking out tongue

Renegade's picture

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oh, oops, my fault. Well I was just pointing out the image is done Smiling

They have: 344 posts

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Phew...I nearly had a heart attack when I came on and saw some adverts in place of the forums, I've known.

Phew! Now don't go anywhere again! Wink Cheers!

Busy's picture

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I just noticed the favicon (in mozilla firebird), did we have this before or am I loosing it?

Mark Hensler's picture

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No, we didn't always have a favicon. And I just removed it (don't want a vB icon).

He has: 176 posts

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Is there any chance you could turn on the hover text for the threads? You know ... when you hover your mouse over the thread title for a few seconds it displays the first few lines of the first post. I know it uses up extra resources but it's a really really good feature.

Mark Hensler's picture

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I turned it off for fear of further slowing down site access time for dialup users.

Busy's picture

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Mark, when you have nothing else to do Wink
there is an extra ')' on the last listed by thing on the first layer (go in one layer from index),

Today 08:05 PM
last post by person)

He has: 176 posts

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Well Mark, I'm on dialup and the site loads pretty fast so I doubt this would slow it down that much. Other forums I visit including vbulletin.com, sitepointforums.com have it enabled and it's fine there.

It would be nice to see it enabled. Maybe post a poll asking dialup users?

Mark Hensler's picture

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Busy, should be fixed now.

Keith, I'm attempting a compromise. I've added an option in the UserCP > Options called "Thread Preview". Theoretically, that should enable/disable it per person. Unfortunately, my browser isn't working right and I can't change the value of the checkbox. I've tested on another machine, and it seems to work fine.

Default is disabled. I have set the preview to 150 chars. I don't know what vB3 ships with, so I just guessed. Let me know if that works for you.

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

He has: 176 posts

Joined: Oct 1999

Excellent Mark. I have turned it on and it seems to be working. Cheers Smiling

The Webmistress's picture

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It seems to be on whether you tick the 'yes' box or not! I don't like it so can it be optional again please?

Mark Hensler's picture

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It is still optional. I just dissabled it in my browser (as it's decided to work today), and I no longer see the tooltips. Maybe your browser is on the fritz now too?

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

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I just enabled the "Similar Threads" feature. I have another machine crunching the data to create the links. It's on thread 3,000 right now. It may be another 30 minutes for it to finish the job.

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

He has: 183 posts

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Looks good, is that why the site seem 2 b a bit slow at the mo???

Mark Hensler's picture

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It may have been. And it looks like my guess was a bit off. The update just finished. (2 hours, ouch)

So... at the bottom of every thread you should now see a "Similar Threads" box thingy.

Mark Hensler
If there is no answer on Google, then there is no question.

He has: 183 posts

Joined: Nov 2003

Good idea!!!! How long did that take ya to do??? another all nighter?

Mark Hensler's picture

He has: 4,048 posts

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hehe, not quite. Maybe 2.5-3 hours for that. But I was working on some other things at the same time, so it was not time wasted.

Abhishek Reddy's picture

He has: 3,348 posts

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Now that'll come in handy. Smiling

Looks like a missed a lot of the action. I didn't get a chance to say this earlier: you're doing a good job, Mark, thanks. Cool

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