16 replies to this topic

[Langley]

During the last week of downtime, we've upgraded the forum software and implemented a number of new features on the site.  Here are some of the changes:

• Image Uploading - You can now upload images directly to NerfHaven, without having to deal with Imgur or Photobucket (limited to specific subforums).  The option to attach files is available under the text box when posting.
• Visual Text Editor - When editing your posts, you can now see the formatting in the editor.  The editor will also autosave your post.  If you would prefer to edit your posts the old way, and see the BBCode forum tags, you can click on the switch icon in the upper left corner of the editor. 
• Notifications - Logged in users now have a notifications icon, similar to the notifications area on facebook.  You can configure your notifications options to automatically notify you when someone replies to your threads, quote your posts etc. This can be configured separately from email notifications. 
• IRC Chat - Logged in users will see a 'Chat Room' tab added to the top of every page.  Keep an eye out for other new tabs which will be added in the coming weeks.
• New Profile Fields - You can now specify your Reddit Username and Youtube Channel in your profile. This info will be displayed next to your posts in the near future. 
• The View New Content link (top right of every page) now works as expected, and includes more options.  'Content I have not read' and 'New since my last visit' are recommended if you don't want to miss any new posts. 
• Tagging - Threads can now be tagged.  Eventually tagging will be used to automatically maintain the directory threads, map nerf wars by state and region, and generally organize the site in a way that we could not achieve with subforum categories.  We will be setting up guidelines for tagging in the near future, but for now just try to be as descriptive as you can.
• Warning System - Warning bars are gone, and warning 'points' automatically expire after a set period of time.  Instead of receiving a PM and/or email when you are warned, you will now be required to aknowledge the warning before you are allowed to post again. 

These are just the first few features that have been set up during the downtime over the last week.  There are many more coming that we will roll out over the coming weeks. 

 

If you have any technical issues, or any questions about the new features, this thread is the place to post them. 

[popatachi]

Wow! A whole lot of upgrades and updates to the forum.  Looks great, Langley.

[Aeromech]

I love the changes, it's way more than just asthetic. My only question is exactly how to tag threads. I've been playing around with this for a bit, trying to edit some of my posts/topics and cannot seem to find the option, though I think the idea of tagging is amazing for documentation.

[father time]

What I think would be great is, a way to lock or save all the photos, like from "Write ups". The amount of stuff we have lost from Photobucket accounts being closed is terrible, or will the new direct upload eliminate that in the future?

[Langley]

Being able to directly upload images will prevent this from becoming a problem with future writeups, and I've been backing up all of the images which are linked from posts on NerfHaven since April of this year, so any image links which die after that time can be fixed.  If you or anyone else has images from writeups that have had dead images since before April, please let me know so we can fix them. 

[SolarFusion]

Cool updates, it all sounds great.

The only thing I'm disappointed about is the loss of my warnings bar, it was getting pretty full.

[TheNerfZilla]

Do these changes mean we will know who won the prize(s) for the mod contest?

[shmmee]

Thrilled with the new changes. Especially the photo loading. Theirs so many classic write ups that had been limited to text only since photo hosting accounts laps and die. 

 

Thanks for all the hard work and attention you guys (the moderators) give to this site. 

[Meaker VI]

The mechanical changes sound great, but can I get the old dark color scheme back again somehow? This white page burns my cave-eyes.

[Langley]

The mechanical changes sound great, but can I get the old dark color scheme back again somehow? This white page burns my cave-eyes.

 

So you're the one.  There were only 1 or 2 people using the dark gray theme, which itself was a port of a color scheme from the pre-hack version of NH.  I'm going to try and find a theme that resembles the classic black and blue pre-2006 color scheme, but it's not high on my list right now.

[Brimstone Omega]

Awesome, love the new look and features. Thanks for all the work you've done!

[jwasko]

 

So you're the one.  There were only 1 or 2 people using the dark gray theme, which itself was a port of a color scheme from the pre-hack version of NH.  I'm going to try and find a theme that resembles the classic black and blue pre-2006 color scheme, but it's not high on my list right now.

 

...I guess I'd make two.

 

Really, just two? How do you people read on this evil white background?

 

Seriously, though, it's good to have NH back. It was so dark and lonely...now it's bright and squinty, but at least I have a forum to waste time on again.

Edited by jwasko, 24 November 2015 - 08:32 AM.

[Meaker VI]

• Image Uploading - You can now upload images directly to NerfHaven, without having to deal with Imgur or Photobucket (limited to specific subforums).  The option to attach files is available under the text box when posting.

 

Just had a thought - did the system already do it or do we need to reupload all the important images (homemades writeups, mostly) to NH directly so that they aren't lost to time like so many of the old writeup images are?

[Langley]

 

Just had a thought - did the system already do it or do we need to reupload all the important images (homemades writeups, mostly) to NH directly so that they aren't lost to time like so many of the old writeup images are?

 

The system didn't automatically save your images during the upgrade, but I wrote a script to copy them over to a backup server at http://images.nerfhaven.com/images/

So if image links get broken, they can be fixed. 

[CaliforniaPants]

whenever i hit "view new content" on the main page it says that there's nothing new, but if i hit it again on that page all the unread stuff comes right up. any idea why that would happen? 

[Langley]

Yeah, if you're on a 'Page' like the homepage it assumes you want to know if there's anything new under the content module instead of the forums module.  If you look on the left you'll see that 'Pages' is highlighted instead of 'Forums'.  If you are on the main page you can either do the clicking it twice trick, or you can just scroll down, since the new main page has both the latest threads and the latest replies listed.  Or bookmark the correct page like I do.

 

At some point, when I've gotten some of this new version of IPB figured out, that link will show you the latest writeups which have been 'promoted' to articles from the forums, which is arguably what you would actually want to see. 

[CaliforniaPants]

oh okay, makes sense