Brand New Forum System!

Thank you for all your hard work Deb 

I'll have a good look around after work tonight 

Oh, man.  This is going to take some getting used to.  Nevertheless, good work getting it done!!!

I'm open to suggestions!

Wow, it's really different.  *laughs*

 

I'll have to poke around awhile, but my first impression is that it's incredibly *busy*...i.e., full of lots of stuff that might actually obscure the meat of the forum?  Dunno, give me time.    I like the idea of a recent activity link, but would find it much more useful if there was a way to only get new posts in that link, not who just joined, and *especially* not who "likes" something.  

 

Good luck with it Deb...I'll definitely have to get used to it!

Hey, brownie. Yes it's different. I think they fashioned it after Ning and other systems like it... for better or worse.

 

I think https://www.frenzforum.com/forumsRedirect is the closest to the old home page. People are welcome to bookmark that. 

 

Yeah not sure on the likes. Let me see what I can change on the activity page.

Do you mean something like "Recent Topics" on the right side of this page?

 

https://www.frenzforum.com/foru...y/289240632436257792

OK I killed the home page and made the forums the home page like the old days. I put some right side column stuff, and tried to simplify it.

 

There's also this page, which seems to be all recent topics and comments. https://www.frenzforum.com/displayForum  I'm working on killing really outdated "sticky" topics, which are at the top of the page.

Yes, I did not notice the Recent Topics on the side of this page.[edit: which now seems to be gone?  *laughs*]..I think that is even better if it brings you into a topic where you last left off....I can't tell yet if it does that....for whatever reason I went straight to "Activity" up at the top.

 

Thanks!

 

Also, is there a way to disable the default checked box for "Notify me about new replies to this topic" on the Post Reply screen? Or do I have to remember to uncheck that box every time I post? (Sorry to be asking so many questions!)

 

[edit:  is there a link on the forum pages to that "display forum" thingy, or is it something I'd have to bookmark?] 

 

No, I can't turn off the auto check box for notification. Sorry.

 

I made the home page the Forum list like it used to be.

 

I added a link to the right side for the recent activity. I called it something like Most Recent, Newest First. That'll always show newer stuff first. I also think it'll show a funny icon and NEW when something is new to you.

 

I'll try to add Recent Topics back, but I think it was for every forum everywhere.

Scratch that. I took out my panel with my Newest First link.

 

I put back the Recent Activity panel. It has a link at the bottom that says See All. THAT goes to the list of all recent activity, newest first.

 

I think THAT page (all activity, newest first) used to be my bookmark for this forum. I liked starting there.

Crikey, this is going to take some getting used to!  Particularly for someone like me who just *hates* change.  Others embrace change and love prodding and poking about with new things, natural curiosity driving them to investigate all the things you can now do . . . but I completely understand the need for the change here, and applaud Deb for all her efforts in making it happen.

 

I'll probably go quiet for some time, though, while I get used to it all. (Unless Peter suddenly comes up with news of a gig or something ) (Wow - what a lot of new smiley-thingys!  Still prefer the old ones though).

Well done Deb, this is very different but I'm sure we will all get used to it.

 

However, I thought you were going to have some kind of system so users could donate easily?  Is that no possible?

 

KB

Well done Deb for getting this up + running!

Gonna take some getting used to but we'll get there....

 

Do we still have a 'member centre' somewhere?

Hi KB - found it here :

https://get.hoop.la/ordervip/t...AE292EA2080DC684C2B9

HELP! This new system won't let me browse the boards. Every time I try to read everyone else's posts the writing vanishes! Can only see the top post and when I try to read further down, the posts vanish.

Anyone else having trouble with IE7???

 

Edit: Sorry! It looks as though this system only accepts IE8 or later. I'm on a borrowed laptop right now with IE8 and the site is working fine.

 

But where is the :HIDE ME/SHOW ME button gone from our personal profiles? I used to like to hide when I was online. Don't we have that function anymore?

 

 

Can't make this link work: all I get is: "Your authentication has expired. Please go back to the site and try your request again" - which I have done a few times, including coming right out of the browser and in again.  I'll try again tomorrow.

 

Whoa I just woke up, people! 7:30am in California. Let me handle what everybody is saying.

 

Yes, it changed, but the main change is really the side column. I can't seem to turn it off, so I'm trying to put minimal stuff there, and stuff that would be helpful or interesting. Trust me, I've taken out a LOT of not helpful stuff!

 

Is there still a member centre. I wasn't sure if we needed that page or not. The search page lets you search people. I wasn't sure if we really needed a page that listed 8300 people!

 

Donation. Yes, I set up the "Premium Membership" for anybody who wanted to auto-donate $20 every 6 months on a schedule. But don't worry about that yet.

 

You can always PayPal to webmaster@frenz.com. I'll get a DONATE button on the site this morning in case that helps.

 

Thanks!

OK! There is now a DONATE button on the About page. Didn't want it on every page constantly staring at you.

 

As for the "Premium Membership," it currently has no perks. Sorry. Couldn't think of any with the old board, can't think of any here! It's just an auto-pay of $20 every 6 months to support the board. You will get a special icon next to your name once I've made the icon. So everybody will know you support the board! But that's about it!

 

You can find that by going into your own profile (click you at the top right of any page), and then click Premium Memberships on the left.

 

Any other questions or concerns?

 

Thanks!

Hello Frenz world

Deb, when I saw the holding page last night, I found hoop.la's site and looked at a couple of their examples. Compared to those, I think you've done a really good job of adapting the software to meet the needs of this forum. Thank you!

Although I haven't tried everything out yet, the only niggle I have so far is with the typefaces. Sorry if you chose them because you like them - just my personal opinion.

Is it mandatory to allow the FaceBook and Google logins? How do you feel about that? Just wondering if it might make life more difficult for the moderators.

This will take some getting used to for sure, but I think any setup is going to have it's pros and cons. I like to take the time to get used to a change before forming an opinion. I'm expecting to discover advantages

 

I liked the members page. I've peeked there periodically to see who the current top 20 posters are. I'd miss not being able to do so. Also, sometimes I can't remember a member's name (but remember what letter it starts with, etc) so I scan through a couple pages to find them.

 

 

Hi! Alucidor, what is the font problem? I customised some fonts and left others. Which font didn't you like and why? Too small? Too big? Hard to know which one and what the problem is, so please give details!

 

Half-Full, I put most active members on the right side of the search page [https://www.frenzforum.com/advancedSearch]. You can search members there. The members page was otherwise an alphabetical list of 8000 people. If you really wanted that, I'll put it back!

Thanks for all your work - it'll take a bit of getting used to I think

I really think it's VERY similar in so many ways! If you took away the right bar and changed some fonts, it's nearly the old system.

 

One thing this does is make itself into an iPhone app. Takes weeks, but it means there will eventually be a free iPhone app just for the forum. I haven't started that process yet, but I will at some point!

Once you open a topic, the line and character spacing of the text in the posts there seem a bit much. I'd prefer it to be like the home page - the forum descriptions for example. 

 

And the headings - well, I just have a thing about 'casual' style fonts. Sorry!

 

It's all very easy to read though

I hate Comic Sans!

 

I was limited in which fonts I could pick, and I couldn't say "pick Arial and make it BOLD." I could only pick Arial in places. So I picked bolder fonts like the handwritten one for titles.

 

I will work to make the forum pages have better fonts. I want it to be easy to read!

 

Thanks.

Actually, I don't find it easy to to read.  I'm not sure if the font is too small, or if it's the reduced contrast with a non-white background.

 

edit:  having said that, I'm not sure what color the background was on the old forum, but for sure I did not find it hard to read.

Click on "Manage" on the menu bar at the top

 

Click "Your Personal Settings"

 

Then tick the box under the privacy section for "Keep My Online Status Private".

I think that should be the Hide/Show Me option.

Good point, Brownie. I'll work on the background colours a bit to make them lighter.

 

I tend to like fonts larger. Maybe that comes with age.

- must remember to take the tick out of the notification box for future posts!

OK this should be easier to read. Turns out the default font was dark grey. Now black.

 

Fonts made a bit larger and spaced for us old people with glasses.

 

Alternating background colours behind posts should be much lighter and separate people's posts without making things hard to read.

 

Yes?

Yes, much better!  

 

Thanks.

Yes. Much better.

 

Also, please disregard my earlier comment about FaceBook/Google. I tried it out and you do still have to sign up for this forum, it doesn't automatically let you post.

Glad it's better, Brownie!

 

Alucidor, yes from what I understand, you can ASSOCIATE an existing frenz membership with Facebook or Google to sign in that way. But it doesn't remove you still having to register here.

Deb it's hard to see a quoted post from the reply now - is there a way we can highlight the quoted post?

I should be able to write css to fix the not obvious quotes. When I can get to it.

Go to the forum from a mobile browser. Looks great!

Hi,

How easy was it to update my profile pic !! Great . Funny to see the forum on a word type background. It makes it easier to read but harder to see separations between the topics. Just need to get used to it .

I like that is is all updated with easier user functions.

Thanks for your time and effort Deb!  

I'm working on some CSS for making quotes more obvious. I can't make them alternate in colour, but I think I'm winning for making them obvious. Hopefully people won't too often quote someone who quoted someone who quoted someone!

Trying with colour alternating...