A new forum ? Help needed

[tommy]

I am considering changing this forum to another one that has more and better features. All content will be transferred ofcourse.

Since it will be a major task to convert from this forum to a new one I would like to ask you to help evaluate the new forum before I start the project.

I would appreciate if You could spend 15-20 minutes of your time to test the new forum and post your comments here.

I have setup a test forum on this url:





Please don't post anything that you would like to keep on that testsite.



Of the many features of this new forum I would like to point out a few:


- usergroups, it will be possible to setup usergroups that can give access to certain boards. It can be used to limit the number of boards listed on the index. For example one could join a group about ServiceCenter and only the general boards and sc specific boards will be listed. If the interest is also Connect.It the user can join a group that adds boards about that subject. Although this has one disadvantage, at least in the beginning - the group memberships need to be approved by an admin or a moderator. Currently that is only me. Try joining groups cat1 and/or cat2.

- better email notifications

- better security

- lots of avatars to choose from

- more options for formatting the topcis are available

Thank You in advance.

[tommy]

I am currently adding a lot of new features to the test board.



Give it a try and tell me what You think.



Thanks.

[jdadam]

Tommy, that looks great! --very helpful site.

-JD

[alloggil]

I like the colours.

Thanks. :smile:

[pcappy]

New website looks good - the colors are better suited. :smile: :grin:

[kobear]

You know my opinion :wink:



Looks great!

[tommy]

:smile:



Kyle, what do You think about the idea of using the usergroups to let the users control the size of the index page? I just wish the board had an "auto-approve" group type.

[kobear]

That sounds like a good idea. Have you gone out and checked the mods community yet for phpBB? Check out http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/, and there is a section on mods.



Post something in mods-requests, someone may have already done it :smile:

[tommy]

Yes I have checked that and I am going to post a request as well as I am hoping for help with the conversion of the posts that we currently are adding to

[kobear]

Another cool mod you should put in is the Printable Topics mod. Per the mod site: "Gives the option of a printable version of topics which has no non-message graphics and has a more compact display format."



http://www.phpbb.com/mods/downloads/...0&tophits=3236



Now that would be useful :grin:

[kobear]

Some more mods that you should think about:



Select Default Language At Login - This would be perfect for a multi-lingual community such as yours.

File Attachment MOD v2 - This would allow for you to have people attach screen shots, SC unload files, .zip files, whatever.

Statistics Mod Add On (2) - Gives you statistics on your phpBB usage.



You gotta love the open source mod community! :grin:

[tommy]

kobear wrote:

Some more mods that you should think about:



A few mods usggested.



You gotta love the open source mod community! :grin:

Naughty You, You haven't tested the site :grin:



I have implemented the Attachment and the printable topics mod and a lot of others.



The stats mod I could not get to work.



The language support.... Hmm maybe, its a lot of files that needs to be changed with all the mods I have implemented already.

[kobear]

You're right. Me bad. I did not look at the site that closely.



Which other mods have you done? (I know the answer that is coming... "Well - if you looked at the site, you would know that...")

[kobear]

Incidently, it looks like you have gotten into the nuts-and-bolts of the backend of the system. Isn't it interesting how they designed the phpBB system? Very well done by their design team. Their language abstraction is what inspired me on the idea for the FAQ site.



Template abstraction makes it easier to have seperate visual design team from php coders. Language abstraction makes it easy for translaters.



Just one of the reasons why I like the system so much.

[tommy]

No I am gonna answer Your question nicely =P Because some of the mods You would not be able to see.



I have added following mods:





User features

attachments

calendar

member of

mini reply button

print topic

tell a friend

real name

user option post sort [I have removed this one again because it conflicted with real name]





Admin tools

global announcement

delete inactive users

custom footers and headers

define topic sort order per forum

enhanced admin user lookup

generation creation

link to user admin on profile view

rank upgrade

custom mass email





And I have a list of others I might add such as:



anti spam

card ban

some bbcodes

hypercell

and a few other



And yes, the way it has been built with building blocks is great, I especially like the way that admin controls are added. Very easy.



[Edited by admin on 26-05-2002 at 10:03 GMT]

[tommy]

The usertable has been reloaded on



test.sc-resources.net

[tommy]

I have added a link system on the test site.



With this users can add links and categorize them. Users can even have a personal favorites list :smile:

[tommy]

I have added a news section in the top of the index to show the latest 5 postings.



Go check it out and let me know what You think.