MacResource
Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - Printable Version

+- MacResource (https://forums.macresource.com)
+-- Forum: My Category (https://forums.macresource.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Tips and Deals (https://forums.macresource.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=3)
+--- Thread: Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? (/showthread.php?tid=63251)

Pages: 1 2


Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - rz - 10-02-2008

Still trying to get used to the "new" forum. I do have one request though. On the old forum, if you had a new private message, there would be a yellow-highlighted message on the top right. Now, it's mixed in with all the stuff like "Forum list, mark messages, etc" and it's not highlighted. I think the text is in red, but being red-green colorblind, it doesn't jump out at me. I had a private message that was a couple of days old that I didn't know about until I checked the email account I registered with and it told me I had a new private message.

I'd appreciate it if you could find a way to highlight it a little better so those of us who are colorblind can see it. Thanks!


Re: Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - ztirffritz - 10-02-2008

I'll second that request. I found that new PMs are not very obvious from the main page.


Re: Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - lafinfil - 10-02-2008

I sent a request to admin Jim to see if this is possible with the new software
and I will report back with his answer. (I liked the old yeller tag too)


Re: Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - Mac1337 - 10-02-2008

So what have we gained after all these gyrations?


Re: Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - voodoopenguin - 10-02-2008

Dakota wrote:
So what have we gained after all these gyrations?

Loads of things, there's polls and....


Re: Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - RAMd®d - 10-02-2008

Old Yeller

polls

I like sharing these moments of our lives.


Re: Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - lafinfil - 10-02-2008

Got an answer back from admin Jim - he's out of the office for a few days, but will take a look first of the week.
If it is possible to do he will change it..

As far as "what we got" It has been stated repeatedly that upgrades had a lot to do with what is under the hood.


The old version of the Phorm software was a series of patches and plugs so there was a lot of code
totally rewritten to make managing and running it better and more secure for they people that have to do the work.
(see Brian Moons comments)

The admin and owner though it was time to make the jump (they passed on earlier upgrades)
I'm no expert and it's not my forum so I won't second guess them


Re: Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - kj4btkljv - 10-02-2008

Smilies, we got LOTS more smilies.

None of which I'm going to use...

Jeff


Re: Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - Mac1337 - 10-02-2008

lafinfil wrote:
Got an answer back from admin Jim - he's out of the office for a few days, but will take a look first of the week.
If it is possible to do he will change it..

As far as "what we got" It has been stated repeatedly that upgrades had a lot to do with what is under the hood.


The old version of the Phorm software was a series of patches and plugs so there was a lot of code
totally rewritten to make managing and running it better and more secure for they people that have to do the work.
(see Brian Moons comments)

The admin and owner though it was time to make the jump (they passed on earlier upgrades)
I'm no expert and it's not my forum so I won't second guess them

I don't want to devalue your work here but I have genuine questions. Why do you have to work one the "code" at all? Can't you just get a forum software off the shelf? Our needs here are pretty basic. In fact, other boards I visit have tons more bells and whistles than what we have and they all seem to come from canned software. Why all the work? What am I missing?


Re: Too late to ask for a forum enhancement? - lafinfil - 10-02-2008

First of all I personally do not work on the code. I merely acted as a go between and tried to
wade through all the comments, complaints, and other input and condensed it for the admin
who is the one doing the coding. I am just a volunteer like the other mods and try to help out
while trying to do my "day job" I'm at the computer for periods (not always) and email notifications
alert us when something needs tended to.

That said - I am not a website designer or coder- but as I understand it Phorm is open source software
that basically gives you a few default templates that are customizable.

Admin Jim has to code things in order to get the look and feel of the forum as we have known it.
The former design (old forum) was not an out of the box template as I understand it - but a modified one.
If you had seen the out of the box template that he started with you certainly would not be happy.

Beside the actual "look" there is the functionality - did this button work .... why doesn't the other thing
work like it used to ... the thingy doesn't link. Again - this is free open source software and not
a turn key solution. That is why coding is required as I understand it.

There were lots of volunteer testers that gave us good feedback before it went live and Larry
also insisted that the users be given a chance for feedback ... and we got plenty.

There will probably be some tweaks to come as time allows and I'm sure admin Jim will look at
any ongoing issues and continue to make the forum as clean and usable as possible under the new software.