Forum software upgrade / New Look

[Bobby A]

I posted my first thread with the new software, and while writing I noticed that as I write it runs off in the icons on the right. In other words it does not drop down to the next line. Is there something I'm doing wrong or is this some sort of a glitch to be worked out ?? Thanks for all your hard efforts.
Bobby A

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Well I've found a way to get the last 24 hours of posts. I have to mark all posts as read then click on new posts. There will not be any BUT there is a link that directs me to the posts for the last 24 hours. A round about way I suppose but whatever it takes. Now if there was some way of knowing how long it's been since our last log in. With the previous software, it was displayed in the upper right corner of the page. Is it still available somewhere else?

 

[combine_billy]

It looks like there are a lot of people like me that used to click on the 'last 24 hours' feature. I don't feel like the 'new posts' really duplicates that feature. I frequent another site that uses this same exact software and also updated last week to the new version. The first people that complained also complained of the last 24 hour post missing. Within an hour, a new button called 'today's posts' showed up on that site so I know it is possible to reproduce that old feature. Can this be looked at?

 

[newbie]

The new post screen is way too busy. Too many fonts and colors. I liked the old style with the thread title in bold, which made it much easier to skim through the post titles. My 2 cents.

 

[Nabo]

Sorry everyone is having problems with the new program. It's different and yes, we all have to get used to it but I like it.

 

[branson4020]

Well I've found a way to get the last 24 hours of posts. I have to mark all posts as read then click on new posts. There will not be any BUT there is a link that directs me to the posts for the last 24 hours. A round about way I suppose but whatever it takes. Now if there was some way of knowing how long it's been since our last log in. With the previous software, it was displayed in the upper right corner of the page. Is it still available somewhere else?

Ray,

Try the "advanced search" - upper right corner of screen. You can search for all posts since your last login or last 24 hrs, or last week, or ...

 

[linuxkidd]

Alright.... take a seat, this is gonna be a LONG one!!

... I have found a couple of threads that I cannot view the 2nd page, regardless of how I try to get there...
Jim M

Jim: Did this clear up? I can't seem to duplicate this issue presently, so I hope it worked itself out. If not, let me know.

I'm still getting confused with one thing so far. When I respond to a thread or respond using a quote, once I click to submit the reply, I can then only find that thread under the subscribed tab. Shouldn't it also be visible under new posts?

So, with regard to the instant visibility of posts under the 'New posts' link... This version of the software does not update that 'New posts' section but once an hour ( I think... ). As soon as I stumble across that setting again, I'll drop it down to something more reasonable. The setting is in place to prevent excessive load on the server on highly active forums ( which this is quickly becoming! ).

My daily usage of the old forum was to check "New Posts" to see if I could be of any help to anyone. The nearest I can see to this now, with the new software, is "Open Threads" which doesn't seem to have the amount of topics that the old "New Posts" had. Is there something that I am doing wrong?

So... as most can see.. The 'New posts', 'past 1 day', 'past 2 days', etc... searches has been a VERY hot topic. As a result, we now have the 'Active Topics' link at the top in the sub-menu under both 'Forum' and 'Whats New'. I added all of our previous quick searches to that menu. Please let me know if something in there isn't working properly, or if I've missed something.

To find a thread, I sometimes would go to my profile and then click the button for "find all posts" if I had posted on it. Now there is only one post coming up-a previous post on this thread. Have we lost all the history?

Using the search is not bring up any results either. Is this just temporary?

So... I rebuilt all the search indexes... And while it didn't take effect immediately... It appears to be working correctly now. Let me know if the 'Find all posts' isn't behaving for you.

I posted my first thread with the new software, and while writing I noticed that as I write it runs off in the icons on the right. In other words it does not drop down to the next line. Is there something I'm doing wrong or is this some sort of a glitch to be worked out ?? Thanks for all your hard efforts.
Bobby A

I expect this is a glitch with how your web browser handles the new styles of the forum. The people at Jelsoft are working on an incremental update which they are trying to address several things of that nature. Until then, I seem to not have that issue at all with Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome (names are linked). You may want to try one of those as they are both significantly more secure than Internet Explorer. Chrome would probably be my first recommendation for simplicity and blistering speed.

...Now if there was some way of knowing how long it's been since our last log in. With the previous software, it was displayed in the upper right corner of the page. Is it still available somewhere else?

I'll add this to my list of things to research...


===========================
So, in case some haven't noticed, I've knocked a few things out...

* Quick searches for 'Active Topics'
* Added the word 'Password' to the password box to make it more obvious what's supposed to go there.
* Fixed user registration so we now can get new members again.. ( it's the little things isn't it?? )
* Made the Location field visible in the posts again
* Renamed 'Home' to 'Portal' to provide continuity from what we had before
* The 'Friends Online' functionality is available under 'Quick Links' -> 'Open Contacts Popup'
* 'Whos Online' is available in a few spots.. Under 'Quick Links' -> 'Whos Online' and at the bottom of the main forum page... I do intend to investigate the functionality from the old portal still though.


Another new feature!! When you are on the main 'Forum' page, you should now see a side bar on the right side. This has links to the 'Tag Cloud' as well as an 'Active Topics' section. If you don't like it being there, simply click the double right arrow toward the top right corner of the sidebar and it will collapse away.

For those not familiar with a 'Tag Cloud'... The idea is that as new topics are posted, the user can list key phrases called 'tags' below the initial message box before they post a new thread. This 'Tag Cloud' shows the most popular tags. The more popular the tag, the larger the font size is for that tag. It may not be very useful for people who are on the forum every day, but it's a great way to quickly find common topics.

Also, I wanted to point out that with regard to the 'Reply To' and 'Reply with Quote' buttons going to the quick reply instead of the 'Advanced Editor'... I found that you can double-click those items and it will skip right past the 'quick reply' and go directly to the 'Advanced Editor'. It takes some getting used to, but it works well once you get the hang of it.

Again everyone... We really appreciate the feedback. We must keep moving forward with the new things, but want everyone to be as comfortable as possible along the way. Keep the comments coming!

Thanks!
LK

 

[jimtoo]

As a mod and on a lot... when I go to the last new post it just takes me to the last page,, not the last post. Not a big deal, just a couple of extra clicks of the mouse,(I am lazy) and also in the portal or new post page or forum page for last 24 hours, after I have viewed or clicked on the post it does not change, go dim or none highlighted, so I would know I have already looked at this post or thread....With a short memory,,, I don't know which ones I have looked at sometimes.

You have done a great job changing this forum over... very little or almost no down time and I can see nothing lost.... Thanks for your work.

Jim M

 

[linuxkidd]

As a mod and on a lot... when I go to the last new post it just takes me to the last page,, not the last post. Not a big deal, just a couple of extra clicks of the mouse,(I am lazy) and also in the portal or new post page or forum page for last 24 hours, after I have viewed or clicked on the post it does not change, go dim or none highlighted, so I would know I have already looked at this post or thread....With a short memory,,, I don't know which ones I have looked at sometimes.

Hey Jim,
I'm not seeing the same behavior on the 'new posts' link. I wonder if it has to do with connection speed. i.e. Maybe the page is loading slow enough that the jump to the post won't catch.

With regard to the 'viewed' posts look, I think the issue is that the icons in the new software are not as obvious. I hit this as well when I first started browsing around. It turns out that the icon changes from an open envelope to a closed envelope, but the color, etc... doesn't change at all. So, it's very easy to not catch the difference.

Let me know if you're seeing something different than this..
Thanks,
LK

 

[HowardBJr]

I’m having an issue with the leading (i.e., the space between lines of text) using IE 7 when viewing the list of “New Posts” or viewing the list from any search. There is an overlap of about a half of the text depending on the text size when I set my browser for “Largest”. When set to “Large” the overlap is about 15%. The overlap goes away when set to “Medium.” The overlap is about 10% when set to “Small” and goes away when set to “Smallest.” It appears that the second line is sitting on top of the line above it. The icons are also partially hidden by the line below it when the lines overlap. I have a 21 inch monitor set to 1600 by 1200 resolution. The problem may be related to the background color of the text and how the text does a word wrap when the text has to go to a second line to fit within the cell of the table. I have not been able to duplicate this problem on other areas of the new forum.

I hope this is descriptive enough and is helpful.

 

[jayc]

I'm having the same issue aas Jim. When I click on view last post, it goes to the first page of the last post, not the actual last post.

 

[jnbhobe]

As a mod and on a lot... when I go to the last new post it just takes me to the last page,, not the last post. Not a big deal, just a couple of extra clicks of the mouse,(I am lazy) and also in the portal or new post page or forum page for last 24 hours, after I have viewed or clicked on the post it does not change, go dim or none highlighted, so I would know I have already looked at this post or thread....With a short memory,,, I don't know which ones I have looked at sometimes.

You have done a great job changing this forum over... very little or almost no down time and I can see nothing lost.... Thanks for your work.

Jim M

Mine is the same as Jim and Jay both at home and my office. Thanks LK

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

LK, First thanks for all of your hard work. I really do like the new look of the Forum and I'm sure once we all get used to it things will be fine. I'm slowly finding my way around and the more I explore, the more I learn. A recent trip to the Portal page left me looking for the quick mod links. It used to be on the left column of the Portal. I no longer see it. I can still go through the mod link at the bottom of the forum but the quick link saved a few steps. If it's no longer available that's fine. It was a nice shortcut though.

 

[irvin56]

Just logged into another new view.
on the forum page.

There is now 9 tabs that seperate everything into catagories
GREAT thanks.

Makes the choices easier and faster to hunt down the areas your looking for.

Getting better every day.

 

[jbeletti]

Tabbed Forum Menu, Community Banners, Portal Changes

Hi all,

We continue to plow through our list of planned forum changes. Today, the following was implemented:

• Tabbed Menu System

This tabbed system consolidated some forums and replaces the ever-growing long list of sub-forums. This will greatly help new users find information but may stymie long-time users.

The tab names and content will be refined over the course of the next few days. Where we can flatten some forums, we will do so. For example, we have Television, Satellite Television and Entertainment System sub-forums in many of the Heartland RV Brand forums. Now may be time to combine all of those. Same with Tires. We have a Tires sub-forum within each Heartland RV Brand forum. Perhaps time to combine all those Tire forums. These are just two examples of where we feel we need to head.

Also, the General Forum is out of control. Not your fault. As we have sensed the need to capture discussion about something that didn't fit other buckets, we just added a sub-forum for it under General. General is now ginormous .

So, please bear with us as we noodle how to reorganize all the data. We may not get it all correct either. Please feel free to give us feedback

Note too that on each Heartland RV Brand forum (Landmark, Bighorn etc.), there is a brand banner image. This image is the same that is used on the Heartland RVs factory website. We've done this for to add relevant imagery to the brand forums and to keep them consistent with what Heartland is currently using for the same brand on the factory website.

Finally, soon, the portal will be tweaked, allowing entry directly to the Heartland RV Brand Community/Forum of your choice by clicking on a brand logo or link. Still working out details on this.

LK is keeping VERY BUSY!

Thanks for hanging in there with us during all of this forum change.

Jim

 

[TXBobcat]

Just curious. Is there a link to the member list. I met a new Heartland Cyclone owner today and wanted to look them up. I could not find the members list. Am I missing something or is it still in the brew.

Thanks for all the work. It is looking good.

BC

 

[linuxkidd]

Just curious. Is there a link to the member list. I met a new Heartland Cyclone owner today and wanted to look them up. I could not find the members list. Am I missing something or is it still in the brew.

Hello BC,
The member list option is under 'Community' sub-menu at the top...

LK

 

[boatto5er]

Is there a way to see emails sent via the forum. We have the option of sending email or private message and can track the outgoing private messages, but if I send an email to a member I don't see a way to verify that it actually went out.

 

[jbeletti]

Is there a way to see emails sent via the forum. We have the option of sending email or private message and can track the outgoing private messages, but if I send an email to a member I don't see a way to verify that it actually went out.

Sorry Gus - this is not an option with the forum's built-in email feature. Please keep the ideas coming

 

[irvin56]

The tab names and content will be refined over the course of the next few days. Where we can flatten some forums, we will do so. For example, we have Television, Satellite Television and Entertainment System sub-forums in many of the Heartland RV Brand forums. Now may be time to combine all of those. Same with Tires. We have a Tires sub-forum within each Heartland RV Brand forum. Perhaps time to combine all those Tire forums. These are just two examples of where we feel we need to head.



I like the feature of tabs. And yes I think all the same stuff could be in one(tires) ( televisions) etc.
I think a lot of the same stuff is in some or all and is related to the topics being discussred.

Jim great job also. You jumped the gun on me, I WAS going to mention that today. after I saw the tabs last night.

I would say great minds think alike BUT MINE is not the great