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Ideas how to develop the forum software further?

Discussion in 'AfterDawn feedback & suggestions' started by dRD, Nov 16, 2004.

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  1. dRD

    dRD I hate titles Staff Member

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    As I've squashed virtually all the bugs in the forum software so far, I'm open to new ideas on how to develop the thing further. I've got these things on my "list" as ideas what to implement at some stage:

    -ability to view PM "trash can", i.e. show the private messages you've deleted

    -to indicate whether you've read the private message or not, maybe by showing the unread ones in bold (or where there is the latest one addressed to you marked as an unread item)

    -to indicate clearly in the PM listing who has sent the previous message, you or the other party, and who started the PM thread

    -to have checkboxes next to PMs to allow moving several PMs to the "trashcan"

    -user profiles that would allow each user to enter his/her homepage URL, have a short description of him/her, show (optionally of course) the user's country, user's gender (optional again) and even maybe to have the goddarn avatar showing up here (but STILL not in the threads, I refuse to implement that :)

    -forum search to allow searching only from a selected forum room or selected forum group

    -to toggle signature displaying on/off when browsing the forums

    -"lite" version of the forums, aimed for PDAs and smart phones

    -to add a check for messages whether there are any (allowed) UBB tags left open, as unclosed tags can mess up the message displaying quite nicely.

    -to add easier quoting for messages (each msg would have a quote button above it in thread viewing and clicking it would get the user to a message reply window with the selected message already pre-quoted)


    Ideas that wont get implemented:

    -avatars next to users' nicks

    -dog-slow java/javascript-based message editors that would resemble MS Word with all kinds of neat features.

    -file attachments to msgs (security risks..) or PMs
     
    dRD, Nov 16, 2004
    #1
  2. flip218

    flip218 Moderator Staff Member

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    Don't know if this is possible but, can you make the option to disable images in posts, threads or even the forum?

    I know we all like using images, but for those who are still on dial up the threads would take forever and would ultimately discourage them from coming back.
     
    Last edited: Nov 16, 2004
    flip218, Nov 16, 2004
    #2
  3. zippyd

    zippyd Active member

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    Flip,
    Can't you control that in your browser?
    When I was on dial up, the only sluggish area was the safety valve where the images tend to jump out of every post.
    Also being able to toggle sigs on and off when browsing will get rid of 80-90% of the images(except the safety valve).
    And for clarity, What's an avatar?
    It's not in the glossary section..lol
     
    zippyd, Nov 16, 2004
    #3
  4. CJC

    CJC Regular member

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    An Avatar is usually a picture under a users name that they pick, on each post they do.

    "Avatars refer to pictures, drawings, or icons that users choose to represent themselves in a cyberspace system. "

    CJC
     
    CJC, Nov 16, 2004
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  5. dRD

    dRD I hate titles Staff Member

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    zippyd: Avatar is basically "your picture", like the one you have in your sig -- some forums allow users to upload them and show them under your nickname next to each one of your posts.

    flip218: I'll look into this, but I agree with zippyd that turning off the sigs takes care most of the problem and remaining images can be turned off from the browser if needed. Otherwise I wouldn't have a problem with the whole image on/off thingy, I just have a hunch that it might be a pain the *** to implement :)
     
    dRD, Nov 16, 2004
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  6. zippyd

    zippyd Active member

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    Thanks. Basically what we accomplish now with sigs.
     
    zippyd, Nov 16, 2004
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  7. dRD

    dRD I hate titles Staff Member

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    Some stuff that has been requested in our Finnish forums, as a response to a similar thread there and that I'm willing to consider in future:

    -ability to set in your personal settings on how many messages per page should be shown in threads (as some users wish to view more than current 25 msgs per page at a time). Originally they requested an ability to view all thread's messages in one page, but that would be bit overkill for threads like the flip-top one in PS2 forums where there are thousands of messages in one thread.

    -ability to "flip" the sorting order for msgs in threads, to show the latest one as the first post in first page. I personally can't understand the reasons for anyone doing this, but as it has been requested quite many times, I'll probably implement it at some point.
     
    dRD, Nov 16, 2004
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  8. CJC

    CJC Regular member

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    Nice suggestions.

    I like the idea of the profile, will help if people fill them out with answering threads. Eg having country, if they are asking for prices, their comptuer stats, with helping with a problem etc..

    Also the Display per page is a great idea, having options like 10, 25, 50, 100 per page or something like that, would be handy. Maybe have an option in the Settings/Profile to always use a particular posts per page, instead of just on each thread basis.

    Another suggestion is maybe limit the size of images in the sig and in posts.
    Eg if the image exceeds the sig size, it is automatically resized to the maximum, and same within a thread.
    Some people post large screenshots that take a while to load, so maybe same kind of thing, resize to a certain size, then you click to enlarge.

    Even if u say resize the images to a bit bigger then thumbnail size, then you click on the image if you want to see a larger size.

    I know this might be alot of work, but its a good idea :p

    CJC
     
    CJC, Nov 17, 2004
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  9. waiski

    waiski Administrator Staff Member

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    Ok. Here's what i came up in 5 mins :)

    - Breaking or truncating extremely long words and links. (they tend to stretch the layout.)
    - Hilighting search words.
    - Tooltips for icons (alt text)
    - Own posts in different color (but [bold]not pink![/bold] :D )
    - This text area could be bigger. There seems to be room for that :p

    Sounds like a good idea to me :\

    Damn you :C

     
    waiski, Nov 18, 2004
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  10. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    Yes! Yes! Yes! :p
     
    Nephilim, Nov 18, 2004
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  11. vurbal

    vurbal Administrator Staff Member

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    I'd like to see this one - oh and a button that would send one of my kids to get me a beer from the fridge ;P
     
    vurbal, Nov 18, 2004
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  12. flip218

    flip218 Moderator Staff Member

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    How about the ability to ban from a PM. There have been a few times where newbies use the PM function and end up swearing because I tell them they need to use the open forum.
     
    flip218, Nov 18, 2004
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  13. CJC

    CJC Regular member

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    CJC, Nov 19, 2004
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  14. zippyd

    zippyd Active member

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    I have a suggestion that I PM'd to loaded months ago. I never got feedback as to it's feasibility, or whether or not it was implemented. So I thought I might bring the idea up again......

    (I was a newbie when I wrote this)
    i've noticed alot of newbies don't take time to search the site for the information they need so they just start a new thread and you end up with 20 versions of the same category like "dvdshrink?", "dvd shrink question" and so on. my idea was that any time a newbie clicks "start a new thread" it takes them to a search page first. they enter their search words and at the very bottom of the results it will give the option to start a new thread if they didn't find the info they were looking for. i know that this won't stop all newbies from being impatient and starting new threads anyway but it could cut down alot on it.
     
    zippyd, Nov 20, 2004
    #14
  15. askyew

    askyew Regular member

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    How about a spell check function?
     
    askyew, Nov 20, 2004
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  16. flip218

    flip218 Moderator Staff Member

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    The ones who really need it won't use it :)
     
    flip218, Nov 20, 2004
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  17. zippyd

    zippyd Active member

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    Although you guys have enough on your agenda already, I had another idea that while not exactly useful, may prove to be entertaining.
    When a member changes status, junior member to member and so on, that status changes in every post they've made. How hard would it be to retain the status that member was at when the post was made?
    The only exception might be those who become inactive for violating rules.
    Like I said, not exactly useful. But I thought I might bring it up.
     
    zippyd, Dec 6, 2004
    #17
  18. darthnip

    darthnip Moderator Staff Member

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    the only thing i can think of that would make this wonderful place any better would be to post the IP's of the idiot ipod posters!!

    oh and for the mods to get more free clothes, i really could use some aD pajamas for these cold Indiana nights ;)
     
    darthnip, Dec 6, 2004
    #18
  19. askyew

    askyew Regular member

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    woops
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2004
    askyew, Dec 16, 2004
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  20. askyew

    askyew Regular member

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    I have one more. When looking at the list of your forum posts can we see who posted the last message along with the post date?
     
    askyew, Dec 16, 2004
    #20
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