We are going to be making some major changes today

[Elad]

We are going to be upgrading several of our core scripts that run the discussion forums today. For several weeks we've been working on new code to refurbish and clean up the main discussion forum scripts (Lobby, Latest, Greatest, forum display, and thread display), and we're going to be switching over to the new scripts today.

However, this is likely to cause some problems, as I'm sure we've overlooked some bugs and features despite our best efforts to mimick the existing scripts as much as possible. So we'll need your help finding and fixing any bugs/errors/oversights that come up.

How to report a problem with one of the new scripts

If you encounter a problem with one of the new scripts (i.e., a feature isn't working right, a link goes to the wrong place, you get a bug report id number, etc), please email me at [e-mail].

Please include as much detail as possible. Tell me exactly what you were doing (viewing a thread - view all mode or single post mode? what thread? - reading a forum - which forum? expanded or collapsed mode? - etc), what actually happened, and what should have happened.

I have no idea how many problems we're going to encounter, so if I don't get back to you personally I apologize but I will do my best.

Thanks, and we hope you all enjoy the new design!
Elad
DU Admin

[auntAgonist]

1. thanks SO much for the heads up !

Good luck and thank you for doing such a great job. I've got a tiny forum (compared to this) and can't imagine all the work involved.

:hi:

[Misunderestimator]

2. More than happy to help you beta test!

:toast:

[BikeWriter]

3. Thanks, Elad. Good luck!

[Misunderestimator]

4. I Love the highlighting feature...

that I just now saw... for a split second.

[Robb]

8. I noticed that right off, too

That's going to be a good one, I can tell already. :thumbsup:

[underpants]

5. SO far I really like it

especially the shrunken forum links in the lobby

[Skinner]

7. I like that, too.

That's the most obvious change. All the other changes are much more subtle.

The biggest changes are those that nobody can see: The new code is much more efficient -- pages are probably about half the filesize than they were before, which should hopefully speed up download times. Also, the code is much cleaner. The old code was riddled with errors. We hope we've fixed them all.

This is actually an extremely large and difficult upgrade. But I was just commenting to EarlG here that we'll know it is a success if people barely notice a change. Kinda ironic, actually.

BTW: We've still got a lot more pages to fix. Today's upgrade only changes the most commonly-used pages: Lobby, Latest, Greatest, View Thread (View All), and View Thread (Single Post). There are still many other pages we haven't touched yet.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. Mmmmm, should we expect higher traffic thresholds for Level 1, 2, 3 etc?

:woohoo:

[Elad]

16. It's a little early to say for sure

but it looks like the new, streamlined code is reducing bandwidth/stress on the server significantly, by as a much as a third.

So, if that holds, then yes, you can expect higher traffic tresholds.

[Kellanved]

6. So sig lines are now displayed for anonymous users?

Googlebomb away :evilgrin:

[Misunderestimator]

9. I noticed one error... when you click on "Response to Reply #___"

when you are on a thread NOT showing "View all" but with enough posts to collapse them and show the View All link... it is not hyperlinking to the post. Nothing happens (though the appropriate URL is displayed in the status at the bottom when the mouse is over the link).

The hyperlink works fine on threads that are showing all the posts by "View all" or in smaller threads that don't have the "View all" option yet.

I've noticed it for a few hours now.

[Skinner]

10. Thanks for the heads up.

I will let elad know.

[Misunderestimator]

12. Oh...and fyi..... it is easily reproducible...

just click the "Link" hyperlink on any post in a thread, which will collapse the thread's posts, then click on the "Response to Reply #___" or "Original Message" link on the top right of the post (whichever is applicable). Neither works right now.

[Misunderestimator]

13. Yay! Elad fixed it already!

:woohoo:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. The Source is strong with this one. (nt)

http://www.opensource.org

[BlondieK143]

11. I like the highlighted thing

when you reply to a thread. :) That's going to come in handy!

[lavenderdiva]

23. what exactly is this? I haven't noticed it, and can't get it

on my computer... am I doing something wrong, or what is going on? please help me.

[Misunderestimator]

25. It's a yellow highlight bar on the current message when the posts

are not showing in "view all" mode.

To see it, click on any message in a thread (this one for example), then click the "Link" button (only to collapse the View All feature).

Now when you scroll up and down the page, you will see that this post remains highlighted with a horizontal yellow bar across the page, so that it's easier to find the post you're on currently.

Hope that makes sense.

[lavenderdiva]

26. Thank you very much!

I never would have figured that out on my own! Truly, I never knew you could do that with the 'Link' button. I thought it was just to find the actual 'address' for that particular post, if you wanted to allow someone to find it, in another thread. I've learned something new today!

[Awsi Dooger]

17. Excellent overall, but I'm noticing one missing aspect that I always use

There are no page links at the bottom of a page, i.e. if I want to go to Page 2, 3, 4, etc. of a forum I have to scroll up to the top of the page instead of those links being available both at top and bottom. Maybe it's a Mac thing. I tried it on two Macs and two different browsers and in each case the page links are only atop the page.

[Skinner]

18. That was an oversight.

We'll add those back in asap.

[lpbk2713]

19. Thanks, I was missing that too. ................... n/t

[Awsi Dooger]

20. Hey, they're back

Terrific. Thanks Skinner & Co.

[crispini]

21. Sooo.... when can we expect Next / Previous links to work again?

Just curious! :hi:

[crispini]

22. Sooo.... when can we expect Next / Previous links to work again?

Just curious! :hi:

[Skinner]

24. I'll tell elad.

Hopefully we can get those working soon.