vBulletin 4 Upgrade!

[Frederik Magle]

I have just upgraded MIMF to the new vBulletin version 4. It is a major upgrade with lots of new functionality - including personal blogs for all members! As you can see it looks a little strange (The old design was incompatible with vB 4 so this is a rough "re-creation"), but it will be improved.

Also, there are going to be some teething problems for sure. I apologize in advance - please reply with any problems, errors, bugs, you experience or if you have any questions.

Best regards,
Frederik

 

[JONESEY]

ahh, excellent, it wasn't just me going mad - things have changed!!!!.

Bug / error / whatever I don't know, but I'm finding it difficult to see messages containing quotes - they are coming up just White.
Also can I link my blog to this page somehow?

 

[Frederik Magle]

Thanks for letting me know about the quotes, Jonesey! I've changed the background color so it should be readable now.

I'm not sure if there is an automated function linking your blog to posts. You can always put a link in your signature though.

 

[Krummhorn]

Frederik,

Looks really nice ... and so far, seems to drive nice, too.

 

[Dorsetmike]

One problem I find is the drop downs under Forum Actions, Quick Links etc are almost unreadable black on dark blue until you scroll through each one, I suppose in time we'll get used to what options are under which heading, but I think it would be much easier if they were easily visible.

 

[Ghekorg7 (Ret)]

Wish success with this new appearance !
A little strange at first, but I believe will be better as we explore it .
So far it runs ok here, but I'll try some things in the morning to get the feel of it .
Best
Panos

 

[Mat]

I'll second Mike's opinion.

And who is this Admin person that keeps adding new articles? It's not anyone from the forum staff, is it?

 

[Krummhorn]

I'll second Mike's opinion.

And who is this Admin person that keeps adding new articles? It's not anyone from the forum staff, is it?

Kind of sort of yeah, but no ... When the forum was born, the first user, by default, was called Admin, which was really Frederik. Then 'Admin' created the username "Frederik Magle", who then got others to join and create their own usernames.

With the forum software upgrade (a seriously major upgrade I might mention) just completed, there are lots of new features ... one being the "Home" page which is still in development (ergo the Latin text) and by default, the forum software is creating new "Article" threads by its 'creator'.

You are not the first member to express concern on this particular feature ... I have been able (I think) to turn that off for the moment. Being as how my log in for the forum shows everything (and I mean, literally, e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g) I have no way of knowing what this now looks like, after I made a change in the ACP, to the regular users. Hopefully, those new articles have been suppressed, at least for the time being, until we can tweak those settings.

With each forum software upgrade comes some unexpected things ... believe me, we are working all the issues on a priority basis ... things like the 'articles' getting tweaked, is a low priority at the moment, hence why I was (hopefully) able to turn them off for regular members.

We appreciate all the feedback from our members.

 

[Frederik Magle]

I've changed the header and navbar. Hopefully it is more readable now.

Please keep reporting if you find any text difficult to read, thanks. Lars and I will be working on setting up the CMS ("Home")as soon as the basics are working

 

[Mat]

Lars, thanks for a detailed answer to my post. I do understand it was a major change; it will take time to get used to it and find our way round it. I spent half an hour yesterday trying to choose colors for text, backgrounds, etc on my profile page :crazy:

I have one issue. When I log in on my account, the forum doesn't show the usual bar in the upper right corner and all the other features on the screen right away. It seems like I haven't logged in at all. I have to refresh the page to get everything back in order. It's been this way for some time now (it started before the upgrade).

Also, I wouldn't mind if it was possible to block all these articles from appearing in the Unread Posts section (I've seen some today).

Frederik, the navbar is much more readable now. Thanks for the changes. Oh, you might have a look at the Top Posters page. The user names come up invisible.

 

[Krummhorn]

Lars, thanks for a detailed answer to my post. I do understand it was a major change; it will take time to get used to it and find our way round it. I spent half an hour yesterday trying to choose colors for text, backgrounds, etc on my profile page :crazy:

I have one issue. When I log in on my account, the forum doesn't show the usual bar in the upper right corner and all the other features on the screen right away. It seems like I haven't logged in at all. I have to refresh the page to get everything back in order. It's been this way for some time now (it started before the upgrade).

I too am having the same symptom ... I tried resetting the Firefox browser's "about:config" without any success. That cured it before when I was having the same problem on my XP machine ... maybe Win 7 handles the refresh rate different.

Also, I wouldn't mind if it was possible to block all these articles from appearing in the Unread Posts section (I've seen some today).

Hmmm, I need to delve into that further.

Frederik, the navbar is much more readable now. Thanks for the changes. Oh, you might have a look at the Top Posters page. The user names come up invisible.

 

[Frederik Magle]

Frederik, the navbar is much more readable now. Thanks for the changes. Oh, you might have a look at the Top Posters page. The user names come up invisible.

You're very welcome - thanks for alerting me about these problems. I've fixed the background color on the top posters page.

I'm afraid I don't have an answer for the "having to refresh to show login" problem. I don't experience it myself after this upgrade, though I have experienced it on occasion. Currently I'm on Firefox 4.0.1/ Mac OS X.

We'll be looking into the prolems with CMS articles - maybe turning it off until we can set it up properly.

 

[el_supremo]

I have trouble distinguishing between the icon that means an unread thread and the one that means there are new posts in the thread. There is very little difference/contrast between the two and the background. I find I'm always checking the dates of the threads to be sure whether there really are new posts in them.
Is that something you can change? Perhaps make the "new posts here" icon a deeper blue (or hot pink, or ... ).

Thanks
Pete

 

[Contratrombone64]

Well - I like the new format and will embrace it (have no option really). In seriousness, I like it.

 

[Krummhorn]

. . . I have one issue. When I log in on my account, the forum doesn't show the usual bar in the upper right corner and all the other features on the screen right away. It seems like I haven't logged in at all. I have to refresh the page to get everything back in order. It's been this way for some time now (it started before the upgrade).

I too am having the same symptom ... I tried resetting the Firefox browser's "about:config" without any success. That cured it before when I was having the same problem on my XP machine ... maybe Win 7 handles the refresh rate different. Hmmm, I need to delve into that further.

You're very welcome - thanks for alerting me about these problems. I've fixed the background color on the top posters page.

I'm afraid I don't have an answer for the "having to refresh to show login" problem. I don't experience it myself after this upgrade, though I have experienced it on occasion. Currently I'm on Firefox 4.0.1/ Mac OS X.

Ahah ... :clap: ... I think I found the culprit ... changed a little setting in the ACP (added no-cache HTTP headers) and that seemed to resolve the refresh rate.

Let us know if this solved that issue for you or not, Mat.

 

[Dorsetmike]

Couple more minor niggles, the "Report" and other icons along the bottom of posts are barely visible, dark grey on blue, some have text as well which is visible.

The options at the top are a bit inconsistent, sometimes "Mark all threads read" shows then when clicked the "Forum Actions" then becomes visible and you have to then select Mark all threads from that.

 

[Mat]

Let us know if this solved that issue for you or not, Mat.

Yup, it works fine now. I don't have to hit F5 anymore. Thanks, Lars.

By the way, is it possible to change the settins so when I press "Reply With Quote" it opens the text in the advanced window (as it's been so far) and not in "Quick Reply" window?

 

[Krummhorn]

Mat, glad to hear that solved the refreshing of the forum pages ...

As to the reply with quote, it defaults to the basic editor ... mainly because most people don't want, or need, the extra tools to reply with.
There is a button at the bottom right "Go Advanced" which when clicked upon will open up the advanced window for reply. It's only one additional mouse click, and is what I do most of the time.

 

[Mat]

^^ Ok, that's fair enough.

I have two more issues. When I go to Unread Posts, it is hard for me to distinguish between the posts I'm subscribed to and the rest of them. And I think before the upgrade, after logging in, there was also a visible distinction between new posts and those that "haven't been changed (not sure if this was the exact word) since my last visit". Is it possible to get that feature back?

And the last thing (at least for now ), would it be possible to move the Quick Links drop down to the Welcome Bar in the upper right corner as it was before the upgrade? This way we would have all the most useful functions within one area. I realise though it would affect all users, and not all of them might like the idea.

 

[JHC]

I notice that HTML and Image BB Code is not allowed in signature, is that for any particular reason ?