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Site Upgrade (2012)


Scotty

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Sometime between now and the new year (hopefully), we will be upgrading all areas of the site to a new version of our forum and content systems.

This is quite a large change and there are bound to be a few hiccups, but after extensive testing, we are now confident any hurdles yet to be faced can be overcome !!!!

As you may (or may not) be aware, the site is in 4 distinct parts ... which use 4 different pieces of software and we just have to tweak them all to look like they are a single entity.

The main part of this is the core forum system. This controls our Forum, Download section, Blogs, Gallery, Chatroom, Calendars etc. This will be updated to the latest version of the software package and tweaked for our needs.

The next biggest piece of software is our article system which controls all our frontpage articles (previews, reports, articles) as well as our static pages for things like Club Info, History etc. We are doing away with the current system entirely !!!! We are replacing it with a content system that is an add-on to the forum package from the forum developers. This should ensure that all the articles, comments and other stuff are all available under one roof so to speak and users and authors/editors alike do not need to navigate two separate systems.

The third piece of software is our stats package that produces pages such as the fixture list, squad list, player bios etc. This will remain the same, but the content will be pulled into the aforementioned article content system, again meaning you dont need to navigate an external site for this info.

The final piece of the jigsaw - and one which is not overly used - is the SPL Prediction League. This will be pulled into the article system too, but users will still need a separate login as we cannot integrate it.

.... more details will follow for each upgrade path

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The new site package has several different components - most of which are already on here ..... here's a short summary of what to expect in terms of changes .....

FORUMS: Pretty much same as before, a few tweaks and updates here and there. We may merge or remove certain forums that are no longer needed but obviously not our main ones. The upgrade will be accompanied by a new visual look and the abolition of red/green dots, which are to be replaced with a facebook-style 'like' system ! Avatars and profile photos to be merged and profile photos used as avatar. The ability to filter new content is also a lot better.

GALLERY: Visual tweaks only really. We (and you) dont use this much so not much happening here !

BLOGS: The built-in blogging system continues to develop and for this upgrade we will be establishing at least one or two regular blogs from certain users, or user groups who have declared an interest in having regular "columns" or articles featured. Blogs will be on an invite/request basis and bloggers will be required to submit at least one article per month, but the content and subject matter (ICT related or not) is all yours so long as it doesnt fall foul of normal site rules ! Those of you who may already have external blogs can also use the blogging system to pull in that blog or publicise it. More details will follow.

DOWNLOADS: Pretty much the only thing in our download section right now is the various revisions of Charles Bannerman's Against All Odds book. That will remain, but we will be encouraging users to submit other files .... Desktop backgrounds, images, maybe other files too ....

CHAT: Another area not used much. This hasnt changed and the current chatroom has a 5 user limit. We will take this one as it goes and if it develops then we will consider purchasing a bigger package that allows more users in the room at any one time.

CALENDARS: Right now, the calendars only feature user birthdays and the odd event. We will be separating these into individual calendars, we may also add a fixture calendar, perhaps a player birthday calendar, and are open to suggestions for others ...... we will have the ability to pull in shared calendars in the ical format. A cool feature of the new calendars is the ability to RSVP to an event to show you are attending, and it may be the case that we can use this somehow (roll-call thread/event?)

And now for the new ones ......

CONTENT: The new content system will replace the current WordPress site we use for our articles. This is a huge change and involves us migrating more than 800 articles from one system to the other. All stories currently on the main site will still be there on the new system (we tested it), although it is likely, no actually, it is guaranteed, that many images within the stories will be screwed up. We will try to fix these, but probably wont do them all, just the most recent ones !

The biggest single impact of this change is that the forums and the actual main site articles will be integrated. Articles can be posted to/from the content system to the forum and vice-versa and comments can also be displayed on the articles themselves or in the forums. We will be able to pull newsfeeds into both areas from the other and for authors/editors alike, life will be easier all round as we will be able to accept articles from ALL users and simply promote them from the forum system to the article system if they are worthy !

CLIENT CENTRE: For most people, this will be invisible. If you are a normal "free" member of the site you may never access it. However, if you have ever elevated your membership to VIP level, have sponsored a player or the site itself, or have joined in the VPN subscription, this will be where you manage your purchases, pay invoices, and have access to a personal helpdesk system that is not posted on any of the forums like this one ! It is also how you can access a new shop area which will allow you to buy these memberships, buy advertising on the site, or buy other services from us such as website design, graphic design or other ..... As we have always said ... basic membership of this site will ALWAYS be free and you will never be denied access to the main forums if you choose not to partake in any paid subscriptions, but for those that do, this is your own little area to manage that stuff.

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK, as you may notice ... site upgrade is underway !

for now, the forum has completed conversion and you can post again as any other tweaks dont affect that part. Other parts of the site will be switched on again as we complete and test them .

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Yikes....................will need to speak about articles once this has settled down, It looks as though the formatting has scrambled the articles characters around.

We were aware this would happen...however, the positive is that the change should simplify the process and make it easier for contributors as we move forward.

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Interesting new theme but a couple of queries about the preferences.

When I go to site settings, the cancel link seems to be in red writing on a red background. Is that my browser doing things or a problem with the typeface ?

Also there were previously options to set the number of articles shown on each page, and to enable or disable the viewing of others' signatures, I can no longer find these, are they hiding somewhere I haven't looked ?

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Interesting new theme but a couple of queries about the preferences.

When I go to site settings, the cancel link seems to be in red writing on a red background. Is that my browser doing things or a problem with the typeface ?

Also there were previously options to set the number of articles shown on each page, and to enable or disable the viewing of others' signatures, I can no longer find these, are they hiding somewhere I haven't looked ?

You mean "My Settings" ? Yes, the CSS needs a tweak, we will get to it.

Articles per page, think that is currently uneditable but next version of software is putting it back in - will check

Ignore Prefs is where you can set the ignoring of signatures from specific users.

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Thanks Scotty.

Yes I meant in 'My Settings', if it is on the to do list then I won't go playing with my browser settings.

I do like to have my own choice of articles per page, I had it previously set at 100, I find it easier for going back over what has been said, would be nice if it was available.

Got the ignore sigs bit now, I had previously set to hide all sigs, and couldn't find how to get them back if I had wanted.

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Is there anyway we can keep/bring back/look at the Reputation Table? Presumably "likes" are the same as green dots and the reputation level still exists on my profile.

I was doing quite well on that table as well!

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One thing the last forum had was the ability to take you to exactly the next post from the last one you had looked at on a thread, which was really handy. This one seems to have reverted to the same as most forums - click on the link and it takes you to the first post on the thread. Shame :sad:

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One thing the last forum had was the ability to take you to exactly the next post from the last one you had looked at on a thread, which was really handy. This one seems to have reverted to the same as most forums - click on the link and it takes you to the first post on the thread. Shame :sad:

If you click the little blue (?) dot to the left of the thread title you will be taken to the first unread post.

Edited by RiG
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I am sti;ll strugg;ling with these changes.

e.g. How do you delete all read posts in the "new Content" thread after reading all thos e you wanted to. Has this been taken out. I did click on a link stated to =be this yestetday anjd all diaappeared but o and behold the next time I came into the new content thread they all came back?

Why are the emoticom images I select to chuff up IHE all coming out as red "X''s on the individual replies on any thread instead of the actual picture images being shown as before? Is this just a glitch for the time being that you may be working on ?

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I like the changes the site looks a lot more pleasing on the eye and removing the ridiculous red dot green dot game that is played out by some on here is a definite step in the right direction

I called for the site to be opened to all users not just members and it happened

I called for the voting system to be scrapped and it has now also happened

Hats off to the mods and site admin for listening to us members

dougal

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I like the changes the site looks a lot more pleasing on the eye and removing the ridiculous red dot green dot game that is played out by some on here is a definite step in the right direction

I called for the site to be opened to all users not just members and it happened

I called for the voting system to be scrapped and it has now also happened

Hats off to the mods and site admin for listening to us members

dougal

red-dot_1279540960.jpg
  • Agree 1
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I am sti;ll strugg;ling with these changes. e.g. How do you delete all read posts in the "new Content" thread after reading all thos e you wanted to. Has this been taken out. I did click on a link stated to =be this yestetday anjd all diaappeared but o and behold the next time I came into the new content thread they all came back?

Why are the emoticom images I select to chuff up IHE all coming out as red "X''s on the individual replies on any thread instead of the actual picture images being shown as before? Is this just a glitch for the time being that you may be working on ?

Can someone please repy to the two quetions that I asked in my post of yesterday at 9.07 p.m..That would be appreciated.

We're a little busy trying to make everything work right now Scarlet ... but here goes !

1. It depends how you filter it ! You can set it to filter by time period, by stuff you havent read, by forum or many other options .... see image below (click on it for larger size). The default is to show all new threads that have had replies in them during the last 24 hours and obviously there is no way you can make that blank regardless of its status of read/not read.

You probably want to use "Content I have not read" or "New since my last visit" ..... try clicking a few of the options and see which you like best ..... you can also do the same style of search in blogs, articles, gallery etc .....

post-2-0-40244600-1325212444_thumb.png

2. Can't reproduce error #2 .... seems to work for me -- give me a link to the thread in question and i will investigate. However, initial thought is to ask whether you have cleared your browser cache. ... can you see these emoticons >>> :bouncyblue: :bouncyblue: :bouncyblue::shrug:

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Scotty

Thanks. Didn't mean to give the impression that I was pushing you but thought that most , or all, of the changes had been implemented. Sorry about that.

I did actually select "content that I have not read" right from the get-go. By trial and error I settled on clicking on FORUMS and then selected "content I have not read" .

So what I think you are saying is that even if I click on "Mark all as Read" , located in the top right of the red heading of New Content list that comes up, I can't expect that it will delete these read threads until after 24 hours have passed from the date and time of the last posting ?

Er, just one thought,though.... How can I select both "Content that I have not read" and "Past 24 hours" at the same time under the heading "By Time Period"-- don't we have to make only one selection under each headng ?

:love02:

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I did actually select "content that I have not read" right from the get-go. By trial and error I settled on clicking on FORUMS and then selected "content I have not read".

Dont want to say you are wrong ... but it is something I cannot replicate so I have to assume its on your end. I get distinctly differing results when choosing each filter ......

1. Content I have not read .... I had marked all as read so it should be blank ..... it IS

post-2-0-73684900-1325215583.png

2. Content since my last visit. This covers content I have read AND content I have not read ... it is new posts since my last visit so therefore whether I have read them or not is irrelevant to this filter. If I have not read them, the title will be bolded and the little dot to the left of them will show. Clicking the dot will take you to the first unread post. In this screenshot, I had already read them so there is no dot and no bolding.

post-2-0-46956300-1325215589_thumb.png

3. The default, new content in last 24 hours. Again, the designation of whether I have read this or not is irrelevant and the rest of the explanation is the same as #2.

post-2-0-84353500-1325215598_thumb.png

So what I think you are saying is that even if I click on "Mark all as Read" , located in the top right of the red heading of New Content list that comes up, I can't expect that it will delete these read threads until after 24 hours have passed from the date and time of the last posting ?

No, I dont think you are grasping the concept .... You cant delete .... its a filter, not a personal list. If you are using the "not read" filter and are seeing posts in there you have read and which are not bolded, please screenshot it for me and post here ... I cant make it do that !!!

Er, just one thought,though.... How can I select both "Content that I have not read" and "Past 24 hours" at the same time under the heading "By Time Period"-- don't we have to make only one selection under each headng ? :love02:

You cannot. You can apply a single filter only. Content you have not read would show you content you have not read ... ever ..... for example, if someone logged in again after being away for a month, they would see a month's worth of threads if using that filter (or the 'since last visit' filter) ..... but only the last day if they used the 24 hours filter !!!

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Why are the emoticom images I select to chuff up IHE all coming out as red "X''s on the individual replies on any thread instead of the actual picture images being shown as before? Is this just a glitch for the time being that you may be working on ?

2. Can't reproduce error #2 .... seems to work for me -- give me a link to the thread in question and i will investigate. However, initial thought is to ask whether you have cleared your browser cache. ... can you see these emoticons >>> :bouncyblue: :bouncyblue: :bouncyblue::shrug:

I have now come across a few threads with broken emoticons ... these are all older threads and the problem is that we changed the URL ... the forum WAS "community.caleythistleonline.com" and is now just "caleythistleonline.com" ..... these errors may be fixed at some stage when we have got to it ... should just be a simple search / replace query on the database.

new threads should be fine though !

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