Forum Update

[A Challenge]

Between the icon that looks like a reel of film and the icon that looks like a floppy disk

If you can't find it, you can add the same old [/S] tags.

 

[ainsworth74]

I apologize if it was asked before, but is it possible to re-enable Tapatalk on this forum?

Tapatalk will return to the Forum eventually I assure you it's on our 'To Do' list!

Very much dislike the 'yesterday at' now attached to posts, without a date, so that the Friday before last is shown as just 'Friday' . Makes it extremely hard to see older messages.

'go to first unread' keeps taking me to posts from some weeks ago which I have read several times.

The migration of data caused a bit of a problem with things like above. It'll bed in eventually and will take you to posts that you haven't actually read yet! You can use 'Mark Forum Read' to force it to mark all posts made so far read and then any posts made afterwards will appear as new rather than random posts from weeks ago.

There used to be a "search" facility on the old system at the top right of an index page. How do I now access this as I cannot seem to find it under the new layout.

'Search Forums' top left

Under the old system, on the index page, on each entry at the right hand side there was the "postings" made total. You could click on this and a pop-up would appear showing a list of all contributors who had made postings on that thread and the number of postings they had made upon it, in numerically highest sequence. I cannot now obtain such information under the new system.

This information is not currently available and is not considered a priority (but I'll add it to the list).

2. As a screanreader user I am missing the old Lightweight style/skin provided on the old system which I used 95 Percent of the time, switching back to the main site from time to time. I liked this as it removed a lot of screen clutter which when using a screanreader is essentail. Does something similar exist here and if so where to find it?

For the time being this is the only theme available but we are going to reintroduce a range of themes over time. I'll make sure that a lightweight theme is given a prod up the priority list!

Forgive me, but where exactly do I find this particular button.

See below:

 

[andys495]

The forum doesn't seem to be working in Tapatalk for me now. Is this a known issue with the new software or are other people still able to access it on the app.

Ditto!

 

[DarloRich]

first take: very nice. Much more modern. Good work chaps!

A minor issue for now: Skins. Is it possible to get a work safe skin like the old board? The main board in its standard skin is very visible

 

[ainsworth74]

With regards to a 'like' button this has been discussed previously and the general consensus was against introducing such a feature. Hence why it doesn't exist on the new Forum software. As we are not currently planning on enabling it any further discussion of a 'like' button on this thread would be off-topic so can I please ask that we leave it here?

Many thanks!

 

[ainsworth74]

first take: very nice. Much more modern. Good work chaps!

Thank you

A minor issue for now: Skins. Is it possible to get a work safe skin like the old board? The main board in its standard skin is very visible

On the to do list! I used to use it as well so am also missing it!!

 

[shredder1]

Great job guys, well done

 

[47403]

Oooh they say a change is as good as a rest. On initial viewing it looks good. Well done folks.

 

[blackfive460]

A very minor issue here but I've noticed that double clicking the semaphore no longer marks that forum as "read".

Indeed, that was an extremely useful feature that enabled me to mark sections that I'm not interested in as read then view new posts since my last visit.
Will that be coming back?

Also, do we, or will we have support for @mentions?

 

[SpacePhoenix]

@blackfive460 I believe that mentions are available

 

[shredder1]

Just found the alert button, brillant

 

[Blindtraveler]

Thanks @ainsworth74 for your reply.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Vastly better on mobile!!

Indeed. So much so that I'm not bothered too much about Tapatalk.

 

[ainsworth74]

Sorry for the downtime earlier this morning there were a few other bits and bobs to be sorted out which required taking the Forum down for a while. For example you may notice that we are now HTTPS rather than just HTTP.

Again thanks for your patience and any issues or comments please keep them coming.

 

[A Challenge]

first take: very nice. Much more modern. Good work chaps!

A minor issue for now: Skins. Is it possible to get a work safe skin like the old board? The main board in its standard skin is very visible

There wasn't much difference between the two before was there?

 

[Bletchleyite]

There wasn't much difference between the two before was there?

The key difference was the absence of the header logo.

 

[Class172]

And also the removal of the semaphores if I recall correctly.

 

[Kite159]

I've heard there is a character limit for posts, could that get relaxed for the trip reporting section?

 

[A Challenge]

I've heard there is a character limit for posts, could that get relaxed for the trip reporting section?

Why is there one anyway? I haven't tried a three-letter station post yet in quizzes and games, but if it is there can it be removed?

 

[tbtc]

I don't like the prioritising of avatars over usernames, due to the sheer amount of people without avatars it's hard to see who's who.

I agree - even more confusing now as some (all?) of the people who previously had "template" avatars now just have question mark ones - maybe that's one of the minor issues that'll get tweaked in the next few days (the Mods have bigger things to deal with, I appreciate!).

*

Another rather minor grumble is that when looking at a list of recently updated threads (e.g. https://www.railforums.co.uk/forums/uk-railway-discussion.42/), the subject of each thread is nice and big and bold, but the most recent page of that thread is hidden until you hover your mouse over it and the number of pages appears. On some of the meatier topics, we can have dozens of pages, so I'm generally not bothered about going to the first page (which is what happens if I click on the big bold subject) - it's only a little gripe, but it'd be nice if the page numbers were visible without the need to hover the mouse over them (though I appreciate it probably looks "cleaner" to just have the subjects listed).

Some nice improvements though (I don't want to sound wholly negative). The feature that tells you that other people have posted comments since you started typing out yours is a handy one and may save the problem of several people thinking that they are the first person to answer a particular question - nice touch.

 

[A Challenge]

We appear to have lost the logo on the tab marker, it was the logo for a while.

 

[ainsworth74]

I've heard there is a character limit for posts, could that get relaxed for the trip reporting section?

The limit is 10,000 characters and 20 images per post. I'm not sure that it needs to be higher?

 

[telstarbox]

First impressions are very good, in particular on mobile - no more pinching and zooming to read tiny text!

 

[ainsworth74]

I agree - even more confusing now as some (all?) of the people who previously had "template" avatars now just have question mark ones - maybe that's one of the minor issues that'll get tweaked in the next few days (the Mods have bigger things to deal with, I appreciate!).

Avatars are on the to do list!

First impressions are very good, in particular on mobile - no more pinching and zooming to read tiny text!

I seem to remember telling you'd be happy with the Forum on mobile after the upgrade

 

[rebmcr]

We appear to have lost the logo on the tab marker, it was the logo for a while.

Oh yeah, I can confirm I had the same experience between yesterday evening and now.

 

[Mojo]

What do you mean by "tab marker?" Are you referring to the Favicon? The Favicon and image for people on iPhones will be reinstated soon

 

[Alteran Ancient]

I'm glad you moved over to XenForo. It's my top choice for forum software nowadays.

If I've got any suggestions, I'll pass them on.

 

[Barn]

Looks great. You've done very well to keep the look-and-feel similar to ease the transition.

As someone who once (many years ago) managed a large forum, I'd be interested to hear which other software options you considered and why XenForo ultimately won.

 

[AY1975]

On the whole I like the new format. Not got time to look through all 12 pages of this thread so don't know if this has already been mentioned, but I notice that some, but not all, older archived and now closed threads are still there. Are you still in the process of uploading the older threads, or are you choosing only to upload certain ones?

On a related note, I have also found that when I want to look back through my own posts, it only comes up with my most recent ones, not my older ones.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I've heard there is a character limit for posts, could that get relaxed for the trip reporting section?

Seconded.
1 poster reported a 1000 limit not 10Thousand as Ainsworth quoted. I have not yet tested this.