Upgraded forum software is here...

[Handruin]

As you may be able to tell, the forum upgrade has been done and I'm working on ironing out any remaining issues. There is also a new mobile template that may work better for people with smart phones. So far I've upgraded us to the latest vbulletin software forum package. I did not add the CMS system since there was no real desire for it (which is completely fine). I've used the generous donation you guys gave me to get the upgrade and I'm also working with a friend/graphic designer on getting us an updated/revised logo. The logo you see is temporary until that task is complete. I've also used a small portion of the money to continue funding my favorite anti-spam website (stopforumspam). This new forum has a few extra measure put in place to help reduce even more spam, but the actual mod to the forum isn't working very well. Some of you may have noticed that previewing and posting new threads was leaving you with a blank white screen. I'm working to figure that out, but for now I'll need to leave the mod disabled until that can be resolved.

As usually, please start making a list of things I need to fix, since I know that big changes like this won't make everyone happy. I'll do my best to address the items that you find in a timely manor.

 

[ddrueding]

Sweet! Looks great. Thanks for all the time you put into this place!

 

[Handruin]

Thanks. I hope this works out for us. So far I like the changes. They are taking a little to get use to. I'm trying out the mobile web-based version now and it seems to be pretty decent.

 

[Bozo]

Wow! Really looks nice.

 

[LunarMist]

It seems like some items are missing, for example replying without a quote.

 

[Handruin]

There is a reply button that does not quote. Is it not working?

 

[LunarMist]

There is a reply button that does not quote. Is it not working?

Not that I see.

 

[Handruin]

View attachment 399
Not that I see.

That is weird. What web browser are you using so I can check the same one? Under Firefox is see both reply and reply with quote.

Thanks for pointing this out. It may also be a permission issue I missed.

 

[LunarMist]

I am using the Windows IE. I think it only works if one is logged in first. Normally I only log in when replying.

 

[Handruin]

I am using the Windows IE. I think it only works if one is logged in first. Normally I only log in when replying.

I confirmed the same thing. It is related to not being logged in.

Also, once logged in, the reply and reply with quote options can be double clicked to do a different task. With a single click, they will use the quick reply box at the bottom as you may have seen. If you double click them, it will perform the traditional reply method with or without the quote.

 

[Bozo]

Two things I can't seem to find.
When going to a forum topic, you can't select 'Last Page' from the menu.
When finished with the last post, there was a box you could click to take you back the the topics menu.

Am I making sense?

 

[Handruin]

Two things I can't seem to find.
When going to a forum topic, you can't select 'Last Page' from the menu.
When finished with the last post, there was a box you could click to take you back the the topics menu.

Am I making sense?

I still see the 'last page' option in threads that have multiple pages. See screen capture and let me know if that's not what you would expect.


Regarding your second item, I don't recall the box you're referencing. Where was it originally located?

 

[CougTek]

When finished with the last post, there was a box you could click to take you back the the topics menu.

I think he's talking about the scrolling menu at the bottom of the page of a thread that let you go back to another forum. We no longer have it.

 

[timwhit]

The new mobile theme is much better. Thanks Doug!

 

[Bozo]

I think he's talking about the scrolling menu at the bottom of the page of a thread that let you go back to another forum. We no longer have it.

Yup, that's it.

 

[Handruin]

Yup, that's it.

Is it the same as the "Quick Navigation" at the lower-right corner? Is this what you were inquiring about?

Default:


Expanded (clicked):

 

[ddrueding]

Yup. They just moved it much further up the page.

 

[Mercutio]

Has anyone else accidentally clicked the "restore saved content" button instead of "post reply" and lost stuff they had typed yet?

 

[Handruin]

Has anyone else accidentally clicked the "restore saved content" button instead of "post reply" and lost stuff they had typed yet?

I haven't even seen that button yet. It must only show up if the forum auto-saved and then maybe the browser lost a session? Maybe what is in order would be some kind of confirmation of restoring the post (if it doesn't already have this)?

 

[Mercutio]

Every once in a while I navigate away and come back to write a post, it shows up. I also see when I write lengthier posts.

 

[Handruin]

Every once in a while I navigate away and come back to write a post, it shows up. I also see when I write lengthier posts.

Are you seeing this with Firefox or another browser? When you write your reply, are you using the normal reply box or the quick reply box?

 

[Mercutio]

So far I've been using Quick Reply. I've used Firefox and Chrome.

I've observed that the forum will restore things that I've typed after I've navigated entirely off the site and allowed a reasonable period of time to pass (~45 minutes?), as long as I'm typing in the same thread where I started typing initially.

 

[Handruin]

So far I've been using Quick Reply. I've used Firefox and Chrome.

I've observed that the forum will restore things that I've typed after I've navigated entirely off the site and allowed a reasonable period of time to pass (~45 minutes?), as long as I'm typing in the same thread where I started typing initially.

I tried what you described and I saw the restore button, but it wasn't near the post reply button. Is this what you're seeing or is it located elsewhere? This was in the quick-reply window.

 

[Mercutio]

That's what I was describing.

I'm not annoyed, exactly. It's something I've done on accident, basically the result of being unused to the new forum and more used to other sites that have a "post" button right about there.

 

[blakerwry]

Wow, gone for a couple days and the whole place gets a renovation. Looks neat, will take a bit of getting used to.

 

[Chewy509]

Just noticed that when you create a hyperlink, it no longer auto highlights the text that the user will see as the link allowing for easier editing... The cursor is placed just past the closing URL tag.

PS. Using Firefox

 

[Handruin]

Test hyperlink.

Chewy, I don't fully understand what you're seeing. When I add a hyperlink to a post, this is what I see:


Is this not what you see or is it not what you would expect to see?

 

[Chewy509]

Test hyperlink.

Chewy, I don't fully understand what you're seeing. When I add a hyperlink to a post, this is what I see:
View attachment 411

Is this not what you see or is it not what you would expect to see?

The text 'Hyperlink" shoud be highlighted automatically for editing when a url is inserted... (That's what used to happen in the old vb version).

 

[Handruin]

Upgraded to the new version that released today. This was a minor bug-fix and security release.

 

[LunarMist]

Upgraded to the new version that released today. This was a minor bug-fix and security release.

I'm not sure why, but when I try the "Full Site" from the tablet (Android 3.2) is goes to www.storageforum.net/forum/index/?styleID=11. That url does not exist.

 

[timwhit]

I'm not sure why, but when I try the "Full Site" from the tablet (Android 3.2) is goes to www.storageforum.net/forum/index/?styleID=11. That url does not exist.

Happens to me too, but I did it on my desktop.

 

[LunarMist]

Happens to me too, but I did it on my desktop.

Yes of course I confirmed that on the desktop. Yet for some reason I can select the the full site on my smartphone or at least I did once and it stuck. :scratch:

 

[Handruin]

I'm not sure why, but when I try the "Full Site" from the tablet (Android 3.2) is goes to www.storageforum.net/forum/index/?styleID=11. That url does not exist.

Happens to me too, but I did it on my desktop.

Yes of course I confirmed that on the desktop. Yet for some reason I can select the the full site on my smartphone or at least I did once and it stuck. :scratch:

I fixed the issue. Check and see if you're still having the problem. I was able to reproduce it and then after the fix, I can switch to the full site using the link at the bottom of the mobile style.

 

[time]

BUG

If you search for a short word, i.e. 3 letters, the software returns zero results. This includes acronyms such as "USB", "IBM", "FDA", etc.

If you search for a 2-letter word, the software tells the user that it is too short. So there is a bug counting letters: either excluding 3 letters rather than just 2 letters, or alternatively failing to display the error message for 3-letter words.

The latter would be unacceptable behaviour.

 

[CougTek]

Oh, you're ok. "Time" is a four letter word/name ;-)

 

[time]

Yep.

Forgot to mention the example of "USB 3.0" - this also fails, presumably because both tokens are 3 characters.

 

[Handruin]

If you search for a short word, i.e. 3 letters, the software returns zero results. This includes acronyms such as "USB", "IBM", "FDA", etc.

If you search for a 2-letter word, the software tells the user that it is too short. So there is a bug counting letters: either excluding 3 letters rather than just 2 letters, or alternatively failing to display the error message for 3-letter words.

The latter would be unacceptable behaviour.

This actually isn't a bug in the forum software, but I thank you for bringing it up. It's likely a bug in the admin's ability to configure MySQL appropriately...I'll explain. The forum is configured to allow as small as 3 characters in a search term per the forum settings. This explains why you're not able to search for anything below three characters:

Search Index Minimum Word Length:
This option limits the size of words that may be searched for. Smaller words can take longer to search for as they are more common. Note that MySQL Fulltext also has its own minimum word length that must be changed at the server level.

As you might gather from the underlined statement, I've not configured MySQL to index smaller words for searching. I will need to take a look at the configuration for our database and make appropriate changes. Last I remember, the smaller the number of characters, the larger the index becomes and the longer it takes to rebuild. I believe vbulletin by default uses 4 characters. Even though I changed it to 3 in the vbulletin settings, it can't make use of this because there is nothing found in the index...hence why you had no results returned.

I need to make the following changes to the my.cnf file to allow MySQL to index smaller lengths of words:

[mysqld]
ft_min_word_len=3

[myisamchk]
ft_min_word_len=3

For what it's worth, 20 characters is the maximum search term.

 

[LunarMist]

:thumbright:

I fixed the issue. Check and see if you're still having the problem. I
was able to reproduce it and then after the fix, I can switch to the full site using the link at the bottom of the mobile style.

 

[Stereodude]

For what it's worth, 20 characters is the maximum search term.

Why that's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

 

[Mercutio]

Why that's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

I floccinaucinihilipilificate that.