New forum features - available from Monday 5th October when we move to the new server

Here are some of the new features in the new forum coming on 5th October 2009.


1) A new look UserCP with icons that looks like this...

http://i26.tinypic.com/2wgskuu.gif


2) A Quick Reply editor to respond to PM's (private messages) - a bit like the quick reply to posts. Once you open the PM you will see a box at the bottom where you can type your reply and then submit.

3) Private Messages Enhanced Listing - the first 200 characters of the PM are shown underneath it so you may not need to open it up to read it.

4) Personal Notepad in your UserCP - add notes about posts you want to remember, members you talk to etc.

5) Forum-wide Search For Unanswered Threads - allows you to find threads that have no replies so you can reply if you would like to. Makes members feel more welcome if they at least receive one reply to their post.

This is accessed by clicking on "Search" on the forum navigation bar and selecting the option "Unanswered threads"

Attachment 1078

6) View your own Posts/Threads from Navigation bar "Search". A much easier way to find your own posts.

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7) Separate Sticky and Normal Threads - shows sticky threads more prominently in forums.

8) The memberlist is now sorted by "last visited" rather than alphabetically.

9) My Popular Threads - view your most popular threads by reply count. These are shown on your UserCP.

10) Added "Search titles only" check box to search popup menu. Previously you had to use advanced search for this option. Now you can do it from clicking on "Search".

Attachment 1080


11) Separate admins and members in the who's online list. Now you can see easily if any admins are online:

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12) You can now use the smilies if you use the "Quick reply" way of replying to posts. Previously you could only use smilies if you used the advanced reply method:

Attachment 1084

I will document any new features as we add them.

Great Website Nicola .. So glad I have found it
:yesyes:
Francesca

Looks really good !

I particularly like the unanswered threads feature as I'm sure many get missed.

Good luck with the update but I hope its not offline for too long!!

Sue
xxx

Thanks Fran

Sue - we are moving to a new server so we are moving the DNS entries (sorry if too technical) but in laymans terms we have to propagate the new server address to the whole world and this can take up to a day - some people will be able to connect within an hour and typically in 4 hours. We will hopefully be fully up and running for everyone by Tuesday.

Alex will post more over the weekend to explain it all.

We are having to move servers (a server is basically a computer) as we currently use servers at Alex's company and we need to move to some new hosted servers. This is going to cost us money but we have no choice really.

I hope that kind of makes sense!

Bumping up to make active now that we have moved servers.

13) PM (private message) autoresponder / "out of office"

This will allow you to send a reply to anyone that PM's you say, for example, if you are on holiday so won't be able to reply to your PM's straight away.

You need to go to your User Control Panel. So click on "Quick Links" on the menu bar at the top then select "User Control Panel".

Attachment 1106

Once in the control panel select "Autoresponder" underneath Private Messages:

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You will then need to complete the details of which dates you are away and enable the autoresponder:

Attachment 1108


Change the text and subject as necessary and save. Anyone that PM's you now will get this PM back as an instant reply.

Don't forget to turn it off when you are free to receive PM's again :whistles:

I don't have the User CP as yet. It appeared briefly this morning then disappeared. Is it something thats still updating?

Looks fab otherwise!!

Sue - what happens when you click on the option?

When it appeared earlier it was on the left hand side, which is where I assume it shoud be. The only thing there now is a list of articles such as health worries, phobias etc. Other than that, the rest of the page is blank.