Thread: Site Upgrade Questions/Comments

I'm starting this thread to provide a place to ask questions and/or make comments regarding the May 26th upgrade. As a starter, here's what was done...

1. vBulletin (the software package which runs the forum) was upgraded from version 3.0.8 to 3.5.4. The reason for upgrade was primarily to take advantage of the security and bug fixes released over the past year by the vendor. Several new features are present, but they mostly deal with how the forum accomplishes tasks and are not particularly visible, per se.
2. The styles (aka skins, templates, etc.) were upgraded to be compatible where possible. Classic and SteelBlue are pretty much the same as they were, although they've changed a little in their look/feel. The WOW and EvilDave styles were not (easily) upgradable and have been dropped. Red2Black was also dropped due to the low number of members using it. I added SteelGreen as a replacement for EvilDave and SmartBrown as an alternative to WOW. I also added Arcade and Matrix to provide a little variety.
3. vbChat was not only problematic, but the provider stopped supporting it. There are hundreds of affordable chat programs available... they seem to come and go like the wind, literally. We've chosen FlashChat as the alternative. It's very popular, has good support, and works fairly well. However, it is not as simple to use as vbChat... there are hundreds of options you can fiddle with to change the look and feel! I suggest you NOT do that, at least until not until you use it for a while. And, private chat messages work much differently in FlashChat... they open a mini chat window which is viewable only by you and the person you want to talking to privately -- a "mini-room" if you will. You would do well to arrange to meet someone in the chat room to "play" and get the hang of it before a real Sunday Night Chat occurs.

I WANT MORE SMILIES!!!

Joe, thanx to you and David for keeping this site in top shape.

I like new skins, though I still use the Classic. I like the Arcade and Matrix, but their font size is too small for my screen res.

And I love the new chat room!! I didn't liked the vbChat anyways, I think it was too buggy and it was constantly loosing posts (at least on my PC).

All in all, great job overall.

Thanx,
Nenad

Originally Posted by urleebird

I WANT MORE SMILIES!!!

I found just da ting for ya...

....

I'm at work today and can't take advantage of all of the new features, but so far, I like it! A big thanx to everyone involved in the changes and also to everyone who keeps the site just one click away. I really like how it keeps unread posts available for later viewing. I can't get the skins to work here, but I'll check them out when and if I ever get home!

RT

I've noticed that the Forum Tools and the Search This Forum function when you're on a Forum page (e.g. General) don't work. When I click on Forum Tools or Search This Forum, there should be pull down menus, but with me, nothing happens.

Make sure you have Javascript enabled. If that doesn't work, let us know what OS, and what browser you have. Also if you are viewing from the main site, or from http://straightrazorpalace.com.

dw

Originally Posted by EdinLA44

I've noticed that the Forum Tools and the Search This Forum function when you're on a Forum page (e.g. General) don't work. When I click on Forum Tools or Search This Forum, there should be pull down menus, but with me, nothing happens.

Originally Posted by dwessell

Make sure you have Javascript enabled. If that doesn't work, let us know what OS, and what browser you have. Also if you are viewing from the main site, or from http://straightrazorpalace.com.

Yes... what he said... plus whether it occurs on all the skins or just one (eg, classic, blue steel, etc.)... there's always the chance I screwed up something when I edited some changes into them. ...joe

I notice that on the main forum page, there's still a box for "Users inside vbChat". Presumably that neither exists nor reflects the presence of users inside FlashChat--what's the story?

Otherwise, very nice work!