Forum upgrade? (now complete)

michaelab

michaelab

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Forum upgrade?

Having a decent reseller hosting account with a decent amount of space, and a second domain has given me the liberty to "try out" the latest vBulletin software upgrade, forum version v3.0.1 which is a HUGE upgrade of the current software.

I've installed it (and a copy of the forum database from earlier today) over at:

http://www.zerogain.org/forum/

I've only done minimal tweaking of the options. The colours etc are the defaults. Tweaking this new version is a LOT more involved :( .

You can post on the "new" forum but I'd prefer it if you didn't. I've only left the forums open so that you can see how the look and feel of it has changed, including posting. I'm not strictly speaking allowed to run two copies of the forum simultaneously and in any case, it's an old database and once I've had time to learn a bit more about how vb3 works I'll delete it. This is *NOT* the new forum. If and when I decide to upgrade to vb3 I'll do it here at zerogain.com.

My first impressions are the there are a lot of quite useful new features but the interface is way too cluttered. Everything takes up a lot more screen real estate aswell. Of course these things can all be customized (with this version more than ever) but it's likely to take me a while to figure my way around the new settings.

Let me know what you think (on this thread) :)

Michael.
 
Hi Michael,

I have been using 3.0.0 for a while now on a car forum I frequent. At first I didnt really like it, but after a while it has grown on me and now I much prefer it to the old version. I particularly like the thread preview when you hover over the thread title (this feature seems to be switched off on your demo version, any chance if it being switched on?)

I say go for the upgrade if its possible

Cheers, Robbo
 
A music forum I frequent uses the new version. It has some nice new features, but on the whole I think it completely sucks and is much less easy to navigate than the current version. Simplicity is a virtue sometimes I reckon.

-- Ian
 
Originally posted by Robbo
I particularly like the thread preview when you hover over the thread title (this feature seems to be switched off on your demo version, any chance if it being switched on?)
Click to expand...
Hmmm....it seems to be switched on but somehow not working. I'll have to see if I can find out what the problem is.

I certainly think the new one is less easy to navigate at first but I use 3.0.1 in a car forum I visit and some of it's features I've already got hooked on. I think I will upgrade fairly soon, if only because I don't know for how much longer 2.3.5 will be supported.

I'm back to London on Monday from where I can't do much so it won't be for at least a couple of weeks. That'll give me time to figure out some of the new options and configuration.

Michael.
 
Originally posted by michaelab
Hmmm....it seems to be switched on but somehow not working. I'll have to see if I can find out what the problem is.
Click to expand...
Found it. When you upgrade the forum the "preview" texts aren't automatically generated. I'll have to run a maintenance job to enable this (running it now). Should be there in a few mins.

Michael.
 
You'll definitely have to change from the default colours, quite a few boards I browse now have it and many of them use the default colour scheme, including headfi, which currently looks identical to your new one!!
 
I've fiddled around and setup up a "ZeroGain Classic" style which you can select (and which I will make the default) which is fairly close to the one here.

Won't be doing the upgrade for a couple of weeks though as I'm off to London tomorrow where I have less control over things if something were to go wrong.

Michael.
 
Updated forum software to vB 3.0.1

Finally done it! Sorry I took the board down without giving notice :shame: . I had a window of opportunity so I took it.

The "styles" in vB3 are much changed. I've used/edited a style which mimics the vb2 look as closely as possible and made it the default. If you want the default vb3 style in all its garishness then you can select it at the bottom of the page (and I think you can make it your default in your user options if you want).

Don't ask me about everything that's new in vb3 because I hardly know myself. Just experiment :)

Time for bed now - hope it's all still working tomorrow morning.

Michael.
 
Well she's up and running now, and look 'n feel are excellent. I agree with Ian about the clutter, but things like this excellent (and clutter free) quick reply at the bottom of thepage are well worth it IMHO.
Almost makes me want to get back ointo the forum business (I obviously need something constructive to do with all this spare time).
 
Looks good Michael, don't think you really need new logo. Thanks for all the effort its appreciated, especially given events in your life the past couple of weeks, best wishes to you and your wife, hope the convalwscing is coming on fine.
 
Michael, is there a "view active threads" option in the new software ?
I normally use this as my homepage but can't seem to find it in the new format.
 
Chris - you like the new (as in not clasic) look?? I think it's :chunder: .

Steve - at the top of the page there's a "new" button which will get you all the new and changed threads since the last time you were on the board, is that what you meant?

ISTR that the "view active threads" link on the old forum was only available if you weren't logged on but it doesn't seem to exist in the new software even if you're not logged on.

Michael.
 
It's not that bad Michael. Although I'm amazed at how the new layout clarifies certain things (separating the quotes from responses etc.) and manages to look messy at the same time :D
 
Cheers guys :)

btw, you can remove a fair amount of clutter with the expand/collapse buttons (the ones which look like a >> sign pointing upwards or downwards). If you collapse a portion of the screen then it will always appear collapsed by default when you next see that part of the forum. I've done that for instance with the "Posting Rules" section at the bottom of the thread view.

I'm about to merge the other thread I created about this into this one...

Michael.

Michael.
 
michaelab said:
Steve - at the top of the page there's a "new" button which will get you all the new and changed threads since the last time you were on the board, is that what you meant?
Click to expand...

That's the one. Cheers Michael :) .
 

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