Features and targets...

[HaloJ]

Caught a little on the hop with a fast launch of the community I'd like to put down what we're aiming for.

From a features point of view most have already been implemented but remain undocumented for their usage.

So first let me start with what people are more aware of; the forums. General overall site enhancements over the basic PHPBB install are :-

• Links opening in new windows
• Youtube videos when opted to not view on the site will take you to the relevant Youtube page rather than open the video full screen
• Members of the community have the ability to see who has visited the site during the last 24 hours
• Images posted to the site have no upper limit but are correctly resized to a non disruptive size
• Tapatalk is installed for those that wish to communicate that way
• RSS is fully featured from the site itself without having to use a third party to drive the security

On top of the above forum features we've a unified login system which also drives our front page which we hope users will enjoy posting reviews and major news to. This front page includes the following features :-

• A calendar driven events system
• A précis of forthcoming events
• The unified system shows information about your account itself including if there are any new private messages

Moving forward
We are going to include a Facebook style chat system. The thought behind this was to keep the community together rather than fracturing it with a separate IRC chat system. Also the site colours and layout are currently going through design and testing stages. The target being a smart, friendly and professional looking community.

If any member has an ideas or comments then please feel free to put them forth.

Thanks

Abs

 

[Acegadgets]

When I viewed the site using an Android phone the chat bar was visable but the button so small that I couldnt open it. Could the button also have a LARGE duplicate link to it from say the home page?

 

[Spruijt]

the chat bar appeared halfway across the screen when I opened the site on my android phone. It happens as I scroll down, so maybe there's a delay in the chatbar?

 

[Martok]

The chat bar doesn't work so well on smartphones and the iPad currently, though I believe they will be fixing this in the next update or two. There is mobile chat available which we haven't yet mentioned to members. At the moment this is only for 1-to-1 chat and not the chatroom. Again that's something that is likely to be enhanced in a future update.

 

[yinkin]

I spend a lot of time on the Boardgamegeek website, one thing I like there is the ability to thumb posts, you can give a thumbs up to a post you enjoyed, or thought particularly relevant and each post shows the number of thumbs allocated to it and there is a tally kept for each user so you can see how many total thumbs you have got. So I dont actually care howm many thumbs I get, but it can be a useful feature in that it allows you to agree with a post without having to post a separate "me too " post and clog up the forums. There is no thumbs down equivalent.

 

[HaloJ]

I've seen something like that somewhere abouts. The version I saw was the insertion of a micro post saying "such a person likes this". Is that what you mean?

 

[yinkin]

heah except it is just a thumbs up icon, it gives a count of how many people have thumbed and if you click on icon it tells you who. It encourages people to post because it gives feedback to posters and helps give a sense of community.

 

[HaloJ]

Ah, very much like Zenforo's post like system. We actually considered going down that route but it's quite a cost. Still I'm sure we'll be able to dig something out let us have a look around.