Forum software upgrade

[klondike]

The current release of the forum software is now on it's second revision. It pays to keep reasonably up to date as any new features will only come along for the current release and it's unlikely any security flaws or bugs that get found in the old release (ie the one we are on) will ever get fixed. There is a new mod I want to apply which is for this release only. It may (but unfortunately probably won't) improve the google indexing of the forum.

I've installed the new software on my Pi at home with a recent copy of the forum database. It looks a little different and some things are in different places but I don't think it should cause any problems. Please take look...

https://letschat.digitalham.co.uk/index.php

Make sure you can log in, make a test post of some sort and check anything that is important to you still works.

I will be doing the install in a few days in the evening when things tend to be slack. It shouldn't take long anyway.

One advantage should anybody wish to use it is that the annoying bug that was in the WYSIWYG editor seems to have been fixed so anybody using the standard editor can switch to the rather more user friendly WYSIWYG one without the risk of littering their post with a bunch of BBCODE tags that need editing out. Once the swap is done I'll put up a link and maybe instructions on how to change over.

[Raven]

Oh brother, more changes to get used to. 

[-Oy-]

Looks good - working well :)

[Jacqueline]

Help!!!!!!

[Michael Rolls]

seems OK - I logged in and posted on it without a problem
Mike

[Diasi]

I've logged in & posted & logged out with no issues. 

[klondike]

Things are in slightly different places and I find the theme rather bland but I do want some of the new admin features available. So long as people can log in and post any other problems encountered can be dealt with on the forum itself.

[Alex]

How long do we stay posting on here ?

[klondike]

There is no "new forum" I'll just update the software here in a few days unless somebody spots a show stopper which I seriously doubt. Once done there is no return path without losing content as the database where all the posts are kept gets modified and the old software won't work with it.

I set up the new software on my Pi to give people a preview of what it looks like. The visible changes are quite minor - just a style change and a few things have moved. Most of those changes are just to make it a little more mobile friendly which is the way the world is heading and Google whinges about to webmasters when things aren't.

I don't like running back release software as it is more vulnerable to hacking plus the new stuff has some improvements to keep spammers out and possibly improve Google rankings.

[Raven]

Just let us know when to change over. I was gulping a bit because my other forum did a total change, and even after almost a year I'm still having a lot of problems with it. I'm not alone either, so many gave up and left. 

[klondike]

We crossed posts. You don't need to change anything. The forum code will be updated and there will be a pretty minor change to how it looks. I'll put up a post on the morning I intend to do the update which will be in the evening.

The change you are talking about was big and to something pretty incomprehensible imo. This is just a pretty minor one which for some reason developers seem unable to resist. Most of the changes are not visible to users.

[Raven]

Good, Ta Muchly. 

[Scrumpy]

I'm so lucky that I don't understand a word being said..

[Sheila]

I'm so lucky that I don't understand a word being said..

Will they rescue us if we don't follow and get lost?

[Dayjo]

Will they rescue us if we don't follow and get lost?

I hope so!