(RFD) Amiga.org 11.0 beta

Good morning ladies and gents,

In regards to the other discussions about the necessary site changes and upgrades, I think we're getting there.

To let you see what I mean, feel free to check out the work in progress at http://www.amiga.org/forums

Some notes:

- Quite horribly discovered after purchasing the package is that vBulletin (my choice for migration) relies almost exclusively on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) which is a now-standard technology on every browser on the planet except, unfortunately, for the Classic Amiga. Next Generation Amiga browsers reportedly handle it 99% fine.

As much as I wanted to stay with the antiquated HTML 3.x standard, unfortunately the web, and the world, have moved on.  This should only affect about 6-8% of users, even less since most of those already have other means available for viewing the site.

- All users, all threads, and all posts were migrated on a test basis as of 5/8, so all threads/posts you see there are older.  Hopefully this weekend, when we are "close enough", I'll turn this site off for a while (to get a clean migration) then transfer it all over to the new site.

- Not everything is 100% yet and I'm open to constructive feedback.  I simply need you to understand that most things are being considered, but remarks like "this sucks" or "scrap it all and go back to the way it was" aren't particularly friendly or helpful.  As my mom used to say, "don't complain unless you can offer a solution to the problem" :-)

- the site you see there is "just forums".  Yes, we know, but what we'll do once the site is live is use what they call a "blank page mod" to create new sections of the site as we go, such as "/news", /gallery, /marketplace and so-forth.

- None of the data from this current site will be lost.  A full backup will be maintained of both data and files (such as pictures).  It may simply take a while to get a bit of it back online, and since the forums were the key bit of this site, they take priority.

- things such as "ranks" have been migrated, but the images don't yet appear in the forums.  The words, yes, but not the images.  Working on it.

All that being said, I look forward to your feedback.

Wayne

[cecilia]

looks nice.

one of the things I've collected over the years is a huge list of bookmarked threads (notifications on this site) which I assume is called "subscribed" threads on the new system.

will these be transfered or do I need to make a note of them before the site moves?

[Fester]

The Amiga.org logo looks nicely sharp against the deep blue gradient.

Thanks for your work on this project.

[motorollin]

My personal thoughts:

- Like the design
- Love the logo
- Don't particularly care about loss of Amiga browsers

I think that's about it, except thanks for your hard work :-)

--
moto

[jj]

Getting a page not found, guess your tinkering.

@ wayne

worked it out, the link in your post has a fullstop at the end  :-D

Oh and my post count in out by 600 odd  :-D

But liking the work.  Long live wayne and amiga.org

cecilia wrote:
will these be transfered or do I need to make a note of them before the site moves?

Unfortunately since vBulletin is a new system, old links can't work -- even if we wanted them to.

You might need to make note of certain keywords in each thread (or check your own posts) to find / bookmark them under the new system.

Wayne

@jj,

regarding post counts.  

I mentioned it in another of the RFD threads that ab out 75000 or so posts were not valid and can't be migrated.  They're invalid due to several factors including a data corruption issue we had in 2002 or so, along with users who've moved on, threads that were deleted (seems Xoops does a crappy job at deleting every post in a thread when you delete it) -- either that or MySQL drops the queue there.  Not sure.

The end result is that EVERYONE who posted a lot loses a little bit under the new system.  I for example go from 3200+ to about 1900+ or so.

Sorry, but effectively since Xoops has all these corrupted/orphaned posts, most people's post counts are invalid anyway..

Wayne

[Gavilan]

@Wayne: even tough im a long term member here, that is not reflected in my posts. Im more in the "i-read-everything-i-can" kind of member, but i definetely like a lot the new visual style the page has.

I dont know why, but it seems "clearer", i mean, i can see much more, and read better than in the current design. Strange but true

I can ony say im sorry for those 6-8% of Amiga users who browse the site using Amiga browsers. Since this is an Amiga-based site, it should be possible to be able to surf the site using Amiga browsers but hey, if Mohammed doesnt go to the montain, the montain has to go to Mohammed!!

I mean, come on guys! Amiga developers!! This is a great chance to show your skills to the community and try to develop a compatible browser!! Or maybe upgrade/improve Voyager/AWeb/IBrowse or whatever other choices are available!!!

Saying this, im not a programmer (quite sad since i would love to do it myself) but any of you guys have my full support!

And Wayne, yes, im with you 100% on this. The new look is great, just one dumb question: will be there a "homepage" with the news just like now or everything will be like the new forums page???


Keep on going!!!

Sebastian

PD: i guess i will not be loosing many messages, so i will be a "Guru" soon  :-D

Gavilan wrote:
just one dumb question: will be there a "homepage" with the news just like now or everything will be like the new forums page???

First, thanks for the support.  

In reference to your question, I was just working on an FAQ update for the new site which should help;

http://www.amiga.org/forums/faq.php?faq=migration#faq_whereis

Wayne

[pVC]

I'd like to see longer "Latest posts" list and in the old style that only one (and latest) per thread. With the post count preferably

I've used to check the forum by them. As the main forum has way too many sub categories IMHO. It's too messy and painful to browse them all through all the time.

@pvc

When the site is used live, the "New Posts" link at the top should be what you're looking for.  Just bookmark or otherwise use that.

http://www.amiga.org/forums/search.php?do=getnew

Wayne

[Matt_H]

Hmmmm, I was surprised to see my post count drop under the new system given my post-2002 join date. Not a big deal, just interesting. Might it be due to comments in the photo gallery not carrying over? EDIT: Oh, nevermind. Having re-read your post, Wayne, I see there are multiple data issues involved.

Can I suggest making the Latest Posts module on the righthand side into a Latest Active Threads module? It seems a little redundant to have multiple posts within the same thread using up slots. And is it possible to keep the sidebars within a thread like we have now?

IBrowse seems able to handle the basic functionality, so hooray.

Out of curiosity, how does the new system compute "active members"?

I'll hold off on other comments until things are more finalized.

Matt_H wrote:
Hmmmm, I was surprised to see my post count drop under the new system given my post-2002 join date. Not a big deal, just interesting. Might it be due to comments in the photo gallery not carrying over?

Only active forum posts are counted.  By active, I mean valid.  Xoops may count forum, photo, news, and other comments.  Dunno, but keep in mind the 75000 orphaned posts which didn't make it.

Can I suggest making the Latest Posts module on the righthand side into a Latest Active Threads module? It seems a little redundant to have multiple posts within the same thread using up slots.

I'll see what I can do, but that code came with the template and isn't mine.  

As said above, 99% of you will use the "new posts" page anyway.. so latest posts may go away in lieu of other content.  It's just there now because it is. :-)

And is it possible to keep the sidebars within a thread like we have now?

"sidebars within a thread"?  You mean left and right columns?  If so, then not currently.  Sorry.

IBrowse seems able to handle the basic functionality, so hooray.

I know it'll look {bleep}e, but at least it's good to know it's there.

Out of curiosity, how does the new system compute "active members"?

Will double check, but I believe it's people who've logged in and/or posted in the last 90 days.

[Nostalgiac]

looking really good and finally modern

go for it !

Tom UK

[taunusand]

I like the way amiga.org looks now, I really do!
But the new site seems to work "okay" with IBrowse, so I do not have any reason to complain.

@Wayne
I appreciate your work to keep amiga.org online :-)