Need testers for new board

[Forceflow]

Hi folks,

I managed to get a current phpBB version running with the forum. I think I managed to get it into a somewhat usable state. It's far from perfect, but I think it's good enough to go live. (Which means I could finally switch over to a more current php version and save a lot of money on maintenance)

For this I need some folks to check out the new version and see if there are any serious issues with it.

I would like to ask for three types of feedback:
Prio 1: Something is broken so far that it's not useable at all:
examples: Link doesn't work, posts not being displayed, being directed somewhere strange, etc.
probability: very low
Prio 2: Something is broken, but is somewhat function
examples: php error messages, white text on white background, items placed badly
probability: medium
Prio 3: Something is hard to use, but not really broken
examples: Dark text on darker background, readable but hard to see
probability: high
Prio 4: Something looks really bad
examples: backgrounds not used anywhere (bluish grey), backgrounds not matching etc.
probability: very high

Prio 1 is obviously a must bix, 2 depends on the sitatuion, the rest can be fixed after going live. Since I only have a few more days vacation it would be great if I could get lots of feedback very soon!

Might help to actually post the link to the new form:
http://web-cm.de/xwaupgrade-develop/phpBB3/

It's a copy from yesterday, username and credentials should be the same. The database is a copy, so go wild, don't worry about breaking something.

[Darksaber]

Images or link aren't showing

The first post of the original post has an image showing and a link at the bottom of the first post in the new forum neither are showing

http://web-cm.de/xwaupgrade-develop/php ... 2b698d14c0

Strange this topic now disappeared, gone!

Original topic

http://www.xwaupgrade.com/phpBB3008/vie ... =1&t=11819

though links in signatures are showing

The text font is quiet large also, nicer or easier to view on the old forum

Also noticed the "online" image is overlapped by the topic background image

the number links to different pages are red with white text, but when you float over it, it's a dark red with black text but you can see white text underneath it may be a different font not sure

There is a button at the bottom of a topic called Jump to, half the wording you can't see as the text is white on a light blue background

[Vince T]

I‘m at work right now so I could only take a quick look.
Two things caught my eye so far, both somewhat prio 3/4:
- the list of threads within a forum shows only the user who last posted, not who started the thread.
- Not sure if this only applies to smartphone view, but with the author info being placed above a post instead of beside it, we‘re sortof wasting space with the various rank icons.

I‘ll do a more in-depth test when I get back home to my pc

[Forceflow]

Images or link aren't showing

The first post of the original post has an image showing and a link at the bottom of the first post in the new forum neither are showing

http://web-cm.de/xwaupgrade-develop/php ... 2b698d14c0

Original topic

http://www.xwaupgrade.com/phpBB3008/vie ... =1&t=11819

Ah sorry, that topic was already edited by me because I ran into some issues. I deleted the thread to avoid confusion.

[Darksaber]

Ah ok, anyhow looked at another thread the image and link are ok

[Forceflow]

Images or link aren't showing
The text font is quiet large also, nicer or easier to view on the old forum

working on that, though that unfortunately is VERY annoying to fix.

Images or link aren't showing
Also noticed the "online" image is overlapped by the topic background image

Good catch, should be fixed

Images or link aren't showing
the number links to different pages are red with white text, but when you float over it, it's a dark red with black text but you can see white text underneath it may be a different font not sure

Should be fixed

Images or link aren't showing
There is a button at the bottom of a topic called Jump to, half the wording you can't see as the text is white on a light blue background

Completely missed that one, should also be fixed.

[Forceflow]

I‘m at work right now so I could only take a quick look.
Two things caught my eye so far, both somewhat prio 3/4:
- the list of threads within a forum shows only the user who last posted, not who started the thread.
- Not sure if this only applies to smartphone view, but with the author info being placed above a post instead of beside it, we‘re sortof wasting space with the various rank icons.

I‘ll do a more in-depth test when I get back home to my pc

I think those are both issues with the mobile version. Good catch, I will have to look into that further, but that's way down the line. I don't think we get that many mobile users anyway

[Darksaber]

I think GT mentioned this above, is it possible to have the member info like the one on the right

forum.jpg

It would save space and look I think better

Also whats the "antispam: NO" thingy??

Thanks

[Darksaber]

Just noticed links in topics are opening on the same page instead of opening in a new page

[Forceflow]

I think GT mentioned this above, is it possible to have the member info like the one on the right

forum.jpg

It would save space and look I think better

Also whats the "antispam: NO" thingy??

Thanks

GT is talking about the mobile version, where the whole poster info is above the actual post. I have to look into that, but I am not sure if I can change it.
As for your idea, have to look into that. Not sure if I can change it, especially since it might interfere with bigger avatars. I'll see what I can do.
Same goes for the link target. Though I have NO idea where that can be set.

[Darksaber]

The avatar thing is fine then if it would cause more problems then leave it, it's been that way since the sites been up As the saying goes "if it's not broke why fix it"

I was just thinking as the website is in frames the links would open in the main frame, on the old forum they open in a new window, but this isn't a priority

[Forceflow]

The avatar thing is fine then if it would cause more problems then leave it, it's been that way since the sites been up As the saying goes "if it's not broke why fix it"

I was just thinking as the website is in frames the links would open in the main frame, on the old forum they open in a new window, but this isn't a priority

It would be nice, unfortunately it seems that the developers of phpBB actively removed that feature. I see the reason, though I don't necessarily agree with it. Changing this would require a modding of the actual board. I'd rather not do that for now. (I managed to keep all changes to the style-template, which should make upgrading in the future much easier in theory...)

[Vince T]

...

I think those are both issues with the mobile version. Good catch, I will have to look into that further, but that's way down the line. I don't think we get that many mobile users anyway

OK, back home now. You're right about those things only impacting mobile devices. Looking fine on my pc.
On with the testing

[keiranhalcyon7]

The avatar thing is fine then if it would cause more problems then leave it, it's been that way since the sites been up As the saying goes "if it's not broke why fix it"

I was just thinking as the website is in frames the links would open in the main frame, on the old forum they open in a new window, but this isn't a priority

It would be nice, unfortunately it seems that the developers of phpBB actively removed that feature. I see the reason, though I don't necessarily agree with it. Changing this would require a modding of the actual board. I'd rather not do that for now. (I managed to keep all changes to the style-template, which should make upgrading in the future much easier in theory...)

Just middle-click everything.

Nested quotes are more readable, so yay. And backslashes work properly, so posting file paths will be less aggravating.

The hr between posts and signatures is inappropriately extending into the profile info (image attached).

[Forceflow]

The avatar thing is fine then if it would cause more problems then leave it, it's been that way since the sites been up As the saying goes "if it's not broke why fix it"

I was just thinking as the website is in frames the links would open in the main frame, on the old forum they open in a new window, but this isn't a priority

It would be nice, unfortunately it seems that the developers of phpBB actively removed that feature. I see the reason, though I don't necessarily agree with it. Changing this would require a modding of the actual board. I'd rather not do that for now. (I managed to keep all changes to the style-template, which should make upgrading in the future much easier in theory...)

Just middle-click everything.

Nested quotes are more readable, so yay.

The hr between posts and signatures is inappropriately extending into the profile info (image attached).

Mhm... interesting, that is NOT the way it should look. It's certainly not the way it looks when I view the forum.
Can anybody else check how it looks on their end?

On mine it looks like this:

view.jpg

Can you post your OS and browser?

[Darksaber]

The font on the forum posts is still a little big,

New forum on top, original below

forum2.jpg

[Darksaber]

Tried 4 different browsers to try and recreate keiranhalcyon7 problem

Waterfox
FireFox
Chrome
Explorer

Couldn't recreate it, try clearing your cache keiranhalcyon7

[Forceflow]

I did some digging, it was a Chrome issue, sort of. I moved some things around and it looks like it works now. Though I really don't understand the issue with it. Had to remove the 'Back to Top' button for now though...

As for the font size, still looking into it. The way the css is set-up is really annoying and strange. But I'll do my best to at least fix the big things.
Could you try again please?

[Darksaber]

Just another thought, you know the little green padlock you get just before the URL to say it's a secure connection basically the https: this doesn't work with www.xwaupgrade.com, would you have to upgrade your server package for the website so you can use https ????

Just curious

[Darksaber]

The fonts better now thanks

[keiranhalcyon7]

1. Home PC: Win7, Chrome (possibly delinquent on updates; I'll check again tonight)
2. Work PC: Win10, Chrome; looks fine (though possibly due to the above-mentioned changes)
3. Phone: Chrome on Android. The mobile view is unusable, but requesting the desktop view works well enough. The signature hr looks fine. Bizarrely, the top banner is being displayed twice (image attached). ETA: one copy of the image is fixed to the background; the other is fixed to the content table and scrolls along with everything else. There is no transparency, so legibility isn't really impacted; it's just visually weird.
4. Work VM: Firefox on Linux. The signature hr looks fine; the fonts look crappy, but Linux font management sucks to begin with, so I won't hold it against you (and I wouldn't even ever view the site in this way except to be cheeky )

Unrelated: what's with the per-post subject line displaying in all caps?

[Forceflow]

Just another thought, you know the little green padlock you get just before the URL to say it's a secure connection basically the https: this doesn't work with www.xwaupgrade.com, would you have to upgrade your server package for the website so you can use https ????

Just curious

Yeah unfortunately this is a paid feature for my provider. The page already is costing me quite a bit and I am still hoping my provider will finally allow to use your own certificates. (Which would be much cheaper)

[Forceflow]

1. Home PC: Win7, Chrome (possibly delinquent on updates; I'll check again tonight)
2. Work PC: Win10, Chrome; looks fine (though possibly due to the above-mentioned changes)
3. Phone: Chrome on Android. The mobile view is unusable, but requesting the desktop view works well enough. The signature hr looks fine. Bizarrely, the top banner is being displayed twice (image attached). ETA: one copy of the image is fixed to the background; the other is fixed to the content table and scrolls along with everything else. There is no transparency, so legibility isn't really impacted; it's just visually weird.
4. Work VM: Firefox on Linux. The signature hr looks fine; the fonts look crappy, but Linux font management sucks to begin with, so I won't hold it against you (and I wouldn't even ever view the site in this way except to be cheeky )

Unrelated: what's with the per-post subject line displaying in all caps?

To be honest, mobile version isn't high up on my list. Although at least on my Android with Chrome it's sort of manageable. It certainly doesn't look great, but you can read it.
Linux with Firefox is an issue, can't test it right now, and I am thinking the userbase is very, very small. So that will be pushed back as well.

I did remove the extra subject lines. Theoretically you can modify the subject for each new post. Since that really doesn't make any sense I removed it. Does actually make the thread-flow a bit better if you ask me.

[keiranhalcyon7]

Linux with Firefox is an issue, can't test it right now, and I am thinking the userbase is very, very small. So that will be pushed back as well.

I don't actually care about Linux usability. I was just being cheeky. I care somewhat about mobile usability, but I'm content with the status quo.

I did remove the extra subject lines.... Does actually make the thread-flow a bit better if you ask me.

It's still there once, at the top, between the post reply button and the first poster's name. In all caps.

Theoretically you can modify the subject for each new post. Since that really doesn't make any sense I removed it.

I have seen this feature used in the DSUCP release thread (originally titled "Great Job!!! Darksaber, on the DSUCP v2....").

ETA: Ugg, I'm really looking forward to the reduced white (black?) space between quote blocks and reply text in the new version....

[keiranhalcyon7]

I can confirm that the signature hr looks fine now on my Win7 box with Chrome. Thanks, ForceFlow!