Global Mapper v25.0

Upgrading the Site

PaulTocknell
PaulTocknell Forum AdministratorUnconfirmed
edited June 2010 in Announcement and News
Hi,

Just letting everyone know that over the next week, I will be upgrading the GlobalMapperForum.com site giving it a new "web 2.0" look and converting to a new CMS platform (wordpress). Not to worry, the forum will continue to work as before. Hopefully, after I get done polishing the "homepage", I can take some time and improve the forum part of the site by implemeting the suggestions I have received from users over the past few months.

I appreciate everyone's patience and if you have any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks.

Paul.

Comments

  • ollagynot
    ollagynot Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited May 2010
    Paul,

    I like the look of the new homepage. Great job, keep up the good work!

    Tony
  • PaulTocknell
    PaulTocknell Forum Administrator Unconfirmed
    edited May 2010
    Thanks for the encouragement. Any suggestions for improvement? (I know there is still a lot of work left to do with moving things over, but anything so far.....?)
  • Roger Edrinn
    Roger Edrinn Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited May 2010
    So what are the "enhancements" to the new version of vBulletin?

    The Reply to Thread button didn't work, I had to click Go Advanced on the Quick Reply dialog. We've lost the leading text from the New threads section.

    Overall it looks different, is that better?
  • PaulTocknell
    PaulTocknell Forum Administrator Unconfirmed
    edited May 2010
    Well, I'm still learning some of the new enhancements of vb 4.0.3 myself to be honest. One of the things about a forum is making sure you are running the latest version of the script to protect the site from vulnerabilities which have been discovered in previous versions. I have enabled a side block on the home page so you should be able to see the latest threads and I'll look into the reply issue. I was able to click on reply under your post and it seemed to work ok. Please let me know if you continue to have difficulty with this. The whole idea of this site has always to create a community of Global Mapper users. Anything that I can do to enable those connections is what is important to me. Please let me know if you have any additional requests or features you would like added to the site. Thanks.

    Paul.
  • Roger Edrinn
    Roger Edrinn Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2010
    The Reply to Thread button still puts a blinking cursor in the Quick reply dialog, no change. No idea why it works correctly for you and not me. Again, I had to click "Go Advanced" to get to the normal Reply to Thread page.

    I wasn't aware of forum vulnerabilities, no end of headaches for a forum master. I'm always amused by the reoccurring spammers who show up and you have to deal with.

    Cheers
  • Matt
    Matt Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2010
    Is there a way to turn off the "tweets" tab at the left side of the screen? Also, how about relaxing some of the signature rules to allow HTML and images in signatures?
  • PaulTocknell
    PaulTocknell Forum Administrator Unconfirmed
    edited June 2010
    Hi Matt,

    Thanks for your feedback.

    I think HTML is allowed in signatures. I was able to click on your signature. I'll look into the image thing. If html is allowed, not sure why images wouldn't be?

    Also, the "tweets" tab is a tweetboard intergration feature (http://tweetboard.com). It allows people to comment, via twitter, on specific forum pages. I just started trying it out tonight. For instance, let's say I can talk Mike into using it (twitter.com/global_mapper). When he creates a new GM build, he can go to the forum home page, click on the tweets tab and tweet that he created a new build. Now when you visit the site, you can do the same thing and check if Mike made a new build? Maybe Helpful? Let me try it for a month and see how it goes. If it it not utilized, or under utilized, I'll disable it for sure.

    Paul
  • PaulTocknell
    PaulTocknell Forum Administrator Unconfirmed
    edited June 2010
    The changes you have requested (except the "tweets" tab...give me some time to figure that one out) have been made.
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited June 2010
    Does this mean I'll have to actually start tweeting every once in a while? LOL

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • Roger Edrinn
    Roger Edrinn Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2010
    Paul,

    I have a number of issues and questions regarding the forum "upgrade".
    1. Can I assume you have no interest in fixing the Post Reply Button and the Quick Reply -> Go Advanced is now the new norm?
    2. URL's embedded are no longer highlighted, so unless you hover over the URL you have no idea it's there. I had to highlight my URL in my most recent post. Do you need an example?
    3. The forum hierarchy is very weak and squeezed between the bold advertising banner and the two header rows. One has to hunt all over to find it. I'd like to see it where the current Reply to Thread is now, in bold text.
    4. Is their any way to go back to the old look and feel? The graphics on every feature of the GUI is pretty but unfamiliar. I'm forever lost. Just finding the URL button was a challenge, to me this is just pretty for pretties sake.
    5. Why have you bolded the top header row and almost made invisible the second row? Most of the links I care about are in the second row and I have to squint to see them.
  • PaulTocknell
    PaulTocknell Forum Administrator Unconfirmed
    edited June 2010
    Hi Roger,

    I want to start this post by saying how much I appreciate you being part of this forum. I can tell from your posts that you are a very straight shooter and I greatly respect people who tell it to me like it is. So, thanks.

    1) I would like to fix the post reply button and quick reply but I'm not sure exactly yet what your problem is. When I replied to the post your just made, I clicked on "reply" and it seems to work fine for me. If you wouldn't mind describing your problem excatly. I'll do what I can.

    2) URL's embedded are no longer highlighted. Yes. Please post an example. This sounds like something I'm capable of fixing.

    3) "Forum hierarchy is weak" I assume you are referring to the "breadcrumb" features. That sounds like something I can easily change. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll make the font larger and stronger.

    4) I have just changed the theme to the vbulletin default. I was trying to get it to match the rest of the site, but my most important priority is making you (and other users) happy with the forum. I can't go back completely (without losing 2 weeks worth of posts) but I can do my best to make you comfortable with the site. I've always had this idea that newer is better, but I'm starting to rethink my decision after some of the latest feedback. I can't revert completely, but I can do my best to make it work for you.

    5) Again, I changed the theme to the default (you might have to log-out and log back in) so the second row should be bolder and easier to see.

    Seriously, thanks. I strive on customer service and I love getting feedback from users. I'm not resistant to change and I will do my best to make the site easy and user-friendly as I can.

    Thanks.

    Paul.
  • PaulTocknell
    PaulTocknell Forum Administrator Unconfirmed
    edited June 2010
    Also, I have disabled the "tweets" tab (since no one was using it) and have disabled the sidebar on all forums so you should only see that on the home page on the first load.
  • Roger Edrinn
    Roger Edrinn Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2010
    The Reply to Thread button still puts a blinking cursor in the Quick reply dialog, no change. No idea why it works correctly for you and not me. Again, I had to click "Go Advanced" to get to the normal Reply to Thread page.
    This is what I said on 5-31, still valid. Seems to me you need to sign in as a new user, if spammers can, so can you.

    Here's a non-highlighted link to my 5-31 post and here's my manually highlighted link. I see in Preview that the URL link is now colored, progress.

    If my tone was hot, I'd just lost my second two hour editing session because GM workspace save issues. BTW, those are my issues, not GM's, at least according to Mr Childs.
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited June 2010
    I'm not sure that I've ever implied that a GM workspace save issue was the user's problem and not a bug in GM. Perhaps you have mis-interpreted a reply of mine at some point? I would never intentionally imply that a bug in GM is a user's problem.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Support
    support@globalmapper.com
  • PaulTocknell
    PaulTocknell Forum Administrator Unconfirmed
    edited June 2010
    Ok. I'm going to step through what I'm doing to see if I can duplicate your issue.

    I click on the big "reply to thread button" underneath the last post I see the blinking cursor in the quick reply box (which I am typing in now). When I am done, I plan on clicking the "post quick reply" button to post this reply. I guess I'm failing to see what doesn't work. To reply to posts I can click on the

    a) reply to thread button at the bottom of the thread
    b) the "reply" button at the bottom of each post or
    c) the reply with quote at the bottom of the post

    If I want more advanced editing / text options I click on the "go advanced" button underneath the quick reply box before I start typing right?

    What exactly is the issue? I see the cursor blinking in the box after clicking reply to thread, but I think that is where it is supposed to be no?
  • Roger Edrinn
    Roger Edrinn Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2010
    Ok. I'm going to step through what I'm doing to see if I can duplicate your issue.

    I click on the big "reply to thread button" underneath the last post I see the blinking cursor in the quick reply box (which I am typing in now). When I am done, I plan on clicking the "post quick reply" button to post this reply. I guess I'm failing to see what doesn't work. To reply to posts I can click on the

    a) reply to thread button at the bottom of the thread
    b) the "reply" button at the bottom of each post or
    c) the reply with quote at the bottom of the post

    If I want more advanced editing / text options I click on the "go advanced" button underneath the quick reply box before I start typing right?

    What exactly is the issue? I see the cursor blinking in the box after clicking reply to thread, but I think that is where it is supposed to be no?
    NO!!! The Reply to Thread button always takes you to Reply webpage on any forum I've used, even this forum until the "upgrade". Don't you remember?

    Most often you don't even click anything to Quick Reply, you simple start typing in the QR text box in many forums, as it is always resident, not here. I almost never use the QR mode because it has no Preview.
  • PaulTocknell
    PaulTocknell Forum Administrator Unconfirmed
    edited June 2010
    Well, I had to disable the "quick reply" completely to solve this issue. I'm not sure it's the best fix, but it will work for now. This will also solve the problem that happens when you accidentally click the "reply to thread" button after entering text in the quick reply box (which deletes your post)

    Still working through the upgrade pains here and I appreciate your patience and the time you took to explain this issue to me.

    Paul.
  • Roger Edrinn
    Roger Edrinn Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2010
    Works for me. One At-A-Boy! :)
  • Geo
    Geo Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2010
    Hello global_flyer,


    are you sure to allow html in message board and signature (see at the bottom : "HTML code is On")?
  • PaulTocknell
    PaulTocknell Forum Administrator Unconfirmed
    edited June 2010
    I have disabled allowing HTML BB code in messages.
  • Geo
    Geo Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2010
    I have disabled allowing HTML BB code in messages.

    the problem is not with HTML or PHP BB code allowed in messages, but with allow HTML in messages.