Upgraded Forum Software

[Jman423]

As you can see, we've upgraded our forum software to the latest version allowing us to take advantage of the newest and greatest features and technology. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but instead of keeping the site closed while we tweak features and settings, we've decided to open it up and solicit feedback.

Things to note:

1. Permissions, user accounts, and content remain the same as they were prior to the upgrade.
2. Aside from the items mentioned in item #1, we are essentially starting fresh with features and layout.
3. Attachments & images may not be displaying correctly at the moment, we're working on it.
4. Many of the features we plan to reinstate cost money, and we have to purchase licenses for this new software.

If you find problems or have questions about this new software (which is largely similar to what you're used to), please post in this thread and allow us time to respond.

We have full-time jobs and families that take priority over the time we have available to spend on our forum software, so please be patient with us while we address things in a prioritized manner.

We also have to purchase new licenses according to a budget. Operating costs eat up most of our revenue, so we won't be able to restore everything immediately.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

 

[Mooseman]

I promise to break it in easy but already saw this little issue.



I swear I didn't do anything!

 

[Jman423]

I can't reproduce it... what browser are you using?
(Choose Wisely!)

 

[littleblazer]

I do have to ask... can the color scheme be altered? On mobile the white and blue bugs me for whatever reason. Otherwise it seems to be working.

 

[Mooseman]

FF

 

[djthumper]

Wow! It looks way different.

I am working on a few things to try and make some money. Right now I have some decals but they are some over sized so now I have to figure out materials and shipping costs.

 

[Daniel644]

can we get a darker theme like we had on the last one?

edit, side note the blue arrows in the grey boxes in the lower right when scrolling up and down are nearly impossible to see the arrows when they are over the lighter background, had to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to see the boxes had arrows in them.

 

[Jman423]

I do have to ask... can the color scheme be altered? On mobile the white and blue bugs me for whatever reason. Otherwise it seems to be working.

can we get a darker theme like we had on the last one?

edit, side note the blue arrows in the grey boxes in the lower right when scrolling up and down are nearly impossible to see the arrows when they are over the lighter background, had to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to see the boxes had arrows in them.

We intend for there to be more style options in the near future. I am aware of the little style quirks you mentioned and they will be worked out.

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

@Jman423 Thank you for such huge update!! I wasn't here during the previous upgrades so this is a new experience for me. It's amazing to see all the hard work you and the rest of the admin and moderators put into this site. With that being said I'm going to agree with the others that we should really have a dark theme for the site as all this white makes it really hard to use the site in the night time. I can't seem to find the PM section either. Is it still being worked on or is it hidden somewhere where I can't find it

EDIT: Absolutely loving this feature. No further explanation required



EDIT 2 : I can't seem to get the PM and Alert icons when in portrait mode, but they show up in landscape mode foe me on mobile!

EDIT 3 : Same thing with member signatures. Can see them in landscape orientation but not in portrait mode. Not complaining, just feeding back

 

[Blckshdw]

Pretty cool!

I like how the # of alerts you have also shows up in the browser tab.

Edit: Also like how clicking the thread titles off the main page takes you directly to the first unread post. I was mildly annoyed having to always click the dot between the OP avatar and the thread title, especially on my phone.

 

[Reprise]

We also have to purchase new licenses according to a budget. Operating costs eat up most of our revenue, so we won't be able to restore everything immediately.

I can confirm the payments subsystem appears to be working ok - renewed / upgraded my membership just now.
The site also sent a receipt for same to my e-mail address.

People renewing soon - consider bumping your membership level +1 when you renew: I liked the old theme better and want to see it return soon

 

[Capote]

Not a fan of the color scheme. Seems I'm not alone in the consensuses that the darker colors were easier on the eyes.

I'll be upping my membership to platinum, come renewal time. Have loved and enjoyed this forum for years.

 

[littleblazer]

Something weird. In portrait mode on mobile I don't get the notifications icon. Only can see it in landscape...

 

[Jman423]

For the record, the style is not finalized, I've only edited a few basic colors to represent our basic color scheme. I do plan to focus more on that, and I'm sorry for the legibility issues. I'd like to offer multiple options so users can set their preferred color scheme, but that is lower on the priority list at the moment.

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

Something weird. In portrait mode on mobile I don't get the notifications icon. Only can see it in landscape...

Yep same thing here. Also occurs with signatures as well

For the record, the style is not finalized, I've only edited a few basic colors to represent our basic color scheme. I do plan to focus more on that, and I'm sorry for the legibility issues. I'd like to offer multiple options so users can set their preferred color scheme, but that is lower on the priority list at the moment.

That would be really nice to allow individual customization, however if for the time being the white can be changed to black or something darker would make us a lot happier.

 

[Sparky]

EVERYTHING IS BROKEN!N!!!

OK maybe not. Just had to say that

One nice thing - it seems less "heavy" on the web browser than the previous version. For some reason the previous version tended to lag a bit even on my i7.

 

[Capote]

@Jman423 I'm viewing on mobile right now and I must say, I really like the layout and new menus on mobile.

 

[littleblazer]

Anyone else have a weird scaling issue going from portrait to landscape and back. When I go back to portrait everything gets zoomed out and off center. I suppose it could be chrome too though. Just letting you know what I see.

 

[Capote]

Anyone else have a weird scaling issue going from portrait to landscape and back. When I go back to portrait everything gets zoomed out and off center. I suppose it could be chrome too though. Just letting you know what I see.

I didn't notice anything on my end.

 

[Jman423]

I darkened up some elements of the theme, hopefully that helps for now.

 

[Reprise]

Re: screen scaling back to portrait (Littleblazer)...

It's definitely Chrome. As a workaround, if you doubletap on the RH side (which now appears as gray bkgrd), the page should resize to portrait properly - did for me at least.

(and a new item - an 'edited' post doesn't allow / offer the quote function. I quoted the wrong post originally, but couldn't replace it with the correct one on edit.)
Note that the menu dropdown in the editing window *does* have a quote option - but it just gives the HTML open / close quote tags (so you can type between them.)

 

[connorwallin]

I love the new update for the site! Looks a lot more modern, clean and sleek! Thank You.

 

[RTTBLT1]

Wow, what a different look & feel. I like it on my Galaxy S8 mobile, have yet to visit on the PC since the upgrade.

Nice job!

 

[Blckshdw]

Looks like spoiler tags don't visually show up if you don't know they're there. They still function properly though.

I know what switch those wires are for, I'll give you a hint...

Spoiler

View attachment 82639

 

[littleblazer]

Looks like spoiler tags don't visually show up if you don't know they're there. They still function properly though.

That spoiler looks familiar. It's there it's just pure white on off white it appears. On my s8 with low brightness it is somewhat visible.

 

[Jman423]

That will be addressed as well. It is "button text" that is showing up white, but the button is missing which is causing this issue.

 

[Jman423]

Spoiler

This is a spoiler

 

[Daniel644]

I darkened up some elements of the theme, hopefully that helps for now.

YES that was a help

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

EVERYTHING IS BROKEN!N!!!

OK maybe not. Just had to say that

One nice thing - it seems less "heavy" on the web browser than the previous version. For some reason the previous version tended to lag a bit even on my i7.

I dunno but the new version is a bit laggy on Mobile compared to the previous version for me at least. Nothing a few tweaks can sort out 👍🏻

I darkened up some elements of the theme, hopefully that helps for now.

Thank you very much! Sorry if we bugged you about that, but it's a lot more bearable. The arrows also seem to have been fixed. I can finally see the inbox and alert icons even if not perfectly

 

[littleblazer]

Looking good.

 

[FearlessAZ]

I like it all. Feels more modern and simpler.

 

[Shaw520]

Love the new digs,... a cleaner look for sure !

 

[Sparky]

I know I'm probably in the minority, but I have a 1440p monitor and the website is all scrunched in the center of my screen with lots of unused space to the sides. Not sure if the site can autodetect width or not.

 

[Capote]

Having a weird sizing/scaling issue when checking alerts:

 

[$ Khalid ! 9130]

Having a weird sizing/scaling issue when checking alerts:

Yep been having that on my end as well since the update. Would be great if it's only show the icons and not the whole text when in mobile/portrait mode

 

[mrrsm]

This is Observation and Not Criticism:

JMAN... Nice Choice... and Good Work!

In all of the world of "ART"... The principle of 'You Must Show Dark to Show Light" as contrast is especially true with Text. All of the Pale Gray Text shown against a Plain White or Off Gray Background almost disappears... especially with the Text being so much smaller as a font and more dense. It is extremely hard to distinguish the words from the backgrounds. When contrasted with Larger, Darker and Bolder Text against other shaded backgrounds... it looks superb. This appearance applies on my Laptops as well as my Ipad Air IIs. I much prefer the cooler Blue Colors that have been chosen for the New SW to those of the original Red-Brown, as these new colors encourage a better and more energetic feeling to a broad base of Guests and Members. The reason for this is that Blue Light emanates at much Higher Frequencies and Red Light at much lower, depressing ones.

If the 'Pale Data' being expressed is too hard to read... people will struggle when trying to do so and might be inclined to look elsewhere on-line for information that we all know... simply does not exist if not here at GMTN. It would be helpful to know what the Average Age of the Membership is because anyone who is near to or over the age of (40) has already begun to suffer from Presbyopia ( an inability to focus the eyes) and are in need of Rx Bi-Focal or Progressive Lens Glasses for reading. If they make up a substantial portion of the Membership 'Populi', they might agree with this idea as being a problem worth solving. Like me... they will all enjoy the changes and advantages that the New Software brings... But only if they can easily read what there is to see here.

 

[Jman423]

I know I'm probably in the minority, but I have a 1440p monitor and the website is all scrunched in the center of my screen with lots of unused space to the sides. Not sure if the site can autodetect width or not.

We will offer a fluid style once I get the fixed style nailed down. It will essentially be a copy of the current style that fits the screen.

Having a weird sizing/scaling issue when checking alerts:

That is a confirmed bug in the style and it has been reported to the developers. When they release a fix, I will implement it.

This is Observation and Not Criticism:

JMAN... Nice Choice... and Good Work!

In all of the world of "ART"... The principle of 'You Must Show Dark to Show Light" as contrast is especially true with Text. All of the Pale Gray Text shown against a Plain White or Off Gray Background almost disappears... especially with the Text being so much smaller as a font and more dense. It is extremely hard to distinguish the words from the backgrounds. When contrasted with Larger, Darker and Bolder Text against other shaded backgrounds... it looks superb. This appearance applies on my Laptops as well as my Ipad Air IIs. I much prefer the cooler Blue Colors that have been chosen for the New SW to those of the original Red-Brown, as these new colors encourage a better and more energetic feeling to a broad base of Guests and Members. The reason for this is that Blue Light emanates at much Higher Frequencies and Red Light at much lower, depressing ones.

If the 'Pale Data' being expressed is too hard to read... people will struggle when trying to do so and might be inclined to look elsewhere on-line for information that we all know... simply does not exist if not here at GMTN. It would be helpful to know what the Average Age of the Membership is because anyone who is near to or over the age of (40) has already begun to suffer from Presbyopia ( an inability to focus the eyes) and are in need of Rx Bi-Focal or Progressive Lens Glasses for reading. If they make up a substantial portion of the Membership 'Populi', they might agree with this idea as being a problem worth solving. Like me... they will all enjoy the changes and advantages that the New Software brings... But only if they can easily read what there is to see here.

My head hurts...

However, we are working to resolve these types of issues.

 

[littleblazer]

Been getting this when attempting to log in on the desktop... strange. Looks fantastic on the computer by the way.

 

[Capote]

@Jman423 I know this is probably buggin' you with the loads of quirks being reported, but I noticed that threads and forums will still remain highlighted as unread, despite already have looked at those specific new posts in threads and/ or forums.

 

[Jman423]

View attachment 82715
Been getting this when attempting to log in on the desktop... strange. Looks fantastic on the computer by the way.

@Jman423 I know this is probably buggin' you with the loads of quirks being reported, but I noticed that threads and forums will still remain highlighted as unread, despite already have looked at those specific new posts in threads and/ or forums.

You both likely need to delete your cookies and cache. I haven't seen either of these issues (using Chrome).