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New Forum Portal

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:38 pm
by Paul Webster
Ok this is the link to the proposed forum portal

http://www.astwoodbankac.co.uk/forum/portal.php

Please note there is no link to return to it within the forum yet as its only on a trial basis to get some feedback.

Please take the time to vote and to post any comments good or bad.

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:20 pm
by Steve Fisher
Change is good I suppose, and the new layout looks OK. There's certainly a lot of info available at a quick glance. Would the actual forum be "squashed" into the middle frame? If so, wouldn't it look a little cramped? Personally, I prefer forums that are as wide as my browser window.

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:30 pm
by Steve Fisher
Just another thought on this, Paul. I don't know if you're doing it or not, but if you're thinking of turning the site into a portal, have you looked at PHPNuke? http://phpnuke.org/ It pretty-much takes all the hard work out of it, plus new features can be easily added as modules.

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:04 pm
by Paul Webster
Steve,

Not planning on turning the site into a portal just creating a portal for the forum. The plan is when you go into the forum it will stretch to full width and all the portal information will dissappear. The forum pages will stay exactly the same.

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:13 pm
by Steve Fisher
Image

Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 10:21 pm
by Andrew Burgess
Nice one Paul - at least it is a better layout than the old one - Go for it man.

portal

Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:48 pm
by Dave Clarkson
I like it paul, well done on all your efforts..

Only thing is how do I vote or is it closed...

atb Dave

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:47 am
by Paul Webster
You just click the vote button, once a new poll is put on the site it will pick up the latest poll.

vote button

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 2:13 pm
by Dave Clarkson
Sorry Paul but I can see the poll percentages but no vote button appearing, am I losing it or can anyone else not see it :oops:

atb Dave

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:32 pm
by Paul Webster
Dave have you already voted??

The polls are configured in such a way to prevent people voting multiple times.

portal

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 8:31 pm
by Dave Clarkson
Sorry Paul, didn't think I'd voted and planned to come back and comment, maybe I did vote, that would explain it :oops: soz

Dave

Modded Forum Portal

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 1:44 am
by DoctorRog
I think this is good step in the right direction. My eye is immediately drawn to the box currently in the top right which shows the latest posts. Personally I would give this more real estate and move the category taxonomy to the left or right. Assuming you can just link straight to the lattest message clicking on the subject this will make the forum more compulsive in terms of reading and contributing.
If It is possible to get a picture in (i.e. the latest significant catch photo), that would make the page more interesting still..!

I'll have a few more thoughts when I have more time...

Well done Paul. The effort is appreciated.

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 8:45 am
by Paul Webster
Thanks for that DoctorRog, the only problem with the box on the right it only lists the last poster to a subject so if 5 posts have been made it will only show the last poster. But I can't alter that as it relies on reading information from the sql database. It might be worth noting though there is a hyperlink in the top left box that shows the number of posts since your last logon and will filter just those subjects and poosts for you.

I will look into having the picture on the portal but its can get messy having the same picture represented in different places throughoput the web site as it just means more effort for me when a new photo is added but I will look to incorporate the idea I can always remove it if I don't have the time to keep it maintained.

I like it...

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 6:02 pm
by DoctorRog
Paul, noted the comments about the picture and understood. I had thought that maybe the latest one could be loaded automatically or something like that. Any chance of another 5 characters or so in the excellent "recent discussions" box? Or am I being greedy?? :o))

Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:51 pm
by Paul Webster
Thats an easy request, I have actually added 7 chars, anymore and I would have to increase the box width.