Forum improvements

[James]

Hi David,

Just wanted to suggest some improvements to the Forum - can you consider these?:

1. Log in. If you try to log in when viewing a topic etc, once logged in you always go back to the home page rather than the topic you were reading. Can this be changed?

2. The text input box for posting messages. It's too small and makes reviewing your message tricky.

3. How about a "preview post" facility to check how your post looks before confirming? I realise the "edit post" button covers this but I'd prefer to edit first then post.

4. Browsing updated topics. This is not easy. Sure, the most recently updated topic is shown on the home page but if more than one in the same category have recently been updated it's easy to miss the second most recent. Trawling through all the categories is a bit time consuming - is there another way?

5. James G, Shu, Ron and Steve rarely come here, some have not logged in for nearly two months. Any more suggestions for getting them involved? They're missing out.

Cheers David, like to give you something to think about. Hope you had a good Christmas! :)

James B.

[David]

The forum software we use here is an off-the-peg solution and so, many of the "features" are built-in and cannot easily be modified. However, the forum is relatively simple and written in PHP so I can affect some tweaks.

1. The login suggestion is a good one but I fear it may be difficult to implement.

2. I agree about the size of the text imput box. This should be relatively easy to sort out. I will have a look at it.

3. The "preview post" idea is also a good one and is a feature of more complex forum utilities like phpBB. I don't think there is any chance that I can do this. However, a new version of the SimpleBBS software is due shortly and will include many new features.

4. Updated topic notification is important and is implemented in the new version of the software.

5. We can't force people to use facilities made available to them and it is difficult to argue in favour of forum use remotely when some individuals don't even reply to email. I suggest a concerted offensive once we return to face-to-face teaching. More effective than the odd email.

P.S. I've sorted out the forum problems you experienced earlier and removed unwanted posts.

[francis]

Hi

Can you also make the "edit post" box larger - it's tiny.

Muchos gracias

[David]

Originally posted by: francis
Can you also make the "edit post" box larger - it's tiny.

Yes, you're right - I'll do my best.

[David]

OK, how does that look?

I've changed both the "Add Reply" box and the "Edit" box. They are both now set to 15 rows and 65 columns. Previously the "Add Reply" box was 13 rows and 50 columns and the "Edit" box was a paltry 10 rows and 30 columns.

It all looks good in IE, s'pose I'd better check it in Mozilla and Opera then... ;)

[francis]

Ah, that's better. Nice to see what your money goes towards in Fasthosts (http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=110954&command=displayContent&sourceNode=110953&contentPK=8229183).

[David]

OK, I've now added the smilies and BBCode buttons to the "Quote" and "Edit" reply boxes. Bit of an oversight by the original programmer I thought. I've tested them and all seems well but let me know if you experience problems.

Francis, I couldn't follow that link. Could you post it as plain text? I know there's a problem with links and I'd like to resolve it if I can.

[francis]

Yep:

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/dis...ntentPK=8229183 (http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=110954&command=displayContent&sourceNode=110953&contentPK=8229183)

There is a %20 in the word "commands"