A few areas of improvement

[Watty]

One improvement that could be done is a thought that just popped into my head... Is there a way to give this site some sort of icon? What I mean by this is like on FireFox, if you put a link in you bookmarks toolbar, there is a little icon next to it. DW Forum is the only one I have that does not have some unique icon.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here is a picture.



Another thing that I think could be improved, is to mark forum sections as "Read." For an example of what I am talking about here can be found at http://www.revkites.com/forum. The forum sections that appear blue are clickable, and after you click on it the icon becomes a lighter blue, and all threads in that section are marked as if you have read them.

Just while posting this thread, I actually found two more areas of improvement.
1. Hyperlinks. There is no simple way to hyperlink a phrase/word to make it clickable as a URL.
2. Now image uploader. I believe a while ago there was the option to upload a photo to the forum. In order to post a picture, one has to upload it elsewhere, then insert the image to the post.

The forum I mentioned earlier (http://www.revkites.com/forum) is a good example of how a forum should run.

[Tazcrosblade_]

i beleive they just came out with an onsite gallery, but i could be wrong

[DW_Ant]

One improvement that could be done is a thought that just popped into my head... Is there a way to give this site some sort of icon? What I mean by this is like on FireFox, if you put a link in you bookmarks toolbar, there is a little icon next to it. DW Forum is the only one I have that does not have some unique icon.

I do remember seeing the red DW logo on my address bar & tabs, but not today for some reason. I'm sure it'll be back up some time soon ;)

Another thing that I think could be improved, is to mark forum sections as "Read." For an example of what I am talking about here can be found at http://www.revkites.com/forum. The forum sections that appear blue are clickable, and after you click on it the icon becomes a lighter blue, and all threads in that section are marked as if you have read them.

You mean the new posts/no new posts icons next to each topic? It's updated the moment you visit the topic (If you use the back button, then you must refresh the page to see the "no new post icons").

[Skyline]

One improvement that could be done is a thought that just popped into my head... Is there a way to give this site some sort of icon? What I mean by this is like on FireFox, if you put a link in you bookmarks toolbar, there is a little icon next to it. DW Forum is the only one I have that does not have some unique icon.

It's a simple line of HTML, there's one on the homepage section but not the forums, probably a php thing.

IE7 and Firefox behave differently with updating threads, in Firefox you just have to F5 it once in a while.

There is no simple way to hyperlink a phrase/word to make it clickable as a URL.

You mean like this ?

Now image uploader. I believe a while ago there was the option to upload a photo to the forum. In order to post a picture, one has to upload it elsewhere, then insert the image to the post.

I believe this was taken off for some reason, or it may not be a feature of the current php system.

[MONKEYSPUNK]

I have the red DW logo still on my toolbar. But then again i'm special! :thumbright:

[DW_Bomzin]

The image on the address bar is a favicon . There is one on the homepage and any page relating to the homepage that is a in house link , I will look at implementing for the forums, good suggestion . Things like the links to frapper or wiki I do not have enough control over to do .

The forum I mentioned earlier (http://www.revkites.com/forum) is a good example of how a forum should run.

This is not a phpb3 forum but an invision power board .

Not being able to create a hyperlink via a button is on the to do list . here is the code shards used You mean like url=http://www.revkites.com/forum]this[/url] , just include a [ right before the first url and you can code it . If you hold your cursor over the URL button it gives you the proper code in the tip box.

D2Boss is correct about the read/notread posts . This is how it is built into PHPbb3 and the way current browsers work and store info . When you hit back button you get your last page out of cache without re-reading the page.

Not being able to upload pictures directly to the site was disabled to save some BW and space , No reason not to use photobuckets BW if it's free.

Yes there was a gallery just implemented , It can be found under the tabs on your profile on the front page , click your picture icon , or through the user menu .

[Watty]

D2Boss is correct about the read/notread posts . This is how it is built into PHPbb3 and the way current browsers work and store info . When you hit back button you get your last page out of cache without re-reading the page.

Yes, while this is all fun and good, it is not what I am referring to. Let me explain...

When one comes to the forum, like say myself, there is a section of the forum that I rarely enter, and therefor contains a lot of unread threads that quite frankly, I do not care about. The only way to get rid of the bright icon (meaning unread material) I have to go through every single thing that I have not read. It would be nice to be able to click the icon (the one on the forum main page next to the section that indicates read/unread material) and just pretend that I read it all, so that I am easily alerted to something new that I may find interesting.

As another example, I frequent in the Inv: Monster Mash section of the forum, and even though I am an MMA, there are some things in that section that I do not care about. However, there are some threads in there that I like to keep up on because they interest me. Every time I see the Inv: Monster Mash section showing the unread icon, I go and check it out only to find that there is actually nothing new. The unread icon is alerting me to some old material that I have not read, and do not plan on reading.

If this still does not make sense, all I can say is that IMO, it makes the forum experience much more enjoyable. I am one of the top posters on the forum I posted earlier as an example, and the clickable icons are a luxury that is dearly miss when I visit here.

[Tazcrosblade_]

i just set my link to the active topics one, that way it only shows ones with new posts period

[DW_Bomzin]

Well it's going to show you new posts one way or another .

To get rid of all new posts in the forum you can do it individually or board wide . Select a forum . Then look on the top right . Right above the post's below all the normal buttons. Click on Mark Forum Read This will remove all new post symbols.

Also you can subscribe to a topic or book mark it . From FAQ's

What is the difference between bookmarking and subscribing?
Bookmarking in phpBB3 is much like bookmarking in your web browser. You aren’t alerted when there’s an update, but you can come back to the topic later. Subscribing, however, will notify you when there is an update to the topic or forum on the board via your preferred method or methods.

I have never really used either of the 2 but you may give it a try . Buttons for these are top left same area as Mark Forum .

What do you mean you miss clickable icons. :scratch:

[Watty]

Well it's going to show you new posts one way or another .

To get rid of all new posts in the forum you can do it individually or board wide . Select a forum . Then look on the top right . Right above the post's below all the normal buttons. Click on Mark Forum Read This will remove all new post symbols.

Also you can subscribe to a topic or book mark it . From FAQ's

What is the difference between bookmarking and subscribing?
Bookmarking in phpBB3 is much like bookmarking in your web browser. You aren’t alerted when there’s an update, but you can come back to the topic later. Subscribing, however, will notify you when there is an update to the topic or forum on the board via your preferred method or methods.

I have never really used either of the 2 but you may give it a try . Buttons for these are top left same area as Mark Forum .

What do you mean you miss clickable icons. :scratch:

AH! I did not ever noticed the mark as read point. It appears to be close to the same color as the background that it is on. That is the sort of thing I was looking for.

And when I said clickable icons, I meant that the icons next to the forum sections that displayed new post status was linked to do the same sort of thing as the "Mark Forum Read" button, but instead of marking all of the forum, it just marks the one section.