Forum upgrade complete

[Mojo]

Thanks to all members for their patience earlier today whilst we have been updating the forum.

At the present time we are still working to finalise the software but wanted to go live as soon as possible to allow members to resume posting and reviewing posts. Accordingly, if you notice anything not working as it should please DO NOT report this for the time being as it is still being worked on.

I will post a little later once this is done, and after which I will invite members to reply to this thread with any questions, or concerns.

 

[Mojo]

On behalf of the forum staff team I would like to thank members for their patience during this difficult time.

Whilst we are still using the same software, xenForo, that we have used to operate the forum for the past two and a half years, we had little choice but to update to the latest version as the old version was life-expired and also restricted us from updating many sections of the forum. This software we use is "off the shelf" and therefore like any similar software is subject to changes made by the developers. To try and counter this we paid for a designer to redesign the software to make it look as similar as possible to what members are used to (which in turn is based on the design of the older vBulletin software which we used for around decade prior to October 2017). These are mostly just style changes and the software features itself works as designed by the developers, so the way it works here is most likely the same way it works on other xenForo sites.

Over the past week myself, the forum staff team and a few Veteran Members have compiled a list of problems or questions raised by members; the majority of these are "as designed" by xenForo and just a few minor changes to settings that the developers of the xenForo software have seen fit to raise. Many other items we have gone back to the designer on and are nearing completion.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

One notable item that was last introduced at the changeover from vBulletin to Xen Foro a couple of years ago, was the "Areas" section box in the Profile Page area that showed you the total number of postings in each forum of the website that you had made. Is it intended to continue with that particular facility?

 

[Mojo]

One notable item that was last introduced at the changeover from vBulletin to Xen Foro a couple of years ago, was the "Areas" section box in the Profile Page area that showed you the total number of postings in each forum of the website that you had made. Is it intended to continue with that particular facility?

Hi Paul, This was actually the unintended consequence of a different add on, rather than something we actually asked for. If this is something that is wanted then I can specifically bring back a similar feature quite easily.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Hi Paul, This was actually the unintended consequence of a different add on, rather than something we actually asked for. If this is something that is wanted then I can specifically bring back a similar feature quite easily.

Thank you for the explanation. I would be pleased to see the return of this facility, as I am one of the few website members to have exceeded the 100,000 posting total over the many and varied threads that have occurred on the Quizzes and Games forum and that specific forum total has not featured as part of each members posting total since 2012.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Hi Paul, This was actually the unintended consequence of a different add on, rather than something we actually asked for. If this is something that is wanted then I can specifically bring back a similar feature quite easily.

Hi Mojo,

A quick query from me.

Will it be possible for whereby if a member undertakes a search, that when the results are shown they can be filtered in chronological order? Tried to do a search on the two Avanti-liveried Pendolinos (390155 and 390156), but when I carried out a search by typing in the fleet numbers it gave me a random mix of results, some from as early as 2011?

Thank you.

 

[CrispyUK]

Will it be possible for whereby if a member undertakes a search, that when the results are shown they can be filtered in chronological order? Tried to do a search on the two Avanti-liveried Pendolinos (390155 and 390156), but when I carried out a search by typing in the fleet numbers it gave me a random mix of results, some from as early as 2011?

If you select the Advanced Search option, you can specify a ‘Newer than’ date which will allow you to filter out older results.

Also on the advanced search you can change ‘Order by’ to Date, which will display newest results first (instead of the default ordering by relevance, which gives you the random order of dates).

 

[ValleyLines142]

If you select the Advanced Search option, you can specify a ‘Newer than’ date which will allow you to filter out older results.

Also on the advanced search you can change ‘Order by’ to Date, which will display newest results first (instead of the default ordering by relevance, which gives you the random order of dates).

Thank you.

 

[Adam Williams]

Congrats on upgrading to v2 - I know it involves a lot of effort, particularly for large sites! (I have a few old XF1 addons that have perpetually been on my backlog to eventually update one day..)

 

[krus_aragon]

Thanks for the update on the update. In retrospect, having a week or so to "get used to" the new interface before raising any concerns is probably a good thing.

One element of functionality that I was missing from the previous XenForo software is the ability to see a list of Unread Watched Threads. The "Watched Threads" link provided in a drop-down menu from the upper bar lists all watched threads, with bold type for those with unread posts. (If using the default policy of automatically watching every thread you post in, this means that there can be a lot of threads to wade through in search of any unread ones.

A workaround I've found is to go to the What's New / New Posts option in the upper bar, and then use the filter option on the right side of the screen to select either "Watched content" or "Threads in which you've participated" in addition to the pre-selected "Unread threads" option. (There are subtle differences between the two options; "Watched content" includes every thread from any watched forums, whereas the "Threads in which you've participated" option will presumably include threads that you've posted in, and subsequently removed from your watch list.) That set of filters can be saved as a default, effectively turning the "What's New / New Posts" link in the upper bar into an approximation of the old functionality. Maybe some other forum members will find this useful. Though I'd find it even more useful if there were a direct (one-click) link to that new posts page.


On a separate note, might the forum staff be reconsidering whether to reintroduce some custom forum themes, as we used to have several software versions ago? I'm sure there are some enterprising forum members that might be interested in helping with the design work.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

This one concerns the Quizzes and Games forum, where a number of thread contributors may well be watching a thread at the same time ready to make a posting and the previous system showed who was watching the thread. There have been a number of recent instances where thread contributors have had to strike-through a posting, as now they have no knowledge of who is viewing a thread.

Another matter that has surfaced on the same forum in particular is one the previous system, at the end of a page on the right-hand side at the foot, it once said how many more postings were still to be viewed on the following page.

Could either of these points be noted and hopefully reinstated onto this new version.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I love the new brief summary feature when quoting.

 

[Strat-tastic]

Thanks for the update on the update. In retrospect, having a week or so to "get used to" the new interface before raising any concerns is probably a good thing.

One element of functionality that I was missing from the previous XenForo software is the ability to see a list of Unread Watched Threads. The "Watched Threads" link provided in a drop-down menu from the upper bar lists all watched threads, with bold type for those with unread posts. (If using the default policy of automatically watching every thread you post in, this means that there can be a lot of threads to wade through in search of any unread ones.

A workaround I've found is to go to the What's New / New Posts option in the upper bar, and then use the filter option on the right side of the screen to select either "Watched content" or "Threads in which you've participated" in addition to the pre-selected "Unread threads" option. (There are subtle differences between the two options; "Watched content" includes every thread from any watched forums, whereas the "Threads in which you've participated" option will presumably include threads that you've posted in, and subsequently removed from your watch list.) That set of filters can be saved as a default, effectively turning the "What's New / New Posts" link in the upper bar into an approximation of the old functionality. Maybe some other forum members will find this useful. Though I'd find it even more useful if there were a direct (one-click) link to that new posts page.


On a separate note, might the forum staff be reconsidering whether to reintroduce some custom forum themes, as we used to have several software versions ago? I'm sure there are some enterprising forum members that might be interested in helping with the design work.

I cannot find the filter option. I'm browsing the forum on a mobile which may explain it. Is there a way to find it on a mobile?

 

[Adsy125]

One element of functionality that I was missing from the previous XenForo software is the ability to see a list of Unread Watched Threads. The "Watched Threads" link provided in a drop-down menu from the upper bar lists all watched threads, with bold type for those with unread posts. (If using the default policy of automatically watching every thread you post in, this means that there can be a lot of threads to wade through in search of any unread ones.

Agreed, this functionality is something that I think we really need back!

 

[Mojo]

One element of functionality that I was missing from the previous XenForo software is the ability to see a list of Unread Watched Threads. The "Watched Threads" link provided in a drop-down menu from the upper bar lists all watched threads, with bold type for those with unread posts. (If using the default policy of automatically watching every thread you post in, this means that there can be a lot of threads to wade through in search of any unread ones.

A workaround I've found is to go to the What's New / New Posts option in the upper bar, and then use the filter option on the right side of the screen to select either "Watched content" or "Threads in which you've participated" in addition to the pre-selected "Unread threads" option. (There are subtle differences between the two options; "Watched content" includes every thread from any watched forums, whereas the "Threads in which you've participated" option will presumably include threads that you've posted in, and subsequently removed from your watch list.) That set of filters can be saved as a default, effectively turning the "What's New / New Posts" link in the upper bar into an approximation of the old functionality. Maybe some other forum members will find this useful. Though I'd find it even more useful if there were a direct (one-click) link to that new posts page.

Could you please explain to me again what the difference the two options is? The new posts page (https://www.railforums.co.uk/whats-new/posts/) with the filter for ‘Unread’ and ‘Watched,’ looks to me like it shows you unread watched posts like you request, and the developers are adamant that this is the same thing as the equivalent function on the older site. So can you help me understand what is different?

 

[Mojo]

I cannot find the filter option. I'm browsing the forum on a mobile which may explain it. Is there a way to find it on a mobile?

It’s there on mobile too; it’s on the right hand side of the blue bar at the top of the results screen.

 

[RichT54]

With the old software, in the "Your statistics" section in the right hand column on the top level page, the digits for "Your albums" and "Your media" were hyperlinks to the appropriate pages, which I found rather useful. Is there any chance this could be restored, please?

 

[Strat-tastic]

It’s there on mobile too; it’s on the right hand side of the blue bar at the top of the results screen.

There's nothing in the blue bar except 'Latest posts'.
There's a scrollable bar above that but nothing to do with a filter.

 

[scotrail158713]

One notable item that was last introduced at the changeover from vBulletin to Xen Foro a couple of years ago, was the "Areas" section box in the Profile Page area that showed you the total number of postings in each forum of the website that you had made. Is it intended to continue with that particular facility?

I’d noted that as well @Xenophon PCDGS. I liked to be able to see where my postings had all been made.

 

[Mojo]

There's nothing in the blue bar except 'Latest posts'.
There's a scrollable bar above that but nothing to do with a filter.

See circled area.

 

[krus_aragon]

Could you please explain to me again what the difference the two options is? The new posts page (https://www.railforums.co.uk/whats-new/posts/) with the filter for ‘Unread’ and ‘Watched,’ looks to me like it shows you unread watched posts like you request, and the developers are adamant that this is the same thing as the equivalent function on the older site. So can you help me understand what is different?

Certainly. It's virtually identical, but there's a subtle difference. And the difference seems to be caused elsewhere in the forum code, to boot!

I have my preferences set up to follow any threads I post to, and also watch one forum (Railway History). On the old XenForo, I would get notifications of new threads being started in the watched forum, but they wouldn't show up as "watched threads" unless I specifically chose to watch them, or posted in them. As a result, the old "Unread Watched Threads" was largely showing me new posts in threads I'd previously posted to.

The new XenForo software appears to consider every thread in a watched forum to be a watched thread as well. The result of this is that using the 'Unread' and 'Watched' filters shows me new posts in threads I'd posted to, but also shows me every other thread in my watched forum with unread posts, even if I'd never looked at it or posted to it.

By contrast, using the 'Unread' and 'Participated' filters, I'm shown new posts in threads I've posted to, but presumably* not any new posts in threads that I've manually chosen to watch (but not posted to). *I've not investigated this thoroughly myself.


In summary, the new XenForo software considers any thread inside a watched forum to be a watched thread, whereas the old XenForo software didn't. This has implications for the "What's New" filters relating to watched threads.

 

[ABB125]

Is there any chance of the forum jump button being reinstated? (It used to be at the far right of the [Home>Forums>...>forum section] bar at the top and bottom of every page.) It's definitely the button I used to use most!
Other than that, the upgrade seems to be working fine for me.

 

[skyhigh]

On both desktop and mobile for me, when I click on a thread, it jumps to the first new post - but as shown in the screenshot the top bar with the posting time is obscured by the top black bar. It seems to be jumping to the wrong place?

Is this deliberate or an error? I find it useful seeing when posts were made.

 

[bspahh]

Could you please explain to me again what the difference the two options is? The new posts page (https://www.railforums.co.uk/whats-new/posts/) with the filter for ‘Unread’ and ‘Watched,’ looks to me like it shows you unread watched posts like you request, and the developers are adamant that this is the same thing as the equivalent function on the older site. So can you help me understand what is different?

Can I create a bookmark with that search with the filters turned on?

I can see the option to save those filters as a default, but I like having two searches: one with unread posts in any thread, and another with unread posts in threads that I'm watching.

 

[Strat-tastic]

See circled area.

Nope, don't get that. This is what I see:

 

[CrispyUK]

Nope, don't get that. This is what I see:

View attachment 77072

You’re on “What's New” instead of “New Posts” - if you switch to the new posts page you should see the filter options

 

[Strat-tastic]

You’re on “What's New” instead of “New Posts” - if you switch to the new posts page you should see the filter options

Bingo! Thanks, although still no 'watched' option.

 

[Strat-tastic]

Update: watched bit now there when i added it in. D'oh!

 

[Crossover]

A couple of things I have noticed that have disappeared are, a bar at the bottom of the thread which showed who was reading a thread (not essential) and also at the bottom showed how many more unread posts there were on the following pages (useful to gauge how much more there is to read and whether to continue if on a brief visit to the site)

 

[lammergeier]

Would it be possible to reinstate the ability to click to a specific page when opening a topic? For example, if a thread had 16 pages you used to be able to open page, say, 14 straight away.

Also could page numbers be put back onto the top of a topic page, save scrolling all the way down to the botton just to click forward or back a page? It just seems that since the upgrade it's more difficult to navigate around a particular topic.

Thanks.