179 replies to this topic

[bira]

This thread is intended to allow you to post ideas and suggestions for changes and enhancements you want to see in the Bulletin Board from a technical standpoint only.

1) Please post your suggestion, if you have one, and if you have an example (say, something you've seen elsewhere), please include a URL.

2) This is NOT a discussion thread. Please don't reply to others with your agreement or disagreement of their ideas.

3) Posts that are irrelevant to the topic will be deleted. This thread is meant ONLY to assist me in gathering as many pointers as possible before I start working on the BB development.

4) I will not respond to every post, if at all. Again, this is just a place for you to bring up suggestions before development begins.

Thank you,

Bira

[Draco]

Resurrect the Ignore List function.

Bira: done

Add a Preview function to Private Messaging.

Bira(2) : done

[Frans]

it would be nice if you could chose your own background colors, and/or the font style of the entire bb.



again, "would be nice."

bira: won't be added

[30ft penguin]

The text box into which you type the new message needs to be larger. If you type something like a table using the "code" option, it is very hard to figure out what the message will look like in the end, so you constantly have to "preview" and go back and re-edit.

bira: done

[Viktor]

Increse the max replys shown on one page from 40 to 100.

/Viktor

bira: already exists

Viktor, that is a user-selectable option. The default is 40 posts per page. However, in your profile, under Edit Options, you can change the 'Posts per Thread' to anything from 5 to 100.

[Ali_G]

How about additional smilies.

Niall

bira: already exists

[A3]

The PM system !

It's happened a couple of times now that I was writing a big long PM to someone and when I pressed the "send" button, I got a message that the user's mailbox was full. I press the "back" button and all the text I typed is gone ! AAAaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhhh!!

I hope this can be changed somehow.

Bira (2) : Done. Check out the 'Verify' button next to the Recepient field

[Andy]

Under the "Replies" column for each thread in a BB's listing you can click on the number of replies to get a list of people who replied to the thread and how many times they posted. The member's names are highlighted and when you click on the name it takes you to their profile. Could this be changed so that when you click on thier name it takes you to their post in that thread instead? I was just looking at an older (3 page) thread and couldn't remember if I had already posted to it so I clicked on the replies to get the list. When my name appeared it would have been nice to be able to click on it to take me to my post so I could remember what I posted without having to search "manually" through the whole long thread to find my post. If I replied more than once, it would even be nice if it just took me to my first post, if not a list of all my posts.

Thanks.

bira(2) : Done

[Dolph]

A selection of team themes like a Ferrari theme or Williams theme (or Minardi theme:p).
Also themes about drivers or a theme about a GP (if its the GP of Italy then lots of tiffosos with red flags) that would switch every time.
A championship leader theme (When Schumi is leading then some red and Michaels face with his weard chin, if DC is leading then some grey and DC's face with his weard chin:p etc.).

Just don't slow down the connection with too many big pics:drunk:

bira: won't be added

[FordPrefect]

I would like to be able to see the BBS use thumbnails, I imagine the pages would load faster, especially if it is a post with a lot of images, this would be handy for posters who still use dialup.

It would also give people the choice of whether or not they wanted to see the full image.

thanks,

Ford

bira: done (images converted to clickable thumbnails)

The option to convert images to URLs exists already in the Profile Options.


many thanks Ford

bira (2) : temporarily reverted back to the previous way, due to problem with small images getting resized (see response below to A3)

[Ali_G]

How about adding 2 more spaces on the poll options so that all 12 F1 teams can be included in the options.

I found that this year one was always Arrows/Minardi

bira: done
I heard tha the BB SOftware also supports stats. how about giving a section so that we can see how many times we've logged on etc.

bira: will not be added
Niall

[Ali_G]

A possible ability so that your name can be changed in the BB. Obviously only with the permission of a moderator. And a possible list of name changes could be posted so that people know who is who still.

Niall

bira: will not be added

[daz]

Have a forum jump put up the top of the thread aswell

bira(2) : will not be added. Hit ctrl+end on your keyboard to jump directly the bottom of the page

[The Soul Stealer]

Under a user's profile, you can search through their different posts but can't search through their different threads...

Can a search engine be set up to search through the different threads started by a person?

Bira (2) : done. You can find the link at the first post of every thread, and at the profile of every user.

[Ali_G]

Soul. you can.

Just press the box where it says, search in thread subject only.



Just to add to this. Int he search feature. When you put ina name and then put in a phrase it starts to throw up threads that have posts done by a poster and the phrase might be posted by a different poster.

COuld it be that the phrase must be posted by teh Name you put in.

Niall

bira: already exists

[ffiloseta]

I'd like to be able to edit a poll I submitted. At least the text strings.

Bira (2) : won't be added. Ask a host to edit it if needed

[bira]

Originally posted by Ali_G
How about additional smilies.

Niall

I said it before I will say it again: if you suggest a smilie to me that I find appropriate to add, it will be added. garth_b made a smilie and offered it, and it was added within minutes.

Originally posted by Ali_G
Soul. you can.

Just press the box where it says, search in thread subject only.

That's not true. Right now I see no way of searching for all threads by a user, only posts or threads in which the user posted (but not necessarily started).

Originally posted by Ali_G
Just to add to this. Int he search feature. When you put ina name and then put in a phrase it starts to throw up threads that have posts done by a poster and the phrase might be posted by a different poster.

COuld it be that the phrase must be posted by teh Name you put in.

Niall

Select 'view results as posts' and you will get only posts by the user you are looking for, which contain the word(s) you are looking for.

[A3]

Originally posted by FordPrefect


bira: done (images converted to clickable thumbnails)

The option to convert images to URLs exists already in the Profile Options.

Ok, I can understand the thumbnail option for many people. And I can live with it as well. But, is it possible to for each user to decide for him/herself wether they want to see the thumbnails or the full image?

[bira]

Originally posted by A3


Ok, I can understand the thumbnail option for many people. And I can live with it as well. But, is it possible to for each user to decide for him/herself wether they want to see the thumbnails or the full image?

Not at the moment.

[A3]

Ok, I hope we will see this because when someone posts a smiley from another site, it will show up as a larger thumbnail image, let me see if i can show you:


^^ You see? The smiley is a bit big.

[A3]

I must say I don't like the thumbnails that much. The thumbnail still needs to load the original pic, so they aren't loading any faster. I don't know how 56K modem users ecperience though.

[ffiloseta]

What about some way to delete a post one made ? I just wanted tto edit a post and clicked "quote" instead, voilá, instant duplication !!!

[ffiloseta]

OK, I am lazy, I looked better and managed to delete the post. Sorry about that

[bira]

A3, I see your point. I overlooked the issue of small files, and adding a procedure that first checks the width value of the image is gonna take me a little longer. So, for the time being I reverted the images display back to its original (full) form.

What I will try to acheive, though, is a 3-way option for a user: choose between viewing image in full, viewing a clickable thumbnail of images larger than 120pixels, viewing only a link to the image. (the first and third option already exist).

You are right in saying that the image, being merely resized by html and not actually resized physically, is still downloaded in full and the actual download speed isn't affected per se.

However, some of the threads have such big images, it's really distracting reading through the thread. Aesthetically, I prefer thumbnails. From the few comments I got yesterday it seems there are others who prefer it too, so it's definitely an option I would like to include.

And, by the way, while download time of the files remain the same, the page rendering is faster - because the images are given a predifined dimension. And, since the page itself loads before the images, the issue of how long they take to download is pretty much moot - it's just a matter of what is more convenient for reading the page, and I think in many cases you too will find thumbnails make for a much nicer reading of a thread.

[A3]

Originally posted by bira
What I will try to acheive, though, is a 3-way option for a user: choose between viewing image in full, viewing a clickable thumbnail of images larger than 120pixels, viewing only a link to the image. (the first and third option already exist).

That would be great, thanks.

[Slick]

I hope this one hasn't been mentioned, I only have 5 minutes left of lunch break and can't be bothered to read all the thread.

Can a forum jump be inlcluded on the Profile page (My Control Panel) please

bira: done

[Vitesse2]

I was going to ask for that, Slick!

Also, the PM pop-ups only seem to work if you are on-line at the moment when a new PM is received - can they be configured to come up at logon?

[Slick]

Also, the PM pop-ups only seem to work if you are on-line at the moment when a new PM is received - can they be configured to come up at logon?

They already do on my computer

[daz]

Umm, how come when you want to add a smile or say a font / size etc from the menu, when you click it - it then highlights the 'whole' text and places it at the end, but you actually specify where you want it to go.

I know you can do the 'code' manually, but you know ... there to be clicked

I think its just in edited your own post ...

[bira]

daz please look at previous active threads before you post.

http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=30422

[daz]

Originally posted by bira
daz please look at previous active threads before you post.

http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=30422

Sorry, I just have last days displayed posts setup ...

[paulb]

Wow - smilie explosion,

Bira, just for reference check out the Maccentral Forums at http://forums.maccen...p?returnto=none

In particular, I like how they use color and bold in the fonts. Just something for you to look at if you want to see a different look. Thanks for the really quick implementation on some of the ideas:

:kiss

[jondoe955]

i often wonder where the posts originate. would it interest others to know the city/country of the poster? maybe a space under the username (or is this available elsewhere?). knowing where people live would help me understand their reasoning (and spelling errors). as the posts are in english, it makes me think they are from the States - but since only 15 people here follow F1, i'm sure i'm mistaken.;)

[A3]

^^^ Click on the profile button !

[gerry nassar]

How about a "spoiler" tag.

On another BB they have a tag that allows you to blackout a spoiler and that way if somebody wants to read it they highlight it with their mouse and it becomes ledgible. I understand this is more useful for a movie site but it can be used at Atlas too.

Check this out (the 3rd post)

http://www.rottentom...threadid=124475

[ffiloseta]

Gerry, you achieve that by giving the text and background the same black colour.

[A3]

yes, ffiloseta, but that can't be done on the Atlas BB.

[bira]

Gerry, this is a very simple add-on (I create a replacement variable, eg

Spoiler

), but I don't like it.

First of all, it's ugly. Second, I won't trust people to always remember to use it. Third, if you don't want to know results of an F1 race, don't come to the BB until you've seen it. As for other events, so far I've seen little evidence to suggest that such an add-on is needed.

Sorry.

Bira

[ffiloseta]

Originally posted by A3
yes, ffiloseta, but that can't be done on the Atlas BB.

I apologize. I was so sure that was possible that I didn't do the proper check .

[bira]

Originally posted by A3
yes, ffiloseta, but that can't be done on the Atlas BB.

Highlight the lines below to read the 'spoiler'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sure it can be done on this bb, you just need to use if your
post is on a light grey background, or [color=#dedfdf ] for a dark grey background
[color="red"]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[A3]

ROTFLMAO !! Don't know about your Computer, but mine doesn't have color F7F7F7 in the pull down menu ! Can't use smileys 'cause you won't notice this otherwise...

Sorry ffiloseta, my bad, it can be done !!

[bira]

it's a bit like the lemon ink pen I had when I was a kid, with the mouse now acting in the role of the onion!

[A3]

Great isn't it? Now I can call people names and they won't even notice.....





just kidding of course, i would never do such a thing...;)

[gerry nassar]

Thats fine! Its a gimmick i sort of liked but knew there was no real need for it at Atlas!
I suppose we could still do it theway you suggested anyway!

Thanks!!!

[ffiloseta]

Shoot... I should have known you could assign a color as an RGB triplet. Or I did, but my growing laziness made me blind. I HAVE to do something about that ! Maybe Gingko Biloba by the pound ... :

[bira]

actually it's not RGB, it's hexadecimal

(#F7F7F7 would be in RGB 247.247.247 )

[Ali_G]

Damn it. I get the feeling I'll be highlighting every single thread now looking for secret messages.
PS: I don't really mind lol
Niall

[ffiloseta]

Originally posted by bira
actually it's not RGB, it's hexadecimal

(#F7F7F7 would be in RGB 247.247.247 )

Aren't both RGB triplets with values indicated wther in hex or decimal ? RGB means Red, Green,Blue. The triplets, expressed in hexadecimal, octal, decimal or binary (b11110111...) indicate the value one desires to assign to each of the color components.

Or is it different with this software ?

[bira]

Yeah, hexadecimal colours are translation of the RGB index into hex. But they are two separate indexes albeit representing the same thing. If you enter hex values to an RGB-scaled print machine, the results will not be what you wanted. And vice versa - if you use RGB values in HTML, the colour won't be what you are looking for.

RGB are three scales for red, green and blue which combined create a colour. The number for each represents the intensity value from 0 (black) to 255 (white). When the value of all three is 255, the result is pure white; when the value is 0, pure black.


HTML accepts two kinds of colour values, one is a name -- and there are some 200 names HTML understand (eg not just white, black, blue, red, but also LightSeaGreen or MidnightBlue.), he second one is hexadecimal - the hex value of the RGB index. from white (#FFFFFF) to black (#000000).

So essentially, yes, if you know the RGB value of a color, you could calculate its hex value to be used on the Internet.

[ffiloseta]

Bira: