Recent Site Updates

[Moleculo]

As we're constantly trying to improve the site by tweaking various settings and fixing various bugs, this thread will be used as the updated list of the improvements that are being made, organized by date.

Hope you find it helpful and informative.

8/2/15

• Major site upgrades, including security fixes and bug fixes. Still researching to see if there are new features added.

5/28/15

• Added "Share Link" button on each post to share directly to your favorite social media or other sites.
• New Prepper forum section added
• Fixed the max image size upload problem. Images can now be attached up to 8MB.

10/14/14

• Changed forum listing back to linear format instead of two columns.
• Added "Foodies" section as sub forum to "Announcements & General"

10/7/14

• Tried to fix the dxTrader feedback system that broke due to server upgrades. Applied a server fix, but it broke the callsign lookup and dxCluster map, so dxTrader is temporarily turned off. Coder is working on the root problems, so it will be fixed soon.
• Moved "Members Online" to bottom of page.

10/1/14

• Fixed major issue with AD Styler no longer working

9/14/14

• Added new Callsign lookup: Available from menu on the main toolbar
• Added new DX Cluster map: Availale from menu on the main toolbar.

9/11/14

• Moved site to new servers so new features can be added

9/7/14

• Animated Gifs now work as avatars
• Applied latest patches and fixes to several core site components

9/5/14

• Added new dxClub link on top menu with submenu to live W9WDX live repeater status and live XRFWDX reflector status
• Moved Search to top user bar to make more room for menu navigation items.

8/29/14

• Fixed "Members in Chat" on full page chat not displaying for Premium Members.

8/27/14

• Added the list of "User Recent Status" updates in the right panel on the main forum listing. This is a facebook style status update that anyone can set by clicking on their username at the top right.

8/27/14

• Got rid of the "visitor panel" on top right of the sidebar that displayed the logged in user, the number of messages, posts, likes, etc. The same information can be accessed by clicking on your username on the top right, so this seemed like a waste of screen space.

8/21/14

• Changed Primary Font used throughout, attempting to improve overall readability.
• Fixed Latest Post and Latest Poster in Forum listing being cut off at bottom because of primary font change.
• Edited the descriptions on forum sections, cutting down amount of text in attempt to improve readability.
• Removed ad after first post that was misbehaving, causing it to show up more often than desired.

8/2/14-8/20/14

• Fixed number of posts displayed per page in a thread
• Changed avatar dimension from oval to square
• Increased size of many fonts including main forum section listing, forum description, last post details, user name in posts, user titles in posts, main menus, bread crumb navigation, thread buttons, and forum categories
• Increased font size of dxChat post text and dxChat username on post. Increased font size on message entry box
• Reduced size of right side advertising banner
• Removed most ads for Premium Members
• Fixed dxChat Popup not working
• Changed font color on the "Like us on Facebook" box so that the number of people is now readable.
• Created Trophies system; updated trophies for existing members
• Converted / imported thread "Likes" from old site to new site for members
• Fixed popular RSS feed posts from FCC and ARRL
• Added user customizable color options and fonts via color presets and the "AD Styler"
• Removed right side banner ad for mobile devices to increase speed.
• Optimized most ads to display proper sizes on mobile & tablet devices
• Added support for embedding media into posts directly from most media sites
• Added thread tagging capability and tag cloud on homepage
• Removed eBay listings forum posts from homepage "Recent Threads" portlet
• Improved main menu support on mobile devices, creating an "off page" menu that pops out from the left
• Made the right sidebar position fixed, causing the dxChat to stay in view while scrolling down through forum listing, thread listings, or posts
• Fixed permissions for editing or deleting own posts
• Fixed sitemap generation for search engine indexing
• Added latest bug fixes and patches for several sofware add-ons.
• Probably several other fixes that I can't remember right now...

 

[w9cll]

Thanks for all your hard work!

 

[Skysho]

Great job, it just takes time to adjust.

 

[C2]

I looked around for the official New Forum Feedback thread, but... this must be it cause it surely can't be the other one. Might also want something in the Forum Info and Help forum about these forum topics - so maybe a sticky here that is a link to the proper forum?

This may be a possible issue. I generally use the New Posts feature exclusively. I came here today and wanted to post in that APRS thread (which I just did), but I searched up and down the New Posts lists, and it was not there (and I don't mean after I posted), not even in the lot of not recently updated posts... Heck of a time finding it because I rarely note which forum a topic is in, unless I'm creating one. I had to go to my profile and search my posts to find it, since fortunately I already made a post there.

 

[Moleculo]

The "new posts" only shows threads that have new posts for you. If there are no new posts since the last time you viewed that thread, it will not be listed once you hit the "mark all as read". It also won't be in the "not recently updated" if you actually read the thread and there are no new responses.

If you forgot which section the thread was in, try using the Search. It really does work much better than the old site.

 

[C2]

Oh yeah, I remember now. Thanks for that. I hope this is not starting to wear on you.

I thought I clicked a thread I had not read before, and it went to page 5 of 10. It might be me as I could not reproduce that on a thread I was sure not read before, and it went to the first post.

Wondering how the chat is moderated? Does CK's big hammer work there too? I wonder if could be the "dark alley" (for lack of a creative term) of the forum...

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Oh yeah, I remember now. Thanks for that. I hope this is not starting to wear on you.

I thought I clicked a thread I had not read before, and it went to page 5 of 10. It might be me as I could not reproduce that on a thread I was sure not read before, and it went to the first post.

Wondering how the chat is moderated? Does CK's big hammer work there too? I wonder if could be the "dark alley" (for lack of a creative term) of the forum...

Please explain what brought that up. If you actually had access to the database you would see that there are some admins here with bigger hammers than I do. Nobody gets the hammer unless they well deserve it and that applies to ALL admins. FWIW I don't bother with chat rooms most of the time.

 

[C2]

Please explain what brought that up.

I saw the chat window running up there and the thought just popped into my mind, where are flame wars going to spill?

Maybe it's a moot point? Are the chats logged, or do they just fall off at the horizon?

 

[Moleculo]

Added some new updates to the site changes log.

Chats can get logged if necessary. It's turned off right now, but can be turned on if necessary. Members can get banned specifically from the chat, as well.

 

[Moleculo]

Bump. New / old features added: Callsign lookup and DX Cluster map

 

[Moleculo]

I just found out that the host had GZip compression turned off on the new server that we were migrated to, so I enabled it again today. This should result in a nice bump in page load speed for everyone. Let me know if you notice anything new that is different or unusual, or if you notice any speed improvement.

 

[C2]

sorry moldy one. my internet has vacuum. It sucks, data from your host, that is... OK, it's twice as fast as a speeding bullet now...

 

[Moleculo]

Added a few updates to the site in first post...

 

[Moleculo]

Been negligent about updating this list, but I just added some new changes to the log.

 

[Moleculo]

Completed major site upgrades, including security fixes, bug fixes, etc. Affected modules are main site, front page, and dxGallery