Forums

Just to make things nicer and cute... Information about who is logged on and the possibilty of adding an little image for who is logged and the topics it wrote... (like MSN Messenger and Nectarine (http://nectarine.ojuice.net/)) ...

Jan Solrac wrote

Just to make things nicer and cute... Information about who is logged

What for?
(Seriously, I'm wondering. They was this feature and I removed it as a part of my plan to free screen real-estate and simplify usage. If it can be useful I could consider re-adding it)

Jan Solrac wrote

on and the possibilty of adding an little image for who is logged and the topics it wrote... (like MSN Messenger and Nectarine (http://nectarine.ojuice.net/)) ...

If you're talking about avatar. The reason I removed them is that they open the possibility to everyone to share their bad taste. I don't want to see this forum cluttered with 1000x200 banners, sexy pop idol pictures, or animated GIF files of King of Fighters characters. Not only it screw up design coherency, it complicate forums, but it also add to bandwidth and loading time.

Less is good, don't you think?

I'd like to emphasise that SMS Power forums always had very few posts compared to other similar forums on the internet, but we always had an excellent, if the not the best ratio of good contents over noise. See most other forums, and you often have an average of 10 "me too" posts per topic.

http://www.JoelOnSoftware.com has posted a good article related to this topic:

Quote

So, we have discovered the primary axiom of online communities:
Small software implementation details result in big differences in the way the community develops, behaves, and feels.

With answers to question such as:
Q. Why is the software so dang simplistic?

Read http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BuildingCommunitieswithSo.html if you are interested, and hopefully understand my forum design choices. Of course, I consider JoelOnSoftware to be at the other extreme. I'm just trying to be in the middle, and have safe, clean, interesting forums.

me too ;)

An interesting article, which I'd never have come across if Jan hadn't started this thread.
That Joel fellow sounds a bit too L7 for my taste, but his approach is understandable for such a tech-minded forum as his.

Would you say this was primarily a programmer's forum?

I think interesting things can be sometimes found in 'noise' - and I'd rather trepan myself with a powerdrill than listen to certain radio signals - but I agree that it just isn't suitable for this particular site.

The forum's fine as it is, but would you consider displaying the most recently updated threads for each topic on the Forum Index page, and linking directly to them?
You show the names of the recent posters, but not which threads they've posted on - it could be helpful if someone was expecting a reply, but didn't have much time on their hands.

Just a suggestion, please keep up the work. This whole site is sickeningly good.

Jan Solrac wrote

Just to make things nicer and cute... Information about who is logged on and the possibilty of adding an little image for who is logged and the topics it wrote... (like MSN Messenger and Nectarine (http://nectarine.ojuice.net/)) ...

Those tastless pictures just clutter up the page and take for ages to load for those modem users.

I must say I do like Avatars, as they allow you to recognise posters more easily. But I do agree, someone ALWAYS comes along with a giant avatar and 3 screens of signature crap.

One suggestion is to try what Digital Press has: Pre-made avatars, and user uploaded avatars that are forced to comply to strict rules (Of course, they also allow users (something SMS Power shouldn't do) to host their own avatars, and some of those are gigantic..)

I'd suggest a 32x32 pixel size limit on avatars, and heavy emphasis on using SMS based art for said avatars. Perhaps a decent sized list of pre-made avatars to chose from, and strict evaluation of any personalised avatars.

-just my 2 zenny.

I agree with most points made, but I would really like to avatars. Why not have pre-made avatars? They could be really small, maybe little sprites and characters from Master System games (I got dibbs on Alex Kidd).

I like the forums the way they are and they dont need to be changed, but avatars would be nice.

transbot wrote

The forum's fine as it is, but would you consider displaying the most recently updated threads for each topic on the Forum Index page, and linking directly to them?

That's not a bad idea, I'll have to check how it is easily possible however using phpBB. Do you know about a phpBB forum that does that?

Raccoon Lad wrote

I must say I do like Avatars, as they allow you to recognise posters more easily. But I do agree, someone ALWAYS comes along with a giant avatar and 3 screens of signature crap.

One suggestion is to try what Digital Press has: Pre-made avatars, and user uploaded avatars that are forced to comply to strict rules (Of course, they also allow users (something SMS Power shouldn't do) to host their own avatars, and some of those are gigantic..)

I'd suggest a 32x32 pixel size limit on avatars, and heavy emphasis on using SMS based art for said avatars. Perhaps a decent sized list of pre-made avatars to chose from, and strict evaluation of any personalised avatars.

-just my 2 zenny.

I would second that, if the avatar was kept to a nice small 32X32 size and NO signatures allowed I cant see too much harm. Also the HEAVY emphasis on using SMS based art is VERY important, we really dont have too many people that comehere and abuse the forums, we seem to have a very well respected forum here. In either case there just needs to be some little clause about it saying that a moderater has the ability to remove any NON sms related Icon.

:) thats just my 2 Meseta

Youltar

http://www.phpbbhacks.com/download/3159

Users can upload an avatar but it won't display until an admin approves it (and it can be un-approved later). Also allows a minimum post count before avatars show. Somewhat tricky (it classes itself as an "easy" hack but the install.txt is 16KB) but looks good.

If we don't have an on-site "gallery" it'll save our bandwidth costs and encourage people to make their own. Imageshack.us will host avatars for free.

Raccoon Lad wrote

I'd suggest a 32x32 pixel size limit on avatars

Youltar wrote

if the avatar was kept to a nice small 32X32 size and NO signatures allowed I cant see too much harm

Here's the avatar I use on other sites:

It's 64x64. I'm not sure that one a quarter the size (by area) would be so good, it's too small to get anything much into more than a single sprite.

Bock wrote

transbot wrote

The forum's fine as it is, but would you consider displaying the most recently updated threads for each topic on the Forum Index page, and linking directly to them?

That's not a bad idea, I'll have to check how it is easily possible however using phpBB. Do you know about a phpBB forum that does that?

After an exhaustive search for "last post info"+"powered by phpbb" (at least 6 and a half minutes ;), I found nowt. You might want to look a little harder, but I doubt you'll come across anything.

The only ones I found that use this are 'Invision Power Boards' - check out Classic Amiga, which is hosted for free.

It's quite a dull place, and the screen is cluttered with superfluous features, but I always liked how efficiently it all worked. I don't see why such a layout should be beyond the phpBB boards.

transbot wrote

The forum's fine as it is, but would you consider displaying the most recently updated threads for each topic on the Forum Index page, and linking directly to them?

I am not sure if this is what you are talking about. But on "Forum" -> "View posts since last visit" you will indeed view the posts since your last visit! ;) I have bookmarked this site, and use it whenever I visit SMSPower.org!

I think this hack is what's wanted:

http://www.phpbbhacks.com/download/3349

The "Last Post" box is modified to add the thread title so you know what thread the post was in, not just who posted in it. It seems to me to be quite a sensible addition, it was kind of pointless before to see that someone had posted but not be told what about. It might be even better to get the post title in addition to the thread title... (I must set up phpBB locally to let me make my own hacks like this, it can't be *that* hard.)

Module merged (I just tweaked how it formatted its output).
Doing phpbb hacks/modules really isn't complicated. What is utterly complicated is to update to a new version when you installed dozen of modules.

Author	Message
Jan Solrac Joined: 06 Jan 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Coimbra , Portugal	Suggestion about Forums and the Memberlist Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 10:02 pm
	Just to make things nicer and cute... Information about who is logged on and the possibilty of adding an little image for who is logged and the topics it wrote... (like MSN Messenger and Nectarine (http://nectarine.ojuice.net/)) ...

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8652 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 10:48 pm
	Jan Solrac wrote Just to make things nicer and cute... Information about who is logged What for? (Seriously, I'm wondering. They was this feature and I removed it as a part of my plan to free screen real-estate and simplify usage. If it can be useful I could consider re-adding it) Jan Solrac wrote on and the possibilty of adding an little image for who is logged and the topics it wrote... (like MSN Messenger and Nectarine (http://nectarine.ojuice.net/)) ... If you're talking about avatar. The reason I removed them is that they open the possibility to everyone to share their bad taste. I don't want to see this forum cluttered with 1000x200 banners, sexy pop idol pictures, or animated GIF files of King of Fighters characters. Not only it screw up design coherency, it complicate forums, but it also add to bandwidth and loading time. Less is good, don't you think? I'd like to emphasise that SMS Power forums always had very few posts compared to other similar forums on the internet, but we always had an excellent, if the not the best ratio of good contents over noise. See most other forums, and you often have an average of 10 "me too" posts per topic. http://www.JoelOnSoftware.com has posted a good article related to this topic: Quote So, we have discovered the primary axiom of online communities: Small software implementation details result in big differences in the way the community develops, behaves, and feels. With answers to question such as: Q. Why is the software so dang simplistic? Read http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/BuildingCommunitieswithSo.html if you are interested, and hopefully understand my forum design choices. Of course, I consider JoelOnSoftware to be at the other extreme. I'm just trying to be in the middle, and have safe, clean, interesting forums.

transbot Guest	Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:31 am
transbot Guest	me too ;) An interesting article, which I'd never have come across if Jan hadn't started this thread. That Joel fellow sounds a bit too L7 for my taste, but his approach is understandable for such a tech-minded forum as his. Would you say this was primarily a programmer's forum? I think interesting things can be sometimes found in 'noise' - and I'd rather trepan myself with a powerdrill than listen to certain radio signals - but I agree that it just isn't suitable for this particular site. The forum's fine as it is, but would you consider displaying the *most recently updated threads* for each topic on the Forum Index page, and linking directly to them? You show the names of the recent posters, but not which threads they've posted on - it could be helpful if someone was expecting a reply, but didn't have much time on their hands. Just a suggestion, please keep up the work. This whole site is sickeningly good.

furanku Joined: 10 Dec 2000 Posts: 592 Location: Australia and Japan	Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:05 am
	Jan Solrac wrote Just to make things nicer and cute... Information about who is logged on and the possibilty of adding an little image for who is logged and the topics it wrote... (like MSN Messenger and Nectarine (http://nectarine.ojuice.net/)) ... Those tastless pictures just clutter up the page and take for ages to load for those modem users.

Raccoon Lad Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 495 Location: El Cerrito, CA	Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:57 am
	I must say I do like Avatars, as they allow you to recognise posters more easily. But I do agree, someone ALWAYS comes along with a giant avatar and 3 screens of signature crap. One suggestion is to try what Digital Press has: Pre-made avatars, and user uploaded avatars that are forced to comply to strict rules (Of course, they also allow users (something SMS Power shouldn't do) to host their own avatars, and some of those are gigantic..) I'd suggest a 32x32 pixel size limit on avatars, and heavy emphasis on using SMS based art for said avatars. Perhaps a decent sized list of pre-made avatars to chose from, and strict evaluation of any personalised avatars. -just my 2 zenny.

geishaboy Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 67 Location: Osaka, Japan	Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:34 am
	I agree with most points made, but I would really like to avatars. Why not have pre-made avatars? They could be really small, maybe little sprites and characters from Master System games (I got dibbs on Alex Kidd). I like the forums the way they are and they dont need to be changed, but avatars would be nice.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8652 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 7:56 am
	transbot wrote The forum's fine as it is, but would you consider displaying the *most recently updated threads* for each topic on the Forum Index page, and linking directly to them? That's not a bad idea, I'll have to check how it is easily possible however using phpBB. Do you know about a phpBB forum that does that?

Youltar Site Admin Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 306 Location: Wisconsin, U.S.A.	Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 12:47 pm
	Raccoon Lad wrote I must say I do like Avatars, as they allow you to recognise posters more easily. But I do agree, someone ALWAYS comes along with a giant avatar and 3 screens of signature crap. One suggestion is to try what Digital Press has: Pre-made avatars, and user uploaded avatars that are forced to comply to strict rules (Of course, they also allow users (something SMS Power shouldn't do) to host their own avatars, and some of those are gigantic..) I'd suggest a 32x32 pixel size limit on avatars, and heavy emphasis on using SMS based art for said avatars. Perhaps a decent sized list of pre-made avatars to chose from, and strict evaluation of any personalised avatars. -just my 2 zenny. I would second that, if the avatar was kept to a nice small 32X32 size and NO signatures allowed I cant see too much harm. Also the HEAVY emphasis on using SMS based art is VERY important, we really dont have too many people that comehere and abuse the forums, we seem to have a very well respected forum here. In either case there just needs to be some little clause about it saying that a moderater has the ability to remove any NON sms related Icon. :) thats just my 2 Meseta Youltar

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Avatar Approve hack Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 1:00 pm
	http://www.phpbbhacks.com/download/3159 Users can upload an avatar but it won't display until an admin approves it (and it can be un-approved later). Also allows a minimum post count before avatars show. Somewhat tricky (it classes itself as an "easy" hack but the install.txt is 16KB) but looks good. If we don't have an on-site "gallery" it'll save our bandwidth costs and encourage people to make their own. Imageshack.us will host avatars for free.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:12 pm
	Raccoon Lad wrote I'd suggest a 32x32 pixel size limit on avatars Youltar wrote if the avatar was kept to a nice small 32X32 size and NO signatures allowed I cant see too much harm Here's the avatar I use on other sites: It's 64x64. I'm not sure that one a quarter the size (by area) would be so good, it's too small to get anything much into more than a single sprite.

transbot Guest	Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:26 pm
transbot Guest	Bock wrote transbot wrote The forum's fine as it is, but would you consider displaying the *most recently updated threads* for each topic on the Forum Index page, and linking directly to them? That's not a bad idea, I'll have to check how it is easily possible however using phpBB. Do you know about a phpBB forum that does that? After an exhaustive search for "last post info"+"powered by phpbb" (at least 6 and a half minutes ;), I found nowt. You might want to look a little harder, but I doubt you'll come across anything. The only ones I found that use this are '*Invision Power Boards' - check out Classic Amiga*, which is hosted for free. It's quite a dull place, and the screen is cluttered with superfluous features, but I always liked how efficiently it all worked. I don't see why such a layout should be beyond the phpBB boards.

MarcK Joined: 10 Apr 2002 Posts: 212 Location: Denmark	Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 12:23 am
MarcK Joined: 10 Apr 2002 Posts: 212 Location: Denmark	transbot wrote The forum's fine as it is, but would you consider displaying the *most recently updated threads* for each topic on the Forum Index page, and linking directly to them? I am not sure if this is what you are talking about. But on "Forum" -> "View posts since last visit" you will indeed view the posts since your last visit! ;) I have bookmarked this site, and use it whenever I visit SMSPower.org!

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 11:07 am
	I think this hack is what's wanted: http://www.phpbbhacks.com/download/3349 The "Last Post" box is modified to add the thread title so you know what thread the post was in, not just who posted in it. It seems to me to be quite a sensible addition, it was kind of pointless before to see that someone had posted but not be told what about. It might be even better to get the post title in addition to the thread title... (I must set up phpBB locally to let me make my own hacks like this, it can't be that hard.)

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8652 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2005 4:04 pm
	Module merged (I just tweaked how it formatted its output). Doing phpbb hacks/modules really isn't complicated. What is utterly complicated is to update to a new version when you installed dozen of modules.

Forums

View topic - Suggestion about Forums and the Memberlist