No, You're Not Seeing Things...

...the Forum is undergoing some changes.

Our beloved Corsair in his infinite insanity wisdom has handed some of the Administrative keys to me to see if I can "freshen" the place up a bit. I'm still getting comfy at the moment and making a few small tweaks first, nothing too drastic just yet.

So if you see something that was here, and is now...........................................................over there, not to worry, it's not your hangover or an acid flashback that's doin' it. It's me.

Meantime have some fun with some new emoticons (smilies) I managed to add; use the drop down list to access the new categories. New ones will pop up from time to time.

Apologies in advance for any inconvenience during the implementation phase. Hope you enjoy the changes.

Do I see blue?

Yup.
Small transitions as I get more comfy with the tools available.

i noticed the little bits changing here and there also, looking good. just a little polish can make it shine, eh?

a big THANKS! to all those who work in the background to make this place available to us all

Did anyone notice the latest change?

The URL is now BARRY.westone.net

Cheers for that Mike!
I'm still working against some dumb technical access restrictions imposed by the host organization's hierarchy (nothing to do with John or Neil I hasten to add!). At this point I cannot directly manipulate the code so I'm unable to easily make the changes I'd like.
But...working on a way around it...

sarcaster wrote:...The URL is now BARRY.westone.net

Barry wrote:Cheers for that Mike!
I'm still working against some dumb technical access restrictions imposed by the host organization's hierarchy (nothing to do with John or Neil I hasten to add!). At this point I cannot directly manipulate the code so I'm unable to easily make the changes I'd like.
But...working on a way around it...

To heck with colors and all that... I NEED MORE COWBELL !!







...oh, and just how do you know what I'm not seeing? ...

Barry! Barry! What happened to the monochrome?? Why is it yellow???

I know, I'm not making things any easier am I?

beavis wrote:Barry! Barry! What happened to the monochrome?? Why is it yellow???...

Yellow, and blue, and teal! And, you're now on the left side of the page!

I'm getting a little disoriented!

Warrn wrote:I'm getting a little disoriented!

Must be the beverage you're holding.

Looking good Barry! I thought it was the wifeys laptop with the blue font! I was shaping up to berate her for mucking with things she doesnt understand

Sorry again folks...still having major difficulty with the ^&%$@* point and click interface that I have to deal with.

When you're used to controlling everything to do with a web site and server, it's tough to click on a third party interface and pray that it gives you what you expect to see! Most of the time it doesn't and I'm losing more than I'm gaining.

At some point (soon I hope) I should be able to replace the entire theme and we can all relax and "get on with it"!

Ah, that explains it! I posted under General, I'll have to ammend it.

BEWARE gentlemen... the hand of Barry is EVERYWHERE!

... hmm... who's that taking over my computer just now...

I'd just like to say a big "Thanks!" to Barry for doing this! I like what's happening so far; looking forward to seeing more of these changes..

corsair wrote:I'd just like to say a big "Thanks!" to Barry for doing this! I like what's happening so far; looking forward to seeing more of these changes..

Your "Admin Power" is great!!!

The greyish green background looks good

Thanks, but please don't get too attached to anything, this stuff is likely to change again.
I am working towards a major theme change and at this stage I'm just playing with ideas.

And of course, every time I click on sumpthin' in the "control panel" I seem to lose, um, control!

Barry wrote:Thanks, but please don't get too attached to anything, this stuff is likely to change again.
I am working towards a major theme change and at this stage I'm just playing with ideas.

And of course, every time I click on sumpthin' in the "control panel" I seem to lose, um, control!

I really like what it looks like now - and curious to see what comes next, but I think it is an improvement as it stands currently - good job eh

I don't like that new" latest topics" thing on the left hand side of the page. Can I get rid of it?

Hoax

I've been tinkering a bit more.

In addition to the new background colour framing the site, I added a Latest Topics scroller as well as a Translator to help our non-English speaking members feel a bit more at home.

The scroller automatically updates to show the latest 9 posts with a hyperlink to them. It is active even if not logged in, but note that the topics you visit would not be marked as having been read unless you do log in.

In addition, if you check your Profile section, you'll see a selection of flags that you are free to add to your profile. In addition it will also appear under your avatar (see mine at left).

hoax wrote:
I don't like that new" latest topics" thing on the left hand side of the page. Can I get rid of it?

Sheesh Graham, you were complaining about it before I finished my post about having installed it!

Ordinarily, your whim is my command.
But on this occasion I'm afraid this widget is not one of those individual option thingies; it's either universally on or off.

But hey, it isn't carved in stone. If the membership wants it gone I'll remove it. :ban:

edit:
Hey Graham, I've made a few minor adjustments to reduce the size of both widgets a bit. Is that any less intrusive?

Is there any way to move those things elsewhere? Like on a horizontal line with the little ad links? As is they cause a bunch of empty white space once you scroll past them.

I say leave 'em there for a week or two and see if that makes a difference. I'm not sure about it either, but I'm also happy to see stuff being tried, and feel that we owe it to the site to see if it sticks. If, in a week or so, it's not universally popular, then it will be re-visited...

.... fair enough?

Warrn wrote:Is there any way to move those things elsewhere? Like on a horizontal line with the little ad links? As is they cause a bunch of empty white space once you scroll past them.

No. The forced layout of the site dictates that widgets can only appear in either column one (the current left side position) or column three (far right), or not at all.

That white space probably seems worse than it is because of having the Avatar also on the left, which "pushes" the post further to the right. Perhaps moving the widget to column 3 might minimize the feeling of wasted white space since we read from left to right and it seems like a long way to get to the text.

I'll move it over to see if that helps. I can remove the scroller altogether, but I do not wish to give up the Translator unless the membership doesn't want it. I personally think it's a valuable service but unfortunately it has to reside in one of the columns.

Hey Barry

That is much better where it is now. It doesn't seem to constrict the page width. Sorry to be a moaning pest and thanks.

Hoax

Not at all Graham.
Lord knows I try..
But it's your site not mine eh?
Happy to hear this is working out better for you...Warrn, whatcherhthink?

It's definitely better on the right. It also centers each post between columns, kind of balancing it out. I'm not certain how I feel about it yet, but I think it'll grow on me.

I think the home page should have warrn's pic - beer, goofy face, and a westone - perfect

I see latest topics scroll on the right along with a google thing - I gotta vote no on that - just my opinon

Post width seems to have been reduced all along each pane as well due to the scroll thingy.

At least on my phone format. But I am viewing the non-mobile site.

Yeah, post width is reduced by the widget column on the right and it's currently set at the minimum.

The scroller has also been reduced to as small a size as is practical. I'll remove it if it's more of a nuisance than a help, but the Translator would remain along with the column of course, so nothing gained. This has already helped one of our members so I think it's earned its keep.

Meantime I'll keep looking for a way to relocate this useful function.

Well then Barry, mebbe load up that unused space on the right with pics or sumpthin?

Iceman wrote:Well then Barry, mebbe load up that unused space on the right with pics or sumpthin?

Workin' on it. And I'm trying to effect a code which will at least allow the widget to "travel" down the page as you scroll. That would help. But as I keep saying, I have no direct access to the site code so what should work in a normal situation doesn't necessarily translate here. (sigh)

OK gang, I've been busy today.
Managed to solve a few outstanding problems and likely have created some new ones!

So take a deep breath, and away we go. In no particular order here's what's changed:

• The Topics Scroller has been removed since it seemed to annoy more people than it helped.
  
• I was not able to relocate the Translator widget, so I've added more "stuff" instead to try and fill up some of the empty space!
  To whit:
  
  
  
  • Social Bookmarking. The usual suspects plus: Like / Tweet / G 1
    
  • Key Words search cloud--the words change in size to reflect the number of hits
    
  • Finally! Figured out a way to add a link to the WestoneGuitars.net information web site!
    
  </li>
  
• A News/Alert Scroller was added to the home page to let visitors know that I'm "tinkering" with the site. (Yes, tinkling too!) This may or may not become a permanent feature, and it only appears on the home page.
  
• Editor/Post changes:
  
  
  
  • I've changed the editor so you have the option to switch to WYSIWYG mode. No more struggling with code for those who are technically challenged with such things! To toggle the format, click on the new button on the far right of the menu button (shows Switch Editor Mode when moused over, and changes to red when engaged)
    
  • you can now change the Topic Title after the fact (authors/admins/mods only). Eliminates confusion and re-posting.
    
  • you can now also change the colour in the Topic Title (see title of this post). Please exercise restraint with this or the site will look like a kid's colouring book! Sorry not working at the moment.
    Well, it was working but as feared it looked awful so I've removed this option.
    
  
  
  
  
  • a Multi Quote button has been added which allows you to quote from more than one post. For some reason it displays in French! Haven't figured out why yet. Anyway it's blue, and currently says "citation multiple" (sigh) FIXED! Now displays in English!
    
  </li>
  
• I've added a Quick Reply function which appears at the bottom of the post page.
  So, if you just want to make a *ahem* smart arse comment you can just type it in the box and move on. No need to load the full editor unless you want to do something more fancy! You still have access to all the emoticons and the WYSIWYG function.
  
• Finally(?) I've solved the clipped image problem reported by Westbone...
  Anything over 800x600 will automatically downsize itself and add a "click to enlarge" link. Hope that works for everyone
  

Now, where did I put that bottle of Shiraz??

I like the bit about smart arse comments. I think I might be able to use that.

Hoax

You da man!

corsair wrote:You da man!

Cheers.

corsair wrote:You da man!

+1 !!!

Barry what is that citations multiple cloud next to the quote hotkey for?

Iceman wrote:...Barry what is that citations multiple cloud next to the quote hotkey for?

Sheesh! Read the New Features Update post above...

sarcaster wrote:I think the home page should have warrn's pic - beer, goofy face, and a westone - perfect

I would agree! That certainly describes the general mood on this forum, at least.