Forum Changes and Upgrades

[Jake Smethurst]

NEW NEW NEW:

First of all, thank you for everyones patience while the forum was offline this evening (Tue 29/03/16). We were down for about one hour and a half from 7pm to 8.30pm, much less than anticipated as the upgrade went smoothly with little issues or problems.

So why upgrade?

The upgrade was necessary for several reasons, but the main are:

Better security: Version 3.1.8 enables a host of new security improvements to the forum itself and individual users.
Stability: This version is the most stable version of phpBB available, enabling a better and much more smoother user experience than ever before.
Added features: Newer features (see below) will allow The Australian Weather Forum to continue to grow and adapt as technology advances.
Old system: Our previous forum version was out of date and close to being non-supported.

What's different? Anything new?

Most of the upgrade is behind the hood and in our system, however there are some notable changes. We're sure you'll enjoy them.

Layout: The general look and feel of the forum has been updated, made more modern and easier to navigate.
Mobile/Tablet Compatible: One of the biggest new features is the compatibility with mobile phones and tablets - the forum should now fit much more perfectly onto those screen sizes, making it easier to post and navigate if you're not using a computer or laptop.
Announcements: We can now notify users of any scheduled maintenance or upgrades, plus any important messages, via a red banner at the top of our forum. It is in use now.
Quick Links: This can be found in the top left corner, and will display shortcuts to any new or unread posts and topics that you may have missed.
Notifications: You can find this in the top right hand corner, next to "Private Messages" and your profile. You can receive notifications for things such as being quoted in a post, to a new post being made in a topic you've subscribed, and more. You can manage your notifications by clicking on "notifications" and then going to "settings".
Contact Us Form: A new section for anybody to get in touch with us via a form. Can be found at the bottom of the page.

The best thing is to explore the new forum to get a feel for the new features, but much of what you'll see and use remains the same.

Feedback:

If you have any specific feedback about the new version, feel free to leave in a reply here. We're happy to receive positive and negative feedback, we want to know what you think. And if you have any questions, also, feel free to ask.

[Rivergirl]

Fantastic work and updating Jake. Bravo

[WeatherViewer]

Good work Jake, love the mobile friendly layout.

[stevco123]

I think the view that I've been getting these last few years has been that some people find it hard to upload photos.

Can we make this a little easier and simpler somehow? It'll make weather events more interesting if people back their observations with constant photos.

[Jake Smethurst]

Thanks for the kind words weather viewer

Hi Stevco, yeah it's something that we've always been asked about. Unfortunately due to bandwidth and storage capacity, it becomes a bit more complex. The easiest way around this is to upload your photos to an external provider, then link it here via the "img" code. We will definitely look into seeing if we can make it an easier process now that you have mentioned it. Give me a week or so to find out some more information and I'll see what I can do, because I do understand the frustration.

[93ben]

yeah it's something that we've always been asked about. Unfortunately due to bandwidth and storage capacity, it becomes a bit more complex. The easiest way around this is to upload your photos to an external provider, then link it here via the "img" code.

Here's a plugin you could add that will give people the ability to upload straight to the forum but it will be saved on a 3rd party server! https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/ ... or_phpbb3/

[Tilda]

Hi all,

Great work! So much better when viewing from a phone!

Since the forum upgrade I can no longer see the section on the right and where the "poster" is located. Has this been removed or is there a setting I can change to be able to view it again?

Thanks very much.

[Jake Smethurst]

Hi Tilda,

Thanks for the kind comments!

Are you having trouble viewing the "poster" while using a phone, or computer?

Edit: We are aware of a small issue with the forum width on some computers, especially for mobile users. We are investigating a fix.

[Jake Smethurst]

The forum was down twice today for scheduled maintenance and upgrades.

The first was around 4.30PM and lasted roughly 45 minutes. It was the major update which included mostly security improvements. It also updated the core phpBB software to the latest version of 3.1.10 (from 3.1.9).

The second was at 7PM, and lasted only 5-10 minutes. We fixed an issue with the width of the forum on desktop computers. The width now aligns with the correct region instead of stretching to the edges of the screen.

We are aware of a width issue on mobile devices, this will be fixed in coming days.

Lastly, we will shortly be introducing a new, much easier way to attach images to the forums. Stay tuned for that!

Feedback is welcomed

[Rivergirl]

Well done Jake. Love the new page width look you have done. It will look good on mobiles when you finished although it looks like you have. Making attaching images easier will be great for people who have had trouble in the past

[Australis(Shell3155)]

[Jake Smethurst]

The forum has been upgraded from 3.1.10 to 3.2.0 This was a major update, which included minor visual changes to the forum and many behind the hood improvements. The forum was down from 3.30pm this afternoon until 5pm this afternoon - apologies for that but was necessary to complete update. Obviously, any issues, please leave a reply here or send me or another team member a message.

P.S: We are still implementing a much easier way to upload photos shortly. We are working with a major website on this, just stay tuned!

[Australis(Shell3155)]

post a reply didnt work few mintues ago but seems to be now..
missing posts seem to come back after entry and return..
was some other funny stuff going on so shut down the page and entered a new one..

[Jake Smethurst]

Hi Shell. What exactly is the issue regarding the missing posts? Are posts not posting? Or older posts missing?

EDIT: If users refresh their page, this should fix most problems if any exist.

[Australis(Shell3155)]

Hasn't missed a beat today. Been using IPad, yesterday was PC..

[Rivergirl]

Thanks for all your hard work Jake.

[Australis(Shell3155)]

im having to refresh to see the last post in full
it shows the header, but not the post content.
Im running a scan at present..
ipad working fine..

[Geoff]

All seems okay here on my laptop Jake, though I did have to refresh the ipad last night, fine now.

[Jake Smethurst]

That is a tad strange Shell. Are you able to post a screenshot the next time it happens?

[Australis(Shell3155)]

I took a photo.
I'm using google chrome..
Works fine on iPad..