VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION Forum Questions HUGE Forum Update 1/2/18! Please comment here.

List of changes made to the forum Jan 21, 2018:

--> New domain Name: https://vccachat.org
--> Moved to new server
--> Updated Software
--> Mobile Phone and Table Friendly!
--> Lots of cosmetic changes including no left column, header updated, etc.
--> Forums updated, rearranged and consolidated to reduce clutter
--> Updated old and outdated images and icons

IMPORTANT: Delete all old bookmarks and replace them with the new domain name https://vccachat.org

Liked the "Look" of the old forum?

Want the old forum look back? No problem:

--Click your username in the top-right.
--From the dropdown menu choose "Preferences"
--Choose "paleCoffee-bb" under "Your Preferred Forum Style (aka Skin/Theme)"
--Click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page.

Edit Your Profile!

Add your picture
Update your signature
And other cool stuff!

Heres now:
--Click your username in the top-right.
--From the dropdown menu choose "Edit Profile"

UPLOAD PHOTOS IS NOW EASIER!

Click "Attachment Manager" below a post or reply, and chose the files you wish to upload.
Up to 10 images, and up to 2mb each. They will automatically be scales to 700 pixels wide max to save space.

Is there an option to go back to the old Chat site format? I am not impressed with the new look. I think it looks very busy, it's hard to read and I certainly do not plan to use it very much as it currently is.

Per Peter's instructions in another post:

Want the old forum colors back? No problem:

--Click your username in the top-right.
--From the dropdown menu choose "Preferences"
--Choose "paleCoffee-bb" under "Your Preferred Forum Style (aka Skin/Theme)"
--Click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page.

See the new forum notes here.

One of the notes is to change back to the old template. Might make it look more familiar to you.

With that said, I feel the new forum is much less cluttered.
---No left column
---Moderators not listed in the list of forums
---Forum Images reduced dramatically
---Removed or combined 10+ forums
---Combines many of the categories

Please, give it a chance

Peter

Things done to "unclutter" the forum:

---No left column
---Moderators not listed in the list of forums
---Forum Images reduced dramatically
---Removed or combined 10+ forums
---Combines many of the categories

From my perspective I like the new look!

Impressed everything is back up so quick. Great job!

I only ever look at "Active Threads" as it shows me everything going on. I don't like the way the new site shows so much of each thread.

It was much easier to read/scan when it showed a chart format of minimal detail for each thread. Now it shows huge paragraphs of info requiring me to scroll down several pages to see a small number of posts. It's very cluttered and each post is not well defined like it was with the chart format.

Right now I'm honestly just really happy that we are back up without a long wait!


Actually just browsed some more and the chart format now exists in the Active Threads.

i'll see what i can do about active threads

Neat collapse/expand icon!

Check it out in the pic below.

Cheers, Dean

Followed the instructions to get the old forum look back and my preferences are already set at paleCoffee-bb.

At first look the new format is definitely different but I wont throw any bricks or roses yet, I will give it a week or so before I decide.
Like Tim I am impressed at the speed of change over and so far I havent found any glitches.
If I continue using the old bookmark on google will it continue locating the forum???
Tony

Two issues I see so far are One: When you visit a thread you have visited before you now get put at the top of the thread instead of at the newest post. Stovebolt.com uses the same forum software, made the same upgrade and has the same issue there. If it's a short thread it's no problem but if you've been following a long thread and have to scroll all the way to the end every time you come back to it, it's a real PITA.

Number two is the option "Add this thread to my Followed Threads" is now the default setting. Every time you post to a thread you have to remember to un-check that box or you'll get an email every time someone else posts to that same thread. That is a REAL PITA!!! That "upgrade" came a couple of updates back that Stovebolt made. UBB hasn't seen fit to fix it yet. When the active site users start getting dozens of emails every day simply because someone posted to the same thread I suspect the complaints will come a running. Stovebolt has a workaround with a Quick Reply box at the bottom of every thread as the default. If a user uses the Quick Reply the user doesn't get the thread added to their watch list. It's only when a user selects Use Full Editor that they have to remember to un-check the box. Hopefully that will happen here as well.

I did NOT see an option to change the display font size. Though I can read what is on the screen I would prefer a much larger font so it will be easier to read. It is much easier to scan a post to get the gist of it than be forced to read each word.

It will take google a week or 2 for its searches to update.

Until then, simply bookmark it in your browser.

Most browsers have a way of increasing the font size. Check your specific browser preferences for exact instructions.

Here are the instructions for increasing your font size in Chrome.

WikiHow instructions for other browsers

I've added "Quick Reply". Lets see how that goes.

I just checked and have the default font size set at 16 on Firefox browser. My display on Chat is definitely not Arial 16.

Goto Firefox Preferences.
Under "Language and Appearance" click the "Advanced..." Button.
Increase Monospace to 16
Increase Minimum size to 16
Click "OK"

Thank you, that should help. Now if UBB will fix the other issue we'll be making progress.

New pale blue on white very hard for me to see. Changed to pale coffee per instructions and it is much better for me. Beamer

Awesome. Great to have options isnt it!?
Peter

Question: Under the "Members Only" Forums it states: "VCCA Members-Only Forums. Non-Members my view but not post." Since that area is for VCCA members only shouldn't it be that the non-VCCA members cannot view the posts either?

Also, "my" should be "may".

And.......I noticed that the "reply" function is no longer working. If I click on "reply" nothing happens because the quick reply window is open. Earlier today, before you added "Quick Reply", I could click on "reply" and the reply window opened and there was no quick reply window below the post. I checked several other posts and it is the same.....a "Quick Reply" window is below the post and the "reply" part on the existing post doesn't work. Also, with the quick reply the icons cannot be accessed. You should delete the quick reply and reactivate the "reply" feature that is on each existing post.