Forum Updates!

[Glenn]

I have just updated the forums with hundreds of bug fixes, dozens of improvements, as well as a handful of new features that I think you’ll enjoy.

In addition, this update contains a lot of security hardening. Many of these security issues are not critical but I do still want to get the updates to you. They’re more of a preventative measure to beef up security.

I want to cover some improvements we've made so you can start enjoying them now.

Post Preview

Long-time forum members will know that a post preview function was a standard feature, but we took the decision to not include it in the initial release last December. It had a couple of drawbacks:

• it only applied to certain pages, such as topic view - other WYSIWYG editors simply didn't get a preview
• the workflow wasn't very good for modern web apps, requiring a round-trip to the server and a full page refresh

When this version of the forums was released, we felt that the built-in rendering of the editor was a sufficient preview of how the end result would appear. However, while analyzing ongoing user feedback, we have seen that a preview still has a use. There are some circumstances when a true WYSIWYG experience is just not possible such as using more advanced formatting.

As a result, we rethought post preview. We wanted to ensure that all editors could be previewed, and that it didn't have a clunky workflow. In addition, since this site uses a responsive design, we wanted to give members the opportunity to preview how their post would look on different devices.

The preview is shown by clicking a new button on the toolbar. When the preview loads, the toolbar allows the user to resize it to different device sizes. If they are on desktop, they can also view it at tablet at phone sizes; on a tablet, it can also be viewed at phone size.

So now we not only show a true preview of what content will look like when posted, but we also allow you to preview how it will look on other devices. Of course that preview is just a best-guess since different devices have different window sizes but it does give you an idea.

We hope this reimagining of an old feature for a more modern web will please you and make posting content a more accurate process.

Activity Streams

The first improvement we made is to change how the expanded/condensed toggles are displayed to improve their clarity. From studying the feedback from members, we discovered that many people did not realize the view could be changed. To improve this, the toggles now explicitly say 'Condensed' and 'Expanded', making it much clearer how the view can be toggled to your own preference.

Next, a common point of feedback about Activity Streams is that clicking a result and then hitting the Back button in the browser means you are put back at the first batch of results, losing your place in the stream. In this update, we improved this so that clicking Back will load the last batch of results you were viewing, enabling you to continue browsing from where you left off.

Finally, in the Content Types menu we added an Apply button. We discovered that users were not always sure how to save the selection of content types they had made (which automatically happened when that menu was closed). To alleviate this, the new Apply button will save the selection and close the menu, updating the stream results in real-time as expected. You can still simply click out of the menu to apply changes as well.

Search

While overall improvements to search (specifically the algorithms to match and return the results) are a matter of ongoing research and refinement which we will continue to improve, this update sees one small improvement to the options available to members. While you have always been able to search within a particular forum, category etc. while browsing that area, you were not able to retroactively filter into particular areas after performing a more general search. This update adds this ability to the interface, allowing you to get more specific results from a particular area of the community.

Mentions

A frequently-requested feature is the ability to ignore notifications triggered by particular members. In this update, we enhanced the Ignore Users functionality to also allow you to block mention notifications. They will still be able to mention you in posts, but you will no longer be notified about it.

 

I hope you enjoy the updates!

Glenn

[Darren.]

Thanks for the update, Glenn.

I noticed some unusual behavior this afternoon
and could see some updates were in progress.

Things seem to be great so far.

Thanks for all the hard work on the best forum
anywhere!

[nhpleasantlakebass]

This site is amazing because of all the people who put there time and effort into it. I just want to say thank you for continuing to make the best site on the internet even better.

[A-Jay]

Thank you ~

A-Jay

[jbw252]

Thank you for your dedication to both the site & fishing.  I consider this the best bass fishing site on the web.  You have a great community filled with good people - from the mods and the advertisers, right down to the forum contributors.  THANKS Glenn.

[riverbasser]

All the work definitely shows. Took Mr awhile to join trying to get around the free email dilemma but it was worth it. This site is miles beyond others. A lot of credit is due to the members ad well as the mods.

Quick qurstion, how do you give ratings?

[S. Sass]

Thank you

[Jtrout]

Thanks glenn! 

[Fishing Rhino]

Good job.  I missed the preview feature. 

Nice to have the ongoing refinements.

[Raul]

No wonder why this place is the best.