Hey all,

From Steve's state of the union message a few weeks ago, and the monthly newsletter, it has been quietly announced that we are going to stop flogging a dead horse with Joomla/Kunena. I have completely rebuilt the site and it's educational resources, by hand, from scratch.

I kept the flavor of the template previously used, so things won't look too different on the homepage, but I have abolished most of the scrolly-flashy things, as was mentioned in past complaints. Some of the article links may be broken on the forum for a while, but once this rolls out, I would hugely appreciate it if anyone with broken links would PM me so that I can fix them.

Now, for the forum, we have decided to go back to vBulletin. We made this decision based on a few factors, but most prominently for our users ease of use. This is also one of the most widely used and professionally supported forum software platforms out there. It will feel and behave much like the old HS. We've hired someone to mine the new data from Kunena and import it to vB, so that everything will revert to the way it was, with the addition of everything that's been posted from 1-20-12 to present.

All of these things are happening as we speak, could be ready as soon as next week.

Before I finalize everything in the design, I would like to ask you for your input. I can't change the forum software at this point, but I would like to know what you all would like to see as far design changes or features of the site.

I would also like to put out that I am looking for ideas to continue our growth. I would love to see more articles come in, video tutorials etc etc. What kind of incentives would inspire you to submit? Financial compensation is not really the direction I am going. I would love to have contests like Bruce's trivia contest, or something like a photo contest or weirdest things you've seen etc, voted on by your peers on the board...

Please feel free to tell me your feelings, like I said; aside from the forum, I have built everything by hand, and that means that I can makes changes to just about anything.

Best of luck to you and Steve on this redo,Alex.

May the force be with you.

A like button would be great Alex. It would be nice in some of the farrier threads where I'm not allowed to comment to acknowledge things/jobs.

Susan123, we actually have a feature like "Like" already. It's the blue thank you button under each post!

Great news Alexandra. I wish you and Steve success.

Don't forget about the ability to stay logged in, and to be able to go to the first unread post in a thread - one complaint from times past. I hope you can get the search function working.

Keep at it girl!!

Regards

Thanks for the props guys, we are working hard on it.

WHF: vBulletin should hold logins. It is supposed to, and I haven't found anywhere than anyone was having issues with it. I certainly will not be setting a time limit in the admin side if I come across such a setting! As for the "First Unread", thanks for reminding me. I am going to look around for that, but I am sure its a setting somewhere. The old forum had it right?

Thanks again all for your support and ongoing patience!

If I remember correctly, in the "old" version, the "go to first unread" option was available when you opened the thread. The newer version automatically takes you to the first unread post, which is probably better. If you have read all the posts in the thread, opening it takes you to the first post.

Regards

Western Hill Forge wrote:
That's the way it is even in the newer version. The biggest difference you'll notice is how you upload attachments. It's fairly advanced and takes some getting used to. You can also drag and drop your pics while replying.

Rick: The new site will have a search on the forum that is built in from vBulletin. If it doesn't work (which I can't imagine being a reality), it is supported by the tech team on their end who have been fantastic so far. The home site will have an entirely separate search function for searching the articles etc.

Speaking of the articles, I have taken all of the old articles and recoded them so that there is a uniform feel and clean, readable format consistent throughout. Forum aside, this was the most time consuming part of the redesign. I had no idea how many articles we really had! Would love to get more, now that I have the format that I like.

Thanks for your input Eric, I appreciate your experience. Forum software is not really my realm of experience, I am a coder and designer.

MPLdyCop asked "Will you be able to get tapatalk back? I use it the most."


Yes, 100%. Tapatalk works beautifully with vBulletin 4.2. vB also has a mobile interface built right in, for those who do not have tapatalk.

You mean life will be normal againnnn

That's what we are aiming for Smitty, and hopefully soon, maybe within the next week or so!

............And a sense of humor , too, Alex?
Sounds like you did an amazing job. It should be nice to see things more "meat and potatoes" without all the fancy stuff.

Can't wait!

I dunno about all you guys, but my sense of humor is in fantastic form. How could I build thousands of pages by hand, sitting in Central America all alone without one?

ETA: If we wanna get specific, I'm on a tiny tropical island in Belize called Caye Caulker... and everyone thinks I'm on vacation... pfffft.