12 years
Update: I've been able to make it look more like the old forum:
http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forums/tips-finding-hostel-job.html
I'm now trying to find a screenshot to match all the colors.
Suggestions for the Rebuilding of the Forum
Site Feedback and News
Note: If you haven't read about the recent migration of the forum software, please click here for background information.
This forum that you are looking at now is something that I put online quickly, just to keep the site from being offline for a longer period of time. I'm looking for suggestions about how to improve the new forum and make it better than the old one.
If you have any thoughts or feedback about specific things I could change to make it better, please post below.
For example:
Do you prefer threads like this, where the profiles are on the left side of the posts?
http://www.hostelmanagement.com/forums/tips-finding-hostel-job.html
...or should I try to put the profiles back on top of each of the posts?
Should I leave the sidebar on the right in the forum, or make the posts full width?
(I thought it would be useful to have the search box in the sidebar, as well as some links, but I could move it.)
Do you have any other suggestions?
I'm working as quickly as possible to get the design fixed up and fill in some missing features (like editor buttons in the text areas).
Some of the broken links will repair themselves soon. There are so many posts that it takes the internal search engine a few days to index everything.
- Comments
12 years
I agree. The old one worked quite fine. This temporary version isn't very nice.
There is a lot of wasted space around the sides, and not as easy to read as the previous version.
I really don't think the old one needs that much revision. Evolution, no revolution! :)
But thanks for getting the forum going in an ad-hoc manor.
12 years
I completely agree with the last 2 posts. It wasn't broken so didn't need fixing apart from what the bl**dy hacker did.
I loved the 'New Posts' button on the old forum. One click each morning to get all the new stuff. I hope it returns.
Thanks my friend.
12 years
Thanks for the replies. The old forum was pretty much destroyed in the website attack. The database, every main folder, as well as many files, were riddled with malicious code. The last few months of backups were also corrupted, since the attacker was modifying the site going back at least a couple of months.
The old forum software was not secure. It stores its plugins in the database. The attacker made modifications to the database which means that if I put the old database back into the same software, it's likely that he will have a way back in.
What I did is export the content and users from the old database and import it into different, more-secure software. Whatever was done to the old database can't affect this software.
Some of the other problems that I've been facing:
If the old software has a security patch (which happens very often) it is very difficult to apply the security upgrade, partly because every security update means I have to redesign part of the theme. When this software has a security patch available, it is very simple to apply. Just to give an idea of the security level, this forum software is the exact same software that runs the White House website. I'm sure they have better servers, but the code itself is very solid.
The attacker is still scanning the website looking for holes at the moment, so I can't leave the software unpatched at any time or it will happen again.
If the other software gets hacked again, it would be very diffcult to fix (since main features are stored in the database), while this software is easy to restore after a hack.
If I try to put that old database into the old software, the site will almost surely be hacked again. What I'm hoping is that people could let me know what specific things could I do with this new forum software to make it better. :)
I can make this software look almost exactly like the old forum, but it will take me about two weeks.
Feedback:
I'm hoping to get feedback about what specific things people want so I can adjust the site to users' preferences. For example: telling me about "wasted space around the sides" is helpful. I can make this forum "wider", though it might take me a few days. In the meantime, I've just removed the sidebars from all the forum pages and made the text a little larger. Each small detail takes quite a bit of time to apply, which is why it will take a couple of weeks to get it right.
"New Posts" is back. I can modify the functionality of that page if you would like. At the moment it also lists blog posts and hostels for sale, but I could remove those if people don't want to see them in the new posts list. I also made a "Recent" page that lists all the new content on the site, not just forum posts.
If you could give me about two weeks to continue working on the design, I think you'll see that it will look nearly the same as before (and actually be better in a few ways). I really didn't want to relaunch the site with it looking like this, but I didn't want to leave the site offline for two more weeks. That is the current problem... I'm working as quickly as I can... :)
Any feedback is appreciated... I put the "Support" tab on the right side if people notice any bugs, and if anyone has feedback that is too long to type, you can even call me by voice (send me a private message for my number -- I don't want to post it where Google will scrape it).
12 years
I think if you could make the forum look similar to the old one, that would be a good start. I liked the layout on the old one, it was very clear, and you could see in an instant who posted, what, when, where. I also liked the tooltips that appear over links to post.
As for this forum being as secure as the White House - that doesn't say a lot! People are always hacking The White House, US DOD, NASA! Just ask Garry McKinnon - he will tell you how easy it was to hack NASA! ;)
Another feature would be the box that you type in your replies into being the same as the previous version, giving you a nice GUI for BUI, colours, emoticons, etc.
Thanks and good luck, and take your time doing it! I know you have other things to do then be a slave to this website 24/7. :)
12 years
I just made the forum full-width again. Please let me know if you prefer it full width like this, or 960px wide as it was about an hour ago. :)
I will add the buttons for the text area now. (if my laptop doesn't keep crashing)
What was in the tooltips in the links to posts? Was it a post excerpt? If that's what it was, I will research how to do that.
Any site can get hacked -- I just mean that the code is now many times more solid than it was before. The old software is nearly guaranteed to be hacked again, since the attacker is scanning the site for holes right now.
More updates soon... please keep the suggestions coming. :)
12 years
Only teasing about the hacking! :) It looks better now the forum is full width.
The tooltips did indeed contain an excerpt from the post. I can't remember how much, but usually the first sentence. I know you use a different system now, but the website http://www.flyertalk.com/ does the tooltip, and I believe they were using an older version of the software you were using previously. I mention it only to give you an idea on how it was before.
Adding the like button, new post notification doesn't seem to be working, and restoring poster's post count, would be good. I'm sure you know those are missing/not working, and are planning to restore them later.
Speaking of post count, have they been reset now?
12 years
My laptop keeps overheating and crashing so I haven't gotten very far since my last post, but I'll make more updates tomorrow.
The post counts are still there--I can see them, but I need to find the button that gives everyone permission to see them.
What is wrong with post notifications? Is it sending the emails? I'm guessing that I will need to edit the notification settings to make them work correctly.
On the to-do list:
* buttons for the editor area
* show post counts
* add user titles
* improve notification emails
* tooltips on post titles
* quote button on posts
* better "reply" buttons
* add a "like" button
* change the header color back
* get the wiki back online
* fix broken links
* fix the homepage
* put Google Translate widget back
* other design modifications (these are time consuming, which is why I estimate 2 weeks)
* other changes based on feedback
New improvements planned:
* groups (this is going to be good -- I'll explain more later)
* full multi-language interface
* human-translatable wiki
* better job-matching features
* register/login with Facebook
* and more
12 years
Correct - you don't receive any notifications by e-mail. I've checked my spam to make sure it didn't end up there, and it hasn't. Are signatures working?
I would leave the Facebook login to last - not an important feature on a website like this. But adding maybe a Facebook, LinkedIn, Website, ICQ, MSN, AOL, BB MN, Skype, picture of them etc, etc links on posters' profiles. :)
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