Site Status

[XavierMace]

Work has begun on overhauling the Airsoft Arizona website.  Check out http://www.airsoftarizona.com to keep an eye on the changes.    The entire forum and member base has been migrated over so you will be able to log in, make posts, etc.  However be aware that posts made there will not show up here and vice versa.  There will be a couple of "growing pains" to be aware of.

- No sub folders in PM's.  Any PM's you had stored in separate folders have been moved back to your inbox
- "Last edited by" information on existing posts is incorrect

The first time you sign in on the new forums, you will have to enter your password twice for confirmation.  If your password does not meet minimum complexity requirements, you will be required to choose a new one.

[Crono0001]

I posted this on the other forums... but,

I liked these forums because they were nice and simple.  The new one looks nice, but it seems slightly cluttered.  Maybe it's just me.
Good work, though.

[XavierMace]

The looks/layout are still being worked on, the initial focus was getting the primary functionality going.

[XavierMace]

Killer, are you saying the new site loads faster or the existing one?  The new site actually uses less bandwidth and reduces the size of the database which means quicker load times.  I'm hoping to have a mobile friendly version of the new site for slow connections and/or mobile devices.  Also, be aware the overhaul is not just updating the forums.  There's other new stuff in the works.  There will probably be a slight learning curve but as some one who's been using both systems for years, I've always preferred the new system we are moving too.  

Once we are ready to flip the switch and move to the new forum/site, both sites will be taken down (should be less than an hour) to move all the data over again and redirect the old forums to the new ones.  That said, there's also not really any reason not to update your bookmarks now as the first "topic" on the new site takes you right back to here.

Now is the time though to give whatever feed back you have.  Play around with the new site as much as you want, make posts, etc.  Just understand for the time being this is still the active site and anything you post on the new site will be wiped once we switch.  I especially need to know ANY errors/oddities you experience on the new site.  Even little things, an image not loading, a thread not displaying properly, etc.

Edit:  Killer, I just updated your layout on your account.  Does that one seem and faster/slower?

[bailey5671]

i really dont like the look of the new forums, to me it looks too flashy, and xaviermace please add the view active topics button because i use that button alot lol

[Shadow]

Keep in mind that the new forums is an updated version of SMF, bringing in better security, load times, etc.  The look can be easily switched with a template so it looks similar to this version (PHPBB).  That's no big deal.

Test the functionality, not just the looks.  (I guess it helps being an analyst full-time

I can see a big load difference.  The pages are loading quite a bit faster and it takes less time for the browser to render it, both on IE8 and FF4.  I haven't tested Safari or Chrome.  I'll flip on FireBug and look into the details, but this newer version of SMF is significantly better than PHPBB  Then again, I am biased towards SMF anyway...

[Shadow]

Some things of note:

1) Apostrophes in signatures don't function correctly

Code: [Select]

"Well, ain't we a pair, Raggedy Man..."
2) BBCode in signatures don't exactly translate

Code: [Select]

[size=110]"Oderint Dum Metuant"[/size]
3) IMO, dump the Karma profile option.
4) Might be able to add a few theme options for people to choose from.
5) Friends/Foes doesn't convert to Buddy/Ignore List
6) 5th might be a good mimic of the current AA theme.

[XavierMace]

Then again, I am biased towards SMF anyway...

Yeah, same here.  We were able to drop quite a bit of data from the database and I've still got more to remove so it should get even faster.

Edit: I was having difficulty finding the Control Panel after seeing my Sig pic not go over, i never was able to find it within 3-4 minutes and still havent.

Click on profile at the top of the screen, then hover over "Modify Profile", and choose "Forum Profile".  That will allow you to update your signature, avatar, etc.

1) Apostrophes in signatures don't function correctly

Actually I believe that was caused by the conversion from phpbb to SMF.  Just go into your profile and remove the slash from the signature.  That appears in posts and some other areas as well.

2) BBCode in signatures don't exactly translate

Yeah, that's once again a conversion matter.  Only thing that can be done is to manually edit the signature.

3) IMO, dump the Karma profile option.

I've got a little different use in mind for it, but it's yet to be determined if it will stay.

4) Might be able to add a few theme options for people to choose from.

That will happen in time, however there's other content and mods that we are going to be using and themes don't always cooperate with mods.

5) Friends/Foes doesn't convert to Buddy/Ignore List

That's another victim of the conversion process.  Unfortunate there's no way to pull that in.

6) 5th might be a good mimic of the current AA theme.

See number 4.

[XavierMace]

We've got a color scheme in mind, that's just a little ways down the road.  With that said, I'd recommend just sticking with the default theme for the time being as the others will probably be going away.

[XavierMace]

- No sub folders in PM's.  Any PM's you had stored in separate folders have been moved back to your inbox
- "Last edited by" information on existing posts is incorrect

[XavierMace]

LOL, so it would seem.  Fortunately I'm an expert at repeating myself.

[Drmalan]

You tell us to use the old forum but I guess some people aren't listening. There are classifieds that show on new forum and not old. When I initially come to the new website home page I usually hit old forums. Today I noticed that on the new website home page I had new messages in inbox but they aren't there when I go to old forum page. So should we be checking our mail on both or just check mail on new, post on old, and read classifieds on both...

[XavierMace]

Theoretically you should only need to check your message on the old forum since there's notifications on EVERY SINGLE PAGE to use the old forums.  However, since that's apparently beyond some people's reading comprehension level you might have to check your messages on the new forums.  That said, I'm hoping to actually switch everything over next week.  I've just got some other stuff I have to work through first.

[XavierMace]

Feedback/Karma isn't going to happen frankly because most people on here are too immature to use it properly.  Trust me, I've seen it used on airsoft forums before.  It's more of a popularity contest than an indicator of who's helpful and who's not.

[XavierMace]

I'm going to push back the switch to next weekend as I had a few things I needed to do this weekend.  However, for next weekend and the following Monday (7/30/11-8/1/11)...

PLAN ON THE SITE BEING DOWN ALL WEEKEND!

I really don't expect that to be the case, but Murphy's Law usually comes into play for these things.  The previous test run went reasonably smoothly.  If you try to get on the site and it looks/behaves oddly, just wait a while.  Please do not attempt to work though it.  I will put an announcement on the front page (http://www.airsoftarizona.com) when I am done and the old forums will be completely shut down.  If you do not see that announcement, please do not attempt to use the site.  Let me also stress this again for the people that seem to have reading/comprehension issues.

ALL POSTS CURRENTLY ON THE NEW FORUM WILL BE WIPED OUT AT THIS TIME!

If you complain about something missing that you posted on the new forums you will be laughed at, then ignored.  If you are currently negotiating trades/business with people, I'd recommend getting a cell number or email address for the other party in case the site goes down.

Edit:  I lied.  I made time to do it this weekend.  It's processing right now.