Wingy,

Well, apparently there are a whole host of behind the scenes benefits - faster this, better that...

Hi Wing_nut,

There are a number of reasons: the new Forum will allow mobile users greater flexibility when using mobile devices to view the forum; it cleaned up a lot of administrative duties behind the scenes; it lends more functionality to the Forum, with RSS feeds and the like; it's faster.

Going forward, upgrades to the Forum and to FSM's website will be something that will happen regularly  so we can keep up with the demands of new technology and bring you guys the best possible service that we can.

It may be worthwhile taking a look at the FAQ and help pages.

Thanks!

TK

From Craig Kuhlow:

There's a number of things.  Just to name a few off the top of my head...

A lot of improvements have been made "behind the scenes" to make the community load faster.  In fact a majority of the back end has been completely redone in this version of the platform.

There is also an new search integrated into this version.  It should work a lot better than the old one and can use syntax similar to Google search.  So in other words, things like using double quotes and "AND, OR, etc..." should work.  Also improved filtering.

There's also a mobile version of the community.  If you view the forums on an iPhone, Android, Windows 7 phone, Blackberry, etc..  You'll be directed into a version of the forums optimized for a smaller mobile layout.

A FAQ or help page has also been included.  It might be worth while to scan through it when you have a chance.  There's a lot of good information in there.

There's a lot more too, but those are probably the most important ones 

See... told ya so...

Actually, it seems pretty easy to figure out the changes... so far. It is not as bad as I thought it was going to be when I first saw it...

The mobile usage sounds good. I will try it later on today from work And for a guy like me. I am muddling thru okay so far and am starting to figure it out.

Just curious though, what happened to the ability to see "unaswered posts" and "active topics". Those were two ways I liked to keep on top of things when I first log in here every day.

stikpusher

Just curious though, what happened to the ability to see "unaswered posts" and "active topics". Those were two ways I liked to keep on top of things when I first log in here every day.

At the top of each topic, there are a number of tabs. You'll see those options on those tabs. For instance, go to Aircraft. You should see the tabs at the top of the category.

TK

Tim, will a persons location showing up by their Avata come back. I think thats a big loss myself.

Not liking it at all...

So we still need to tab thru each area (Armor, Aircraft, etc.) to see unanswered and most active as opposed to the old format.

Not at all. If you click the View Recent tab in the Discussion Forums, you'll see tabs for the entire forum. Does this help?

TK

Tim Kidwell

Not at all. If you click the View Recent tab in the Discussion Forums, you'll see tabs for the entire forum. Does this help?

TK

Yes, that helps and after you pointed it out and I tried that, I figured out that part. Thank you. But what about unaswered posts? Under the old format there was a tab to click on for that that had all the unanswered posts from all topics. Is there a similar function here?

http://cs.finescale.com/p/recent_discussions.aspx

That's the one.

Thanks Gents!

Bish

Tim, will a persons location showing up by their Avata come back. I think thats a big loss myself.

Let me look into that for you.

wing_nut

I will read all the stuff about the changes. As far as it being better on a smart phone... OMG... Like night and day.


What you are reading now is being typed with voice recognition. This alone was worth the upgrade

We're glad you like the improvement.

TK

I LIKE IT!!!

Except... I cant find the edit button... And I dont see a post count.... No biggie.

What am I gonna do without my self clicking edit button?

...And a forum jump at the bottom of the page...

kustommodeler1

Except... I cant find the edit button... And I dont see a post count.... No biggie.

What am I gonna do without my self clicking edit button?

Edit button is bottom left of your post.

Well, if I liked change and new stuff I wouldn't be posting here using a Commodore 64!!! 

Actually I suppose I'll get used to the new forum, the only thing I really don't like is not having a menu at the bottom of the thread to jump to another thread/forum etc. I can scroll back up to the top sure, but it was just less trouble to read to the bottom and then click to jump to something else.

BTW: Since some people don't like the location being removed under the avatars from henceforth I shall use the term 'ya'll' in reference to all of you so everyone will know where I'm from......

Could the recent posts tab be put at the top of every page. Its a bit of a pain when you have looked at a thread that you have to go back to the main page and then to the recent posts.

I dunno...having every thread start on page 1 is a non-starter for me...IMO its just stupid to start a 27 page thread on page 1 every time you click onto it...

You can go to the last post in a thread.

I see “Sticky” … About the sticky of “How do you post pictures?”, e.g.,

TomZ2

Okay, I’ll admit that I was a rocket scientist (aerospace engineer, really), but it’s not that hard, really, I promise. (There are several ways to do this. Just follow the sound of my voice…)

If you’ve been able to upload one or more photos (the green lozenge in Photobucket), you’re halfway there…

Go to the Photobucket Album page and click on the thumbnail. This brings up a viewing window.

In another tab/window, fire-up the FSM forum composition panel you want to post into. Compose. When you’re ready to insert your photo…

Go back to the Photobucket tab. Highlight the SECOND entry (the Direct Link button). Do NOT do anything that disturbs the copy buffer.

Once again, go to the FSM post-in-progress. On the SECOND tier of the message control bar, the TWELFTH icon, the aqua-colored one that looks like a swatch of film (you remember film? But I digress…) It says ‘Insert Media’… CLICK IT.

Another panel opens! You’re almost there…

‘Send’ (Ctrl-V) the URL you copied from Photobucket four steps back. The ‘Insert Media’ panel closes and your image is inserted, like this…

This grainy satellite photo shows a facility that we
suspect is an enriching plastic to weapons grade.

THAT’S IT! The rest is just the fiddly bits & formatting,
which I know you already know.

As I have learned about responsive webdesign last months,

I don't really like some of the design improvements, also, 'Reponsive webdesign' is meant to change with the screen size, so I don't really get it why the regular screen view has to change this drastic to,

but there is not to much wrong with it, I just think that the fonts of the different threads in the 'modeling subjects' (like aircraft,armor,etc.) are waaaay to big, should've been better if those were smaller, so you could see more, also,

I'm 18 and I even have trouble scrolling through, so I wonder what 'older' members think of this...

I don't mind adjusting to new designs and adjustments, but,

I think it would have been better if you left it a bit more like the previous design in the way of, keeping everything more conveniently...

But that is what I think off it, I don't want to say the designers did a bad job or anything,

just wanted to say that...

as much as I have wanted a mobile friendly version of the site, I just can't dig this one.

Can't skip pages on threads, which on a thread several pages long would take forever to scroll through!

No photos! What is the point of a modeling site with no photos?

No button for"view recent posts" or "view your posts." the view your posts is a big one as that is what I would most likely want to check on using my phone.

Maybe I don't know all the tricks, but those are my observations of the mobile version. I will say that the  full version does load faster on my phone than the old one did. I do really appreciate the staff's effort in making a mobile version, these are just my suggestions.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!  I don't do the mobile thing and have no desire to.  This is more difficult to navigate, I may not return.  Too bad, I liked the previous site very much.