All-
We are excited to announce that we have a new website and a updated messageboard in the works, and we are shooting to launch it this week.
One thing to know: the site and board will go down for up to 48 hours, starting possibly tomorrow (tuesday). We really wish this could have been done at a better time, like in the winter, but this is how our cards have been dealt.
Because this website is Wordpress based, and we want integration, we are limited to using bbpress, the messageboard software made for Wordpress. There are limitations to what we can do (both on the software side and monetary one).
Some things to know:
-Your login credentials will remain the same
-You will be able to log into both the messageboard and website with the same login
-We are going to be able to save and integrate the complete decade-long history of the current board
-At least for the near future, the forums search will still suck
Let me know if you have any questions. I'll be monitoring this thread on and off today.
erok
2016-08-01 08:36:09
Also, I want to apologize for the short notice.
erok
2016-08-01 08:38:21
thanks for all the efforts and updates! seriously
vannever
2016-08-01 08:44:51
ALSO. THERE'S A CHANCE THAT THINGS POSTED TODAY MAY BE LOST AND NOT MAKE IT TO THE REBOOT.
erok
2016-08-01 08:50:35
YAY YAY YAY NEW MB!!!!!!
emma
2016-08-01 09:05:29
I would like to be grump ahead of the curve. I say harumph. Grumpy cat meme, grumpy cat meme. :P
But seriously, good luck on the new site guys
sgtjonson
2016-08-01 13:00:08
Long time coming and good luck all. See you in 48 hours!
italianblend
2016-08-01 18:31:11
looks like there's going to be a day delay in this.
erok
2016-08-02 12:42:33
YEAH, DUDE!
mick
2016-08-03 12:05:50
This new web site looks remarkably like the old one.
paulheckbert
2016-08-03 15:48:25
No posts lost!
jonawebb
2016-08-03 15:50:26
so, it seems to be working. hopefully not too buggy.
there's some bigger issues that they are working on, but hopefully will get to any board bugs shortly.
erok
2016-08-09 08:41:37
please note that it's going to be a bit slow during the transition
erok
2016-08-09 08:47:03
yay, it's alive!
erok: Where should we send our bug reports? Do you want them here in this thread, or in email?
paulheckbert
2016-08-09 18:14:51
One of the perennially annoying things about the original site was the need to explicitly indicate that you wanted a new window/tab to follow an embedded link.
This is not how I wanted to use the site: I'm reading a thread and some entries will have a link; I want to check it out, but really what I'm doing is working my way down a bikepgh (mb) thread. I check out the link and, maybe, I want to keep it around to look at again later. I couldn't do that. I know that UI (UX!) people have declared otherwise; but they apparently don't understand how some people on message boards (like me) use it. So here's a simple request: have links (on at least the mb) be like the following:
thesitewizard.com
Note the 'target' attribute.
ahlir
2016-08-09 19:34:00
Please no. Any decent browser already has a way to open a link in a new tab. With no target specified in the HTML, people can choose whether they want a particular link to open in a new tab or the same tab. For instance, I click with the left button to open in the same tab, and with the middle button to open in a new tab. By adding a target spec, you force everyone to always work the way you do.
steven
2016-08-10 01:33:20
Point taken... users should customize on their end.
ahlir
2016-08-10 06:46:16
you can post bugs in this thread
erok
2016-08-10 11:56:27
BTW, thanks to you & the dev team for a successful transition. It really looks like you've accomplished an impressive feat, changing from a, as I understand it, pretty complex hacked-together system to a much cleaner one, without loss of data. Thanks for doing a good job and including community feedback in the design.
jonawebb
2016-08-10 12:02:53
I am missing the "boldening" of the thread titles that have new posts of which I have not yet read. Also, no graphic to indicate where your new message goes, it's just out in white space. Other than that, I think it's pretty.
(edit) aha, the "read post" feature appears to be incorporated into the color change of the post count balloon. So, never mind. Pulling tricks on me.
edmonds59
2016-08-10 12:24:23
On a huge screen on an actual computer, I can see a barely discernible grey box for typing in message text. A thin line around that box would be helpful.
stuinmccandless
2016-08-10 12:42:03
One thing I wish had been implemented is auto-update, so you don't have to do a refresh.
jonawebb
2016-08-10 14:59:05
Edmonds - Agreed, i don't think it's clear or intuitive either. would like the title to change back to green as well
erok
2016-08-10 15:25:48
bug: pictures displayed are often cropped, relative to the originals. I've noticed it happening when the picture is in portrait, not landscape mode (height > width).
Examples:
2nd tree picture at
http://localhost/message-board/topic/summer-riding-conditions-report/#post-330758 (this was from a flickr link)
Picture at
http://localhost/message-board/topic/tag-o-rama-5/page/6/#post-330782 (this was I guess from a twitter link)
paulheckbert
2016-08-10 23:24:58
Has anyone tried resetting their password? The page says to input your username or email and then submit. The following page is giving me an error that the reCAPTCHA wasn't correct. But there isn't a place to input the captcha thing on the first screen. Can someone look into this?
cardassianninja
2016-08-11 10:23:50
will add to list
erok
2016-08-12 08:08:50
Note that we have a running list of bugs, and the development folks will get to them when they can.
erok
2016-08-12 08:14:47
@Erok - Can we pin the introductions thread and 311 thread?
benzo
2016-08-12 10:09:02
BTW, shouldn't the message board be prominent on the first page of the BikePGH site? My bookmarked link was broken for some reason, so I had to find it -- I found it on the blog page, in a yellow panel that didn't look too much like a link. Wouldn't it be better to put it right on the top of the first page? I think the message board really shows how great the bike community is in Pittsburgh, and people are always happy to help new riders with route suggestions, etc. It should be easy to find.
jonawebb
2016-08-12 12:12:53
yeah, this is an ongoing discussion. from the main page you click More-->Messageboard it just doesn't have it's own link
erok
2016-08-12 15:27:00
It looks like the image uploader was turned off in the transition. Just testing to make sure that it still works.
Mike
unimike
2016-08-13 10:35:55
FRom a phone
unimike
2016-08-13 10:50:00
Nice melons.
atleastmykidsloveme
2016-08-13 14:31:26
Complaint #1: It is darn difficult to log in via an iPhone4. I'm at least four minutes into trying to figure out how to do so, without success. (So I'm typing this on an actual computer.)
Complaint #2: I was going to test trying to upload a photo, but I didn't get that far because I have to be logged in first. Request: Just after the words "You must be logged in to comment" can you please add a link to the page where one would actually log in? Label it "You must be logged in to comment. Log in now." Having that would have saved me a couple of minutes' work; see complaint #1.
stuinmccandless
2016-08-15 13:17:27
When you click on "my Account," it gives you a list of the topics you created. I don't see any controls to edit avatars, etc. Am I missing it somewhere? Thanks. There is an "edit" button, but it just returns you to the same page you were just on.
italianblend
2016-08-16 13:02:58
Your profile pic is actually managed on gravatar.com, a part of Wordpress, which runs our site. If you log in there and add the email address you have associated to this account, you'll be able to manage your profile pic.
erok
2016-08-17 09:58:33
Thanks for the updates and all the hard work!
My top feedback would be that improved usability is key to driving usage. In particular, a more compact layout would be far more usable. As it stands now, profile pictures are needlessly big and are overshadowing the actual content of posts. The top banner and navigation bar are also significant screen real estate hogs relative to the content. Thread titles/ links are also massive. A good metric is to view this website side-by-side with other popular forums. Note that most of them, or at least the popluar/heavily-trafficked ones use a tighter layout.
My fear is that the current layout is likely clunky enough to deter usage by anyone other than the current handful of avid users. To be successful in making this popular in the community, it will need some polishing on the design.
dfiler
2016-08-17 10:56:59
Suggestions:
1. Make the bar at the bottom with Donate and other buttons use a different colored background, so you can see where the content on the page is being cut off, or put a line at the top of it. And make it smaller. We don't need an arrow graphic for the "Back to top" link. We know which way the top is. Even better, just make the whole bar go away for forum threads. Forum readers don't need to be constantly bombarded with a request for their email, money and time. Have it remain on the list of topics, if you must, so people will still be reminded on every single visit.
2. Make it more obvious when displaying a page of posts that there's another page. Right now the only clue seems to be that in the list of page numbers at the end, the number that's in a different color is not the last number. There's not even a right-pointing arrow next to the last number, taking you to the next page.
3. The light green text used for links is a bit hard to read. Slightly darker would be better.
4. Maybe add Erok's explanation above to this site's Edit Profile page, linking to the gravatar site? This isn't the first time someone's asked this.
5. It sure would be nice to have that image uploader feature working again.
steven
2016-08-17 14:10:31
1. No easy link to event calendar.
2. Lots of rides are absent from calendar: no jamboree, no all neighborhood ride, no 18 bridges ride, etc.
3. Cannot find links through resources to other clubs, bike shops, etc.
mikhail
2016-08-17 15:45:45
To clarify my previous recommendation of a tighter layout. It looks ok on an iPhone but on a desktop browser there is a different layout. That is the one with ludicrously large avatars and a wide spacing.
And echoing Stu's comment, a border is needed around the reply text entry area. It is invisible on an iPhone and almost invisible on a desktop.
Thats all for now. Thanks again!
dfiler
2016-08-17 16:49:02
Thanks for the comments ya'll. Will no doubt forward along to the designers.
erok
2016-08-18 09:16:01
Steven, the image uploader does work, btw
erok
2016-08-18 09:19:05
That's great, but I'm not seeing any way to upload an image. The IMG button just asks for a URL, and I don't see any dedicated tiny button for image uploading, like there used to be long ago. It's the same for me in Firefox, Chrome, and IE.
Is anyone else seeing an image uploading feature?
I notice some of us are labeled as Members, some as Participants. Perhaps we lowly Participants aren't authorized?
steven
2016-08-19 02:54:45
If you click on the VISUAL tab (as opposed to the TEXT tab) above the message entry field, at the right end of the bar is an image icon. Click it to get the upload box. No, I don't get it either.
Anyway, for your amusement as you set out on the morning commute:
ahlir
2016-08-19 07:11:19
Steven-
So, when you click the little picture icon, does this show up? With the little File and search icon?
erok
2016-08-19 11:05:41
or better yet, can you take a screen shot of what it looks like when you click the picture icon?
erok
2016-08-19 11:06:21
Sure.
Here's what I see in Firefox. And
here's what I see in Chrome. I don't have Visual or Text tabs, just blank space, and no little picture icon.
steven
2016-08-19 13:31:58
Steven, can you clear your cache on this site, then try again?
When we launched initially, there was no choice with the tabs, then it was added later.
erok
2016-08-19 14:02:02
Actually, check again. I noticed that "disable visual editor" was checked in your profile, on the backend. i'm not sure why. looking into other people's it does not seem to be checked. weird.
erok
2016-08-19 14:14:10
Thank you!
steven
2016-08-19 15:46:33
Hey erok, I'm not seeing the visual tab either. It shows up for RustyRed using the same machine & browser though. And I dont see anything pointing me to my profile other than "your account" which is not helpful.
marko82
2016-08-20 18:38:11
hmmmm. yours was not disabled. but refresh and give it a shot again for me.
erok
2016-08-22 08:36:15
I can see it now!
marko82
2016-08-22 09:01:39
geez. OK thanks.
erok
2016-08-22 09:35:31
Congrats on the new site!
I'm having the same trouble as Italianblend... I could upload an avatar via Gravatar, but I'd also like to change the email address associated with my account (to receive forum notifications for example), and I can't find a way to do that. Clicking on "edit" should do something, even if only sending you to Gravatar or Wordpress to edit.
kbrooks
2016-08-22 14:43:26
KBrooks - i think i may be able to change the email address associated with your account. just email me which addy you want
erok
2016-08-22 15:49:34
wait the email address associated with Gravatar or this site?
erok
2016-08-22 15:50:32
With this site... emailed, thanks!
kbrooks
2016-08-22 17:08:08