[skrshawk]

I have set up a clone of the forums running under Invision Power Board v1.2. I welcome all existing users of the forums to take a look at the clone and leave their comments in this thread. It is a very rudimentary setup but will show what the software is capable of and with a conversion of our current forums on it.

Most of the specific features that this package has to offer haven't been enabled yet (this is quick and dirty). Use your existing login information for this board to access the new board. It does however offer everything YaBBSE has and quite a bit more - such as the ability to create private boards for the many groups that have expressed interest in having a forum at Bridge Base.

Feel free to email me your comments at skrshawk@bridgebase.com if you don't wish to post them publically. Be aware that I may not see any posts on the beta since I'm still playing with it .

The new address is http://bridgebase.lunarpages.com/ipb .

Take care,
John

[inquiry]

First, I very much like the default color scheme. Another thing that useful is the "whoops" I didn't mean to send person "x" that instant message... if you track messages, you can delete it if you find it before they read it. With the reply buttons in the instant messages I have sent a few messages accidently to the wrong person...lucky no harm. The buddy list I am not sure of the function (exactly), but the "My assistant" seems to be a huge improvement in how to view new messages when the buttons on it are working.

Ben

[hallway]

I like It

Ability to create private boards leapt out from your description - yes to that

Calandar - all the BIL events to track - yes to that

Buddies List - label facility - a member , a 'secretary', a hosting member , directors......... yes to that

Management of IM's (pm's) simple / quick/ effective ....yes to that

Clean clear presentation and text etc. - yes to that

My quick visit didn't unearth any negatives.

[Gerardo]

Seems nice, John Nice work!

You lose a few things in your local profile, no biggie, you can reenter them.

At this point, it seems, the ability to localize the interface is lost (see
Language Packs for IPB 1.2 though, some of them appear to be unfinished. I know, this exceeds the Quick and Dirty work .

On a personal note, I can't access the yellow forums there.

If this goes forward as it seems, IPB has a template facility which is used in http://forums.bridgetalk.com to enter a hand (all 4 players, or only one). Would be nice to have that, will investigate how that works

[skrshawk]

Interoperability of languages is something I want to keep if it all possible so I will do more research on that.

BTW, G, since it was a quick and dirty port, user permissions below admin didn't get copied over and I disabled the yellows forums on the beta to everyone but admins because I didn't want to sort that out yet . They are there, however.

Keep the comments coming

Take care,
John

[csdenmark]

I cannot figure out what quick and dirty means. Thats not a term I am familiar to.

To me it looks like the postings here are not updated at the new site. Looks like all are copied switching to the new site.

The new site seems rather complicated to use and is not for computer novices. Hope very much you will not be disappointed - more features available means mostly you loose several of the users you have in mind to do something good for.

I have already ran into several features telling me nothing available and nothing to be found - and there were no help offered.

Take really good care John!

[Codo]

Hi Claus,

maybe you simply missed a point: This was just a test. They tried a new layout once, but they did not put all features in and they did not update it.
So no worries.

And John: I like the new outfit. And one suggestion: IS it possible to rearrange the list with the last ten postings back to: The last ten topics where there had beeen postings?

Kind Regards

Roland

[csdenmark]

I have understood it was some kind of a test. But a test without data is no test. - Maybe it was not meant for us to test but only for John - then OK I think.

But I have understood much more features to come - sounds very nice and positive but worrying too. The more features available - the more knowledge needed to handle. The more knowledge needed to handle - the more knowledge of skills in english language needed. And that we know for sure is really scarce among BBO-members ei. the users of BBO-Forum and the new site.

Lately we have seen many new facilities on BBO and many of those seems to aim flexibility. Fine with that - but....... A few days ago Fred and Uday found themselves confronted with a nasty option: To exclude women.

The other site of flexibility is segregation. Segregation ought not to be something to head for in an international get-together.

[Gerardo]

Another nitpick:

I got used to have the indexes of what I read updated when I read a topic and go back to main.

Seems like IPB doesn't mark a topic read when you do this. (by observations @ bridgetalk)

[mink]

main advantage for me is that the new forum is easier to read due to better colors. Even if there were no other improvements we should switch to that software for that reason!

Karl

[Rain]

I like the current black background colours...BBO is in black, so the forum should match? I find that its easier to read also.........



Rain

[Gerardo]

IPB allows you to change the way it looks as a whole, from different sets, provided this sets (called skins on IPB, and other software too) are available in server configuration.

John, maybe you can add a couple of skins to let people see how that works?

[skrshawk]

Alright, here's the deal:

The forums in their current form weren't up overnight and fully functional. As a beta, the IPB package was put up to let you see just what the software is capable of doing on the surface. There is quite a bit more that would actually go into a production release but I needed to know if I was going in the right direction.

The learning curve factor is very much on my mind and I certainly don't wish to alienate our userbase just because of moving to another package. My take on the reponses are that there's a lot of mixed feelings and concern about the exact implementation of such an upgrade. Right now, however, I need to hear cases for and against. Please privately message me on BBO, in the forums, or email me with such things as "this upgrade is a real must", "i would highly consider leaving the forums if we moved to this package", "i would base such a decision on x factor...", etc.

The response I get from this point on is going to drive my decision to remain with the YaBBSE package or migrate over to IPB. I anticipate a couple weeks to a month's time from me (and the rest of the BBO staff) making a decision to migrate would be necessary to bring a live version with all the toys under the new package.

Take care,
John

[mishovnbg]

Hi John!
New forum is MUCH better!
Several stupid questions:
Can you add clickable bridge symbols to use it instead of HE,SP,DI,CL?
Can also be added clickable diagrams of 2,3,4 hands and table of bidding? This will save a lot of time and posts will look much more pretty...
If cant, can you add scripts with clickable buttons for them?
Misho

[hrothgar]

I am in complete agreement with Misho
Suit symbols and an easier mechanism for tables are the two features that I would find most useful.l

[inquiry]

At least figure out why the table command with rows and columns make tables with so much space before and after the table such as to make using it useless. IF we could put hands in tables, it would help appearance a lot. Also, hot keys for bridge symbols would in fact be much more useful than all those cute smileys.

Ben

[Gerardo]

I think it can be managed EVENTUALLY
As I said, bridgetalk has a template for diagrams.
Not sure about symbols though, but most probably doable

[JRG]

Quote

At least figure out why the table command with rows and columns make tables with so much space before and after the table such as to make using it useless. IF we could put hands in tables, it would help appearance a lot. Also, hot keys for bridge symbols would in fact be much more useful than all those cute smileys.

Ben

Let me second that. Suit symbols would be great. In fact, I'd give up smileys for any useful feature!

[luke warm]

beautiful!!

[Gweny]

Quick question - is method available to increase size of font for viewing? tee hee my eyes hurt from little print.
Thanks for all you do for us all!