As for editing core forum code, what is it written in? If you really wanted to i suspect I could, but future forum upgrades may change it back.
It's just your standard PHP/MySQL arrangement, so whilst I
could customise it within an inch of its life in theory, I want to avoid that as it will cause problems when I need to upgrade in future (i.e. I will customise as much as I can in an effort to make it more user-friendly, but I don't want to modify the core framework).
It's not really answering the question but I know at least two people who were on here quite a lot before the change over who have barely been on since - It tokk me quite a while to get used to it and I do think it's much better now but it does take some getting used to.
Yes, as with any change, it takes some getting used to! As you say, though, once you've got your head round the changes, it is definitely all for the better, for most people. One of the reasons for the change was to make it more accessible to new users, which I think it has done, by being easier to read on mobile devices, more prominent alerts, a more consistent user interface, etc.
Usage of The Forum has gone up dramatically since The Big Switch, so although not to everyone's tastes (particularly those who were used to Forum 1.0), we must be doing something right.
One thing that was a bit easier in the ... old days was that when you "quoted" someone you could see all the 'tags' that had made the post look the way it did, and this in turn made it easier to see how they had done what they had done. Nowadays when you quote someone who has inserted a link, the link is automatically inserted so you can't see how they did it, if an image has been inserted, that likewise appears and you are none the wiser.
The irony is, (again) this was one of the things that really drove the change! What seems second nature to you (and I) - e.g. the BBCode that you refer to - was archaic and inaccessible for most users. People expect WYSIWYG editors in everything these days, which is what we now have (e.g. you have controls for
bold,
italics, etc. as you do in Microsoft Word).
You
can turn all that off and go 'old school' though, if you want! Just hover over your username at the top-right, choose
Preferences, and
untick the option that says "
Use the rich text editor to create and edit messages". Et voila - no rich text editor, and you're back to manually entering BBCode as you did with Forum v1.0.
Afraid I would suggest getting rid of some of the more flash features. Popups for thread summaries are distracting and confusing (or just a pain). Same with formatting without tags.
Again, you can turn off most things (such as the Alerts you refer to) by going to your Preferences.
I am going to see how much it would cost to get someone to design me a "retro" style as well, which would emulate the original Forum layout, colour-scheme, and behaviour. If it's not too expensive, then I will go ahead with that for everyone who still prefers the Forum 1.0 look.
Would also help if there was a log in option on pages other than just the front page of the forum.
I agree, and this is definitely something that we will be introducing!
I am trying to find the time to write a Step By Step guide to Stafford Forum, but alas I am swamped with boring Real Life™ stuff at the moment.
Rest assured, it is on the cards, though! I've even setup a YouTube channel, with a view to producing "How To..." screencasts, showing you how to register, make a post, upload an image, etc.
So, so far we've got:
- Register/Log-in button on every page.
- "FAQ" page with plain English, step-by-step instructions on how to get started.
- Change some of the jargon - so "Media" becomes "Insert a YouTube video," for example.
I know that's only 3 things, but I think those 3 alone will help encourage some of the less confident lurkers to take the plunge and join in.
Any other suggestions, please feel free to fire away!