I received a lot of PM’s about the new board and feature requests. I cannot reply to all of them and I think it would be better to have discussions in an open forum rather than private messages.
The three replacement boards that I am looking at are Ikonboard http://www.ikonboard.com, InVision Board http://www.invisionboard.com and phpBB http://www.phpbb.com they all have their +/- but they are all fine boards.
This board is an Ikonboard with modification. Therefore, Ikonboard may be a little bit easier to upgrade to but not necessarily the best choice.
InVision Board is made by the original creator of the Ikonboard and it is fast.
phpBB is an open source board written in PHP. It has a large user base and it is a stable board.
So, if anyone is interested, check them out and post your comments here.
Board Upgrade - Which one do you want?
Moderator: Site Mods
Except for the wishlist for new polling options, I feel your site is doing very well indeed! I love the looks and options (especially the fact that all the replies in a thread are visible all at once: no need to open each reply with a separate click.)
Unfortunately, none of the three sites have exhaustive feature lists and screenshots as applicable to the end-users. The available information is just not sufficient to make a choice: they look more or less the same; especially the Ikonboard and the Invisionboard.
* Polling is not mentioned at all, let alone the polling variants available
* No screenshots of user interfaces (in two cases)
Hopefully, the new board will not have a GUI where we have to click to open each answer within a thread (like Mozilla Forum).
Can you post the compiled wishlist (culled from the PMs sent by various users)?
Unfortunately, none of the three sites have exhaustive feature lists and screenshots as applicable to the end-users. The available information is just not sufficient to make a choice: they look more or less the same; especially the Ikonboard and the Invisionboard.
* Polling is not mentioned at all, let alone the polling variants available
* No screenshots of user interfaces (in two cases)
Hopefully, the new board will not have a GUI where we have to click to open each answer within a thread (like Mozilla Forum).
Can you post the compiled wishlist (culled from the PMs sent by various users)?
being a 4-star laggard, I wouldn't want to change everything from scratch unless it really sucked or the alternative was miles ahead.
iconboard looks cool and has proven worthy, other than the poll feature. On the downside it is rather slow (or is it the server to blame? ) and I wouldn't mind a more powerful search facility, important for people searching for answers to their problems.
Having checked the links you gave us, I rather like phpbb, who stress the board features (its list is twice the size of the others, good search tools etc). Being open-source it may be bug ridden and fast changing though, and -- like 2x -- it may look like somebody's old aunt.
I guess you are the expert in the field!
iconboard looks cool and has proven worthy, other than the poll feature. On the downside it is rather slow (or is it the server to blame? ) and I wouldn't mind a more powerful search facility, important for people searching for answers to their problems.
Having checked the links you gave us, I rather like phpbb, who stress the board features (its list is twice the size of the others, good search tools etc). Being open-source it may be bug ridden and fast changing though, and -- like 2x -- it may look like somebody's old aunt.
I guess you are the expert in the field!
The version of ikonboard that we are currently using is less than a year old. I agree it is slow and that has been annoying me ever since it was installed. The problem is in the script not the server. The new version of ikonboard is much faster, lots of bug fixes and enhancements. However, I do not think it is as fast as InVision board or phpBB. There have been so many changes to Ikonboard that it will require a complete install and everything will have to be redone. That is why I said that Ikonboad might only be a little easer to upgrade over the others if at all.
Whichever board we use, will require extensive work before it goes live so it really does not matter which one we use from that standpoint.
All of those boards have a flat style appearance like the one we are using. In addition, before I open a new board I make extensive modifications to give it the same appearance and feel of the board that we are currently using so that people do not get lost in all the changes.
I do not have the PM’s that have been sent over the year since the box gets full quickly, and I have to delete PM's also many requests were duplicates. That is why if figured it would be better to have a forum for the new board.
Whatever board we use will be feature rich and if there are features that are not on the board they can be added by modifying the script. I am somewhat confident that I will be able to make modification to the poll to allow for multiple choices. At this time, it is not worth spending the time modifying the poll since the board is being replaced and any modification made will not work with the new board.
Whichever board we use, will require extensive work before it goes live so it really does not matter which one we use from that standpoint.
All of those boards have a flat style appearance like the one we are using. In addition, before I open a new board I make extensive modifications to give it the same appearance and feel of the board that we are currently using so that people do not get lost in all the changes.
I do not have the PM’s that have been sent over the year since the box gets full quickly, and I have to delete PM's also many requests were duplicates. That is why if figured it would be better to have a forum for the new board.
Whatever board we use will be feature rich and if there are features that are not on the board they can be added by modifying the script. I am somewhat confident that I will be able to make modification to the poll to allow for multiple choices. At this time, it is not worth spending the time modifying the poll since the board is being replaced and any modification made will not work with the new board.
As I said earlier, I am more than happy with the existing arrangement, but a betterment is always welcome!
OK! Here goes...
suggestions for polling:
***
Suggestion-1
Allow a two-dimensional poll
* Several questions, each having multiple choices (radio buttons)
* Allow user to select only one option per question
* Any user can poll only once.
Example:
1. How often do you use x feature?
O Every day O Once a week O Rarely O Never
2. How do you rate x feature?
O Excellent O Good O Average O Poor
***
Suggestion-2
Allow a poll where each user can distribute a total of n points (votes) amongst the alternative choices given. (This is similar to voting for a bug in Bugzilla)
The intent here is to add up all the points given by users, to find out the popularity order of the alternatives. (The most popular alternative will get the highest number of points.)
* The total points must not exceed the allowable limit (n).
* If the user uses less than n votes, it should be allowed.
* User should be able to distribute his votes in any pattern
Example: 1. Gives all his votes to one of the alternatives.
2. Does not give any votes to some alternatives.
Example: Suppose we want to check the popularity of 4 new proposed features in 2x. We allow each user to distribute 10 points (votes).
Feature Points
< Feature-1> 5
< Feature-2> 2
< Feature-3> 3
< Feature-4> 0
******************************************
Suggestions for Private Messaging:
1. Provide all folders at the starting screen, so that user can reach them faster.
2. Similarly, user should be able to reach the unread messages in least possible hops. When there is only a single message, the user should be able to directly open it when he clicks on the "new message" hyperlink from other areas.
3. User should be able to preview the PM, to check for formatting/quoting mistakes.
4. Allow user to attach files in PMs. (max storage limit can be defined)
5. Allow users to apply formatting within the existing text (just highlight and click on the relevant buttons)
6. Allow user to insert the emoticon at any desired place in the text. (click anywhere and click on the emoticon symbol)
7. Provide tooltips for all emoticons (the actual emotions should be described, so that the users don't end up using unintended emoticons.)
8. Can we have a setting to prevent accidental conversion into emoticons? For example, unless the user is careful to insert a space between "!" and ")" , the end of some sentences gets converted automatically to !) .
9. In the main message display view, provide buttons for going to previous and next message. Also provide a unread message counter so that user knows how many unread messages are left at any point of time.
10. Currently, the user has to look at the title of messages in the summary view, and mark them for deletion. The problem with this is, he has to read the content to make sure that the message is indeed not required. Instead, provide a facility to mark the message for deletion from the "Read Message" view itself. User need not go to the summary view to mark messages for deletion.
11. Provide a facility to delete delivered but unread messages.
12. Make the main text-area wider (user-settable?) (the right-hand side space of the screen is wasted.)
*********************************************
Suggestions for the main Discussion Forum area:
1. Allow users to apply formatting within the existing text (just highlight and click on the relevant buttons)
2. Allow user to insert the emoticon at any desired place in the text. (click anywhere and click on the emoticon symbol)
3. Provide tooltips for all emoticons (the actual emotions should be described, so that the users don't end up using unintended emoticons.)
4. Prevent accidental conversion into emoticons. For example, "!" and ")" get automatically converted to !) unless a space is inserted.
5. In a thread, allow user to insert his own (sub)title.
6. Make the main text-area wider (user-settable?) (the right-hand side space of the screen is wasted.)
**********************************************
Thanks,
Narayan
OK! Here goes...
suggestions for polling:
***
Suggestion-1
Allow a two-dimensional poll
* Several questions, each having multiple choices (radio buttons)
* Allow user to select only one option per question
* Any user can poll only once.
Example:
1. How often do you use x feature?
O Every day O Once a week O Rarely O Never
2. How do you rate x feature?
O Excellent O Good O Average O Poor
***
Suggestion-2
Allow a poll where each user can distribute a total of n points (votes) amongst the alternative choices given. (This is similar to voting for a bug in Bugzilla)
The intent here is to add up all the points given by users, to find out the popularity order of the alternatives. (The most popular alternative will get the highest number of points.)
* The total points must not exceed the allowable limit (n).
* If the user uses less than n votes, it should be allowed.
* User should be able to distribute his votes in any pattern
Example: 1. Gives all his votes to one of the alternatives.
2. Does not give any votes to some alternatives.
Example: Suppose we want to check the popularity of 4 new proposed features in 2x. We allow each user to distribute 10 points (votes).
Feature Points
< Feature-1> 5
< Feature-2> 2
< Feature-3> 3
< Feature-4> 0
******************************************
Suggestions for Private Messaging:
1. Provide all folders at the starting screen, so that user can reach them faster.
2. Similarly, user should be able to reach the unread messages in least possible hops. When there is only a single message, the user should be able to directly open it when he clicks on the "new message" hyperlink from other areas.
3. User should be able to preview the PM, to check for formatting/quoting mistakes.
4. Allow user to attach files in PMs. (max storage limit can be defined)
5. Allow users to apply formatting within the existing text (just highlight and click on the relevant buttons)
6. Allow user to insert the emoticon at any desired place in the text. (click anywhere and click on the emoticon symbol)
7. Provide tooltips for all emoticons (the actual emotions should be described, so that the users don't end up using unintended emoticons.)
8. Can we have a setting to prevent accidental conversion into emoticons? For example, unless the user is careful to insert a space between "!" and ")" , the end of some sentences gets converted automatically to !) .
9. In the main message display view, provide buttons for going to previous and next message. Also provide a unread message counter so that user knows how many unread messages are left at any point of time.
10. Currently, the user has to look at the title of messages in the summary view, and mark them for deletion. The problem with this is, he has to read the content to make sure that the message is indeed not required. Instead, provide a facility to mark the message for deletion from the "Read Message" view itself. User need not go to the summary view to mark messages for deletion.
11. Provide a facility to delete delivered but unread messages.
12. Make the main text-area wider (user-settable?) (the right-hand side space of the screen is wasted.)
*********************************************
Suggestions for the main Discussion Forum area:
1. Allow users to apply formatting within the existing text (just highlight and click on the relevant buttons)
2. Allow user to insert the emoticon at any desired place in the text. (click anywhere and click on the emoticon symbol)
3. Provide tooltips for all emoticons (the actual emotions should be described, so that the users don't end up using unintended emoticons.)
4. Prevent accidental conversion into emoticons. For example, "!" and ")" get automatically converted to !) unless a space is inserted.
5. In a thread, allow user to insert his own (sub)title.
6. Make the main text-area wider (user-settable?) (the right-hand side space of the screen is wasted.)
**********************************************
Thanks,
Narayan
-
PhilipSutton
- Member
- Posts: 31
- Joined: 2002 Mar 06, 01:31
- Location: Australia
- Contact:
Dear Sal,
I've got no preference about the three board options.
But I do have an idea about how polling might work - or at least one useful option.
I've been in workshops where people are given a fixed number of votes - but more than one. For example you might get 5 votes per person. You can then distribute them to options as you see fit. Eg. you could vote for 5 of the options, at one extreme, or at the other, you could drop all your five votes on one option as a way of saying that it is really, really important to you. This method works well, in my experience. It might be worth building this methodology into the board software.
Cheers, Philip
I've got no preference about the three board options.
But I do have an idea about how polling might work - or at least one useful option.
I've been in workshops where people are given a fixed number of votes - but more than one. For example you might get 5 votes per person. You can then distribute them to options as you see fit. Eg. you could vote for 5 of the options, at one extreme, or at the other, you could drop all your five votes on one option as a way of saying that it is really, really important to you. This method works well, in my experience. It might be worth building this methodology into the board software.
Cheers, Philip
Two more features in the wishlist:
1. Private chatrooms, limited to pre-defined members only
2. "Private" Discussion thread that is set up only for selected members and specified duration. (This is an equivalent of the private chatroom) Members interested in a particular feature can set up a small group through PMs and then set up such a private discussion thread.
The advantage is that members around the globe can participate conveniently; unlike a chatroom when they have to be online at odd hours (local time). Another advantage is that a conclusion can be reached faster because of focused discussion between members who are invited specifically for a time-limited discussion.
1. Private chatrooms, limited to pre-defined members only
2. "Private" Discussion thread that is set up only for selected members and specified duration. (This is an equivalent of the private chatroom) Members interested in a particular feature can set up a small group through PMs and then set up such a private discussion thread.
The advantage is that members around the globe can participate conveniently; unlike a chatroom when they have to be online at odd hours (local time). Another advantage is that a conclusion can be reached faster because of focused discussion between members who are invited specifically for a time-limited discussion.
-
pa sweetie
- Bronze Member
- Posts: 169
- Joined: 2000 Oct 10, 00:14
- Location: PA
- Contact:
Ok, so this is way over my head. I vote whatever form you want to use Sal. You have kept it running and doing a fine job so far. You are well informed about it all and I am sure you will choose what is right.
I am in another forum and it is powered by :
Powered by XMB v1.5 Beta :: Blue Moon
It seems to work fine.
So I vote
Thanks. Keep up the good work.
I am in another forum and it is powered by :
Powered by XMB v1.5 Beta :: Blue Moon
It seems to work fine.
So I vote
Thanks. Keep up the good work.