Anyone want to help beta test the new forum platform?

azhousepro

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If anyone is bored and wants to see the new forum platform in action, you can checkout XenForo.azbilliards.com

Couple notes:
This is not live data. It was a migration from a couple of days ago. The data will be migrated over again before we go live.
I am not set on the color scheme. I am working on a getting a different one installed.

If anyone wants to take it for a test spin though, feel free and let me know how it goes.

Mike
 

azhousepro

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It's a work in progress. Just wanted people to run it though the motions a little bit to see what is not working as expected.

What jumps out at you as troubling?

Mike
 

azhousepro

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FYI, the avatars and attachments did not come over yet. I know about that issue already.

Mike
 

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Just an after thought but I betcha if added a link XenForo.azbilliards.com, folks would visit it sooner.

I thought it was appropriate to stick to pool and so omitting the NPR section was a smart thing to do.

The section on Cue Sports: Rules & Strategies was great but the very best was the AzB Hall of Fame.

The Member capital letter inside the big (way too big) pool ball or circle really has to go.....terrible look.

I miss the member signature on the current format reciting the member’s cues. Apparently that’s coming.

The Forum Rules need to be conspicuously listed to try keeping things in balance from the very outset.

I like the idea but need time trying the new format. This is my initial impressions about the new format.

But definitely get rid of that big capital letter in the circle. It is very distracting so much so it is obnoxious.


Matt B.
 

Biloxi Boy

Man With A Golden Arm
Did not like the Initial Balls on 1P.org and really do not like them here. The color scheme (muted/paste/matte) and overall look suggests a step back in time to the 60s and 70s -- remember the flower sticker folks put on VW buses? Going back in.
 
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Biloxi Boy

Man With A Golden Arm
They are not pastels but _________? Not sure the large/small double columns are effective -- kinda confusing. But, I am sure we can adjust -- the design folks, I hope, know way more about this than most of us. What I like about the old site, compared to the new one, is that the old has a sharp, precise, professional -- finished look. The new appears unfinished or elementary.
 

Biloxi Boy

Man With A Golden Arm
A comment from the peanut gallery here "Looks like Facebook. I hope they did not pay someone a bunch of money to copy Facebook". I seldom go to Facebook so those of you who do will have to weigh in.
 

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I like the newer look. Sure it will take some time to get used to, but I'm sure we will.

I tested making a post. Drag and drop pictures worked. That should help a lot. But, posting a picture of 3MB still didn't work. It only accepted ones that were re-sized smaller in another program before uploading. This adds an extra step as any picture taken today is too large. Even screenshots from my 4K screen are too large. Still, drag and drop pictures is a good improvement.
 

justnum

Billiards Improvement Research Projects Associate
Silver Member
streamline performance, virtually no noticeable lag.

huge improvement in performance over vbulletin.
 

boogieman

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
Hopefully the forum has a dark mode or at least some darker colors, it's too bright IMO, but that's just mainly a personal preference thing. Those colored circles are definitely ugly. The nice thing, it seems to work in chrome, which the current forum doesn't.

I just found something, I went to preferences in my profile and changed the theme to ADZ green and the site will no longer load. I broked it.
 
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angluse

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Pinned / Sticky threads are difficult to discern, with only the pin icon off to the right. My eyes are usually not going over there, rather staying left, around the thread titles.
The highlighting in the current implementation makes it easy to power scroll past the stickies.

User info is missing iTrader, but I guess you already knew that.
 

azhousepro

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Moderator
Thanks for the comments so far.

The big circles with the first letter of the username is where avatars will go. They just didn't get migrated on the test. I changed my own avatar, just so that we can see what they will look like in there. I am listed as the last person who posted on the test area and vbookie events areas.

This blue "facebook" theme is the default style for these forums. I am working on getting one that I like better in it's place, but not there yet. No worries. We did not pay someone to create this one.

I will look into the image issue. Drag and drop should make things so much easier, but I want to get it resizing on the fly for everyone.

Mike
 

Korsakoff

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Any change takes some getting used to. I can definitely see some improvements and enhancements. I would agree that the circle with the initial is almost distracting. The brightness does not bother me that much. It also took me a minute to find the Sticky symbol, but once you see it, you’ll always know where to look. Would like to see how it handles oversized pictures once that is working.
 

azhousepro

Administrator
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
At the moment, they are in a circle. That seems to be a big thing with this platform.

Check out the test area, I uploaded a 2.7 meg image with drag and drop and it resized it nicely.

Mike
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
This appears to be the same software that onepocket.org forums now run on. It took just a little getting used to but I think it's a lot better.

It does have the feature that if you somehow leave an edit, it saves a draft for you. Another is that it keeps track of read/unread for each thread with a simple way to mark everything read if you have seen enough. And images are a lot easier.

I've got no idea about the mobile interface.
 
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