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Post by Dinotoyforum on Apr 10, 2010 23:57:10 GMT
Well, the big news is that I have purchased a domain for a new version of the dinosaur toy blog at: www.dinotoyblog.com/Not only is this more professional, it also gives me more flexibility and creative freedom. I've imported all of the posts from the old blog, but I'm still in the process of putting it together and fixing glitches. It seems to be working fine so far. The 'old' blog will no longer be updated from now on, but it will remain online for the foreseeable future. The 'new' blog will be updated of course, so keep your eyes peeled. Please subscribe to the new blog feed if you are so inclined. And hold on to your hats because it is also likely that this very forum will be moving too... I'd really like to hear any comments
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Post by Griffin on Apr 11, 2010 0:26:57 GMT
The new site def looks nicer. Is there a way you can get that side bar on the side with the author's icons on it so that you just click on a name and all their reviews come up like on the old one?
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Post by DinoLord on Apr 11, 2010 0:35:34 GMT
Wow! It looks a lot better! I'm not too fond of the new font though.
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Post by Dinotoyforum on Apr 11, 2010 0:35:42 GMT
I'm looking into that - I need to find an appropriate plugin I think. It's all a bit more complicated than the old blog (that's the price I'm paying for greater freedom), but I'm sure I'll get used to it. If there is no simple answer, I'm sure I can create such a side bar manually. I'm also looking for a plugin to allow voting on figure posts - that's another feature that I really like but is also missing at the moment.
If anybody has any other requests or suggestion, please let me know.
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Post by Dinotoyforum on Apr 11, 2010 0:37:01 GMT
Fonts, colours etc. are all flexible now, I just need to get used to editing php files.
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Post by DinoLord on Apr 11, 2010 0:41:00 GMT
Also, the font in the column on the right is too light at times.
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Post by mightyjptrex on Apr 11, 2010 1:19:01 GMT
Very Nice! ;D
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Post by [][][]cordylus[][][] on Apr 11, 2010 2:44:30 GMT
Looks nice!
Will the forum be moving to a Vbulletin board service or something like that, or a payed proboards account?
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Post by Dinotoyforum on Apr 11, 2010 9:39:11 GMT
I found and installed an appropriate users/ authors plugin. It also lists the number of posts per user.
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Post by sid on Apr 11, 2010 14:53:58 GMT
Cool!
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Post by Dinotoyforum on Apr 11, 2010 15:14:46 GMT
Looks nice! Will the forum be moving to a Vbulletin board service or something like that, or a payed proboards account? Patience young Cordylus.
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Post by Dinotoyforum on Apr 11, 2010 18:47:46 GMT
I think I've sorted the blog voting system out now. It's a little different to the older one because all figures automatically get an average vote upon publication of the blog. It's then up to visitors to push the ratings up or down. The stars are also blue now!
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Post by Tyrannax on Apr 13, 2010 6:19:24 GMT
Looks nice! Will the forum be moving to a Vbulletin board service or something like that, or a payed proboards account? I'm positive that proboards does not actually have any payed feature available. Adam, I seriously recommend using Simple Machines Forum for your future forum's home. www.simplemachines.org/It's free to use, easy to use, equally as flexible as vbulletin (Which I've used as well), and can indeed be considered "professional". I can fill you in on the utilization of FTPs, databases, and so on if you'd like. I've read a couple of books on site building and it is actually quite a broad and complex subject.
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Post by Dinotoyforum on Apr 13, 2010 7:48:43 GMT
Thanks Tyrannax, that's probably the route we will be taking In your experience as an admin of both an SMF and a proboards forum, which would you say is better?
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Post by Tyrannax on Apr 13, 2010 10:01:30 GMT
Thanks Tyrannax, that's probably the route we will be taking In your experience as an admin of both an SMF and a proboards forum, which would you say is better? No problem Adam. Which is better? Good question. - As you know, Proboards is a completely free, easy to use, and surprisingly flexible forum builder. The builder itself does not require the administrator to set up a database, domain (or subdomain), download and utilize an FTP (File Transfer Protocol), etc. It's perfect if you're unwilling to spend any amount of money on a forum and/or are unable or unwilling to deal with the rather complex make-up of a professional forum builder. There are cons however. The most obvious of these is the fact that your forum will probably not look as professional as you might hope for. The forum builder will simply not allow flexibility to a point in which other forums of the same host site look utterly different by comparison. The second con is the URL address (a.k.a. the domain name). The wonderful and beautifully crafted name behind the forum is followed by a hideous and somewhat lengthy host site name. This, in fact, is one of the factors holding the forum back from gaining a massive strew of members. - SMF (Simple Machines Forum) is also free, somewhat easy to use when compared to vbulletin, and is leagues beyond the aforementioned forum builder in terms of flexibility. The site itself offers hundreds of forum themes and layouts to choose from. These in turn change the look and overall individuality of your forum. Through the use of an FTP (File Transfer Protocol), one can also change any aspect of the chosen layout. If the navigation buttons (Home, Search, Members, etc) are not quite dinosaur toy enough, you can create your own and transfer them over to the forum. This in turn replaces the old buttons with the newly created "dinosaur" buttons. Of course, this is only one example of the many possibilities a professional forum builder has to offer. The cons of such a forum builder can often be a turn off however. The negative aspects are listed below: - You must find a hosting site and set up a database, domain (subdomain), and use an FTP. Both of which usually cost money. Even so, some host sites are free (but yet again leave another hideous host site name in your URL) and FTPs may also offer a free trial. -Learning how to use this complex system takes some getting used to, but will eventually make sense after a few short days. -Setting up your forum can take time. The vast amount of options is somewhat mind boggling. All in all, it depends what aspect is more severe in your case: Having a more professional and appealing forum or having an easy to use forum. In my personal opinion, I'd have to go with SMF. Why? Because once your site is up, it practically runs itself. You simply have to take the often exasperating leap. Hopefully that helped somewhat.
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Post by Dinotoyforum on Apr 13, 2010 11:49:58 GMT
Thanks for the advice. The domain and database are already there (The Wordpress blog works in basically the same way). And I have installed an smf forum. I'm hesitant to make the change because of the inconvenience it will cause existing members...Proboards does not allow exporting of data...It is good to have the opinion of someone who has used smf.
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Post by Tyrannax on Apr 13, 2010 19:52:28 GMT
Thanks for the advice. The domain and database are already there (The Wordpress blog works in basically the same way). And I have installed an smf forum. I'm hesitant to make the change because of the inconvenience it will cause existing members...Proboards does not allow exporting of data...It is good to have the opinion of someone who has used smf. I had almost forgotten about exporting proboard's database. As you have already stated, that option just isn't possible. You'd literally be starting a brand new forum. It's your call. There are going to be negatives and positives attached to both options.
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Post by Gorgonopsid on Apr 14, 2010 1:03:05 GMT
Wonderful. I don't need to keep clicking a box that says remember the info on this page anymore. i like that idea.
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Post by Dinotoyforum on Apr 20, 2010 17:39:13 GMT
I've replaced the blog voting system, the new one lists how many people have voted. The old one had glitches. So, feel free to rate the reviewed figures again if you like.
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Post by hkhollinstone on Apr 20, 2010 17:49:03 GMT
The new blog looks really great, I like the colours, looks more polished if you see what I mean.
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