Okay, summer is here (almost; I have one exam left on Wednesday but will probably skip that and aim for the re-exam in August), which means that I finally have time to work more intensely on the website.

I have talked a bit about installing a content management system on the website, to enable for certain members/moderators to help manage the content, and perhaps to make it possible for other users to personalize certain areas of the website - I thought it would be great if you could get only the broadcast schedules that apply to your area for example, and it would be even greater if the NTFA Store customers could log in to manage address information and see what they have ordered, and so on.

But I realized that since people will probably want to use the same password to access the NTFA Forums and the rest of the website, I need to integrate the two. That can be a quite tough job. And since I've also talked about changing the message board from IkonBoard to another type (Ikonboard is outdated, too restrictive in its choices, and is programmed in a language I don't know), I came to the conclusion that I have to do the message board switch first, otherwise there's a huge risk I would have to handle the integration problem twice.

So in other words, I have decided to start working on the switch from IkonBoard now. I have selected Invision PowerBoard (a commercial product) as the replacement, since it has many similarities to IkonBoard (seems it was actually created by former IkonBoard programmers), and I have had ample opportunity to see it in action and was quite impressed. Plus that I have got the impression that quite a few webmasters have successfully integrated IPB with their website. And the Invision Power Services is actually working on a content management system which we might even use if it's released in a not so far future (unlikely, unfortunately) and if it's not too expensive.

There are too many improvements in IPB over IB to mention them all, but the one I like the most is the ability to have subforums within forums. Moderator facilities appear to be more plentiful (perhaps now the mods will be able to split threads. I haven't actually checked yet), and there's a member function to ignore other members that I suspect that at least one person here will appreciate (no names ). Those with large Personal Messenger boxes will also be happy to know that the message lists are split up over multiple pages, so you don't have to wait for a list with 60-70 entries to load.
You can have multiple polls in one thread (it's configurable how many), and it is even possible to add a poll after the topic was created (at least admin and super mod, configurable which other member groups - I'll probably enable moderators only to do so).

Well, those are some of the improvements that I took note of. We will see exactly what the message board has to offer once I have installed it and adapted the skin(s) to our purposes.

Be warned that it may take a few weeks before you will see the new forum in action. I will probably need to make some adjustments, and I want to learn all/most the aspects of it before I transfer the current forum to IPB.

Hey, this sounds great! Can't wait to see the results, Lars

Nice. Don't forget the "collections" forum, now I hope we're done with the automatic resizing of pictures too (although I hope we won't see too many 2048x1536 images...).

Should I take it that you don't like the automatic resizing at all, or that you're displeased with the current forum's strange calculations that resize them even when it shouldn't be needed? I'm not sure, but I think that when I installed the hack the majority agreed that it was a good addition - it saved us from the oversized images making the thread difficult to read.
I don't know how it works in Invision - I haven't seen anything about it - but personally I prefer that the pictures are resized. If only it was done properly and not so random as now.

As for the collections forum, I definitely plan to restructure the hierarchy quite a bit. For starters I feel that the spoiler forums should be moved into the regular TF discussion forums, leaving us with more room to create other forums as needed (nothing prevents it now, except that I want to keep the forum's front page short and easy to browse). When we get closer to the switch, I think I will put together a team of moderators to discuss what changes we should do and what forums we will need.

It should be possible to upload a 1600x1200 picture. It's ok if it's downsized as long as you can expand it with a click. Right now, that's impossible (at least if your screen resolution is lower than 1600x1200).

I also expect Windows Vista to have a higher standard resolution than XP, and 19" flat screens are getting increasingly common.

Yes, I know. The hack isn't that advanced and used a strange calculation with low threshold values. Perhaps if there's a built-in version the calculation is smarter, and able to adapt better to the user's screen.

It doesn't look like there's an automatic resize function built-in though. I just finished the first installation and posted an image, and it doesn't resize. But I will see if I can find a (usable) hack or plug-in.


Some good news for the moderators, by the way: It is very easy to adjust warning levels, and you can even set a time period during which a user will be banned or all his posts must be accepted by a moderator. Or ban the user indefinitely, of course.

There are so many options in Invision's board, so many that just to make life easier for me, I'm considering introducing a group for all moderators, instead of adding moderators manually to each forum. And I think I have no choice but to promote a few super moderators with access to the admin control panel too. Lots of stuff has been moved there.

Split and merge topics is there... (although merging topics is a bit difficult). Moderators can also merge posts, you can make posts or topics visible or invisible to regular members and visitors (an alternative to deleting them; mods still see them).

Unfortunately you still can't edit an existing poll.

Will we get veteran's chichat private VIP-members only exclusive club subforum?

With new member applications requiring two sponsors and a vote involving white and black pebbles, please? Pretty please?

Lars, how soon until we mere mortals get the power to split discussions? In the Finnish general discussion forum, the thread "Yleistä höpinää" (general chatter) is getting way too big and dominating the entire forum. Both I and Osku are eagerly awaiting the chance to split off sub-discussions in it to their own threads.

Mortals won't get that power. Moderators will, when we switch to the new forum.

By "mere mortals", I of course meant us non-Lars-Eriksson moderators. Specifically, myself and Osku.

hey Lars? can we have the abillity to choose golden color on the text to?  the AA forums got that and its quite cool with shiny text

That's not up to me - it depends on how the forum is coded and what options it has.

I have been working quite a bit on the new forums today. I'm starting to think it will take longer than the estimated two weeks, because there's so much too learn, and the administrator's control panel is unfortunately not that intuitive, in my opinion. Plus of course that there are so many new functions to learn.

One unexpected problem of sorts is that I will probably have to design a new skin, or at least revise an existing skin for the new NTFA Forums, because I didn't find any skin that I thought matched the rest of the site. And I'm not particularly artistic...

I have installed four language packages today: Swedish, Finnish, Danish, and Norwegian (Bokmål, it seems). I think Nordic language packages adds a lot to the experience, so I'm happy that I managed to find these four packages. But this too have caused a few problems, since it turns out that at least the Norwegian and Finnish language packages have quite a few "gaps", necessary words and phrases that aren't included (there weren't any packages for the most recent version of Invision's Powerboard).
But I've spent a few hours programming a tool which lets me inspect and compare the language packages, and trace the gaps. I plan to expand the program in the next few days, teaching it to fill in the gaps itself (with the English phrases - it's better than nothing), and to save the changed file so I can upload/install the corrected version on the website.

Slightly off-topic: I have had a lot of fun creating this tool, actually. It's the first time I've coded a program in C# for my own benefit (and not for the course I took last fall), and it's a very interesting and rewarding challenge. Once again I'm reminded how alive I feel when I program. I really should take it up again.

great, keep up the good work

Sorry to steer of topic here, but I know *exactly* how you feel. Good for you! I haven't had the time nor reason to program anything worthwhile in several years. My best "fix" these days is CSS/HTML...

I sincerely hope we will not have any crazy text colors. They serve no real purpose and sometimes make the text harder to read.

yes.. thats true.. it will star to hurt my eyes if the text is too bright
i don't wan to use sunglasses when i read something
it is enough, that i have to use sunglasses when i drive my car at wintertime and a summertime