What's next on the 'Temp?

[Costello]

We are eager to know what our members think is the most important task for us to do right now.
I've laid out a few of the main possibilities that we have at the moment and it would help if you could tell us your opinion about it.

We are a limited team of workers so bear in mind that we can't work on all of that at once.
Ideally we should improve on all fronts but the reality of our workload and schedules make it that we can only focus on one major task at a time.
So please pick one and indicate what you think.

Upgrading to the latest forum software (IPB 3.2.1)
Our forum software is outdated (IPB 2.3.X) and most of our members know it only too well, especially if you hang out on other forums.
New IPB versions have come out with amazing new features, towards a more social and connected community.
It'd be great if someone could summarize all the improvements of IPB 3.2.1 over IPB 2.3.X.
An upgrade like that is an extremely long and complicated process because it requires us to re-code most of the addons and modules that make the specificity of our community. Also it requires us to adapt the skin, convert the posts and message databases and so much more. It could take months.

A new skin for the site
Although newcomers are usually content with the current V3 skin, a lot of long-timers have complained and still prefer the old classic skins.
We could make everyone happy and create a brand new skin that would hopefully please a larger audience.
The problem with that is we don't have anyone who is capable of AND that has enough time for creating such a skin.
It would also take months to have such a thing done too because a skin isn't just a static image, the skin code has to be hardcoded into pretty much every single page of the site. It's a huge amount of work.

A combination of the above two options seems impossible at the moment due to lack of time & staff.

More competitions, contests & tournaments
Over the years GBAtemp has been holding exciting competitions, tournaments, contents, and other random events.
From Tempmas to the Homebrew Bounties, the tutorial competitions, graphic design contests, grand gaming tournaments, ...
It's generally the kind of popular event that connects the community and creates bonds between members.
If that's what people want, we can certainly do more of that, usually under short delays.

Better/more news articles and editorial content
Our magazine staff team strives to animate our homepage with news of the homebrew scene, articles about the gaming industry, revival of old classics and so much more. We will continue in that direction, though if the community deems it to be a top priority we can allocate more resources and push this apect of our site a bit further forward.


What are your thoughts? I'll say it again, I know ideally we want all of that happening...
but you can really just pick one choice.

 

[AlanJohn]

I would like a new skin.
A forum update would be nice too.

 

[pistone]

easy choice Upgrading to the latest forum software (IPB 3.2.1)
but the tricky part is that as castello said

An upgrade like that is an extremely long and complicated process because it requires us to re-code most of the addons and modules that make the specificity of our community. Also it requires us to adapt the skin, convert the posts and message databases and so much more. It could take months.

 

[Chhotu uttam]

I would like more tournaments,etc

But the majority is for software upgradation.
Yeah it would be nice if we upgrade it to newer one.

Suggestion:- We should upgrade to the latest forum software.
Then we should hold a skin designing contest which will provide us with new skins and the 3rd option

 

[Ace]

I voted IPB 3 upgrade. I find this pretty necesary, since we do need to squash some bugs and crippled features. For one part, it could erase various pages we don't use or need anymore (like older news entries and such), hopefully leading to a long-term optimization.

As for DarkWay's suggestion: Doing ALL of that would probably take a year. It'd require the staff to upgrade, while moderating, while supervising a competition.
The best long-term plan I can think of is to let the new features settle with the community first, THEN have competitions for a new skin(s).

Personally, for a competition for skinning, I find it unrealistic to not have runner-ups: there are always going to be users who won't like the winning entry. Much like the Homebrew bounty, there could be categorial winners.

 

[DarkWay]

I voted IPB 3 upgrade. I find this pretty necesary, since we do need to squash some bugs and crippled features. For one part, it could erase various pages we don't use or need anymore (like older news entries and such), hopefully leading to a long-term optimization.

As for DarkWay's suggestion: Doing ALL of that would probably take a year. It'd require the staff to upgrade, while moderating, while supervising a competition.
The best long-term plan I can think of is to let the new features settle with the community first, THEN have competitions for a new skin(s).

Personally, for a competition for skinning, I find it unrealistic to not have runner-ups: there are always going to be users who won't like the winning entry. Much like the Homebrew bounty, there could be categorial winners.

The competition e.t.c comes AFTER the IPB update not at the same time.

 

[Waflix]

I would say a combination of the first two, but Costello said it's impossible. So I give the priority to the newest version of IPB.

 

[AsPika2219]

I voting for new forum software for the future time.

 

[ShinyJellicent12]

I sort of agree with DarkWay.
What if you split the staff into two groups: Competitions etc. and Forum Software?
That way, we could organize the competitions, even one for a new skin, WHILE working on the forum software. Or else, the staff could choose a few members to organize the events while the whole staff works on the new forum.
---
I personally can't agree with the fourth choice. I think our news is fine.

 

[Holified 2x]

I say the software update is the most important & will this update get rid of the need to enable the flooding thingy administers and moderators use also what does that do ?

 

[Slyakin]

I personally voted for the IPB upgrade, mainly because after that, we'd definitely need a new skin, right?

 

[prowler]

I personally can't agree with the fourth choice. I think our news is fine.

Needs more front page news, Homebrew usually takes over.
GBAtemp video needs more involvement (720p would be nice) in the front page, trailers and the sort.
More news rather than selected news (All I see on the front page right now is Sonic, non-3D games and Scribblenauts remix)

All these is what I think should be on the front page (most people will disagree and say it's not front page worthy but it's better than nothing)
http://gbatemp.net/t304566-gamestop-sellin...ndo-3ds-for-135
http://gbatemp.net/t304563-flame-red-3ds-a...r-fox-3d-launch
http://gbatemp.net/t304517-free-3ds-wi-fi-from-the-cloud
http://gbatemp.net/t304490-metroid-25th-anniversary-present
http://gbatemp.net/t304472-buy-solatorobo-...-the-soundtrack
http://gbatemp.net/t304460-kingdom-hearts-...ll-drop-in-2012
http://gbatemp.net/t304480-colors-the-3d-p...ng-to-3ds-eshop

Just think the front page should be faster in general, 90% of the time homebrew takes over.
TGS and GamesCon (A thread for each conference?) is coming up so I hope we see more front page news of that.

Probably hard on mag staff but, my opinion.

 

[Maid-chan]

Upgrade into latest software!

 

[Holified 2x]

I personally voted for the IPB upgrade, mainly because after that, we'd definitely need a new skin, right?

I was thinking the same thing

 

[The Catboy]

I'd like to see this site upgrade, the others can come later.

 

[Waflix]

<!--quoteo(post=3824858:date=Aug 10 2011, 08:38 AM:name=Costello)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Costello @ Aug 10 2011, 08:38 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=3824858"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It'd be great if someone could summarize all the improvements of IPB 3.2.1 over IPB 2.3.X.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Well, there's changed a lot! I've listed some of the major fixes and additions.
If you want more, you can go <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/forum/1-news-and-information/" target="_blank">here</a>.


<b>2.3.2</b>
This release is a bug fix and maintenance release for IP.Board. While there are skin changes to fix skin-related bugs, those changes are not critical. There is no need to revert your custom skin changes on upgrade if you are not experiencing problems.

You can download the latest release of IP.Board in your client area. If you are currently running IP.Board 2.3.1 there is a changed files only download in the client area.

<b>2.3.3</b>
This version is a bug-fix release only. No new features have been introduced. We invite you to download and install this update to fix various issues reported in the last version.

<b>2.3.4</b>
This is a maintenance only release to address issues reported in version 2.3.3 of IP.Board. Current license holders can download this update in the client area.

<b>2.3.5</b>
<ul><li> My Blog and My Album links in profile dropdowns</li><li> Ability to change the form action url for upload forms (useful for load-balancing setups)</li><li> About Me/Signature tab in profiles</li></ul>

<b>2.3.6</b>
This update includes all previously released updates and introduces enhanced spam prevention measures.

<ul><li> The included CAPTCHA system in IP.Board has been enhanced in an effort combat spam-bot (automated script) registrations.</li><li> Introduces support for reCAPTCHA</li></ul>

<b>3.0.1</b> (3.0.0 was Beta only)
Among many dozens of smaller bugs fixed, the following large changes and fixes have been made in 3.0.1 release:

<ul><li> View new content changes so its more like 2.3.6 where it's based off last visit. Option to use the 3.0 style in user settings.</li><li> Option to view search results in a view similar to a forum.</li><li> More filter and sort options with search</li><li> Optimized search and view new content to improve performance</li><li> Sessions not clearing in some PHP versions fixed. Will improve performance on those versions.</li><li> Language import / export system is much more stable now.</li><li> Slow queries in the Portal have been optimized.</li><li> Many Facebook Connect issues have been addressed.</li><li> PM counts being incorrect have been fixed.</li><li> Old media tag and quote tag issues impacting display of older posts fixed.</li><li> Watched content hook in sidebar resource usage addressed.</li></ul>

<b>3.0.2</b>
Among many dozens of smaller bugs fixed, the following large changes and fixes have been made in the 3.0.2 release:

<ul><li> Improved search and member list performance</li><li> Date filter options for Active Content page</li><li> Many improvements for Sphinx searching (i.e. ability to filter by forum, ability to search titles only, ability to group posts as topics, plugin functionality for modifying the query, and misc bug fixes)</li><li> Ability to hide an application's tab on the front end, while still allowing it to be publicly accessible</li><li> Improved IP address lookup tool can now support add-on applications</li><li> Portal option to not pin pinned topics for articles</li><li> Added link to user profile when editing a member in ACP</li><li> Added display of time remaining for suspended members when editing a member in ACP</li><li> Spam Monitoring Service support</li><li> Ability to control image quality for Gallery images (jpg/png only)</li><li> PHP version 5.3 is now supported in IP.Board except for OpenID login method. We are awaiting updates from OpenID vendors.</li></ul>

<b>3.0.3</b>
Among many dozens of smaller bugs fixed, the following large changes and fixes have been made in the 3.0.3 release:

<ul><li> New option for dealing with members marked as spam: Unapprove posts, clear profile data and ban user</li><li> Ability to mark members as spammers from the Manage Validating Queue in the ACP</li><li> Added ability to edit status and about me information from moderator edit member page</li><li> Profile screen now displays member's email address if viewer is an administrator</li><li> OpenID now supports PHP 5.3.0</li></ul>

<b>3.0.4</b>
Among many dozens of smaller bugs fixed, the following large changes and fixes have been made in the 3.0.4 release:

<ul><li> IP.Board: RTE support in Safari and Chrome</li><li> IP.Downloads: Option to not check filetype for linked files</li></ul>

<b>3.0.5</b>
Among many dozens of smaller bugs fixed and performance improvements, the following security enhancements were made:

<ul><li> SQL and local file include issue fixed. Note: Due to protection within the SQL driver classes, it is very difficult to effectively exploit IP.Board using this attack. Also you need moderator permissions to perform any exploit. We've hardened this code regardless. Also, due to the input cleaning functions IP.Board uses, the local file include is limited to PHP files on the file system as the usual 'null byte' trick is ineffective.</li><li> Internet Explorer XSS Issue due to incorrect attachment handling fixed.</li></ul>

<b>3.1</b>
<u>Link Sharing</u>
Easily share links from your community to Facebook, Twitter, and more. Great way to drive traffic to your community!

<u>Status Updates</u>
Enhancements to the existing member status system in IP.Board to include the ability to reply and more.

<u>Topic Preview</u>
Preview the first few lines of a topic without loading the entire topic.

<u>View Reputation</u>
Optionally allow your members to see who gave reputation points on their posts.

<u>Twitter Integration</u>
Your members can now link their account with their Twitter account!

<u>Improved Facebook Integration</u>
Further enhance the link between your community and Facebook to drive traffic.

<u>Advertising Code Integration: Part 1 and Part 2</u>
Easily place advertising code throughout your community with simple settings in the admin area.

<u>Profile Customizations: Part 1 and Part 2</u>
Allow your members to customize the look and feel of their profile page.

<u>Skin Upgrader</u>
Upgrading your skin between versions of IP.Board just became a lot easier.

<u>Soft Delete Posts and Topics</u>
Rather than actually deleting a post or topic you can now hide it from view to easily restore it later.

<u>Notification System</u>
An easier way to be notified of all the various events that happen in your community.

<u>Modification Development Enhancements</u>
Great tools for those that create modifications for IP.Board

<u>Hook System Improvements</u>
Improvements to the IP.Board hook system to make it easier for modification developers to expand the functions in the software.

<u>Search Engine Optimization: Part 1 and Part 2</u>
Allow search engines to better index and rank your community in results.

<u>Search Engine Overhaul</u>
Search engine rebuilt from the ground up introducing more flexibility and power.

<b>3.1.3</b>
IP.Board 3.1.3 is a maintenance release that fixes many issues reported in the previous version and also adds required support for the new application updates scheduled to be released over the next few weeks.

<b>3.1.4</b>
IP.Board 3.1.4 is a maintenance release that fixes issues reported in the previous version and also adds required support for the new application updates scheduled to be released over the next few weeks. We were forced to release patches to 3.1.3 to address a few unforeseen issues with updates to IP.Board so it would be compatible with our new application releases. Version 3.1.4 is a version-number increment so all of our customers can be sure they are fully up to date with those patches. In addition to the 3.1.3 patches it also contains a few other bug fixes and small changes however there are no skin template, CSS, or language changes.

<b>3.2.0</b>
<u>Calendar Improvements</u>
<ul><li> SEO Improvements: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5791-ipboard-320-dev-update-calendar-improvements-part-i-seo-improvements/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...o-improvements/</a></li><li> Consistency: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5805-ipboard-320-dev-update-calendar-improvements-part-ii-consistency/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...ii-consistency/</a></li><li> RSVP: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5826-ipboard-320-dev-update-calendar-improvements-part-iii-rsvp/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...-part-iii-rsvp/</a></li><li> Simplification and interface changes: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5827-ipboard-320-dev-update-calendar-improvements-part-iv-simplification-and-interface-changes/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...erface-changes/</a></li><li> iCalendar support: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5828-ipboard-320-dev-update-calendar-improvements-part-v-icalendar-support/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...lendar-support/</a></li></ul>

<u>Moderator Functions</u>
<ul><li> Report Center improvements: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5914-ipboard-320-dev-update-report-center-improvements/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...r-improvements/</a></li><li> Editing Member improvements: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5915-ipboard-320-dev-update-editing-member-improvements/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...r-improvements/</a></li><li> Moderator Control Panel: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5948-ipboard-320-dev-update-moderator-control-panel/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...-control-panel/</a></li></ul>

<u>New Text Editor</u>
<ul><li> New editor and auto-save: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5822-ipboard-320-new-text-editor/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...ew-text-editor/</a></li><li> Cleaner interface, quick reply, quick quoting: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5825-ipboard-320-new-text-editor-part-ii/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...editor-part-ii/</a></li><li> New post alert while typing reply: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5831-ipboard-320-text-editor-part-iii-live-topic-replies/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...ditor-part-iii/</a></li></ul>

<u>AdminCP</u>
<ul><li> New style: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5842-ipboard-320-new-admincp-style/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...-admincp-style/</a></li><li> New "like" reputation mode: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5844-ipboard-320-new-reputation-mode-like/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...tion-mode-like/</a></li><li> Easy member management: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5875-ipboard-320-easy-member-management/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...ber-management/</a></li><li> Improved restrictions: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/topic/342380-ipboard-320-and-applications-released/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...s-enhancements/</a></li><li> Forum Management: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5945-ipboard-320-admin-forum-management/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...rum-management/</a></li><li> Remote skin editing: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5946-ipboard-320-remote-skin-editing/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...e-skin-editing/</a></li></ul>

<u>Core Functionality</u>
<ul><li> View new content and topic marking improvements: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5858-ipboard-320-view-new-content-and-topic-marking" target="_blank">http://community.inv...d-topic-marking</a> and part 2: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-6004-ipboard-320-dev-update-some-vnc-and-user-content-improvements/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...t-improvements/</a></li><li> New Photo Editor: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5823-ipboard-320-new-photo-editor/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...w-photo-editor/</a></li><li> Shared media: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5919-ipboard-320-dev-update-shared-media/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...e-shared-media/</a></li><li> Tagging and prefixes: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5918-ipboard-320-tagging-and-prefixes/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...g-and-prefixes/</a></li><li> Notification enhancements: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5933-ipboard-320-notification-enhancements/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...n-enhancements/</a> and <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5967-ipboard-320-notifications-part-2/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...cations-part-2/</a></li><li> New mobile skin: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-6125-ipboard-32-update-mobile-skin/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...te-mobile-skin/</a></li><li> Facebook, Twitter, and mobile updates: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-6127-ipboard-320-facebook-twitter-and-mobile-updates/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...mobile-updates/</a></li><li> Visual Skin Editor: <a href="http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-6222-ipboard-320-visual-skin-editor/" target="_blank">http://community.inv...al-skin-editor/</a></li></ul>

<u>Miscellaneous Changes</u>
<ul><li> "Delete All" button has been added to the SQL error logs page</li><li> Linear+ and Outline modes removed for topic viewing (they're a hold-over from an older time on the web and it's time to retire them)</li><li> Support for IPv6</li><li> You can now use the member management tools to search for incomplete members</li><li> Pagination added to the incomplete members page of the ACP</li><li> If only one skin or language is choosable, the dropdown selector at the bottom of the page will be hidden</li><li> Member photos and member avatars are being merged into one function: member photo. There was too much overlap between the two features.</li><li> IP.Calendar and IP.Chat will no longer be bundled in the IP.Board download zip to reduce the size of the download. This also allows clients who have no interest in IP.Chat or IP.Calendar to choose not to download or install those applications. Of course those who do wish to use those applications can easily download from the client area and install them.</li><li> Rebuild FURL cache button has been moved to the cache management page.</li><li> It is now possible to rename the "hooks" folder to something else editing the constant IPS_HOOKS_PATH in initdata.php.</li><li> You can now edit each group's report center permissions directly from the group management area</li><li> Report center now supports item marking to remember and indicate which reports you've viewed</li><li> Customers who have purchased Copyright Removal no longer need to enter a separate Copyright Removal key. The copyright will automatically be removed when activating your license.</li><li> New settings for attachments to limit size of files stored on disk</li><li> Separate ACP restriction options have been added for managing spam users and incomplete users (access to these areas were previously controlled by the option "can manage banned users").</li><li> "Show X Last visitors in profile" now shows always the last 5 visitors if the setting is enabled rather than having a 3, 5, 10 dropdown choice.</li><li> New ACP tool to create the cronjobs to rebuild sphinx indexes</li><li> When adding a ban filter in the ACP you will now have an option to enter a reason visible to all admins (the reason won't show in the public side).</li><li> Pinned, polls, and moved topic prefixes have been moved to language files (they were previously in the settings area)</li><li> Many redundant or pointless settings removed. Other settings moved to more logical locations. Some settings groups merged to create fewer groups to go through when setting up your community. System </li><li> Settings menu item moved to a top-level menu item under System tab so it's available with one-click anywhere in AdminCP.</li><li> The note box in your My Settings (UserCP) area has been removed. It is a hold-over from years past and doesn't seem to make sense in community software. If you are one of the very few people who use this: make a copy of your notes before upgrade.</li><li> The unread topic marking system will now remember what page of a topic you left off reading rather than assume you read the entire topic on the first click.</li></ul>

 

[Costello]

nice post

NOW someone else makes a summary of the IMPORTANT changes

not all of them, lol

 

[prowler]

NOW someone else makes a summary of the IMPORTANT changes

not all of them, lolOne that I saw and fell in love with
http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/11...n-enhancements/QUOTEWe added a notifications system in IP.Board 3.1.0 and it's been a very popular addition allowing your members to select the type of notification they receive for specific events like a new personal message, quoted post, etc.

omg.

 

[ProtoKun7]

I voted moar p1ngpong.

;O;


The site software is, if anything, too up to date.







;O;

 

[machomuu]

NOW someone else makes a summary of the IMPORTANT changes

not all of them, lolOne that I saw and fell in love with
http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/11...n-enhancements/QUOTEWe added a notifications system in IP.Board 3.1.0 and it's been a very popular addition allowing your members to select the type of notification they receive for specific events like a new personal message, quoted post, etc.

omg.

Um...Facebook?

 

[prowler]

Um...Facebook?

Notifications =/= Facebook.
This lets you see if anyone has quoted you, replied to you or posted in your thread, etc.

I'm not sure what forum software Terraria is on but it's one sexy looking one (and has notifications)
http://www.terrariaonline.com/forum/