Welcome to the new VWWatercooled Australia

[The_Hawk]

It's been a while in the making, but the new forums are here!

There is still a little tweaking that needs to be done and a few more toys on their way.

Some small tweak include large images are now automatically shrunk like this:

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/04/VWNewBeetleDuneDesert1280x960-1.jpg

YouTube video's can now be embedded:

yoqtIgRvsPE


If you happen to notice anything that's not working right just let me know and I'll get onto it ASAP.

[Arctra]

Thank you very much. Looks great!

[RolfGolf]

Well done to everyone involved in getting the new look forums up and running ... :grin:

P.S.
Is there a reason why 80% of the smilies don't display on my machine now? You haven't gone with some obscure Microsoft embrace and extend technology have you? ;)

[The_Hawk]

Well done to everyone involved in getting the new look forums up and running ... :grin:

P.S.
Is there a reason why 80% of the smilies don't display on my machine now? You haven't gone with some obscure Microsoft embrace and extend technology have you? ;)


I'm working on the smilies...

[jasn78]

nice work guys, my only question is there a way of changing the skin easily on the user side?

[RolfGolf]

Phew!! Thanks - I'm used to being in the computing minority, but I'd be sad to see them go ... I'm working purely from memory now :D

[The_Hawk]

nice work guys, my only question is there a way of changing the skin easily on the user side?

Yes, but there is currently only one skin available. More might come eventually, but for the moment it's on the bottom of the priority pile.

[G-rig]

The new interface is a bit hard on the eyes but seems like all the forums running vBulletin are being updated.

[sawters]

Well done guys, looks awsome!

[G-rig]

Is there a way to view all your subscribed threads and whos posted last? Used to work by clicking userCP, and without going into subscribed threads?
Cheers,

[The_Hawk]

Is there a way to view all your subscribed threads and whos posted last? Used to work by clicking userCP, and without going into subscribed threads?
Cheers,

Hit "Quick Links" in the menu bar :)

Oh... and :banana:

:pics:

[Lorenz]

Nice work on the changeover Aaron, looking good so far :)

[greasykitchen]

Might take me a little bit to get used to but it should be A-OK.

One thing - when you go to look at your own previous posts it puts them in alphabetical rather than chronological order. The 1st one on my list is a post from 2 years ago, which isn't very helpful when you want a quick reference list of your last posts. :eek: It's only minor though.

:D

[AusScare]

Wow bit of a shock loading this forum, but I'll get used to it, progress is always good!

:banana:

Good still works.

Are we able to change the read/unread threads colours from blue and grey to something else ourselves? It's not as easy to see as orange and grey. Same with the background lol..

[Glennb]

readability is very poor, but functionality is good.
Is there a way to change the colors of the forum? I thought i'd been redirected to some japanese anime site or something .

[G-rig]

Hit "Quick Links" in the menu bar :)


Thanks, forgot about that.

Just takes time to adjust to a new format but no biggy :). Just doesn't seem that easy to read wouldnt mind a clean-skin hehe.

[Tim]

Probably not an issue for most people and it may be something you already have in mind to address. But those of us that use a lappy thats a couple years old may find the fixed with of the site a bit too big.
Most sites tend to be more functional for a broader range of people if designed to work at a 1024x768 desktop resolution which will have little impact on users running bigger desktops.

[Rocket36]

Where's the button to go to "first new post" of a thread? You know, the first unread post. So you don't have to find where you were up to from your last visit...

[Oneofthegreats]

I just woke up & thought I'd gone into melt down!!!!!!!!!!!


Great work to all involved.

I have no doubt that it takes up alot of your time with no thanks or pay & I'm also pretty sure that not only myself, but nearly every VWW member appreciate's it 110%



I've been waiting fir youtube inbedding!!!! game on! haha


Shouldn't take too long to figure out the new layout. Its just like starting over again.

Change is as good as a holiday I say!

[noone]

I'm finding visibility difficult, but I'm sure I'll adapt.

Has the search feature changed? I don't seem to be able to search for a word and see the individual post results. Very difficult if the result is in a thread over 100 pages long...

The changes that you mention should help greatly, thanks guys.

[madglf3]

Good stuff mate, it'll no doubt take some getting used to but i think it's a good move for functionality.

[Rocket36]

Can someone explain the icons for threads to me. There's no consistancy between viewed/unviewed etc. I.e. some that I have viewed are grey, some are orange. It's all a bit all over the place. Looks certainly don't beat functionality on a forum imo. The auto image resize is a good new feature, as is the youtube embeding but other than that, if it aint broke..........

[phaeton]

OzVolks did this change recently to.
I must say I'm not a fan of this new version just yet but will most likely have to deal with that in my own time.

I like the inclusion of blogs and embedded YouTube videos its about time ;)
Thanks to Aaron and the Rest of the team for this upgrade.

ps wheres the Amarok section ? :D

[phaeton]

Can someone explain the icons for threads to me. There's no consistancy between viewed/unviewed etc. I.e. some that I have viewed are grey, some are orange. It's all a bit all over the place. Looks certainly don't beat functionality on a forum imo. The auto image resize is a good new feature, as is the youtube embeding but other than that, if it aint broke..........

Look down the bottom RH corner there is a legend when on forum homepage :)

[FJ Steve]

Looks certainly don't beat functionality on a forum imo. The auto image resize is a good new feature, as is the youtube embeding but other than that, if it aint broke..........I'm with you....

[h100vw]

Probably not an issue for most people and it may be something you already have in mind to address. But those of us that use a lappy thats a couple years old may find the fixed with of the site a bit too big.
Most sites tend to be more functional for a broader range of people if designed to work at a 1024x768 desktop resolution which will have little impact on users running bigger desktops.

Same for me, can't see a third of the screen. I only have 1024x768.

Gavin

[The_Hawk]

Same for me, can't see a third of the screen. I only have 1024x768.

Gavin

Has that fixed your problem??


As for themes, I'll be working on getting a couple of different ones available soon.

[Jarred]

If it ain't broke don't fix it?

I'm sorry, but I dont particularily like it. I didn't think there was anything wrong with the old layout, although the Youtube embedding does look pretty neat.

I can appreciate all the hard work that went into this (and goes into running the forum, thanks!) but I don't see the point.

[Lorenz]

I've seen this discussion happen sooo many times on other forums that change over to a newer version of forum software!
Nothing wrong with a change, you will get used to it in no time, and sometimes you just have to upgrade to keep up with times and support.

With a little tweak here and there, Im sure this new version is going to be bigger and better than the last :)

[The_Hawk]

I didn't think there was anything wrong with the old layout, although the Youtube embedding does look pretty neat.

I can appreciate all the hard work that went into this (and goes into running the forum, thanks!)

It's been a busy road leading up to this, all the new features (and there is a lot more under the bonnet) as well as ensuring ongoing support required us to move to the current version of vBulletin.

While we have worked very hard to ensure all the little customisations, plugins and things we had running before are still available, not everything made it across. Sadly the old themes are not compatible with the new version so we had to start over. As I said earlier I will be working on some more themes as time permits so those that choose to can have something more like the old look and feel, or maybe something new and fresh ;) Watch the drop down in the bottom left corner for new themes or just wait for the notification thread that will come when there is something available.

[Arctra]

I feel compelled to defend the decision to upgrade on a couple of fronts.

Firstly, how do you guys know something WASN'T broken? Upgrades don't only give you new functionality, but they also give you bug fixes, improved administrative tools and functionality, etc, etc. yes, new bugs and issues are introduced as well, but for the most part this upgrade is for the better.

Secondly, thank heavens there are people with progressive mindsets that over-ride the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindsets. If it wasn't for those progressive mindsets, we would not have taken steps forward as a society. The humans spirits desire to improve things, even when they didn't necessarily NEED to be improved, has given us all sorts of fantastic technologies.

If there is something you don't like about the new forum, rather than whinge about it, how about making constructive suggestions. Don't like the layout, suggest what in particular isn't working for you and what you wouuld prefer. That way something could possibly be done about it. If you don't have anything constructive then you're just going to have to deal with the fact that things have changed. Take this opportunity to progress/learn/appreciate what's new rather than resist change for the sake of it.

/rant

[FJ Steve]

I feel compelled to defend the decision to upgrade on a couple of fronts.

Firstly, how do you guys know something WASN'T broken? Upgrades don't only give you new functionality, but they also give you bug fixes, improved administrative tools and functionality, etc, etc. yes, new bugs and issues are introduced as well, but for the most part this upgrade is for the better.

Secondly, thank heavens there are people with progressive mindsets that over-ride the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindsets. If it wasn't for those progressive mindsets, we would not have taken steps forward as a society. The humans spirits desire to improve things, even when they didn't necessarily NEED to be improved, has given us all sorts of fantastic technologies.

If there is something you don't like about the new forum, rather than whinge about it, how about making constructive suggestions. Don't like the layout, suggest what in particular isn't working for you and what you wouuld prefer. That way something could possibly be done about it. If you don't have anything constructive then you're just going to have to deal with the fact that things have changed. Take this opportunity to progress/learn/appreciate what's new rather than resist change for the sake of it.

/rant
it's a free society, and we are able to express ourselves without fear or favour. Correct?

So...in your words, unless we have something constructive to add, you just want us to sit back in the corner and not say anything. Nice community feel that brings.

I understand that upgrades are often necessary, and sometimes, this will shift the comfort zone of some people. However, try and be supportive, and not all ranty......the community may just support you.

[Mrs_Hawk]

:yeahthat: what arcrtra said!

I say good work to the_hawk for spending HOURS on end getting the upgrade done & getting up at 4am this morning to upgrade without causing too much disruption to the VWWC members :bowdown:

I agree with some of you guys that the thread icons are really hard to follow, but I'm helping out on fixing that. Might be a few days (y'know being Easter & having two small kids ;) ) but they'll be much easier to follow when we're done.

[Jarred]

Mate, when was I whinging?

I was simply giving my opinion on.

I didn't say it shouldn't have been done, and I'm very aware that there are upgrades that 'need' to be done etc etc.

But all that crap about mindsets and stuff, really mate. I'm not interested in your sob story, I dont play violin. I'm not having a go, but really, this isn't really the thread for rants.

I'm here to discuss the new forum upgrade.

The layout is the main problem for me, things in different places etc etc, combined with the new colour scheme makes the forum difficult to use (for me atleast), I also don't like the new in thread lay out. I'm sure i'll find a few more things later on, once i've poked around a bit more.

[h100vw]

Has that fixed your problem??


As for themes, I'll be working on getting a couple of different ones available soon.

Perfect, thanks mate!!

[lawny]

holy crap, turned on the mac, went to vwwatercooled and thought i had pressed wrong bookmark, even did it a couple of times before i clicked!! what a douche! i love it mate (whoever was involved) layout is great and it looks good. For all the haters.... get over it! like going from BETA to VHS things always change for the better even if it doesnt seem like it!

WELL DONE WOOHOO

[AusScare]

this isn't really the thread for rants.

I'm here to discuss the new forum upgrade.

This.

When I go to my profile and view my old posts, I have only made 2, the ones in this thread. The quick link to our posts in the search bracket was great last time.

+1 to more themes. When ocau updated their system last time I tried a few new themes for a bit, then just stuck with the classic, easier to read..

[tinto]

Looking good. Was definitely a time for a refresh.
New icons are great - at a glance I can see where I'm involved etc

Thanks to the tech team for putting in the effort.

Looks great on my iPhone too, which is what I browse forums with 80% of the time.
( I haven't migrated to tapaTalk)

[spiff]

My constructive comment is to try and bring back the old colour combination - I find it's easier on the eyes and easier to read.
It will certainly make the crossover to a new version easier for most to adapt to and was also defining of vww.
It's a psychological thing.
But since it hasn't been done, by the time someone gets to the bottom of the priority pile, I think most will have adapted. :p
Two thumbs up for the better functionality though!

Cheers and Happy Easter!

[K1W1]

I'm echoing others here. I'm not against change by any means but I am finding this colour scheme very difficult and this is after all a visual medium. If I can't easily read it I will loose interest and go somewhere else, that is is no way a threat or anything it's just the way things happen.

I would sincerely request that the Admins either trial some alternate colour schemes or enable an option for people to select their own.

( I hope that this post does not get deleted unlike my last one on this subject).

[tinto]

What are you guys struggling with at a visual level?

Constructive but specific feedback is more likely to see it addressed in another template.

[AusScare]

What are you guys struggling with at a visual level?

Constructive but specific feedback is more likely to see it addressed in another template.

The light blue is alot harder to see against the grey on the new/read post icons. Bright orange would fix this.

edit: On the main page I mean, it seems to be orange in sub forums.

[phaeton]

I don't like the bright white background.

Perhaps a very light blue with dark blue bars might solve this if thats optional of course.

[Glennb]

My readability issue is on the lack of contrast between background and text, and also choice of colors. Upgrades for reasons of functionality are great, but for text based forums, consideration needs to be given to the basics in terms of colors, fonts, etc.

I'm color blind too so that doesn't help, but i'm sure i'm not the only one here that is :D

[Driven Threads]

I really like the fresh new look. Looks more contemporary. However, having a few access issues with "Tapatalk" saying that the forum is temporarily closed?

[The_Hawk]

I really like the fresh new look. Looks more contemporary. However, having a few access issues with "Tapatalk" saying that the forum is temporarily closed?

In Tapatalk delete VWWatercooled from your favourites and re add it. Mine did the same thing :)




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[K1W1]

My readability issue is on the lack of contrast between background and text, and also choice of colors. Upgrades for reasons of functionality are great, but for text based forums, consideration needs to be given to the basics in terms of colors, fonts, etc.

I'm color blind too so that doesn't help, but i'm sure i'm not the only one here that is :D

Exactly my issue and probably the same for around 25% of male viewers.

[Driven Threads]

In Tapatalk delete VWWatercooled from your favourites and re add it. Mine did the same thing :)




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cheers and thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[neil]

I don't like the bright white background.

Perhaps a very light blue with dark blue bars might solve this if thats optional of course.

X2

Today was the first time since I joined that I actually left the site before finishing all the threads.
Just way to bright.

[Oneofthegreats]

I cannot actually believe what I'm reading.

To all the people involved in the upgrade, my hat goes off to you all not only for your support & such but also the ability to bite your tongues!



This is bloody ridiculous!!!

These people are trying to make something better & you all come crashing down & burn these people for their efforts



Wake the **** up to yourself, cause if you think you can do better?

Well then put your money where your mouth is & do a better job.



Then I'll come along with I'm sure quite a few members & bagged the **** out of you. See how you like it!



OH!

I can't find my smiley's!!! Boo ****ing whoooo!!!!

Deal with it

[Tux]

:) :) :) :) :)

There you go

[mikinoz]

Funny you are all having trouble, I seem to not have these issues. However I get out quite a bit. :cow:

[Water Boy]

Improvement is good!

Probz just some fine tuning like all things to come...

[static1800]

The forum update takes us to Vbulletin 4.0 which is a huge step forward in the software, it gives a lot more functionality is more secure etc. and will allow the forum to grow even more.

Everything will be 100% shortly, you seriously have no idea the level of work to go from the older VB to the new one, I've done it for another forum and The Hawk has essentially done it single handed here and I thank him for his work to get it done.

Thanks to those who have had constructive feedback.

[stotto]

I think it looks great. top job !!

[Servo]

Like anything new you just have to give it time to get use to it. I think we defintely needed a facelift.

[quozl]

Nevermind I just found it in quicklinks
Cheers Al

[Spook]

Wow - it certainly looks different. Thanks to all those who put in the hard yards. As with all things new, it'll take time to get used to it. Overall, it is for the better. Any niggling concerns can be fixed later.

[tinto]

I cannot actually believe what I'm reading.
That was probably my doing, but overall I think the feedback has been constructive.
At the very least it paves the way for some of the specific concerns to be addressed in another template if/when time permits.

Perhaps those with vbulletin coding experience would be willing to assist with those other themes? Anyone?

[AusScare]

Perhaps those with vbulletin coding experience would be willing to assist with those other themes? Anyone?

Is it as simple as downloading and applying another one?

http://www.talktemplate.com/

[Rocket36]

Thanks to those who have had constructive feedback.

You're welcome... :D As long as you realise constructive feedback isn't always love and kisses.

As for the rant and defending the "hard work" that's been involved. I'm sorry but not everyone is ever going to like something and I can't see a single post that criticises anyone for their efforts. Just constructive criticism and not all of it is possitive.

If you want to live in a world where everyone loves everything all the time, buy some rose coloured glasses. LOL

There are many valid points being raised and no doubt taken on board. Making something more tedious to use (and read) is generally not a good idea. Adding features that are easy to use or even automatic (auto resize and youtube embedding) are fantastic though. The rest of it, hey it's mostly about reading. So following the basics for easy reading should be a given...... I'm sure it will get better over time with tweaking and will eventually be as good as the old style, or better, but until then we deal with it. Nobody is saying the efforts that have gone into it weren't considerable or un-appreciated. At least not from what I can read, so golfworx I would suggest a tad less aggresion would be wise - especially since attacking people as you have done in your post is actually against the rules.

[VW VR6]

Look good ... well done... but old one was much easy for find all staff. All change is good.

[WABIT]

itll all just take us getting used to the new system, looks good ;)

dom

[Rocket36]

All change is good.

LOL!!! No it's not... Just look at the changes implemented by the Nazis in Europe as the most obvious example of when change is ANYTHING but good.

[mikinoz]

LOL!!! No it's not... Just look at the changes implemented by the Nazis in Europe as the most obvious example of when change is ANYTHING but good.

I think the comments context was more about a VW forum not a political regeime.

[Buller_Scott]

hey im no history buff, but if it werent for those nazi changes that were implemented, we might not all be here right now, tolerating each other in the name of our admiration for our marques, would we?

and i mean that in a political agenda -> militarization -> healthy healthy economy -> money to make a car that every man can own -> VW!

p.s. im tired and about to have a nap so i'll thank you to not rip me a new one right here, lol

[Oneofthegreats]

You're welcome... :D As long as you realise constructive feedback isn't always love and kisses.

As for the rant and defending the "hard work" that's been involved. I'm sorry but not everyone is ever going to like something and I can't see a single post that criticises anyone for their efforts. Just constructive criticism and not all of it is possitive.

If you want to live in a world where everyone loves everything all the time, buy some rose coloured glasses. LOL

There are many valid points being raised and no doubt taken on board. Making something more tedious to use (and read) is generally not a good idea. Adding features that are easy to use or even automatic (auto resize and youtube embedding) are fantastic though. The rest of it, hey it's mostly about reading. So following the basics for easy reading should be a given...... I'm sure it will get better over time with tweaking and will eventually be as good as the old style, or better, but until then we deal with it. Nobody is saying the efforts that have gone into it weren't considerable or un-appreciated. At least not from what I can read, so golfworx I would suggest a tad less aggresion would be wise - especially since attacking people as you have done in your post is actually against the rules.


So if I decide to offer some constructive criticism about how utterly crap everyone's later model VW's actually are, with proof of all the ins & outs of there failure rates etc. & how many people I've worked with over the years who have come from other either locally produced or international vehicle dealers/manufacturers or & have never "ever" seen so many major failures from one brand....


would this be attacking or just "constructive criticism" cause after all, I'm offering an opinion on how you could all do much much better!




Oh. if it weren't for Hitlers master plan, there would be no such thing as VW's & maybe we all would actually be better off!



I may drive a VW, buts its an early VW.

There is worlds of difference between the early & late. One major thing is the early ones rarely break down!

[Jace]

Looks nicer, loads faster (on my end anyway), and I'm sure the things I don't like (YET!) I'll get used to.
I'm sure it was probably put together by unpaid admin members? So what's there to complain about?

If you don't like it, there's certainly other forums you can give your highly valuable input on.

[spiff]

Has the search feature changed? I don't seem to be able to search for a word and see the individual post results. Very difficult if the result is in a thread over 100 pages long...
Did you figure how to do this? I'm having the same problem.

edit: i found it.
to search a forum: under the search box, there's the option to display thread or posts. it's in white. i missed it a few times.
to search a thread: go to advanced search. in the display section, you have the option to display thread or posts.

[geoff_gti]

Hi Aaron & mods, no doubt you've put in lots of hard work and hours so far, so thanks for the efforts. I saw this new version layout when I stumbled into the new vwgolf forum last week I think, and was wondering when it would hit here. Just takes a bit of getting used to, as with most changes!

A couple of comments from me -

Everything seems to be spaced out on the screen much more in the posts and individual forums which just means more looking around to find what you're looking for (in terms of links / functions etc) . Is it possible the icons in the forum lists can be reduced in size a bit? Does the main body area have to be restricted in width (fixed) or can it be varable like the previous version? About half my screen is grey background. If it was variable width then lower resolutions should still auto fit shouldn't they? Other settings like # of posts per page and # threads per search page can just get changed in UserCP so no dramas there really.

I also agree on readability concers - the post text is ok, but the extra text (time stamps etc and info in the top of the post being a lighter shade of grey disappears into the white background. The current time is invisible in the grey background too at the bottom of the page - i was checking the time zone was right ;) I think a bit more contrast in the fonts will fix most of the comments raised already about this.

Nice see we're back to an easy URL too - no more /newforum/upload :D

[maca]

Looks nice and modern, but I don't think it's as visually practical as the old one. In saying that, my left eye is retarded and I'm sure I'll get used to it :banana:

Oh and I LOVE how it automatically resizes hosted images :D

[geoff_gti]

The mouse-over text on the forum icons against each thread only works if you've subscribed/replied to a thread, otherwise it's a blank yellow box. Thought it might say 'unread messages' etc, but the legend in each section at the bottom explains the icons i guess. Sorry, not sure how much of the formatting stuff with text etc gets covered in user themes or the actual forum config.

Embedded youtube video isn't really new, just wasn't enabled here. I've seen that on other forums before which were older versions of vBulletin. Same with resizing images I think too.

Cheers

[WABIT]

more spaced out.... ok......... hold Ctrl and scroll the mouse wheel that should assist in finding things

dom

[geoff_gti]

more spaced out.... ok......... hold Ctrl and scroll the mouse wheel that should assist in finding things

dom

nah I don't need to zoom, cos then the text will be too small. there's just more whitespace in the layout than before which might change when themes get loaded later on anyway, no biggie.

Also, where is the option for Today's Posts (ie threads from last 24 hrs), the function was 'getdaily' before. It's not the same as New Posts & What's New - they both show 'getnew' which is since you were last logged in. (The time you were last logged used to display up the top too.)

[G-rig]

Oh and I LOVE how it automatically resizes hosted images :D

That's a good feature but will take longer hosting them than resizing them yourself anyway (if you use imageshack).

[maca]

That's a good feature but will take longer hosting them than resizing them yourself anyway (if you use imageshack).

Exactly, so now there's no need to resize the images at all. Just upload them to the hosting website as is and it'll automatcially reduce it.

[phaeton]

I'm in love with the new features on this forum for example the picture resizing & the arrows that tell you where you have posted are absolutely brilliant.

[Lorenz]

Dont get too excited Ben :P

[The_Hawk]

Good News Everybody!

I've added in the default theme for you to select (if you want to) until I can build some other alternatives. In the bottom left corner you will find the drop down to change the themes.


Is it as simple as downloading and applying another one?

Not quite, there are some modifications that need to be made to make sure they work with our setup. So there is some manual coding involved before anything is actually up and running.

[jasn78]

Thanks Aaron, I know it isn't the biggest change to the site but the different skins is a blessing, from my current fiddlings at work with bugzilla I can grasp how big a change this would have been and am greatly appreciative like I am sure the rest of us are in the work that has gone on by everyone involved

[The_Hawk]

I have also added another one called Medium Blue, both hopefully a little better on the eyes.

I'm still on the hunt for something different, but hopefully these are more to peoples liking.

[Jarred]

medium blue is niceer. Is there any way to get teh background not so white? (and hence turns the overall brightness down a tad)

[geoff_gti]

It's just reducing the pictures on screen, it's not resizing the file to reduce bandwidth or anything you know. I assume we still won't have upload space though and will still need host offsite, yes?

Good work on the themes Aaron, colours on Medium Blue are much easier to look at but I'll stick with default while the others aren't full screen. Keep us posted! :)


I'm in love with the new features on this forum for example the picture resizing & the arrows that tell you where you have posted are absolutely brilliant.
(not to troll but reply arrows were already there to show you were subscribed to a thread, maybe it's just cos the new icons are bigger.)

[Sharkie]

Where has the vPic Gallery gone ?

[Rocket36]

EXCELLENT!!! The default style is available... EASILY the best option available at the moment.

[phaeton]

Medium Blue is great :D


It's just reducing the pictures on screen, it's not resizing the file to reduce bandwidth or anything you know. I assume we still won't have upload space though and will still need host offsite, yes?

Good work on the themes Aaron, colours on Medium Blue are much easier to look at but I'll stick with default while the others aren't full screen. Keep us posted! :)


(not to troll but reply arrows were already there to show you were subscribed to a thread, maybe it's just cos the new icons are bigger.)

I think its different than subscribed??? this arrow according to the key says that you've posted in that particular thread ???????

[AusScare]

Default theme is awesome, everything is nicely spaced out, thanks.

[The_Hawk]

I have added in a fixed and variable width option for both the Default theme and the Medium Blue theme, let me know if anyone wants a variable width Chrome theme.

[Rocket36]

Fixed width is crap (imo). Now that they're specified as separate themes, I've changed to the Medium Blue variable width...

Just got to fix the icons of the threads so they work properly (for read and unread) and it will be as good as it used to be.

[team_v]

Can we bring back the "latest 10 replies" section that used to be at the bottom of the site.
It was most useful rather than having to screen through every sub forum.

[The_Hawk]

Fixed width is crap (imo). Now that they're specified as separate themes, I've changed to the Medium Blue variable width...

Just got to fix the icons of the threads so they work properly (for read and unread) and it will be as good as it used to be.


Now now, there's no need to be like that. Everyone is given the power to choose which ever of the solutions they find appropriate for them. Almost 60% of our users are sporting wide screen monitors these days (according to the stats) and for those people having very long single lines of text can be harder to read than a fixed width.

For those on non wide-screen monitors their is a very good chance your running 1280 x 1024 since it's the native res of both 17" and 19" LCD's so a fixed width of 1024 works reasonably well for those monitors too as well as supporting those people on ultra portable machines with a limited resolution. You may be surprised to hear that 11.14% of our hits are generated by people that are still running a screen res of 1024 x 768.

So you see there is plenty of thought and reasoning that goes into our setup and the request for variable width was quickly provided as well as alternative colour schemes, all of which require a not inconsiderable amount of work to build, tweak and test.

As for the icons:

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/images/statusicon/thread_old-30.png - Contains no unread posts

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/images/statusicon/thread_new-30.png - Contains unread posts

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/images/statusicon/thread_hot-30.png - Hot Thread - Contains no unread posts

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/images/statusicon/thread_hot_new-30.png - Hot Thread - Contains unread posts

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/images/statusicon/thread_dot-16-right.png - This little green arrow means you have posted in the thread.

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/images/statusicon/thread_lock-16.png - This means the thread is locked.

Again this is one of the (many) things on the review pile for something a little more funky (and functional).

[joshyd-mk2gti]

Nice update to the forum.

The only thing I would change (if I could) is to get rid of the two 'hot thread' icons. No biggie, but I don't think it's necessary. I would prefer to just have the 'no unread posts' and 'unread posts' icons. Am I able to change this in my settings anywhere? Had a quick look but couldn't see anything.

[noone]

Thanks for your efforts, the new theme makes viewing on my lappy much easier.

Guys (and girls), can you please make an effort to be respectful when raising issues, I know the change for some is more difficult, but the people who are involved in the operation and maintenance of this forum are not making these changes to annoy people, they are trying to make the site better and as you would expect, there are a few teething issues. Many of these have already been resolved and if you ask nicely, they may prioritize issues you raise.

I am having difficulty with some aspects of searching, is there fine tuning ahead for the search functionality? For example, I was trying to look for "Wheel colour" today, but I could not figure out how to find threads with both words in the title. No combination of "and", inverted commas, etc seemed to make any difference... Any thread with either word kept coming up making the search difficult.

[geoff_gti]

Also on searching, I've noticed when there are multiple pages in the results, the top of the page shows 'Page 1 of x' and you can click through to the first few pages as normal. When you get to page x, there may be more pages after that. There's no way to jump straigh to the last page like there used to be. Eg buttons with First, then a few numbers, then Last.

(For comparison, the Last button DOES appear on multi-page threads, like this one as I went back to page 1 and checked.)

Cheers

[Mrs_Hawk]

As for the icons:

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/ - Contains no unread posts

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/ - Contains unread posts

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/ - This little green arrow means you have posted in the thread.

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/ - This means the thread is locked.

Wow they look really cool :) ;)

[Rocket36]

Now now, there's no need to be like that. Everyone is given the power to choose which ever of the solutions they find appropriate for them. Almost 60% of our users are sporting wide screen monitors these days (according to the stats) and for those people having very long single lines of text can be harder to read than a fixed width.

For those on non wide-screen monitors their is a very good chance your running 1280 x 1024 since it's the native res of both 17" and 19" LCD's so a fixed width of 1024 works reasonably well for those monitors too as well as supporting those people on ultra portable machines with a limited resolution. You may be surprised to hear that 11.14% of our hits are generated by people that are still running a screen res of 1024 x 768.

So you see there is plenty of thought and reasoning that goes into our setup and the request for variable width was quickly provided as well as alternative colour schemes, all of which require a not inconsiderable amount of work to build, tweak and test.

As for the icons:

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/ - Contains no unread posts

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/ - Contains unread posts

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/ - Hot Thread - Contains no unread posts

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/ - Hot Thread - Contains unread posts

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/ - This little green arrow means you have posted in the thread.

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/ - This means the thread is locked.

Again this is one of the (many) things on the review pile for something a little more funky (and functional).



Things are looking AWESOME!!! :D FANTASTIC JOB!!!

Regarding resolution, I run dual 24 inch wide screen monitors both at 1920x1200 and quite often run for browser windows all at the same time all side by side. The good thing about non-fixed is it resizes to your window regardless of the size.

:D

Once again though, ALL LOOKS FANTASTIC NOW!!! The icons are very cool and work (for read and unread etc).

Kudos to a much more polished product. No doubt, like all our cars, polishing will continue for a long time.

[RolfGolf]

All is working well again :) and the forum just keeps looking better every day I check it - it's great to see people's specific issues being addressed as well.

Again, well done to all involved ... It's great to see the dedication of the VWW tech crew!

Cheers.

[spiff]

Is it just me or are the icons for regular threads and hot threads the same?
it's just the W with the water droplet.
the only difference i see is contains no unread posts is grey, contains unread posts is black.
is that right?

[The_Hawk]

Is it just me or are the icons for regular threads and hot threads the same?
it's just the W with the water droplet.
the only difference i see is contains no unread posts is grey, contains unread posts is black.
is that right?

Yep, thats right, they used to be different, but have been changed to be the same for both hot and not.

[AusScare]

The VW and W icons rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the bright colours are just what was needed, awesome stuff!

[Manaz]

like going from BETA to VHS things always change for the better even if it doesnt seem like it!

*BAD* example.

BETA was better than VHS in many, many ways, but JVC outmarketed it in the consumer market and that's how VHS ended up winning - not due to any sort of superiority or better-fit-for-purpose.

Variants of the BETA system are still used today in professional A/V studios/camera/etc, whereas the VHS system was never adopted for these areas where quality is more important than consumer favour.

That said, the forum upgrade was necessary to remain supported and to ensure that the site didn't fall victim to various attacks and exploits in older versions of the forum software.

[spiff]

*BAD* example.

BETA was better than VHS in many, many ways, but JVC outmarketed it in the consumer market and that's how VHS ended up winning - not due to any sort of superiority or better-fit-for-purpose.

Variants of the BETA system are still used today in professional A/V studios/camera/etc, whereas the VHS system was never adopted for these areas where quality is more important than consumer favour.
x2
(gah! lengthen my message to 10 characters?)

[noone]

The new themes, updated info at the bottom of the main forum page and new icons rock.

Thanks guys

[neil]

I have also added another one called Medium Blue, both hopefully a little better on the eyes.

I'm still on the hunt for something different, but hopefully these are more to peoples liking.

This is great much easier to read now.
Thanks.

[joshyd-mk2gti]

Ahhh there we go, nicely done.

My only qualm now is that the VW logo looks a little blurry and pixelated around the edges. http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/images/statusicon/forum_new-48.png

You're probably already aware, but it's because its stretched. 40px × 37px (scaled to 48px × 44px)

[The_Hawk]

Ahhh there we go, nicely done.

My only qualm now is that the VW logo looks a little blurry and pixelated around the edges. http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/

You're probably already aware, but it's because its stretched. 40px × 37px (scaled to 48px × 44px)

It's on the list ;)

[dylan8]

Loving the updates! Great work! Looks so much more modern.
My only question is, when i go to the main index page, and log in, i cant see the "Members Classified Section", it doesn't show me as logged in, i have to go to another section (eg MK4), where it shows me as logged in, and then click on the "Forum" text (eg Forum>VWwA General Section>General Discussion>etc).
Is this just me? it seems to be happening on a number of computers i have been using, i use both firefox and internet explorer.
Thanks!

[FJ Steve]

The tweaking completed so far is much better.

The thread icons on the search page are much more distinguishable. Don't stop tweaking.

[The_Hawk]

My only question is, when i go to the main index page, and log in, i cant see the "Members Classified Section", it doesn't show me as logged in, i have to go to another section (eg MK4), where it shows me as logged in, and then click on the "Forum" text (eg Forum>VWwA General Section>General Discussion>etc).
Is this just me? it seems to be happening on a number of computers i have been using, i use both firefox and internet explorer.
Thanks!

It's just you ;)

Seriously though, try clearing your cookies and cache and try again, it seems to be working fine form here in IE, Firefox and Safari.

[The_Hawk]

the VW logo looks a little blurry and pixelated around the edges

Thats now fixed too, if your still seeing the old ones, force a refresh and you should see the new ones.

[Rocket36]

Something I just noticed is that the description under some of the forum section headings is chopped in half when not in fixed width mode, both in IE and FireFox. I'll upload a screenshot to explain better.

[Rocket36]

this is what I mean...

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/kjnielsen/Capture.jpg

[team_v]

We've also lost the Forza 3 thread.

[Swallowtail]

Love the new look, and thanks Aaron for the work so far.

I have the same issue Rocket does above with the descriptions being cut in half - Medium Blue variable width.

Also, no Live Feed any more? :(

[The_Hawk]

There shouldn't have been any loss of threads. In some of the more social areas threads drop off the back when they are not posted in an extended period of time, but if it was an active thread it should still be there.

As for text cutting off, I'll add that to the list of things under review, it looks like it's just a setting in the theme so should be too hard to fix.

For the live view, that is on the list to be implement soon :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[16v_kid]

Look good ... well done... but old one was much easy for find all staff. All change is good.

Dude that serb flag next to you avator is WIN!

How do yoou set that up?

edit: got it ^^^

[mikepologti]

its been a while since iove logged in and i must say i was both utterly surprised and delighted tio see the new look forum. looks awsome :) thanx for the effort.

[99gti]

Looking good gents - nicely done!

[The_Hawk]

Also, no Live Feed any more? :(

Live feed should be back in the menu again :) The header image doesn't appear to work there, although I'm working on it.

[geoff_gti]

This may have been raised already, but I've noticed when viewing 'All posts' for a member, the search result shows all posts for April, and then nothing until you get back to around Sep/Aug last year. Multiple instances of this so not a member who was quiet and then came back etc.

[The_Hawk]

This may have been raised already, but I've noticed when viewing 'All posts' for a member, the search result shows all posts for April, and then nothing until you get back to around Sep/Aug last year. Multiple instances of this so not a member who was quiet and then came back etc.

Can you check again now and see if it's working now?



In another news, Flash Chat is back. Click on the Live Chat button on the top to head in there :D

[geoff_gti]

Looks good to me now Aaron, cheers mate!

PS- any luck with the other query about searching? When I log in and hit New Posts, there's no way to click straight to the Last page in the results - have to click through 4 pages at a time to get to the end. Dunno if this could be theme related, I'm using vB4 Default still.
Cheers

[The_Hawk]

When I log in and hit New Posts, there's no way to click straight to the Last page in the results - have to click through 4 pages at a time to get to the end. Dunno if this could be theme related

To go to the last post, click here: :)

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/images/imported/2010/04/lastpost-1.jpg

[geoff_gti]

Nah not that, the last Page of the search results. At the top of the page on the RHS, where it has First, 1, 2, 3 etc etc. There's no way to click straight to Last. Only seems to be in search results (or maybe just New Posts), the last button appears when you're in a multi-page thread if there's enough pages. Hope that makes sense ;)

[Rocket36]

Any chance the remaining 3 sections (VWwA General Section, Business Classified Section & Dealers Section) sub heading are going to be changed to the same format as the others? See screen shot with all sections collapsed...

Would be nice and consistent then...

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/uu115/kjnielsen/Capture-1.jpg

Oh and when they're expanded (those 3 sections above), the sub headings are still cut off. Old scsreen shot but shows what I mean...

http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/

[The_Hawk]

Thanks for that, I appreciate people taking to time to point out these little things. It's always going to be a work in progress and there is always little things that get missed but it's good to see people are noticing and appreciating the changes as we work towards a more streamlined community :)

As for those fixes, they should be done and it should all look consistent now.

[Rocket36]

Thanks for that, I appreciate people taking to time to point out these little things. It's always going to be a work in progress and there is always little things that get missed but it's good to see people are noticing and appreciating the changes as we work towards a more streamlined community :)

As for those fixes, they should be done and it should all look consistent now.

No worries! Attention to detail is something I have thanks to the sort of work I do... And I can confirm it's all resolved now! LOOKS FANTASTIC imo too. It's one ofe the best looking and best functioning forums I'm on now. Not my personal choice in the order of stuff but with the collapse/expand functionality (which is one of the best functions) it doesn't matter.

:D

[Rybky]

I like the changes made last night, the regrouping with the collapse feature is great!

Now, when is the search function going to be improved so that it supports exact string searches? Or at least does and AND of all words within posts so that something like "V5 O2 sensor" only returns posts that contain exactly that phrase or at least posts that contain all those words.

I find searching at the moment returns so much irrelevant stuff that I don't use it, or if I do I give up after the 2nd page of results.

Adam

[DeanB]

Nice changes wrt the Polo section ... not sure how possible it is, but you could pretty much put the entire contents of the Polo "general" section into the Mk4 minus about 10 threads on the Mk5 as a lot of the tech stuff and ideas exchanged for the Mk4 are in that "general" section and it just seems a little messy to have to look in the Mk4 for new threads but use the Polo section like an archive for the Mk4.

Anyway, just a thought and don't want to create you a ton of work.

[The_Hawk]

I like the changes made last night, the regrouping with the collapse feature is great!

Now, when is the search function going to be improved so that it supports exact string searches? Or at least does and AND of all words within posts so that something like "V5 O2 sensor" only returns posts that contain exactly that phrase or at least posts that contain all those words.

I find searching at the moment returns so much irrelevant stuff that I don't use it, or if I do I give up after the 2nd page of results.

Adam

Search is something that is built into vBulletin (the forum software we use) but I'm still looking on ways to make it better. One of the limitations that has always been there is that it won't let you seach for anything less than three letters.


Nice changes wrt the Polo section ... not sure how possible it is, but you could pretty much put the entire contents of the Polo "general" section into the Mk4 minus about 10 threads on the Mk5 as a lot of the tech stuff and ideas exchanged for the Mk4 are in that "general" section and it just seems a little messy to have to look in the Mk4 for new threads but use the Polo section like an archive for the Mk4.

Anyway, just a thought and don't want to create you a ton of work.

The intent is not to have a general section at all, was just there until things were moved. But I like your idea, so much so that I've just moved everything, I'll let the mods pick out the relevant threads that need to be moved over time, if you happen to see one by all means use the report post function and tell us where it should be moved to and one of the mods will jump on it.

[DeanB]

Thanks Aaron ... looks much better now :)

[Rybky]

Search is something that is built into vBulletin (the forum software we use) but I'm still looking on ways to make it better. One of the limitations that has always been there is that it won't let you seach for anything less than three letters.

Actually there is a solution that works really well, in the normal Google search just put site:www.vwwatercooled.org.au in front of the search expression you want to use and it only searches this site. Example:

site:www.vwwatercooled.org.au "o2 sensor"

Just returns posts that have that exact phrase in them.

Adam

[The_Hawk]

How's that then, you should now see a custom google search bar in the top left under the header image. This will perform a google search across only the VWWatercooled site using the power of The Google!

This is seperate to the normal site search (which still works) but should provider some of the extra features you have been looking for.

[Rybky]

How's that then, you should now see a custom google search bar in the top left under the header image. This will perform a google search across only the VWWatercooled site using the power of The Google!

This is seperate to the normal site search (which still works) but should provider some of the extra features you have been looking for.


Perfect!! Thanks.

Adam

[Rocket36]

Awesome! The site search is pretty poor... That solves that one!

[Buller_Scott]

Hey Aaron, the site is looking GOOD!

thanks for all the hard work..... a lot of us spend much time here, and a lot of people who ARENT members spend time here also [like 3am AEST when there might only be 20 logged in, but 200 ''online''].

not having used V-Bulletin before, but having dealt with the organisational issues surrounding article-heavy web pages, i know that it can be pretty tricky to get your ducks in a row on the organisational front.

but this is bang on the money :)

cheers!

[The_Hawk]

Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback, it's always nice to know all the hard work is appreciated :D

[Speed]

Aaron, congrats on the improvements.

Is there anyway to stop or delay the auto log out?
Sometimes I go to post to find that I've been logged out and have to log in again and then re-type my post.

Seems to happen quicker than expected.

Cheers,
Steve

[The_Hawk]

Aaron, congrats on the improvements.

Is there anyway to stop or delay the auto log out?
Sometimes I go to post to find that I've been logged out and have to log in again and then re-type my post.

Seems to happen quicker than expected.

Cheers,
Steve

Mine will still be logged into the work computer when I go back to work on Monday... so I assume it's a browser setting rather than something we have set on this side... In fact I don't know that I have ever had to log in other than when I have intentionally logged out.

What browser, OS etc are you using?

[Speed]

What browser, OS etc are you using?

I'm far from techno savvy, so I'll do my best here.

Am using IE8 - Hope that's what you meant.
Not sure what OS means:redface: maybe Office Software, if so I'm on MS Office 97:redface:
Also run Norton anti virus.

[The_Hawk]

By OS I meant operating system, so Windows XP/Vista/7 etc. If it's a home computer it's a little odd it's logging you out, although I'm not up on the IE8 security settings (since I'm sitting here on a Mac ;)). I'll run up one of the virtual machines and have a poke but I can't promise anything.

[Tim]

Norton may be the culpret if it is running some sort of internet/web security. It might be deleting cookies.

[Speed]

By OS I meant operating system

Oops. XP.
Thanks Aaron.


Norton may be the culpret if it is running some sort of internet/web security. It might be deleting cookies.

Thanks Tim, I'll check my Norton settings.

[geoff_gti]

The old forum software used to auto-log out after 15 mins I recall. It's not that it logs you off completely and forgets the username, but after the period of inactivity it automatically marks all previous posts as Read (the server assuming you've closed your browser session perhaps?) so if you hit new posts then it won't show the previous search results, or every thread in a section will appear read even if you hadn't.

Steve, if you use multiple tabs, trying opening "Open Contacts" or "Who's Online" from the Quick Links drop down menu and leave one of them open in the background. These two auto refresh every minute or so, thereby keeping your browser session active :D I find this quite useful when I open up a stack of tabs from New Posts searching and then take a while to read through them so I know where i'm up to.

If in fact your browser is forgetting your username details completely then it's prob an antivirus issue as suggested.

Cheers