Guild Launch News
SNEAK PEAK: Version 3.5 - Forum Search & SubForums
This week we will be clearing a backlog of some often requested forum features. The first two on the list are:
Full Forum Search
Due to performance issues with the standard phpBB search we offloaded searches to our Google search widget. We have now resolved the performance issues by implementing the forum search in a slightly different manner.
At the end of the week if the changes test out fully, and we expect them to, we will be reenabling the forum search and will be retaining the external Google search as a more general "Site Search". The new search will be fast and efficient for forum posts and will use the same UI and will support all the standard phpBB search functions with the exception of the ability to search only by title. The title and post contents will always be searched.
SubForums
With this release we will also be enabling SubForums. When you create a forum you will have the option to designate the forum as a subforum. The subforums won't look much different in the admin area, but will be sorted to the bottom of the category.
When the subforums show on the index page they will be in the order they appear in the admin area and will appear below any regular forums. We'll have screenshots later.
These two features have been requested alot and we're excited to be bringing them to you all.
Enjoy!
Stephen
Full Forum Search
Due to performance issues with the standard phpBB search we offloaded searches to our Google search widget. We have now resolved the performance issues by implementing the forum search in a slightly different manner.
At the end of the week if the changes test out fully, and we expect them to, we will be reenabling the forum search and will be retaining the external Google search as a more general "Site Search". The new search will be fast and efficient for forum posts and will use the same UI and will support all the standard phpBB search functions with the exception of the ability to search only by title. The title and post contents will always be searched.
SubForums
With this release we will also be enabling SubForums. When you create a forum you will have the option to designate the forum as a subforum. The subforums won't look much different in the admin area, but will be sorted to the bottom of the category.
When the subforums show on the index page they will be in the order they appear in the admin area and will appear below any regular forums. We'll have screenshots later.
These two features have been requested alot and we're excited to be bringing them to you all.
Enjoy!
Stephen
The current implementation is that a subforum is a forum that takes up less space on the index page, not a "child of another forum". Usage wise, the difference is small, but implementation wise the implementation we chose works much better with existing phpBB functionality. As such the forums are really sub-forums of the category.
So you can make a category called "Class Discussion" and add "Hunter, Warrior, Priest" as subforums. You could then have a more general discussion forum also, like this:
That isn't to say we couldn't implement forums as children of forums at a later date but as I said this provides much of the same functionality and integrates better with existing phpBB logic.
I'm also considering making subforums go to the top so that users eyes will scan across them first. On the fence on that one.
-Stephen
So you can make a category called "Class Discussion" and add "Hunter, Warrior, Priest" as subforums. You could then have a more general discussion forum also, like this:
That isn't to say we couldn't implement forums as children of forums at a later date but as I said this provides much of the same functionality and integrates better with existing phpBB logic.
I'm also considering making subforums go to the top so that users eyes will scan across them first. On the fence on that one.
-Stephen
Thanks, was more or less figuring out how to redo our forums now without having to move a lot of posts, hehehe.
GL_Support wrote:
I've seen it both ways and to me it never made a difference...if people are going to miss it one way they are just as likely to miss it the other, LOL. Elitist Jerks has a similar way they do it...in the Forum index the subforums are listed at the bottom, but when you visit the main forum they're at the top...seems to work well. Makes it more logical as you showed it above...
I'm also considering making subforums go to the top so that users eyes will scan across them first. On the fence on that one.
I've seen it both ways and to me it never made a difference...if people are going to miss it one way they are just as likely to miss it the other, LOL. Elitist Jerks has a similar way they do it...in the Forum index the subforums are listed at the bottom, but when you visit the main forum they're at the top...seems to work well. Makes it more logical as you showed it above...
Each forum has a smaller "new post" icon. We'll be using that when there are new posts. All other statuses wont' have an icon. I'm still playing with the exact implementation, but currently we're using the smaller new post icon. I'm not 100% satisfied with it because it's taller than the text height, but I'm tweaking it.
-Stephen
-Stephen