Samuel
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- Joined: May 23 '01
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Version 3.8 beta Available Now!
Fri. May 28, '10 5:26 PM
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Hi everyone, We are releasing this package as beta as this upgrade comes with a new WYSIWYG editor which is a lot more complicated to implement than any of the previous versions. As a result, the mobile theme and site map generator are not available yet in this package as more time is required. However, you are encouraged to test or use this beta package in a production environment. The code has gone through extensive testings to ensure production quality. In a month or so we will have the final 3.8 ready with Site Map generator and mobile device theme.
_What's new in this package? Version 3.8 represents huge improvements over the previous versions in the following areas: - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - allowing the Searching Engine to identify your messages easily;
- Usability - making the software more user friendly + mobile device posting capability;
- Configurability - less code mod, easier management for the admins;
- Performance - less memory usage on server, faster perceived performance;
SEO-wise, we implemented the following features: - auto meta keywords and description for each message;
- easy to configure site-wide meta keywords and descriptions;
- canonical URL for messages and forums to help SE consolidate page ranks from different URLs, and
- a new BreadCrumb navigation to improve the visibility of the forum.
Usability-wise, we improved / reworked our forum UI with the following benefits: - New WYSIWYG editor that allows mobile posting, and admins can easily add editor buttons (e.g. youtube) from the AdminCP;
- helpful/reward posts are more standing out (and one click access to all marked messages);
- a new message rating system that is easier to use (w/ 2 styles: 5-star and thumb up/down) and can hide posts with low ratings;
- a new tree style interface that is much more efficient and easier to use (see more messages listed at page load);
- fewer DHTML menus on the message page with action buttons listed below messages instead;
- Custom Registration Fields will now show a balloon tooltip to help user enter info;
- Side bar on the home page to consolidate active / new posts and basic stats;
- Gravatar integration - no need to manage different avatars for different apps.
Configurability: With the following new options available in the AdminCP, less code mod is required: - easily turn on / off email and password changing or reset from the forum if you integrate the forum with your membership db;
- decide what makes login / email valid - easily change the validation logic for login name and email syntax;
- turn on / off SQL statements logging without having to use SQL Profiler on the server;
- set the logic for mobile devices detection;
- a new set of server testers to help you find configuration problems with the installation and security setting, and
- a built-in machine key generator - easily generate your own machine key for use in the web.config file.
Performance improvements: - Software logic improvements - require less memory on the server;
- automatically recycles AppDomain (turn on / off) without the need to use IIS;
- new WYSIWYG editor interface renders faster on client browsers w/o overhead on the server;
- Multi-threading improvements that reduces the memory usage further, and
- integration with Jquery 1.4.2 which improves javascript performance greatly.
There are a lot more good stuff than mentioned above. For complete listing of new improvements, see the Release Note below:
Click to see the entire Release Note
Fixes - Create Forum Category Error;
- Edit Newly Created category / forum error;
- showTime.js additional check for non-existent link;
- search highlighter issue -> not isolating exact match;
- Firefox issue with the Forum Management interface;
- Thread Template editor toolbar invisible issue with IE8;
- Order By sorting doesn't work with topic date issue;
- [js] Similar search doesn't work when subject contains ' or \ ;
- [dlls] Unable to do wild card member name search for photos;
- [dlls] IE7 activation problem;
- Smiley delete interface showing "Announcements";
- Javascript error occurs when viewing a message whose forum is not searchable.
- [css] IE 8 Max-height bug correction (styles.css)
- Gallery Paging bug;
- Leap years Birthday Error;
- Ticket page error when opening a ticket when the reported message is deleted;
- Signature character counting issue;
- Avatar / Profile Pic Javascript error when profile pic upload is turned off;
- [sp] Online User List w/ ShowAll does not filter correctly (shows bots and not all guests)
- [sp] Temp Ban / Perm Ban status not consistent;
- Show current setting on the tempban page.
- Disable PM problem - Javascript error;
- Message Filter spec disappears after Ajax postback;
- [js] Editor preview causing uploaded attachments to disappear;
- [logic dll] Login Reminder doesn't check for non-existent email;
- Avatar showing error when the profile pic is set to disabled;
- Editing User Profile in the AdminCP removes line break from Signature if using Firefox
- ticket error if no forums are marked as search-able
- [ln] spelling error: "manage message" option. The word "recycle" is missing the second "c" throughout the whole process.
- Cannot sort by message rating;
- Unable to disable "hide profile" feature from the AdminCP;
- [sp] the ability to flag and ban admin and moderators;
- guests see broken attachment when the forum is not set up to allow guest download;
- guests cannot click on the reply button to be redirected when the system is set to show reply button regardless of permission;
- Admin CP top tabs overlapping when the screen resolution is low;
- Ability to hide member list correctly when a user is not part of any user group;
- JS error and blank image occurred when User Rankings are all removed;
- AdminCP Calendar Disable / Enable button incorrectly activates the second tab;
- Enabling COPPA causes existing non-conforming birthdays to fail;
Additions - Better Upload management -> user can change upload files during initial posting;
- [ln; js] mentioning about # of files to upload in the upload page
- [both dlls, ln, js] Gravatar integration [pgd_config];
- Rating Support
- [both dlls] SEO - canonical link added for the default, forum and message page;
- [both dlls] SEO - Meta Keywords and Description
- SEO - A new switch to choose whether to include current URL & Page for the breadcrumb [pgd_config];
- Can choose between Link Or Text
- Thread Template w/ subject [pgd_forum];
- [logic dll, ln, js] Able to list Helpful posts and Reward Answer posts in a thread + better presentation;
- default page with collapsible sidebar column containing active posts and new posts;
- [logic dll, ln] Additional Rating feature for replies
- a new Stars UI
- Thumbs up / down box
- no rating for replies.
- posts can be hidden when rating is lowered than x
- New WYSIWYG Editor for better performance and cross browser compatibility:
- Editor button can be added through Custom PGDCode [pgd_pgdCode];
- PDA posting;
- new addition to the default PGDCode
- add style to support background color
- Entirely Rewritten Tree interface:
- Tree Container Resizable;
- Tree showing more content at startup;
- Endless Scrolling to load subsequent tree content;
- Finding Message consumes very little server resources;
- Huge Efficiency and Performance upgrade;
- [logic dlls] third party Membership Integration - a feature to turn off:
- Email Change
- Password Change
- Password Reset
- Validation Resend
- [logic dll] New Server Tests:
- Setup folder removed?
- Upfiles folder script execution?
- MachineKey installed?
- EnableViewstateMac turned on?
- Machine Key Generator available in Basic Maintenance;
- [logic dll] Drop Down for Gallery Page (use Jquery to Ajax call to get gallery names) ;
- Drop Down for Admin Menu first level pages;
- [logic dll] Logic in place to prevent accidentally delete the trailing slash in the forum directory setting;
- [dlls] Built-in detector for mobile devices
- Algorithm comes from http://detectmobilebrowser.com/
- 2 new keys under appSettings in web.config for mobile user agent detection regular expression
- [logic dll, js] allow users to define regular expression for valid email and login in web.config -> appSettings
- [both dlls] Code Refactoring to reduce memory foot print (application variable not cached per page) + Scheduled memory unloading using 2 new keys under appSettings in web.config:
- [logic dll] Raw SQL Logger w/ 4 new keys under appSettings in web.config;
- This logs any query not using stored procedure. Each of the above key operates independently. ParamSQL means SQL string with parameters specified, while RawSQL refers to plain SQL statement without any parameter;
- This feature can be used to track possible SQL injection attack;
- This feature will increase server resource usage, so it is not recommended to be always on.
Changes - [css] Pager CSS adding border around the link
- i as "Friend" problem reported (rare occurrence):
- Message rating history table column width problem;
- [logic dll] Improved Mail Logger - now uses XML;
- [logic dll] Download file update now uses stored proc;
- [menu js] user can edit a locked post
- Avatar and profile photo management improvements makes deleting easy.
- Hides the Additional Info Pane in Profile when there is no custom registration fields created;
- change the Message List sorting header UI;
- search option panel show / hide w/ animation - looks less obtrusive;
- [control dll] Disable built in Viewstate Compression;
- [logic dll] no SQL update for image shown directly on the web page;
- Simplify Forum Navigational / Announcement / Photo Rotator / Icon Legend / Current online list Header;
- [logic dll] Consistent Paging format (CSS style) for Gallery and Forum;
- [both dll] Code refactoring simplifies multi-threading in the forum;
- [control dll] Jquery updated to 1.4.2
- [login dll] hint to the member search page w/ % and * as wildcard
- Search Result now open in current window by default;
- member list home page open in new window by default;
- [logic dll, sql] Redirect count increase now uses stored procedure
- [both dll, ln] Change the UI presentation for
- Email Changing interface
- Request Email Validation Label and popup warning
- Additional notice for pass reset / login reminder and email re-validation popups;
- Plus interface re-organization;
- Re-examine the possibility of not using popup (tooltip or static HTML)
- Remove the big forum header -> use fieldset instead
- Captcha's javascript should be using the standard script include feature.
- DHTML Window open with a loading gif instead of a blank page;
- For announcement that displays as thread, use JQuery to toggle the visibility instead of popup;
- Consolidates the drop downs and bottom breadcrumbs on tt and tm;
- Consolidates the Online User / Icon Legend / Events / Birthdays section display;
- Registration -> always subscribe option turned on by default;
- Improved Tooltip to show "Example" for all Custom Registration Fields;
- [control dll] Improved Display logic for "hidden" Custom Registration Fields;
- [logic dll, sql] move the message Approval, manage, forward and the reply button below each message;
- properly display message excerpts (as title attribute of the link) on message list, search result, and Active Post by removing the blank characters;
- Additional CSS definitions;
- "No Avatar" image updated;
- making posting interface more compact;
- remove a lot of redundant texts;
- upload button on editor toolbar.
ASPPlayground.NET ~ see our Version 4 plans here
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