IPB Forum Application

[Wazoo]

While working on another user's problem, I was a bit unhappy that I was having issues getting to the IPB Forum today .... the timeline seems a bit optimistic, and that it wasn't visible (to me) until the board came back up ... what can I say? Anyway, here's the news there ... and as I've only hit this one post at this point, I'll point out that some of the changes are obvious <g>

Invision Power Services _ Company News and Updates _ Company Forums Downtime

Posted by: Matt Today, 06:34 AM

We will be taking our forums offline between 1:00pm and 3:00pm BST (GMT+1) to upgrade to IPB 2.1 Alpha 1.

We apologise for the inconvenience.

Please note that all our other systems (tickets, phone support, etc) are not affected in anyway.

Second post read, makes note of some of the changes involved (again, Matt has committed to another user that this version should be released before June ..???)

Invision Power Services _ Company News and Updates _ Welcome to IPB 2.1!

Posted by: IPS PR Today, 09:39 AM

Welcome to Invision Power Board 2.1!

We've upgraded our corporate forums to the first alpha build of Invision Power Board 2.1. This new release has many new and exciting features which I'll outline below. The IPB 2.1 administration control panel (ACP) has also undergone a massive transformation to make it much easier to use. The IPB 2.1 front end has also undergone some tweaking and extended javascripting enhances the user interface and innovative use of new technologies brings the moderating tools to life.

New Feature: WYSIWYG Editing

IPB 2.1 comes with Rich Text Editing capabilities (also known as WYSIWYG). This editor, which works in IE 5.5+, Mozilla and Firefox (Safari is being worked upon) makes it much easier to generate posts which require a lot of formatting.

To enable rich text editing, make sure you're logged into the board as a member. Click on "My Controls" and click on "Board Settings".

This is a per-user option and the administrator has the option of disabling the rich text editor board wide.

The standard editor has been recoded to look like the rich text editor for consistency.

New Feature: Topic Rating

IPB 2.1 can now let your members rate topics. This can be enabled on a per-forum basis and you can enable rating on a per-group basis. You can also allow your members to change their rating (on a per-group basis, also). We have enabled rating in our community forums and in the customer's chat forum.

New Feature: Multiple Polls

IPB 2.1 can now let your members create multiple question polls. The administrator can set the maximum number of allowed questions and the maximum number of allowed choices per question. The poll form utilizes java scri_pt to enable you to manage your poll without the need to refresh the page. You'll notice that there no longer appears to be a "Add Poll" button. When creating a new topic you can optionally create a poll at the same time. Editing the first post in a topic with a poll lets you edit the poll (when allowed) or to delete the poll (where allowed)

New Feature: In-line editing

Moderators can now edit a topic's title simply by double clicking the topic's table cell. This changes the topic title into a little text box. Clicking away from the text box updates the topic title and saves the edit. All without refreshing the page!

New Feature: PM Notice

IPB 2.1 has a new style PM notice. When you have a new PM, you'll notice a semi-transparent box in the bottom left hand corner of your browser. You can drag this to any point on the screen and IPB will show the PM notice box there from then on. You can click the "1/2" link to cycle through your PMs without leaving the screen.

New Feature: Get New Posts

When you click "Get New Posts" in the board header, you'll be provided with an instant review of them without the need to leave the page you're on. This is a very handy feature and will auto-update on each click!

New Feature: Member Name Auto Complete

When you compose a new PM, typing three characters or more into the "Recipients" box will bring up a list of possible matches. You can use your cursor keys to scroll through them, or your mouse or simply continue typing and the list will update until you click away from the name box.

I've found a bug!

Please keep in mind that this is the first public testing of IPB 2.1 so expect the odd bug or three as you travel around the board. Please report all bugs in the IPB bug reports forum and prefix the report with "2.1" so I can quickly identify any urgent issues.