I have setup a beta version of Web Wiz Forums version 7.5 with both the two new skins at:-

http://www.beta.webwizforums.com - www.beta.webwizforums.com

Please look at both forums and vote on which one you would prefer to see as the default skin for Web Wiz Forums.

Also if you could test this forum while you are there and report any bugs.

They both run off the same Access database so if you post in one it will show in both beta forums.

Version 7.5 is planned for release by the end of September, unless and bugs come to light or anyone gives any good suggestions that don't require database changes.

• Lots of bug fixes
• Extra security
• New forum codes such as [Quote], [Code], and also the use of hex colours ie [color=#000000]
• Simpler to set group permisisons over multiple forums
• Next and previous links on posts over multiple pages
• WYSIWYG Editor now supported under multiple platforms and browsers including IE5+, Mozilla 1.3+, Netscape 7.1+
• Improved browser and OS detection for Active Topics page
• Login test to see if the user has cookies enabled and display a message if not
• Long text strings in messages now wrap at the 60th character to keep the formatting of tables correct to prevent left and right scrolling in a browser window
• Uploaded files now placed in a folder in the uploads director named after the users username
• View topics that you have subscribed to email notification on from the page you edit your profile on
• Only once users are registered may they upload avatars
• Flash files in signatures
• Compact and repair access database from the admin area (Access only)
• SQL server stats from admin area (SQL Server only)
• View the first 100 characters of a post by placing the mouse over the topic title in the topic page, also shows date started by placing the mouse over the topic starter name
• Forward PM to your email address so you can have a copy of the PM locally
• PM percentage bar in your inbox indicating how many more PM's you can receive
• PM inbox, delete all button
• Support fro Flash files in PM's
  
• Resend activation email function
• More options when deleting or locking topics from the admin area
• Choose if you wish to display a moved icon in old forum when moving topic between forums
• Topic admin can be bought up from active topics page
• Buddy list now indicates if a buddy is online in teh forum at that time
• and lodas of other changes
  

*GASP*  this all sounds great BUT.. what on earth does it take to change versions?  do I have to find all the MODs again, and put them all back in to the new version?  :(

whittibo wrote: *GASP*  this all sounds great BUT.. what on earth does it take to change versions?  do I have to find all the MODs again, and put them all back in to the new version?  :(

Maybe we can convince him to simply include the popular mods into the new version.... after all, the code is already written, it just needs to be inserted....

Could even make some of them optional, turned on and off with a check box in the control panel or something.

So, Bruce, how 'bout it?

  ahhh.. that's like a PERFECT idea.. man BoRg, you really should charge for these updates.. like hand out the basic model.. but to get the BETTER model, you have to PAY for it!!

I am just thinking of all the MODs that I mod-ed?!   and I dont' even know how I managed it the first time. 

Extremely excellent !!~~

Borg, In addition, can increase a function on" alliance's forum" in Version 7.5? This function can adds or deletes and joins in back-stage management . Homepage have" alliance forum" function this in forum, we can go on the friendly link with the other forums, Exchange joining . In the Chinese forum procedure, this function is very general, can improve the visit amount on the forum each other too like this. Do not know whether can realize ?

I've just started using the Access version of WWF and have spent the last few weeks modifying and tweaking it to get it the way I want. All the new features in 7.5 sound great but I assume that will mean doing all my changes over again. Having looked over previous threads in regards to Access vs MS SQL, it sounds like this might be a good time to switch over to SQL, before I get a lot of registered users (only 50 so far) and messages. However, I know almost zero about SQL server so I'm not sure how easy it will be for me to do.

My question is; If I go to the trouble now of upsizing my Access database in use with 7.01 , will I be able to just plug in the new version 7.5 web pages and expect that they will work with the SQL database (after making configuration changes of course)? Or are there changes in the back end that will require DB changes from 7.01's? Since I don't know anything about SQL I want to make this as easy for myself as possible.

Thanks.

SUGESTION: I still miss an "edit poll" feature....!

Thumbs up for the purple/blue skin

Hi Borg!

I got a few questions/suggestions for you regarding the upcoming release.

Nr. 1: I'm really missing a "User menu" in this application. Here's some of the features it could have:
 
 Edit account information - Use this option to change your name and email address.
 Change your password - Use this option to change your password
 Edit your profile - Use this option to make changes to your profile
 Edit your preference - Use this option to set your forum preference
 Forum Subscription - Use this option to manage subscription to forums
 Topic Subscription - Use this option to manage subscription to topics
 Bookmarks - Manage your bookmark links (Important topics which is added to a bookmark site, nice for followups)
 Inbox - Read and send private messages
 Buddy list - List of your buddies

Nr. 2: Security. Possibility to choose expiration date on login cookie set by forum.
 We should be able to do this within the admin menu.

Nr. 3: I tested the 7.5 version. Nice front layout on it now, but there's one annoying thing though.
 When you select the "Test forum cat 2", then "Test forum cat 1" automatically hides.
 That is annoying. Would be fine if there were a +/- sign for showing/hiding categories.

Nr. 4: A feature to set up a coustom forum policy through the admin menu is something we need.
 It's so boring to do this job manually.

Nr. 5: Installation setup. The first time the forum is setup on your ftp/localhost, you are being taken through a "Installation guide",
 which checks that your forum paths and permissions are correct. You also have to agree to the license agreement and create a admin user
 before you can start using the forum software.

Nr. 6: Pre-registering of usernames. This will prevent users from being able to register under known names as admin, administrator, moderator etc.

Nr. 7: Retrieve lost password function. Nice to have is users forget their password (altough I believe that this allready exists!?).

Nr. 8: Sort topics by: Message ID | Topic | Author | Last updated date | Replies | Views

Nr. 9: In the statistic section, it would be cool if the forum also could tell you which time and date there were most users active in the forums.

If some of the features allready exists so forgive me. I haven't been using this forum for more than half a month or something.
Some of this suggestions are huge so I don't expect them in the next release, but they would certainly be a nice addition to the WWF!

Regards
Chris

And last, but not least: Would you mind cleaning up a bit in the sections that I have pasted right under here?

It's a bit "messy". Like.. I personally hate the "you can/can not" information that is provided in each forum. I would like to have an option where I could show/hide that info.

All this could be some more linear if you know what I mean?

This is one of my favorite mods... I hope it can be part of the new version as it makes it so much easier to quickly browse through read and unread posts...

If any, I would consider the green version. The purple one is too cold, and yet again too purple, presumably a good choice for a womens lipstick forum...

I would consider a warmer color. I have changed from a cold to a warm color, and experienced more trafic (almost double up, just because of that, - yes lotsa people has even commented on the colors). 

Does anyone wan't to have a go at what maybe better colours, something light that would fit in with the majourity of sites?

Test49,

I like the way you think, those ideas are awsome.

The one thing that does bug me alot is those  can/can't sentences at the bottom.

Another thing that kind of bugs me a little, when you click on a topic, on the upper left part, it has the  "  Show topics  [From the last month] "

I think that should be moved below all the topics. That part should be made just to manuver arround the forums, showing the link to the main forum, subsequent forums. It just seems to get in the way a bit.

This is just a suggestion, I love these forums, and I am gathering donations to send to you via paypal. So far, i got 5 bucks in there that I started out with  :)

I just tried posting on the new forum without signing up and got this message:

Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a0009'

Subscript out of range: 'UBound'

/green/functions/functions_filters.asp, line 575

OK.. now that I have read some others responses, I might have changed my mind on the color I chose.   

since you are trying to fit it in with the rest of your site.  which only makes since.. the purple/blue (although I liked the look/color) doesn't really 'go' with the greens/grays you already have..

could you go a bit darker on the green, more to match your header? 

and I think the 'graph' background might be a little to busy?!  how bout a lighter gray? 

somewhere (Lord only knows where) but someone posted a color wheel (I think they were color blind? does that ring any bells?)  but I am so bad with colors and combining, if you had something that tells you what colors best go with the ones you already have. 

like the scroll bars here are blues and that kinda clashes with the greens..

boy, glad I went with basic blues..   I understand wanting to update and change.. but this would be hard! 

also.. I am wondering, many have said they don't like the

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can't you just edit that out of the code?  It just seems easy to me to get rid of that?!  maybe I am being to "simple minded"   (BTW, it's not my favorite thing either, would do without it if I had could, just never really tried to do anything with it yet)

feature suggestion...

if it's possible, make it so that the ability to have a signature is dependent on user group. for example a normal ladder usergroup should not be able to write a signature in their forum profile that would display with every post. of course the admin should be able to enable or disable it for a specific usergroup.

-boRg- wrote: Does anyone wan't to have a go at what maybe better colours, something light that would fit in with the majourity of sites?

Good luck with that!!!  LOL

Well, most sites use black text on a white background in some way, but as far as other colors go....

BTW, I don't see active users in the demo.

I think that the active user function has been sorted out in ver 7.5 since it not worked any good at all. Guest's and some users were displaying several times in the same list... AOL-users couldn't be identified etc...

-boRg- wrote: The active users has been sorted out for the next version so the same member is not listed twice. The code was there just in the wrong place.

wistex wrote: BTW, I don't see active users in the demo.

Mikael wrote: I think that the active user function has been sorted out in ver 7.5 since it not worked any good at all. Guest's and some users were displaying several times in the same list... AOL-users couldn't be identified etc...

"Sorted out" in the U.S. means fixed.  I thought he was saying that he fixed that feature so it works now.  :-?

And AOL users can be identified.  Just track usernames instead of IP addresses.  That's what all the other forum software does. The only time you track IP addresses is for guests.  Just use the same method of tracking that everyone else does and it should work. 

When people login, the forum knows who they are by their username.  When someone loads a page, just check what username is logged on and update the active users table.  No more duplicates.  It doesn't matter if they are using AOL or not anymore.  It doesn't matter if there are 20 people behind a firewall.  It tracks them all by their username (i.e. who is logged on at the time the page loads).

If the page is smart enough to detect who is logged on by username, then it is smart enough to count them by username.

He just needed to change HOW he counts users.   Use IP addresses for Guests, use Usernames for logged in users.  Using IP addresses for everything is what is screwing up the count.

That's probably what he did in version 7.5 to fix the problem.