Upgrade

[Nicola]

I will be upgrading the forum shortly and it will be off line for a while. It's a big upgrade and there may be some issues afterwards. Fingers crossed it goes ok.

[Nicola]

Well - it took a while but the upgrade is done. Obviously we have lost the PG specific template but I will have a look at that and see what I can come up with. Please let me know of any problems - hopefully there won't be too many. It's a major upgrade so there will probably be some teething problems.

[CalebPerry]

With the old software, there was a way to enlarge the type. I don't see that with the new software.

[Nicola]

I'll have a look at this today hopefully. How did you use to enlarge the font?

[CalebPerry]

In the old forum, somewhere in the upper-right corner, there was a collection of symbols, like this:

˅ A ˄

Clicking on the up arrow enlarged the font throughout the cart, and clicking the down arrow made the font smaller. In my view, this was once of the best features of the phpBB shopping cart.

In the administrative section, it may be possible for you to enlarge the font for everyone, but I'm not sure. If you can do that, I suggest you keep Arial as the font (since Arial is very readable), but increase the size for everyone just a point or two.

It's possible that they removed this feature because they made the cart more flexible and sizable by using Ctrl-+.

[Nicola]

To be honest I have investigated and it doesn't seem to be easy. I used to be able to alter fonts etc in the styles templates in the admin panel but this is not possible on this version. If I alter font size it may alter all text which I don't necessarily want. If you increase the size using your browser does that work?

[Nicola]

I have uploaded an 'extension' which allows users to alter the font size. Can you give it a go? Go to your user control panel and board preferences. You can say 'yes' to alter the font and then choose the size. See what you think. Was very easy to install and I can delete it if it's not useful.

[CalebPerry]

Yes, it works. That was what I meant by clicking Ctrl-+ (using the browser controls).

As I said, the phpBB people may have redesigned the cart so that it resizes effortlessly when the browser controls are used, and that may be the reason they removed their own controls. However, it strikes me as strange that they don't give the administrator a way to control the default font and size. You see, some new people may come to the forum and find the font very small, and won't know how to increase it using their browser controls. Using the browser controls also causes all pictures and graphics to change size, whereas that wasn't happening when the cart had its own controls.

I now have my browser set to 110%, that makes the text big enough.

[CalebPerry]

I have uploaded an 'extension' which allows users to alter the font size. Can you give it a go? Go to your user control panel and board preferences. You can say 'yes' to alter the font and then choose the size. See what you think. Was very easy to install and I can delete it if it's not useful.

Hold on. Give me a chance to try this.

[CalebPerry]

Wow, that DEFINITELY fixes the problem. The font size is now very readable on all pages. You'll want to make sure that all the members know about it. I hope that all of this isn't costing you money.

I'm surprised that they don't give you that feature by default instead of making it an extension.

[CalebPerry]

Uh oh, a bad thing is happening. If you go to this poem of mine:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23435&p=196735#p196735

You'll see that the Tab code is being displayed instead of just working the way it is supposed to.

[Nicola]

Excellent - glad it works. Was very simple to upload and no it's not costing anything so that's fine. I am experimenting with different styles now.

[CalebPerry]

In my User Control Panel, it seems to be giving me the option to change my user name. If I choose to spell out my last name instead of just having the J, can I do that?

Did you see what I said about the Tab code?

[Nicola]

Try the change of username and see what it does. It might require me to activate your account again but that's fine.

I need to check the BB code...

[CalebPerry]

Wow, I just changed my user name to Perry. I remember now: When I signed up, "PerryJames" was already taken. I did a search of posts by PerryJames to find out if I was already a member, and no posts turned up. So I named myself PerryJ. Now I am just Perry.

The ability to change one's user name will be great for people who regret the user name they gave themselves, but it could also create some confusion.

I like phpBB software. It is very powerful. I tried to start my own forum at one point using it.

Oh, I just discovered that I don't seem to have control over the font that I do my posts in. Is that a separate extension?

[Nicola]

I think I have the option to disable that function if I want - I certainly did before the upgrade. Will leave it as it is for now. Am working on the BBcoding now

[CalebPerry]

That's a good idea. It will give all the active members a chance to fix any user names they are unhappy with.

I added a comment about the font to my last post. I don't seem to be able to select a font for posts.

[CalebPerry]

By the way ... you may not be aware of this, but users have the option of choosing a style interface. The bright blue one that we are seeing now is called "Prosilver". A more sophisticated option is called "Prosilver Special Edition". And the one which I think is the most sophisticated is called AllanStyle - Subsilver. As the administrator, you might be able to choose one of them as the default -- but then, users would be able to change that if they wanted to.

[Nicola]

I've just uploaded the new styles. Users can choose whichever they want. I may upload some others. That has been easy. I need to work out how to get the PG logo onto the header - bit tricky.

BBcode is another matter - can't do that at the moment. Will leave it for now. Am away for a couple of days but will come back to it on Sunday.

[Nicola]

WIll have a look at a font extension as well!

[CalebPerry]

Regarding the logo, I believe it's just a matter of uploading it via your administrator's control panel. I remember doing it when I created my own forum.

I have a final recommendation. I know from other forums that there can be a quick reply box at the bottom of each thread. It accepts only text and does not have the full formatting controls that the normal posting/editing box does. It is easy to use. If a user discovers that he/she wants to use some formatting controls, there is a link that says "Go advanced" that takes her into the full editing page (with whatever text she has already typed). It is a very useful feature. It is probably an extension.

Have a good trip.

[Nicola]

i have amended the tab code - now called indent

You will however have to edit your poem to get it to work.
Have also mended

left justify

right justify

strike through
[youtube]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pu7AR0-FRro[/youtube]
font colour

• list

That will do for now..

[CalebPerry]

Thank you so much.

I hope you will look into the Quick Reply or Quick Post box (whatever it is called). It is a huge convenience. I'll try to find a screen shot of it if you want to see it.

Here's something you may not know: Different forum themes use different logos. You will probably need to insert your logo into all of the themes.

[Nicola]

I will keep the number of styles limited as i will have to edit each template individually. And i usually have to edit them after each upgrade...