jasonrenshaw's Blog

Thanks Cookies - nicely done and very prompt, too!

~ Jason

Thanks cookies. The new quote shading and format looks great!

Quick note: there now seems to be a glitch with clicking on the "newer" link to go to a second page of posts in a topic. That link generates a URL ending with /page1/page2, which of course leads to the Lefora dinosaur error page.

Not sure if you're aware ~ you may already be on to it.

Cheers,

~ Jason

another message for jason, in reference to the linebreaks expect that to be resolved in the next few days, it is definately on the todo list; it's a rather subtle and tricky problem because all the browsers produce different output!I'll get there eventually (soon hopefully) Also, if you're really wanting the highlighted quotes now (while we decide on a default) simply add the following to the css options in the theme secion of your admin pannel: .post_body blockquote {background-color:#E8E8E8;}

-cookies

Thanks for that, guys.

In the meantime (for the time being), I have found a way around the line breaks problem when quoting. If you swap to Media Editor format before hitting the quote button, the line breaks are retained perfectly. So long as you don't go back to the standard editor from there, it works swell.

I plugged that code into my CSS, and the quotes are shaded as promised - nice work!

Thanks,

~ Jason

... and another update, I belive I fixed it, and expect the fix to be applied to your forums later today.

-cookies

Nice work, cookies! The quote function is working very smoothly for me now, and you certainly got onto it in a jiffy. Most appreciated.  

There is still the issue of line breaks disappearing and forcing all the text together. Is there something that can be done about that?

One other quick suggestion while I'm at it: I think some kind of shading (or "box") behind quoted text would be a real plus, to really emphasize what has been quoted as opposed to what is being added from the new poster. The shading box and inclusive line breaks were something I really liked about using phpbb forum set ups, though I'm not sure how hard it would be for you to provide something similar.

Keep up the awesome work!

~ Jason

I've made the change over to the new format, and it's fabulous! Certainly faster, and looks better, too.

The only problem I'm experiencing is with the "quote" function. Sometimes the quoted text appears directly in the reply box, other times (for some reason) it appears as red script at the very top of the current lefora page ~ and is not included in the post unless I go all the way up there and copy and paste it. I'm not sure exactly, but there appears to be a difference when you are attempting to quote from a single page of responses as opposed to multiple pages (for example, trying to quote a post from the second page doesn't appear to work).

One other glitch with the quote function is in the formatting. It registers text only and not line breaks. So when I go to quote a medium to longer post with multiple paragraphs, it comes out as one continuous set of text, and can be hard to make sense of.

Cookies mentioned that work on the quote function is still ongoing, so this is not a whine ~ just thought I'd bring the particular problems I've noticed to your attention. For now, posting on my forum has slowed down, possibly because my users are not sure what to do with the quoting. I'm sure you guys will figure it out ~ from what I've seen Lefora just keeps getting better and better!

Best regards,

~ Jason

Hi there,

I don't know if anyone else has noticed or posted about this, but I seem to have a problem when posting links within posts. When I select "open link in a new browser", the link opens in the same browser. When I select "open in same browser", the link doesn't appear at all.

Anyone else had a problem with this? It's not a huge issue - I can still post links - but if at all possible I'd prefer not to be losing traffic from the site if people click on a link...

Cheers,

~ Jason

Sorry - one other question... With the "flattening" to go ahead, will this impact on the format of pages and threads that have already been formed using the inline threading feature? I'm all for the flat format, but I already have many topics with lots of threaded replies, and I'm wondering what will happen to the look and format of them if I cross over to the new flat option.

Cheers,

~ Jason

I really like the changes and new look - can't wait to apply it to my own forum!

What I'm really dying to know is when I'll be able to apply my own Google ads -  especially to the original topic and view marker as you've started doing here... Once I have access to that, things will really start clicking for me.

Any (even tentative) timeframes for this, and/or indications of what we'll be asked to pay to apply our own ads?

Thanks,

~ Jason

I like the changes - much easier to handle members and a much cleaner interface. Thanks for the upgrade and notification.

~ Jason

Hi there,

I've made a couple of requests for improvements elsewhere, so thought I really ought to point out something about Lefora that has been really great so far - the excellent search engine optimization.

You've done a really great job with this. After 2 months or so, with 130-odd members and 600-odd posts, my forum topics have been appearing on front-page Google and MSN searches all over the place, and the Headlines page has already hit a Google page rank of 3. On my previous (phpbb) forum, it took six months and five thousand posts or so to get the same page rank, and much poorer results in terms of search listings.

So while we're all in here asking you to fix or add new things, I want to say that what you've done with search engine optimization is really encouraging! Great stuff.

Best,

~ Jason

Hi,

I'm not sure when your premium features will start becoming available, but when it does I'll be tickled pink (and willing to pay...).

In terms of putting Google ads on our forums, I'd like to know if it will be possible to insert Google ads in new topics. This is far more effective than a side bar, from my experience. With the Lefora dimensions, a two-slot horizontal ad would go perfect following main topic posts (obviously not for reply posts to topics, just the main topic itself).

Alternatively, the option to have a horizontal ad automatically at the top of the page, under the tabs - that'd be awesome.

I love all the Lefora widgets and like having them all there in the sidebar. I think inserting ads would cultter that area, or risk being missed by appearing at the very bottom of the page each time.

Hope you're keeping an open mind on this front...

Keep up the great work.

~ Jason

Hi - nobody else noticed this issue? I'm just wondering if the auto-drop (and hence confusion and time lag) to the reply box may have something to do with my (and my users') computer settings. I haven't seen anyone here mentioning the same problem, anyway...

Cheers,

~ Jason

Hi there,

Let me first just say that Lefora is great and has really exciting potential.

One problem I (and my forum users) have experienced is a serious time drag when clicking into threads in the forum, plus the somewhat annoying auto-function that drags a thread visitor to the bottom of the thread and basically waits while the respond-to-topic box loads up. My forum members often assume the videos I've posted aren't working, because basically the forum is working away at loading up the thread and pushing the user's screen down to the response box. That's also a problem with long threads, as my visitors/members can't see the original post for very long before they are sent tumbling down to the response box. If it's a long thread, it can take them time to work their way back up to the top of the page.

Simple thing to do here would be to remove the auto-reply function and make it a click-in process or something instead. A lot of my users are assuming my forum or forum content is faulty in some way, which makes any advantage through a quick-reply a bit obsolete.

Hope you great guys at Lefora can do something about this sometime soon...

Best regards,

~ Jason