SkyDemon Forums

New Forum Interface

http://forums.skydemon.aero/Topic19430.aspx

By ckurz7000 - 4/27/2017 6:58:31 AM

Tim, find myself annoyed every time I log into the forum. The single most annoying issue for me is that I can't jump to my last unread post in a thread. It just makes me not want to visit at all.

I don't know who this guy is who is responsible for the forum interface (well, ultimately it is you). Is he the son of somebody important? Can he be enticed to spend some time on it to do it properly?

This shouldn't be such a pain. Most other forum on the net has this very basic functionality.

Thanks, -- Chris.‌‌
By Tim Dawson - 4/27/2017 2:57:45 PM

I don't want to visit it either.

The vendor of this forum software stopped responding to my emails months ago.

I am pretty m‌‌uch waiting for it to disappear, never to come back. We haven't been charged for its hosting recently either.‌‌
By InstantASP - 6/20/2017 1:36:42 PM

Hi All,

I hope everyone is well. I’m sorry I've not participated within this topic recently. As always I sincerely appreciate the candid feedback shared here.

‌‌Whilst I've not responded I have been checking this topic from time to time and adding your issues into our GitHub repository. I've not checked here in the last couple of moths mainly as I've been super busy getting InstantForum 2017 ready for release. We have already hopefully made good progress with many of the comments posted here within the forthcoming 2017 update.

With this update we've been focused on just providing a simple, working high quality forum. You can see our progress so far with our BETA6 update here...
http://demos.instantasp.co.uk/InstantForum2017/

As we are getting closer to release I wanted to reach out to the lovely folks here within the SkyDemon community to ask if any of you would be willing to help us ensure we get the next SkyDemon update just right.

In the coming weeks I intend to set-up a private sandbox allowing those invited to preview the next update to the SkyDemon forum. This will allow us to work together to address your feedback.

I appreciate it's been several months and some of you may have moved on however if you are still willing to help please respond within this topic with the words "I'll help test". I'll forward the private sandbox link once ready for your feedback and work with you directly via the private sand box to address any concerns or issues.

Only once Tim and the folks who help are 100% happy with the private sandbox would we then update the main SkyDemon forums here.

To help manage expectations please don't expect me to respond here within this topic on a regular basis. I'll do my best to check-in from time to time but my priority is to help customers contacting us through official support channels. If you do need to contact me for any reason please never hesitate to email sales@instantasp.co.uk and mark FAO: Ryan. You are guaranteed a response here.

I wanted to thank everyone who has posted feedback. I sincerely appreciate you all taking the time to post. InstantForum is my baby and I take all feedback very personally. Please don't feel your feedback won't be acted upon I may just need a little time to schedule this into an official release.

I look forward to hearing from those who are willing to help,

R‌egards,

R‌yan ‌‌
By Sky Painter - 6/20/2017 2:43:43 PM

InstantASP - 6/20/2017 1:36:42 PM
Hi All,

I hope everyone is well. I’m sorry I've not participated within this topic recently. As always I sincerely appreciate the candid feedback shared here.

‌‌Whilst I've not responded I have been checking this topic from time to time and adding your issues into our GitHub repository. I've not checked here in the last couple of moths mainly as I've been super busy getting InstantForum 2017 ready for release. We have already hopefully made good progress with many of the comments posted here within the forthcoming 2017 update.

With this update we've been focused on just providing a simple, working high quality forum. You can see our progress so far with our BETA6 update here...
http://demos.instantasp.co.uk/InstantForum2017/

As we are getting closer to release I wanted to reach out to the lovely folks here within the SkyDemon community to ask if any of you would be willing to help us ensure we get the next SkyDemon update just right.

In the coming weeks I intend to set-up a private sandbox allowing those invited to preview the next update to the SkyDemon forum. This will allow us to work together to address your feedback.

I appreciate it's been several months and some of you may have moved on however if you are still willing to help please respond within this topic with the words "I'll help test". I'll forward the private sandbox link once ready for your feedback and work with you directly via the private sand box to address any concerns or issues.

Only once Tim and the folks who help are 100% happy with the private sandbox would we then update the main SkyDemon forums here.

To help manage expectations please don't expect me to respond here within this topic on a regular basis. I'll do my best to check-in from time to time but my priority is to help customers contacting us through official support channels. If you do need to contact me for any reason please never hesitate to email sales@instantasp.co.uk and mark FAO: Ryan. You are guaranteed a response here.

I wanted to thank everyone who has posted feedback. I sincerely appreciate you all taking the time to post. InstantForum is my baby and I take all feedback very personally. Please don't feel your feedback won't be acted upon I may just need a little time to schedule this into an official release.

I look forward to hearing from those who are willing to help,

R‌egards,

R‌yan ‌‌

I'll help test
By adhawkins - 6/21/2017 11:27:00 AM


I'll help test.
By ckurz7000 - 7/27/2017 12:09:50 PM

Recently I have noticed very sluggish response to keystrokes in the window you type to compose a post. It's at the point of being almost unusable.

Also, when  I type  faster, the caret cant keep up and the  cursor is positioned  one cha‌racter to the left of where it ought to be.

I am running W‌‌indows 8.1 and the latest version of Mozilla Firefox.

-- Chris.‌‌
By tnowak - 7/28/2017 7:36:39 AM

This is a test post to see if I experience this.
May be ‌as the "preview" text comes up very slowly.
Typing on a Win 7 desktop PC.‌
Tony‌
By Sky Painter - 7/27/2016 12:18:16 PM

I'm not sure where to post this, so I have posted here to say that I don't think much of the new forum interface. Unread posts are no longer displayed in bold type, so at a quick glance, I have difficulty in knowing which posts I've read and which ones I haven't read. I also miss the 'No of Replies' and 'No of Views' columns.

I understand that this is nothing to do with the SD team, but perhaps you could pass my comments back to the forum software developers please.

Edited to add:-

Also, where are the 'likes' and 'star' columns?
By InstantASP - 8/9/2017 1:34:51 PM

tnowak - 7/28/2017 7:36:39 AM
This is a test post to see if I experience this.
May be ‌as the "preview" text comes up very slowly.
Typing on a Win 7 desktop PC.‌
Tony‌

Hi All,

T‌hank you as always for your reports and helping us improve the forum. I've been checking comments posted here and hopefully addressing these for next SkyDemon forum update. As mentioned in my previous post we've now created a separate private sandbox to demonstrate the next SkyDemon forum update. We want to obtain your feedback to ensure we've actually addressed any issues or concerns bef‌ore we update the main forums here. Y‌ou can access the private sandbox here...

http://23588-2017.hs2.instantasp.net/
‌‌
‌Please let me know if you still experience any sluggish behaviour when typing within the editor. 

You should be able to login using your existing SkyDemon login credentials within the private sandbox however as this is not a live site all outbound emails have been disabled for the sandbox. You won't for example be able to perform a password reset via the private sandbox as no email will ever be sent.

T‌he private sandbox is a completely separate installation ‌so any changes there won't effect the main forums here. For example if you post a new topic or change your account information within the private sandbox this won't be reflected here on the live forums. They are separate websites and databases. 

Thank you in advance to those that take the time to provide feedback on the next update. As always I'll be monitoring this post and responding to feedback as quickly as possible. If you spot any urgent issues or you would prefer to discuss any issues offline please email me directly on ryan@instanttasp.co.uk. ‌

I‌ look forward to hearing from you and assisting further,‌‌

R‌egards
R‌yan‌
By Sky Painter - 8/10/2017 7:30:25 AM

The Read Tracking cookies still don't appear to be working.
By InstantASP - 8/10/2017 2:28:59 PM

Sky Painter - 8/10/2017 7:30:25 AM
The Read Tracking cookies still don't appear to be working.

Thanks Mike. I'm sincerely sorry to hear this continues. Could I ask do you see these problems whilst logged in as your Mike account or do you experience these issues whilst browsing anonymously (not logged in) or possibly both?‌‌‌‌ 

I‌ know you've posted several times on this in the links below...

http://forums.skydemon.aero/FindPost21361.aspx
http://forums.skydemon.aero/FindPost19812.aspx
http://forums.skydemon.aero/FindPost20084.aspx

A‌ny further information you can provide would be greatly appreciated as I've not been able to reproduce this. ‌‌‌‌‌
By Sky Painter - 8/11/2017 6:26:18 AM

InstantASP - 8/10/2017 2:28:59 PM
Sky Painter - 8/10/2017 7:30:25 AM
The Read Tracking cookies still don't appear to be working.

Thanks Mike. I'm sincerely sorry to hear this continues. Could I ask do you see these problems whilst logged in as your Mike account or do you experience these issues whilst browsing anonymously (not logged in) or possibly both?‌‌‌‌ 

I‌ know you've posted several times on this in the links below...

http://forums.skydemon.aero/FindPost21361.aspx
http://forums.skydemon.aero/FindPost19812.aspx
http://forums.skydemon.aero/FindPost20084.aspx

A‌ny further information you can provide would be greatly appreciated as I've not been able to reproduce this. ‌‌‌‌‌

Hi Ryan

T‌he Read Tracking cookies appear to work correctly if I'm browsing anonymously‌ but NOT when I'm logged in. Hope this helps.

E‌dited to add:- ...the UNREAD button also doesn't work either when ‌I'm browsing anonymously‌ or when I'm logged in.
By InstantASP - 8/13/2017 1:04:40 PM

H‌i Mike,

T‌hank you so much for your response. After a little digging it seems read tracking was disabled for the "Forum Members" group within the SkyDemon Admin CP settings. I've gone ahead and enabled this so read topics should now be tracked correctly. This also explains why it was working for me as an administrator. 
‌‌‌
C‌an you confirm read tracking is working as expected on the private sandbox now Mike. I've linked below...

http://23588_2017.hs2.instantasp.net/‌‌

P‌.S. I've also gone ahead and enabled read tracking for this group here on the main forums. For some reason this was disabled for the Forum Members member group but enabled for other groups. Hopefully the unread tab should work as expected for both you here now and on the private sandbox. 

I‌ look forward to hearing from you. ‌
By Sky Painter - 8/14/2017 8:07:16 AM

InstantASP - 8/13/2017 1:04:40 PM
H‌i Mike,

T‌hank you so much for your response. After a little digging it seems read tracking was disabled for the "Forum Members" group within the SkyDemon Admin CP settings. I've gone ahead and enabled this so read topics should now be tracked correctly. This also explains why it was working for me as an administrator. 
‌‌‌
C‌an you confirm read tracking is working as expected on the private sandbox now Mike. I've linked below...

http://23588_2017.hs2.instantasp.net/‌‌

P‌.S. I've also gone ahead and enabled read tracking for this group here on the main forums. For some reason this was disabled for the Forum Members member group but enabled for other groups. Hopefully the unread tab should work as expected for both you here now and on the private sandbox. 

I‌ look forward to hearing from you. ‌

Hi Ryan

L‌ogged in to the main forum here, the Read Tracking cookies now appear to be working correctly, but the UNREAD button still isn't working — it returns "No results found" even when there are unread topics. I haven't yet tried ‌either of these functions when browsing anonymously because this is not something that I would normally do, but I will check this out in due course.

I‌n the private sandbox, the Read Tracking cookies are working correctly when browsing anonymously but NOT when logged in — unread topics are not even highlighted in bold type. The UNREAD button is not working at all, whether logged in or not — it returns "No results found" under all circumstances.‌
By InstantASP - 8/14/2017 12:11:11 PM

H‌i Mike,

T‌hank you so much for your continued feedback. I appreicate your time.

S‌o I decided to reset your password on the private sandbox site so I could login as your ‌‌‌‌"Sky Painter" account to see if I could reproduce the issues you describe. 

U‌nfortunitly Mike after resetting your password and logging in as your account on the sand box I didn't see any issues with the Unread topics tab or the bold titles. To demonstrate I've included some screen grabs below.

B‌old Titles‌

H‌ere you can see I'm looking at the latest topics whilst logged in with your account...

‌‌‌‌

N‌otice the first topic is NOT bold and the icon is grayed out as we've read this topic after the last post date. All other topics have a bold title and green icon as we've never read these topics. I assume you don't see this behaviour under the "Latest" tab? Does everything just appears as bold for you? Could you possible enclose a screen grab. 

Whilst logged in with your account read topics appeared to show correctly within forums also. You can see below we have 2 read topics within the SkyDemon Flight Planning forum...

‌‌‌

U‌nread Tab

Whilst logged in with your account under the "Unread" tab I see several pages of results as shown below...

‌‌

‌T‌esting this further I clicked the first topic within the unread list "Automatic Logbook" as shown below...



‌I‌ then used the browser's back button to return to the "Unread" tab to ensure the "Automatic Logbook" topic no longer appears under our "Unread" topics. You can see below the "Automatic Logbook" topic was removed from the "Unread" tab after reading this topic and using the browser's back button to return to the "Unread" tab...



‌A‌s you can see Mike even whilst logged in as your account I don't see any of the behaviour you describe. The unread tab appears to work as expected showing all unread topics and titles are bold only if we've not read the topic.

I‌t would certainly help Mike if you could include some screen grabs showing the areas that are not working for you. These may or may not spark some ideas but at this point as i'm not able to reproduce I'll accept any additional information you can provide. 

P‌lease  let me know if I'm not looking in the right areas Mike. Than kyou in advnace for any additional information.

R‌egards,

R‌yan H‌‌
By adhawkins - 8/15/2017 11:11:36 AM

I tend to browse by clicking on the forums with unread articles, and then finding the ones I haven't read. However, currently there doesn't seem to be a way to go the first unread post in a thread from the thread list for a particular forum.

I‌s this planned?

A‌ndy
‌‌‌
By tnowak - 8/16/2017 7:37:12 AM

Just tested the private sandbox version and clicking on "Unread" isn't bringing up new posts for me.
Tony‌
By adhawkins - 8/16/2017 11:19:50 AM

adhawkins - 8/15/2017 11:11:36 AM
I tend to browse by clicking on the forums with unread articles, and then finding the ones I haven't read. However, currently there doesn't seem to be a way to go the first unread post in a thread from the thread list for a particular forum.

I‌s this planned?

A‌ndy
‌‌‌

To answer my own question, if you hover over the thread title, there is a 'first unread post' button. Not exactly intuitive. How about clicking on the envelope to the left of the thread title (that shows there are new posts) to take you to the first unread post?

A‌ndy‌
By tnowak - 8/18/2017 7:35:36 AM

I did a test post on the new test website and uploaded a Word doc containing the results.
Not sure if the upload worked though.
I really need someone else to make  a few test posts‌‌ so I can properly check the Unread function.
Tony‌
By Sky Painter - 8/18/2017 3:44:50 PM

Hi Ryan

A‌pologies for the delay in getting back to you. I've been trying to work out how to take a screen shot on my laptop. Still haven't figured out how to do it!!

However, I‌'ve carried out some more tests in the main forums here and in the private sandbox, whilst browsing anonymously and whilst logged on‌‌, and the results in summary are:-

Read Tracking cookies appear to be working as expected under all circumstances on both platforms;
T‌he UNREAD button does NOT work, and returns "No results found" under every circumstance on both platform‌‌s.
By tnowak - 8/21/2017 7:51:24 AM

Sky Painter,
If your laptop is a Windows device then try using the snipping tool‌.
Tony‌
By Sky Painter - 8/22/2017 11:04:10 AM

tnowak - 8/21/2017 7:51:24 AM
Sky Painter,
If your laptop is a Windows device then try using the snipping tool‌.
Tony‌

Snipping tool??? I've searched in vain and can't find it!
By InstantASP - 8/22/2017 4:20:18 PM

You can use your Print Screen key. This may be hidden behind your function key (Fn) on a laptop due to the lack of keys.You may need to hold the Fn and Print Screen keys at the same time. 

T‌hen bring up your start menu and type paint. Once paint opens you should be able to use CTRL+V to paste the screen grab within your clipboard captured through your Fn + Print Screen ‌key. You can then save this using the Save As option within paint. 

This should work on Windows 7, 8.x and 10. The trickier part may be finding your function key. Thanks for the feedback above. Looking forward to any further comments. 
By tnowak - 8/23/2017 8:08:07 AM

Mike,

Are you still on XP? That may explain the lack of a snipping utility.
It is definitely available on Win 7 and Win 10.
Tony‌‌‌‌
By Sky Painter - 8/23/2017 8:34:13 AM

tnowak - 8/23/2017 8:08:07 AM
Mike,

Are you still on XP? That may explain the lack of a snipping utility.
It is definitely available on Win 7 and Win 10.
Tony‌‌‌‌

Hi Tony

Y‌es, still on XP (but not for much longer I hope!). However, Ryan's guidance has helped. I can now take screenshots. Yeah!‌
By mmcp42 - 6/26/2017 8:18:17 AM

I'll help test!
By InstantASP - 8/16/2017 4:49:01 PM

adhawkins - 8/16/2017 11:19:50 AM
adhawkins - 8/15/2017 11:11:36 AM
I tend to browse by clicking on the forums with unread articles, and then finding the ones I haven't read. However, currently there doesn't seem to be a way to go the first unread post in a thread from the thread list for a particular forum.

I‌s this planned?

A‌ndy
‌‌‌

To answer my own question, if you hover over the thread title, there is a 'first unread post' button. Not exactly intuitive. How about clicking on the envelope to the left of the thread title (that shows there are new posts) to take you to the first unread post?

A‌ndy‌

Thank you both so much. I wanted acknowledge we are looking into these issues. We've updated our own demo site today to resolve several other issues reported by users helping test. Once we've identified / resolved the read tracking issues reported by Mike and Tony and addressed the suggestion from Andy we'll update the SkyDemon private sandbox site and confirm here to seek further feedback.

A‌ndy ‌I think the envelope suggestion is a great idea. I'll ensure we add a more intuitive way to jump the first unread post. I'd be interested to learn how you feel this should work. For example...

1. Should we always display the icon? I‌f you've already read the topic clicking the envelope icon would take you to the first unread post. If you've never read the topic clicking the envelope would take you to the very last post?

2‌. ‌Or would you prefer to only show the envelope icon for topics you've already read that have new replies allowing you to jump to the newest reply since you last read the topic?

I‌ prefer the second option as we already have links within the last post column that allow you to jump to the last post. The second option would also allow you to easily identify topics you've already read that have new replies since you last read the topic. ‌Would you have a preference or any other opinions?

T‌ony I'll look at why the unread tab is not showing results for you and will respond here ASAP. ‌This may be the same permission settings that affected Mike's account. I'm still awaiting a response from Mike to learn more on the issues he reported as I can't reproduce even whilst logged in with Mike's account as shown in my screen grabs earlier in this topic. 

I‌'ll respond further here very soon once we have an update to share. Thank you Tony and Andy for taking the time to help us improve InstantForum - I sincerely appreicate your time helping us test and will ensure this is not wasted. 

Kindest R‌egatds,
R‌yan‌‌
By InstantASP - 8/17/2017 2:08:28 PM

tnowak - 8/16/2017 7:37:12 AM
Just tested the private sandbox version and clicking on "Unread" isn't bringing up new posts for me.
Tony‌

Hi Tony,

T‌hank you again for your feedback. Unfortunitly I'm still not able to reproduce the issues reported around the "Unread" tab as reported by yourself and Mike earlier in this topic. As I did with Mike I reset your password Tony and logged in with your account to see if we could reproduce the behaviour you describe. You can see in the screen grab below once I logged in with your account I saw several pages of results under the Unread tab on the homepage...

‌‌‌

Tony can you add a screen grab showing what you see when you click the Unread  tab. I've been through this code several times now to try and isolate any issues but so far with no success. Any further information or just a screen grab showing what you see would be very helpful.

M‌any thanks, Ryan‌
By InstantASP - 8/17/2017 2:32:44 PM

Hi Andy,

W‌e've made progress with your jump to first unread post suggestion - we've opted to use a chevron icon as opposed to the envelope you suggested. Please see screen grab below. I welcome any further feedback. Hopefully we've made this very easy now placing the button right alongside the title. This also allows forum admins to disable the tooltip shown when you hover over topic titles if they find this annoying whilst still offering a jump to first unread post option. 

‌‌‌

‌A‌s you would expect although we've already read the "Automatic Logbook" topic if this topic has had new replies since we last read the topic this topic will appear under the Unread tab as shown below...


I‌ look forward to your comments with regards to the first screen grab and jump to first unread post button,. Thanks again for your time helping us improve InstantForum Andy.‌
By adhawkins - 8/29/2017 11:41:55 AM

InstantASP - 8/17/2017 2:32:44 PM
Hi Andy,

W‌e've made progress with your jump to first unread post suggestion - we've opted to use a chevron icon as opposed to the envelope you suggested. Please see screen grab below. I welcome any further feedback. Hopefully we've made this very easy now placing the button right alongside the title. This also allows forum admins to disable the tooltip shown when you hover over topic titles if they find this annoying whilst still offering a jump to first unread post option. 

‌‌‌

‌A‌s you would expect although we've already read the "Automatic Logbook" topic if this topic has had new replies since we last read the topic this topic will appear under the Unread tab as shown below...


I‌ look forward to your comments with regards to the first screen grab and jump to first unread post button,. Thanks again for your time helping us improve InstantForum Andy.‌

Hi,

I‌s this new chevron available in the 'live' SkyDemon site, or only in the new preview version? I can't see it in the 'live' site.

A‌ndy
‌‌‌
By InstantASP - 9/14/2017 2:25:14 PM

adhawkins - 8/29/2017 11:41:55 AM
InstantASP - 8/17/2017 2:32:44 PM
Hi Andy,

W‌e've made progress with your jump to first unread post suggestion - we've opted to use a chevron icon as opposed to the envelope you suggested. Please see screen grab below. I welcome any further feedback. Hopefully we've made this very easy now placing the button right alongside the title. This also allows forum admins to disable the tooltip shown when you hover over topic titles if they find this annoying whilst still offering a jump to first unread post option. 

‌‌‌

‌A‌s you would expect although we've already read the "Automatic Logbook" topic if this topic has had new replies since we last read the topic this topic will appear under the Unread tab as shown below...


I‌ look forward to your comments with regards to the first screen grab and jump to first unread post button,. Thanks again for your time helping us improve InstantForum Andy.‌

Hi,

I‌s this new chevron available in the 'live' SkyDemon site, or only in the new preview version? I can't see it in the 'live' site.

A‌ndy
‌‌‌

Hi Andy,

G‌reat to hear from you. Apologies for my delay. I‌ believe that's only available in the new test site. ‌We do show a similar chevron icon in the current live site for mobile devices but not for the desktop view. Does this help Andy? If you have any preferences / feedback of course please let me know. 

R‌egards,
R‌yan
By ckurz7000 - 9/14/2017 2:57:58 PM

Hi Ryan,

I  mentione‌‌d this before but didn't get a satisfactory answer in that the problem still persits and is quite annoying. As I am typing this reply, there is a lag between hitting a key and seeing the corresponding letter appear on screen. That delay is about 0.3-0.5 seconds.Overall, the response to  keyboard input in text-entry windows is veeeerrrrrryyyyy sluggish. Sometimes, when I type fast or delete a couple of letters to correct a word, the caret will end up being wrongly positioned as well.

I am using Firefox‌ on a Windows 8.1 system. My internet connection is fast (fiber optic)‌ and it is definitely not a bandwidth problem.

Any  clues‌?

-- Chris.‌‌‌
By tnowak - 9/15/2017 7:26:03 AM

I see the same and we are on a poor internet connection...

Tony‌‌
By tnowak - 9/15/2017 7:26:45 AM

Should have mentioned, using Win 7 and Internet Explorer.
Tony‌