Site changes coming this Summer

[Niall]

Greetings all,
With just a couple of months left in the 2012/13 season, I thought now would be a good time to let you know about some changes coming to the site this Summer.

The forum will be migrating away from vBulletin to the XenForo forum platform sometime in June. I have been planning this move for quite a while but put it on hold until the legal dispute between XenForo and vBulletin was resolved. XenForo recently won that legal battle so the switch is now definitely going through.

This will come as a big relief for me as the site has been stagnating on this version of vBulletin for years and any improvements / innovations I've wanted to introduce are so difficult that the site has pretty much hit a dead-end in terms of new features. XenForo will be a fresh new platform and I intend to build on it to improve the site further.

XenForo is a slick, modern forum system that will be a big improvement over the version of vBulletin that the site is currently running. I won't list the features here, you can visit their website to see it in action. Here are a few screengrabs from my local working copy. This is still a work in progress but will give you an idea of how things will look.

(click for larger version)







In terms of other new features, I'm working on a dedicated Match Day section to replace the existing Match Day forum so there is more to do before, during and after matches.

Features I'd like to have include:

• real-time discussion during matches. NOT a chat room, but essentially a normal topic where new posts appear without refreshing
• post match player ratings with season leaderboards, stats, graphs etc
• post match Man of the Match voting with season leaderboards, stats, graphs etc
• Pre-match score predictions game with a league table of the most accurate users
• match previews articles (the ask the opposition slot which Solius is currently doing could be part of this)
• automated / interactive lineups game (currently run by Big-Red here).
• other cool features people come up with...

This is obviously a big piece of work, with an initial release targeted for the 2013/14 pre-season. Only a sub-set of the above features are likely to be ready by then.

Obviously this is your community and your input on improvements / new features you would like to see on the site is very important. So please post your thoughts on the above and any other (serious) ideas you may have for ways we can improve the site.

Go....!

 

[Wonder Pigeon]

Sounds cool.

 

[Summit]

I Like the new look.

 

[Zarlak]

Looks excellent. Thanks Niall.

 

[Zebs]

Looks pretty good Niall.

Not a huge fan of the third picture though. Seems to lack a bit of colour or something.

 

[Lynk]

It's looking good! If I were to have a criticism and I'm bearing in mind this is still work in progress, but the orange headers and quotes look a little odd?

 

[Wumminator]

I'll be the first to say I absolutely hate it and am leaving the site in protest.

 

[Mystry]

Certainly looks cool. Matchday features sound especially great.

 

[Siorac]

I like the look as well; it's not too radical, retains the familiar feeling with some fresh air. Even though it will be on a completely new platform.

Not sure about the real time discussion; match day threads move so fast that new posts will appear all the time without a break. It's more relaxing to just refresh every once in a while, imho.

 

[oates]

Looks good Niall.

 

[Joemo]

Looks good. On the comments is there not going to be a time-stamp?

 

[Mr Anderson]

I like the look. Love the idea of stats and leader boards and all that, people like feeky_magee spring to mind here. The overall match day experience sounds cool.

 

[AttackingFlair]

Personally prefer vb which I find easy to use in comparison, especially on a mobile device.

 

[Mr Anderson]

I see Share this page links, people wanted stuff like that didnt they? What is the idea behind the "likes" heading in the first screengrab in nialls profile to the right? Will that be incorporated or is that just there due to the ongoing build?

 

[Wumminator]

One suggestion I'd love to see implemented.

A "like" button for posts you like and a "reputation" feature where we can give positive or negative rep to individual users based on their posting.

 

[Summit]

One suggestion I'd love to see implemented.

A "like" button for posts you like and a "reputation" feature where we can give positive or negative rep to individual users based on their posting.

Although a good idea, I can't help feel that it would just be abused.

 

[Dargonk]

Some nice new features in the pipeline which sound good. I'm sure the visual changes will take some getting used to.

Will redcafe be shut down for any period when the transfer happens?

 

[Irwinwastheking]

I wonder is it possible to automate the Last Man Standing game Niall?

 

[Cina]

I'll be the first to say I absolutely hate it and am leaving the site in protest.

Oh no, please, don't go, no, stop...

Looks great Niall, can't wait!

 

[Minkaro]

I'll be the first to say I absolutely hate it and am leaving the site in protest.

On a completely unrelated note, I am now 100% behind this idea.

Seriously though, the new matchday section sounds great.

 

[Wumminator]

Although a good idea, I can't help feel that it would just be abused.

Well yeah but that'd be hilarious.

 

[Summit]

Well yeah but that'd be hilarious.

Well in that case then, why not.

 

[Cina]

Although a good idea, I can't help feel that it would just be abused.

It's an awful idea, "thanks" and "likes" and what not ruin sites, just look at boards.ie as an example.

 

[Irwinwastheking]

I wonder will Facebook and Twitter API's be used? Would have been handy last night for the Keegangate!

 

[Carl]

I'd love an option to strip it of any colour etc just so it's less noticeable at work.

 

[Skywarden]

(How)will this affect Tapatalk?
Is that an avatar space I see in the first picture?

 

[Irwinwastheking]

I'd love an option to strip it of any colour etc just so it's less noticeable at work.

This, and get rid of the smilies on the advanced page.

Maybe a MS Office Skin would be good!?

 

[Joemo]

I'd love an option to strip it of any colour etc just so it's less noticeable at work.

There's an add-on you can get to IE, Chrome and Firefox that makes it look like a spreadsheet. I can't remember what it's called but there's a cup of coffee symbol you click in the top right and it goes black and white.

 

[Penna]

Looks clean and easy-to-read. I think the matchday proposals sound a really good idea.

Please, no "like/dislike" feature. It adds nothing, IMO except to generally "dumb down".

 

[Big-Red]

I wonder is it possible to automate the Last Man Standing game Niall?

If they can do the Lineups game, then that wouldn't actually be too hard either.

 

[The Don]

I dont know if its possible on xeno yet but real time notifications when someone replies to one of your subscribed threads would be cool and a notification when someone quotes you would be awesome.

Also, I'm sure image auto resizing will be a standard feature on any new forum software but if not, implimenting that some time in the future would be excellent.

throw in an automated bookie system and a darker skin for night time viewing and we'll be all set.

Oh and let me keep my avatar when we move because its awesome. Thanks!

 

[Irwinwastheking]

Looks clean and easy-to-read. I think the matchday proposals sound a really good idea.

Please, no "like/dislike" feature. It adds nothing, IMO except to generally "dumb down".

Bringing it down to my level!

If they can do the Lineups game, then that wouldn't actually be too hard either.

It was that which made me ask. Also if its a site feature rather than just a thread you'll get a lot more participation.

 

[Phurry]

This, and get rid of the smilies on the advanced page.

Maybe a MS Office Skin would be good!?

Another vote for this.

Also someone suggested a while back, and I think it's a good idea, to get a mandatory field in everyone's profile for the team they support and to have that displayed on the left side of their posts, either as text or club crest, along with the location, tagline etc?

 

[Irwinwastheking]

Will these changes enable the United Against Racism logo to be prominently displayed?

 

[Ish]

Looks/sounds good Niall

 

[Dargonk]

A "like" button for posts you like and a "reputation" feature where we can give positive or negative rep to individual users based on their posting.

I wouldn't want to see it on the forum. Pointless feature really that just adds clutter to the page on all the forums I've seen with it.

I'd love an option to strip it of any colour etc just so it's less noticeable at work.

Would be handy, or at least a couple of different skins (all red of course). Though Chrome does have an app that can do that for you already.

I dont know if its possible on xeno yet but real time notifications when someone replies to one of your subscribed threads would be cool and a notification when someone quotes you would be awesome.

Also, I'm sure image auto resizing will be a standard feature on any new forum software but if not, implimenting that some time in the future would be excellent.

Both good ideas, Would be nice to be able to go to a page that tells you if you have been quoted or not. Something similar to the 'view new posts' like a 'view new direct replies'

Auto Image resizing for massive pictures would be useful as well.

 

[Flying Fox]

Xen is slick as feck.

Another site I mod on has made the jump from VB to Xen. Bit choppy at first (especially with regards to moderation as I believe infractions and bans will be voided) but now works rather well.

Both good ideas, Would be nice to be able to go to a page that tells you if you have been quoted or not. Something similar to the 'view new posts' like a 'view new direct replies'

Auto Image resizing for massive pictures would be useful as well.

This is possible

 

[Flying Fox]

If people want to see examples in action;

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/

or... http://www.bigsoccer.com/community/#_=_

 

[Dargonk]

This is possible

Both the quote part and the Image resizing? Or just the Image side?

 

[Scrumpet]

Xen is slick as feck.

Another site I mod on has made the jump from VB to Xen. Bit choppy at first (especially with regards to moderation as I believe infractions and bans will be voided) but now works rather well.



This is possible

Good heavens, that could be an eventful few days.