Board update

[Phil White]

The board software has just been updated!

You will not notice a great deal of difference at the moment, but there are a couple of new functions that you should know about.

• At the bottom of the first post on every thread, there are a number of icons that allow you to share the thread on your favorite social media (Facebook, Twitter, and so on. If you like what you have read, please share it with your friends and followers!
• We now have a number of new styles that you can choose from. You can try these styles out using the style switcher, which is located in the middle of the page, just below the header bar in the default style and on the right, just below the header bar in the other styles. If you like the style and want to use it permanently, registered members can do so by going to the User Control Panel, choosing Board Preferences and selecting the style they want (don't forget to click Submit).
• For all styles, there is a font resizing button on the right of the navigation bar (it looks like a capital "A" with a magnifying glass). This allows you to resize the fonts used on the board. There are three settings and clicking the button cycles through the settings.

One of the styles (Visio) has been specially designed for visually impaired users. It features high-contrast colors and a large, bold font. I am working with the designers of this style to make it even more accessible.

We have done our best to ensure that there are no gremlins, but if you notice anything untoward, please send me a private message.

We hope you enjoy the new look to the Clubhouse. Over the next few months, we shall be working on the other pages of the site so that they also appear in whatever style you prefer.

[Edwin F Ashworth]

Thank you for the essential input, Phil. Have a happy New Year (and stop sending us all this rain). Edwin

[Wizard of Oz]

.. thanks again mate for your continued work to make our experience better .. can they make an old farts version ?? ..

WoZ the old fart

[Phil White]

.can they make an old farts version ??

Switch to the Visio style. It's well on the way, and the one I use...

Pthrrrrp

[tony h]

.can they make an old farts version ??

Switch to the Visio style. It's well on the way, and the one I use...

Pthrrrrp

Dear Phil thanks for all the had work and the recommendation for Visio. Visio is the way to go.

[Phil White]

Happy new year to all!

Unfortunately, Visio is, quite frankly, pig-ugly, but very readable.

I am in touch with the team in France who developed it and have already made a number of recommendations that will flow into the next version.

I am also working, with the support of the PHPBB development team, on making the entire board software accessible for screen readers and keyboard users. I just finished a rough and ready version of this on my local development board, where blind users and users who cannot use the mouse can navigate the site far more efficiently, at least in the page where you view a thread. I still have to do the same for all the other pages.

Out of interest, you can "see" how blind users perceive any page on the Web by going to
http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu/beta/

Read the instructions about the keys used for navigation and then load up a web page by pressing CTRL+L and entering the URL.

It is not as sophisticated as a real screenreader, but it does a damned good job.

Try loading up a page and then putting the mouse out of reach (blind users cannot use a mouse). It is a salutary experience. I know screenreader users who can navigate through some web pages faster than a sighted user, but they have the speed of the voice turned up so fast that a most people would not understand a word!

[Edwin F Ashworth]

Do they also hold blind auctions?

[dante]

Hi Phil, Happy New Year to you too !

I love the new look, much better than the old grey interface. It's great that you've offered different colour schemes, I like them all, with a slight preference for WWBrown at the moment. Keep up the good work!

[Phil White]

Happy new year to you too!

Yes, I find the new styles far easier to use, and I shall, at some time, be withdrawing the old style because it requires a lot of maintenance when we upgrade the board software.

I am currently working on restyling the rest of the site (other than the forum) to match the new styles.

If anybody has any suggestions, either on the appearance of the site or on the content of the site outside the forum, we would be very glad to hear them.

[dante]

Thank you Phil!
To me, the interface feels just fine now, I like the choice of colours. It happens sometimes when I open the site that it reverted back to the old style, but as you are removing it soon that problem will solved.

[Erik_Kowal]

You can make your chosen style permanent, as follows:

User Control Panel > Board preferences > Edit global settings > My board style: > [Drop-down menu of styles] > [Submit]

[Phil White]

The new styles have not yet been implemented anywhere on the site apart from the forum itself, so if you call the site through the main page rather than directly through the forum, you will always see the old-style first. If you are not logged in, you will also see the old-style by default until you log in.

Converting the rest of the site to the new styles is exactly what I'm working on at the moment. Although I am doing quite well, it will still take some time before this work is complete. I envisage a couple of months at least.

[Phil White]

You can make your chosen style permanent, as follows:

User Control Panel > Board preferences > Edit global settings > My board style: > [Drop-down menu of styles] > [Submit]

As far as I understand the function, if you are permanently logged in, using the style switcher (the one in the header, not the one in the user control panel) makes this change for you. If you are not logged in, the change applies to your entire browsing session, but will be lost the next time you visit the site.

I may, however, be wrong, as I am using three different versions of the site on different machines, and am constantly switching between styles to check things. It is not difficult to confuse me.

At present, I am making no changes to the live site that you all see. All the work is being done on my local development sites.

[Erik_Kowal]

Whoa! I guess I jumped the gun somewhat. (Or possibly the shark.)

[dante]

I've already tried that Erik, still happens that I get the old style back instead of the chosen colour scheme.
My forum interface changes back to the old style whether I open forum directly or through the main site Phil . I think that the changes of the style are kept for a browsing session whether I'm logged in or not. When I close the browser sometimes it will revert back to the old style and sometimes not.