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Post by Avalikia on Jul 5, 2015 1:58:43 GMT -5
If you're one of those people who is always logged in and never logs out, you should probably log out before reading this message because otherwise the rest of this will make no sense. Once you do, you can join the rest of us in Oohing and Aahing over the very obvious change to the site I've made. To make the new theme come up when you are logged in, you need to click on: Profile -> Edit Profile -> Settings -> Forum Theme and choose 'Arkham'.
Important Disclaimer on Bugs
But there's some things to be aware of: I am officially not done yet. But I am done enough to make it available to everyone. But it's in Beta - there are bugs. But they're little bugs and the site is fully functional.
One known bug is that if you're using Chrome the tabs in the sidebar, the Previous and Next buttons, and the charts in the statistics tab all mysteriously disappear when you scroll down. I don't know why, but I'm working on figuring that out. In the meantime, clicking where the buttons are supposed to be still works.
If you find anything else that's behaving oddly or looks wrong or you just plain don't like it, I'm going to set up a bug reporting thread in the OOC Chatter board - post there and I'll get it them taken care of - I've changed so many things that it's impossible for me to notice every problem personally.
Also note that you do not need to use this new theme, but it's going to have a lot of functionality that is not backwards compatible - you will be missing out if you use the older themes, and some screwy things may happen because they'll start having to deal with data that they aren't designed to happen and things will look terrible - and I many not go back and fix it. What to do with the older themes is not something I've worked out yet, so for now this will be the only theme moving forward with this transition.
Using the Features of the New Theme
Navigation - The Quick Links are gone - there is now a drop-down menu attached to the links at the top of the forum. I literally did research to find out which pages are used around here the most often, and all of those and then some are linked there, so it should be easy to find the forum's most popular pages. (Let me know if you'd like to see more.)
Avatars - One of the huge new features is your ability to further customize your mini-profile. One of the most exciting additions is that avatars can now be up to 200x200. You can go even bigger than that, actually, but if you do then it'll get resized. However, Proboards will only host avatars that are up to 150x150 so if you want to take advantage of the new size you'll have to find another site to host it - like you have to do with signature pics. If you have any difficulties with figuring all that out, say so - lots of people around here know how to help with that problem.
Signatures are also a new size - they can now be up to 726px wide. However, what I give with one hand, I take away with another: signatures can no longer be any higher than 250px tall - if they are, then whatever is more than that will be cut off.
There are also now a bunch of things to customize in the mini-profiles - all of these settings can be manipulated by going to Profiles -> Edit Profile -> Personal - they appear at the bottom. Note that all of these are optional.
Note: So that people don't go totally crazy, the size of the entire mini-profile is limited to 600px - if you put too much in there, it will get cut off.
One more item of note: A new feature on the forum is that groups get a custom background for their mini-profile. The groups system has not been used much, so at the moment you'll mostly just see the staff members with them. If you have one and don't like it, let me know - they're all just ones I threw together really quick so that you'd have something and I'm happy to change it up for you. The groups will become a bigger part of the site in the future - if you'd like to look into what's required for a group on this forum, the thread for that is found here, but do keep in mind that it's too early for the vast majority of characters to start gathering their posse for the city ICly.
All of that said
Enjoy the new site design! And let me know if you have any questions/comments/complaints/cookies/etc. and I will be happy to help. I'm still going to technically be on hiatus for a little bit, but mostly just until the initial bugs are all worked out.
Important Disclaimer on Bugs
But there's some things to be aware of: I am officially not done yet. But I am done enough to make it available to everyone. But it's in Beta - there are bugs. But they're little bugs and the site is fully functional.
One known bug is that if you're using Chrome the tabs in the sidebar, the Previous and Next buttons, and the charts in the statistics tab all mysteriously disappear when you scroll down. I don't know why, but I'm working on figuring that out. In the meantime, clicking where the buttons are supposed to be still works.
If you find anything else that's behaving oddly or looks wrong or you just plain don't like it, I'm going to set up a bug reporting thread in the OOC Chatter board - post there and I'll get it them taken care of - I've changed so many things that it's impossible for me to notice every problem personally.
Also note that you do not need to use this new theme, but it's going to have a lot of functionality that is not backwards compatible - you will be missing out if you use the older themes, and some screwy things may happen because they'll start having to deal with data that they aren't designed to happen and things will look terrible - and I many not go back and fix it. What to do with the older themes is not something I've worked out yet, so for now this will be the only theme moving forward with this transition.
Using the Features of the New Theme
Navigation - The Quick Links are gone - there is now a drop-down menu attached to the links at the top of the forum. I literally did research to find out which pages are used around here the most often, and all of those and then some are linked there, so it should be easy to find the forum's most popular pages. (Let me know if you'd like to see more.)
Avatars - One of the huge new features is your ability to further customize your mini-profile. One of the most exciting additions is that avatars can now be up to 200x200. You can go even bigger than that, actually, but if you do then it'll get resized. However, Proboards will only host avatars that are up to 150x150 so if you want to take advantage of the new size you'll have to find another site to host it - like you have to do with signature pics. If you have any difficulties with figuring all that out, say so - lots of people around here know how to help with that problem.
Signatures are also a new size - they can now be up to 726px wide. However, what I give with one hand, I take away with another: signatures can no longer be any higher than 250px tall - if they are, then whatever is more than that will be cut off.
There are also now a bunch of things to customize in the mini-profiles - all of these settings can be manipulated by going to Profiles -> Edit Profile -> Personal - they appear at the bottom. Note that all of these are optional.
- Player Name - If you'd like people to be able to identify you, the player, by a specific screenname, put it here. This does not mean your real name, unless you're not at all paranoid about crazy internet stalkers finding you somehow.
- MP3 - Here you can put a link to an MP3, and it will play right from your mini-profile. Note that it has to be an MP3, hosted on a site that allows hot-linking - Kiwi6 lets you sign up for free and it's the site I've seen people use the most. Please remember to keep your selections in line with our PG-13 rating.
- Profile Link - Throw the url for your character's profile page in here and then everyone can find it easily.
- Relationship Status - Here you can declare your character's current relationship status from a number of fun options. (Let me know if you'd like to see more.)
- Partner Name - Here you can flat out say who that relationship status is for.
- Profile Decor - Throw a link to a pic in here and it will display near the bottom of your mini-profile. If it's wider than 100px then it will be resized.
Note: So that people don't go totally crazy, the size of the entire mini-profile is limited to 600px - if you put too much in there, it will get cut off.
One more item of note: A new feature on the forum is that groups get a custom background for their mini-profile. The groups system has not been used much, so at the moment you'll mostly just see the staff members with them. If you have one and don't like it, let me know - they're all just ones I threw together really quick so that you'd have something and I'm happy to change it up for you. The groups will become a bigger part of the site in the future - if you'd like to look into what's required for a group on this forum, the thread for that is found here, but do keep in mind that it's too early for the vast majority of characters to start gathering their posse for the city ICly.
All of that said
Enjoy the new site design! And let me know if you have any questions/comments/complaints/cookies/etc. and I will be happy to help. I'm still going to technically be on hiatus for a little bit, but mostly just until the initial bugs are all worked out.
