[quote=“Cdangel0, post:5, topic:3982”]
I’m open to suggestion - but let’s take the baby steps first. Who’s willing to contribute an article for the front page?
In fact I’ll up the ante on it - the first 2 people to submit original, non previously published, useful articles will receive complimentary entry in to the DVRC frag swap on April 9th.[/quote]
Done (Had one ready just haven’t submited yet) Electricity costs and determining what your equipment uses.
[quote=“a1amap, post:21, topic:3982”]
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:5, topic:3982”]
I’m open to suggestion - but let’s take the baby steps first. Who’s willing to contribute an article for the front page?
In fact I’ll up the ante on it - the first 2 people to submit original, non previously published, useful articles will receive complimentary entry in to the DVRC frag swap on April 9th.[/quote]
Done (Had one ready just haven’t submited yet) Electricity costs and determining what your equipment uses.[/quote]
Great - where is it?
Its on my work computer I will send it when I go in later
Aqualog? anybody? :think)
Having a place to post test results ect. and even share them could even make it easier to help each other when somebody is having a parameter problem.
I also have these that might be nice in the library.
[quote=“TimH07, post:24, topic:3982”]
Aqualog? anybody? :think)
Having a place to post test results ect. and even share them could even make it easier to help each other when somebody is having a parameter problem.[/quote]
Tim while we work on this why not post them up in the “members tank” section?
Yes, I am new and was not trying to say the site needs to be updated, since I am new and have the skillset and resources I thought it would be something I could offer to help the club.
The only reason I was asking for a dump was to make it easy for the Admins to compare not knowing their technical abilities.
I take no offense to my work not being used, I will create a mock site in the dark, let me know what you want as far as new features and I’ll try to make them work, or if you are working on a site and would like some coding or design help, i’ll try to help there too.
How about picture gallery? should we just stay with the member tanks forum that we have now and post it there as individual members tank pics? or can we have a random pics gallery that member can post for just that they want to post pics of their animal, tanks and so fourth? Just an idea to throw in.
Words typed have trouble showing inflection. Over the years I have learned that even the most innocent comment can sound rude when typed. I think everyone agrees it could use an update.
Hudson I would like to see what you come up with.
FYI I am not an officer and do not currently have backend access (use too have access and was a past officer). I don’t think having a data backup of the SMF files is a big deal and can be arranged.
Back a few years when we were looking at phpBB and fireboard we opened a test board and tried them both and neither set the world on fire with extra features that were must haves at the time. We imported SMF to give a better idea of the use of the board. We stayed with SMF because it was not worth the effort to change to encounter other problems when we switched.
Need
More functional forum - features, spell, less distracting crap that has to be panned past to get to the info.
Updated look and feel
Not a Joomla fan but to keep the site easier to use and transfer to new officers we would require some type of CMS with ease of use
Want:
Tank watch - those who have online up to date water parameter can be seen by the club.
Aqualog
Photo Gallary
More functional Library and links page
embed video w/ preview
Would be nice
Elec use calculator
Volume calculator
FYI we had the emotions as a pop up but there was an issue in SMF that caused a major error so we had to leave it on show. If we hide them all there were no issues but forum novices had trouble using /finding
I don't think having a data backup of the SMF files is a big deal and can be arranged.
Im not familiar with SMF but its my understanding that with SMF database you can see members info, email addresses and passwords. I remember a few years ago i couldnt remember what my password was or the email i used to set up my account so i asked Ted if he could reset my password or change the email used for my account and he replied with the password i used. The only way he could have done that is if he could see what i had used. IMO a database should not be given out freely for people to play around with design, its not needed.
[quote=“Chris_Barb, post:30, topic:3982”]
I don't think having a data backup of the SMF files is a big deal and can be arranged.
Im not familiar with SMF but its my understanding that with SMF database you can see members info, email addresses and passwords. I remember a few years ago i couldnt remember what my password was or the email i used to set up my account so i asked Ted if he could reset my password or change the email used for my account and he replied with the password i used. The only way he could have done that is if he could see what i had used. IMO a database should not be given out freely for people to play around with design, its not needed.[/quote]
If that is true and the password table is clear text that should be addressed as I really doubt this site is housed on a stand alone secure host.
I remember Ted talking about the data and it was not plain text able to read. We are using a bridge so the passwords are the same as on Joomla side. He may have / possibly went to that side and got the info, but I doubt it. Also when we played with it using fireboard we imported the data from SMF, we had to create a new password.
Any site made does not need the data to be tried out or tested. Once it is determined to advance with the design the data could be imported on the DRC site
Either way its not my call
The site is on Host Gator
SMF uses a MD5 hash algorithm or SHA1 for passwords depending on the release
Funny I use the same user name and password for every single reef related site I am on… except DRC. For some reason I decided with the new venture of the site that was a ghost town when I joined it with Ted and Al I should be a little cautious.
Again replacing the background image on the left and right with a file that contains a single white pixel would significantly change the look of the site and not require any advanced degree in programming. Finding where the code where it says, “Delaware Reef Club Forums Hello [user name] [date]” and hitting delete would not crash the server. There used to be a test copy of the site at something like drlreefclub.org/test or test site or something of that sort. Trying things over there would not have an effect on what the public sees.
There is two ways to go about making changes. Do a slightly little tweak that would take someone with FTP access and knowledge of what they were doing an hour or a complete site rebuild. There isn’t a line of people complaining about how the website works.
Tweak ~ 1 hour, maybe a day.
Complete site rebuild… perhaps weeks and may never get done.
As far as content goes the forum is the content in my opinion. How many articles do you see on Reef-Geeks? People make new content every day and all I think we need to do is make it easier for them to do so and trim the fat a bit on the useless text and images at the top of the page. If you want articles with useful information there are plenty of magazines and good books. It takes considerable time to write a good article especially one that hasn’t already been written by someone more knowledgeable and proof read by editors before publication. It would be nice to have more like the ones Al produced, but that is a separate issue. You can do one with out the other and it will still benefit all of us.
If you delete the spell check button then no one will likely complain that something that didn’t work is no longer there and a good bit of us use browsers that spell check anyways.
It’s ok if I have no idea what I am taking about and there is a lot of coding behind the big text that says “Delaware Reef Club Forums”, but honestly?
OK -so we got rid of the redundant Delaware Reef Club Forums banner. We did away with the spell check. enabled the search function, and I updated the profanity censor (because I can ;D )
Jon please elaborate on
replacing the background image on the left and right with a file that contains a single white pixel would significantly change the look of the site
You don’t like the Blue to Black gradiant?
Sweet.
I’m fine with the black on blue. Biggest thing I wanted to get rid of was the redundant and not working items. Other had mentioned the site needed a fresher look to I mentioned that as a very example of how easily things could be changed.
Take a look at the first two images I posted Craig. The DRC logo is on twice as well and we don’t really need the date and time at the very top. Previous next, Pages 123, reply notify Add poll are both at the top and the bottom. I personally think just the bottom is plenty. Last thing we want is someone to read the title of a thread and reply not even having scrolled down to see what anyone else has said. Would be awesome of search was to the top right next to About DRC. There is also a blue search between help and admin that is redundant. Take a look again at those images.
Good job Craig. I just took what should be nice videos of my sea star, you guys have to check out. Cross fingers they came out.
I liked being able to type in the search button with out going to the link however I found it annoying when it only searched the page you were already on. Personal opinion though.
How many articles do you see on Reef-Geeks?
Not quite sure what you mean or why my forum is being brought up but for the record we have quite a few nice articles on the forum. Yes, they are displayed as threads and i could easily add them to their own page but thats something I dont want to do.
Uh oh. Craig is in charge now. He’s going to start using his old logo that got voted against even though we have cup coasters with the logo Andy made, lol.
No offense intended Chris. I like the way yours are in threads and think the same thing should be done here. What is the saying, copying is a form of flattering? Anyways I like everything on the forum being in the forum. If someone like Chris writes a spectacular “article” on clams people can talk about it and give feedback as if it is a regular post and perhaps it will inspire others to start a new “article”/thread on something they know about.
I think the home page is a great place to share pictures of tanks of the month, recent meetings, or club trips, but keep the content to the threads. Personal opinion and a bit off topic as far as I am concerned. In the past someone has mentioned the fact that the spell checker doesn’t work and the response as been. "Since no one is writing in depth 10 page articles in word documents separate from the forums where no one can give feed back or discuss then we aren’t doing anything.
Seems like that was in the past though. Looks like Craig is a doer more then a talker.