Now available for testing: dBoard 3.0 Beta

Has the test period ended?the URL doesn't make any sense, the server is named "test."?

Yes, the test period has ended, you are now using dBoard 3.0

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I hunt for the truth

Ah, okay. You're not the first to mention this issue.The behavior of the "Replies" column has changed. It used to indicate only if your last message in a thread had any replies. It now indicates whether any of your messages in a thread have replies that you haven't responded to.If you look at the bottom of your displayed messages you'll see that replies you haven't responded say either "yes" or "no" under the "You have responded" column. If it says "no" then you can change it to "noted" by clicking on the "no" link, or you can change it to "yes" by responding to the reply. When all the replies have either "noted" or "yes" then this message will no longer contribute to the "Yes" in the "Replies" column.I was forced to release the code earlier than I would have liked, and the plan is to turn the "Yes" into a link you can click on to mark all replies to your messages in a thread as "noted" if you haven't responded, and that's just the stopgap. The intended full behavior should be pretty neat when I can get to it.

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

Rio! We want postcards!!Thanks for stepping up! I'll put together a list sometime in the next couple weeks, and where relevant I'll provide details of the desired appearance.You may have a tool you already prefer, but if not then Gimp is one you might consider.

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

I thought so, but I must admit I was deceived by the new appearance. I was not logged in when I clicked the topic, and since it did not have multiple pages on the "all topics" view, I assumed it had only one page of posts, and the last one I saw called for further testing - which in my head translated to "We are not ready to go live , go to this URL".Of course there is no reason to leave the link for a test site that is no more

The link to the test board somehow became corrupted during the upgrade. I've fixed the link in Message 1 and it now works again. Anyone who wants to play over at the test board can still do so, but I'm not going to fix anything over there. If anyone wants to play administrator over there just to see some of the stuff that's behind the curtain just let me know.

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

Yo, hint hint.

Poof, you're a director, you can do anything. Don't wreck the joint.

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

Just a suggestion for your next upgrade. I noticed that I could only ban one person at a time. That took time! I think you should come up with a feature for a director to be able to ban whole groups of people with same characteristics. For example, I went ahead and banned all people who's name started with "admin". The feature I'm suggesting is a director would have the option to ban all people who's username starts with certain letters like "admin".

Thanks for the suggestion. Please keep ideas like this coming. I add the good ones to the "todo" list.In general, the ability to carry out certain administrative functions in wholesale fashion would be very useful. There are a number of planned enhancements in this area, and one of them includes the ability to create groups of members that all possess the same property, such as being banned. For the most part this grouping process would be invisible to members but would be very useful for administrators. Once this is implemented then other features like the one you mention could be implemented.

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

Hi, just a thought:Each thread page has the chart at the top where it describes who's posted in each thread, number of posts, and the availability to see "[screen name] Posts Only."Great feature, and I like to use it. My issue is that this chart kind of becomes a mini command-centre for controlling the view of the thread. When I use this chart to change the thread, I cannot return to this chart to go back to "Normal Thread Display." I have to know (or remember) that the Normal Thread Display link is available under the poster's avatar attached to the actual post.I know that it was setup originally without that chart in mind at all. And then the links were all in the same area (under the avatar). But, well, with the chart there now, the cognitive continuity of how to change things is slightly skewed. We can go to [screen name] Posts Only in two different areas, but only revert back to Normal Thread Display in one of those areas.My suggestion is to add a "Normal Thread Display" link to this chart (perhaps in the Member's Posts title area somewhere?). That way, if I use this chart to change the thread view, I can go back to this chart in order to revert the thread to normal.A very small and possibly unneccessary suggestion, but it is what I'd like to see. And I'm hoping it may be easy to do as well?

Hi Stile,Okay, two things, one good, one bad.First the good.What a great idea! In addition to a"return to normal display" link I can highlight in the chart the row of the member whose posts are displayed, and I can add the same information to the context line (that's the line that says "EvC Forum => All Forums => etc...").Now the bad, assuming, that is, that you're as lazy as you say.The world can be divided into two types of people: those who see things as there are and ask themselves, "How can I make this work for me?" And those who see things as they are and ask themselves, "How could this be made to work better for me?"You seem to be in the latter category.Naturally I'm glad to have suggestions from anyone, but given your predilection in this area I wonder if you'd be willing to more systematically review the board's appearance and functions with an eye toward improvements. I'm moving closer daily (well, maybe weekly) to the productization stage, and this kind of feedback could prove invaluable.If you're interested then I should mention that there's also an administrative side to the board that I would give you access to, though not to this board but a test board, because in examing the administrative functions you would in many cases be changing board appearance and function.I also need graphics help. NosyNed has tried to help out, but I think he keeps running into time limitations. For administrators defining a new board's appearance I'd like them to start with a good selection, e.g., five arrow styles, five button styles, etc. Naturally they can also choose to brew their own images. Volunteers may apply by responding in this thread.

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

Very lazy... very, very lazy. It's amazing I haven't died of starvation yet, really. (Shhhhh... don't tell my boss)Let's just say I've dealt with customer's before and sometimes I get ideas to prevent possible client complaints or frustrations before they get their hands on the product. I took a very interesting course in university on the science of cognition and aesthetics. I don't even remember the name of the course now. But the ideas were those kinds of things that everybody knows, but you don't really think about until you're forced to sit in a class-room and be tested on them. It was a cool way to get the required credits for the piece of paper that sits in a frame in my closet, facing the wall. I would be interested. But I must get serious for a moment:I know you're preping this software for public availability and (hopefully) some personal financial gain. I think you should, it's a really great software you've developed here and I think there'll be some sort of market for such. I've been freely using your provided software for some years now, my thank-you for that is pointing out whatever I see, whenever I can to help you as much as I can with whatever personal gain you may or may not ever get out of such software. I think of it as... my payment to you for all the free-ware software I've taken advantage of over the years without ever providing any feedback or financial support for any of it.Systematic? Sorry, I don't have the time to do something all-encompasing. But I certainly will devote what time I do have to looking around, poking around, and seeing if I can help give you any advice for your endeavors. My time is generally very sporadic. I'll have a few days where I have a bit of spare time... then a week or two where I can't do anything at all... and I don't get much notice on what happens when. But I most certainly will agree to do what I can, when I can for whatever I can. I really am thankful for the "whole-shebang" you present here at EvC (free-of-charge to me) and if I can repay some of that by helping you at all, I will.Just don't place any expectations on me, because you will likely be disappointed I've never done graphics stuff before. Not my forte at all. I make no promises whatsoever in this department (sorry). Feel free to pass on whatever you'd like to have looked at and done, but I really don't think I'll be able to add much where graphics are concerned. Ever thought about getting in touch with a university or college? Sounds like a great idea for some visual graphic student's general case-study type project-thing anyway

I understand the limited free time. Even just a mindset of "how could this be better" while you're here would be much appreciated.The mention of my need for images was for anyone who might be interested. I've thought about contacting our high school, and we do have a couple local community colleges. Those are possibilities.

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--	Percy
	EvC Forum Director

Deal.But, yeah, set me up with a mock-board to poke around in with admin abilities and I'll see what else comes to mind.