Issue Information
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#000036
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Suggestion
1
8
13
Here is little thingy that IP.Board has to offer, that I've seen work great on other forums, including another LEGO-related forum.
http://community.inv...le/4322-portal/
I just think having the same style among all the site would be nice. Also, this portal feature will keep the RSS feed from messing up HTML in each RSS news article. That's what drives me insane when looking at my Google Reader which I have all of my LEGO-related news sites hooked up to for easy viewing on one page.
Update!
Adding a pros and cons list just for those curious.
Pros:
- All features that don't work right now would be able to work (hot topics list, etc)
- Get access to see your new notifications and messages on the front page, and even see what new messages you got, and who from.
- Style would be consistent between all parts of BZPower
- Talkback topics wouldn't have glitches with duplicate topics being made and raw HTML being visible
- You would be able to choose your theme between the themes available on BZPower's forums.
- Would be easy for the staff to update, add, or remove things on the main page
- News RSS would be integrated into IP.Board, so wouldn't have raw HTML visible in RSS viewers (Google Reader, etc)
- BZPower news stories could contain anything that can be contained in a BZPower Forums post, and the staff could even enable HTML on news stories for the IP.Board front page, so videos could be embedded, etc.
- The design everybody has come to love would be replaced with a fresh, new layout and design.
The BZPower staff can copy the main page's file (index.php) and rename it "legacy.php" or whatever they want, and put a link or even a setting (which would be more difficult) to use the old main page if you are the kind of person who hates change, and wants to keep the old design.
Except the reason that there are so many features that don't work is that it doesn't find compatibility with this version of IP.Board. The features would work with an IP.Board-based home page.I don't think this is needed, the homepage shows that this site is unique just like BS01
And BS01's main page still follows the style that every other page has. Having stylistic consistency and functionality across the site is the key to user-friendliness. Swert made BS01 follow a clean, simple style across all pages and templates.
This could benefit the forums either way but personally I think the design of the front page has been an icon for BZPower. A lot of us depended just on that one page to get all our news when the forums went down. If it was embedded into the forums themselves it then the whole site might be difficult to view if ever they are to have downtime again. Then again, I don't know much about the IPB system.
Pretty much this. I would want the front page to be independent of the boards simply because the forum system has let us down in the past. Putting all the proverbial eggs in one basket seems rather foolish IMO.
This could benefit the forums either way but personally I think the design of the front page has been an icon for BZPower. A lot of us depended just on that one page to get all our news when the forums went down. If it was embedded into the forums themselves it then the whole site might be difficult to view if ever they are to have downtime again. Then again, I don't know much about the IPB system.
I second this.
However, it is worth noting it needs a refresh. There's plenty of coders on the staff right now, and they can easily jam that into a resume. I know at least two people on BS01 staff who did so with BS01 when discussing their own resume.
On top of that, you also have to consider the Content Management System BZP uses is so delicate to begin with, there's no telling what would happen to the news archive if you started playing around with new website layouts.
Edited by Swert, Nov 19 2012 - 11:51 AM.
Good idea. I'd want a BZP feel to it (of course), and the front page really does need an upgrade. Supported!
~LTT~
Yeah, especially considering how Invision is messing up all kinds of things lately.Someone has already pointed out that putting all our eggs in one basket is...not quite wise.
-Gata
Edited by Gatanui, Dec 13 2012 - 03:59 PM.
It would be kind of ridiculous to convert to a generic forum-focused front page when most of what this site has going for it is the front page content.
I say we just modernize the front page...it looks like an old 1998 site (no disrespect intended to whoever made it...it's simply outdated).
-SK
Lehvorak
Con: if the forums go down everything else goes down as well.
No fix for that that I can see.
You forgot:
Con: if the forums go down everything else goes down as well.
No fix for that that I can see.
Well, that is only if they fix the forums, but I think it would be best if they fixed the homepage, not the forums. The forums is fine! They don't really have to shutdown everything if they are designing a new homepage for the website. Plus it would be nice to make it appealing and modernize it.
The good thing about redesigning it is that you can make it look simpler and easier for the user. It might be even possible to set up like a slideshow banner up there and have some pop-up bars that reveal certain things. This might require a lot of HTML and CSS coding... possibly some PHP if they try to go all out on some things.
All they need to do is incorporate some Java Script into areas for linking the member spotlight, login, etc. That is only if they want to link things from the forum and it may take time on the designing process... Maybe a good month or 2 before it will be completed?
Lehvorak
Edited by Grandmaster Lehvorak, Jan 24 2013 - 11:03 PM.
-Gata
The BZPower staff can copy the main page's file (index.php) and rename it "legacy.php" or whatever they want, and put a link or even a setting (which would be more difficult) to use the old main page if you are the kind of person who hates change, and wants to keep the old design.
And so, an awesome idea is born a swich mode between the old and new frontpage. This totally changed my vote.
Was fishers was saying is that if there is something wrong with the forum software, then not only go those offline but also the entire websie, simply because the front page would use the same software as the forums.
-Gata
Exactly.
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