Over the past few days, regular visitors may have noticed a series of small changes to the front page. This is from a brand new article and widget system I have recently implemented here on 8WAYRUN. I have done my best to keep the new system looking like the old system, but there are a myriad of changes behind the scene.
Firstly, and most importantly: the front page article list. The new system has a much better record when it comes to performance. The front page will now load three times faster (according to database performance, not necessarily your bandwidth constraints). In addition to this, you will notice the new larger feature slider which spans the length of the entire page instead. Fully response, this slider will work on your touch devices.
Also on the front page are two new links on the sub-navigation bar: "Authors" and "Settings". The new articles system support author bylines. Clicking on the Authors link will bring you to a page listing all the registered authors in the system. Clicking on each author will allow you to search for articles written by that specific author. If you are an author who has had several of their threads promoted into articles and would like your own author byline block; just let me know and I will set one up for you.
The Settings link you all will probably find much more useful. On this page you will have the ability to customize the front page of 8WAYRUN to your liking. Using the category filter option, you can choose to hide articles you may not be interested in. Don't care about Unbreakable Soul or Lost Swords? Well now you can hide them! Keep in mind that articles will only be hidden if you have excluded every category that the article is a member.
The other current feature on the settings page is the widget arrangement option. Using this option, you can drag and drop widgets around the front page to organize the article list to look however you wish. In addition to the default widgets you currently see on the front page, there are a number of disabled-by-default widgets that you can enable and use to your liking.
Next would be the various changes implemented on the article view pages. Besides the obvious, that the author's byline will appear below the article, there are a number of other small changes. Firstly, there is a new "tagging" feature. Users can now tag articles from a set of pre-defined tags. If you submit a tag that doesn't exist, it will be ignored. Super Moderators will be able to submit and create new tags, so if you want a new tag added to the pre-defined list, just let one of them know. We won't be allowing just anyone to create new tags, as we've seen in the past that can get a bit out of hand and risque.
Another obvious feature is the inclusion of Disqus and Facebook comments to the comment feed of articles. By default, the locally-hosted comments are shown, but you can click tabs that switch to the different types of comments. This will allow people who aren't members of 8WAYRUN to comment and start a conversation on articles and expand the social presence of this website.
Some other background changes to article view pages are the enhancements to the post bit. Comments on article pages are supposed to look like comments, not thread posts. However, in the past, when someone commented on an article, or edited a post in an article, the returned comment would look like a post. This bug has been fixed and now everything will appear much more seamless and uniform.
There are many other changes, but they are mostly behind the scenes and nothing you should be worried about. If you are a member of the moderation team, you should stay up to date of procedural changes mentioned in the Administration and Moderation forum.
Firstly, and most importantly: the front page article list. The new system has a much better record when it comes to performance. The front page will now load three times faster (according to database performance, not necessarily your bandwidth constraints). In addition to this, you will notice the new larger feature slider which spans the length of the entire page instead. Fully response, this slider will work on your touch devices.
Also on the front page are two new links on the sub-navigation bar: "Authors" and "Settings". The new articles system support author bylines. Clicking on the Authors link will bring you to a page listing all the registered authors in the system. Clicking on each author will allow you to search for articles written by that specific author. If you are an author who has had several of their threads promoted into articles and would like your own author byline block; just let me know and I will set one up for you.
The Settings link you all will probably find much more useful. On this page you will have the ability to customize the front page of 8WAYRUN to your liking. Using the category filter option, you can choose to hide articles you may not be interested in. Don't care about Unbreakable Soul or Lost Swords? Well now you can hide them! Keep in mind that articles will only be hidden if you have excluded every category that the article is a member.
The other current feature on the settings page is the widget arrangement option. Using this option, you can drag and drop widgets around the front page to organize the article list to look however you wish. In addition to the default widgets you currently see on the front page, there are a number of disabled-by-default widgets that you can enable and use to your liking.
Next would be the various changes implemented on the article view pages. Besides the obvious, that the author's byline will appear below the article, there are a number of other small changes. Firstly, there is a new "tagging" feature. Users can now tag articles from a set of pre-defined tags. If you submit a tag that doesn't exist, it will be ignored. Super Moderators will be able to submit and create new tags, so if you want a new tag added to the pre-defined list, just let one of them know. We won't be allowing just anyone to create new tags, as we've seen in the past that can get a bit out of hand and risque.
Another obvious feature is the inclusion of Disqus and Facebook comments to the comment feed of articles. By default, the locally-hosted comments are shown, but you can click tabs that switch to the different types of comments. This will allow people who aren't members of 8WAYRUN to comment and start a conversation on articles and expand the social presence of this website.
Some other background changes to article view pages are the enhancements to the post bit. Comments on article pages are supposed to look like comments, not thread posts. However, in the past, when someone commented on an article, or edited a post in an article, the returned comment would look like a post. This bug has been fixed and now everything will appear much more seamless and uniform.
There are many other changes, but they are mostly behind the scenes and nothing you should be worried about. If you are a member of the moderation team, you should stay up to date of procedural changes mentioned in the Administration and Moderation forum.
