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Big update coming to DV soon (hopefully)


Steve

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I'm a big fan of Invision Power Board (the forum software that DV uses), but over the years they have shoe-horned a lot of stuff into version 3 and the way certain things work can be a little clunky. The editor has some quirks too.

 

Version 4 of the software is due for release before the end of 2013. While they are reusing some code, a lot of stuff has been completely rewritten.

 

Here's some of the improvements the update will bring: -

 

Editor - The editor has been rewritten to make it easier to use. Sometimes when you use it now, if, for example, you want to split some text up unto multiple quotes, it can be a pain, particularly if you accidentally delete part of the text. Also, sometimes the editor will insert random line breaks, or remove line breaks. All of that will be sorted.

 

Embedding content - Currently, I have to set up code in the admin control panel so that certain links are recognised and automatically turned into embedded players. This can be problematic as a user might just want to post a link. Also, if the code a site uses changes, it breaks the embedded players. In version 4, there is a button you can press to insert a link. When you paste the link in, you can see a preview of what the embedded player will look like and you can choose to just post a regular link instead of you want to. Also, the code for embedding will be kept up to date automatically.

 

Uploading - If you're in a member group that's allowed to attach files in certain sections, for example, attaching images to your post in the Gallery section, you can now just drag and drop a file straight into your post and the file type will be recognised and handled automatically.

 

@mentions - You will be able to @mention someone in a post to get their attention, so if you type "@Jimmy, what do you think of this idea?" in a post, Jimmy will get a notification and he can click a link in it to go straight to the thread. As you type @ and begin to type the name, it will automatically show you a list of potential users that will narrow down as you continue typing.

 

Automatic saving - Currently, when you're writing a post, the content is saved every 2 minutes. In the new version, it will be saved every few seconds, so if you accidentally close a tab or whatever, you'll be able to get your post back without having to rewrite it.

 

Mobile - Since version 3 of the software came out in 2009, smartphone and tablet use has gone way up. Version 4 of the software is designed to look and function much better if you're using a smartphone/tablet.

 

Anyway, that's just a few of the things that will change. I remember when we upgraded from version 2 to version 3 and some people disliked it at first, but just like that upgrade, this will only be for the better in the long run as it will fix issues, add new features and improvements, and make the site look and perform better.

 

I don't plan to jump straight into version 4 when it's released, as I usually do with the smaller updates, but once I'm satisfied that there are no major bugs (via feedback from other users on the Invision forums), DV will go down for a little while so I can get this sorted out - hopefully only for a couple of hours as long as the update goes smoothly. There are a ton of files/folders on the server that are left over from old versions of the site, so I intend to do some proper spring cleaning.

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Oh and, numnuts, before you ask, yes, dopp and Wax will still be as unfunny as ever when the site is updated.

 

"Humour" attempt 1 - Type in hashtags.

"Humour" attempt 2 - Use "funny" misspellings of words.

"Humour" attempt 3 - Mention karma points on that Cocks & Bellends website.

 

^^Expect to see more of that "hilarity" and make sure you wear your strongest corset so your sides don't split.

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  • 8 months later...

Bah, it looks like we won't be upgrading to the new version of the software, which is a real shame as it looks awesome (they've released more info on it since I started this thread). It requires the server to be running certain versions of things like PHP and MySQL. The versions our web host is running are too old and given that it's a shared server with tons of other websites being hosted on it, I can't see them upgrading any time soon.

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