Endless Sphere 2.0 Preview - please provide feedback!

[neptronix]

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What's this all about?
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We have prepared a preview of the phpbb to xenforo conversion, which we are calling 'endless sphere 2.0'.
We would like to collect member feedback and make then adjustments before we make the change a permanent one.

We plan for the forum to enter a phase of incremental improvements shortly after the conversion, but what you see will be what we plan to release.

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IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT THIS SITE:
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This is a development server that is a little different than the final version.
1. Everyone's passwords have changed to random garbage.
2. PMs are all censored.
3. Moderator forum is all censored.
4. Why the above? I allow people other than me to work on this site and we are protecting our member's privacy.
5. The content is >1 years old. Don't worry, all current content will move over when we do the final transition.
6. /xenforo will be /forum in the final version and /forums contains a special redirector that forwards old PHPBB links to the new location in xenforo.

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Getting in:
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When you first enter the site, you will be asked for a username and password by your browser.
This is our protection against google scraping this preview site.

Username: espreview
Password: nepsentme
URL: https://dev2.endless-sphere.com/xenforo

NOTE: Because user passwords are 'censored' in this version, you will need to use the password reset function on the login screen to reset your password before logging in.

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What we'd like feedback on from ESers:
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1. Is the forum missing any important functionality that's a "deal breaker"?
2. Anything broken or distasteful about the design?
3. Did you experience any errors?
4. How do you like it? Do you think it's as cool as we do?

Problems we already know about that won't be in the final version:
1. Mobile phone compatibility is untested - if you see something screwed up on a mobile phone, send me a screenshot though.

..anyway, let us know what you think!

 

[tomjasz]

Looks good to me!

 

[nicobie]

I also think it looks good but There are lots of problems using it. maybe it's because I'm a mod?



I was trying to reply to a reply I had made.

Links in sig don't work.

No more smilies?

Lost functions as a mod.

Can't see where to start a new topic

to be continued...

 

[A-DamW]

Can't see where to start a new topic

Same here.

Password reset and logged into ES 2.0

Clicked around a bunch, did not see anything obviously wrong, looks like Reaction Scores are working.

 

[neptronix]

Looked over all your issues.

1. I see that you have nothing in the posting box per your screenshot.. i'm reproducing that error successfully by hitting 'reply' with nothing in the box.. if that's happening in a situation where there's something in the box, i need to know about it!

2. Links in sig don't work - good find! this seems to be randomly distributed across signatures, where the link is either clickable or not..

There are also signatures that have some links working, others not.. on ES, they work..
...looks like we need to write more post-processing code before launch!



3. Smilies are in the post box ( old ones from phpbb have not been copied over in this instance - has to be done by hand ):



4. Maybe i didn't mention this one.. you don't have moderator access in this version except for the special account mentioned in the moderator thread.. that's because all permissions have to be hand copied and everyone's a regular user by default after a conversion.

5. Click on a subforum and you should see this to start a new post:



Second look - this seems to be related to xenforo's permissions copies. It puts all existing users in a group called REGISTERED_USERS whereas the group it's reading from is registered_users, therefore all accounts are in limbo by default..
Nicobie and a-damw, i've fixed your permissions by hand so that you can see the post box by default.
I'll have to

... looks like we need more code here too; since there's 57,737 accounts to process!

Anyone else need this account modification for the sake of testing? say so and i'll fix your account on xenforo asap so that you can do proper testing.


Thanks for the lookovers so far, guys. We did find some 'game breaking' bugs. Looking forward to getting more eyeballs on the test site still..

 

[nicobie]

Now it won't let me sign in.

 

[neptronix]

You need to put in your username and password, not the preview site's browser password.

 

[eee291]

What will happen to ES 1.0?

 

[neptronix]

ES 1.0 goes byebye, links are redirected from /forums to /forum

 

[nicobie]

I must say that with the limited time I've spent on ESv2, it's looking and acting really good.

I'll keep checking it out looking for more bugs and encourage everyone else to do the same. The more eyeballs on v2, the quicker and smoother the transition will go.

Well done nep & crew.

 

[neptronix]

Gracias. ^_^

6 members down, ~58,000 to go, lol..
( realistically i'd be happy if 50 people looked at it; it's a huge change )

PS - we just fixed some of the previously mentioned visual bugs, so i've edited the original post to reflect that.

 

[nicobie]

6 members down, ~58,000 to go, lol..
( realistically i'd be happy if 50 people looked at it; it's a huge change )

Maybe a 'sticky' or bold colorful header at the top of each forum section might further the cause...

 

[ornias]

Much more snappy, without doing away with the great structure of ES.
I don't see much problems with going forward with a more "mature" framework.

 

[Elinx]

imho the look and feel of Endless Sphere is about the same.
I like the advanced search option for media too, but imho it doesn't work yet.

What I see is the difference in size of the pictures.
Some are a lot smaller with ES2.0, so text isn't readable anymore.

 

[neptronix]

elinx, what thread were you looking at? ( please give me a link so i can compare )

 

[Elinx]

elinx, what thread were you looking at? ( please give me a link so i can compare )

Sorry, forgotten to link

On v1 page 349 link to this picture
On v2 page 437 link to that picture

Strange enough some other pictures before these could be the same, even bigger or a lot smaller
See v1 vs v2

 

[neptronix]

Howdy.
I checked those threads on both sites.

You're seeing those smaller images because you are not logged in from what i can see.
Try logging in and see if you see the same thing.

Xenforo, when not logged in, shows a small preview instead of a full sized image. It's a feature, not a bug

 

[Elinx]

...
Try logging in and see if you see the same thing....
.

:thumb: OK, now it is the same size.

I thought I was logged in with that demo account, but I wasn't after a good read again.

 

[neptronix]

No problem. I'm glad this wasn't a real issue!

 

[e-beach]

Looked fine to me, although I think I prefer a darker background. It seems very bright..(squints his eyes..) Also, does all that real estate need to be taken up by our pictures? It is nice to know who the comment is from but it seems like a lot of space that could be otherwise used.

BTW thank you for all the hard work!

 

[Elinx]

....
I like the advanced search option for media too, but imho it doesn't work yet.
...

After login I see that media search is disappeared with advanced search.
Are you planning to add this option too?
I experience on other forums that this sometimes could be useful.
Also an option to rezise pictures to a smaller size which are clickable for real size could be usefull.

 

[neptronix]

After login I see that media search is disappeared with advanced search.
Are you planning to add this option too?
I experience on other forums that this sometimes could be useful.
Also an option to rezise pictures to a smaller size which are clickable for real size could be usefull.

advanced search.jpg

I'm not sure how you're seeing that.
Both logged in and logged out, i see the advanced search option you're talking about.

This is what i see logged in ( and logged out ):



Anyone else seeing that?

PS thanks for the testing.

 

[neptronix]

Looked fine to me, although I think I prefer a darker background. It seems very bright..(squints his eyes..) Also, does all that real estate need to be taken up by our pictures? It is nice to know who the comment is from but it seems like a lot of space that could be otherwise used.

BTW thank you for all the hard work!

I don't exactly know what you mean by that, but i'm thinking there's some major differences that make you say it's brighter.

Here's a screenshot of both for a quick comparison:


1) ES 2.0 uses super light grays + white for rows instead of light cool blues like on ES v1.0. I think that's the biggest difference here.
2) ES 1.0 uses a max 1125 pixel wide frame, whereas 2.0 uses a max 1280 pixel wide frame; meaning that the content area for the site is wider on 2.0 by ~10% This means there's a more 'white space' on a 1080p or larger monitor.
3) ES 2.0 has a lot of light colored elements with more contrast which can perceptually make the whites look whiter.

I kind of agree with you that it is bright ( overall ).
Do the images take 'too much real estate' because the frame is wider? I think that's what you're referring to.

Now that you mention that, we have some cooler/calmer colors on ES 1.0 that i do like. ES 2.0 does need further color adjustments. I'm down to do the retoning work to make the site a little less 'bright white' before launch because i think i see what you're talking about.

Anyone else agree with the 'too bright' problem?

 

[marty]

Howdy.
I checked those threads on both sites.

You're seeing those smaller images because you are not logged in from what i can see.
Try logging in and see if you see the same thing.

Xenforo, when not logged in, shows a small preview instead of a full sized image. It's a feature, not a bug

Do smaller pictures prevent the server from bogging down when forum has a lot of traffic? If yes? I would say ya need a bigger server. If Amazon did not let [not logged people] see full size pictures. Think they would sell less stuff.

Me, I hate it when I am poking around the internet and a forum tells me I have to join so I can see full size pictures.

The most important thing a forum needs is people. If new people can't see full size pictures, they might just go to some other forum. That's what I do.

I also hate shopper cards at the supermarket. But that's another subject.

Also an option to rezise pictures to a smaller size which are clickable for real size could be usefull.

Agree ↑

Wow! Just figured out how to make a up arrow ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ But that's another subject ← ↓ → ← ↓ → ← ↓ → ← ↓ →

 

[Elinx]

....
Both logged in and logged out, i see the advanced search option you're talking about....

Maybe it has to do with permissions? Administrator vs registered user

But if I try the media search option it isn't exactly what I thought it was.
On some fora (for example RCgroups.com/forums) it is possible to see/search, in a tread, all attachements only, so you can scroll to an old image and open the message or the tread from there.
It is sometimes handy to find an old post in a (very) long tread.