New Forum features Options

[james]

There's a few improved/fixed things with this new release, but also a couple of new bit's which I thought I would highlight in case peeps haven't found them:

Avatar Uploads
I have enabled Avatar Uploads so you don't need to link to an avatar on webspace (yours or someone elses)

Rich Text Editor
Under My Controls -> Options -> Board Settings -> Posting Settings there is an option for a Rich Text Editor when posting - it's browser dependent but if you switch it on and your browser doesn't support it you will just get a message saying so and it will default to the standard editor - try it - it kicks ass!

Also under posting settings there is the option for fast reply to be switched on - it's worth a go as well for all those quick witticisms that you are just dying to dot around...


I'll post any more when I think of them - in the meantime feel free to add your own if you find stuff...

[paul]

Whats the RSS button on the bottom left for??

I pressed it and it gave me the source of the latest topic. Is that what it is meant to do? Am I too nosey? Why must I press buttons I don't understand?

[james]

Ok - RSS is (according to Wikipedia entry)

The technology of RSS allows Internet users to subscribe to websites that have provided RSS feeds; these are typically sites that change or add content regularly. To use this technology, site owners create or obtain specialized software (such as a content management system) which, in the machine-readable XML format, presents new articles in a list, giving a line or two of each article and a link to the full article or post. Unlike subscriptions to many printed newspapers and magazines, most RSS subscriptions are free.

The RSS formats provide web content or summaries of web content together with links to the full versions of the content, and other meta-data. This information is delivered as an XML file called an RSS feed, webfeed, RSS stream, or RSS channel. In addition to facilitating syndication, RSS allows a website's frequent readers to track updates on the site using an aggregator.

Basically what this means is that you use either a piece of software (for example Newsgator on PC or NetNewsWire on Mac - there are of course others as well) or a website like Feedlounge to subscribe to these 'RSS feeds' from sites you are interested in. The software then refreshes the feeds on a regular basis showing you a list of all the new articles on all the sites you are interested in (assuming of course they publish a feed and you subscribe to it) in one place, rather than having to visit multiple bookmarks/favorites and load each site in turn.

If you have a browser which supports the 'feed://' protocol (Safari, Firefox),clicking on the link should automagically subscribe you in your default newsreader (if you are using a desktop application) - this is a quick screenie from NetNewsWire Lite so you can get an idea of what it all looks like:

Hope this explanation helps!

[paul]

Well it confused me to start with but now I get it so all is well in my head


Thanks

[womble]

You can use Mozilla Thunderbird to get the RSS feed as well.

[james]

The feed I have set up exports the first post from each of the last 10 posted to topics, which isn't ideal (I need to have a bit of a think about what would be better - the topic title and the latest post?)