Forums Software Upgraded

[Man1c M0g]

Our forums (and therefore the entire site architecture) has been upgraded to version 3.8. Let me know if you see any problems.

[Tamlin]

Everything seems to be OK ....except....
What happened to the layout of the Social Groups section???
The BioRUST Regulars group has lost its avatar/logo, and the layout has changed from showing the most recent posts first to just showing the first post.

[unleash]

Hey tamlin, I can put that logo back into place (but I dont know where it came from ).

Everything seems fine for the rest, ow wait except this one thing:
There used to be a drop down menu beneath "quick links" now the nav bar changes into a bar with different links... (those from the drop down menu). maybe I just need some time.... but I want my drop down menu back!

[supertackyman]

the more info on the profiles dosent do anything.
man.... gotta make all these changes on a nite when ive been drinking huh!?

unleash, the social roups are under the community drop down now, although its still kinda messy.

[Man1c M0g]

Originally Posted by Tamlin

Everything seems to be OK ....except....
What happened to the layout of the Social Groups section???
The BioRUST Regulars group has lost its avatar/logo, and the layout has changed from showing the most recent posts first to just showing the first post.

This is actually a 'feature' of v3.8 - you can now find the social groups link in its own section under 'community'. The conversations are also mini forums now instead of just one contiguous thread, and the avatars are supported on the main social groups index... but as of yet there is no way to specify the SIZES of the icons.

Anyone have a copy of the social groups avatars? The markup got stripped out when I upgraded and I can't find the image file on the server (its like trying to find a needle in a field of haystacks!).

Originally Posted by supertackyman

the more info on the profiles dosent do anything.
man.... gotta make all these changes on a nite when ive been drinking huh!?

unleash, the social roups are under the community drop down now, although its still kinda messy.

errrrr.,... can you send me a piccie of this link so I can check it out. I can't find it!

And yeah, vbulletin have left it a bit messy haven't they? I expect it will get tidied up in the next version, but i'd not have left it like that before a major release anyway!

[Tamlin]

OK - there seems to be some sort of weirdness happening with the Sig and Avatar images:

In the BioRUST Regulars group, Supertackyman mentioned that he couldn't get his new sig to display transparency, even though it was a GIF with transparency enabled.
I thought I'd have a look at the image that he'd used to see if I could spot any anomalies.

I went to a thread that contained one of his posts (http://forums.biorust.com/showrooms-...-home-web.html (My new home on the web)), right-clicked on his sig pic and selected Properties. According to the Properties dialog, the image is called sigpic45760_16.gif - OK so far. I then right-clicked on the image and selected Save Image As... (I'm using Firefox, but IE has the same function, labelled Save Picture As...). Now the weirdness begins - in the Save as type: dropdown, I only had the option to save the image as JPEG image (with the name sigpic45760_16.gif.jpg) or as All files. Normally, if you save a GIF, the browser will select the correct file type for you (presumably based on the source file's MIME type or some other header data), but GIF wasn't even an option (and in IE I only had the options to save as a JPG or a BMP).

The same happens with STM's avatar: according to the Properties, it is called avatar45760_3.gif, but if I try to save it I don't get the option to save as a GIF - only JPG or All files (or BMP in IE).

Just for funsies, I decided to save STM's sig pic as All files with an extension of .GIF and then try to open it up in Photoshop. Of course, Photoshop wouldn't play: Could not complete your request because of a program error it grumbled. So I changed the extension to .JPG and Photoshop opened it up quite merrily - as a JPG, of course!

"OK" I hear you saying "but what about animated images like Kokopedal's avatar - surely they have to be GIFs?" and you are completely correct: if you check the properties of Kokopedal's avatar (in the thread linked above), the file name shows up as avatar32498_11.gif - the difference is that if you select Save Image As..., the browser detects that it is indeed a GIF and allows you to save it as such. Try it yourself.

Just to prove that STM hadn't made a mistake (no offence, Dave!), I did a similar check on MoodsR4Cattle's sig pic. Same problem - it shows as sigpic8924_4.gif
in the Properties, but if you try to save it, you only get the options of JPEG or All Files.

So it seems that somewhere along the line some images are getting converted from GIFs to JPGs, which explains why STM's uploaded GIF won't display transparency: once it's embedded in his profile it's no longer a GIF. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer. Any ideas, M0g?

[Man1c M0g]

Tamlin - Wierdly enough I just can't get my browser to do this whatever I do! Files that are JPGs are saved as JPGs, and GIFs and GIFs.

Update: Wait.... its only doing this in IE & firefox! That's odd.

Update 2: OK. I have a theory. Only premium members are allowed animated gifs, and this could hold true for siggy pics as well. The existing pictures were uploaded BEFORE I enabled the premium subscribers system. Try uploading the siggy pics again (with full transparency, etc), and see if the problem is still there...

[Tamlin]

Originally Posted by Man1c M0g

Tamlin - Wierdly enough I just can't get my browser to do this whatever I do! Files that are JPGs are saved as JPGs, and GIFs and GIFs.

Update: Wait.... its only doing this in IE & firefox! That's odd.

I tried saving STM's sig in Safari (on Windows). The only file type options available were Image files and All files. I chose Image files and it was saved as sigpic45760_16.gif
However, Photoshop wouldn't open it until I renamed it to sigpic45760_16.jpg - and then only as a JPG.

[supertackyman]

dammed gremlins.

thanks for all your help. I will add to the chaos then.
using ie. (probably the most recent version) I right clicked on the little excalmation piont inside a triangle (report post) now that gives me the option to save as a gif.
go figure.

[Tamlin]

According to the Properties, my sig pic is sigpic22224_14.gif - except it isn't a GIF, it's a JPG. I know for a fact it was a JPG when I made it, it was a JPG when I uploaded it, and (if I choose Save Image As...) it's still a JPG now. So why does it get labelled as a GIF?

[supertackyman]

gif is an acronym for Good Irritating Fun

donchaknow.

[Man1c M0g]

Originally Posted by Tamlin

According to the Properties, my sig pic is sigpic22224_14.gif - except it isn't a GIF, it's a JPG. I know for a fact it was a JPG when I made it, it was a JPG when I uploaded it, and (if I choose Save Image As...) it's still a JPG now. So why does it get labelled as a GIF?

argh! *RUNS AWAY SCREAMING*

On a positive note, i've replaced the server's caching software with Xcache (it was formerly running eaccelerator). Seems much faster!

[Culann]

On another, more minor, note, should there be four seemingly identical fields here:
gallery screencap

[kokopedal]

Go Premium and your problems might go away. Come on guys, Pay up or shut up.

[Tamlin]

Originally Posted by kokopedal

Go Premium and your problems might go away. Come on guys, Pay up or shut up.

Ah - would that it were so, but everyone who has contributed to this thread so far (apart from Culann) is already a Premium member.