Community Challenge: "Fix HaloMods"

[Geo]

As of today I'm taking more control of the site, and I'm going to be making some changes.
Hopefully they will be for the better. To ensure this. I want ideas from you, the community.

There's an obvious dislike to the way things currently are, so I want to listen to what changes you guys want, and assuming it's for the greater good of the community, and not just to benefit one or two individuals, where possible, I'll implement said changes.

Let's just get one or two things straight first.

One.
I cannot, and will not remove advertisements. I'm literally going to get pissed at you if you even suggest it, because I've just said it here. I can't. Question it, or moan about it, and it's only going to hinder any further suggestions you make. I know they're shit, and I know nobody likes them. For the time being, you're gonna have to deal with it.

Two.
Just because you suggest something, doesn't mean it's going to happen. I need evidence that it will benefit most, if not all of the community. It should also be noted that I have both limited FTP access as of posting, and my knowledge of PHP is limited. If you're going to suggest something that heavily involves coding, please provide me with adequate instructions, or if you're capable... offer to help me. Bitching or suggesting that I shouldn't be in my position if I don't know PHP inside and out isn't going to progress anything, or speed anything up. I was selected for this job primarily to reorganise the boards, and make the layout as similar as possible to the old BB2 board... as after the upgrade, it was pretty much screwed. This didn't entail any coding, and so I was fine for the job. If you have any issues here, PM me.

-------------------------------------

Now that's outta the way... let's get cracking.

Post your ideas here. If you strongly agree with an idea, quote it in your post or something.

Here are my initial plans, please provide feedback on them... or disagree with them with reasoning.

• Fix the emblem system..........................✔(Big thanks to XMT for the help)
• Reinstate the staff members that resigned....✔ (Have started, this process will happen over a week or so)
• Fix the Readers Club.............................✔(Thanks to Tural for the help)
• Introduce new style sheet(s).

[SpecOp44]

Your initial plans would be a good start.

[Geo]

--The emblem system is fixed--
Big thanks to XMT, we got there in the end!

All original emblem givers, you can login again.

How would people feel if I ran a forum theme competition. It would entail people either creating, modifying or just finding a good BB3 theme... then people vote after a certain period and we use that theme until the next contest.

I originally wanted to do the same with the logo, have themed logos and keep it fresh by having maybe quarterly competitions to design a new logo for the next few months.

[mxrider108]

How would people feel if I ran a forum theme competition. It would entail people either creating, modifying or just finding a good BB3 theme... then people vote after a certain period and we use that theme until the next contest.

I don't know: I have a feeling there would be an over-abundance of ultra-flashy (read: ugly) themes posted, and the halomods image has always been more about simplicity of style to me. I think the current theme strikes a pretty good balance, really.

[Geo]

How would people feel if I ran a forum theme competition. It would entail people either creating, modifying or just finding a good BB3 theme... then people vote after a certain period and we use that theme until the next contest.

I don't know: I have a feeling there would be an over-abundance of ultra-flashy (read: ugly) themes posted, and the halomods image has always been more about simplicity of style to me. I think the current theme strikes a pretty good balance, really.

That doesn't mean that they'd get voted for though.

EDIT: And I may make styles user-selectable. That way everyone's happy, right?

[mxrider108]

True. Not to be mean, but I'm not sure every member here has the best sense of design and tradition.

EDIT due to Geo's EDIT: In that case I think there isn't anything to lose, so sure!

[Geo]

--Old Staff Promoted--

As you can see. I've promoted Tural. Over the next week I'll be reinstating some of the old staff, as they've all shown willingness.

[Corvette19]

I'm liking where this is going

[FleetAdmiralBacon]

*** offers to help with any coding tasks that come up.

[Aumaan Anubis]

You should remove the a-
You know what... it's not worth it.

Old staff reinstated.
Old emblem givers reinstated.
More community events, including Xbox Live events, as well as forum competitions.
Fixing the readers club.
Overall listening to members more often, and implementing changes soon after the majority suggests it, rather than waiting a few months and then having an epiphany.

But as these seem to be in progress as I type them, I am pleased.

[WaeV]

Looking great!

Time to design some emblems for that competition.

[Trulife8342]

The GFX team could make some templates for the forum Geo.

[Playkid]

There is one little thing that i find anoying. Which is the order of the 'Save', 'Preview' and 'Submit' buttons.
Im not a big poster on this board, but i almost always press save instead of submit.

Im thinking it would be logical to place 'submit', prefereble, first and then 'Preview', and last 'Save' because i would think the save button is the one used less often.

[Geo]

There is one little thing that i find anoying. Which is the order of the 'Save', 'Preview' and 'Submit' buttons.
Im not a big poster on this board, but i almost always press save instead of submit.

Im thinking it would be logical to place 'submit', prefereble, first and then 'Preview', and last 'Save' because i would think the save button is the one used less often.

I can't say I've ever had that problem. I think it'd confuse more people than it would 'help'.

--Readers Club Fixed--

[Aumaan Anubis]

I rather preferred having people contact information directly under their post, rather than under the avatar. It appears much more noticeable and accessible.

[shadowkhas]

EDIT: Readers Club fixed.

Fantastic.

[-DeToX-]

Indeed.

[ScottyGEE]

-Halomods "lite"? Possible to setup a forum which uses the same database but has a different default theme? I ask this because if a "lite" theme was made, I wouldn't bother with it if I kept having to switch the the UCP.

This is something I've brought up before, but I'm gonna bring it up again because I can (and because the current forum still doesn't display correctly at lower resolutions...The following image is the smallest width wise when browsing posts:


With this, I can setup the theme, though I got no idea if its possible to install a forum and have it access the same database (it'd be good to have at say: m.halomods.com/forums)

-Open links in new window

I can understand if this post gets deleted. in which case I'll take it to the improvement thread

[Geo]

Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to achieve that, as I'm pretty sure I'd require phpMyAdmin access, which I don't have.

So at the moment, that one's a no Scotty, I'm afraid. Sorry, I do think it's a good idea.

[mtxboxfreak]

Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to achieve that, as I'm pretty sure I'd require phpMyAdmin access, which I don't have.

I'm thinking it would be possible with a little creative code inside of phpbb's style.php.

I.e. check the HTTP_HOST server var and switch which css file is served based on that.

Although maybe it's more complicated than that, I admit I don't know what the difference is between styles, themes, and templates in phpbb-speak.