Forum Upgrade (1 Viewer)

[Tommy]

We are going to be moving from vBulletin to the xenForo platform.
No date is set but it will be during the overnight hours when I can dedicated a 2-4 hours to do it.
Downtime will be minimal as I already have a test copy of the site running on it since last October.

All threads, posts, attachments, post likes, private messages, albums, gallery images, and trader ratings will be imported over. No data will be lost.

I've been going back and forth trying to decide if I should purchase pre-made style or customize my own style. While it would be much easier to just buy one, I decided to do my own custom style. This way I won't have to rely on a 3rd party to keep their style updated to work with future software updates and versions.

Here is a screen shot of what the new style may look like. Its definitely not finished.



If you have any questions or suggestions, let me know.

Thanks!

 

[BGinGA]

crap, I was hoping this wouldn't happen.

Same software as on CT, right? Don't like it there, won't like it here.

Are we gonna have those stupid "conversations", too?

 

[Tommy]

Unfortunately versions of PHP and MYSQL that power vBulletin 4.2.x will be reaching their EOL. (End of Life). vBulletin 4 itself is no longer receiving official updates but only unsupported Beta updates to keep it working on newer versions of PHP. While we could run vBulletin 4 on those version for years to come, it will cause many headaches when we must upgrade. (import issues, loss of content, etc)

At first I thought the "personal conversations" were stupid too. (About 30+ phrase edits and I can make them say Private Messages. ) It took me a while to figure them out. There are more positives then negatives though compared to vBulletin IMO. xenForo 2.0 is just around the corner and from what I hear the messaging system should be different.

 

[72o]

Bummer. If it's like CT I'm gonna hate life. Little extreme but I honestly cant stand grabbing anythin off that site anymore due to the formatting. I understand the reasoning but .

 

[Mental Nomad]

Considered Discourse?

 

[Tommy]

Bummer. If it's like CT I'm gonna hate life. Little extreme but I honestly cant stand grabbing anythin off that site anymore due to the formatting. I understand the reasoning but .

UI.Flex Dark style is different. I tested it on the demo site. I will be creating a style that will be closer to the current style, more vBulletin like. Can you tell me what formatting you dislike so I can see if I can make some additional changes.

Considered Discourse?

If we ran a vanilla forum that software would probably work fine. The problem I'd run into is support for addon-ons/mods.

 

[tommythecat]

The main thing I dislike on CT now is the lack of user defined settings like posts/threads per page. If there is a way to incorporate that please do.

 

[Tommy]

The main thing I dislike on CT now is the lack of user defined settings like posts/threads per page. If there is a way to incorporate that please do.

I've already done that but I have to see how it effects SEO and permalinks before I go live with it. XF uses a different way to create links to posts which incorporates page numbers

 

[tommythecat]

Awesome...hopefully it works out okay.

 

[stocky]

Will mobile format remain the same? I only use safari and the change on CT made it hard to use the site for me.

 

[Tommy]

Will mobile format remain the same? I only use safari and the change on CT made it hard to use the site for me.

See how this site works on your mobile device... https://forums.digitalpoint.com/
They are using a modded default style.

 

[stocky]

See how this site works on your mobile device... https://forums.digitalpoint.com/
They are using a modded default style.

Damn. Might have to download tapatalk and try and get use to that maybe.

 

[Tommy]

Damn. Might have to download tapatalk and try and get use to that maybe.

UGH! I wish I had an Apple device to check and see what it looks like. Is Google Chrome or FF in the App Store?

 

[NiceShot]

Hope it isn't as hard to use as the "other" site...

 

[slisk250]

I can echo that I absolutely dislike CT's platform. I'm not a techie but hope the change doesn't result in anything like that platform

 

[dennis63]

I understand the necessity of the change here. The closer we can get to what you've created here at PCF, the better.

 

[grandgnu]

I think a lot of the resistance to change is normal. I remember I felt that way when I was using Myspace and there was talk about Facebook (why do I need Facebook, I have Myspace!)

Then when Facebook made changes people flipped but eventually adapted and became comfortable with the switch.

Then gmail changed the way it functions, and people flipped, and then figured it out and were fine.

This will be the same. Lots of complaining followed by a gradual assimilation. Resistance is futile

 

[72o]

That is all true, but I am just worried about giving up (as I did with CT). I just couldn't navigate and the ease of finding info. was just not there anymore. It just seems so uninviting!!

But I won't get my panties in a bunch till I give it a shot.

 

[spikeithard]

Like Dave said earlier in post 2... I am not a fan of the busy look of CT. Prefer to keep it as close as possible to this now. Simple and light

 

[pltrgyst]

Are we gonna have those stupid "conversations", too?

And "content", instead of "posts"?

 

[Ben]

Oh lord. The main reason I spend little to no time at CT now is that after the "upgrade," it's just too slow to navigate for me - takes a few minutes just to open the new posts and check a thread or two (the speed differences are magnified 10x when you have shitty internet...) I'm REALLY hoping the same thing doesn't happen here.

 

[Tommy]

I will have some members test drive the new platform and style. Things feel very snappy on my end. I like clean and uncluttered layouts too. I'm very OCD about things. If something is 1 px off, it bothers me. LOL

 

[links_slayer]

I hope you can make this work Tommy. I don't know how long it takes to get used to new interfaces or whatever. But I still can't get the hang of the "new" CT and, much like Ben, this is the reason I have spent essentially zero time over there lately.

 

[Mr Tree]

In all fairness to Tommy I will say that attention to site maintenance and detail is far greater here than on the blue wall

 

[Ben]

Did something already happen? The site looks the same, but has become INSANELY slow sometime in the past couple of hours. Anyone else experiencing this?

 

[Mr Tree]

Did something already happen? The site looks the same, but has become INSANELY slow sometime in the past couple of hours. Anyone else experiencing this?

Yeah, it's been virtually unusable on Tapatalk

 

[links_slayer]

Did something already happen? The site looks the same, but has become INSANELY slow sometime in the past couple of hours. Anyone else experiencing this?

Same for me.

 

[Tommy]

Sry that was me doing things.

 

[BGinGA]

lol, busted.....

#must.tinker

 

[Tommy]

Sorry..I was doing more stuff. mysql failed to restart. Its better now.