Oh wow, that's a lot of feedback! Really good stuff, thank you!
Turus wrote:- Some use of html for those of us crazy enough to use it or more formatting options from the text editor
phpBB and BBCode doesn't directly support things like tables and that (and it's usually not used), but I'm curious if you have more advanced HTML in mind? Most message boards don't allow it (too complicated/dangerous--whatever that's supposed to mean
), but I can definitely see where it'd be
really handy to have nearly full access to HTML. Not sure if that's what you were thinking though. It's a good idea.
Turus wrote:- ease of use from said text editor
Something like a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor with an option to edit the HTML or markup?
Turus wrote:- I like what we have here with the linkage telling you what site it's coming from.
You know, the funny thing is that I was thinking of disabling that on the DESTRealm forums because I figured no one really liked that feature. I'm glad someone appreciates it!
What if I suggested extending this feature to include mouse-overs, too, so that whenever someone linked to something, you could mouse over the link and get the title of the page (without having to click on it), too? Maybe even other data as well.
Turus wrote:- Maybe some form of picture scaling when needed. We have something sort of like that in this forum for instance. Been awhile since it was implemented so I can't quote the name of it.
I know what you mean. The processor I wrote into phpBB was hacked in and works TERRIBLY. This is a really good suggestion, because proper scaling is something we sorely need for screenshots.
Turus wrote:- As you mentioned, wouldn't hurt to have wowhead integration or say 'social engineering' site integration for those that wish to use it. Maybe even a quick and dirty chat client that can be somehow integrated into the forum? Sounds odd but might have some utility. It could be used as a chat block on a web page rather than something that integrates with the forums or just a live chat block which updates while you're reading the forums.
I've seen chat blocks on a few CMSes (including the SGA's site) but never much on forums. That'd be an interesting addition--maybe even include it as a way of "streaming" topics or summaries of topics.
Also, what would you think of something like an RSS feed for the forum? I don't know of anyone who uses them--some do.
Along those lines, I was also considering implementing pingback/trackback features into the forum so you can track who is linking to us (for example). For instance, you could click on a box to expand a zone under a particular post if someone's linked to it and get an idea of how many external links people have made to the forum. Perhaps making it publicly visible, too.
Great suggestions. Once I'm satisfied this thread has been well abused, I'm going to compile it into a suggestions post. I'll be putting up a dev site for the new software soon, so keep an eye out. This is still in the exploratory phase, so we've got a HUGE amount of elbow room.
They might--if they do, it'd be handy.