New forum & Photo gallery software up for testing

[Steve St.Laurent]

The time is finally here. I've been working HARD for a LONG time getting the newest version of vBulletin ready for our use. All of the modifications that had been written over time had to be re-written for this new release (I actually started working on it several releases ago but it took this much time to complete the task).



We are also rolling out brand new software for the photo gallery - this will replace the reader's rigs gallery. The reader's rigs gallery will remain as an archive. You won't be able to modify or add to it but it will be left up so that all of the old posts that are referencing picture there will still have those pics. This new photo gallery software is vastly more flexible than the existing one. As your testing it make note that you can place photo's in multiple categories which will make it easier to find photos. When your looking at it please think of categories that we should create for the photo galleries and let me know.



Please put these through a good test. They have already been tested by TDR staff & the moderators with no problems discovered so far. We want to get the maximum amount of testing before the existing data is all moved over so that we don't have problems once it's up. Please report any bugs that you discover here. For now only the default and PDA templates are up and running - I will put all the other colors up once we know these templates are fully functioning.



One thing that I need tested is I have written a new routine for resizing oversize photos that will run MUCH MUCH faster and will also automatically resize it down to the maximum size that your window will allow. Look at this thread - http://69.61.74.245/vbtest/showthread.php?p=7#post7 and you'll see this function working. If you have problems with it please let me know.



Here are the addresses for the beta test software:



Forums: http://69.61.74.245/vbtest

Photo Gallery: http://69.61.74.245/photopost



When you go to the forums you'll be prompted for a test username and password - type in test for both. Then login to the forums with your existing username and password. The user database is from back in december so if you've joined since then or have changed your password it won't work (unless you remember your old password). Thanks in advance for your help.



-Steve St. Laurent

Webmaster

 

[YFZBOB]

Looking AWESOME!!!!

Missing #ad
Multiqoute icon below the Text Box. Could be my machine.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Thanks, I fixed the buttons. That happened because I changed the directory name it was stored in and forgot to change a couple variables.

 

[Pawpaw]

Steve,



If you really want to give the new forum a workout, you should copy over the 3rd Gen HVAC removal thread with all its pics. That thread takes just about forever to open due to all the pics.



http://www.tdr1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166129



Bob

 

[Hammer]

I went to the photo one and did the test login in,then went to sign in with my current user name and it sends me back to the main TDR homepage,what am I messing up here?.



These photo albums are the same as the Cummins Forum and the DTR and are a PIA to use,not to mention all the views some of us had on the older albums are going to be lost. Not to mention the albums being hard to navigate and never being in alphabetical order. Those are some of the reasons I limit my photos on those sites,not to mention most of my time is spent here.



Maybe its because I am blind but whats so different about ther forums software?. I can get into that with my user name but fail to see whats changed,same dull colors,same boring look and nothing to liven up the place. Am I blind?.



Also a while ago there was a cry about bandwidth problems. By backing up the older photo and archiving them wouldn't this then also cause a bandwidth usage problem?.



Other than someone saying about the photos being able to resize themself,I see no changes at all. Also the new software here Steve is slower than that Comcast Turtle Mr Slowski while when I use the normal software it flies... ... ... Andy



P. S. -It makes now difference what browser I use either as I have Firefox,IE7 and Opera.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Ironically, we get a lot of complaints that the readers rigs software is a PITA to use and that they prefer photopost. I did a lot of research on different photo packages and photopost by far was the stand out in the crowd. One of the big advantages to it is that you can search which isn't possible with the current software. You can also categorize your pictures on this software which makes it possible for people to find pictures they are looking for as opposed to just having to go through each persons individual album like with the old software. Once you get used to it you'll find that it really isn't any harder to use than the old software.



The new version of vBulletin has a lot of interface changes to make it function better, inline editing, better wysiwyg editor, you can now multi quote from a number of messages without having to do it manually, it will auto-resize image uploads (a major support issue), better support for multi-server setups, a LOT of back end stuff that the users won't see but will make a BIG difference in the administration of the site, many security fixes. Over time support for older versions of the software goes away and then you'll run into security problems which we can't afford. Right now we are 12 versions behind the newest release. They made MANY changes to how the software operates in relation to code modification which required me to rewrite all of our custom code (of which there is a lot) to make it work with the new software. The way it works now I will be able to upgrade to newer security releases in about 1/5th the time of what it took on the older software.



As to the speed a big part of that is because none of the pages or code on the test forum are cached because they are being hit at a MUCH lower rate than this software. You shouldn't see much difference speed wise when it goes live and on threads that have a lot of pictures linked you will see a VAST speed increase.



The old readers rigs software isn't going away - it will still be here so you won't lose any of your photos, views, etc. You just won't be able to add new pictures to it. Bandwidth is only used up by information that is sent from our servers out to the users. Having the readers rigs online as an archive won't make any difference in bandwidth. There is no "cry" about bandwidth other than we try to make sure that we can provide the best service possible for the bandwidth being used and if there's a minor feature (like avatars) that we can eliminate in order to better serve other stuff we will do so.



On your login problem it looks like you've found the first bug. I retraced your steps and the same thing is happening to me. It's on my to do list to fix now - thanks Hammer. For now log in on the test forums and you'll be logged in on the photo page.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Steve,



If you really want to give the new forum a workout, you should copy over the 3rd Gen HVAC removal thread with all its pics. That thread takes just about forever to open due to all the pics.



http://www.tdr1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166129



Bob

Good test - I copied the first page. Took 45 seconds to load on this software, 9 seconds on the new stuff - http://69.61.74.245/vbtest/showthread.php?p=41#post41

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

The login at the top of the photopost pages is now working.

 

[CUMMINZ]

Steve - photo resizing

I looked at test post 3. In reading what you had to say about the auto resizing photos to fit the size screen that I was using made me wonder about another issue. The first photo on test post 3 is 172,910 bytes in size. Second photo is 302,373 bytes in size. Third photo is 42,034 bytes. I hope your resizing routines not only resize for screen size but also reduce total pixels in the photo. A photo online that is 302k is way to large for folks with only dialup connections. I have high speed DSL so it makes no matter to me. It also wastes your server space.

 

[CUMMINZ]

Two examples

First example is 80,246 bytes in size but same physical size on screen. 1024x681



Second example is 551,467 bytes in size but same physical size on screen. 1024x681



Notice how first one loads faster. I'll bet you can't tell the difference in photo quality... Your screen resizing routine reduced my 1024x641 down to 560x372 and still over a half a meg in storage size.

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[CUMMINZ]

New PhotoPost page

I looked at several photos in the photo post page. One for example shows file size of 71. 5kb and 2499x1894 screen size. If your sizing routine also reduced the screen size to 640x480 or so it would load three times faster.

 

[bighammer]

Steve, you're amazing! Nice change, I like it. It was sort of frustrating that when trying to view a new post, a thread would have to load all the pictures, causing it to move, slide and gyrate all over the place until everything was done.

I'm on cable, but not the highest connection speed. (they like to call every once in a while and say for anonther 10 or 12 dollars a month I could be faster... . ) The way this Beta loaded, it's like a speed up for me without the cost. (If you find a way to do it for the whole net, you'll REALLY have something)

 

[AndyMan]

Looks fantastic sir. Thank you for the hard work.



Only issue that I have noticed with that I switched styles to the PDA format from the default style. I was not able to switch back. Got the yellow triangle on the lower left of the status bar.

 

[Hendricks]

finally able to post a pic on tdr. had to post one for fun.

 

[mberry]

I would be happy to help Beta Test, but I'm not authorized to access it. My TDR login and password don't work.

 

[Pawpaw]

I would be happy to help Beta Test, but I'm not authorized to access it. My TDR login and password don't work.

From Steve's first post (I missed it too, the first time):

When you go to the forums you'll be prompted for a test username and password - type in test for both. Then login to the forums with your existing username and password. The user database is from back in december so if you've joined since then or have changed your password it won't work (unless you remember your old password).

 

[Pawpaw]

Good test - I copied the first page. Took 45 seconds to load on this software, 9 seconds on the new stuff - http://69.61.74.245/vbtest/showthread.php?p=41#post41

That is a vast improvement! Nice move and thanks again for all of your hard work.



Bob

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I looked at test post 3. In reading what you had to say about the auto resizing photos to fit the size screen that I was using made me wonder about another issue. The first photo on test post 3 is 172,910 bytes in size. Second photo is 302,373 bytes in size. Third photo is 42,034 bytes. I hope your resizing routines not only resize for screen size but also reduce total pixels in the photo. A photo online that is 302k is way to large for folks with only dialup connections. I have high speed DSL so it makes no matter to me. It also wastes your server space.

We have no control over the size of pictures that people store on other server and link to here. There's nothing I could do to resize those since they aren't here on this server - they also won't affect the bandwidth or storage space here on this server. For stuff that's stored here on this server I do have control. I just looked and photopost's default was 2500 x 2500 - I've changed that to 1280x1024 - which is a full screen for most people. If you upload a pic larger than that it will automatically resize it down to the 1280x1024, if your screen can't display a pic that size it will resize it for your screen display although the picture will still download the same size. If you are uploading directly to the forums I've set it for 1280x1024 also with a max file size of 178k. These size limits should be plenty for everyone (fills the vast majority of screens) and if they really want to go even larger then they can store off site and link to them - while with the new software it will automatically resize and the users won't have to deal with that.



People on a dial up connection can either use the PDA/dial-up connection and get VERY fast page loads because it strips almost all of the graphics out or they can go to the user control panel and turn off view images which will turn off any images in vb IMG tags and attachments - you'll get a link to click on it if you want. I'm very attentive to doing our best to serve people on slower connections and do all that I can to support them - the PDA/dial-up skin was developed specifically for that - although we do have to also be attentive to the needs/wants of those on higher speed connections (which is the majority these days).

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Only issue that I have noticed with that I switched styles to the PDA format from the default style. I was not able to switch back. Got the yellow triangle on the lower left of the status bar.

Looks like you found a bug - thanks. I'll get to work on it later today - it's on the list.



FIXED

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Thanks to everyone who's taking the time to test. The more problems that we find now the smoother the transition will go (and I LOVE smooth transitions )!