News New Signs101 Functionality/features Added And Explained...

[SignsSupport]

As you all know - Signs101 is now running on the Xenforo platform. Eon Media and I believe the migration from vBulletin is a great move for the community and hope that once you've familiarized yourself with the featureset - that you too will agree that the current Xenforo install is superior and an upgrade from the vBulletin platform.

I will post a bit more info about the enhanced featureset and some mini how-to's in this thread. If you have any questions - feel free to ask. But even more importantly - we hope you enjoy the Signs101 upgrade. If you haven't already done so - please let us know what you think of the upgrade and vote in the poll at We're Back Online With Our New Design!

Thanks for your attention.

J.

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USERBAR WITH DROPDOWN MENUS:
The new, highly intuitive userbar -- located in the top portion of all forum pages -- contains a plethora of information:

You'll be able to easily access your profile settings, PMs (which are called "Conversations" on the Xenforo platform - but we still call them PMs LOL), post alerts and bookmarks as seen in the screencap above. Simply mouseover the corresponding icon to view profile settings and other information.


POSTING NEW THREADS MADE EASY:
There are various ways to post a new thread now. You'll notice the "Post New Thread" button in the upper right-hand corner of all forum pages. Clicking it will open up a list of the various sections that are open for posting:

There is now the option of posting a new thread directly from the main forum index as well. Simply locate the "Create Thread" icon and click it:

Of course there is also the "Post New Thread" button -- quite similar to the old vBulletin install -- which appears in the actual threadview listings.


NEW POSTS AND ALERTS EXPLAINED:
We have added a "New Posts" prompt that will tell show the amount of unread forum posts:

As of this posting - The number *should* actually reflect the amount of posts that you had not read when the forum was on vBulletin within the past 365 days. If the number of unread posts you see is an exorbitant amount, then you might click the link and see what you've missed out on. Otherwise - You can clear the New Posts cache by clicking the "Mark Forums Read" link which appears in the "Forums" dropdown menu and/or sub-navigation link.

If you are browsing a particular forum, you also have the option of choosing whether to mark all forum posts read OR only the posts of the particular section:

We've also added functionality that allows you to mark a specific thread as read. Mousing over a thread in the threadview list should produce a "Mark as Read" link. The same link will appear when mousing over the New Posts listings on the new homepage. Clicking the link will effectively remove the thread from your New Posts list and mark it as read:

RECENT ACTIVITY STREAM:
If you have yet to notice, the Xenforo platform provides a sweet bit of functionality in its Recent Activity stream. Most all publicly viewable thread posts, profile posts, likes, media gallery additions, etc... can easily be viewed by clicking the "Recent Activity" link. You'll find it in the "Home" main navigation bar dropdown and/or sub-navigation menu:

This particular functionality actually has great potential and is *sorta* similar to the Facebook wall or other social media main content pages. Hopefully its functionality will be enhanced with the advent and introduction of Xenforo 2, which is being developed as I type and will be introduce later this year.

It's a great little page, though, for seeing what's really going on in the Signs101 community.


BOOKMARK YOUR FAVORITE CONTENT:
Signs101 now has a full-featured Bookmarks functionality! Find something especially helpful? Bookmark it for future reference. There is the option of both private and public bookmarks. Your public bookmarks will appear in its own tab on your profile page. If you enable the "Quick Links" option - the bookmark(s) will appear in your userbar Bookmarks dropdown. All of your bookmarks will be listed on your profiles Bookmark page for easy access.

It's quite intuitive and self-explanatory - but here is a screencap to show you the way:

Not only can you bookmark entire threads & specific posts, but the bookmarks functionality extends to media and Merchants section as well. Bookmarks can easily be added into posts as well by clicking the "Insert Bookmarks" link in the postbit post controls:

More exciting, new features and functionality additions will be posted in the next few posts.
Thanks again for your attention.

J.


Please note that at the time of this posting, the Merchants section is a bit incomplete and under construction. We will have all issues resolved in the coming days. Thanks for your patience.

 

[SignsSupport]

INTRODUCING THE MEMBERCARD:
Each registered member has a membercard. The membercard can easily be accessed by clicking a member's username and/or a members avatar:

As you can see - the membercard has a myriad of information, including a members join date, post count, likes received, etc... PMing (or starting a conversation) with a member is as easy as clicking the membercard and selecting the "Start a Conversation" link.

If member choses to show his/her location publicly, the membercard will show what thread they are viewing and/or what last activity was performed.

A really nice, intuitive feature of the Xenforo platform.



MEMBER TAGGING:

I've no idea if the Signs101 vBulletin install allowed for tagging members in posts. The Xenforo platform does allow for it though:

Typing the @ symbol proceeded by the first 2-3 letters of a fellow members' username should immediately produce a list of username options. When tagged in a thread, the tagged member will receive an alert of the tag. Hopefully this makes for a bit of a more interactive community experience.




Please Note:
Obviously tagging yourself will not produce an alert. It is, however, a way to place a clickable link to your membercard directly in posts:

POST & THREAD DRAFTS:
Ever been in the middle of posting a mini-novela of greatest importance and boom! BSOD?! Ever accidentally closed a tab when trying to respond to a thread? Annoying right?

There's a great little nifty feature in the Xenforo platform that allows for saving of posts/threads. The system is automated and will periodically send drafts to the Signs101 server. Drafts are stored to allow users to resume working on their messages later.

You can also save drafts by clicking the save button in the post editor form:

HOW TO CORRECTLY USE MULTI-QUOTE:
The Xenforo platform makes it very easy to quote a multiple amount of posts. It comes in handy when you're responding to many posts and don't necessarily want to saturate the board with double posts. It's very intuitive and quite simple to use:

As seen in the screencap:

1. Select the post or posts that you would like to quote
2. Click the "+Quote" button. A quote will be affirmed via top message, while the button will change from "+Quote" to "-Quote"
3. Scroll to the quick reply form and click the "Insert Quotes..." button
4. Verify your multi-quoted posts by clicking the "Quote These Messages" button on the overlay.

Simple as sugar-free apple pie right

As an FYI - Please note that when quoting a post or posts - that the content of your actual post is outside the [/QUOTE] bbcode and/or indeed outside the quote box as seen in the WYSIWYG quick editor form.

 

[SignsSupport]

NAVIGATING THE HOMEPAGE NEWS SECTION:
The main homepage contains a section which houses the 5 most recent news articles.The page navigation cylces posts from the Signs101 News Articles section only:

NAVIGATION MADE EASY:
Another neat feature of Xenforo is the Quick Navigation. Signs101 has an extensive forum list - but it could come in handy. Each page of the forum will now show the quick navigation menu icon as seen in the screencap below:

Navigating Signs101 at the click of a button ... It really comes in handy as an easy access list of forums available for browsing and posting, as well as a sitemap to the Recent Activity feed, your profile page, account settings & other helpful information.





VIEWING SECTIONS WITH SUB-FORUMS:
Sub-forums are clearly marked on the main forum index page. They are listed on all sections that have sub-forums. You'll find them in the dropdown like so:

SENDING A PRIVATE MESSAGE (PM):
PMs are now referred to as "Conversations" -- Members can start new conversations easily on the new Xenforo platform. Clicking a member's username or avatar will bring up the member's user card. To send the selected member a PM - simply click the "Start a Conversation" link:

All conversations are stored in the Conversations section of your user profile.





NAVIGATING THE HOMEPAGE NEW FORUM POSTS SECTION :
(Accessing recent posts, recent activity stream & unread forum posts...)

To alleviate any misunderstanding about the navigation functionality, we've placed THREE buttons at the bottom of the actual "New Forum Posts" homepage block:

1. All Recent Forum Posts... Produces a list of ALL RECENT forum posts, with the exception of posts that you've already read.
2. Recent Activity Stream... Produces a Facebook wall-like list of ALL RECENT FORUM activity. Media posts, profile posts, thread replies, post likes, avatar changes and a myriad of other recent activity will appear in the activity stream.
3. New Unread Forum Posts... Produces a list of ALL NEW & UNREAD forum posts. The number to the right-side is the actual number of unread posts.

It should also be noted that all links are easily accessible via the main "Home" & "Forums" navigation link dropdowns and/or sub-navigation menu:

 

[Gino]

Someone was busy last night.

 

[SignsSupport]

There was a slight bit of confusion about some navigation functions. We've made some slight changes that we hope will alleviate all issues with searching for new and/or unread posts, as well as viewing all member activity via the recent activity stream.

See the complete revision as posted in post #3 above News - New Signs101 Functionality/features Added And Explained...
Quoted for posterity:

NAVIGATING THE HOMEPAGE NEW FORUM POSTS SECTION :
(Accessing recent posts, recent activity stream & unread forum posts...)

To alleviate any misunderstanding about the navigation functionality, we've placed THREE buttons at the bottom of the actual "New Forum Posts" homepage block:

View attachment 126947

1. All Recent Forum Posts... Produces a list of ALL RECENT forum posts, with the exception of posts that you've already read.
2. Recent Activity Stream... Produces a Facebook wall-like list of ALL RECENT FORUM activity. Media posts, profile posts, thread replies, post likes, avatar changes and a myriad of other recent activity will appear in the activity stream.
3. New Unread Forum Posts... Produces a list of ALL NEW & UNREAD forum posts. The number to the right-side is the actual number of unread posts.

It should also be noted that all links are easily accessible via the main "Home" & "Forums" navigation link dropdowns and/or sub-navigation menu:

View attachment 126948

 

[Gino]

Seems a tad better. I like it.

 

[SignsSupport]

Seems a tad better. I like it.

Cheers.
It was a concern of Correct Color's - So I'm hoping the revision is a bit better to his liking as well.
Thanks!

J.

 

[Gino]

Ahhhh..... don't worry about what he wants.

On another note, I think your title would be more fitting as Webexecutress. Has a nice sound to it. That's one of my wife's many nicknames, but without the web part in front. ​