BigBrother-84 Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Weebly is both a website builder and a web service provider. Our hundreds of pages of documentation have been built using Weebly's builder and run on Weebly's server(s). And while they have a free service, I've signed up for a monthly fee in order to have multiple editors. As for porting our documentation to another site, this webpage says (with the bolding being theirs, not mine): It is possible to transfer your Weebly site to another hosting provider. Weebly provides an export feature that allows you to download your site’s content, including pages, images, and other media files. Once you have exported your site, you can then import it into your new hosting provider’s platform. However, it’s important to note that the design and layout of your site may not transfer perfectly, as different hosting providers may have different website builders and templates. You are essentially only migrating the content, not the design. From what I've seen porting Weebly isn't easy. Two years ago when I was looking for someone to do it no one had been successful. And, as the above says, once you port it you then have to go back in and fix things - on every page. My understanding is that Weebly code only runs on Weebly servers. And yes, our forum uses a Nabble platform and it will not be updated. But our forum does not use a Weebly app embedding feature to "integrate" it in the Bullnose website. There is no Weebly app to do that. We are actually using a Nabble app to do that that runs on the Nabble servers. Having said that, there is the HTML iframe capability that Chris used to put a couple of the forums we tried on the Weebly site. Weebly supports it just fine, and why Xenforo can't use it I don't understand. There are several more well thought of forums to be tested, including InVision which may be the next to try. Its documentation says it can be embedded on another website, and I'm sure if that is true it'll work on Weebly. So I'm not ready to consider moving off Weebly. I believe we have two separate issues and we can solve them one at a time. Last, the reason we have our forum embedded our our documentation website is because we want the user to have the full range of menus at the top of the page. Forum platforms don't do documentation. Website platforms don't typically do forums. So if we want the forum members to have access to the documentation then we have to integrate the forum onto the website. Thanks for answering my questions Gary. Now I see and understand the whole pattern. It make sense to stay with Weebly hosting, I fully agree. There is certainly a Nabble alternative out there, that can be embedded into our Weebly made and hosted website. I thought that there was a Weebly app available to embed a forum. They discuss about two options, I am still uncertain about option #2: Option #1 — Embed a Third Party Forum in your Weebly Website Option #2 — Embed a Forum in your Website using a Weebly App. Having that said, I feel no emergency to switch to another forum platform. Nabble isn’t so bad, we learn to use it. We have plenty time to explore different alternatives, no stress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 Thanks for answering my questions Gary. Now I see and understand the whole pattern. It make sense to stay with Weebly hosting, I fully agree. There is certainly a Nabble alternative out there, that can be embedded into our Weebly made and hosted website. I thought that there was a Weebly app available to embed a forum. They discuss about two options, I am still uncertain about option #2: Option #1 — Embed a Third Party Forum in your Weebly Website Option #2 — Embed a Forum in your Website using a Weebly App. Having that said, I feel no emergency to switch to another forum platform. Nabble isn’t so bad, we learn to use it. We have plenty time to explore different alternatives, no stress! That app is a very limited forum to run on Weebly. I looked at it and it really doesn't have what we want. It may actually not be as good as Nabble in some areas. And I agree, there's no urgency to move off Nabble. However, the longer we wait the larger the migration problem of moving the existing forum over. And, at some point Franklin may pull the plug on Nabble. In fact, he is doing zero maintenance. So I think we need to continue to look, but not move until we find what we really want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 That app is a very limited forum to run on Weebly. I looked at it and it really doesn't have what we want. It may actually not be as good as Nabble in some areas. And I agree, there's no urgency to move off Nabble. However, the longer we wait the larger the migration problem of moving the existing forum over. And, at some point Franklin may pull the plug on Nabble. In fact, he is doing zero maintenance. So I think we need to continue to look, but not move until we find what we really want. Ok, we have a bit of news to share. First, Chris and I think that InVision is going to do what we need to do. We started a test forum of it this morning and it performed well enough that we embedded it on the Weebly page at New Bullnose Test Forum in the menu. You can go look at it, BUT there is a problem at present - if you are already registered on the forum on the InVision server, which you can see here, you cannot log onto the embedded one with most browsers. (I can get on with Firefox but not Chrome.) The gentleman from InVision said that is normal and will be resolved on a paid-for service, so I signed up for the Beginner service at $49/mo. Hopefully we can get the log-in sorted soon and y'all can try it out to your heart's content. But in the interim you can register on the forum here and that registration will work when the problem is solved. In addition I have a friend that has said he can port our existing Nabble forum to the InVision forum, and will do so for us at no charge. Obviously we have no clue how long that will take. Given that we don't yet have a strategy for the path forward. So for now I would suggest that we use the Nabble forum as our production forum and the InVision forum as our test forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBrother-84 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 First, Chris and I think that InVision is going to do what we need to do. We started a test forum of it this morning and it performed well enough that we embedded it on the Weebly. Progress! Interested to participate to the “Test Forum”, but not sure how to proceed… I suppose the goal is to test the embedded version. Do we have to wait that the embedded version will be accessible? Cause right now, there’s only the title that is visible, rest is blank. EDIT! Now “something” appears. So let’s test! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 First, Chris and I think that InVision is going to do what we need to do. We started a test forum of it this morning and it performed well enough that we embedded it on the Weebly. Progress! Interested to participate to the “Test Forum”, but not sure how to proceed… I suppose the goal is to test the embedded version. Do we have to wait that the embedded version will be accessible? Cause right now, there’s only the title that is visible, rest is blank. EDIT! Now “something” appears. So let’s test! Jeff - We'd love to have you participate. Go here to do that, sign up, etc: https://j330110.invisionservice.com/ As for the one you can access through the New Bullnose Test Forum link in the menu, I messed up on a change but Chris pointed it out and that one is back up. However, since you don't know if your browser will work with that one start with the one above, the one at https://j330110.invisionservice.com/. If you sign up there your browser may work on the one on Weebly. If not, it should soon. BUT! I RECOMMEND YOU SIGN UP USING EXISTING SCREEN NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS. AND MAYBE EVEN PASSWORD! That's because if we are successful porting this Nabble forum over to InVision we'll bring your ID as well. And if you are using a new ID on InVision you'll be schizophrenic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Ok, we have a bit of news to share. First, Chris and I think that InVision is going to do what we need to do. We started a test forum of it this morning and it performed well enough that we embedded it on the Weebly page at New Bullnose Test Forum in the menu. You can go look at it, BUT there is a problem at present - if you are already registered on the forum on the InVision server, which you can see here, you cannot log onto the embedded one with most browsers. (I can get on with Firefox but not Chrome.) The gentleman from InVision said that is normal and will be resolved on a paid-for service, so I signed up for the Beginner service at $49/mo. Hopefully we can get the log-in sorted soon and y'all can try it out to your heart's content. But in the interim you can register on the forum here and that registration will work when the problem is solved. In addition I have a friend that has said he can port our existing Nabble forum to the InVision forum, and will do so for us at no charge. Obviously we have no clue how long that will take. Given that we don't yet have a strategy for the path forward. So for now I would suggest that we use the Nabble forum as our production forum and the InVision forum as our test forum. This is very promising news! You and Chris have been putting a lot of work into this, and I want to express my appreciation for all the effort. I'll try the link.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBrother-84 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 First, Chris and I think that InVision is going to do what we need to do. We started a test forum of it this morning and it performed well enough that we embedded it on the Weebly. Progress! Interested to participate to the “Test Forum”, but not sure how to proceed… I suppose the goal is to test the embedded version. Do we have to wait that the embedded version will be accessible? Cause right now, there’s only the title that is visible, rest is blank. EDIT! Now “something” appears. So let’s test! Q1- Do we have to create a new member account, or use our existing one to sign in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 This is very promising news! You and Chris have been putting a lot of work into this, and I want to express my appreciation for all the effort. I'll try the link.... Jim - Chris has done the bulk of the work, and I really appreciate it. Jeff - This is a totally new forum and it can't spell Nabble. So everything is new, meaning you have to sign up to use it. But, as said, please use the same info as on Nabble or you may have two different accounts if/when we migrate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Q1- Do we have to create a new member account, or use our existing one to sign in? Gary said above, it's best to recreate your existing credentials Username password etc.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBrother-84 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Gary said above, it's best to recreate your existing credentials Username password etc.. Yep, I am too enthusiastic, I type my questions simultaneously with Gary’s instructions… So I look like a guy who doesn’t read. So I’ll calm myself. First, I had to modify my password in the “real” forum, cause the “test” one doesn’t accept it (too weak). I was stuck at the password step. Now it looks happy with my new strongest password, but I am now stuck in buckle on the verification step. Can’t go through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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