Should We Move To A New Forum Platform?

[BigBrother-84]

• The ability to post a link is poor. Yes, you can click the chain link icon and it'll drop in the html code with the curser between the two brackets so all you have to do is paste in the link. But I'd like you to try to cause it to make a link out of a word instead of having the whole link showing in the post.

Gary, I found this example on the web. Is this useful for pasting a hyperlink too?

[Gary Lewis]

• The ability to post a link is poor. Yes, you can click the chain link icon and it'll drop in the html code with the curser between the two brackets so all you have to do is paste in the link. But I'd like you to try to cause it to make a link out of a word instead of having the whole link showing in the post.

Gary, I found this example on the web. Is this useful for pasting a hyperlink too?

Yes, that is the same process I used in this post on phpBB.

Man, it was SO easy to do that in Nabble. Just copy the link, type "this post", highlight it, click the Link button, and paste the link in. I really don't want to go backwards, and unless there is a plugin to fix that then phpBB would be a big step backwards. And since nothing I've found suggests a plugin exists, I'm doubting it.

But, Jeff, please tell me your thoughts. Can you make the link bit work on phpBB? And by work I mean highlight some text to be a hyperlink instead of pasting in some horribly-long URL. I've seen some URLs for things from Amazon that have gone on for 3 rows of text, and I don't think it is acceptable to paste several of those in the middle of a post.

Also, can you figure out how to do bulleted lists in phpBB? How about numbered lists? If so, please enlighten me as I've not twigged.

And then please go try the same thing in InVision. Links are exactly like Nabble, and bulleted & numbered lists are dead simple. I'm really having a hard time with phpBB unless there are plugins to fix the problems.

[BigBrother-84]

Yes, that is the same process I used in this post on phpBB.

Man, it was SO easy to do that in Nabble. Just copy the link, type "this post", highlight it, click the Link button, and paste the link in. I really don't want to go backwards, and unless there is a plugin to fix that then phpBB would be a big step backwards. And since nothing I've found suggests a plugin exists, I'm doubting it.

But, Jeff, please tell me your thoughts. Can you make the link bit work on phpBB? And by work I mean highlight some text to be a hyperlink instead of pasting in some horribly-long URL. I've seen some URLs for things from Amazon that have gone on for 3 rows of text, and I don't think it is acceptable to paste several of those in the middle of a post.

Also, can you figure out how to do bulleted lists in phpBB? How about numbered lists? If so, please enlighten me as I've not twigged.

And then please go try the same thing in InVision. Links are exactly like Nabble, and bulleted & numbered lists are dead simple. I'm really having a hard time with phpBB unless there are plugins to fix the problems.

Gary, I agree, this is a MUST. We cannot go away from Nabble to worst.

I'll take some time tomorrow to test this feature on the two platforms.

Oh, btw, IT'S A GIRL!

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, I agree, this is a MUST. We cannot go away from Nabble to worst.

I'll take some time tomorrow to test this feature on the two platforms.

Oh, btw, IT'S A GIRL!

Congratulations!!!!

[85lebaront2]

Gary, I agree, this is a MUST. We cannot go away from Nabble to worst.

I'll take some time tomorrow to test this feature on the two platforms.

Oh, btw, IT'S A GIRL!

Congratulations!

[BigBrother-84]

Congratulations!

Thanks guys, we are so happy!

My daughter had her first baby the same way my wife did: Difficult, very long, but at the end everyone is in perfect shape.

Mother is healthy, although really tired. We are grateful.

Gary - I played with InVision link posting, really easy: Just place the cursor at the right place in the phrase and click the "link" button. In the window that opens, paste the link and write the word(s) you want to be displayed. So, compared to Nabble it’s easier, since you don’t have to first highlight the word(s) before clicking the link button (this step is often annoying on iPhone with Nabble, the cursor doesn’t stay on the word and steps a the beginning of the post).

This is not the same on phpBB. We need to manually edit the pasted link in order to display word(s) instead of the full link. It is not acceptable imho, we cannot suppose that members have html programmers skills.

BUT, I emailed you a link about an extension that probably enables easy link posting on phpBB. Please tell me if it’s the case.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks guys, we are so happy!

My daughter had her first baby the same way my wife did: Difficult, very long, but at the end everyone is in perfect shape.

Mother is healthy, although really tired. We are grateful.

Gary - I played with InVision link posting, really easy: Just place the cursor at the right place in the phrase and click the "link" button. In the window that opens, paste the link and write the word(s) you want to be displayed. So, compared to Nabble it’s easier, since you don’t have to first highlight the word(s) before clicking the link button (this step is often annoying on iPhone with Nabble, the cursor doesn’t stay on the word and steps a the beginning of the post).

This is not the same on phpBB. We need to manually edit the pasted link in order to display word(s) instead of the full link. It is not acceptable imho, we cannot suppose that members have html programmers skills.

BUT, I emailed you a link about an extension that probably enables easy link posting on phpBB. Please tell me if it’s the case.

Jeff, aka Grandpa - I am so glad everyone is well. You are going to really, REALLY love being grandparents. Spoil them and hand them back to their parents to sort out the problems.

Our grandtwins show up Wednesday, along with their mother/our daughter, but she's leaving them with us for several days and we are dreaming up all the ways we can spoil them.

As for the forum, InVision is soooo easy. And the native phpBB is sooooo hard. But I'm looking at the link you sent. Perhaps it'll solve that problem. (Then we need to solve the bulleted list and numbered list problems, and ....)

[Gary Lewis]

Jeff, aka Grandpa - I am so glad everyone is well. You are going to really, REALLY love being grandparents. Spoil them and hand them back to their parents to sort out the problems.

Our grandtwins show up Wednesday, along with their mother/our daughter, but she's leaving them with us for several days and we are dreaming up all the ways we can spoil them.

As for the forum, InVision is soooo easy. And the native phpBB is sooooo hard. But I'm looking at the link you sent. Perhaps it'll solve that problem. (Then we need to solve the bulleted list and numbered list problems, and ....)

Grandpa Jeff - Unfortunately that plugin just shows a link to the post. In other words, it does what clicking on the title of the post does, and makes it easy to get the link to the post so you can send others there.

But it doesn't allow you to insert links easily into a post, which I think is a requirement. As you said, we can't expect the users to be HTML programmers. And anything less than what we have is going in the wrong direction.

Here's a pic showing where they put the link - below the post:

[Gary Lewis]

Grandpa Jeff - Unfortunately that plugin just shows a link to the post. In other words, it does what clicking on the title of the post does, and makes it easy to get the link to the post so you can send others there.

But it doesn't allow you to insert links easily into a post, which I think is a requirement. As you said, we can't expect the users to be HTML programmers. And anything less than what we have is going in the wrong direction.

Here's a pic showing where they put the link - below the post:

Let me try to summarize where we are with comparing phpBB to InVision. But y'all can look at the spreadsheet to get a clearer picture.

There are three categories and within them several attributes. I'll try to hit the major differences:

Must Haves:

• Embedability: We still aren't sure exactly how well either platform will work being embedded, and won't know until Chris has a chance to spend more time testing them.

• Posting links: It ain't easy on phpBB, although Jeff has found an add-in that may fix that. Won't know until Chris can install it. But this could be a major issue.

Ought To Haves:

• Avatars: InVision swallowed my 4.2MB file and didn't complain, but phpBB barfed as it was way larger than the limits. So maybe we need to up the limits?

• Bulleted & numbered lists: It is complicated on phpBB and dead simple on InVision.

Nice To Haves:

• Drafts: phpBB lets you save a draft but InVision doesn't.

• Word documents: You can paste a whole Word document into either, but only InVision retains the formatting.

[BigBrother-84]

Let me try to summarize where we are with comparing phpBB to InVision. But y'all can look at the spreadsheet to get a clearer picture.

There are three categories and within them several attributes. I'll try to hit the major differences:

Must Haves:

• Embedability: We still aren't sure exactly how well either platform will work being embedded, and won't know until Chris has a chance to spend more time testing them.

• Posting links: It ain't easy on phpBB, although Jeff has found an add-in that may fix that. Won't know until Chris can install it. But this could be a major issue.

Ought To Haves:

• Avatars: InVision swallowed my 4.2MB file and didn't complain, but phpBB barfed as it was way larger than the limits. So maybe we need to up the limits?

• Bulleted & numbered lists: It is complicated on phpBB and dead simple on InVision.

Nice To Haves:

• Drafts: phpBB lets you save a draft but InVision doesn't.

• Word documents: You can paste a whole Word document into either, but only InVision retains the formatting.

Gary, when you’ll have a chance, take a look here.