ILX Update

I have made a bunch of changes to the software for ILX.

Changes

• Some formatting changes, like this bulleted list and the ability to post YouTube embeds (see the formatting instructions for how to do this)
• An admin log
• Changed around the menu options to be in consistent locations throughout the application
• Promoted the use of 'Site New Answers'. Note that you can configure this to show only the boards you want to, and to colour them in from preferences, or from the hyperlink on the header on the Site New Answers (or questions) page
• Configure board-specific shortcuts to add to your menu bar, from preferences
• Completely rewrote the search from the ground up to now use the database functions, but to be indexed separately. This lets me do far more and hopefully still run quickly enough to not bring to site to a grinding halt
• Shouldn't be of interest to most, but the database is now InnoDB and not MyISAM, should remove data integrity issues, e.g. some broken threads, and threads that thought they were unanswered when they were not
• On that note, unanswered threads are shown in bold, like the good old days
• Hierarchical view of boards (the front page can be arranged with folders - idea was so that lots more boards would be possible; whether the mods think it's reasonable or not is up to them)
• Polls can be disabled on a per-board basis
• Changeable display user names - see preferences
• Random threads - displays a list of twenty threads picked at random
• Most read threads - shows you the threads that have been read the most in the past hour
• Board admin functions allow unbans
• Mobile device interface - simple HTML that should work well on a mobile phone
• Invite only boards - someone might have a use for such a thing
• Default stylesheet has changed and has a variety of less colourful variations. The original one is still in there too. If you want something changed, then please make a new stylesheet and send it to me and I'll install it. I improved the installation to not need a site stop/start, so if you send me a stylesheet, I can put it in place immediately
• On that note, lots has changed, and whilst I've tried to keep the stylesheets in line, there may be things missed in some of the non-standard ones, so please bear with me and please send me fixes where you see things that are broken
• When you post a new thread, the search engine looks to see if there are threads with similar titles, and gives you the option of tacking your post on to the end of another thread
• Show who last updated a thread on the new answers pages
• Stop Google indexing on a per-board basis
• Bookmarks are quite different - there's no option to turn display of them on or off, but they only show on the screen if there are new answers on the bookmarked thread
• Subscribe to a board to receive email updates daily (could be useful for smaller boards); you can unsubscribe in preferences
• Improved history view of new answers etc. going back a month
• Remember your password - stores as an encrypted cookie on your computer and should prevent you needing to log in

There have been a lot of changes, so this will probably mean there will be a lot of bugs. In fact, the program code as it is now, is dramatically different from the older one, despite it not looking too different. Because of this, I will likely have to fix things and then restart ILX from time to time over the next few weeks. Why haven't I spent a lot of time testing on the sandbox? One of the difficulties with ILX is that it is such a big website, with many users. Most problems don't show up with fewer users, so the only real test (other than a very boring and complicated bunch of automated tests: if anyone wants to volunteer to do this, please let me know!) is to go live with it and deal with it as it happens, so please let me know if you see bugs.

What I would really appreciate is if we can stick to things that are actually broken, rather than things that you, personally don't like and want changed, as I'm likely to have a lot to do over the coming weeks.

I hope you enjoy it.

Also:

• Support for yellow carding
• Support for banning a user, but just from a specific thread temporarily

Some stylesheet stuff doesn't seem to work very well in IE. Older versions of IE are even worse. If anyone wants to figure it out and send me fixes, I would appreciate it.

Also:

• Bookmarks automatically update themselves to the current post, when you post on a thread you have bookmarked

bump

countdown to screen name "Vagina Products MacGyver"

Thanks again, Keith and Stet!

hi!

Hi!

&

omg

Hmm, Site New Answers doesn't seem to display correctly.... it doesn't show the boards I specified in Prefs, and new ILE posts aren't showing up.

How about some sort of virtual hand that smacks you upside the head every time you forget to convert HTML to BBCode?

THANKING U !

*embeds
*awzom
*lol

HTML works for bold and italic now, btw.

• uh

• 1
• 2
• z

Thanks Keith! (also, stet!)

Haha at all ILX addicts turning up on the lurker list.

Whoa cool Keith.

• L
• O
• L

Cheers...

Rock, did you press "restore defaults" instead of "update my preferences"? I do that myself. I should probably swap the buttons around.

hahaha, name names, stet!

Keith -- no, it was "update prefs."

I is unlurking to say thanks to stet and Keith.

It looks cool, clean, fresh and smelling of roses. Probably not for long, though.

Awesome. Keith, yuo roxorz.

Keith, I think the Hide? is actually Show.

Ah OK... D'oh!

awesome! thanks keith & stet!!!!

Test post from opera mini browser on phone, looks great at first glance!

Sweet. Can't wait to break it.

Hey Stan, you could try the mobile interface and see how that is:

Mobile Interface

admin log!

Hi this is my new display name.

Nice going! It's been a long week.

Haha at all ILX addicts turning up on the lurker list.

― -- (stet), Wednesday, September 10, 2008 2:59 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

waht is a "the lurker list" ?

yay!!! thanks Keith & Stet!!!

• awesome! thanks keith & stet!!!!
• Test post from opera mini browser on phone, looks great at first glance!
• Sweet. Can't wait to break it.

Re: Mobile layout:

Fonts are way too large - this Opera Mini browser is meant to emulate a standard browser (converts pages on their proxy and sends them to your phone), so mobile layouts like that don't look good there. Does look like other sites' "iPhone layout" though, so I think it'll look good for people who are on one of those.

Yeah, depends on your phone. If your phone's trying to be a normal browser then yeah it's going to be pointless. I just use the actual site on the iPhone, but for shittier devices, it might help.

waht is a "the lurker list"
is little stats panel for the site; shows recent ppl

• http://i37.tinypic.com/f1mm3n.jpg

:D :D :D :D

<makes pre-emptive post about how Keith and stet are cunts and this isn't how it used to be, then flounces off in hissy fit only to come back in less than a week>

Logging out & deleting the cookie doesn't wipe out which layout I chose? (i.e. logs you off but remembers how you wanted ILX to look in your preferences -> are there two cookies now? or did Firefox remember somehow?)

this looks like ILX XILE to me wtf

Ah yeah, deleting the cookie is the login cookie, not the stylesheet cookie. I guessed no-one would care too much if that were lying around!

No problem at all! :-)

keith how the hell do i change my username it has brought me a lot of pain

there's a handful of posts that have the dates reset to Sunday, February 27, 2000 - and that's making those threads (just the first post or 2 in those threads)

AGH. obv i meant aug and feb 2000 (not 2008)

the only thing that is saddening me is 77 borad missing from the top of the page

What is saddening is looking at threads I remember reading when they were new, and seeing the words "posted eight years ago". Have I really wasted that much of my life here?

also ajax bookmarking - i don't know that The Original Coders would stand for such asynchronous goings on

bbcode js - fair enough, but what's this style.js...

(i kid of course - it'd be wall-to-wall jquery if i was still in on all this)

Alan, as far as dates are concerned, a lot of the old threads and messages on the pre ILX2 (or my ILX, whatever you want to call it) had screwed up dates. I don't know when in history this happened. All the times are recorded as 00:00. I just converted them to the new database as is, as there was obviously nothing I could do.

Is there currently any way to have different visited/unvisited link colors if I change the color of boards' thread titles through Customize Site View?

Not right now, but I will sort it at some point. People keep asking for stuff, so the list is growing. Will take some time...

Dear Keith, my iPhone has dust under the screen, please fix

my ex-gf had to take her cell phone in for a repair at the t-mobile store and when she got it back there was a pube under the screen. she never got it removed and had the phone for like 2 more years.

ugh

that a new take on the "fonzie fixes the jukebox" school of repair.

fonzie fuxors the jukebox

Was it this phone?

The headline that writes itself.

Dick Smith is not a euphemism btw.

I know, and yet.

Not to get too OT but that company also sells food. So you've got cheese, butter, spreads, crackers, etc.

'Er indoors refused to go shopping with me for a while.

Dicksmith is not a euphemism, it is a way of life.

the noblest of professions

the nobbiest of professions

Oh and there's juice.

this is a great update! my one problem is that i can't post using the mobile interface on an ipod touch.

dude, if you're using a Touch, use the iPhone stylesheet -- it's way nicer.

(last time i looked, there was still the line-height problem with displayed bookmarks on the site new answers page -- but fuck that. it's still a lovely interface.)

Apart from the horrible screen-unfriendly serif font, obviously.

so, i'm a mod of 1p3 and iltmi

i can only review site bans for iltm, currently

is this so?

*iltmi i mean

I don't know... Is it so? If it is, it's a bug.

It's so, unless I'm missing something. There's nowhere for me to select the other board, or anything.

It should just show you all the people from either board that are banned - not give you an option to select which board.

Ah - it's working fine - it's just that there's no-one currently board banned from 1p3.

W E I R D !

thanks keith

The 40 bookmark limit appears to have been removed! (y/n)

roxy i think i unbanned everyone when i was drunk last nite ^___^

lol @ u

<3

What does "regular expression" mean?

It's a pattern matching language - a way of expressing something that lets you match more than one thing... A bit like, but much more sophisticated than fred* matching both freddy and frederick. You can't set them as a board admin (it's too easy to get them wrong and wind up banning 3,000 people).

(at least in the context of the bans page - they're used for all sorts)

ok,i see

how long does yellow carding last again?

5 days?

Does there happen to be a problem with reviving search results? I seem to be able to post to threads on the new answers page, but nothing happens when I try to post to a search result thread :-(

Or am I not seeing some 'this thread is locked' message or symbol?

Example: searched for Jerry Springer the Opera, tried to reply to the thread with the funny dom and bab question for stupid hahaha reasons, submit button sent me straight back to the reply box several times in a row. Gave up.

New ILX has a feature that can automatically detect when a post is not funny and it prevents you from posting it.

seems to be broken already lol

Stan, did you try this at 10:15 (well, half an hour ago)? If so, I think it's because what you were trying to post looks like it's got something in it that's screwing up the code that turns http things into hyperlinks.

My reply attempts were later than that, I think. Nothing fancy either, just words. maybe there was something earlier in that thread.
Nevermind, though, probably just a glitch in teh matrix.