Forum Overhaul Fix-'em-up Jamboree
05-27-2018, 11:42 AM
Hey gang!
If you've not been on Discord to hear me grumble and post screenshots, I've been quietly plugging away at a Forum Overhaul for a bit now. Main goals are to get old features working after the last big update, to set up some new features, fix old themes that the update broke, and hopefully resolve the recent spambot problem.
As part of the overhaul, I've been implementing some features folks have requested. If there are new formatting features you'd like to have access to when creating content, new or tweaked editor features you'd like, or so on, please let me know. Also, once these changes go live, I'm going to need help bugtesting in different browsers, diagnosing formatting trouble, and so on. Your input is much appreciated!
Lastly, I've been taking time off freelancing work lately to commit a solid block of time to this, and Schazer had me set up a Ko-Fi to help out. If you'd like to donate to support the work that's going into the overhaul, feel free to buy me some coffee! The thing's getting done either way, but any support would definitely help me out.
~ Donation Link ~
TASK PROGRESS:
I'll try to keep an up-to-date log of things that need fixing, and how that's coming along, up here in the OP.
NEW FORMATTING TAGS:
These tags aren't currently available for post formatting, but they'll be bundled with the official release. If there are other formatting features you'd like to see, please let me know!
If you've not been on Discord to hear me grumble and post screenshots, I've been quietly plugging away at a Forum Overhaul for a bit now. Main goals are to get old features working after the last big update, to set up some new features, fix old themes that the update broke, and hopefully resolve the recent spambot problem.
As part of the overhaul, I've been implementing some features folks have requested. If there are new formatting features you'd like to have access to when creating content, new or tweaked editor features you'd like, or so on, please let me know. Also, once these changes go live, I'm going to need help bugtesting in different browsers, diagnosing formatting trouble, and so on. Your input is much appreciated!
Lastly, I've been taking time off freelancing work lately to commit a solid block of time to this, and Schazer had me set up a Ko-Fi to help out. If you'd like to donate to support the work that's going into the overhaul, feel free to buy me some coffee! The thing's getting done either way, but any support would definitely help me out.
~ Donation Link ~
TASK PROGRESS:
I'll try to keep an up-to-date log of things that need fixing, and how that's coming along, up here in the OP.
- Death to Spambots: (In Progress)
- (5/27/2018) - Spam detection and reporting plugins are all set up, to make manual spam moderation easier. Eventually, once enough data's in, I'm hoping to reliably automate bot detection and banning. Currently trying to figure out if something's wrong with the CAPTCHA configuration which is letting bots register, or if this is human-assisted spam.
- (8/29/2018) - The Spam Analyzer is all set up, and is checking the post content of first-time-posters for spammy behavior. This has solved the majority of spambot issues, and we are flagging or blocking 90% of spambots! Unfortunately it's not 100% reliable, so manual moderation is still needed; the plugin occasionally flagged some new users posts as spam, and can't catch spambots that post innocuous word salad threads and leave a URL in the thread title. I may be able to overhaul the plugin, but that needs some research time. Also researching new solutions, including creating a more powerful Anti-Spambot Bot that can take moderator action against definite spammers, and message any human users who get moderated wrongly, with directions for contacting a moderator to fix it.
- (5/27/2018) - Spam detection and reporting plugins are all set up, to make manual spam moderation easier. Eventually, once enough data's in, I'm hoping to reliably automate bot detection and banning. Currently trying to figure out if something's wrong with the CAPTCHA configuration which is letting bots register, or if this is human-assisted spam.
- Fix Layout and Buttons Broken by Update: (In Progress)
- (5/27/2018) - Mostly done recreating the main Eagle Time stylesheet. Trying to keep things close to the original, with a few readability and usability tweaks. The links, buttons, and features are pretty much all working again, though they still need to be tested on browsers other than Chrome and Firefox.
- Here's a screenshot of the redone main theme!
- (5/27/2018) - Mostly done recreating the main Eagle Time stylesheet. Trying to keep things close to the original, with a few readability and usability tweaks. The links, buttons, and features are pretty much all working again, though they still need to be tested on browsers other than Chrome and Firefox.
- Redesign Themes Broken by Update: (Not Started)
- (5/27/2018) - The Fortuna theme, as well as several other themes, were broken by the update and the subsequent fixes to the Layout. Once the main theme is done, I hope to recreate the rest of the themes to fit the new layout.
- (5/27/2018) - The Fortuna theme, as well as several other themes, were broken by the update and the subsequent fixes to the Layout. Once the main theme is done, I hope to recreate the rest of the themes to fit the new layout.
- Fix the Post Editor: (Not Started)
- (5/27/2018) - Currently figuring out how the SCEditor works, how to fix broken features, and how to eventually add new features. Hoping to add an optional rich text WYSIWYG editor, so folks who don't want to mess with bbcode can format their posts without fussing with tags too!
- Some WIP icons, including some for new editor features!
- (5/27/2018) - Currently figuring out how the SCEditor works, how to fix broken features, and how to eventually add new features. Hoping to add an optional rich text WYSIWYG editor, so folks who don't want to mess with bbcode can format their posts without fussing with tags too!
- Implement New Formatting Tags: (In Progress)
- (5/27/2018) - Several new tags have been implemented in the testbed server; [alt], [box], [table], [trow], and [tcell]. More info on these below. Other tags are in early testing and implementation stages; colored text outlines, expanded audio and video embedding, float tags to let text flow around images, image-based backgrounds that text can be written over, text mirroring, image/text rotation, and a few others. Mostly pruning over the possibilities, to make sure they're intuitive, unique, useful, and don't break other things.
- (5/27/2018) - Several new tags have been implemented in the testbed server; [alt], [box], [table], [trow], and [tcell]. More info on these below. Other tags are in early testing and implementation stages; colored text outlines, expanded audio and video embedding, float tags to let text flow around images, image-based backgrounds that text can be written over, text mirroring, image/text rotation, and a few others. Mostly pruning over the possibilities, to make sure they're intuitive, unique, useful, and don't break other things.
NEW FORMATTING TAGS:
These tags aren't currently available for post formatting, but they'll be bundled with the official release. If there are other formatting features you'd like to see, please let me know!