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Traveler
19-02-2009, 09:32 PM
As you may have noticed we've changed to a new forum and layout. We understand that you may at first have some trouble identifying what's what and how things work. If you have any questions regarding this, please do now hesitate to ask.

Quite a lot of this is new to us as well, but we'll try to answer as soon as possible.

jdarling
19-02-2009, 10:05 PM
Well, its going to take a bit to get used to. But so far, I'M LOVIN IT!

savage
19-02-2009, 10:12 PM
A great BIG thank-you goes out to Alexander for his untiring hard work in getting this much needed refresh to the site!! A great job well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We hope we can bring improvements to the site over the coming months.

Ixy
19-02-2009, 10:25 PM
Fresh, nice and modern.
Great job, guys.

Could I only ask if you'll add some darker layouts, as I'm not really fond of these white ones.

AthenaOfDelphi
19-02-2009, 10:28 PM
Great job so far :D

arthurprs
20-02-2009, 12:13 AM
nice work,

but i did't liked the layout, everything is too bright, perhas it's only me :-\

savage
20-02-2009, 01:08 AM
Traveller is, like, um, traveling this week-end ( and a well deserved break it is ) so no changes to the layout, theming etc, will be looked at until his return next week.

But keep the feedback coming.

czar
20-02-2009, 01:14 AM
I am not sure I can see an improvement - sorry - seems like you have swapped one perfectly working system for another. Are there any cool features that I am missing?

WILL
20-02-2009, 01:45 AM
Well there were several bugs with the old site that reoccurred from time to time. And the old site, though it had many nice features, it didn't mesh or combine all that well together as a whole. Missing sections from the navigation menus, hefty bandwidth usage and a hard to see and difficult to use and articles system which sorely needed replacing were main reasons for the new site. Though I am no longer a part of maintaining or developing the PGD site, I understand the problems that were there when I left. Alex(Traveler) and Dom(savage) have my most sincere kudos for giving the ole' gal a much needed face lift! ;)

A couple of things that didn't quite make it to the forums yet, that I noticed:

- Some of the more popularly used emoticons (arrow, thumbsup, cast of characters, etc)
- [Pascal] code blocks


:D Keep up the good work, I think the new software is great!!! :D

efilnukefesin
20-02-2009, 06:10 AM
nice new site, excellent work! ;)
the only thing is i liked the old smilies better ;D

crackmeal
20-02-2009, 07:20 AM
First of all, I'm glad that this forum exists. Rock on!

Unfortunately, I'm not fan of the new look for more reasons than I have time to mention. Here's my beefs...

1. Way too bright... my coder eyes are strained enough. I can't abide white backgrounds and neither can most other coders who sit for marathon sessions. I'll be back once in awhile to check for the addition of some dark SMF themes under "Look & Layout". Please?

2. The logo reflection (egregious design clich?© #1) is inexplicably skewed... so it manages too look bad while simultaneously being physically impossible. Howabout a design competition to get something pro up there? Something simply not in Helvetica could give the site a little bit of branding back.

3. The gloss effect (egregious design clich?© #2) in the site header is mysteriously bowed. Yowzers, that's a lot goin' on.

4. The hover effect in the site menu removes the background shading. This is unecessary and distracting.

5. The old site design had a lot of flavor. It was instantly recognizable, unpretentious, and it just felt "lived in". By comparison the new default theme is like a dentist's office.

Please take these criticisms as encouragement. Long live PGD! ;D

NecroDOME
20-02-2009, 07:38 AM
I like the new look :) !! Nice work!

chronozphere
20-02-2009, 09:27 AM
You guys did a great job. Thanks ;D

There are a few things though i'd like to see / improve:

> The old set of smiley's looked way better. These are very blurry. Is it possible to replace the images by the old ones?
> I really miss the "view latest posts" feature, because i click it every time i visit PGD. Any chance you can add this?
> As allready mentioned, it would be great to have [pascal] blocks back again.
> And an optional dark theme would be nice too.

AthenaOfDelphi
20-02-2009, 09:49 AM
Just going to throw my $0.02 into the pot for all those who don't like the new look.

I've just switched one of my sites from using a heavily customised theme to one of the 'out of the box' ones provided with the software... the reasoning was simple... I dreaded upgrades because every upgrade broke my theme and the customisations I'd added. Now I don't worry. Using an off the shelf theme with minimal tweaks makes my life easier. Whilst the old PGD theme was great, it was (I think Will will agree) a maintenance nightmare because it was so heavily customised (like a lot of the behind the scenes code, such as the article system), this meant the board was running old code because it was such a pain to upgrade.

So, on that front... Big up for Traveler and Savage. Great job guys.

As for this is wrong.. that is wrong... there's no theme with x... no theme with y... it's kind of like the comments that crop up about a lack of content... I want more tutorials... I want more of this... I want more of that...

Well... here's the thing see... this is a community site.

There's nothing stopping you creating a theme and sending it to Traveler or Savage. They may not use it. Then again... they may be glad of the help. Everytime this kind of comment comes up, it gets my goat because there are a hardcore of people Will, Traveler, Savage to name a few who keep the site running for the rest of us, but they can't do everything. So if you want to see more articles... why not write one? why not contribute news? why not organise competitions? why not contribute a theme? a new logo? Don't just say these things and throw it open to the 'community' to fix.

I want to see PGD grow again, but that will only be possible if more people contribute... I try to... admittedly I've not been around much, but there are a few articles with my name on and I have from time to time resolved some server issues, so I feel justified in saying this kind of thing.

I love this site and I like a lot of the people who hang out here, so lets help build it up again and return it to what it was a year or two ago.

Your community website needs YOU!:D

AthenaOfDelphi
20-02-2009, 09:56 AM
You guys did a great job. Thanks ;D

There are a few things though i'd like to see / improve:

> The old set of smiley's looked way better. These are very blurry. Is it possible to replace the images by the old ones?
> I really miss the "view latest posts" feature, because i click it every time i visit PGD. Any chance you can add this?
> As allready mentioned, it would be great to have [pascal] blocks back again.
> And an optional dark theme would be nice too.




The 'view latest posts' has been replaced on the forum header with 'Unread posts since last visit' and 'New replies to your posts'. I'm not sure where exactly these are available yet, but they are certainly on the portal home page and I think they do what the latest posts finder did on the old site.

As for a dark theme...

Savage/Traveler: If you guys haven't got one in the pipeline, if you PM links to the SMF, TinyPortal and the theme version thats are installed, I'll setup a dev copy on my system at home and see if I can come up with a dark theme. If you have got one in the pipeline, is there anything I can do to help? If not, how dark do peeps want it? Black or just dark grey? or both?

As for articles if you guys have the articles system running (but hidden from users), let me know if I can help with anything, like putting my old articles back on. Or possibly a [Pascal] block parser. I'm sure I'll be able to make a few spare hours this weekend.

savage
20-02-2009, 10:54 AM
We would like to migrate the old articles section into more of a wiki look and feel so, does anyone have any experience with either TikiWiki or PhpWiki as they are easily installable from CPanel? Suggestions for other Wiki software?

I'm fairly sure the old smilies can be added to the SMS images folder to replace the standard SMS ones. I'll wait for Traveller's return, just in case I mess up something.

Legolas
20-02-2009, 11:31 AM
I like this minimalist style, but at this time it is a bit harder to read for me (I'm a bit short-sighted). I would prefer some more contrast in colours
About the wiki, I'm feel very comfortable with MediaWiki, the one used for Lazarus and FPC wiki.

BTW, great job! ;)

Ñuño Martínez
20-02-2009, 12:44 PM
I'm impatient to see the wiki with articles.

Who will be able to write articles on the wiki? I have an article about voxels (http://wiki.allegro.cc/index.php?title=Pixelate:Issue_14/Voxel_Landscape_Renderization) I wrote to Pixelate a long time ago and I did partially translate it to Pascal. I know it's a bit obsolete but it's sooooo retro-style, and I really love retro-style :3

savage
20-02-2009, 01:51 PM
I'm impatient to see the wiki with articles.

Who will be able to write articles on the wiki? I have an article about voxels (http://wiki.allegro.cc/index.php?title=Pixelate:Issue_14/Voxel_Landscape_Renderization) I wrote to Pixelate a long time ago and I did partially translate it to Pascal. I know it's a bit obsolete but it's sooooo retro-style, and I really love retro-style :3


I actually think voxels should make a comeback. It's main issue has always been processing power and memory and we have loads more now than when the first voxel engine were running on 468DX266's. I'm waiting for someone to write something kool with voxel for Xbox or PS3. Check out Voxlap if you get the chance.

Anyway this is slightly off topic.

arthurprs
20-02-2009, 04:18 PM
maybe next week you guys can try a theme like this one
http://custom.simplemachines.org/themes/index.php?lemma=1236
better contrast and not *BRIGHT*

the old phpbb smile set looks better :), i use them on my board

ps:
my smf forum, https://sitia.kinghost.net/~thehardwaresxtreme/forum/
i'm having a issue with DNS and the main domain www.thehardwaresxtreme.com is not working

LP
20-02-2009, 04:23 PM
In my old account "Lifepower" I can't reply to posts, have no top menu (missing "profile", "My messages" and the rest of buttons) and on top it says "Hello lifepower", then floating dot "." and then "Unread posts..." on the next line.

Any way to fix these things?

Also, is there a way to enable attachment feature? A programming forum without attachments is somehow crippled.

noeska
20-02-2009, 05:12 PM
Some remarks:
-I dont understand the new private message system can it be made to work like the old system instead of showing all messages at once?
-I miss the new posts since your last visit link.
-IE8 sometime goes into compatability mode.
-The logo could be better looking without the reflection, but that is a personal thing.
-The new layout is fresh and good looking.

AthenaOfDelphi
20-02-2009, 07:53 PM
For anyone thats looking for the new posts... it should be under your username in the header. At least that's where it is for me when I log in.

http://athena.outer-reaches.com/pgd/UnreadPostsSinceLastVisit.jpg

Hope this helps.

Memphis
20-02-2009, 09:40 PM
what a shock, just opened up the site and i thought i had been redirected to a spam website...personally i think it looks aweful... it looks like just any other programming website on the web, the old look, as soon as i seen the colours and layout, i knew straight away, pascal game development, now i think.. er just another coding forum....

a few problems include...

1. I use a 24" monitor 1920x1200, i could fit quite alot of the forum on screen to check for new posts, now i only fit 5-6 forum bars.

2. Difficult to see for new posts.

3. Difficult to read, too bright, my wife will complain if i use this website through the night and wake her up.. lol

4. SMF is not a secure forum software. nor is phpBB, but i'd say it is better then SMF.

;MM;

Brainer
21-02-2009, 04:44 AM
Hello. :)

I like the new design, even though I was a bit lost at first, but now I got used to it. Just like the previous member noticed, this script is very unsecure, as we've been already spammed (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/forum/index.php?topic=5637.0;topicseen)...

LP
21-02-2009, 05:24 AM
Hello. :)

I like the new design, even though I was a bit lost at first, but now I got used to it. Just like the previous member noticed, this script is very unsecure, as we've been already spammed (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/forum/index.php?topic=5637.0;topicseen)...


Yes, the e-mail confirmation needs to be enabled, otherwise you get instant access to the forums upon registering. Also, the human verification is a bit simple - perhaps using some add-on might improve it?

P.S. Savage, Traveller. Can you please fix my "lifepower" account so I can post?

savage
21-02-2009, 12:24 PM
P.S. Savage, Traveller. Can you please fix my "lifepower" account so I can post?


Hi Lifepower,
Not sure why your profile got messed up, I want to wait until Traveller is back on MOnday before I start messing around with the internals of this new forum.

Thanks for pointing out the spam, I've deleted it and will talk to Traveller about making the registration more secure.

jdarling
21-02-2009, 02:37 PM
Ok, so I have to agree with the others now after using the site for a bit. Its very difficult for me (partially color blind) to read. The links on the gray are almost impossible (I have to highlight posts to read them now). Simply taking the text to pure black with the links to a darker shade of gray would work out in most cases (at least for me).

Since SMF does support multiple themes, maybe install a few so people can pick what one they want, or hold a contest here on the board to design a new look and feel for it.

Brainer
21-02-2009, 02:45 PM
Yip, having a possibility of chosing your own themes isn't a bad idea. :)

Also, if it's possible, I prefered the menu to be on the left hand side of the site. I'm not really used to anything in the top, but it's not really a big problem. :) I don't want to complain to much as long as we don't have any spam around our forums.

Mirage
21-02-2009, 03:38 PM
Glad to see the new forum software installed and working! Congrats! :D
The default theme is not so bad IMHO but I hope there are some better themes.;)

dmantione
21-02-2009, 04:52 PM
Congratulations with the efforts getting the site more active.

One further point to look at: If I click on "forums" I get a 6 screens long of forums to browse. People should be able to select the right forum after a quick look, not need to scroll down a 6 screens long list.

The front page needs serious work: People should be able to immedeately see what the site is about: Serious "mainstream" game development. The news section and other features of the old design did help with this.

vgo
21-02-2009, 05:39 PM
There's already 5 different themes to choose from, I'm using one of them and it seems to be working just fine.

FFS stop ranting and look around! And you call yourselves programmers... :P

LP
21-02-2009, 06:59 PM
One further point to look at: If I click on "forums" I get a 6 screens long of forums to browse. People should be able to select the right forum after a quick look, not need to scroll down a 6 screens long list.

I agree that the list is too long. Perhaps shrinking some forums or putting several together? (I would'nt mind if you put Asphyre forum in a generic forum dedicated to third party libraries).

Memphis
21-02-2009, 08:48 PM
There's already 5 different themes to choose from, I'm using one of them and it seems to be working just fine.

FFS stop ranting and look around! And you call yourselves programmers... :P


yeh and they are all white/bright ugly themes. blue/green/gray was much better colours (old forum style)

Traveler
22-02-2009, 08:49 PM
Thanks for all the comments everyone.

Layout & theme: The points about colors and contrast are noted. I'll look for a different theme later this week.

Articles: As noted on the front page, there will be a new system soon (dont know yet how soon). It will most likely be wiki-based.

Smileys: I've added a bunch of new ones to replace the odd smf versions.

Private messages: I'm not sure if its possible to change the way this works. Maybe through a add on or something. I'll try and see if I can find something about that.

Attachements: attachements are enabled. Use the Additional Options link under the textarea to get more options.

Traveler
22-02-2009, 09:09 PM
Lifepower, I've sent a PM to your 2nd account about your original account. I've fixed the problem, you should be able to login again with everything enabled.

noeska
22-02-2009, 09:28 PM
Why is my ip shown? And not as logged?

Memphis
22-02-2009, 10:09 PM
Why is my ip shown? And not as logged?


you only see for your own posts. (admins of course will see all)

paul_nicholls
22-02-2009, 10:21 PM
Hi guys,
For your information, a few days ago I change the theme for my account from the default one to "Classic YaBB SE Theme" instead, but I then noticed that I only have these menu options at the top of the screen:

"Home" "Help" "Search" "Profile" "Logout"

So that meant I couldn't find the forums without doing a search, and I could never see the new posts, etc. either.

I have now changed back to the default which fixed these issues.

Maybe this will help someone too.

cheers,
Paul

Traveler
22-02-2009, 10:47 PM
Why is my ip shown? And not as logged?


From the help:
IP addresses are shown to administrators and moderators to facilitate moderation and to make it easier to track people up to no good. Remember that IP addresses may not always be identifying, and most people's IP addresses change periodically.

Members are also allowed to see their own IPs.

WILL
23-02-2009, 04:48 AM
Hey Alex. You should have noticed by now that there have been 1 or 2 spammers that got in. May I suggest you take some measures to restrict their access by adding some of the keywords to the ban list. Other than this there may be mods that allow you to detect accounts using keywords in their profile information that they provide.

If I have some time this week after classes I'll talk to you about my experience with this on the old PGD site.


BTW there are a lot of older [pascal] blocks existing in the older forum posts. Any chance on making these into code blocks some how?

AthenaOfDelphi
23-02-2009, 06:59 AM
Hi Will,

I'm obviously not Traveler ;) but I may have some answers (at least answers that are temporarily applicable).

I noticed the spammers and quickly jumped on their accounts and the offending posts. I also tightened up the user registration options a little as I didn't want to interfere too much with what Traveler and Savage are doing. The tweaks seemed to stop them... for now at least.

As for the PASCAL tag... I'm on the case, trying to get a code highlighter plugin cooked up that will support the tag natively. I've got a software release to worry about today, but I'm hoping that a little later this week I'll have a solution sorted.

savage
23-02-2009, 08:19 AM
Hi Athena,
I just did a quick search and found this...
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=290024.0
Not sure how useful it might be.

Ñuño Martínez
23-02-2009, 10:59 AM
For those who believe the default theme too bright (like me) I've found that the "Babylon" style is more comfortable. Test it.

I liked the old style and logo. I hope you're working on it, aren't you?

Traveler
23-02-2009, 02:02 PM
No, the 'old' theme and logo are not returning. A new theme with a darker background and more contrast is in the works though.

WILL
23-02-2009, 09:19 PM
Oh one more 'nag'. :) I also noticed that all the existing (old) posts have a "NEW" icon beside it. This sorta makes it hard to sort new from old aside from the "Unread posts since last visit" page. May want to consider running a SQL command on the mysql server to set this value to false for all "old" PGD posts.

Cheers ;)

Oh and for Athena; There was a mod for phpBB that Dom and I had stuck somewhere for the highlighting we had in the old forums. Did you manage to get a copy of this? If not I supposed I can dig and find it for you...?

jdarling
23-02-2009, 11:22 PM
Oh one more 'nag'. :) I also noticed that all the existing (old) posts have a "NEW" icon beside it. This sorta makes it hard to sort new from old aside from the "Unread posts since last visit" page. May want to consider running a SQL command on the mysql server to set this value to false for all "old" PGD posts.


WILL, you can click on a forum header and then click "Mark Read" and it will mark all posts in the form as read. Granted its quite a few clicks, but it doesn't take long. About 5 mins when I had to do it.

Now if only I could figure out how to set my theme I might quit going blind trying to read things :)

WILL
24-02-2009, 01:17 AM
Hmm well that wouldn't be so bad for me I guess, but others might not be so patient. :/

As for the theme, it's not so bad (for me anyhow) except that I have a hard time seeing what is going on by the icons. They are too bland for my likings. Otherwise the rest seems quite clean.

But I can see why others would like a dark theme too. I'd just never be caught doing an all nighter anymore... I'm not in my teen-years jacked up on hormones anymore. :no:

Ñuño Martínez
24-02-2009, 02:45 PM
Now if only I could figure out how to set my theme I might quit going blind trying to read things :)


Goto your Profile. Then click on "Look and Layout Preferences" (under "Modify Profile" menu). On this page you should read a "Current Theme: Default Theme (change)" or similar. Click on "change". Currently there are four to select.

AthenaOfDelphi
24-02-2009, 07:28 PM
Quick request for some feedback regarding a code parser.

Check out this link http://athena.outer-reaches.com/smf/index.php?topic=2.msg2#msg2 and lets see what you think.

This is a tweaked version of X3mE SMF Syntax Highlighter (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=290024.0). I basically took his original code and have extended it to include support for a PASCAL tag rather than CODE=Pascal. He makes the statement it's still in beta, but from what I've seen the Pascal support seems OK.

It is quite a nice little tool as it supports copying the code to the clipboard and viewing it in a standalone window. It's also pretty neat as it places hardly any additional load on the server as all the formatting is done client side by javascript.

So, this is what I have for Traveler for the site. Comments please :)

Traveler
24-02-2009, 08:56 PM
Thanks for looking into this Athena! I think it looks great. Even better than what we had on the previous site. Can you tell if the > and < characters give any troubles? As I recall that was one of the issues with the old one.

JSoftware
24-02-2009, 09:04 PM
Yeah, it looks great

*Thumbs up*

AthenaOfDelphi
24-02-2009, 09:17 PM
Thanks for looking into this Athena! I think it looks great. Even better than what we had on the previous site. Can you tell if the > and < characters give any troubles? As I recall that was one of the issues with the old one.


Added a test to that test post, and it seems to be handling it nicely.

jdarling
24-02-2009, 09:25 PM
Looking good on the code formater. I'm impressed with the options that it has and the fact that when you copy it doesn't copy the line numbers like many sites.

jdarling
24-02-2009, 09:26 PM
Goto your Profile. Then click on "Look and Layout Preferences" (under "Modify Profile" menu). On this page you should read a "Current Theme: Default Theme (change)" or similar. Click on "change". Currently there are four to select.


HEY, if I highlight the page there are LOTS of things there I couldn't see. This is why near color blindness is such a problem :(

Thanks Nuno

paul_nicholls
24-02-2009, 10:13 PM
Quick request for some feedback regarding a code parser.

Check out this link http://athena.outer-reaches.com/smf/index.php?topic=2.msg2#msg2 and lets see what you think.

This is a tweaked version of X3mE SMF Syntax Highlighter (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=290024.0). I basically took his original code and have extended it to include support for a PASCAL tag rather than CODE=Pascal. He makes the statement it's still in beta, but from what I've seen the Pascal support seems OK.

It is quite a nice little tool as it supports copying the code to the clipboard and viewing it in a standalone window. It's also pretty neat as it places hardly any additional load on the server as all the formatting is done client side by javascript.

So, this is what I have for Traveler for the site. Comments please :)


Hi Athena,
that looks very nice, especially how the code doesn't get stuffed up by the parser confusing the < and > characters as some special formatting.

Neat extra features too :)
cheers,
Paul

WILL
24-02-2009, 10:53 PM
Check out this link http://athena.outer-reaches.com/smf/index.php?topic=2.msg2#msg2 and lets see what you think.

Hey not bad. :) Any issues with tossing arrays in the pascal tags? More specifically the [ and ] characters?

AthenaOfDelphi
24-02-2009, 11:31 PM
[ and ] appear to work without any problems (added an example to the test post).

I have sent the modified package to Traveler, so he can have the final say, but I think it looks pretty good.

That'll do for the comments on that I think now. Thanks to everyone who checked it out and gave us some feedback.

savage
25-02-2009, 09:07 AM
[ and ] appear to work without any problems (added an example to the test post).

I have sent the modified package to Traveler, so he can have the final say, but I think it looks pretty good.

That'll do for the comments on that I think now. Thanks to everyone who checked it out and gave us some feedback.


It all looks good. Thanks for that Athena.

Traveler
25-02-2009, 09:53 AM
Thats great work! I'll add the script this evening.

WILL
25-02-2009, 05:06 PM
Cool. :) Just for clarification; Will all the previous [pascal] tags work as before, but of course with the new style of formatting?

AthenaOfDelphi
25-02-2009, 07:20 PM
Cool. :) Just for clarification; Will all the previous [pascal] tags work as before, but of course with the new style of formatting?


The syntax highlighting module that I've sent to Traveler, supports code=pascal and code=delphi tags (along with a whole host of others) our of the box so to speak. I've basically broken the module apart and modified the code it adds to the parser so that when it sees a pascal tag, its treated like a code=pascal tag meaning all old code snippets should work just fine.

I have included a pascal tag in my test post, so I'm pretty confident :)

Traveler
25-02-2009, 09:04 PM
We now have a pascal/delphi syntax highlighter! :)

However this is only the case for the default theme and the new PGD theme. Installation only worked for the default theme, other themes have to be manually edited.

There's one small error that needs fixing. After a reserved word all spaces are somehow removed.



for i := 1 to 10 do
begin
showmessage('a big thanks to Athena for making this one happen!')
end;

noeska
25-02-2009, 09:59 PM
How do i use the new code highlighter just use the insert code button?

Also all threads seem to be marked new although they are old.

AthenaOfDelphi
25-02-2009, 10:14 PM
To use the new highlighter you just enclose your code in pascal bbcode tags, like this:-




insert your code here



And it should do the rest.


procedure likeThis;
begin

end;

Memphis
26-02-2009, 04:14 PM
strange, i do not see any highlight.

AthenaOfDelphi
26-02-2009, 06:12 PM
strange, i do not see any highlight.


Are you blocking scripts? The highlighter does it work client side,so you have to allow scripts from PGD. There is also the possibility that you're using a theme that hasn't had it installed yet. It installed for a couple of themes, but not for all from what I can gather from Traveler. It's definitely working on the customised PGD theme and I think on the default theme.

If those suggestions don't fix it, then please can you let me know about browser, OS, versions etc. and I'll see what I can do about getting a fix.

Traveler
26-02-2009, 10:35 PM
As mentioned on the front page, we now have a new theme. It's compatible with the new syntax highlighter. Enjoy. :)

savage
27-02-2009, 12:13 AM
As mentioned on the front page, we now have a new theme. It's compatible with the new syntax highlighter. Enjoy. :)


New theme seems quite nice. The only thing I noticed is that on the forum list page, the white text on beige background can be a bit hard to read.

A quick question about subscribing to a forum thread. Does anyone know if SMF has a feature whereby it emails the latest post, with maybe a reply link to take you straight here :). Just wondering.

I must say both Traveller and Athena are doing some amazing work on here. Thanks again guys.

chronozphere
27-02-2009, 09:57 AM
Hey guys

It's good to see the new site taking shape. Looking forward to the dark theme.
I am also a supporter of dark/black themes, since i'm visually impaired. Will the syntax highlighter also be dark?? (e.g black background + green reserved words + white code). That would help me and IMHO would look nicer. :)

Chronozphere

AthenaOfDelphi
27-02-2009, 11:22 AM
I must say both Traveller and Athena are doing some amazing work on here. Thanks again guys.


Personally I wouldn't go that far for my contribution... all I did was tweak and repackage a plugin ::)

Traveler deserves the biggest thanks as he's the one who's done most of the work... but hey, thanks are in short supply these days, so I'll take 'em whenever I can get 'em!

Thanks ;D

Memphis
01-03-2009, 01:04 PM
i checked the `new` themes and they look like the old themes with a different background colour... they still do not fit much on the screen (and as i said i use 24" widescreen, 1920x1200).. i am currently using the babylon theme, any chance of that theme with a darker tweak?

;MM;

Force
01-03-2009, 03:20 PM
Finally, I could register. I was waiting for 6 month to get replay :D

arthurprs
01-03-2009, 06:51 PM
Hi Force, welcome to the group :)

ps: on the past days i had some problems on login (something about smf_session table)

savage
01-03-2009, 09:28 PM
Hi Force, welcome to the group :)

ps: on the past days i had some problems on login (something about smf_session table)



Hmm, I thought we would get rid of those session errors with SMF. Anyone seen that error recently, like in the last day or so, as I repaired the DB about 3 days ago?

noeska
02-03-2009, 08:53 AM
It was more that the site was completely unavailable last sunday. Maybe you should tune up the mysql database.

Also a minor anoyance. The login on the mainscreen does not agree with my automated login method. (fingerprint reader). I have to click on login and do a reload. On the old site the fingerprint reader worked on any page of the site with login boxes.

Traveler
02-03-2009, 09:55 AM
Hmm, I thought we would get rid of those session errors with SMF. Anyone seen that error recently, like in the last day or so, as I repaired the DB about 3 days ago?


Seen it and repaired it too a couple times, with yesterday evening being the most recent repair... :(

savage
02-03-2009, 10:00 AM
Hmm, I thought we would get rid of those session errors with SMF. Anyone seen that error recently, like in the last day or so, as I repaired the DB about 3 days ago?


Seen it and repaired it too a couple times, with yesterday evening being the most recent repair... :(


Damn! Any MySQL experts out there as I'm at a loss as to why these sessions get messed up.

WILL
02-03-2009, 08:49 PM
Hey whats the latest way to upload images to posts these days? We still making use of the old account that PGD had before? Just curious as I'd eventually have some things to show in the near future about my own project in the works. ;)

AthenaOfDelphi
04-03-2009, 02:18 PM
Damn! Any MySQL experts out there as I'm at a loss as to why these sessions get messed up.


Savage, check your private messages. I've sent you one about the MySQL problems.

savage
04-03-2009, 04:47 PM
I have read it and will replay later, got to go.

noeska
05-03-2009, 06:06 PM
Today 'Unread posts since last visit' told me there were no new posts. Looking at a thread where i expected an answer there was an new post.

ize
05-03-2009, 11:37 PM
Hi guys. I didn't really know where to post this, so mods feel free to move it. I just had a suggestion for the "Help Me" section, but i guess it could apply to any of the others as well.

Anyways, my suggestion is that if you ask a question or for advice and it gets sorted, just add [Solved] or something similar to the subject. I just think it would be easier if you're looking to offer help, or (as i am most of the time) trying find out how to do things :)

Keep up the good work!!

Memphis
08-03-2009, 02:41 PM
first i'd like to start by saying... since the new forum soft etc, the forum has become almost useless to me lol, everytime i decide to post something, the forum is down, or crashed or get some random errors.

my sugestion -> move back to old forum soft, and just improve the software (i'd be happy to help - i have developed my own forum software) - too much time is lost working on fixing the forum, more time should be used coding in pascal and posting. (just my opinion/sugestion)

AthenaOfDelphi
08-03-2009, 05:54 PM
first i'd like to start by saying... since the new forum soft etc, the forum has become almost useless to me lol, everytime i decide to post something, the forum is down, or crashed or get some random errors.

my sugestion -> move back to old forum soft, and just improve the software (i'd be happy to help - i have developed my own forum software) - too much time is lost working on fixing the forum, more time should be used coding in pascal and posting. (just my opinion/sugestion)


Savage and Traveler are aware of the problems... if they weren't, the forums would still be down. I am also getting involved with trying to troubleshoot the current server/forum setup, so please bear with us. We are working on trying to get things sorted, but please, as I've said many times before, many of the people directly involved (Traveler and Savage included) are very busy and we ultimately do this for free, so it has to get fitted in around our jobs and other things like family lives.

With regards to software choice, these are my opinions, and mine alone. Moving back to phpBB should not be an option, as from what I can tell it is widely regarded as one of the easiest forum systems to hack and break. Improving an already available software system, is not really an option because of the time involved, and as for writing a forum system... producing one thats as good as phpBB or SMF in a reasonable amount of time is simply not a viable option, there is also the issue of maintenance.

We are aware of the problems and are trying to take steps to resolve them, but as I've said, Traveler and Savage are pretty busy, so please just bear with us.

Memphis
08-03-2009, 06:50 PM
first i'd like to start by saying... since the new forum soft etc, the forum has become almost useless to me lol, everytime i decide to post something, the forum is down, or crashed or get some random errors.

my sugestion -> move back to old forum soft, and just improve the software (i'd be happy to help - i have developed my own forum software) - too much time is lost working on fixing the forum, more time should be used coding in pascal and posting. (just my opinion/sugestion)


Savage and Traveler are aware of the problems... if they weren't, the forums would still be down. I am also getting involved with trying to troubleshoot the current server/forum setup, so please bear with us. We are working on trying to get things sorted, but please, as I've said many times before, many of the people directly involved (Traveler and Savage included) are very busy and we ultimately do this for free, so it has to get fitted in around our jobs and other things like family lives.

With regards to software choice, these are my opinions, and mine alone. Moving back to phpBB should not be an option, as from what I can tell it is widely regarded as one of the easiest forum systems to hack and break. Improving an already available software system, is not really an option because of the time involved, and as for writing a forum system... producing one thats as good as phpBB or SMF in a reasonable amount of time is simply not a viable option, there is also the issue of maintenance.

We are aware of the problems and are trying to take steps to resolve them, but as I've said, Traveler and Savage are pretty busy, so please just bear with us.



my forum soft i wrote in 3 days, and it is better then phpbb, as for phpbb being insecure, i run a security group, and SMF is no safer then phpbb, the version of phpbb was better/more secure then what you run now, like i said i would of sugested to improve the phpbb you had installed.

;MM;

AthenaOfDelphi
08-03-2009, 08:21 PM
my forum soft i wrote in 3 days, and it is better then phpbb, as for phpbb being insecure, i run a security group, and SMF is no safer then phpbb, the version of phpbb was better/more secure then what you run now, like i said i would of sugested to improve the phpbb you had installed.


I've not said SMF is any better than phpBB. In my opinion, for a site like this, there is only one choice... vBulletin + vBadvanced. But that costs money... money the site doesn't have, so we must make the best of what we have available to use, and for a site such as this, custom forum software is not the answer. It is a maintenance nightmare waiting to happen because you must rely on the visitors informing you of every glitch and security flaw... not likely to happen. Therefore an off the shelf solution is far better.

To be honest, I'm not sure the problems we're experiencing are the software, but I'm going to be investigating things over the next few days to try and establish exactly whats going on with the server.

WILL
11-03-2009, 10:45 AM
Discovered a new issue with the new site software... it breaks any links to old posts. :o

That means that if anyone had been linking from outside PGD before, their links all need to be updated. Also if you were linking from post to post, like many have before, that needs to be updated as well. Is there any way to make it so that it can be automated?

ie.

Make a link such as:

http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/viewtopic.php?p=16184#16184

...be auto converted by the apache server to redirect to...

http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/forum/index.php?topic=16184.0

...or whatever it should be.

Memphis
11-03-2009, 12:15 PM
not tested, quickly wrote, but it should work.



<?php
//create viewtopic.php and put into main or forum dir or both. -/Meka][Meka
$topic = int($_GET['p']);
if ($topic == 0) {
header('Location: http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/forum/');
} else {
header('Location: http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/forum/index.php?topic='.$topic.'.0'); //here should be last post, dont remember phpbb's exact query string, give me example and i will fix it but for now redirects to topic
}
?>


note for some reason i cant put <?php inside the code block. you need to put <?php codehere ?>

btw when will the code highlighter be modded for the 'babylon theme' ? thanks.

;MM;

WILL
11-03-2009, 04:12 PM
I don't think it's the Babylon theme alone. I've got the pgd-dark theme and it doesn't highlight it either. I think it's the fact that it doesn't have php as one of the 'brushes' that it uses. Athena or Traveler must have only put up 'Delphi' for their own reasons. Though it wouldn't hurt to have the other popular ones too I supposed. Esp. the web-based languages (php, etc)

BTW good idea for the script. Hope they implement it. I hate the idea that every post has been delinked now. :o That's like a huge reset and the site has gotten pretty quiet since the update... :(

Ñuño Martínez
11-03-2009, 04:34 PM
BTW good idea for the script. Hope they implement it. I hate the idea that every post has been delinked now. :o That's like a huge reset and the site has gotten pretty quiet since the update... :( Time is the word, I think. Once the Article section is up and running PGD will became more useful and populated. Sure. :)

Memphis
11-03-2009, 05:16 PM
and the site has gotten pretty quiet since the update... :(


i believe the change is too big for many people, for me, i do not like at all the new site... i much more prefered the old forum/site, looked much more professional, with logo etc, and the colours matched the theme of pascal game development, now it's too plain, too bright in all themes, and even the 'darker' themes are still too bright, and very ugly, i use babylon theme because the others are too bloated. When i first came to the site and it had changed, i closed it, i thought i had been redirected to some spam website (since there was no blue/green etc) didnt bother to read anything.

Also now there is more bugs and annoyances in the forum then in phpbb forum. Meaning those that keep the forum running, spend more time fixing the forum then helping others in the forum.

1 exception for me in this babylon theme, i really like the Recent box.

AthenaOfDelphi
11-03-2009, 08:59 PM
Firstly, thanks Memphis for the attempt at the redirector, unfortunately it didn't work. I've tinkered briefly, but one key thing is that many of the links for the old boards are post based rather than topic based like the new links. A more sophisticated script is required I think.

On the subject of the syntax highlighter... what I found with SMF's installer was that it wasn't great at dealing with lots of themes, so as far as I know it's only installed in a couple because it's had to be installed manually. I think thats the same reason why not all the languages it supports are available.

On the subject of the change being too big... I think thats being a bit negative... the site was pretty quiet before the software changeover too... I just think people are busy with life and their own stuff. It's an online community, people come and go as time allows. I've not been around much because I've been tied up with work, now I have some spare time so I'm back. I know others have familys, jobs, their own projects. Everyone is busy and so the site is quiet.

On the subject of more bugs and annoyances... teething problems yes, but I don't think there are necessarily more bugs. We are trying to work through them, but all the people involved have a limited amount of time, so it's going to take a while.

My final words for this post... a comment has been made about those that keep the forum running spend more time fixing the forum than helping others in the forum... this is a community... its not just Traveler and Savage that are capable of answering questions, or writing tutorials... and this point is one that I think has been lost somewhere along the way... the last time this sort of thing was put into words, it was about content.. tutorials etc. and someone was complaining because there wasn't enough tutorials... well... THIS IS A COMMUNITY SITE!!! Everyone can help. And the same applies to stuff like themes. There have been alot of complaints about the themes and yet I don't think there has been a single theme contributed. So, if you don't like the themes instead of complaining, take time out of your schedule and make one! If you want to see a tutorial on a particular subject... spend your day off writing one! Contribute to the community.

AthenaOfDelphi
11-03-2009, 09:18 PM
Actually, Memphis, I've just looked into this script a bit more and it does work... kind of, so thanks for that.

With a tweak, it works for topic based links of the form viewtopic.php?t=x. So, I've tweaked it and popped it in the root and that seems to work.

Unfortunately, some of the links are post based of the form viewtopic.php?p=x. There is, from what I can see of SMF's query string handler no equivalent for this which means any links of this post based form will need to be fixed manually and converted to topic based links.

Legolas
11-03-2009, 10:26 PM
Take a look at http://www.easymodrewrite.com/example-moved
A rewrite rule is a better way to solve this problem, imho :)

Edit: even better here: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=170959.0

WILL
11-03-2009, 10:53 PM
My approach to things such as this would be to use my own code to access the database gather the topic ID using the post ID with a simple SQL query string and redirect accordingly that way.

I could lend a hand in showing how to access the database if you need Athena? (May have done it before I'm sure ::)) :D

AthenaOfDelphi
11-03-2009, 11:56 PM
I have, seeing as how this appears to be a show stopping issue, fixed the problem.

Thanks for the rewrite pointers Legolas, unfortunately you can't implement it with rewrite because SMF does not provide any means of pulling a post ID from the query string. It only takes board and topic IDs (plus actions for private messages etc. as the example on the SMF site shows).

So, I have removed the rewrite rules and replaced them with a viewtopic script that queries the database and grabs the topic ID from the post and the links I've tried seem to work.

Memphis
11-03-2009, 11:58 PM
Actually, Memphis, I've just looked into this script a bit more and it does work... kind of, so thanks for that.

With a tweak, it works for topic based links of the form viewtopic.php?t=x. So, I've tweaked it and popped it in the root and that seems to work.

Unfortunately, some of the links are post based of the form viewtopic.php?p=x. There is, from what I can see of SMF's query string handler no equivalent for this which means any links of this post based form will need to be fixed manually and converted to topic based links.


i dont quite understand what you mean, can you show me a few link examples ?

as i remember phpbb has a file viewpost.php?p=x

so it would be same script just slight change. it should work fine.

as for using the database, that is 1 way, but why waste db time?
and for htaccess, that is also another, but that is relying too much on apache, i've known many hosts for their htaccess to magically change or be deleted.

;MM;

AthenaOfDelphi
12-03-2009, 12:06 AM
Actually, Memphis, I've just looked into this script a bit more and it does work... kind of, so thanks for that.

With a tweak, it works for topic based links of the form viewtopic.php?t=x. So, I've tweaked it and popped it in the root and that seems to work.

Unfortunately, some of the links are post based of the form viewtopic.php?p=x. There is, from what I can see of SMF's query string handler no equivalent for this which means any links of this post based form will need to be fixed manually and converted to topic based links.


i dont quite understand what you mean, can you show me a few link examples ?

as i remember phpbb has a file viewpost.php?p=x

so it would be same script just slight change. it should work fine.

as for using the database, that is 1 way, but why waste db time?
and for htaccess, that is also another, but that is relying too much on apache, i've known many hosts for their htaccess to magically change or be deleted.

;MM;


phpBB takes viewtopic.php?t=<TOPIC> or viewtopic.php?p=<POST>.

SMF cannot take a post ID directly. It can take a topic ID directly, but not a post ID directly, so to support all the old link formats, you have to query the db to convert a post ID to a topic ID and then redirect to the relevant topic.

Memphis
12-03-2009, 12:09 AM
i understand now, yep that is best way then. :)

paul_nicholls
13-03-2009, 11:18 AM
On a different topic, I'm using the pgd-light theme and have noticed one thing...

If I select the option to copy syntax hight-lighted code to the clipboard (pascal syntax high-light), it either doesn't work at all, or the whole post text is copied to the clipboard instead of just the stuff in the pascal syntax block.

cheers,
Paul

WILL
13-03-2009, 11:22 AM
Nice work guys! :) I checked it out with some of my older posts. No problems to speak of. ;)

AthenaOfDelphi
13-03-2009, 01:04 PM
On a different topic, I'm using the pgd-light theme and have noticed one thing...

If I select the option to copy syntax hight-lighted code to the clipboard (pascal syntax high-light), it either doesn't work at all, or the whole post text is copied to the clipboard instead of just the stuff in the pascal syntax block.

cheers,
Paul


Thanks for highlighting this Paul.

It kind of works in IE (if you count the inclusion of non-breaking spaces as working), but it does seem to be dead in FireFox, which is pretty strange because I'm fairly certain I tested it in FireFox as it's my primary browser.

Still, I did say this plugin was still in beta according to it's author.

As a work around, you can view the text as plain text and then copy and paste that.

paul_nicholls
14-03-2009, 01:59 AM
Thanks for the info Athena :-)
I also use Firefox (3.x) as my primary browser...

cheers,
Paul

noeska
15-03-2009, 06:55 PM
On the wiki. Have a look at the syntax of jspwiki for tables: http://www.jspwiki.org/wiki/SortableTables
and normal syntax:
http://www.jspwiki.org/wiki/TextFormattingRules
unfortunately it is java :-(

AthenaOfDelphi
17-03-2009, 02:20 PM
Hi all,

Just to let you guys know, I've just butchered tweaked the main index file to try and avoid the problems we are having with the session table becoming corrupt (it just crashed when I was trying to read a few threads).

The system now automagically repairs the table, so the boards should stay up and running even if the sessions table does crash.&#160; The down side, this occurs with every request and so could potentially cause performance problems.

I see this as a temporary fix while Traveler and I try and figure a more permanent solution out, but failing that it could potentially be left in place to ensure the site does not crash to it's knees because of a broken DB.

WILL
17-03-2009, 03:58 PM
Sounds good Athena! Nice job. :)

Any word on the new wiki-based article system? Traveler? ::)

Traveler
17-03-2009, 04:06 PM
Thanks for the work Athena. I've been busy with a lot of other stuff at the moment. All non gamedev related, unfortunately. I may have some time later this week, for the new article system.

WILL
17-03-2009, 04:22 PM
Sounds good my friend. :) Oh another nag... News... there hasn't been any news postings since well... the new site popped up. I guess this is why it's gotten so quiet.. Nothing new and exciting to want to come and see. :) I posed something myself, but how does someone without admin access post to the front page?

Traveler
17-03-2009, 07:39 PM
News... there hasn't been any news postings since well... the new site popped up. I guess this is why it's gotten so quiet.. Nothing new and exciting to want to come and see. :) I posed something myself, but how does someone without admin access post to the front page?


I know, the slow news troubles me as well. :(
Because the portal doesn't allow only certain topics to be promoted as news, the idea was that people would write about their (new) projects, like they used to do, and we added a post about it on the front page.

Why people suddenly stopped writing after the switch is beyond me.

WILL
17-03-2009, 09:32 PM
The News forum could be restricted...? But the projects forum is not... perhaps it's that noone is putting up a post on the front page where many would like to see whats new and exciting as soon as they visit the site. I did a post... maybe it's a good start to help pickup where PGD started to drift?

Also check out my new online magazine idea I've posted about in this thread: http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/forum/index.php?topic=5670.0

I'm asking for content for it now. :)

savage
17-03-2009, 09:37 PM
A BIG BIG thank-you to both of you for manning the battlements and keeping the site functional!!!

paul_nicholls
17-03-2009, 10:06 PM
Thanks to all who have helped make this new site :)

BTW. is there anyway I can get recent posts to appear on the home page without using the babylon theme?

If I use the babylon theme, I don't get the pascal highlighting...

If I don't use the babylon theme and use another insteaad (pgd-default, ect.) then I can see the highlighting, but no recent posts (without selecting unread posts since last visit)...

It is too easy to miss posts when I am getting pascal hightlighting :(

cheers,
Paul

Wizard
18-03-2009, 06:55 AM
I agree with Paul, the new site is very nice. Excellent work guys :)

I would also like to see the recent posts on the home page ???

Legolas
18-03-2009, 08:55 AM
I definitely agree: boxes on the main page are useful and more attractive :yes:

Traveler
18-03-2009, 09:45 AM
The recent posts box is not part of the theme I used to base the PGD upon. I'll see if I can fix that.

paul_nicholls
18-03-2009, 11:20 AM
The recent posts box is not part of the theme I used to base the PGD upon. I'll see if I can fix that.


Thanks for that Traveler, keep up the most excellent work :)

PS. it would be great if I could continue to use the babylon theme - IMHO I find it better set out and it has the recent posts on it. The only downside is no pascal highlighting :(

EDIT: I did just notice on the SMF site itself that when version 2 comes out it seems that the Babylon theme and some other 'older' themes will be dropped.

Long live PGD! :D

cheers,
Paul

marmin
22-03-2009, 02:16 PM
Simply put: much better. And Much faster.

jdarling
25-03-2009, 02:56 PM
Athena, instead of performing the optimization on every visit (this will get slower over time). Try catching the error and upon it performing an optimize.



try{
// Code to run against sessions table
}catch ($e Exception){
OptimizeTable(sessions);
Show(please hold);
Redirect(URI);
}


I know that isn't proper code, but its from the top of my head. That "should" fix the problem. Though I don't have much experience with SMF, I have had to work around the corrupt tables thing for our Community/Social Networking engine many times.

AthenaOfDelphi
25-03-2009, 07:38 PM
Athena, instead of performing the optimization on every visit (this will get slower over time). Try catching the error and upon it performing an optimize.



try{
// Code to run against sessions table
}catch ($e Exception){
OptimizeTable(sessions);
Show(please hold);
Redirect(URI);
}


I know that isn't proper code, but its from the top of my head. That "should" fix the problem. Though I don't have much experience with SMF, I have had to work around the corrupt tables thing for our Community/Social Networking engine many times.


Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not actually performing an optimisation of the DB. The code I added literally just deals with repairing the sessions table. Every time I've repaired it manually, it's only been at most 10 records, so it shouldn't slow down, but it's just a slight performance hit.

And what do you know... I logged in to find a message from Will (Thanks by the way hon, Traveler or Dom beat me to fixing it) telling me the messages table had crashed.

There is some optimisation that could be done, such as trying to read from the table and only issuing a repair if it fails, but I was a bit busy at the time and I've not gotten around to fixing it up.

paul_nicholls
25-03-2009, 11:06 PM
The recent posts box is not part of the theme I used to base the PGD upon. I'll see if I can fix that.


Thanks so much Traveler, for adding recent posts to the default SMF theme :)
YAY!

cheers,
Paul

Wizard
26-03-2009, 06:52 AM
Yes, thanks Traveller ;D

It would also be nice if the recent posts could be on the "Forum default or board forum" as most people are using that forum and it could attract more attention from casual browsers :yes:

ize
02-04-2009, 04:02 PM
Are there any plans to be able to embed flash in posts? I tried it on a couple of posts, but it just seems to open in a new page. Is there something i'm doing wrong ???

Not a major concern, just a query really :)

Keep up the good work! :thumbsup:

Traveler
02-04-2009, 08:13 PM
The default setting only displays the url to the clip. I have now set it so that forum posts will display the swf movie clip.

The recent posts panel (or any panel for that matter) is not available in the pgd themes. When I have sufficient time available, I will try and add them.

User137
04-04-2009, 05:43 PM
I wish there was a "recent posts" available somewhere ;) It was much easier back with old forum when you could see what's going on. "Unread posts since last visit" doesn't always help cause it resets when you visit site once a day.

Wizard
04-04-2009, 06:26 PM
I agree with user 137 --- the 'recent posts' is a must :yes: And thanks again to Traveler and everyone else who helped with the change from the old to the new ;D

dmantione
04-04-2009, 08:04 PM
Can't someone dig up the old scrolling recents posts code, perhaps it just needs a new database query? It was extremely usefull, and also a bit part of the "soul" of the PGD site. The old PGD was alive in all kinds of ways, the new one is idle and static...

Wizard
05-04-2009, 04:54 PM
I got the following error today and couldn't post...


Database Error
Please try again. If you come back to this error screen, report the error to an administrator.



Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /forum/index.php on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apache/1.3.41 Server at www.pascalgamedevelopment.com Port 80

Ñuño Martínez
05-04-2009, 09:24 PM
I got the following error today and couldn't post...


Database Error
Please try again. If you come back to this error screen, report the error to an administrator.



Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /forum/index.php on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apache/1.3.41 Server at www.pascalgamedevelopment.com Port 80


Me too and I can't start a new topic. :(

chronozphere
06-04-2009, 06:29 AM
Same problems here. :(

Traveler
06-04-2009, 08:12 AM
Yes, these errors trouble me as well. AFAIK In this instance they appeared to be related to full logs which could only be deleted by the hosting company. Apparently these kind of errors are fairly common on shared hosting servers.

Wizard
08-04-2009, 08:49 PM
The home page looks so nice with the post from Mirage 8) It's like a breath of fresh air...a bit of color does amazing things :o

Ñuño Martínez
22-04-2009, 10:29 AM
Are you working on the site? I'm reading a lot of error messages around.

Traveler
22-04-2009, 11:26 AM
Unfortunately these error messages or not due to maintenance on our part. For the past week we (savage, AthenaOfDelphi and I) have been repeatedly in contact with the hosting company regarding these error messages. While they have shared some vague details with us about why it is occurring, so far they have kept us mostly in the dark about a permanent solution, despite our requests to make haste about it.

Anyway, we are on top of this, unfortunately there isn't a whole lot we can do, but to send emails.&#160; :(&#160;

AthenaOfDelphi
22-04-2009, 12:32 PM
We have had a slightly more detailed email this morning following a somewhat aggressive email from me. The problem relates to MySQL and it's retention of a temporary file which is, from what I can gather, filling a temporary storage area on the server.

As Traveler has said, we are aware of the situation and are working with the hosts to try and resolve it, unfortunately progress is a little slower than we (Savage, Traveler and I) would like as it is now I think the 8th or 9th day in a row this problem has occured.

From what I've seen of the site however, it is only the home page that fails to operate correctly when the problem is occuring. Certainly this morning, I was able to post to the forums and the library without any problems what so ever, and I've received personal messages when the problem is in full flow. That said, I did experience problems with other areas of the site a few days ago. So, my advice would be to avoid posting anything if you get the error on the home page. If you do, having read about this error on-line, there is a chance that some (or all) of the data being posted could be lost resulting in database corruption.

So, thats how things stand at the moment. We will do our best to keep you updated about the current state of play.

Wizard
22-04-2009, 03:50 PM
Thanks for the update guys :)

Wizard
01-05-2009, 09:54 PM
Quote from Traveler:

The recent posts panel (or any panel for that matter) is not available in the pgd themes. When I have sufficient time available, I will try and add them.

Any feedback on this? I realy think it's important :yes:

Traveler
03-05-2009, 05:14 PM
I know, I know, I've kept this one feature away from you guys for far too long.&#160; ::)

In any case, I have jumped into the SMF code trying to make sense of it all and I have what seems to be a workable Recent posts feature.
As per test, you can use this new feature in the PGD-Dark theme. Let me know what you think of it, and if there's any problems.
If it works okay, I'll add it to the light version as well.

Wizard
03-05-2009, 05:44 PM
It's perfect and seems to work ok :)

Thank you so much Traveler!!! 8)

pjpdev
03-05-2009, 08:19 PM
It works great, but its above the news articles. Leaving a massive blank space, IMO it would work better if you can get it to be next to the news articles.

Still, great job...

Traveler
03-05-2009, 10:09 PM
Thanks for the comments!

The recent post block should be positioned next to the news articles. What browser are you using PJP Dev? So far I've tested it on FF and IE7. I'll will try some other IE versions tomorrow, too.

AthenaOfDelphi
04-05-2009, 10:02 AM
It works great, but its above the news articles. Leaving a massive blank space, IMO it would work better if you can get it to be next to the news articles.

Still, great job...


I nearly reported this as a problem too, in fact I did report it... then I fully refreshed the page to force a reload of the style sheet, then it worked 100% so I deleted my post.

Traveler
04-05-2009, 10:26 AM
I think I have found the problem.
It appears to be related to the width of the column. In some cases it gets pushed outside the set value, forcing the recent posts box to appear above the articles.

I'll see if I can fix this when I get home.

pjpdev
04-05-2009, 03:54 PM
Thanks for the comments!

The recent post block should be positioned next to the news articles. What browser are you using PJP Dev? So far I've tested it on FF and IE7. I'll will try some other IE versions tomorrow, too.


I use Firefox 3. So I shouldn't have compatibility problems.



I nearly reported this as a problem too, in fact I did report it... then I fully refreshed the page to force a reload of the style sheet, then it worked 100% so I deleted my post.


Well that works for me too. :)