547 replies to this topic

[EdGJ]

Dear all,

I'm pleased to announce that we will be upgrading the ABRSM forums to the latest version of IP.Board (3.4.5.) on the evening of Sunday 6th October. The forums will be closed for maintenance during this period. The current version has served us well for a long period of time but is now looking somewhat dated (as many of you have highlighted) and we believe that the upgrade will significantly enhance your experience as users!

The new forum version features:

• Optimisation for mobile devices - the forums will be far more user-friendly when accessed on mobiles and tablets, converting automatically to a simple one-column interface and layout
• Social media integration - you will be able to share topics via a range of social media platforms (including Facebook, Twitter and Google+) and we're also looking into the possibility of allowing users to link their forum profiles to their own Facebook accounts, if they wish
• Improved visual design - the forums will be better integrated into the ABRSM suite of sites
• A post 'like' facility - you will be able to express your approval for a particular post by giving it a recommendation (don't worry - we won't offer the 'dislike' equivalent!)
• A 'friend' facility - you will be able to add other forum members to 'friend' lists and interact with individuals more easily
• Numerous other usability enhancements that you will discover for yourselves as you delve into the new version!

There are a few details that I wanted to make you aware of at this point:

• Most current users will lose their profile pictures - this is because the old system allowed for an image to be referenced on another server, which wasn't particularly good practice. You will be able to re-upload new pictures to replace your existing ones and these will appear next to every message you post, rather than merely on your profiles. We apologise for this but it is unavoidable as part of the upgrade, unfortunately!
• Your own personal post histories (and all old topics) will be retained, as will your rankings (virtuoso, maestro etc!)

If anyone has any questions, do let me know!

As is the nature of these things, although we will do our best to guard against it there is always the possibility that we will experience some teething issues upon launch so I'm going to open up this thread so that you can use it to alert me to anything you spot that isn't functioning as expected.

Thanks!

Ed

[Louise H]

Thank you - I'll look forward to trying it out and discovering what it can do.

[ExpressYourself]

"Like"

[Aquarelle]

Oh well, just as I had got the hang of things! Story of my life! However if it's better then it will be worth a bit of re- learning. Fingers crossed!

[fsharpminor]

Good luck with changeover Ed, I'm sure it will be abig improvement when sorted.

[EdGJ]

Oh well, just as I had got the hang of things! Story of my life! However if it's better then it will be worth a bit of re- learning. Fingers crossed!

Hi Aquarelle,

I've been playing around with the new version and it shouldn't be too radically different in terms of the basic user experience (most of the changes are enhancements to existing features rather than entirely 'new' features). It should, if anything, prove easier rather than more difficult to work with, but I'll keep an eye on this thread to see how people find it!

Thanks,

Ed

[RoseRodent]

Well I'm your worst nightmare as I use a slew of accessibility software, but at least you will get feedback on that kind of thing quickly. Are we going to get to use bold, italic and underlined text again? How about pound signs, accents, etc? That is disproprotionately exciting!

[EdGJ]

Well I'm your worst nightmare as I use a slew of accessibility software, but at least you will get feedback on that kind of thing quickly. Are we going to get to use bold, italic and underlined text again? How about pound signs, accents, etc? That is disproprotionately exciting!

Not at all, that's extremely useful for us - so do let us know how you find it!

Yes, I can confirm that bold, italicised and underlined text (and accented text, pound signs etc) will once again be available.

[Hedgehog]

**like!**

[hummingbird]

Yes, I can confirm that bold, italicised and underlined text (and accented text, pound signs etc) will once again be available.

Brilliant! Will the accents in historic posts be rectified? I'm thinking of the "Test Yourself - Theory Terms" thread, where all the theory terms are in the first few posts of the thread but some of them look really messy because of the accents. Or will the correct accents just be applied to new posts?

[Saxwarbler]

With the problems I had getting in here to start with, don't be surprised if you don't see me on the other side.

[EdGJ]

Yes, I can confirm that bold, italicised and underlined text (and accented text, pound signs etc) will once again be available.

Brilliant! Will the accents in historic posts be rectified? I'm thinking of the "Test Yourself - Theory Terms" thread, where all the theory terms are in the first few posts of the thread but some of them look really messy because of the accents. Or will the correct accents just be applied to new posts?

They won't be rectified on historical posts by default I'm afraid, but I'll go through those Theory threads after launch (as I recognise that they're a particular problem) and manually correct what I can!

Ed

[hummingbird]

Yes, I can confirm that bold, italicised and underlined text (and accented text, pound signs etc) will once again be available.

Brilliant! Will the accents in historic posts be rectified? I'm thinking of the "Test Yourself - Theory Terms" thread, where all the theory terms are in the first few posts of the thread but some of them look really messy because of the accents. Or will the correct accents just be applied to new posts?

They won't be rectified on historical posts by default I'm afraid, but I'll go through those Theory threads after launch (as I recognise that they're a particular problem) and manually correct what I can!

Ed

Thank you Ed, that would be great. Looking forward to the changeover!

[linda.ff]

I suppose there's no chance of a spell-checker, is there?

This comes from the queen of typo, Princess Becca-Sue (as in becasue I'm worth it!)

[Splog]

Well I'm your worst nightmare as I use a slew of accessibility software, but at least you will get feedback on that kind of thing quickly. Are we going to get to use bold, italic and underlined text again? How about pound signs, accents, etc? That is disproprotionately exciting!

Not at all, that's extremely useful for us - so do let us know how you find it!

Yes, I can confirm that bold, italicised and underlined text (and accented text, pound signs etc) will once again be available.

Yay!!! Pound signs!!!

And now we can all get upset if no-one "likes" our witty posts.