Geeklog Forums

The Geeklog Forum Plugin currently works well on GL 1.3.10 and I have been working on some new features that are 1.3.10 specific.

I have installed updates on geeklog.net for testing. One key feature is the SPAM filter API. We are now catching multiple spam attempts daily in the filter - but please there is no need to test it out as it sends an email to the site admin's and we get enough thank you

You will also now notice a new Menu Block that will dynamically appear on the left above your normal blocks. Plugins can now dynamically do this and this will remove the need for the link in the usersblock menu where I had these features and I'm sure 70% never accessed.

Autolinks are also working so you can link to autolink to stories like this one here

The centerblock here now shows some very useful information if your hover over the link. Additionally, I have been working on layout changes that will enhance the look of the forum and make theming easier.

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Geeklog components by PortalParts -- www.portalparts.com

I have just written the RDF functions so that you can now get your latest forum topics updates for geeklog.net and portalparts.com sites via your favorite RSS news feed tool or on your own site as a portal block.

The feeds are:

• http://www.geeklog.net/backend/forum_all.rdf
  
• http://www.portalparts.com/backend/forum_all.rdf

If you are using the forum plugin release 2.3.3 then you can download an updated functions.inc which has the needed new API functions. You can get that file here.

This will be part of my upcoming update - no date yet.

Additionally, I am revamping the forum to be able to use more bbcode. I am testing using the PEAR BBCodeParser that supports the UBB Style bb tags. A demo of the UBB tags can be seen here

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Geeklog components by PortalParts -- www.portalparts.com

Is it possible that the hook "Notify me of replies" is already activated when creating a new post (if I have set this for the thread already)?

That should already work or has worked since one of the first releases.
Your talking about the personal setting "Always Notify". That is checked when posting a new topic and a reply.

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Geeklog components by PortalParts -- www.portalparts.com

No.
I have posted to this thread here before, and klicked "Notify me...". Now I am posting again, but the Hook in the options is not set.

I think it should be to indicate that I sbubcribed to this thread already. and if I unhook it, it should remove the subscription.

But are you in fact not getting this topic added to your subscriptions and is the checkbox icon at the top of the topic - by the print icon and prev/next not checked to indicate you are watching this topic and will be notified ?

Maybe the checkbox when posting a new reply is not checked - I'll note that but I believe the notification record is being updated correctly.

But then again - what has that got to do with this posted topic for my updated new features?

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Geeklog components by PortalParts -- www.portalparts.com

You are right, the subscription function is wroking fine all except for the little hook in the "post new" window...

It has to do with the original post as far as you were talking about var. improvements to the plugin, and I thought it might be the right place to mention this as another possibility of improvement...

I have been working with Simon (aka knuckles) on an updated look for the forum. There has been a major overhaul of the templates and CSS as well as underlying code that should make theming the forum as easy as just updating the CSS.

We are using transparent png's as well - my site is running with a JS fix for IE to correct the png transparency issue with that browser. This should make it easier to theme since you won't have to worry about changing images.

All new images (thanks to Simon) and CSS based buttons that remove even more images and make it easier for internation language support.

So there will be no mistaken this plugin for another forum.

See the new look at my site here

Whats the feeling - does this look better?

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Geeklog components by PortalParts -- www.portalparts.com

Looks freaking FANTASTIC in Firefox Blaine.

Holy WOW!!!!

Right arm man very cool.

That's SWEET!
I really like that look and the new images are cool too.

my question would be, do the new graphics have the same file names as the old ones?? I've customized the forum on my site with my own graphics and just saved over the original files, so would upgrading break that??

-Rob

No it's unlikely they will have the same name. I am using png's as well but will probally have the images and their names now be configureable. You will only need to define the image to the image function like {unread_post}. Atleast thats what I am thinking now.

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Geeklog components by PortalParts -- www.portalparts.com

Another update on my work for the next forum plugin release.

Over the past couple weeks I have been re-writting how the forum handles bbcode, code and quote blocks. I am still testing but have posted my latest code on my site for larger scale testing.

An issue that I was trying to solve was how certain HTML or PHP code would get removed when being included either in the text portion of the post or inside code blocks. Example: a tag would get stripped out if placed in a code tag.

Or it would be included but then if you tried to edit the post, then it would get stripped out. There is a lot of logic to test and allow or convert certain tags but not others.

Anyways. I think it's working better and I encourage users to test it out and post some examples.

One big change is that the code blocks now format the code and highlight the code features. It even creates links for the PHP functions that link to the PHP manual. It's aware of several different languages and will apply langauge specific formatting.

Have a look at this post on my site to see what I am referring to.

I also have improved the bbcode formatting so that you can use tags like: bold, Italics, url=http://www.google.com]google[/url]

I will be adding a user-preference to disable this feature as well.

So please test it out and let me know your feedback.

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Geeklog components by PortalParts -- www.portalparts.com