bit-tech.net Forums - Announcements in Forum : Magazine Discussion

Jamie · 23rd Nov 2008 until 24th Dec 2009

New on the bit-tech forums

Social Groups
Social groups have been enabled for users to create and join as they wish. You have the ability to add photos and comment on social groups.

Groups can be public, moderated or invite only. A moderated group allows users to request membership to a group whilst invite only groups means the group creator must invite members.

Photo Albums
We have enabled photo albums to offer users a place to host their photos. Linking your images from other websites is allowed but we ask that you please be aware that if it gets abused we may turn off the ability to hot-link forum images.

Photo albums can be created in your User Control Panel. You can upload photos up to 800x800 pixels and a maximum file size of 195.3KB. Images larger than this will be automatically resized when they are uploaded.

Each album can hold a maximum of 60 photos but you can have as many albums as you want. There is a limit of 500 images total, should you require more images please contact us and we will consider increasing this limit.

Albums can be created as public or private. In public mode all images uploaded into the album will be viewable by anybody who visits the forums. In private mode the images will only be visible to your friends, moderators and administrators.

Thread Prefixes
Thread prefixes are important as they indicate the general topic of discussion within a forum. They are mandatory in a few of the forums but if you can't find a prefix that fits your thread then there is an 'Other' prefix that you can choose.

When viewing a forum you can filter the threads by the prefix using the filtering options above the thread list or by clicking on a prefix next to a thread title.

When searching the forums you can also specify a prefix to search on. This will narrow your search results to only those with the selected prefix.

Thread Tags
Tagging is used as a way of quickly finding threads relating to a specific keyword. When you create a thread you have the option to add up to 25 separate tags. Whilst they are not required we would appreciate it if you could add a couple of keywords relating to the thread if applicable.

There is a tag cloud at the bottom of the forum and a link to ‘Tag Search’ if you click on search in the top navigation. The tag search page allows you to enter a tag to search on or click on a tag in the cloud.

The tag cloud shows the popular tags currently in use on the forums. The number of threads with a tag dictates the size of the font of the tag in the cloud (the larger the font the more threads that are tagged with it).

Restructure
We have shuffled some of the forums around and added a couple of new forums that we felt needed to be separated.

Hardware and Software are separate forums. If the thread you are looking to create is a bit of both hardware and software just create the thread in either and our moderators will move the thread if required.

General and Serious discussion have been separated. This is to separate the threads that promote thought and debate from the threads that are generally more relaxed.

Friends
As an extension to the contact system in previous iterations of the forum software there is now a way of creating friendship links between you and your buddies.
By adding someone as a friend you allow him or her to see your private albums.

Profile pictures
You can upload a 100x100px (200x200px when you have more than 10 posts) profile picture. This is displayed in the top left of your profile page.

Reputation
Admins and moderators have the ability to add positive and negative reputation to users who add good posts to the forums. A users reputation is shown below their avatar when posting in a thread and on their profile page (green or red blocks).

There are no rewards for gaining good reputation yet, we might look into it in future though.

You can also give positive reputation to other forum users but you can not give reputation to the same user until you have given positive rep to 10 others. There is also a limit of 5 reputation hits per day.

Image Resize
If images are added to posts that are larger than 800px wide or 800px tall they will be scaled accordingly. Clicking on a resized image will allow you to view the full size version.
If the size doesn’t suit your browsing habits you can select what dimensions to resize and how to view the larger version in your User Control Panel. You can even select to use a system like Lightbox to view images in a thread.

23rd Nov 2008 until 24th Dec 2009
Jamie bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 7,620	New on the bit-tech forums New on the bit-tech forums Social Groups Social groups have been enabled for users to create and join as they wish. You have the ability to add photos and comment on social groups. Groups can be public, moderated or invite only. A moderated group allows users to request membership to a group whilst invite only groups means the group creator must invite members. Photo Albums We have enabled photo albums to offer users a place to host their photos. Linking your images from other websites is allowed but we ask that you please be aware that if it gets abused we may turn off the ability to hot-link forum images. Photo albums can be created in your User Control Panel. You can upload photos up to 800x800 pixels and a maximum file size of 195.3KB. Images larger than this will be automatically resized when they are uploaded. Each album can hold a maximum of 60 photos but you can have as many albums as you want. There is a limit of 500 images total, should you require more images please contact us and we will consider increasing this limit. Albums can be created as public or private. In public mode all images uploaded into the album will be viewable by anybody who visits the forums. In private mode the images will only be visible to your friends, moderators and administrators. Thread Prefixes Thread prefixes are important as they indicate the general topic of discussion within a forum. They are mandatory in a few of the forums but if you can't find a prefix that fits your thread then there is an 'Other' prefix that you can choose. When viewing a forum you can filter the threads by the prefix using the filtering options above the thread list or by clicking on a prefix next to a thread title. When searching the forums you can also specify a prefix to search on. This will narrow your search results to only those with the selected prefix. Thread Tags Tagging is used as a way of quickly finding threads relating to a specific keyword. When you create a thread you have the option to add up to 25 separate tags. Whilst they are not required we would appreciate it if you could add a couple of keywords relating to the thread if applicable. There is a tag cloud at the bottom of the forum and a link to ‘Tag Search’ if you click on search in the top navigation. The tag search page allows you to enter a tag to search on or click on a tag in the cloud. The tag cloud shows the popular tags currently in use on the forums. The number of threads with a tag dictates the size of the font of the tag in the cloud (the larger the font the more threads that are tagged with it). Restructure We have shuffled some of the forums around and added a couple of new forums that we felt needed to be separated. Hardware and Software are separate forums. If the thread you are looking to create is a bit of both hardware and software just create the thread in either and our moderators will move the thread if required. General and Serious discussion have been separated. This is to separate the threads that promote thought and debate from the threads that are generally more relaxed. Friends As an extension to the contact system in previous iterations of the forum software there is now a way of creating friendship links between you and your buddies. By adding someone as a friend you allow him or her to see your private albums. Profile pictures You can upload a 100x100px (200x200px when you have more than 10 posts) profile picture. This is displayed in the top left of your profile page. Reputation Admins and moderators have the ability to add positive and negative reputation to users who add good posts to the forums. A users reputation is shown below their avatar when posting in a thread and on their profile page (green or red blocks). There are no rewards for gaining good reputation yet, we might look into it in future though. You can also give positive reputation to other forum users but you can not give reputation to the same user until you have given positive rep to 10 others. There is also a limit of 5 reputation hits per day. Image Resize If images are added to posts that are larger than 800px wide or 800px tall they will be scaled accordingly. Clicking on a resized image will allow you to view the full size version. If the size doesn’t suit your browsing habits you can select what dimensions to resize and how to view the larger version in your User Control Panel. You can even select to use a system like Lightbox to view images in a thread.