Programming Forums - New Features

Hi,

The new version of PFO is just about complete and I want to invite everyone to check out all of the new features while I give an explanation of what has changed.

Firstly is the new color scheme and a DaniWeb-inspired header/footer, as DaniWeb is now sponsoring PFO. The placement of everything has remained the same so you should be able to find all of your tools in their familiar places.

Secondly, there has been some restructuring of the forum index. Kyle had the various languages listed alphabetically but I prefer to list them in order of popularity while grouping similar languages together. Ideally this should lead to less scrolling down the page in search of the most trafficked forums. I've also merged the Site Announcements and Site Feedback forums because I openly welcome comments and feedback on anything I might announce. This forum has also been moved towards the bottom of the forum index.

I've set up my own version of highlighted code tags with the [code=language] bbcode. Therefore, you use [code] when you don't want to specify a language and you use [code=language] when you do. My version includes line numbers so that you can point out certain lines in code, but there is a toggle to view the code in plain text for easy copy/pasting into your favorite IDE.

I am also not a fan at all of code that is confined into a limited text area that requires scrolling. Personally, I have a very hard time reading code this way, and much prefer to see it all at once. Instead, I have very long lines set to wrap around to the next line, aided by the use of line numbers. Let me give you an example:

if ($foo == $bar)
{
        echo "This is a line of php code.";
        echo "This is a second of php code.";
        echo "This is a third line of code. I am not typing out any hard returns. It just automatically wraps to the next line when needed.";
}
else
{
        if ($baz == $bat)
        {
                echo "This is a fourth line of php code.";
                echo "This is a fifth line of php code. When you click Toggle Plain Text, the code appears in a text box. You can right click on this text box and choose Select All to highlight all of the code for easy copying and pasting.";
        }
}

There is also now support for inline code (use [icode]), when you don't need the code to appear in a new paragraph because it's something small. For example, I can explain code in a paragraph cout << "by doing this";.

A computer science-oriented website is never complete without the ability to use TeX markup for all of those equations. Therefore, you can now write things like the quadratic equation like this: $x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}$ .

Now for the community side of things ...

Kyle had a listing of the latest posts on his portal. Now, latest posts, posts since your last visit (custom tailored for each individual user based on the forums you've last visited), and a listing of the latest replyless threads have been played up. They can be easily found both on the portal homepage as well as in the form of links below the search box on every page of the site. This makes it easy for you to see the latest happenings at any time from any page.

All users now have the ability to set their own custom user titles. Additionally, users get a little gold star under their username for every 1,000 posts they contribute.

We do have a new set of rules which is based off of a user infraction system. It works like points on a driver's license. As listed on the rules page, everything that is against the rules has a specific point value associated with it. If you violate a rule, you get points added to your account which last for a predetermined amount of time. If you accumulate 10 points on your account, you get temporarily banned for a "cooling down" period until your number of active points falls below 10. It's a simple system for both moderators and users and it ensures that everyone is always aware of what the consequences are for any rule violation.

From a moderation point of view, you will now receive automated Private Messages when a moderator performs any type of moderation action on your post or a thread that you started. So if you accidentally post in the wrong place or one of your posts gets deleted and you can no longer find it, you'll receive a notification all about it. This isn't necessarily a good thing, however, because these automatic PMs often come with infractions tied to 'em :)

And on the note of moderation ... Kyle had asked that I set up a new moderation team here at PFO, and I've started by bringing two moderators on board to lay the groundwork for our new team. Narue was brought on as our first new mod because she's actually also been a long time moderator at DaniWeb, she's familiar with the way I manage forums, and I trust her. Secondly, DaWei was brought on as our second new mod because, even though I've only been here a very short time, his dedication and devotion to PFO is truly outstanding, and I am confident that he will do his best to always ensure the best for our community.