# Major Upgrade - New Features



## Frederik Magle

I have just upgraded the forum software from vBulletin 3.8 to 4.1.x. This is a major upgrade and it caused some downtime which I hope wasn't too much of an inconvenience.

The upgrade is still ongoing, but I have reopened the forums. However, you may experience glitches and unexpected behavior in the near future. Please report any problems you encounter here.

Not only the forum software itself has been updated, but I have bought the full publishing package for Talk Classical, which means, amongst other things, that every member can now have a fully featured *personal blog* as well!

There are lots of new features, and bound to be some teething problems, so please excuse any annoyances.

Finally, as you can see the site has reverted to the default look of vBulletin. The old style was not compatible with the new software, but as soon as I'm sure everything is working, the next project will be to make a new look for TC. For now, I have increased the width of the forums which previously was optimized to 800x600 screen size. It's now optimized to 1024x768.

Enjoy all the new functions, and feel free to ask any questions. I'll try to answer them the best I can

Best regards,
Frederik


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## emiellucifuge

At first I was little dissapointed with the new 'look', but your post clears that up. Thanks.
I like the new features too!


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## Art Rock

emiellucifuge said:


> At first I was little dissapointed with the new 'look', but your post clears that up. Thanks.
> I like the new features too!


+1

Thanks!


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## Almaviva

Thanks for doing it, Frederik. I liked the pastel colors but this blue look is good too, in my opinion.


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## Kopachris

Regarding bugs, here's what I got when I logged in: "Page generated in 1,302,524,522.71709 seconds with 20 queries."

Other than that, the upgrade seems alright. Does this mean we can change our own signatures and avatars now?


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## Aksel

The new site looks great! It will probably take some adjusting to, but just about everything does.

But I do have a question regarding the scroll-bars that seem to appear at the right side of every post. I don't really get why they're there. Are they even supposed to be there?


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## peeyaj

I love the new design. It looks slick and modern looking. Frankly, the previous design is becoming antiquated and long on tooth.. Great job, Magle and staff! Congratulations..

How I wish we could have a mobile version of the site. Posting in N8, is really irritating and slow..


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## World Violist

Something tells me I'm going to like this a lot in the coming days... but where the heck is the "new posts" link?:lol:

Thanks a lot, I'll be exploring this today.:tiphat:


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## Aksel

World Violist said:


> Something tells me I'm going to like this a lot in the coming days... but where the heck is the "new posts" link?:lol:


Way up top, just below your username.


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## World Violist

Aksel said:


> Way up top, just below your username.


Thanks!



Frederik Magle said:


> Not only the forum software itself has been updated, but I have bought the full publishing package for Talk Classical, which means, amongst other things, that every member can now have a fully featured *personal blog* as well!


I like the blog feature, by the way. I just established mine, very smooth.


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## Aksel

Frederik Magle said:


> Not only the forum software itself has been updated, but I have bought the full publishing package for Talk Classical, which means, amongst other things, that every member can now have a fully featured *personal blog* as well!


Ooooh. Shinies! Totally getting one right now!


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## Krummhorn

Impressive 

I had read about the new features, but to see and now use them ... fantastic improvement. 

Thanks, Frederik :tiphat:


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## elgar's ghost

I don't mind the latest appearance of this site at all and I wouldn't complain if it stayed like it. Good effort, people.


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## sospiro

I only seem to have access to the 'quick reply' box, can't do a proper reply. 

I have clicked on '+ Reply to Thread' Is that right?


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## sospiro

In Forum Tools, 'Mark This Forum Read' doesn't seem to be working.

Sorry if I seem to be nit-picking - I love the upgrade


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## TxllxT

No thumbnails from my own uploaded photos are shown


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## sospiro

On my PC everything is in 'bold' - is it the same for everyone? Not too keen on that aspect.


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## TxllxT

sospiro said:


> On my PC everything is in 'bold' - is it the same for everyone? Not too keen on that aspect.


Not on my PC.


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## MusicSoundsNice

I'm loving the new layout


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## HarpsichordConcerto

Will take a little while to get used to / learn the new system.

The one thing that I dislike is that the sentences we type/post now spreads across the entire width of the screen, so your eyes become tired when reading as the eyes move a lot from total left to total right. Reading is often easier when the text are condensed into less wide columns, like you often read in books, or magazines or news papers, not spread acorss the entire width of the screen. Just my two cents.


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## HarpsichordConcerto

No edit button?


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## Almaviva

Frederik, some people are having trouble with the insert pictures function. Please read this post and the one that is above it:

http://www.talkclassical.com/10305-opera-cd-10.html#post156029

Maybe you can tell us how to avoid this problem. Thanks, Alma


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## Almaviva

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> Will take a little while to get used to / learn the new system.
> 
> The one thing that I dislike is that the sentences we type/post now spreads across the entire width of the screen, so your eyes become tired when reading as the eyes move a lot from total left to total right. Reading is often easier when the text are condensed into less wide columns, like you often read in books, or magazines or news papers, not spread acorss the entire width of the screen. Just my two cents.


I actually like the wider surface. When we use pictures and graphics, it's nice to have more space.


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## Kopachris

sospiro said:


> On my PC everything is in 'bold' - is it the same for everyone? Not too keen on that aspect.


It is on mine, too. I'm also not too thrilled that every post has a scroll bar, preventing me from scrolling normally unless I move my mouse to the edge of the page.


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## Krummhorn

sospiro said:


> I only seem to have access to the 'quick reply' box, can't do a proper reply.
> 
> I have clicked on '+ Reply to Thread' Is that right?


For the WYSIWYG reply box, click on "Go Advanced". Is this what you meant?


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## HarpsichordConcerto

Almaviva said:


> I actually like the wider surface. When we use pictures and graphics, it's nice to have more space.


I can agree with the space for pictures, yes.

Though for reading texts, I doubt it. When paragraphs are long, that's partly why magazines and papers don't publish materials in that format but into columns, i.e. shorter width which is easier for the eye.


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## jurianbai

great. I imagine in the days to come we'll be busy "LIKING" each other. btw, I also use to browse via samsung android, I haven't try this, I hope it still have the simplicity on previous version.


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## Almaviva

Kopachris said:


> It is on mine, too. I'm also not too thrilled that every post has a scroll bar, preventing me from scrolling normally unless I move my mouse to the edge of the page.


Strange, on mine, I don't see what you guys are seeing (the bold fonts). Only what we make bold is bold, or the titles of the threads that have new messages.

As for scrolling, I continue to be able to scroll just using the touchpad, and the bar on the right is just another way to do it.

Maybe it's a question of browser? I know that Annie uses Firefox. I use Internet Explorer.

On the other hand, pictures and copied and pasted text have been behaving weirdly. I guess we'll just have to learn how to use the new software and then everything will be fine.


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## Almaviva

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> I can agree with the space for pictures, yes.
> 
> Though for reading texts, I doubt it. When paragraphs are long, that's partly why magazines and papers don't publish materials in that format but into columns, i.e. shorter width which is easier for the eye.


Maybe you should decrease your magnification to 75%, maybe this will fix it for you.


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## rojo

Woooow... what a major change, after all these years. I hope no one is in shock. lol

Impressive.


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## World Violist

rojo said:


> Woooow... what a major change, after all these years. I hope no one is in shock. lol
> 
> Impressive.


I was in shock. After loading the page I thought... wait... this is TC, yes? Yes, there's a post by Almaviva and a folder called "Community Forum"... Ah yes, "Major Upgrade."

Regarding boldness, only the right things are bold for me; for the record, I use Google Chrome.


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## Meaghan

World Violist said:


> I was in shock. After loading the page I thought... wait... this is TC, yes? Yes, there's a post by Almaviva and a folder called "Community Forum"... Ah yes, "Major Upgrade."


Me too. I had to log in, which I haven't had to do in months, and I couldn't actually remember my password at first. It's strange-looking. But interesting. I miss the conductor hands, tympani mallets, etc. along the top bar a little bit, though.


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## Grosse Fugue

How do you make a blog. When I click on on link in the first post It tries to sell me 
the software.


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## Meaghan

Does the same thing happen when you click on the "Blog" tab at the top of the page? (I don't think it should--it doesn't for me.)


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## science

Some of the new features are awesome. 

I was not enthusiastic, I had to remind myself that nothing is permanent and sigh deeply - but now I heartily endorse the upgrade. Well done!


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## graaf

Kopachris said:


> It is on mine, too. I'm also not too thrilled that every post has a scroll bar, preventing me from scrolling normally unless I move my mouse to the edge of the page.


Same here if I use Firefox 3.5, but not on Opera 11. I didn't use zoom on any browser.


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## peeyaj

The scroll bar in every posts is ugly (slow too in touchscreen phones).. I like the old one better.


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## Krummhorn

Grosse Fugue said:


> How do you make a blog. When I click on on link in the first post It tries to sell me
> the software.


At the top of the forum page, click on "Blogs" ... then at the top left click on "My Blog" then select "Create New Blog" which opens up a dialog box. Once submitted, your blog is created.


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## sospiro

The letters in bold seems to be a problem with Firefox. They're normal in Explorer which is a nuisance as I prefer Firefox.


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## emiellucifuge

sospiro said:


> The letters in bold seems to be a problem with Firefox. They're normal in Explorer which is a nuisance as I prefer Firefox.


Same here!


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## Frederik Magle

Thanks for all the feedback, and please do keep it coming!

We will try to sort out and fix any and all annoyances we can.


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## TxllxT

The Upload Management of Photos changes the order of appearance randomly. I cannot get pic1 on no.1 anymore, pic2 on no.2 etc.


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## Huilunsoittaja

So you can actually "like" posts here now?  I've always wanted to do that... secretly...


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## Kopachris

The bold stuff is gone for me now; no idea what caused it or got rid of it. It seems like the extra scrollbars are only on posts _without_ a signature.


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## sospiro

Script is normal for me too.


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## Frederik Magle

Kopachris said:


> The bold stuff is gone for me now; no idea what caused it or got rid of it. It seems like the extra scrollbars are only on posts _without_ a signature.


I've run some maintenance routines for the MySQL database which should help weed out at least some of the bugs.

I'll look into changing the post-scrollbar behavior


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## Almaviva

Some people had trouble with inserting pictures, with having previously successfully inserted pictures now show as just links, and with random order of pictures on a post, Frederik. I've had trouble with copying and pasting text from other sources, which then shows with visible format tags. Would you please look into these issues?

This said, of course some glitches are expected, but the upgrade is great!


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## Frederik Magle

This should be fixed now. Again, for some mysterious reason the "view inline" option had been switched off during the upgrade, but it's back on now.


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## Delicious Manager

Being slightly childlike, I like the new ability to 'like' someone else's post without necessarily having to comment on it.


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## Almaviva

Frederik Magle said:


> This should be fixed now. Again, for some mysterious reason the "view inline" option had been switched off during the upgrade, but it's back on now.


Thanks.
Another unrelated issue - a member asked if we could have tags for "spoilers" which hide text until we place the pointer over it, which would facilitate games like the "name this opera" currently going on in the Opera forum.

And we had previously talked about getting more emoticons - like the "cheers" one, "party" ones, etc. Some of the current emoticons are so pale that we have trouble telling one from the other, for example, these two:


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## sospiro

Almaviva said:


> And we had previously talked about getting more emoticons - like the "cheers" one, "party" ones, etc. Some of the current emoticons are so pale that we have trouble telling one from the other, for example, these two:


I think those pale smilies are default for the new version (they're the same on my Ferrari F1 forum & that's not long been upgraded)


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## World Violist

I'm really liking the new banner!


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## Grosse Fugue

World Violist said:


> I'm really liking the new banner!


I agree!

One problem so far, when I hit the Home icon on the top of the page it says I do not have permission. How can I not have permission to see the homepage?


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## Frederik Magle

Glad you like the new banner, World Violist and Grosse Fugue.

Almaviva, I'll look into adding a spoiler tag.
The new smileys are indeed the default for the new vb version. Perhaps we should change back to the old ones? Maybe this calls for a poll...

Grosse Fugue, the "home" tab leads to a new content section, which is yet to be implemented...


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## Almaviva

Yep, I'd vote for the old smileys, and would also like some more smileys added to the list.
Some members have argued in the past that smileys are childish. I must be in my second childhood because I'm a grown man but I love smileys!:lol:


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## Meaghan

World Violist said:


> I'm really liking the new banner!


Me too. I was trying to figure out what the score is, but I don't think I can see enough of it...


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## Kopachris

Extra scrollbars are still there for me. Looking in Firebug, the problem seems to be a contradiction between how two different css files handle the "postrow" class. One says:


Code:


.postrow {
  overflow: auto;
}

and the other says


Code:


.postrow {
  min-height: 1px;
  overflow: visible;
}

Getting rid of the first one and keeping the second one seems to solve the problem. Because of the way vBulletin handles css files, I can't give you a specific file where the problem lies; Firebug just gives me: http://www.talkclassical.com/css.ph...ions.css,attachment.css,poll.css,lightbox.css as the wrong one.


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## mamascarlatti

Frederik Magle said:


> Glad you like the new banner, World Violist and Grosse Fugue.
> 
> The new smileys are indeed the default for the new vb version. Perhaps we should change back to the old ones? Maybe this calls for a poll...


The old smileys were definitely better.


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## Couchie

Anybody else find that the site banner more immediately invokes Harry Potter than classical music?


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## peeyaj

Ability to delete or edit blog posts..


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## Frederik Magle

Thanks for investigating, Kopachris.

I was not too happy about removing the .postrow auto from the postbit template, because it could cause images to behave in a wrong way, so instead I have reverted to the old way of displaying posts with two columns. Sorry to those of you who liked the new way, but this was the only way I could get rid of the scrollbars without risking other problems by removing code.



Kopachris said:


> Extra scrollbars are still there for me. Looking in Firebug, the problem seems to be a contradiction between how two different css files handle the "postrow" class. One says:
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> .postrow {
> overflow: auto;
> }
> 
> and the other says
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> .postrow {
> min-height: 1px;
> overflow: visible;
> }
> 
> Getting rid of the first one and keeping the second one seems to solve the problem. Because of the way vBulletin handles css files, I can't give you a specific file where the problem lies; Firebug just gives me: http://www.talkclassical.com/css.ph...ions.css,attachment.css,poll.css,lightbox.css as the wrong one.


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## Frederik Magle

According to the settings you should be able to both edit and delete blog posts... strange.



peeyaj said:


> Ability to delete or edit blog posts..


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## Kopachris

Yay, no more scrollbars! Thank you!


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## Frederik Magle

I have switched the smileys back to the old ones 



mamascarlatti said:


> The old smileys were definitely better.


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## mamascarlatti

Thanks for the old smileys Frederik.

I tried to embed a YouTube clip today but I think that options has now gone?


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## Krummhorn

Hi mamascarlatti,

I had to search around for it myself ... but found it.

It's got a new Icon this:







which is right on the tool bar for replies. Hover the mouse pointer over it and it indicates "Insert Video" - click on it and then enter the whole URL for the YouTube video ... and presto, imbedded in the post.


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## mamascarlatti

Krummhorn said:


> Hi mamascarlatti,
> 
> I had to search around for it myself ... but found it.
> 
> It's got a new Icon this:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> which is right on the tool bar for replies. Hover the mouse pointer over it and it indicates "Insert Video" - click on it and then enter the whole URL for the YouTube video ... and presto, imbedded in the post.


Thanks kh:tiphat:!


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## Almaviva

What is wrong is the spell checker? Before the upgrade I could use the one that comes with Internet Explorer, now when I click on it the text disappears. And then if I click on this one on the upper right corner, it says I need to download it, and if I try, it gives me a crash signal and nothing happens. I don't think it's a matter of firewall since I can easily download other stuff with my current settings. Any help?


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## Ukko

*"My bee don't spell"*



Almaviva said:


> What is wrong is the spell checker? Before the upgrade I could use the one that comes with Internet Explorer, now when I click on it the text disappears. And then if I click on this one on the upper right corner, it says I need to download it, and if I try, it gives me a crash signal and nothing happens. I don't think it's a matter of firewall since I can easily download other stuff with my current settings. Any help?


A spell checker is functioning for me; where it's coming from I dunno. I use SeaMonkey rather than IE, don't know if that is significant. MS Word is in my computer, maybe from there?


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## Krummhorn

I use Firefox exclusively - Under Tools/Options/Advanced/General there is a tick box for "check my spelling as I type". 

Mis-spellings are underlined with a red wavy line.


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## KJohnson

Yep! This is a great upgrade! It does take you a few moments to appreciate it though. ))


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## Guest

I must add my appreciation, it is an improvement in particular the blog feature, I have been looking at World Violinist's blog I think we are going to find out a lot more about our fellow members [is that good or bad??] 10 out of 10 for me.
btw my google spell check works OK.


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## Andrew B.

Question to Administrator: Now that you have been using version 4 for awhile, are you glad you upgraded?


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## Guest

Does anyone find it slower?


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## Krummhorn

Andrew B. said:


> Question to Administrator: Now that you have been using version 4 for awhile, are you glad you upgraded?


Absolutely ... besides the improvements that are readily available to regular member, there were vast improvements in the way the forum operates that have been of great help to the forum staff. Spam-O-Matic was one great addition in this new version ... all those spammer registrations that are now automatically denied, were being handled manually, mostly by the admins, one at a time.

So, yes I am very happy that we upgraded the forum software.



Andante said:


> Does anyone find it slower?


Yours isn't the first query on this matter, Andante. However, I do check the server loads periodically and they are all running optimally. Anything less than 2.0 seconds for the processor response time is considered well above average.

The server processor response times for this forum have been in the range of 0.15 to 0.39 seconds consistently.

My DSL connection loads this forum in about 2 seconds.

Windows 7 (64 bit)
Firefox v4.0.1


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## sospiro

Andante said:


> Does anyone find it slower?


It depends where I am. At home it's always a bit slow because I live quite a long way from a telephone exchange but when I sneak on at work it's always very fast.


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## Kopachris

I don't find it slower at all. I quite like the upgrade, now that I'm getting used to it, and that new "like" feature is kinda fun.


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