In IP.Board 3.0 we introduced a simple reputation feature, allowing users to give positive or negative reputation to a post.
While administrators can view who gave reputation through the Admin CP, in IP.Board 3.1 we have introduced a way for all users to view who gave reputation on any given post.

To view who gave reputation, you just click on the reputation number at the bottom of the post which will now display a popup balloon indicating who has given reputation.

There is a per-group setting to control who can use this feature. If a user does not have permission to use it, the number will not be clickable and appear unchanged from how it currently is.

The data is loaded through an AJAX call when the link is clicked, so there is no additional queries to the topic view for this feature.

View post: IP.Board 3.1.0 Dev Update: View Reputation

I think this is a fantastic update and I will certainly welcome it, however I believe that some Administrators would like to keep reputation private or at least in the user control panel. We shall have to see how all this plans out.

Being set in the light as the main competitor to vBulletin, these two platforms have had fan boys battling it out on numerous boards for around three thousand years and still none have been proven right or wrong. I just want to get it out in the open that I am not a vBulletin fan, nor am I an IPB fan boy. I simply don’t like the vBulletin model on raising prices and the software is bare ugly.

The first thing that brought me over to IPB from MyBB and phpBB was the sheer scale of the software, the Administration Panel is like a separate program in itself, the social profiles look impressive with the custom fields you can easily create and comments can be posted, profile photos uploaded, plus an ‘About Me’ section is included. With the software looking very sexy even on it’s default template, the designers throwing out templates are incredibly talented and what was (and still is) being produced is to a high standard. The main hub I use for all my IPB skin purchases (they are doing vBulletin now too) is SkinBox.

Along with some great designs available for use, you have a whole new plugin system built into the newest version. Hooks for your sidebar and applications to increase functionality are just two examples of how you can customize the board easily with less file edits then before. With extending the board, upgrading and even the installation are both painless and simple to accommodate newer, less experienced Administrators.

Running the Forum

While enjoying the software, installing the board and adding a fantastically crafted template that you paid good money for, none of this will be worth it if you can’t manage and run your community or get involved and enjoy the experience. IPB 3 helps you run the community with little involvement of the Administrator Control Panel for small moderation tasks or edits.

Having the features and functions for you to perform tasks quickly and easily while mingling with your user base is essential to not spend too much time filtering through drop down menus or going through navigation in your ACP. Each second spent on your community counts with replying to posts, starting threads and advertising your forum elsewhere.

In the image to your left you will see the quick thread moderation icons that show when highlighting a thread in the topic view. From left to right the icons represent renaming the thread, deleting the thread, pinning/unpinning the thread at the top of the current forum or locking/unlocking the thread. You don’t even need to click into the thread to perform these quick and easy tasks no more, great for quick bulk moderation to.

The Administrator Control Panel

The ACP on Invision Power Board 3 (as mentioned above) is like it’s not part of the forum, it looks like a separate piece software. Pure brilliance wrapped up nicely with pretty colours added in for those Windows Users who love good looking things. The scale of the panel itself and how easy it is to navigate is fantastic, a real bonus for an Administrator. Escaping from the tradition menu on the left layout is becoming a must for software and IPB has got the best laid out control panel easily.

The dashboard contains a useful notes feature, which you can leave quick notes for other Administrators to view when logging into the ACP along with displaying interesting information such as the feed for the IPS blog, if any threads or members need validating, quick links to most used areas of the ACP and who has recently logged in (as well as failed ACP logins).

My most loved feature of the Invision Power Board 3 control panel, which is shown in the image to the right, is the forum management. It is incredibly easy to use, with the permission setup and configuration being a breeze. The highlight is the drag and drop forum ordering that just adds a whole new level of user friendliness and well… laziness.

User Friendliness

From a user perspective, IPB is easy, very easy to use. From registering an account for the first time, it takes moments to create your online account and get posting. Use Facebook? It’s even quicker! With the built in Facebook Connect, guests can simply login and synchronize their Facebook profile with their forum account. Updating their board status, profile photo and About Me section from their profile with a few clicks.

Forum profile pop-ups are a new feature, which is welcomed by many. I love it. Simply clicking on the small green icon next to a username brings up a small box displaying information about that account such as their photo, reputation, post count, when they registered and when they last logged in. Very neat and brilliant for increasing our laziness when not needing to visit profiles that much.

A new addition to the User Control Panel (UCP) is the remodelling of the personal messaging system, a feature which is common on most forum platforms. It is now styled like a conversation and is displayed with replies underneath each other to make it easier for a conversation to take place and to see a history of previous messages without quoting everything. Everything seems to be built up for ease of use, hammering its way into web 2.0 and setting the standards bar even higher.

That is a quick run through of Invision Power Board and why I use it, love it and recommend it to other Administrators.

If you have focused on PR ranks too much or are just getting a grasp with your community (maybe a good 50 posts a day) then you might start to think about submitting your site to the various directories around the Internet. If so, fantastic!

What is a directory?

Web directories are simply a way of harvesting links to other places on the web and categorizing them for visitors. Do not mistake directories for search engines, they are two completely different minds. Most (if not all) directories are humanly edited, they have one to a few reviewers per section and are dedicated in taking a look at each submission to see if the site is fit for addition into the index of sites.

These reviewers are going to be looking at many things, including the data you entered when submitting your website, your content, activity, accuracy and relevancy with the title, domain, submission details, submission category and more. This might sound slightly daunting for the beginner Administrator, it should be. This is very sensitive stuff you are starting to play with! Time, consideration and thought needs to be required when typing in your title, description, making sure your site has clear contact means, appropriate links to other sites etc. while keywords aren’t of great importance.

After submission (free or paid) and having your site review & accepted into the directory, you can now check that one off and continue onto the next. Continuing this process while creating some link noise from other forums, sites and blogs will surely build some authority base for your forum, which is great and what we want.

Submitting a site

Submitting to a directory is very simple enough, as stated above you are going to need to fill in your site’s; title, description, contact email, your name at least. Many other fields may include the likes of keywords, meta description etc. Before filling this information in though, you are going to need to go through the category tree of the directory and find a perfect sub section for your forum/site.

Upon submitting your form for a link submission, your request will be passed onto editors who will scan your site against their criteria. Some elements that reviewers may check upon visiting your website:

• Contact information is clearly visible.
• Domain that matches the site’s title and theme.
• Categorization on the directory that is best fitted for your site.
• Internal and main external links are all valid and working.
• Links to external site or resources are of relevance and appropriateness.

Along with basic, global requirements and check lists, directories have specific pointers that must be considered before filling in their submission form, I would strongly recommend reading through these lists to save both yours and their time.

Graphics

So the SiS Mirage 3+ IGP works to an extent, I have full 2D support and can have my display extended to the native 1280×800. I’m a happy bunny, but you always want your hardware to perform as well as it can. Having fully enabled Aero on Windows 7 and not being able to even enable moderate effects in Ubuntu is just wrong, of course this is the fault of SiS and their pathetic contract with Microsoft. Did I mention that they have actually made a 3D graphics driver for Linux? Will they release the source code? No. Pointless? Absolutely.

Networking

Wireless works out-the-box, along with the ethernet port. Things go fine until you wish to switch between the ethernet cable and your wireless a few times, or maybe change wired networks to perform multiple tasks. After around 10-20 changes, the ethernet stops working altogether, it can’t establish a connection at all. I have tried reseting the network, tried different cables and networks but it just doesn’t want to play along. Therefore a complete system restart is required, waste of both time and energy.

Battery

This is a problem many people are experiencing on other laptop makes and models but since the 9.10 upgrade, my battery is no longer read properly. The percentage is given, but no estimation on how many minutes of power remain. Also, it is confused between charging and discharging. When the laptop is running off AC power, it reports that the battery is discharging and when it is running off the batter, it believes that the laptop is running off AC power.

Random Glitches

Nothing major, just the odd mouse left button freeze on a USB mouse when plugged in. You have to remove the mouse, mess with your touchpad and plug it in again for everything to return to normal operation. When closing the lid and the screen going blank, it doesn’t stay blank. It flickers every 2 seconds with the actual screen. It’s as if you are unlocking and locking the screen really quickly.

Although Mint Linux is a variation of Ubuntu, it just seems to run better on my laptop for some reason, software works better. Pidgin doesn’t randomly crash, Songbird’s ‘previous’ button works (I really was baffled when the previous button ceased to work in Ubuntu) and it is quicker on boot and shutting down the system. I shall see how far I get with Mint, hopefully quite far as I really do enjoy using this operating system. I just hope my laptop holds out.

Now onto pressing matters, I was enjoying the Brits (while drinking my hot cup of tea focusing on the pain in my throat) and Cheryl Cole started to perform. I got mildly excited all of a sudden, she was miming. Not only was she miming, but she was out-of-sync miming! I don’t know what is worse, miming while most (if not all) other performers sang live or mimed in time, or actually not having the ability to mime properly. Maybe both in special Cheryl’s case!

If you didn’t watch the Brit Awards this evening, or happened to miss her terrible performance (shame on you!), then here is a small clip of it:

Cheryl Cole mime fail on Brit Awards 2010

I can’t stand the girl, she is the worst role model, she can barely sing (or mime), she is a terrible excuse for a talent judge as she was built and shaped from one of those programs and she just knows how to get on my nerves every time she is on my screen. I’m glad tonight happened, hopefully she will watch it and think “Shit, I was really good singing live!”, sorry darling, I think Alisha and Florence both out did you.

Credit for the video goes to YouTube user TheFowlyetti, who uploaded the file. I hosted it here just in-case they take it down for violation of terms etc. which always seems to happen when I embed off that law-binded site.

I really do wish I could do a variety of dances as good as he can, it’s a shame that I would actually need to put some effort into it. A second video has been seen, a sequel to the first video above. Well worth watching but not as good as the original.

Thinking that it is all fine and working as it should, I went and posted a new blog post. Seeing how FaceBook state that they check every few hours for new updates on your external blog I was checking back to see if it synchronized. It hadn’t, a day went by and still no latest post update, so is it just ignoring my blog altogether? I shall see by today if it has put my previous post up, nice to know how they change everything every now and then but can’t get simple features working correctly.

Along with the above problem, the Android application that FaceBook have placed on the marketplace is actually terrible. It doesn’t even have mail features so half the links you click in either notifications within the application itself or from emails go through your browser! I know many could say “Well you should have stuck with the iPhone!”, well I don’t want to and I’m happy with my new phone so no thanks. Considering that the MySpace application is more feature rich, it doesn’t make sense why the FaceBook team is behind.

They really do need to sort these little irritating problems out.

The cover of the title.

I have spent some money purchasing Microsoft points and buying some cool arcade games like Trials HD. I was rather bored the other night and thought I’d go onto the game marketplace on XBOX Live and buy a full game from the on demand selection. I remember playing Fable on the original XBOX and enjoyed it overall, I have never tried the sequel and thought it might provide me with a few hours of enjoyment to pass the time.

£19.99 was the displayed price, which I was happy with. I quickly checked the preview and after the video had finished I was going to purchase the download. After the preview had finished the price changed on the summary from the given £19.99 to free. I was thinking for a second that I had been sent to the demo or something so I read through the description and looked around in the tabs and it was the full game.

Under the impression this is just a glitch I went ahead and downloaded it thinking I’d be charged the cost anyway, but the only thing Microsoft have charged me recently is a 1000 batch of points, no statement for a game purchase. I am now playing the game and have bought chapter one (which was a huge download), still haven’t been charged or contacted about the purchase and I don’t intend to be honest about it!

I think this as compensation for having to spend £55 on a wireless adapter.

The sexy beast itself.

Gone from one giant to another, from Apple to Google. I have disliked my iPhone for a while and really needed to get a smart phone that can actually perform all my needs to a somewhat high standard. With my excitement 12 months ago with ordering the iPhone, changing my o2 tariff and joining modern technology in the phone department, it lasted for a good few months until I started using it as a mobile phone. The few, but irritating, problems that are present in texting and calling (or receiving calls) from contacts is just off-putting.

I guess I could have been expecting too much from the iPhone itself, being my first smart phone, but with all the hype and positive reviews, remarks and comments from the public you would expect it to perform really well and just work.

I don’t think it is demanding to have a phone that satisfies all your needs and performs well as a mobile platform. For example, this is what I need and want in a smart phone:

• Call people and send text messages etc., simple communications.
• Perform well as a music player.
• Allow me to browse the Internet quickly and easily.
• Have my mail synchronized and viewable.
• Able to customize the phone to suit my needs there and then.
• Last long, the battery needs to be able to go for a few hours at least under heavy load.
• Needs to look good.

The HTC Hero blows me away by ticking all the boxes, it really is a fantastic phone. It looks well designed & built, a nice colour combination of white and silver and has a noticeable five mega-pixel camera with auto focus, definitely a step up from the camera on the iPhone 3G. The screen is roughly the same size as it’s competition and has an added trackball accompanied by a few buttons. One more comment – it runs Google Android.

Setting up the phone for the first time was a lot easier than the iPhone. Everything just worked, and it configured everything quickly. Walking you through the on board keyboard basics, setting up your GMail account and setting other personal options was both insightful and brief. The actual user interface (keyboard, apps, settings etc.) is very much like the OS on the Apple counterpart, so the switch was easier than I thought it would be.

With the main usage of the phone being for emails, web surfing, networking, contacting friends and a cure for boredom with traveling almost 3 hours a day, it really did need to perform well both under load and with multiple tasks. MSN worked surprisingly well too, although seemed to struggle slightly when going through a slight phase of switching between 3G and others. Apart from slight glitches with that the phone performs really well despite reports and reviews that the hardware of the HTC Hero isn’t up to scratch with the software demands and requirements.

Speaking of software, I was slightly concerned with going for a Google Android phone, with the sheer step down size of the application market and when the iPhone OS generally works well, I wasn’t really ready to fully trust Google with a 48 month contract. I was brain washed within minutes on using the newly acquired operating system. Love it. Google have done a great job with it and it is a fantastic alternative to the Mac giant. Along with Google Android, HTC have taken it all one step further and have implemented an overly called the Sense UI. It’s a redesign, developed and easier to use interface that works wonders with the phone.

If you are looking to get rid of your iPhone or other smart phone, I would recommend looking at the HTC Hero.

Before you begin thinking, no it ain’t an edited picture or me trying to be funny. That is genuinely what was the output on the screen and what made me giggle quietly to myself. So missing 5 stations due to unforeseen events (actually, even Fenchurch Street is cancelled) will save 13 hours on a line with only two tracks with many services running within those 13 hours so it would have to wait for the earlier trains to actually get to their destinations? I see! Then it goes from being early to being 15 hours late. I think it’s worth some chuckling at

Disclaimer: Obviously it’s a simple error of the time stamp on West Horndon being set to 00:00