Novum Forum Societatis Viae Romanae

The main forum of the Societas Via Romana. Anything not covered by one of the Collegia is probably being discussed here!

Moderator: Aldus Marius

Novum Forum Societatis Viae Romanae

Postby Aldus Marius on Mon Dec 29, 2008 6:55 am

[for Valerius Claudius Iohannes, Curator:]


Salvete, Romani viatores!

The month of Ianuarius, and particularly its Kalends, is a time of transitions, and has long been considered a good time to start something new. In old Rome, we'd be swearing in (and at!) the new Consuls and such. There aren't anywhere near enough of us in the SVR to keep a pair of Consuls well-fed and -entertained...but we can inaugurate other things. Thus, we are pleased to announce that, as of Kalendis Ianuariis 2762 (2009 CE), we will be launching a new Forum.

Where:
http://societasviaromana.net/phpBB3/

NOTA BENE: As of New Year's Day, Kalendae Ianuariis AUC 2762 (Jan-1-2009), the new "phpBB3" Board will be our current and official Forum, and the old Board will remain in the Archives. From Ianuaria on, all postings will need to be made on the new Forum and Collegia.

Why: Rather than upgrade our aging, Spam-ridden phpBB2 Forum again, M Octavius Gracchus, our Gracious Web-Host, has set us up a phpBB
3 Board. It has more (and more customisable) features for the users, better tools for the admins, and the graphical registration confirmation that Spambots love to hate. >({|;-]

For one thing, we can now add attachments to posts and PMs, including images, documents and text files. We can save, e-mail, print out or otherwise share whole topics. We can use links and images in our signatures. The Avatar uploader actually works now. Marius' long-standing PM gripe has been resolved: We can now send a PM to more than one person at a time, including to the admins as a group. And, Yes, on the new Board our tunics and togas appear under our avatars. <g>

How: Log in to the new Forum the same way you would here. It will recognise your handle, but may ask you to pick a new password. If so, you'll get a confirmation e-mail with your temporary password, after which you can log on and go to your Profile (oops, "User Control Panel"...the options there are many, and will provide a full session's worth of entertainment/tweaking all by themselves). There you can change your temp password into the one you really want. Inquire here if it does something different for you than it did for me.

What: The first thing you'll notice is All That Blue. If you decide you like it, you can keep it; otherwise, patientia vobiscum--we're working on it. The aesthetics of these Fora are controlled by templates ("skins", more or less). The Board came with the blue skin, and there's an option for the old-style subSilver if you want it to look and behave more like this one. (The current Board is subRed, also with a subSilver option.) If we want something else (we Curiales do), someone knowledgeable will have to create the template for it. Some Boards have several such skins for the user to pick from, some quite handsome, and a small cottage industry exists for making them. Tibi Draco's already on the prowl for one or more that will suit us.

Post Transfer: Octavius installed the new Forum on 24 October; yes, it's taken the admins much of the time since to learn the thing. Posts made in this Forum since 24 October are not on the new one and cannot be gotten there unless either their authors or an admin carry them over by hand. So far Marius has been transferring materials from the Curia, as well as the Fasti from 24 October on. The trouble with that is, on the new Board, all the transferred posts look like they're by Marius. If anyone has a favorite recent thread they'd like to see on the BB3, see if you can get the authors to copy their posts over. We especially encourage November and December's newbies to re-post their intros.

= = = Marius' Tech Corner = = = (skip if your eyes start to glaze over):

"The BB3 came with some pre-installed user classifications: Guest, Registered User, Moderator and Administrator, each with its own set of accesses. I created a new one, Sodales, and put all the definitely-SVR members in it. I doubt I've accounted for everybody. I could only make a definite assignment if the member's Board handle was/is semi-similar to his or her Roman name, and said Roman name was on the Album Sodalium. I bumped Board and SVR join dates as one way to make sure. All the same, I expect I'll need to add several others' logins if they turn out to be SVR members. If you're a Sodalis but find you cannot post to the Comitia, please notify me! (Until then, you're still a registered user.)

"As things stand, a Guest (browsing without logging in) can see all of the fora except the Res Publica section (the Comitia and Concilium). A Registered User ("Boardmember") can see, and even read, the Comitia and Concilium, but cannot post or vote there. A Sodalis can do anything he wants to in the Comitia...except delete his own posts. Neither can a Moderator or an Admin(!) delete his own Comitia posts. He'd have to ask another admin to do it. That should avoid the situation we ran into with ex-Consul Tiberius Coruncanius, who deleted all of his posts, including Consular edicta(!), when he left the Societas...he knocked a good-sized hole in the Archives, to be sure, and we don't want it to happen again.

"On my end, I seem to be able to do all the everyday things I ever have. It's been a matter of getting familiar with the look and the logic. It's been an adjustment, certainly; but as it stands, the BB3 does the same security sorts of things this Board does...with considerable nuance and a little more emphatically." >({|:-)

=== end Tech Talk ===

We have three weeks to Beta-test the new Forum to death. Please romp all over this thing, experiment with the User Control Panel and other features, PM the admins and each other, and let us know what you think! Questions, concerns and suggestions especially welcome; we'd like for this thing to suit as many of you as possible before we make it permanent. After all, if it ain't workin' for the customers, it ain't workin'!

(Teaser: We're holding onto some really good stuff until we make the jump: Google Earth Ancient Rome, latest Adlocutio and other delights!)

This pronuntium is made jointly by the Curatores and Aediles of the Societas Via Romana.

Optime valete, Cives omnes!
User avatar
Aldus Marius
Curialis
Curialis
 
Posts: 2175
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2002 3:16 am
Location: At the Ballgame

Board Themes Test Site

Postby Aldus Marius on Mon Dec 29, 2008 6:58 am

Salvete, Romani Viatores!

Tibi Draco and I have been prowling a "sample Board" where you can preview phpBB3 styles/skins. You are welcome to take a look and recommend your favorites; we plan on installing several of them, so that each user can pick the one they like best.

Here's the site: http://www.phpbb.com/styles/demo/3.0/index.php

I'm leaning towards things with easy-to-read color combinations; buttons and labels in reasonably intuitive places; resizeable text for the visually-impaired among us (like that chap Marius); and none of that damnably distracting hover-over color change the current theme blinds me with every time I move my cursor over the name of a forum or topic. >({|8-\

Other'n that, almost anything's fair game! >({|:-)

In fide,
Aldus Marius Peregrinus.
User avatar
Aldus Marius
Curialis
Curialis
 
Posts: 2175
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2002 3:16 am
Location: At the Ballgame

Re: Novum Forum Societatis Viae Romanae

Postby Valerius Claudius Iohanes on Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:24 pm

Bene, ego stultior ut videtur, verum enim vero: Well, it seems I'm a bit dense, but for the benefit of anyone else there who may have 'bulletin-board myopia' like I do:

The function/drop-down list for changing the styles on the Demo board is all the way up top, way up in the BB3 title bar, on the right where 'Search' would normally be. I'd been hunting for two days in every spot below that for it! I was just about to type up a "Huh?" post when I happened to notice it.

Eheu!
Valerius Claudius Iohannes
Curator anno MMDCCLXII
Centurio Honorarius Societatis
Civis ab MMDCCLIV

:: Adversitas bono viro intelligentiam docet. ::
User avatar
Valerius Claudius Iohanes
Curator
Curator
 
Posts: 679
Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2004 4:28 am
Location: Sancti Leandri Oppidum, California Franciscencis, Conpactae Civitates Americae

Re: Novum Forum Societatis Viae Romanae

Postby Aldus Marius on Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:09 am

Mea culpa, omnes; I really should have explained it better! Not everyone knows the RATS dictum: Read All [of] The Screen. >({(:#)

-- the not-so-Mighty Mar'
User avatar
Aldus Marius
Curialis
Curialis
 
Posts: 2175
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2002 3:16 am
Location: At the Ballgame

Old Board archived

Postby Aldus Marius on Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:45 am

Salvete omnes!

To borrow a quote about Abraham Lincoln, our original Forum at http://societasviaromana.net/phpBB2 "now belongs to the Ages." I've locked all topics (no new posts there), and noster Octavius has disabled new registrations.

If you visit there, you'll see a rather intimidating set of "Locked" icons, but it's actually not as walled-off as it looks. Anyone who was already on the old Board can still log in. You can read topics and posts, search, view member profiles, and even edit your own posts; I've found the Edit window to be the best way to transfer posts from there to here with their code intact (just copy at the old Board and paste to the new). This should make the transfer process easier for those who want to re-post anything they had over there that's younger than 24 October 08. In particular, there are a couple of new Sodales' Intro threads still waiting to catch up with us!

If anyone would like to see a whole topic transferred over, let me know.

In amicitia et fide,
Aldus Marius Peregrinus.
User avatar
Aldus Marius
Curialis
Curialis
 
Posts: 2175
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2002 3:16 am
Location: At the Ballgame

Re: Novum Forum Societatis Viae Romanae

Postby Valerius Claudius Iohanes on Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:16 pm

Avete, Amici -

Mihi iunundiores hae sunt schemae, infra.


In his own thread, Marius once again mentioned the 'demo board' and the sample-able color schemes. For me, these schemes are the more appealing ones:


Proglass_red

Revolution

TwilightBB


Anyone else have a preference?

Valete.
Valerius Claudius Iohannes
Curator anno MMDCCLXII
Centurio Honorarius Societatis
Civis ab MMDCCLIV

:: Adversitas bono viro intelligentiam docet. ::
User avatar
Valerius Claudius Iohanes
Curator
Curator
 
Posts: 679
Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2004 4:28 am
Location: Sancti Leandri Oppidum, California Franciscencis, Conpactae Civitates Americae

Re: Novum Forum Societatis Viae Romanae

Postby M Sempronia Pulla on Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:45 pm

Salvete Amici,

I liked the Proglass_red, and for a black background, the twilight one was nice. In general though, I'm a fan of anything with a light background and dark text just because in my opinion over time it is easier on the eyes.

Bene Valete!
M•SEMPRONIA•PVLLA
User avatar
M Sempronia Pulla
I. Auxiliary
I. Auxiliary
 
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:42 pm
Location: Virginia, USA


Return to General

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Majestic-12 [Bot] and 2 guests

cron