Invision Community Blog: Invision Community

IP.Nexus 1.4 Dev Update: Order Management

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:00:00 +0000

A little while ago, I talked about the front-end store improvements for IP.Nexus 1.4. In addition to these front-end changes, we've also made a few changes to back-end order management which we wanted to talk about today.

Tracking Numbers

IP.Nexus has always had the functionality for viewing shipping orders and printing packing notes. In IP.Nexus 1.4 we're expanding the shipping features by adding support for tracking numbers.

When you click the button to mark an order shipped, you'll now see a popup asking for the tracking number and the service you're sending the package by:

If you fill this in, customers will be given a link in their shipping notification allowing them to track their shipment.

PayPal Payer Status

Those who manually review transactions know that it's importance of to be able to approve genuine orders quickly while ensuring that fraudulent orders are noticed.

For customers that pay by PayPal, one of the important factors in this decision can be if the customer paid with a verified PayPal account or not. In IP.Nexus 1.4, you'll be able to see right on the transaction review page if the payment (if it's a PayPal payment) came from a verified PayPal account.

Transaction Review

Sometimes when you're reviewing transactions, you might want to leave one and come back to it later - perhaps you're going to contact the customer for additional information, or wait to see if the funds appear.

This can sometimes cause issue if there's more than one person reviewing transactions - one person might contact a customer for followup, then another refuses the transaction, or contacts the customer again.
In IP.Nexus 1.4, we've added an additional status to transactions allowing you to flag a transaction as being "under review". Transactions with this status are clearly indicated on the review screen (they appear in a blue box rather than pink) and who marked it as such, so everyone knows you already have it under control.

Void Account

It is inevitable that sometimes you need to terminate a customer's account. Perhaps they've filed a chargeback, or broken your purchase agreement.
While IP.Nexus has the ability to refund transactions and easily cancel purchases, this can be time consuming if the customer has made several purchases.

In IP.Nexus 1.4 we've added something of a kill-switch. One button that will refund all transactions, cancel all purchases, close all support requests and ban the account from logging in.

As always, if you have any feedback or suggestions unrelated to this blog entry, please post them in the IP.Nexus forum :smile:

IP.Nexus 1.4 Dev Update: Hosting

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:08:05 +0000

Following on from our first blog entry on IP.Nexus 1.4, one of the areas we wanted to focus on in this version is hosting integration.
IP.Nexus integrates with CPanel and WHM to allow you to sell and manage hosting services to your customers.

Monitoring

Anyone who sells hosting services knows that it is important to always have a eye on your servers and you need to know as soon as one of them goes down. With version 1.4, IP.Nexus has you covered. We're including monitoring features to keep watch on all of your servers.

Here's how it works: every 5 minutes, IP.Nexus will call gateway script which will in turn call a monitoring script which you'll upload to each of your servers, the response from this tells Nexus that the server is online and healthy. If Nexus does not receive a response from the monitoring script, it does one of three things:
1) It can check with a backup gateway script (which you'll locate on a separate server) to ensure the issue isn't with Nexus' communications. If that script can get a response, the server is online and everything is okay.
2) It will give the server a grace period. You can configure how many times Nexus should allow a server to not respond before sending out notifications - this allows the server, for example, 10 minutes to recover before sending out notifications.
3) It will send an email to the list of people you have configured to be notified.

Once that notification gets sent, all those who received it can reply to it and their replies will be sent out to all other people in the list - this is helpful if you have more than one person that's going to be being notified and need to keep them all in the loop.
Any person receiving the email can also acknowledge the notification (more on that in a moment) or reset the monitoring back to a default state (which they'll do once they've fixed the problem).

If nobody acknowledges the notification, and the server is still down after a period of time you specify, additional emails will be sent out to remind all that the server is still down.

The system also has a plan for if Nexus itself goes offline. On the server where your gateway script resides, you can set up a cron for a script which checks the last time Nexus called it. This script will email everyone in your notification list if Nexus has not called it in over 15 minutes. You don't even need to configure this script - Nexus will keep it up to date with any changes you make to the list of people to notify.

You can at any time view the status of your servers in the Admin CP - a green tick indicates that everything is okay, a red cross means the server is reporting offline:

With this of course, you can now create servers which are not integrated with CPanel/WHM but are monitoring only.
There are also of course hook points so you can add your own code to run when a server goes down or comes back up.

Every sysadmin knows that when a server goes down to expect a flood of emails, phone calls, etc. from customers reporting the issue. Now that IP.Nexus knows when a server is offline, we've added a little notification which appears if a customer goes to submit a support request while one of the servers they have an account on is down, notifying them you are already aware of the problem:

Server Cost

When creating a server you'll now have the option to provide the monthly cost of the server. IP.Nexus takes this information and along with it calculates the monthly revenue from that server (based off the information IP.Nexus already has). This allows IP.Nexus to show you a monthly profit/loss for each server.

Dedicated Servers

Those selling dedicated servers in IP.Nexus are used to creating simple custom packages to represent dedicated servers. In IP.Nexus 1.4 we've added a special kind of custom package which represents a dedicated server. This allows you to make use monitoring and viewing the monthly profit/loss while maintaining all the flexibility of custom packages.

Little Changes

We've also made a number of small changes to the hosting features in IP.Nexus:

As you may have noticed from the first screenshot, the server list is now separated by tabs into server queues. For those who prefer the traditional all-in-one layout, there is an "All" tab which will show all servers in the system.
When cancelling a hosting account, Nexus currently terminates the account on the server. In IP.Nexus 1.4 you'll have the option to suspend or terminate the account.
IP.Nexus now retains the domain and previous server of a hosting account even once it's been cancelled, this allows even cancelled accounts to show up in search results.

We still have a couple more blog entries planned for IP.Nexus 1.4. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or suggestions unrelated to this blog entry, as always, please post them in the IP.Nexus forum :smile:

IP.Nexus 1.4 Dev Update: Storefront

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:32:00 +0000

IP.Nexus is our hugely popular eCommerce and business management application for the IPS Community Suite. Over the past few weeks we've been working on lots of new features and enhancements for the next version of IP.Nexus (version 1.4).

The first set of changes we wanted to talk about revolve around the storefront.

The biggest change we've made in this area is a completely redesigned product page. This is what it looks like:

The more perceptive of you will notice that a redesign isn't the only thing this screenshot reveals - we've added several new features to the storefront.

Multiple Product Images

Probably the most requested IP.Nexus feature, and coming with Nexus 1.4 is multiple product images. You can upload as many different images for a product you like and they are all displayed on the left-side of the product view. Clicking any image will bring it up in the larger box at the top, and clicking that will launch the lightbox to display the full-size image.

We've made adding multiple images a quick and easy experience for administrators using an AJAX upload system, here's a video of it in action:
http://www.invisionpower.com/uploads/nexus_multiple_product_images.mov
As you can see, it's very easy to upload and manage multiple images.

Product Reviews

Another oft-requested feature coming in IP.Nexus 1.4 is product reviews. You can now set (on a per-product basis) if you want to accept reviews, and if you want to moderate reviews before they go live.

Only customers who have purchased the product can review (they'll see a prompt both on the product page in the store and in their purchases list in the client area), and with it they provide a star rating out of 5. The average star rating is displayed on the product page.

All members can click whether they found the review helpful or not, and the count for this is displayed just below the review.

Product reviews of course integrate with the IPS Community Suite Moderator Center - so you'll be able to easily see a list of reviews pending approval, and members will be able to report reviews and these reports will show up in the Moderator Center.

Tax Included

IP.Nexus now has the option to include tax in the price which is shown to customers in the store. The text you see in the screenshot ("incl. vat.") can be customised to display whatever you like (so if you're not including tax in the price, it could say "excl. tax").

The calculation is based off of the member's location if known, or the fallback "All Locations" rate if the location is not known.

Discounted Price

IP.Nexus has long had the option to give selected members discounts based on their usergroup and previous purchases. In IP.Nexus 1.4, if a discount is applied, the original price will be shown striked out next to it so that users are aware that they're receiving a discount.

Grid View

As well as the product page itself, we've added a new viewing option to the category view. Rather than displaying products in a list, you can now display them in a grid format:

You can of course set which view will be the default and disable the option for the user to choose.

This is just the first blog entry we have planned for IP.Nexus 1.4. As always, if you have any feedback or suggestions unrelated to this blog entry, please post them in the IP.Nexus forum :smile:

Dev Update: Addon Applications

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:46:00 +0000

Since the release of IP.Board 3.2 (and our addon application updates), we have been hard at work resolving issues reported to us in order to deliver the most stable and secure community software available on the net. We are very proud of our latest releases, yet we are still working hard to deal with any issues that affect you, our customers. Before we start discussing changes you can expect to see in future versions of our addon applications, we wanted to be sure that the current releases work reliably and efficiently across the board (no pun intended).

Having said that, however, we did manage to slip in a few new feature changes for the next application releases that we felt you might be interested in hearing about.

IP.Content 2.2.2

IP.Content databases and articles have powerful field configuration options, allowing you to create and customize the fields available in every database (including the built in articles system). An oft-used field is the "Editor" field type, which produces a WYSIWYG editor for posting content to the database. You can optionally allow HTML in this field, which is useful when you are posting complex articles on your site. Allowing HTML in this field, however, creates a situation where one administrator may not want to translate newlines in the editor into newlines on the page, while the next administrator may expect just that to occur.

For IP.Content 2.2.2 we have changed the "Allow HTML" option for each "Editor" field to a dropdown with the options "No", "Yes (change newlines to HTML line breaks)" and "Yes (do not parse newlines)". If you can use HTML in your posts in the forums, this is analogous to the per-post HTML posting options. If you choose "No", HTML in the field is not parsed at all (this is the safest option if you allow non-trusted users to post content in the database). If you choose "Yes (change newlines to HTML line breaks)", HTML is parsed as you would expect, and additionally hitting the enter key on your keyboard to produce a line break in the editor will translate to a line break in the final output. If you choose "Yes (do not parse newlines)", HTML is parsed, but newlines in the editor will not be turned into HTML newlines. This is useful if you post a lot of HTML content and wish to format in a way that is easier to read, but cannot allow line breaks to show up everytime there is a line break (for instance, if you post HTML tables and do not want newlines between table and tr tags to result in a
tag in the output).

If you don't allow HTML in your editor fields, nothing changes for you. If you do, however, you now have one more level of control to ensure your content is produced in exactly the manner you expect.

IP.Calendar 3.2.2

I would like to take this moment to point out something here that many of our customers have overlooked recently due to the fact that IP.Calendar has traditionally been packaged with IP.Board, instead of released separately. IP.Calendar is a separate addon application; it is no longer part of IP.Board directly. This means that it can (and will) receive independent bug fix and feature updates, and subsequently it's version number will not always coincide with IP.Board. When we release IP.Board 3.2.3, you will also see a release of IP.Calendar 3.2.2. This is a minor detail, and does not affect the functionality or ability to use the software, however it is important to keep in mind when you are looking at our tracker and trying to determine if a bug fix has been released yet.

With that out of the way... we wanted to tell you about a minor, but highly requested change coming with the next release of IP.Calendar. Beginning with IP.Calendar 3.2.2, users who RSVP for an event will be able to un-RSVP for the event themselves, without intervention from a moderator or the event owner. The event owner will still be able to remove any attendee from the list (if given the permission to do so in the ACP), however individual attendees will now also see the delete icon next to their name if they have RSVP'd, allowing them to remove themself from the list of attendees.

IP.Nexus 1.3.2

IP.Nexus is continuing to mature as a product, and has proven itself a stable and reliable solution for monetizing your community. We have many great ideas for the next major release of IP.Nexus, however Mark has introduced a change in 1.3.2 that we felt our customers would be interested in hearing about.

Beginning with IP.Nexus 1.3.2, you will now be able to issue PayPal refunds right through the IP.Nexus administrator interface. On orders made through PayPal, there will be a refund option available, which will automatically refund the payment from your PayPal account to the purchaser's account. This small but useful enhancement can save you a lot of time when managing your transaction purchases using IP.Nexus 1.3.2.

And more to come...
Our maintenance releases here at IPS traditionally only include bug fixes. We do this to ensure we are focusing on stabilizing the release without the potential of introducing new complexities or issues, something every developer has to be mindful of anytime a new feature is built. We decided, however, that these few small but useful changes could be introduced safely without compromising the stability of the software, and at the same time allow you some additional flexibility and functionality from your purchases. We are very excited about the changes we have in the pipeline for our future addon application updates and can't wait to start blogging about them, but until then we hope these small additions will tide you over. :smile:

Development Update: IP.Board 3.2.3

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:22:18 +0000

Since the release of IP.Board 3.2 a few months ago, our immediate focus has been on fixing the bugs that have been reported and making fairly frequent releases to our customers. We're thrilled that IP.Board 3.2 has been a huge success and we've received a lot of feedback which we've enjoyed reading.

Now that the initial wave of bug fixes have been made, we've found the time to add in some functionality based on feedback from our customers. Here are some of the IP.Board enhancements that have gone in for 3.2.3.

HTML Emails
This has been a very popular request for a long time now and we've included this into 3.2.3. By default it is off, but you can enable it from the Email settings page in the admin control panel. This will also resolve issues with non Latin characters, right to left languages and more.
The HTML email wrapper is fully editable via the Look & Feel templates as normal and it automagically converts the current plain text templates into HTML so you don't need to change anything!

Import a URL Photo
We've had a fair number of requests for a simpler way to import a photo so we've included the ability to import a photo from a URL when in the photo editor. This copies the image to the forums server so it can be checked (to make sure it's actually an image!) and to create the thumbnail copy.

Editor Improvements
IP.Board 3.2.0 introduced a brand new editor and it really is one of the most complex areas of the software (no, really!). We've put a lot of focus into squashing those annoying BBCode bugs. We've also gone ahead and added the auto-save and 'toggle mode' functionality for editors in the admin control panel.

Of course, there are also numerous other bug fixes and improvements including more efficient Sphinx index building, iPad compatibility and more!

IP.SEO 1.5 Dev Update

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:41:00 +0000

IP.SEO is a free extra from IPS which provides tools to enhance the Search Engine Optimization of your community. It includes features like sitemap generation, the ability to set meta tags on any page, search engine statistics and SEO-related advice on your configuration. The IPS Community Suite itself has many built-in SEO features that are suitable for nearly all communities however IP.SEO expands upon them with more advanced SEO features.

We've been busy working on an update to IP.SEO which will be available soon. New features include:

Live Meta Tag Editor

IP.SEO has long had the ability to add custom meta tags to any page within your community, allowing you to modify the title, add a meta description and more on an individual-page basis.

While working on IP.SEO 1.5, we looked into ways we could make this important tool more accessible, and have taken concepts we learned from the Visual Skin Editor in IP.Board 3.2 and applied them to this.

Much like how with the Visual Skin Editor you can modify the skin live on the front-end, the Live Meta Tag Editor allows you to browse the front-end of your community and view and edit the meta tags configured for each page you visit. This allows you to customise the meta information on every page in your community easier than ever before so you can make sure all of your pages have exactly the right information you want to show search engines.

Improved Sitemap

In IP.SEO 1.5, we've added support for IP.Calendar, IP.Nexus and IP.Chat to the sitemap, so now all IPS applications are supported and your entire community can be accessed by site maps easily.

But not only that, we've also added some new settings for forums. You can now exclude a forum from the sitemap, or even set a priority level for forums on an individual basis. This allows you to rate your important content such as focussed user discussions higher than for example, site-related announcements or off-topic discussion.

Acronym Expansion

Users on a community will often post acronyms or abbreviations about the topic of your community, which can cause those posts to be missing the important keywords your community targets.

For example, we often have users post "IPB" as an abbreviation for "IP.Board". Search engines of course, don't know these are one in the same and when someone searches "IP.Board", posts that say "IPB" won't match. This can be a problem.

In IP.SEO 1.5, we've added a feature we call Acronym Expansion, which will automatically either replace an acronym with the specified long version, or wrap an acronym in a HTML tag so that search engines know what the user means.

This allows you to ensure that even user-generated content includes the important keywords your community targets.

Miscellaneous Enhancements

We've also of course included many miscellaneous enhancements. For example, in IP.SEO 1.5 it will be easier to get started with automatic sitemap.xml generation and a tool to download a blank sitemap.xml file if one cannot be generated automatically.

In addition, in an effort to improve the SEO within all of our base products, the next releases of IP.Board and IP.Content have had some links removed when viewing the community as a guest which are inaccessible to spiders like the "Like" button.

Beta Available Now

If you are comfortable testing beta software, IP.SEO 1.5 is now available for beta testing in our pre-release forum.

As always if you have any suggestions for future versions of IP.SEO, please post them to our feedback forum. If you're not already using IP.SEO, make sure you download this free extra now!

2Checkout Free Setup Fee Offer

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:48:00 +0000

IP.Nexus 1.3 will soon be released alongside the upcoming IP.Board 3.2. Dozens of our clients specifically requested 2Checkout as a payment gateway and we are happy to say that IP.Nexus 1.3 adds 2Checkout as a payment option.

Special Promotion from 2Checkout

We are happy to say that 2Checkout has agreed to waive their normal $49 setup fee for all IPS clients for the next 60 days. While IP.Nexus 1.3 is not out just yet you may want to take advantage of this great offer now to prepare for its release. To take advantage of this offer:
[*]Signup for an account, along the right side of the page, just below the fold. [*]During the signup process, when you are prompted for payment, you will find a "promo code" option. Enter invisionfree promo code in this field to receive the discount. Offer ends 15 September 2011. About 2Checkout 2Checkout.com (2CO) is a worldwide leader in payment and e-commerce services. Since 2000, 2CO has helped hundreds of thousands of online merchants with a global platform of payment methods and world-class fraud prevention services, hosted on safe, secure, and reliable PCI-compliant payment pages. 2CO’s merchants can accept Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, Discover, PayPal, Diner’s Club, JCB and Debit cards (in the U.S.) through one full-service payment solution. The system is functional in 30 currencies and is translatable into 15 languages to support international buyers. Best of all, it's entirely turnkey and you only pay when you generate a sale, empowering you to focus more time on building your business and less time worrying about payments. A bit of history... IPS was founded over nine years ago (in Internet time that's forever!) and when we were first organizing the options for collecting payments were difficult for a small company just getting started. For the first couple years of our operation, 2Checkout was the payment provider of choice for IPS. We would not be where we are today without their service and we know they are great option for a new business, or even an established business, making their place in online commerce.

www.2checkout.com

White Label Mobile Apps and Android App Beta

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Around this time last year, we unveiled the IP.Board Communities app for iPhones. Since then, many community owners have told us that they would like to be able to offer this application customized for their forum, with their own branding.

To meet this need, we introduced the White Label Mobile Applications service, and the response has been overwhelming!

So you can see what the white label applications can do for you, we'll take you through two of our customers' apps.

eFestivals Forum

eFestivals is a UK-based website all about festivals, with an unparalleled store of festival news, guides, and ticket information.

eFestivals Forums is an example of a basic white labeled application, which you can check out on the App Store.

White label applications allow you to change the colors and images on the login screen to match your own branding, making the app more reflective of your community.

Like the generic IP.Board Communities app, a white label app like this one uses the mobile skin, allowing advanced customization without a single change to the application.

Also like the IP.Board Communities app, iPad is fully supported, and displays using the full skin for better use of the larger screen size

Volvospeed Connect

Volvospeed is a community where you can find reviews, guides,technical information and discussions about anything Volvo.

When Volvospeed came to us, they asked if we could make a single application offering unified access to all their communities. The answer is- yes!

With this application, a user can log into every forum in the list with the same user name and password, almost as if it were one forum. iPad is again fully supported.

Pricing and Availability

The white label mobile applications are available now! You can purchase this service right from your client area by clicking New Purchase, then selecting "Services" and "White-Label Mobile Applications", or you can read more about it first.

Future Plans

We have lots of ideas to improve the attractiveness of the white-label option, and will continue to improve it. In the near future, white label apps will gain the ability to take advantage of push notifications among other great features.

Android App

On a similar topic, one of the first questions we were asked when the original iPhone application was released last year was: will there be an Android app?

The answer is, again, yes! We're pleased to announce that you can now get involved in testing of the Android application in our pre-release testing forum!

Easy login to all your IP.Board Communities

Like the iPhone application, you can add a list of all the IP.Board communities you visit, and save your username/password for easy one-tap access.

Uses standard mobile skin

The app uses your standard mobile skin when browsing the forum. This allows your members to have a consistent experience across all the mobile devices they use, and allowing you to customize it to your liking.

Sharing

Android offers a robust and full-featured content sharing system, which we have integrated. This means you can share your content any way your device allows, whether that be by email, SMS, tweet, or any other way you can think of!

And much more!

As we are in the beta stages, not everything is finished yet… but once ready it will have the same options your iPhone members already enjoy –sharing pictures to IP.Gallery, status updates, push notifications*, and more!

*push notifications will require IP.Board 3.2 to operate

Pricing and Availability

We are hoping to have the final release available with or near the release of IP.Board 3.2. You'll be pleased to hear that the Android application continues to be free to your members. The white label option is also available, allowing you to have your own custom iPhone and Android application, offered with your branding to your own members.

Future Ideas

We have lots of great ideas to improve this app and will continue to do so, and we invite you to submit your own ideas for consideration. We may not reply to all feedback, but rest assured we do read and consider it!

We invite you to head over to the pre-release testing forum, download the app and give it a try! It's beta, so you may encounter some bugs, missing features, or features you'd like to see done differently. Please don't hesitate to report to the bug tracker or post to our feedback forum anything that comes to mind!

And now, I'll just leave you with this little teaser...

IP.Board 3.2.0 - Visual Skin Editor

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:20:00 +0000

Since the very first release of IP.Board, those with a working knowledge of HTML and CSS have been able to alter the look and feel of the board to better match their site.

Over the years, we've made many improvements to the skinning system. For 3.2 alone we've added remote skin editing and more modular CSS to make editing much quicker.

Last year, we introduced the skin generator for customers with an active license. This has been a very popular service and quickly allows customers to produce a new skin that better matches their site colors. However, we felt that we could do better than this tool and do better than our competitors who allow you to 'blindly' change colors from the Admin CP without seeing the immediate effect it has on the board.

Wouldn't it be so much easier to just change the colors while browsing the board? We thought so.

Introducing the Visual Skin Editor
This brand new innovative new feature allows you to edit the board's colors right from the board itself! You don't need to know CSS, you don't even need to remember hex codes and you don't have to blindly edit oddly named CSS classes from the Admin CP.

Live Demonstration
As this feature is best demonstrated, I've recorded a short video in which I make a brand new red themed skin in about five minutes using this new feature.

The usual disclaimer applies: this is work in progress and contains some rough edges that will be smoothed out before release.

As you can see from this video, it's a cinch to create a brand new skin in IP.Board 3.2! If you can point and click and use a basic paint editor on your computer then you're able to use this tool.

We're thrilled to announce this feature and look forward to your feedback and questions.

IP.Gallery 4.1 Dev Update

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

IP.Gallery 4 introduced a fresh look and lots of new features to our popular gallery application.
We've had substantial feedback since 4 and so with Gallery 4.1 (which will be released alongside IP.Board 3.2) we've taken this feedback on board to refine some areas and add frequently requested features.

My Media

IP.Board 3.2 introduces a feature called "My Media". This allows you to quickly drop content from other areas of your community (attachments, blog entries, etc.) into posts in the forum.

Gallery is of course no exception and you can now easily add images and albums created in the Gallery to your posts with a few simple clicks.

Default View

IP.Gallery 4 introduces a new "portal" home page showing recent images and albums.

Some users though prefer a more structured view - viewing albums like categories on the forums. Gallery also has a view for this which we call the "Browse" view.
In IP.Gallery 4.1, you can make the "Browse" view the default, and optionally completely shut off the portal view if you prefer.

Square Thumbnails

IP.Gallery 4 crops and resizes images to a square for use in thumbnails - this gives a clean and consistent view across the Gallery.

Some users however, prefer images not to be cropped. Therefore, in Gallery 4.1 we've added a setting to disable this.
When disabled, images will not be cropped and will be centered in a transparent square canvas - this allows the rows in the Gallery to remain consistent, but without cropping images.

Other Miscellaneous Changes

Stats (number of images, comments, etc.) is now on the gallery home page again - both the portal and browse views.
We've removed the limit of 10 images at a time, you can now upload as many images as you like in one go.
We've moved the slideshow button to a more prominent location, at the top of the page, next to the upload button.

IP.Board 3.2.0: Facebook, Twitter and Mobile Updates

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:59:00 +0000

IP.Board was one of the first boards to recognise the importance of attracting visitors via popular social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook.

We have matured this integration over the past few years and IP.Board 3.2.0 offers several new enhancements. Firstly, the pop-up dialogs have undergone a facelift to make them easier to use and easier to recognise which social networking account you are posting from.

We've used the modal functionality to display these pop-ups to give some more room to display the data. The Facebook pop-up also has the 'Like' button included inside the box. Many customers were uncomfortable with strong Facebook branding appearing prominently on their site. Although in many ways the 'Like' functionality is similar to 'Share', there are some keen differences on how the 'Like' data is displayed in one's Facebook feed so we felt it pertinent to keep both methods.

IP.Board was also ahead of the curve in providing a dedicated mobile theme for your users on smart phones. We recently blogged about this but we've gone ahead and added full Facebook and Twitter functionality to the mobile theme.

You can now log in using Facebook or Twitter and share topics to Facebook and Twitter. Below are some screen shots of this new functionality in action.

IP.Board 3.2 Update: Mobile Skin

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:43:00 +0000

We've had specific support for mobile touch devices in the IP.Board suite for a number of versions - these devices see a specially designed skin which is stripped down and touch friendly, rather than the usual skin. We've taken the opportunity to update this skin for IP.Board 3.2, refreshing some aspects of the style and adding support for new features.

Launcher

Gone is the linear menu of community links, replaced instead with a new launcher screen that shows the various areas that can be accessed:

As well as looking more pleasant, the increased space for each item should make tapping easier. In addition, you'll notice that we now display bubbles that show the message/notification counts, like on the default skin.

General interface improvements

We've restyled most elements in the skin, to lighten it and reduce the space necessary. As an example, here's the topic list:

You'll notice the navigation bar that used to be present is now displayed as a 'Back' link in the header bar - a convention mobile users are well used to. The individual page title is shown in the black bar, with the page content following.

In this particular screenshot, you might also notice that we're using the standard default skin read/unread topic markers, since they're perfectly suited.

Here's a look at the slightly-updated topic view:

As well as the cleaner display, you might notice we also support the new Like feature for posts.

Notifications

Notifications aren't something we've supported in the mobile skin before, but with more focus being placed on them in IP.Board as a whole, we took the step of adding them to the mobile view too. They essentially work just like you're used to, with the option to go to the user, the content, of the individual post:

Tagging

Tagging is a new feature introduced in IP.Board 3.2, and since tags can be set as required when posted, it was essential that posting support was added to the mobile skin. This series of screenshots shows the process:

To remove a tag, simply tap it, then tap the Remove Selected button that will appear:

If you choose to use the closed tagging system (whereby users can only choose from tags you define), a select list is shown instead, allowing users to choose from the native phone interface.

View New Content/Searching

IP.Board 3.2 introduces a new way of filtering results when using View New Content or when searching. A bar is shown on the left, with the various filter choices able to toggled on and off to change the results. While this interface clearly wouldn't work on a mobile device, we did want to ensure the filtering options were still available. This is what we came up with:

Clicking one of the buttons on the top bar presents the available filters, with the currently-used shown with a check:

IP.Board 3.2.0 Preview: Round 2

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Just a bit over a week ago we opened the first public preview of IP.Board 3.2.0 and the response was more than we could have ever expected. Most everyone reported they loved IP.Board 3.2 and could not wait to use it on their own community. We received a lot of great feedback and have spent the last week reading and organizing that feedback. While we cannot apply every bit of feedback received, we were able to go through all the feedback topics and make many changes based on what we saw were recurring themes.

Here are a few changes we have made since the preview...

User control panel pages updated to be simpler to use and understand
Several 3.1-style elements updated and refreshed
Topic icons tweaked for readability
Ability to hide sidebar reintroduced
Added support for Breadcrumb microdata
Many editor updates and fixes, including a new skin that ties into the IP.Board skin system, for customization by skin designers.
User profile default tab changed to overview
Hundreds of bug fixes and minor tweaks based on feedback!

http://internal32.invisionpower.com

If you have not already, you will need to register an account to login on the preview site.

Note that the preview will go on and offline now and then while we process feedback and make changes.

IP.Board 3.2.0 Dev Update: Editor Updates

Mon, 09 May 2011 15:05:00 +0000

Long before we threw the doors open to our IP.Board 3.2.0 preview board, we blogged about our new text editor. We reasoned that maintaining our own in-house post editor was becoming more time intensive due to the speed at which new versions of all the popular browsers are released. We chose CKEditor in the end because it's a very popular and capable editor that allows one to extend the core code.

We had a lot of compliments on the new functionality of our editor but most were put off by its look. We agreed that the default skin is a little ugly and not really suitable for a professional application like IP.Board so we took an afternoon to skin it to fit in better.

We're pleased with the end result. In a very short space of time, we were able to match it to the current editor which will give you and your members that familiar IP.Board feel.

Not only were we able to easily match the current IP.Board editor look and feel, but we made it easily skinnable via the normal Admin CP interface so skinners won't have to settle for the default look in their skins. After all, if you have a dark or strongly colored skin, you're not going to want to settle for the mundane grey default CKEditor skin.

Here's a few screen shots of our CKEditor implementation:

It's also worth noting that the CKEditor is 'hidden' in the fast reply area so that it when you're ready to make your post, a simple click into the area expands the textarea into a fully operational editor without it grabbing focus on the initial load.

We hope you've enjoyed this blog entry and we're thrilled to be able to make improvements based on your feedback so far. Keep an eye on this blog for some further entries about other tweaks and improvements!

IP.Nexus 1.3.0: Customers and purchases

Mon, 02 May 2011 13:07:08 +0000

Following our IP.Nexus 1.3 updates, here are the changes made to customer and purchase management:

Screenshots shown are subject to design change.

Refunds

Occasionally, it may be necessary to refund a customer's payment. Authorize.Net provides an API for refunding transactions and as of IP.Nexus 1.3, transactions can now be refunded right from the Admin CP.

When you refund a payment, the transaction will automatically be refused and any purchases cancelled.

Redesigned "Transactions On Hold" page

IP.Nexus may place a transaction on hold for review for several reasons: if it has a high fraud score, if there was a possible problem with the payment detected, or if you have IP.Nexus set to hold all transactions.

Previously, you would see a list of transactions and click into each one to review and then accept or deny the payment.
We found in our own usage that this was a slightly long-winded process, especially if you have lots of transactions - approving pending transactions is something which should be done as quickly as possible to appease customers.

In IP.Nexus 1.3, we've redesigned the "Transactions On Hold" page so that all of the information for all transactions is shown on one page.

All of the information you need to make your decision, including information from the anti-fraud service, is right on that page. Clicking "Approve" or "Refuse" will cause the box to disappear using AJAX so that you can move right onto the next one.

We've also added a checkbox "Also ban customer" when refusing a transaction, which allows you to ban the member who made the transaction quickly - useful if the transaction is fraudulent for avoiding repeat attempts.

Alternate Contact Improvements

IP.Nexus allows customers to add "alternate contacts" which can view purchases and submit support requests to their allocated purchases.
We find many of our own customers, particularly in large corporate environments, may have several different people for paying invoices and interacting with technical support. In IP.Nexus 1.3, alternate contacts can now optionally be allowed to pay invoices as well, so the person paying the bills doesn't have to be the account owner.

Card Management

When purchasing an item using the Authorize.Net gateway, IP.Nexus allows customers to store their credit card information for future sales.
Card information can now be viewed and edited in the client area, allowing customers to update their card details without making a new purchase.

Associations

IP.Nexus allows purchases to be associated with each other. For example, here at IPS we allow addons (IP.Blog, Gallery, etc.) to be associated with an IP.Board license.
Previously, this had to be done at purchase or in the Admin CP. In IP.Nexus 1.3, customers can do this themselves from the client area.

Customer Search

The customer search feature in the Admin CP has been improved to allow more kinds of searching and improved handling of internationally-formatted phone numbers.

Purchase Expiry Warning

When editing a purchase, if you change the expiry date to a date in the past, you'll now see a warning message when saving the purchase to indicate that the purchase will expire immediately.

This is useful for avoiding accidental changes (which can be particularly troublesome if the purchase is, for example, a hosting account) and gives you a better idea of what Nexus is doing before it does it.

There is also a similar warning for setting the date to a date in the future if the purchase is already expired.

Auto-Charge Warning

IP.Nexus will automatically charge a credit card on file if one exists when a renewal invoice is generated.
There is now a setting to allow you to optionally send customers an Email before this happens to let them know in advance. You can specify how far in advance to warn the customer.

Feel free to comment on this blog entry below or, if you have feedback unrelated to this blog entry, start a new topic in our feedback forum. If you have feedback related to changes beyond what this entry is referring to, please start a feedback topic.

IP.Nexus 1.3.0: Hosting

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:43:55 +0000

Following our IP.Nexus 1.3 updates, here are the changes to hosting integration:

Screenshots shown are subject to design change.

Improved Error Log

If a server experiences temporary issues, Nexus is unable to make calls to the server to create, suspend, terminate accounts, etc. When this happens, a log is made so that you can review and resend the failed commands.

In IP.Nexus 1.3, we've improved the interface for dealing with errors so that you can quickly locate the account it relates to, and view the full API call information.

On the subject of dealing with API errors - there may be times when an account cannot be created or it is manually edited on the server.
IP.Nexus now has an easy interface for associating a record in it's database with an account on the server. You can just enter in the username on the server, and Nexus will figure it out.

Improved Server List

IP.Nexus lists the current load average when viewing the list of servers in the Admin CP.
When there are lots of servers, this can sometimes cause the page to load slowly.

In IP.Nexus 1.3, the load will be fetched by AJAX after the page loads so that there is no delay.

Editing Account Information

Sometimes you may need to edit the Nexus database without calling the server, for example, if a username is changed on the server and you just need to update the Nexus database.]

In IP.Nexus 1.3, when editing a hosting account, Nexus will notify you which fields will be updated on the server and allow you to override that if you desire.

Along with the above, when cancelling a purchase, Nexus will allow you to optionally not terminate the account on the server (which it previously did automatically).

Partial Domain Search

I previously mentioned the Live Search support in IP.Nexus 1.3.
This supports partial searching for domains and account usernames which was not previously supported.

Feel free to comment on this blog entry below or, if you have feedback unrelated to this blog entry, start a new topic in our feedback forum. If you have feedback related to changes beyond what this entry is referring to, please start a feedback topic.

IP.Board 3.2.0 Dev Update: Following Content

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

It is important that members be able to follow content that they are interested in within your community. This allows members to keep track of topics of interest, increasing the likelihood they will return to your site, especially when those topics are active and new content is added to them. It is equally important that following such topics is as easy and straightforward as possible. Users do not want to jump through hoops in order to be kept up to date about changes within your site, so it is important that we make it easy for users to follow the content they are interested in, and discover when this content has changes they are interested in.

We have made many changes to IP.Board 3.2 (and our addon applications) to improve the process of following content, making it easier and more consistent for your users to stay abreast of changes within your site.

'Like' System

In IP.Board 3.1 we introduced a new 'like' system for our addon applications, allowing users to express their interest in content of value to them. This like system was built into the IP.Board core, allowing any application to make use of it. It allowed users to like content publicly or anonymously, permit a way for users to view who publicly liked a given piece of content, and permit users to be notified when the content is updated.

While this system was a good start, we felt that it needed some basic improvements in order to be useful and clear for the average user. Firstly, the 'like' system incorporated the methods for subscribing to content - but what if you don't 'like' the content and still want to be notified? Many users would not understand that they needed to 'like' the content in order to receive notifications about it, and indeed would tell us "but I don't like it?". We recognized we needed to address this confusion concerning a core feature in order for it to be useful. Secondly, the like system was utilized for all of our addon applications, but not for forums and topics, providing an inconsistent experience for users when navigating the community as a whole. The process of following a blog entry versus following a topic was entirely disparate and inconsistent, which often leads to confusion for new users, and ultimately leads to the users feeling like they can't trust how a site will behave when they navigate from one area to another.

We have taken steps to address these issues in order to provide a better experience for your users in IP.Board 3.2.

We have renamed the 'like' system from 3.1 to 'follow' in IP.Board 3.2, providing a clearer association of what the functionality incorporates. Whether you like the content or not, you can follow it (publicly or anonymously) and elect to be notified of changes to the content. You can follow a content page without leaving the page, and you can still view the users who have publicly followed the content.

We have also changed over the topic and forum subscription systems to use the new follow system in IP.Board 3.2, providing a consistent experience for users across the entire community, and incorporating some new functionality not available in IP.Board 3.1.

The button that allows you to follow a piece of content is placed at the top of the page allowing quick and easy access for users to follow the content. When clicked, a small box will show up allowing you to choose how to be notified (if at all), and whether you want other users to know if you are following the content. In IP.Board 3.1 and prior when you choose to 'Watch this forum', you would first be directed to the user control panel to make your selection, and then redirected back to the forum once you were done. Now, you choose your options right on-screen and your selections are saved through AJAX, allowing you to easily follow content without having to jump through multiple pages to do so. This small convenience should entice your users to more frequently follow content they are interested in, increasing the likelihood of bringing them back to your site when content they follow is updated and they are notified about this.

You will notice a small icon next to the follow button with a number - this tells you how many people are following the content. When clicked, you will be able to see who is publicly following the content (the number of people anonymously following the content will be shown at the bottom of the pane to prevent confusion when the button indicates 5 people are following the page, but only 2 are listed because the other 3 are following it anonymously).

While this functionality was available in our addons released alongside IP.Board 3.1, as of 3.2 you can now also see which users are following a topic or forum (so long as they are not following anonymously), allowing you to get a better idea of who is interested in the content you are viewing.

User Control Panel

In IP.Board 3.1, users would choose whether they wanted to receive the post they were being notified about in their email notifications. We have removed this option and simply turned it always-on - an email notifying you that a topic is updated is largely irrelevant without the context that the new post provides. In our research, most users would enable this option (so long as they knew it existed), and there was little value in allowing users to get a notification email that did not contain the post they were being notified about.

We have moved the 'Automatically follow topics I reply to' option to the notifications area, as this was a better home for the option.

We have also removed the 'Manage Topic Subscriptions' and 'Manage Forum Subscriptions' pages of the user control panel. Because these areas are now covered by the global followed content management area, there is no value in having separate pages of the user control panel for this purpose. Lastly, we have taken the 'Content You Like' area of the user control panel from IP.Board 3.1 and pulled it out of the user control panel into a top-level search view for IP.Board 3.2.

Reviewing Content You Follow

Another shortcoming of the 'like' system in IP.Board 3.1 that we identified early on was that 'liking' content did not help you easily find and review that content later on. You could elect to be notified of updates to the content, but otherwise you were not presented with tools to easily see if there were updates to the content or review content you had liked to see if you should visit it again. Another issue was that the 'Content You Like' page is hidden away in the user control panel, an area many users do not regularly visit after they have set up their account. We felt that (1) this page was not appropriate to be included in a user control panel, and (2) was important enough to warrant it's own top-level page not hidden away by multiple clicks.

You can now access 'Content You Follow' from the user dropdown menu at the top of the page, allowing you quicker and easier access to review the content you are following to check for updates. Additionally, this area is now part of the global search routines (searching, view new content, my content) giving users a consistent experience in reviewing the content they follow.

Another important change we have made to this area was to entirely refocus it compared to IP.Board 3.1. In IP.Board 3.1, the 'Content you like' page is entirely focused on allowing you to manage the content. While you can quickly see what content you like, it is presented as a simple list, allowing you to update your preferences for that content (how to be notified and whether you wish to like the content publicly or anonymously). We felt it was much more useful to focus this area on the content itself, while still allowing users to update their preferences as and when they need to.

In working to achieve the above goals and resolve the issues we identified, we feel we have created a much more useful presentation of content that a user is following, improving the user experience, and making it easier for users to review content they are following for important changes.

The first thing you will notice when visiting your followed content page is that the content is presented like any other search result. You will be able to tell if topics have had new replies that you have not read, preview the topic, and generally interact with the topic like you would in other search areas (such as view new content). You can quickly jump between applications and sections within individual applications using the sidebar like you would in other search pages, providing a consistent way to review content between different applications, and even between different search views on your site.

If you need to change your preferences or stop following a piece of content, you can click the 'Display Edit Options' button at the top to toggle the view.

When you toggle the mode to allow updating of your preferences, you can now see how you have elected to be notified, whether you have elected to follow the content anonymously, and use the checkboxes at the right of the page to update your preferences. All of the same tools are available here as they were in 3.1, however we have simply shifted the focus for this area to the content, rather than the management of your preferences. We feel that this change will make the system much more useful for users who may need to occasionally update their preferences, but who will frequently wish to see which content they are following has updates they may be interested in reviewing.

Content Discovery

Our underlying goal with these changes, beyond improving consistency within the community, is to enhance the content discovery process within IP.Board. We have spent a great deal of time with IP.Board 3.2 improving our view new content, user content, and followed content views to make things simpler for users to use, produce more reliable and consistent results when used, and provide better functionality for finding the content they are interested in. Users use IP.Board in many different ways - some wish to return to the site and review topics they are following for changes, while some wish to return to the site and click 'view new content' to see what is new. Through improving the consistency between these areas, improving the options and functionality in these areas, making the available options clearer and easier to use, and ensuring the functionality works reliably and as expected, users can better expect to use your site in a manner most comfortable to their browsing style while having the tools available to them should they wish to start browsing in new ways they may have never used before. We believe the combination of the changes we have made to all of these areas will make discovering new and updated content much easier and much more enjoyable to your users, providing a better experience within your community.

As there is a lot to digest in this blog entry, please start a new topic in our feedback forum if you have comments. Be sure to check the What's New in IP.Board 3.2 topic for a running list of announced changes!

IP.Nexus 1.3.0: Support

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:35:24 +0000

Following our IP.Nexus 1.3 updates, here are the changes to the support request system:

Screenshots shown are subject to design change.

New Reply Warning

Sometimes when working on a support request, the customer or another staff member will reply while you're in the process of typing your reply. This can be both an annoying and embarrassing situation.

In IP.Nexus 1.3, before your reply is submitted, Nexus will check if there has been any replies since you opened the support request (this is done by AJAX) and warn you if there has been.

"Viewed By"

Often when viewing a support request you might wonder who else has viewed it. This can be useful to see who forwarded a support request, or perhaps to see if anyone opened and didn't reply.

In IP.Nexus 1.3, a new button appears on the support request view which will open an AJAX popup showing you which other staff members viewed the support request and when.

"View My last Responses"

Sometimes, I'll reply to a support request and later remember some additional information. However, it can sometimes be difficult to find a support request again particularly if you can't remember the title or customer who submitted it.

In IP.Nexus 1.3, we've added a new button to the support request listing called "View My last Responses" which will list all of the support requests where the last reply was by you.

Staff Audit

When running a support desk, it is important to be able to monitor staff performance, both the quantity and the quality of the support being given.

In IP.Nexus 1.3, we've added a new tool called Staff Audit, which shows you the number of replies across time for a staff member:

You can click on any number to see the replies:

Email Bounce

IP.Nexus supports receiving support requests and replies by incoming Email.
We sometimes find that customers will send a new email to the "reply only" address, causing it to be bounced, which looks unprofessional and creates confusion for users.

In IP.Nexus 1.3, you can specify a message which Nexus will reply with if it receives an Email it does not know how to process.

CCs

Sometimes when a customer sends a support request by Email, they may CC another recipient on the Email.
In IP.Nexus 1.3, this is detected and indicated in the support request view - when a staff member replies, the notification Email will also be CCd to the additional people.

Signatures

Staff members can now use their signatures in support request replies.

Feel free to comment on this blog entry below or, if you have feedback unrelated to this blog entry, start a new topic in our feedback forum. If you have feedback related to changes beyond what this entry is referring to, please start a feedback topic.

IP.Nexus 1.3.0: Global Changes

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:41:24 +0000

Development of IP.Nexus 1.3 is well underway and the time has come to share some of the new features and improvements we've been working on.

IP.Nexus 1.3 shall be released alongside IP.Board 3.2 - but is much more than a compatibility update. Our focus for Nexus 1.3 has been to examine and improve each component rather than making large changes. Many of you will have noticed our client area is now using IP.Nexus - the feedback and experience this change has provided, as well as the ever appreciated suggestions posted in our feedback forum have been invaluable, and we can't wait to show off the improvements.

I'm going to write blog entries focussing on each component of IP.Nexus in detail over the coming weeks, but for today, I'm going to focus on global changes that affect the entire application. In particular, there's a few little things which I've seen suggested a few times...

IP.Board 3.2

IP.Nexus 1.3 will be 3.2-compatible only and includes all of the improvements the IP.Board developers have been discussing in this blog over the past few weeks - the new ACP skin, language, hooks and search improvements are all of course in Nexus 1.3.

Live Search

IP.Nexus has always had a global search box displaying on every page allowing you quick access to type in an invoice number, customer name, or lots of other information and get access to it.
The search box currently appears in the left-side menu, and you are required to manually select what the information you're providing is.

In IP.Nexus 1.3, we integrate right in to the ACP Live Search - you can enter in the same information here you currently can and be given a list of items it could apply to - no need to select what information you're providing.

If you're in IP.Nexus already, that tab will even be automatically selected.

Attention Icons

There are several areas of IP.Nexus which might require your attention, such as transactions on hold or open support requests.
In IP.Nexus 1.3, any areas needing your attention are indicated by icons above the left-side menu. Clicking any of these will take you to the area in question.

From left to right, the icons are: open support requests, transactions on hold, pending shipping orders, payout requests and hosting API errors.
If the value is 0 or the user does not have permission to deal with it, the icon won't show and if they're all 0, the strip will disappear entirely.

2CheckOut Gateway

IP.Nexus 1.3 includes support for the 2CheckOut payment gateway.

Subscription Mode

I often see people using IP.Nexus for selling "subscriptions" - an item which can only be purchased by a member once, and then renewed. Sometimes, users find this confusing and end up buying a new item rather than renewing the old.

In IP.Nexus 1.3 you can set a product to be a "Subscription" - users will only be able to purchase it once, and if they try again, they'll be prompted to renew their current purchase instead.

Return Group

IP.Nexus has the ability to move users into a different primary group when a user purchases an item, and remove that group when an item expires.
In IP.Nexus 1.3 we've expanded this functionality to be more tiered - if a user purchases an item which moves them into "Silver Members", then another to move them into "Gold Members", when one expires, they'll still keep the group provided by the other, rather than being returned to the default group.

PayPal Subscriptions

IP.Nexus has an option to enable PayPal Subscriptions, which gives the user an option when checking out to pay normally or start a subscription.
Many users found the two options confusing and so as of IP.Nexus 1.3, if PayPal Subscriptions are enabled and the item has renewal fees, PayPal Subscriptions will be used automatically. This is the behaviour formerly used by IP.Subscriptions.

Notification Copies

Administrators often tell me they'd like to be notified when an order is made, or when an item expires.
In IP.Nexus 1.3, you can select any type of invoice notification and when it is sent to the customer, a copy will be sent to you. This allows you to easily keep track of expiring purchases, be instantly notified if a transaction is placed on hold, and lots more.

This is of course just the tip of the iceburg - stay tuned for more information on IP.Nexus 1.3!

Feel free to comment on this blog entry below or, if you have feedback unrelated to this blog entry, start a new topic in our feedback forum. If you have feedback related to changes beyond what this entry is referring to, please start a feedback topic.

IP.Board 3.2.0 Dev Update: UserCP and Misc. Interface Updates

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 10:41:00 +0000

One of our main goals for IP.Board 3.2.0 was to revamp certain areas of the interface to make it easier to interact with the board. We also wanted to put controls at your fingertips rather than make you root through pages of settings. This blog outlines some of these changes.

User Control Panel
In many ways the user control panel follows the old computing convention of a special area for configuration and settings. The idea being that you keep all configurable elements in a single location. This works well for the most part but there are many times when you have to go looking for a setting to control how the board works often meaning you have to leave the page you're on, change the setting and then return to what you were doing. We wanted to move specific controls to their contextual location.

We've also merged a few areas together such as "Settings" and "Profile Information", "Email" and "Password". This reduces the number of links and allowed us to merge the "Profile" and "Settings" panes into one.

We've revamped the User Control Panel and stripped down many of the settings and put them in their relevant areas. For example, we've already moved the View New Content settings into the View New Content interface.

The attachment system now 'sniffs' out whether the user can use the better Flash based uploader and uses that if no other settings have been set. If the user decides to switch to the basic uploader, then this preference is stored and used on the next page load.

You can now disable your personal messenger from within the personal messenger itself. You can elect to do this if you do not want to receive PMs from other members. Once it has been disabled, you can re-enable it by visiting the personal messenger again at any time.

There was a single option to remove signatures from the topic view. We've enhanced this to allow you to remove a single user's signature if desired. When you mouseover a post, a little "X" appears in the signature. clicking this brings up a menu.

Ignoring a user's signature will add them to the 'Ignore Preferences' page so you can remove them.

Other Enhancements
The current "Mark As Read" found in the board's footer marks all applications as read which may not be the desired result. In IP.Board 3.2, clicking this link brings up a menu so you can mark a single applications or all applications as read.

We've removed the old style forum jump form drop down interface in favour of a much enhanced "Quick Navigation" link that is in the footer of every single page. This Navigation panel is extensible via the application's extensions folder so third parties can update their applications to take advantage of it.

The tabs down the side are loaded by Ajax, so you can quickly tab between all your applications to locate the page you want.

We've also gone ahead and updated all the areas where the mini profile card was activated with the green icon next to a user's name. Currently you have to click this icon to load the mini profile card.
Now, simply hovering over a user's name will make the mini profile card appear.

The main user drop down menu has also been enhanced. You can now update your status via the menu which means you can do this from any page on the board.

We feel that these small enhancements make a huge difference in your workflow and in the general feeling of the board.

Feel free to comment on this blog entry below or, if you have feedback unrelated to this blog entry, start a new topic in our feedback forum. If you have feedback related to changes beyond what this entry is referring to, please start a feedback topic. Be sure to check the What's New in IP.Board 3.2 topic for a running list of announced changes!

IP.Board 3.2.0 Dev Update: Some VNC and User Content Improvements

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:49:00 +0000

The "View New Content" (commonly abbreviated to "VNC" on this community) and "My Content" search routines are important tools for most communities using IP.Board. While we have made improvements to these tools in 3.2 to improve both the reliability of both features, and the interface, we wanted to spend a little time enhancing the functionality of both tools as well. We realize that many of our customers have various suggestions and ideas for these tools, and while we cannot implement every suggestion put forth, we did want to implement some of the most useful and common requests where possible.

Search In Titles

In IP.Board 3.1, there is a global "Search in titles" checkbox available for all content types when using the advanced search form, however there is then an additional option for the forums content type specifically to search in "titles and posts" or "just in titles".

Naturally, this is somewhat confusing and contradictory. Additionally, it limits certain functionality to the forums application alone, functionality that may be useful in other applications. We have resolved this in IP.Board 3.2 by removing the forum-specific option (the second arrow in the previous screenshot) and enhancing the global option to allow you to specify "Search title and content", "Only search in titles", and "Only search in content".

This level of customization for searches in any application should help you better find content when you know where the search terms may be contained.

Moving and Merging Topics

In IP.Board 3.1 we added multi-moderation to the search results page, however many of our more astute customers noticed right away that the ability to merge topics and move topics was a glaring omission. This was not a mistake (there are additional challenges at the code-level with regards to forum permissions for moving topics), however we have overcome these limitations for IP.Board 3.2 and are happy to announce that you will now be able to merge and move topics right from the search results screen.

Sorting and Ordering User Content

In IP.Board 3.1, you are unable to sort or order a user's content, forcing you to review content from a user in a date-based fashion. While there is nothing immediately wrong with this approach, we have enhanced IP.Board 3.2 to now allow you to sort and order user content in any fashion supported by the application or content type.

We expect that this small but useful change will help you better find content individual users have submitted to the community.

Default VNC Method

A minor change, but one we have seen requested many times on these forums, we have added an ACP setting to allow the administrator to define the default "View New Content" method. You can now specify for your new users whether they should see "Content I have not read" by default, or "Content since my last visit". Users can still overide this when viewing the VNC results, but now you will be able to define the default that you feel is best for your community.

Content Filters for VNC

In the previous screenshot for "My Content", you will see that there are filters to drill down to "Topics I participated in", "Topics I started", and "Posts I made". This is a useful feature when viewing a user's content ... so we decided to expand it to the VNC search results as well.

The option "Posts I made" is not relevant to view new content (if you made the post, it will never be new of course), so this option is not present. However, you can now filter VNC results down to "Topics I participated in" and "Topics I started", allowing you an easy way to review new content on the community in topics that you are interested in. When combined with the new filter "Content I am following", you have a granular level of control over your content discovery process never before seen in forum software!

Forum Filtering in VNC

Another oft-requested feature, we have added the ability for user's to filter which forums they wish to see results from in the VNC search results screen.

Under the 'Other Filters' area in VNC, you will have an option "Filter by forum", which will launch a modal popup allowing you to specify which forums you wish to see content from. These filters are remembered (between sessions and across separate computers), with an indicator to let the user know when the filter is being applied.

We Hope You Enjoy!

While we realize that these changes do not necessarily satisfy everyone's wishes for VNC and My Content in IP.Board 3.2, we believe they will help resolve some of the most common limitations in the system, giving you greater flexibility and control over your searches. These changes should help members better find the content they are looking for and interested in, increasing activity on your site, and increasing probability of return for new users finding their way around. We will of course continue to improve VNC and all areas of IP.Board based on our client feedback.

Feel free to comment on this blog entry below or, if you have feedback unrelated to this blog entry, start a new topic in our feedback forum. If you have feedback related to changes beyond what this entry is referring to, please start a feedback topic. Be sure to check the What's New in IP.Board 3.2 topic for a running list of announced changes!

IP.Board 3.2.0: Calendar

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:10:35 +0000

Back in February, we posted a series of blog entries about improvements to our Calendar application (part 1 2 3 4 5). To go along with these technical changes and improvements, we've completely overhauled the calendar interface to modernize it and improve usability. This blog entry will review those changes so you know what you can expect when IP.Board 3.2 is available.

Main Calendar View

When first visiting the calendar, you're presented with a refreshed calendar view. The main calendar now takes up the full width of the page, since it's the most important content on the page. Mini calendars now appear below - available, but not hogging space.

The new filter bar above the calendar allows you to switch seamlessly between month, week and day view.

The menu next to the page title allows you to switch the calendar you're currently viewing.

Week View

Week view hasn't changed substantially, but does continue the filter bar and mini calendar styling introduced on the main page.

In both the month and week views, you can double click a date as a quick shortcut to viewing that day.

Day View

Day view presents a much cleaner overview of events and birthdays taking place. In addition, a quick overview of members who have RSVP'd to an event are shown.

Event View

The redesigned event view shows full information about the event, together with comments and the RSVP list.

We hope these improvements to the Calendar application go down well with your community, and spark more use by members! The new interface together with new features and improvements have given the Calendar a completely fresh feel, and we hope you like it!

IP.Board 3.2.0: Sign In & Registration Interface

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:43:59 +0000

In this entry, I'll be showing the new streamlined Sign In and Registration process in IP.Board 3.2.

Registration in particular is a key interface in any community. Too complex, and users will be put off signing up and taking part, potentially costing your community dearly. We've known for some time that our current registration process has needed streamlining to improve user conversions, and IP.Board 3.2 has proven the ideal time to implement the changes.

Step by Step

Our registration routine (when IP.Nexus is used) is unusual in that it behaves as both a store and a sign up process (to enable users to select a subscription). While not everyone uses IP.Nexus, it's important for us to consider this aspect and find a suitable solution regardless of the products used.

To solve that, we've changed the registration routine to be a clear step-by-step process. First, a subscription is chosen if available. Next, account details are entered. Finally, the user gets confirmation. A step-by-step interface gives users clear expectations of the process they're about to follow, which is great for usability.

Reducing clutter and confusion

The current registration routine involves a number of disparate steps, collecting information that doesn't warrant an entire screen individually. This simply puts obstacles in the way of users trying to join.

The account details step now consists of just one screen. COPPA, terms and conditions and of course account information is all covered on the one screen.

COPPA, if enabled, appears as a modal popup. Instead of asking users to select their birthday (used only to verify they were older than 13), we now just ask the simple question: "Are you over 13?". Easy.

Once they confirm, the popup is dismissed instantly, and the form is ready for them to begin.

The registration form now consists of just 4 fields (6 if you use the Q&A and ReCaptcha features). So what's changed?

Display Name - we no longer show the display name field upon registration. Requiring users to choose two names invites confusion, and the difference is not apparent until the user is familiar with the community. But fear not, the display name feature hasn't disappeared. Instead, we set the display name to be the same as the log in name during registration, but users are free to change their display name later in their UserCP.
Confirm Email - There's no need to confirm the email address field. It's plain text, and many users simply copy and paste the first field anyway, duplicating rather than fixing an error.
Time Zone - Having the user choose their timezone simply adds to the burden of registering. Instead, we now try and determine their timezone automatically behind the scenes, and it can always be changed in the UserCP.

Another change is that the community terms and conditions are no longer presented on an entire screen. While important, they again present a roadblock to getting a user registered. Instead, they're now shown in an inline popup, and the user simply checks a checkbox to signify their agreement.

Custom profile fields set to 'show on registration' also appear on this page as usual. However, we urge you to consider whether a particular field is essential at registration! More fields equals more work for users, so the fewer the better!

Inline Sign In

Something that has been requested for some time is inline sign in, and I'm pleased to say it's now available in 3.2.

To simplify the process, users signing in with 3rd party systems such as OpenID will still be required to use the full sign in page. In our experience, though, the vast majority of users use the default IP.Board sign in, and the new inline popup should make the process a little easier for them.

We hope you find the changes give a boost to your community when IP.Board 3.2 is available. By streamlining registration and sign in, we hope to encourage your guests to convert to members and contribute to your community.

IP.Board 3.2.0 Dev Update: Minor Translation Improvements

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:57:00 +0000

With each release of IP.Board we try to give attention to every area of the software that our customers care about. This is a challenge, of course, because all of our customers have different needs and priorities. Some users want us to make interface improvements, while some customers want us to make it easier for them to edit the interface themselves. Some customers want new features, while some customers want us to cut out "bloat". Every customer has different requirements of the software, and those requirements are important to us as they help us to improve and focus the product for you.

While we do not always discuss every change we make in each release, we did want to take a moment to let our international users who translate the software via language packs know that we have made a few minor improvements that we think you'll be interested in hearing about. We realize this blog entry may not be as exciting as some of the previous entries, but rest assured that those customers who translate the software will benefit from these changes, and thus these details are important to share.

IPSLib::getAppTitle()

As mentioned in our recent Search/VNC Interface Improvements blog entry, we have taken some time to implement use of IPSLib::getAppTitle() throughout the search interface as appropriate. We are also updating all other areas of the software that display an application name to ensure it uses this same method, allowing us to be sure that the application title, as displayed, is appropriate based on the language pack in use.

For our English-speaking customers or customers with only one language pack installed, you can still edit each application in the ACP to change the application title without having to go into the manage languages area of the ACP. Simultaneously, our international translators can specify application titles in their language packs, and those translated titles will instead be used, allowing multi-language sites and distributed language packs to better customize the display for each language.

If a lot of this doesn't make sense or matter to you, don't worry about it. Ultimately this change will help translators better customize their language packs, and as this is important to our international users we are happy to work towards consolidating the application titles for this purpose.

Translatable ACP Menu

An issue that has long-plagued our international users has been the ability (or rather, inability) to translate the left hand menu in the IP.Board ACP. The strings that are used to generate the links in the left hand menus of the ACP are stored in XML files, which made it difficult to allow easy translation via the language system. We are happy to announce that we have overcome this limitation in 3.2, allowing translators the ability to fully translate this left hand menu in their language packs. Furthermore, third party applications can optionally make use of this new system, but will still function just fine if they don't.

Within the XML files that store this left hand menu system, a language key can now be specified. Core applications store these language strings in the global admin language file, while individual applications can provide a new language file which will be auto-loaded as needed for this purpose.

Translatable ACP Restrictions

Similar to the reasons that caused translating the left hand menus of the ACP to be difficult, ACP restriction details are stored in XML files and were not previously translatable. We have applied the same change just discussed for the left hand menus to the ACP restrictions so that they are now translatable as well. While the core applications store these language keys in the members_admin_restrictions language file, third party applications can (optionally) include these strings in the same additional language file they would use for the left hand menus.

Small Improvements

Of course we are also working hard to ensure any text that is not already language abstracted is properly put into the language files so that translators can adjust the text for their own languages.

We are also trying to consolidate some strings that are pieced together presently to instead use the PHP sprintf() function. This should help when translating the software to languages that might have noun or verb placement different from the English language.

We have moved the settings to define the prefixes for polls, moved topics and pinned topics to the language system. Moving them to the language system will not only allow regular admins to still edit these strings, but allow translators to adjust them as needed per-language pack.

And while we have not completely overhauled the language system in this release, we have plans to improve the language system as a whole in a near-future release. We recognize some of the issues our international users face using the language system (such as importing language files for individual applications) and we want to improve it for you to make using the software easier and more consistent. We hope these small steps will help you to better share language packs with the community in the mean time, while we plan bigger improvements in the future.

Feel free to comment on this blog entry below or, if you have feedback unrelated to this blog entry, start a new topic in our feedback forum. Be sure to check the What's New in IP.Board 3.2 topic for a running list of announced changes!