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Linux-Is-Best

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  1. Agree
    Linux-Is-Best got a reaction from Thomas P in Option to delete own account   
    I wish for the option (in a future release) to allow members to delete their own accounts. As easy as it is for someone to join, they should also have the option to leave. When doing so, their content should be reassigned as "guest."
  2. Like
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Stuart Silvester in Option to allow guest posting   
    Here's an overview of the feature
     
    This would be a permission not a group setting, click the padlock icon there
  3. Like
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Rikki in Option to allow guest posting   
    You can already either allow guests to post, or use a simple 'post before registering' approach that allows people to post their message and then complete the signup process later.
    Typically allowing guests to post isn't a great idea, but the option is there should you want it.
  4. Thanks
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Nathan Explosion in Option to allow guest posting   
    Look at the WHERE people post as opposed to the WHO...

  5. Thanks
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Square Wheels in Option to allow guest posting   
    While you wait?
  6. Like
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to SeNioR- in Hump Day: 4.6 Beta 2 is live!   
    Does 4.6 support .svg for reactions, category icons? 
  7. Thanks
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Stuart Silvester in Hump Day: 4.6 Beta 2 is live!   
    Yes, if your server also has support for WebP.
  8. Like
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Jordan Miller in Hump Day: 4.6 Beta 2 is live!   
    Happy Hump Day, fam! Before we dive into the goodness, I just want to say thank you for being a part of Invision Community. It's been really fun to see community members and the IC team become even more unified as we've rolled out 4.6. 🥲 
    Speaking of...(!!!) 4.6 Beta 2 is now live! 🎉 
    It's worth reminding you this is the third Beta version (it follows Beta 1 and Beta 1.1).
    We collected a roundup of changes needed and spent the last week implementing updates. 
    Not only did @Matt write an epic blog post about what you can expect to see in 4.6, he also relayed this list of fixes 🤯 
    Added a no search results message when searching Pixabay and Giphy. Added truncated views for status updates. Added a new check to make sure a datastore method is working before using it. Clarified that a template must be saved when editing template variables/attributes. Fixed an issue with an alert message not showing when selecting ‘Administrators’ as Secondary Group for Members. Fixed an issue when an anonymous online status doesn’t persist across logins when using button log in methods. Fixed an issue where it wasn’t possible to grant access to the email stats page to a limited Administrator. Fixed an issue where the Standard login handler title isn’t saved on edit. Fixed some admin control panel live search results linking to the wrong page. Fixed an issue where text when using the visual language editor could be white on a white background. The last post date in fluid view will no longer extend beyond the browser width on mobiles. Fixed an issue where JSON-LD data was badly formatted for Question/Answer forums or when “Enable Solved” was enabled. Fixed an issue where phrase searches containing stop words could return no results. Added an option for members to cancel expired subscriptions to be able to purchase another subscription. Fixed an issue where PayPal Billing Agreements / Subscriptions may not include sales tax. Fixed an issue when approving a held Stripe transaction if the payment has already been captured. Fixed an issue where an empty donations page was visible creating a soft 404.  
     
    4.6's official release date for all is set for the first half of June. 
    Beta versions are available for Cloud clients (by request), or can be downloaded if you are self-hosted (proceed with caution and please make a backup!).
    Have YOU been testing out 4.6? What are your overall thoughts now that you've had a minute to soak it all in? Sound off in the replies! 
  9. Thanks
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to SeNioR- in Zalgo text   
    Additionally, you can add to custom.css
    .cPost .cPost_contentWrap {overflow: hidden;} .ipsPageHeader h1 {overflow: hidden;}
  10. Like
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Arantor in CKEditor 4 end of life - alternative editor consideration   
    Where Markdown starts to flail is for the somewhat edge-case where you're doing something in a reply that really is more detailed than simple markup. This is where it gets complicated.
    Most replies in forums will have bold, italics, links, things that are fairly easy to parse - but it's when you have something that doesn't map *exactly* to the markup (or Markdown) that you have to reverse engineer it in some fashion.
    Now, of course, IPS already does this when you're playing around with quoting, embedding metadata into the markup to indicate author/source of post/whatever, all the things you'd want to have in order to take that quote and springboard events off it like alerts.
    There are a few things you can do about this. You can either 1) simplify the markup to simply be a mention to the author, a simple link to the post and rely on the mention to handle the notification, or 2) reinvent the kind of markup you're embedding to keep the metadata intact.
    The former is what NodeBB does if memory serves, the latter is what Discourse did at least initially; at least one early adopter of Discourse referred to their markup as DiscoMarkBBcodeDown or some similar mashup because it tried to handle Markdown as its primary lingua franca, HTML for the things that Markdown couldn't do, and bbcode for meta markup that didn't align to HTML.
    It also amuses me that WordPress eventually reinvented bbcode for such cases (this is, after all, what shortcode is) precisely for the cases where their editor couldn't handle it.
    But then you get into the question of: how much do you *really* want to support in replies? I would make the argument that complex and rich editing for topic starters (plus cases like Pages) is very desirable, and that yes, Markdown or something like it is probably all you *actually* need for replies. But that's a value proposition that has to be weighed up against the communities that *don't* do that.
    I could over in my little weird niche, find you any number of forums that have the most ridiculous and intricate snippets of raw HTML embedded into each post to make decorative frames around the content, sufficiently complex that they require to be posted as templates for users to copy/paste because you'd never use them normally, far beyond what even the usual types of bbcode support. Some of these templates are so ornate they even include user-driven animation (e.g. a decorative picture, hover over to see the content). Whether this is user friendly or not is, largely, irrelevant to outside observers; those are their customers, that is what they do, and most other forum software increasingly is just not going to support it.
    But that's where we get to the value proposition: those users aren't going to be moving to IPS any time soon, and those that are... they'll accept the reduction in functionality even to align to IPS 4.5/4.6 (because there will be some for them without major dev work, I think), and probably even to Markdown - meaning that you wouldn't really lose any users this way because they weren't going to be your users anyhow. For the IPS core market on the other hand, I think it's very reasonable to suggest that, actually, Markdown represents a sufficiently robust set of core formatting that users would want.
    I still wouldn't ask _us_ however because we're not the userbase at large. We are the customers, the people who pay for some flavour of the software - but we're not the vast hordes of people who _use_ it, a critical distinction a lot of forum admin places (hi TAZ) seem to forget.
    Additionally, anecdotally the thoughts I've had from people who want a mobile app tend to align along 'I want notifications and a simplified editing experience' because they're likely not editing the full rich content on mobile, but replying where the Markdown-esque editing experience is sufficient.
  11. Like
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Arantor in CKEditor 4 end of life - alternative editor consideration   
    That wasn't what killed SMF 2.1 - but that's a debate for somewhere else (perhaps we can continue this on TAZ?)
    I know no-one suggested it. I was getting in ahead of the otherwise-inevitable suggestion because no doubt someone was going to suggest it with crystalised examples of 'why you shouldn't'.
    Even CKEditor has written articles explaining the rationale for dropping aspects of the browser 'helping' before reimplementing the functionality on its own because browser support for this is frankly awful.
    I would actually suggest that the entire concept of trying to do it is somewhat a fool's errand. Google Docs is actually moving away from using HTML to render docs going forward because as far as they're concerned, they've reached the limit of what can be done and that ripping it out and doing something different is actually viable.
     
    What it ultimately comes down to is which audience you're actually trying to target. The majority of commenters in threads don't really need particularly rich editing. You need the basics, sure, and some richer elements like quote handling, as well as some functionality for embedding media with *some* choices to make formatting. But the vast majority of *replies* do not need to be delightfully rich in content because the general nature is that commenters in threads are doing a different kind of content creation to topic creators.
    Now, topic creators - and by extension with things like IP Pages, IP Blogs, and related 'opening posts' where you expect and want richer media options - and where CKEditor isn't actually a poor fit. Neither is Gutenberg, incidentally. They all have their foibles, and you're picking the least worst choice for your situation.
    All of the suggestions on the table are reasonable alternatives for some subset of the target market - the question is whether you care most about the creators and giving them all the options, or the commenters on content.
    I also think this is a complex case because the people who are responding in this thread are going to be predominantly the content creator types, who will obviously want richer and more interesting content creation tools - rather than being the much-larger segment of people who will simply interact on the forum.
    I find it interesting that after decades, we're still looking at the core posting experience and going 'Hmm... that's not quite right'.
    Tell you what I'd do at this point: I'd make it pluggable and let users decide what they want to use, since they all interchange raw HTML at this point, why not just let the site admins pick which one(s) they want to use - allow for CKEditor 5 for admins, and I dunno, QuillJS for regular users? (Quill has the advantage that it's deliberately set up to have a limited surface area and focus on what it offers rather than trying to be rich and detailed)
    The only pain points then become interoperability with existing tools and things like drag and drop. But it's an idea to throw out there.
  12. Like
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Matt in CKEditor 4 end of life - alternative editor consideration   
    I'd go back to plain text with Markdown.


     
    One thing we do want to do is do something extra for Pages. The functions you need for most topics/replies is vastly different to what you will need for pages construction.
  13. Like
    Linux-Is-Best got a reaction from mcartemon2we23 in Please ban the user "Banned-User-Test" (see details)   
    Please forgive the odd request, but if someone within the Invision would be so kind as to please active and then ban the user account @Banned-User-Test that would be most helpful.  It is my sincere intention to test the community from a banned user perspective. I like to be thorough when testing a new product in development.
    Thank you in advance for indulging my particularly eccentric request.
  14. Like
    Linux-Is-Best got a reaction from mcartemon2we23 in Please ban the user "Banned-User-Test" (see details)   
    The demo is not using 4.6.  I checked before making my unusual request. 😉
  15. Like
    Linux-Is-Best got a reaction from sobrenome in CKEditor 4 end of life - alternative editor consideration   
    Thank you for bringing this up. I completely agree. 💡
    The ordeal from that particular development (Simple Machines Forums) was a nightmare. It is still a nightmare, and the development has been working on v2.1 for over a decade with no release in sight.  I agree. Their efforts in trying to take on their own editor have more or less killed that development. I do not think anyone here has suggested that Invision try to do the same (nor should they).
    The suggestion was that Invision looks into deploying a different editor and has nothing remotely associated with asking them to develop their own. I don't think anyone would wish for that (I certainly would not).
    As you pointed out, CKEditor has, throughout the years, left a lot to be desired. I suggested that another editor be considered because I also have huge reservations about using CKEditor again in a project. When I started using CKEditor 5, I was hopeful. I bought into the hype that it was a redesigned editor built from the ground up. But that hope has dwindled and is long gone. Many of the issues I had with CKEditor, including its development phase and cycle, carried on. Because at the end of the day, it is still the same development by overall the same company with the same developers, making some of the same mistakes.
    Thank you for adding your thoughts on the matter. I am very grateful you brought that up. 👍
  16. Like
    Linux-Is-Best got a reaction from SeNioR- in CKEditor 4 end of life - alternative editor consideration   
    Back in the day (long ago), nearly every project and development I know about used CKEditor. In its heyday (gold age), WYSIWYG editors were still a relatively new concept (I feel old. ), and CKEditor was considered top of the line. Times have changed.
    Ideally, you want your editor not to be the focus of your development. By that, I mean to say the editor should blend effortlessly in the background as something you do not notice (an afterthought). So many developments no longer use CKEditor because the editor itself often gets in the way.  I cannot count the many times when I have heard or experienced why something was not functioning right because of the editor.  Or why something could not be developed or extended because of the editor. The editor (CKEditor) is not the afterthought it should be.  Even here on Invision, the editor and its limited functionality has proven problematic by the sheer request to work around it https://invisioncommunity.com/search/?q=editor&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=499
    Speaking personally, I love where Invision is going. I admire their creativity in where they are taking the development. I enjoy many of the features and am looking forward to the new features they have suggested they have planned. But I dislike the editor. It is my 'pet peeve' for Invision. I know of only two developments that still use CKEditor (the other is not a forum, and they use CKEditor 5). In both of them, I dislike the editor (v4 and 5). Why? Because in both of them, nearly all the issues I encounter, all the bugs I stumble upon, and all lack of functionality and adaptability surround CKEditor.  Besides Invision, only vBulletin, whose market share is shrinking and development has become stagnant, concerning forum software, still uses CKEditor.   
    I do not expect Invision to change editors overnight. As SeNioR- pointed out, it is not easy to change editors, not even to CKEditor 5.  So regardless of the discission (whether we stay with CKEditor or change editors), we are still looking at a large transition. We have two (2) years to think this through and explore our options before CKEditor 4 reaches the end of life. Plenty of time to think this over.
    You'll note I did not specify any particular editor (besides a few examples I gave). My request is not to promote any specific one, only that an exploratory investigation be conducted and that Invision considers their options.
     
  17. Agree
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Arantor in CKEditor 4 end of life - alternative editor consideration   
    There is one option that could be considered and I am here to... firmly... attempt to discourage it.
    It is possible to roll your own editor from scratch. SMF did it back in the day for 2.0 though it was realised how much pain it would be to maintain and it will be dropped in 2.1 (and the bbcode-based editor they moved to has many of the 'standard' WYSIWYG editor issues that most contentEditable based editors have). The LMS Moodle rolled its own a few years ago to get away from TinyMCE but it's not without its pain, and even now it does some strange things - which is awkward given that it is implemented throughout the platform everywhere for basically any non-trivial text entry. Some very strange bugs manifested.
    IPS has the technical skills in house to roll their own editor... please don't.
    Would I suggest CKEditor 5? I don't know. Having done extensive stuff in CKEditor 4 in the past, I know I have huge reservations using CKEditor again in a project - but I have similar ones for using TinyMCE as well for much the same reason - they're pretty massive and bring their own maintenance nightmares.
    Gutenberg on the other hand I'd firmly discourage for a general purpose editing experience; it's viable for admin level content creation. IPS Pages for example potentially might leverage something on that scale - but for general posting? Probably not.
  18. Thanks
    Linux-Is-Best got a reaction from IP-Gamers in Please ban the user "Banned-User-Test" (see details)   
    Please forgive the odd request, but if someone within the Invision would be so kind as to please active and then ban the user account @Banned-User-Test that would be most helpful.  It is my sincere intention to test the community from a banned user perspective. I like to be thorough when testing a new product in development.
    Thank you in advance for indulging my particularly eccentric request.
  19. Haha
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Morgin in Hump Day: A Refresh Has Arrived!   
    That photo is really throwing me for a loop. It looks like it was taken at id software in 1996. 
  20. Thanks
    Linux-Is-Best got a reaction from Banned-User-Test in Please ban the user "Banned-User-Test" (see details)   
    Please forgive the odd request, but if someone within the Invision would be so kind as to please active and then ban the user account @Banned-User-Test that would be most helpful.  It is my sincere intention to test the community from a banned user perspective. I like to be thorough when testing a new product in development.
    Thank you in advance for indulging my particularly eccentric request.
  21. Like
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to vbauss in Better preview instead of Sorry you do not have permission ?   
    Thank you so much @Linux-Is-Best! 
  22. Like
    Linux-Is-Best got a reaction from vbauss in Better preview instead of Sorry you do not have permission ?   
    In your AdminCP (administrator control panel), if you search for the phrase "custom," you can customize the error pages and message. You'll have used to the full editor when doing so, so you can be as creative as you would on a forum post.  But if I understand you correctly, you wish to give people a tease or sneak peek of what they are missing out on.  Unfortunately, that would be beyond the scope of the core features and require an add-on. The whole point of denying permissions is for people not to know what is behind the closed door.
    I could not locate such an add-on. But there is a business listing of available developers who are available to hire if you are interested in having one created.   https://invisioncommunity.com/third-party/providers/
  23. Like
    Linux-Is-Best got a reaction from Unienc in CKEditor 4 end of life - alternative editor consideration   
    I use CKEditor 5 already on another development (outside of Invision). As an editor for user-generated content, it sometimes gets in the way and often in more ways than its competitors. I accept that no editor (or software in general) will be perfect. Issues happen. It is, as they say, 'an imperfect world.' But I have discovered through experience just how much more imperfect CKEditor can be.  
     
    I am not going to tell you it is the worse editor on the market. But it is also not the greatest either, and I believe that opinion has gone well beyond just a personal preference. I continuously receive comments and issues from users about the editor, notably how it will render vastly differently between mobile browsers and browser versions excessively. This wouldn't be so bad if we did not have to wait months for updates. Experiencing issues that can last months on the internet is painful. On average, 2-4 months between patch fixes. https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5/releases and https://ckeditor.com/cke4/release-notes Add in the fact that a development like Invision needs to test these patch fixes before releasing them. And you have another 1-2 months on top of your wait (for an average of a 3-6 month turnaround).
     
    When you compare CKEditor's release cycle to Redactor, for example, which releases a patch between 1-2 months (sometimes every few weeks), you begin to understand that a more active and modern development will experience less of a turnaround. Even when incorporating the time used by a development like Invision to test things out on their end. https://imperavi.com/redactor/log/
     
    I absolutely agree. When looking for an editor for articles written by admin, we can do better. But I also believe when looking for an editor for user-generated content, we can also do better than CKEditor. An editor should go largely unnoticed and be simple and easy to use, as you have said. I agree. On the surface, one would assume that should be true for CKEditor. But from experience, it (CKEditor) is what often gets in the way, and the resolves are few and far between.
     
     
  24. Like
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Sonya* in CKEditor 4 end of life - alternative editor consideration   
    I think there are two different use cases:
    Editor for user-generated content. Should be simple, not too many options, clear and foolproof. I think that the actual IPS editor fulfills the requirement. Editor for articles wrote by admin. Should be powerful, have many options (text positioning, blocks, columns, grids, custom code pieces, custom styles, extendable with SEO and other plugins, have additional extensions via Marketplace etc.) For this case, the actual IPS editor is not enough. 
  25. Like
    Linux-Is-Best reacted to Jimi Wikman in CKEditor 4 end of life - alternative editor consideration   
    @Mr 13 bring up a good topic and that is if IPS should focus on just an editor, or something that can also work for content creation.
    Having a good way to write text is of course very important, it is the basis of a community after all, but it does not work very well for content creation. There is a reason why you have a ton of page builders as plugins for Wordpress and there is a good reason why Wordpress dropped the text editor in favor of Gutenberg as the standard for content creation. That is because text will not cut it anymore.
    If IPS want to push Pages further I think a very important step for that is to add a Page Builder. While we have the ability to create blocks to create pretty much anything we want, the majority of users don't know how to do that or want to build blocks that way. I think that is holding Pages back a lot to be honest and I think adding such features would do wonders for the growth of sales for Pages.
    Not a lot of people use Pages however, or work a lot with content creation, but it might be good to keep in mind that Pages, with some improvements to reduce the initial step in the learning curve, blow Wordpress out of the water any day of the week in terms of functionality and power out of the box. It is to me a very big segment that IPS currently are not dipping their toes very much into, but they should 🙂

    Moving towards adding a page builder will mean some challenges, because some areas will benefit greatly from page builders (blog posts, pages, descriptions in Downloads/Gallery and so on), while other areas will see a negative aspect (comments, forums, PM's). A Balance has to be set, which can either be to have both a text editor and a page builder, which has its own set of complications (what should be added where, should users be allowed to switch, maintaining updates for two products...), or to have a page builder with different sets of features based on where it is being used.

    Overall I hope IPS are exploring options beyond just a text editor for the future of IPS and I think now is an excellent time to do so.
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