Hi Folks,

I thought I would post our site on here as another example of a look I haven't seen elsewhere. We used an old version 5.47 UBB from the end of 1999 until a few months ago when we updated to the newest version. Our members were very used to the look and colors of our old boards, so we were very concerned about being able to mimic it while also taking advantage of the giant leaps forward in features. Thanks to the help of Rick (we used some of the tech hours we got with the upgrade/install on having him approximate the former colors and look) our members were amazingly comfortable with the gigantic changes.

Our music organization has grown to the largest in the world with over 41,000 members. We've only been able to get about 1/3rd of them to register on the message boards (and I'd love to hear ideas of how to covert more of them from anyone out there with success) but it's got to be one of the more active boards for musicians and songwriters in the industry.

Here's a link: http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthreads.php

We're still learning the potential of all the features and hope to learn how to create some custom boxes for the side. (We have no tech person on staff).

Thanks to the UBB team and to Rick for really helping the transition and doing a great job getting us going.

Brian

Brian Austin Whitney
Founder
Just Plain Folks
http://www.jpfolks.com

I quite look forward to talking to you in the future.

But in the mean time, I've never seen this before: "Zlib compression unavailable." -- I've only ever seen enabled/disabled... ? Maybe someone more experienced than I (most everyone lol) could explain...?

ARGH! w/ the moderated board already!! :/

(don't post this one - lol)

It means zlib support is not even compiled into PHP on that server.

Hi JG,

I don't know what it means either. If you find out, please let me know!

Brian

Certain "features" have to be compiled in to use; if it's not compiled in it's "not available" to be enabled.

but what does zlib actually do? Are there features we're missing because of this limitation?

Brian

Not sure if this helps - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zlib

ZLib compresses the output of your web-files to save bandwidth at the cost of a minor spike in cpu time. Basically the same ammount of content can be provided with a smaller impact on bandwidth.

works wonders on larger forums where there is a ton of content.

Check here for an example:
ZLib check on UBBCentral's Main Page

Would ours be considered large? I really don't know.. I know it's large for music industry boards.. but tiny compared to some gigantic message boards out there..

Brian

Seems fairly large to me -- and numbers like this are very good anyway, so I wouldn't sweat it right now. But if you grow further, I'd definitely look into zlib compression to save bandwidth...

Generated in 0.072 seconds in which 0.006 seconds were spent on a total of 9 queries. Zlib compression unavailable.

It is fairly decently sized; myself I like having the optoion to have it or not, not having it is definately not industry standard on any server...

ZLib will serve content to users faster, this means that people on slower connections will recieve content much faster, which in itself may make you more poplar (think of it, a 33.6k internet connection operating like a standard cable line on your site).

Gizmo,

I see you're in Portland, OR. Any chance you know Ryan O'Neil over at CD Baby/Hostbaby? We are hosted by them. Is it something in their settings that keeps us from having that feature?

Brian

Is that a no? = )

I've never heard of them myself... lemme go look them up...

It looks like they're about 10 miles away from me... I wonder where their servers are... brb

Hmm, seems theres a datacenter in vancouver, I didn't know that...
OrgName: Electric Lightwave Inc
OrgID: ELIX
Address: 4400 NE 77th Ave
City: Vancouver
StateProv: WA
PostalCode: 98662

Interesting, turns out that the people they're leasing their bandwitdh from is the same people who provide the telecommunications for my mom's office in Vancouver at her mortgage company lol... Integra Telecom

Ryan's a great guy. You folks should know him!

Brian

I'm more a homebody... Unless it's at night, then you can find me at any number of steak houses, bars, or clubs ;)...

Even though Vancouver is only a few miles away, I don't make it up there much; but my drinking buddy and his wife live up there.