This thread will list intended changes ( features / bugs ) and their completion status.

Discussion here

Forum search feature:

This has long been a weakpoint of threads and we will address the shorcomings in 7.6.

Mysql Full text, if used properly can provide with relevant search results, so all enhancements will be done in this area.

Updates will be as follows:

• Add a pseudo reverse time index, so there is no issue with reverse sorting that plagues very large sites. This will also enhance the speed at which the forum list ( postlist ) and thread list ( showflat ) displays, since both use a reverse sort to show newest 1st by default
• Searching on topics will return _ONLY_ the initial topic subject and _NOT_ all subsequent replies. As it has been, topic subject search has been useless, since a thread with many replies dominates the search results for no reason.
• The Quick Search pull down will be context sensitive. That means when you search from the top ( cfrm ) all forums will be assumed to be searched, however if you are inside a forum, the quick search will default to _JUST_ that forum. So it all depends upon the context.
• Quick search will default to a search on Topic subject only.
• Advanced search will default to highlighting the current forum or forum(s) as well. It can of course be overridden by the user.
• Searching will allow by topic only or by body only, but not both.
• Other small enhancements will be added that i might have missed

Social integration feature:

Google +1 will be added to the mix and the Facebook and Twitter interfaces will be updated to use more modern / flexible API interface.

Specifically for Facebook, we will us metas like og:site_name, fb:app_id etc

Additionally, I intend to have the buttons be positioned to be more prominent and aesthetically part of the page flow.

Shoutbox enhancements:

The shoutbox will be rewritten to use less resources, but deliver more functionality.

This means that we'll be leveraging the jQuery foundational AJAX api as a base.

Additionally, we will use JSON as the transport mechanism vs XML ( much more compact )

For forum owners running on very old versions of php (4.x), the json_decode/json_encode functions will be autodetected. When _NOT_ present, there will be a fallback to prevent any failures.

When available, the standard php json extension will be used ( 5.2 installs this by default ).

There will also be a standalone shoutbox that can be run. This allows users on mobile devices and other similar to solely run the shoutbox. ( of course, all privileges and login credentials will be enforced ). This has been tested on other forum that i've supported and works on a wide variety of portable devices.

CSS / styling enhancements:

There will be numerous CSS classes and IDs added to all templates to allow for those who want to style their forums more uniquely to be able to do so, without having to rip into the .TPL files ( makes it very hard no upgrades )

for instance, the classes .tdheader, alt-1 and alt-2 are used all over the place so there really isn't any flexibility to style different chunks of html if they all share the same classes.

Sooooo.. In order to maintain backward compatibility, the TPL files will still use the same base classes, but will add more specific classes to the declaration.

An example follows and is only for illustration:

the quick reply bar is normally emitted with the following HTML


now to make this more style-able the new html will be:



This allows an owner to add a definition for .qr-header to override ( see Cascade ) the common tdheader class and give it different styling.

This is but one of the many changes that will occur.

Also, in the same vein, we will be removing as much of the inline styling and redundant markup as possible.

Example of something that will go by by.. is stuff like:



we'll pull much of this markup into the 'common.css' file as defaults for all tables ( generic )



(note: cellspacing is still a bugaboo for now)

where the need to be more specific, we'll endeavor to _ALWAYS_ favor pulling styling into the STYLE sheets and leave the markup for actual content and structure.

this will be an ongoing push that starts with 7.6, but continues to evolve thru 7.7 and beyond.

Additionally, we will also strive to replace where feasible table structures with DIVs, UL, LI and more.

It's 2011 and HTML5 and CSS3 are real. Browsers support it and there are ways to handle the transition.

It's time we cut the IE6 cord ( or started to ) anyway....

Quick reply will pull in the editor icon / menu functions ( no not the rich text / wysiwyg editor -- that is for a future versin )

In the past, loading up the editor with all the buttons and supporting menus was probably more a concern with lower Bandwidth users, but we're in 2011 now.

The quick reply will have all the full reply automatically, minus Subject change and Posting icons.


Click for larger size

This should cover 95% or more of the replies, imho, since people rarely change the subject or the posting icon.

They can still do that by switching to the full reply, anyway.

Additionally, _ONLY_ the textarea ROWS will be used to determine the reply area and that can even be overridden in the style sheet.

The width will fill out the available horizontal space with some padding as needed.

Furthermore. the 'Using UBBCode' pulldown will _ONLY_ appear in the case where the user has the option to post in both HTML and UBB code ( markup )...

No need to have a pull-down with only one option, which is almost always the case.

Content islands:

oh man.. where to start..

First of all, they are a great concept and have been used for a long time now, so we'll want to keep with much of what has been inherited.

However, we can do more...

The first thing that will be done is to make the editing of each island more friendly. I can't go into all of the specifics, but will hit some highlights.

• When editing a new island or existing, the user should be able to hit a 'preview' button to see what it looks like. Makes sense.
• Add wording and proper text areas to make it more intuitive WHERE to place php code and WHERE to place html markup.
• Add some pre save error checking that maybe helps the user get to where they want to go, but are essentially n00bs and need help.
• Possible import / export, so custom islands and templates can be shared much like Custom BBCode tags are now.
• Other things that don't come to mind..

SEO

This is a biggie, but very important to forum owners.

I will be updating this post as i come out with more specifics..

The list in no particular order:

• Title will be more meaningful -- for example multipage threads make no distinction about which page you are on. Google hates to go to a different page with the same title tag! we'll add more context like: Thread subject | Page x | Forum main title
• Every ubbthreads stock install has ZERO H1, H2, H3.... H6 tags.. this is bad. we will properly use these tags to enhance crawler _AND_ screen reader experience..
• The topic title will no longer have the Re: xx in it. It will inherit the main topic subject always
• I am considering generating a sitemap which consists of an index to possibly 4 sitemaps for: forums, threads, categories and not sure...
• some sort of handshaking with google/others is a possibility, but may be put off to 7.7+
• Have a useful 404 page. This is huge, imo and overlooked
• Page load speed is a HUGE thing for bots, so we'll concentrate on serving minimized .css and .js files and pre-combining them as part of stock. We won't be min'ing them on the fly, but will point to tools that allow developers to do it for themselves as they write plugins etc..
• Make the menus UL LI base ( where possible ).. crawlers love lists.. they hate menus in tables..

( more to be added )

A small change, but has been needed ever since i introduced it in 7.3.

Topic hover previews will be user selectable. This will allow the admin to turn the feature ON, but allow users to turn it OFF if they don't like it.

As it is now, it is an all or nothing and we all know that you can't please everyone.

This gives that flexibility.

Additionally, the boxover.js code will be replaced with a jQuery plugin that also uses a feature called 'HoverIntent'... the user has to be deemed to be hovering over the topic long enough to deem a pop-up / preview. No instant popup woes..

Furthermore, the markup to hide the preview will be more in line with what a google bot would like, instead of hijaackin the title tag as has been done in the past. --> better SEO

Private topics:

They will be brought inline with the way threads are displayed now.

Pagination, jump to 1st unread and all that will apply.

I just _NEVER_ was done all the way it should have been.

Additionally, selecting users for private topics will have an AJAX autosuggest that helps the user with the actual name to include. as they type the username, a pulldown with suggested names that match will make it so they can just select from there.

( note: this will also be used in the user list as well )