superstrikertwo

We've discussed this a few times internally, I kind of agree that merging them would probably be a better way to go.  However, the current system has been in place for a long time, so I doubt we will do that.  There are a number of problems, such as during upgrade, does the avatar or photo become the unified image?  If we do change anything, the most likely change would be something like adding a checkbox to the photo page that says "Also use this as my avatar", or something like that.

I see this as being a great tool for skinners, at least in the aspect of starting off with the colors they want to implement before they start making the actual changes they have in mind.

Here are few things that I think could make it a very powerful tool.

• Include a few blank images (such as the logo) so that it can be better customized. I know a PSD would most likely be impractical at best, so just having some images that someone could use to import into PhotoShop with using the default gdk from the client area would be a good workaround.
  
• Have the links clickable in the preview.  I can understand it'd be a huge thing to accomplish but thought I'd toss it out there.  Being able to click on Blog/Gallery/etc to view the results would be wonderful.
  
• An html file that documents the color changes made (default values followed by the new values) would also be nice also.  I would imagine it would be a really small file, since it wouldn't be necessary to include where the values were changed, only the the old -vs- new values (example: "1D3652 changed to 52361D") A demo of the board index would probably do the job, so if the resulting colors aren't quite what the person wanted, they know what to search for to change it. Would work with some of the images exported as mentioned above.

The last item would be very helpful to the average user as sometimes, the intended changes don't pan out correctly, or may not be quite what the person wanted, and helps them to know what to search/replace. Like this for example, there are light brown areas that don't work out quite right.  Knowing those color values would make it easier for me to tweak it after installing it.


Something else that could be powerfully helpful for a skinner, and I imagine would need to be done by a 3rd party, is a tool that could compare changes made to a custom skin from the default, then apply those changes to an updated skin or at least document the changes in a triple view comparison.  Prior version default, current version default and customized skin.  Could be a good tool to help a skinner apply similar changes to new colors (from the skin generator) and updated skin code (changes between versions).  Basically, similar to the built in skin differences report, but on steroids, as well as something that could attempt to automatically upgrade a skinners work for them.

Gallery does not provide a way to download the file, no.

However, you control the media code used to display the file. You could edit one and change it from

<object etc.>{FILE}</object>

to something like

<object etc.>{FILE}</object><br /><a href='{$FILE}'>(Right click here and choose "save file as" to download}</a>

The above is just an example, but I see no reason it shouldn't work. Alternatively, you can use IP.Download Manager if you wish to offer file downloads on your site.

When It's Ready™ - crew that

Common IPS team, how much is it left, 1, 2 months?

I bought the blog mod only to find out its nothing what i thought it was. When i requested a refund, i get bombarded with "we cant do that for you" crap.



Heres my pretty conversation with Nakisha.

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Like wow, i just want my 50 bucks back and its leading to be so difficult. I never thought IPS would have this kind of problem. Normally any other Company goes, okay, your not satisfied, thats alright, we WILL give you back the money. The real drag is... i thought IPS was all about Customers, no?


What do you all think about this?

Or for another idea for the mass "disable" or enable of emotions: Timed based, set by the admin - just like posts (that can be timed to be shown or not shown) why not with emotions? When this the time of the year reaches this day (set by the admin) the emotion(s) (group(s)) YOU set (as admin) will automatically turn the emotions on or off (start time, end time). If I think of more suggestions, I'll post them.

Now that IPB3 is here, I think its really time to address the way emoticons are managed because times have changed and boards no longer have just 20 of them, many have accumulated 100's of them. Large, small, light, dark, seasonal etc.

Surely there has to be a better, less confusing way of managing them for Admins, and I seem to recall suggestions in the past have been confirmed as having to wait for IPB3 because of its improved programming structure.

Sorry I'm going back to basics here, because after several years I still don't understand or have forgotten how Emoticon Management is supposed to work in the AdminCP, and there is still no documentation for it.

I don't understand why it is that you can add numerous folders of smilies in addition to the default emotion group, if IPB doesn't automatically include them (the default folder and all additional folders or child folders) when you actually come to post? I also don't understand why you can't turn entire groups of emoticons on and off.

One possible solution...

Lets say for example you have 150 smilies on your board, consisting of:

• 50 general ones
• 50 Halloween theme
• 50 Christmas themed (a little OTT but will do as an example!).

It could just as well be large, small, adult, whatever...

You wouldn't need to have the 100 seasonal emoticons available to click all year round, and you wouldn't need to have access when posting to the Christmas ones when posting near to or at Halloween, and vice versa.

So why not have a folder for each group, and have a check box in the Emoticon Manager to instantly enable or disable each group of smilies as required, and a separate sub-screen to enable, disable or delete individual emoticons within each group, either one at a time or all?

This would make things much more manageable for this with lots of smilies, and all smilies would still show in older posts because they are still on the server, just not all in the clickable list all at once.

You could take it a step further, by adding tabs (suggested so many times before) to the Show All Emoticon box, so that clicking on default or general would show those, then a tab would be available for the Halloween, large, small etc as defined by the groups in the AdminCP Emoticon Management screen.

IPS Staff: I hate to say this but the IPS Upgrades are becoming a real inconvenient Annoyance.

What am I talking about? Everytime there is a service update to IPB (2.0.1, 3.0.2, etc) the upgrade creates havok with the hooks that I have installed. Not only do I have to disable the hooks, but, they have to be un-installed and then re-installed. The upgrades are not anticipating already installed hooks and adjusting for them and it's becoming an annoyance.

Does IPS plan on fixing this problem or is this going to be a regular 'romp and stomp' action with every upgrade/update? For one, I would love to see this corrected.

GMIC, on 23 July 2009 - 01:55 AM, said:

Perhaps I am mistaken on this, but I was under the impression that IPS was originally going to just do away with the SM altogether until it became known that many sites make use of it.  Regardless though, once it's released, it's supposed to become a community project, so it can/will get extra features/options added to it, making it well worth the wait because it will do more than before.

kenichi, on 05 July 2009 - 09:55 PM, said:

So long as the Admin can specify which hooks are optional for the members.  There could be a certain hook that the Admin wants required.