Website Software Upgrade

[Mark]

The makers of the software this website runs on has released several new versions since we last upgraded, one of which was a major new release. We are currently on v3 of IP Board and the new version has been released for quite some time now.

 

 

 

As the current software is getting older there will come a time when it will no longer be supported by the vendor and so it is important to keep it updated in order to protect against vulnerabilities and potential exploits that could compromise the website and users security.

 

With this in mind I have decided that we should get the forum software upgraded to the latest version. 

 

I have already done a trial run on a development server and all has gone well, all user data has migrated cleanly as well as posts and threads.

 

Due to incompatibilities with some 3rd party plugins used in the current software there will be a temporary loss of access to the Links directory until I have time to migrate it over to the new software. The same goes for the Articles section, which is basically mirrored in the forum anyway so no great loss. 

I will be removing the videos section and will just place a referral link to my YouTube channel page instead as this will be one less administrative task I will have to deal with.

 

Finally, the site theme will change to the software standard colours (blue) but the logo will stay the same. 

 

User login details should stay the same, if you login using Facebook then that should still work. Otherwise, you should login with your username and password as normal. If you have trouble then you can use the lost password tool here (Link will work after the site is upgraded), or here (Link for current website before upgrade).

 

Once the site is upgraded and you login again for the first time, you may have to acknowledge the site guidelines and privacy policy - this will only need to be done when you first login.

 

I am not anticipating any major problems as testing has gone well, but I will be monitoring this thread after the upgrade, if you have any problems please make me aware. Or you can use the contact form.

 

I will take the website offline and perform the upgrade after 6pm GMT tomorrow (24th March) and it should not take more than an hour or so.

 

If you have any questions please reply to this thread.

 

Wish me luck lol.

 

 

[jnash]

good luck... .dont forget to enable tapatalk....:)

[Alaskamick]

Thanks for all your hard work Mark.

 

It's really appreciated.

 

Mike

[GuiBer]

Everything will run as smoothly as a complete watch overhaul in your hands!...

 

and this spectacular forum will be even better... and up-to-date!!

 

Thanks for all the knowledge you managed to transmit to the forum visitors, especially for those, like me, that had not any kind of experience with watchmaking, even as a hobby. Now, inspired and advised by you and by other more experienced forum members, I can deal with the "time machines" I like so much, and get good results with a pleasant feeling of accomplishment.

 

Best wishes!

Edited March 24, 2016 by GuiBer

[Mark]

good luck... .dont forget to enable tapatalk....:)

Absolutely. Tapatalk was not initially supported by ips4 but I don't think it's a problem now.

We have over 400 registered Tapatalk users on the forum.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[frenchie]

Good luck Mark, and thanks again for all the work you do!

[Mark]

quick update:

 

In the current version of the website you would login with either your Username or your Displayed name (it gave you the option). In the new version you will need to login with your DISPLAYED name. So for example if your username was 'jbloggs' but your display name (who people know you as on the website) is 'JoeBloggs' then you would log in as 'JoeBloggs' in the new website - or in other words, the username is now obsolete.

 

Alternatively the new software also allows you to log in with your registered email address and the same password.

[Mark]

In the old version of the website you were able to add other users as 'Freinds'. This is now deprecated and instead it has a Twitter/Facebook style Follow system. If you follow a particular user, you should receive updates on your profile feed when they contribute to the forum.

 

Further to this, if you are posting and you wish to reference any particular user, you can use the @ symbol before their Display name in a similar manner to Twitter and Facebook. E.G. @Mark

[Mark]

OK - I have finished the upgrade and await any reports of problems.

Thank you @jdm for pointing out some issues, hopefully I have dealt with those.

If there is anything else guys, please let me know. I really appreciate your help.

:)

[Marc]

Smooth transition as ever; no issues here, although I had forgotten that it was happening so the new look took me by surprise for a second.

[Mark]

Smooth transition as ever; no issues here, although I had forgotten that it was happening so the new look took me by surprise for a second.

Thanks for the feedback :)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Endeavor]

All seems to work fine and I like the new fresh look a lot....... :) For sure, this is one of the higher standard forums !

Thanks all !!

[Geo]

Well done Mark!

I've been out all night and forgot all about the forum change.  I'm glad it went smoothly, if I come across any issues I'll be in touch.

[bobm12]

Thanks for all the hard work you've put in for all of us Mark!

The forum looks...updated! :)

OK, seriously, new clean looks. I'd say, not a bad face lift...and everything and everyone accounted for! Nicely done! I did notice a performance improvement from my end...or maybe this new version likes Windows too?

Cheers,

Bob

[stroppy]

Thanks for keeping the site going and all the hard work, Mark.

[oldhippy]

Looks to be working well from my end. Thanks Mark.

[Cad101]

Nice work Mark looks very poooooosh indeed

[jnash]

if im honest, im not a fan of the twitter feed in the top right, if it was up to me i would put it lower as it pushes the recent topics lower , this is the first thing i look for when i come through to the site. 

Just my opinion though!

[Mark]

53 minutes ago, jnash said:

if im honest, im not a fan of the twitter feed in the top right, if it was up to me i would put it lower as it pushes the recent topics lower , this is the first thing i look for when i come through to the site. 

Just my opinion though!

Fair enough. I have re-jigged it. How is it now?

[jnash]

i feel special, but its much bettter for me... thanks Mark!

[Spandrel]

I like the new layout, but it took me a while to work out how to stop the constant nagging asking me if I wanted notifications in Firefox. I had to allow notifications then block them.

Great stuff though Mark. Many thanks for all your hard work.

[oldhippy]

10 hours ago, Spandrel said:

I like the new layout, but it took me a while to work out how to stop the constant nagging asking me if I wanted notifications in Firefox. I had to allow notifications then block them.

Great stuff though Mark. Many thanks for all your hard work.

Spandrel I'm using firefox with ad blocker plus, can you tell be what to do please as I don't seam to be able to block the little bugger.

[Mark]

Spandrel I'm using firefox with ad blocker plus, can you tell be what to do please as I don't seam to be able to block the little bugger.

This may help...

http://superuser.com/questions/959269/disabling-the-enable-notifications-popup-in-firefox

[Spandrel]

This method will disable all notofications for all sites, so be aware of that.

In the Firefox address bar type "about:config" without the parentheses then press "enter". You may be presented with a dire warning of the world ending or some such like. Press "OK I'll don full protective headgear" or whatever and press "enter".

In the search box type "dom.web" and find the line "dom.webnotifications.enabled". Double click on it and the "true" will turn to "false". Restart your browser and the nags have ceased.

Mark posted the above just before me and his solution seems the better option as it disables notifications only for this site.

Thanks again Mark.

Edited March 26, 2016 by Spandrel
Updated info

[oldhippy]

Thank you very much both.