RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted February 2, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 2, 2019 (edited) Introduction, latest updates and general information - PLEASE ALL READ Firstly, welcome to the new style rmWeb. The very nature of change means some people will like it, others will not. A number of people have said why change something that worked - lets firstly be very clear the upgrade of the software that runs rmWeb is around 18 months overdue. The software we were using was no longer supported by developers, which is critical especially when it comes to the security of the site, and issues such as those encountered around Christmas meant that the decision was taken for us. It had to be updated to the latest version, so this is not just a whim! I would ask all users to keep an open mind when exploring, the old site was heavily customised for what we wanted it to do, at the moment, the forum software is running what is an ‘off the shelf’ version, with little adaptation. Once the initial issues have been resolved and things are settling down then we will look at returning a number of ‘customised’ features, but there is no big team behind this, just one person - so like it or not, you will need to be patient! Where possible, this page will be kept updated with any critical information. If there is an FAQ you think should be added, drop me a PM - I cannot guarantee to add it, but will endeavour to keep things up to date for people. 31st Jan: Forum is now back up and running. There are a few ongoing issues, and specifically the indexing of the site is a very slow and ongoing process that will take some time. So some area’s specifically activity streams, reputation scores etc, may be wrong for a few days. 2nd Feb: Things are settling down. All users MUST ensure that the registered email address is accurate and up-to-date. If you change your email in the future, please remember to update your rmWeb account. Indexing is continuing and has now dealt with the last eight months or so. The site is almost 10 years old, so this progress is going to take the best part of a week. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS To try and make it easy for people, the FAQs are grouped into sections. General Site Queries Finding Content Posts Images Edited February 2, 2019 by MarshLane Added Links 3 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted February 2, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 2, 2019 (edited) GENERAL SITE QUESTIONS The new site seems slower than before As commented in the ‘Introduction’ above (you did read that didn’t you?) the site is being indexed. This is done so that things such as the new ‘tags’, activity streams, reputation scores, search terms etc can all be found. Because this is an ongoing process for all the existing content, it is having a knock-on effect to page load times. I estimate that the indexing should be completed within seven days - keep checking the latest updates on the ‘Introduction’ page. Once complete, the site should speed up. It should also mean that the search options are superior to the old side once completed. My reputation score is wrong, and the activity feeds do not seem to be showing correctly. Yes this is all related to the ongoing indexing and should resolve itself once that is complete. Edited February 2, 2019 by MarshLane 2 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted February 2, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 2, 2019 (edited) QUESTIONS ABOUT FINDING CONTENT View New Content: Where has it gone? View New Content was a tab on the old site that listed topics and blogs in the order that people posted to them, latest first. The new software does not currently have the same feature, but does allow people to monitor by activity. Start by clicking the ‘Activity’ tab the top. This gives an overview of what is happening in real time. Some users may prefer to click on the ‘Condensed’ tab, but the likely hood is that this screen, which is a default part of the software will provide more info the people want. So, click on ‘Unread Content’. This will now show you all posts that you have not read, and is very similar in operation to the old ‘View New Content’ tab. Again, the condensed view may be appreciated. Across the top of this window, are various options that allow you to personalise your view. Hence if you just want to see topics and not blogs for example, click on ‘Content Types’ and then tick those you are interested in. To see all, click on ‘All Content’. On the ‘Read Status’ menu you can also decide for yourself how the forum works, whether it takes you to the top of the page when you click on an unread topic, or takes you to the first unread comment? These settings are saved for your own user account, so you will need to be logged in. You can also choose to only see unread content from areas, topics or members that you follow, it really is a case of have a wander around and explore! Under ‘My Activity Streams’ you have some predefined options, such as only viewing the latest entries to content you started, content that you follow or content where you have previously posted. Once you have a stream that your happy with you can make it appear at the top of all pages, like this: In this case the 'Content I Follow' has been selected as the default steam, and hence is easily accessible from any page. To select a stream as default, follow the above instructions, to display the stream, then next to the stream name on the heading, select the green tick mark, to make it your default stream. Thanks to Corbs for pointing this out. Topics: Jumping to a specific page On the old site it used to be possible to enter a page number within a topic and go straight there. That feature still exists. At the top or bottom of each page, on a multi-page topic, you will see the buttons for first page, previous page, individual pages, next page and last page. Beyond this it will say Page x of y - for example Page 1 of 10. If you click on this, a box will then appear where you can enter the page number you want, and click Go. This is only currently available on the Desktop version however. Edited February 2, 2019 by MarshLane 4 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted February 2, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 2, 2019 (edited) QUESTIONS ABOUT POSTING Many of the pictures are missing Yes this is a known problem. It is related to the indexing and will resolve itself as the indexing gets to each post with a picture - it is just one of those where people need to have patience. Sorry! How to got to the first unread post? The new system is designed to provide different ways of accessing topics. This is not a choice taken by rmWeb, but how the software has been designed. Clicking on the topic name will always take you to the first post of the topic. However, to the left of this, you will see a black dot. Clicking on this will take you to the first UNREAD post, and for most people will probably be the most common way of accessing a topic. Line spacing is bigger, how can I change this? You cannot! The way the system works is that hitting the Return key (sometimes called New Line or Enter key) will start a new paragraph and the system creates a space between paragraphs to make things more readable. However, if you wish to do away with the space you can hold down either of the SHIFT keys (the key you press for a capital letter) and while holding it down, hit Return, then release both keys. This will insert a new line as opposed to a new paragraph. Quoting multiple posts - how to do this? The old site had both ‘quote’ and ‘multiquote’ buttons. On the new site, the word ‘quote’ underneath each post is the same as the old quote button and will allow you to quote a single message. To quote multiple messages you will notice that to the left of the word ‘quote’ there is now a black plus sign on a yellow background. Clicking this will change the plus sign to a tick mark, and given you a box in the bottom right hand corner of the window saying how many messages you are quoting. When you have selected all the messages you want to refer to, click on the yellow button in the lower right hand box, and you will be taken to the reply form where the quoted messages will have appeared. As previously, this facility does work across multiple pages within the SAME topic. The post numbers have disappeared, are they coming back? Unlikely, the post numbers were not all that useful, as they could change is previous content in the topic was hidden or removed. However, if you want to link to a specific post, there is a quick and easy way to do it. Put your mouse over the post you wish to link to, and in the top right hand corner, the options to report the post and the 'share post' icon will appear. Click on the icon and window will appear allowing you to share the post with social media, but also giving you a link to the post in question. If you copy this post, this can be based into any website as a URL link. It can also be inserted into another message on rmWeb. For the latter, when writing the message or reply, use the link button and past the link into the URL field. Receiving replies to a topic you are posting to Beneath the post editor is a little switch that allows you to turn notifications on or off at the time of posting. If you wish to change your notifications subsequently, then you need to access your followed content. At the top right hand corner of the screen it will show your Avatar and username with a down arrow, left click on this, and a menu appears, select ‘Manage Followed Content’. This will now allow you choose what topics, forums, blogs and galleries you follow. Along each option is a yellow ‘Change Preference’ button. Clicking on this will display several options from immediate content, to one email per day or week, or simple do not email me at all. Select the option you want and click ‘Update Preference’. If you decide at any point to unfollow a topic or blog, this can also be done from this window by clicking the red ‘Unfollow’ button. You can also unfollow from the actual topic in the same way as the old software used to work. Edited February 2, 2019 by MarshLane 1 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted February 2, 2019 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted February 2, 2019 QUESTIONS ABOUT IMAGES They do not appear to get bigger when clicked on like they used to do Under the old system, pictures appeared at a fixed size - it was designed when screens and more specifically screen resolutions were smaller. Therefore as screen sizes got bigger, there was a little upgrade done to the software that mean when you clicked on the fixed size image, a larger image appeared, in what was called a ‘lightbox’. Basically, this just displayed the image at the largest possible width for each user’s individual screen. The new software is right up-to-date and as such the pictures are now, by default, displayed either at the largest size to fit the screen, or at the size of the original image - whichever is smaller. If you click on an image now, it will either display at the same size if it is already shown at its largest size, or will display larger. How to place within the text now? The new software has greatly improved image handling. When an image is uploaded, the thumbnail will show below the post editor. On this are two icons, on the right is a trashcan, click this to delete an image that you have either uploaded accidentally, or uploaded but no longer want on the post. On the left, is a plus symbol. Clicking this will insert the image into the text wherever the cursor currently is. Therefore for those of you that like to write the post then insert pictures, you can upload all your images in one go, put the cursor where you want the picture, then click the appropriate plus icon. If you prefer to add the pictures as you go along, the same rules apply. Also make sure you read the FAQ about uploading images, as that has got easier too! Uploading Pictures, what has changed? The ability to upload pictures has become easier for both desktop and mobile users. You can click on the words ‘choose files…’ to open the file selection window and select one or more pictures at the same time. Desktop users can also ‘drag and drop’ images over the upload area, this is section below the post editor that says ‘drag files here to attach’. When you drag a file over this area the background colour changes and a ‘dotted line’ appears around the area that you need to drop the pictures. 6 1 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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