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Upgrade to Community software on 16 May 2011

Graham Bird
09/05/2011 17:39
It’s been a long time coming but we finally have a date for the Community software upgrade – Monday 16 May. The Community site has to be closed during the upgrade and we estimate it will take 3 days to complete.
Just to be completely clear, this means the Community will be unavailable for 3 days starting 16 May.
I know this must seem like a long period of shutdown but there are good reasons for it and it will be worth the wait, we promise!
Why are we upgrading the software?
The upgrade is being done for a variety of reasons that include (but are not limited to):
  1. bug fixes (by that I mean resolving problems, not changes to functionality)
  2. performance improvements
  3. new features
  4. future proofing
What bugs are being squashed?
  • Duplicate e-mail notifications
  • Broken RSS links
  • Intermittent problems with the forgot password page
  • A variety of other small issues
What are the new features?
New site structure
The new version organises the Community entirely by topic rather than splitting it between blogs, forums, galleries and groups. This is rather different to how things are today but it does make alot more sense. The new Community will be organised into the following sections (subject to change):
  • Wildlife
  • Places to visit
  • Get involved
  • Our work
  • Local groups
  • Chat
Messages
Yes, Private Messages are here at last. Send a message to anyone from their profile page and get quick access to your Message box from any page.
Quick access to your favourites
At the top of every page is a new Favourites link which gives you direct access to your personal list of Favourites on the Community site.
Better performance
We know that the speed of the Community is a problem. The new version promises better performance but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, as it were. Along with this we are continuing to look into other ways to improve the speed of the site behind the scenes.
New look
The “Starlit” design is being replaced by a new “Birds on a wire” style. We hope you’ll find it easier to use.
More profile backgrounds
To accompany the existing Grass and Sumatra backgrounds for your profile page, we’ll be creating a selection of new styles so you have more choice over how you personalise your own page.
Quick reply
The forums now include a quick reply box at the bottom of every thread – a bit like the Comment box on blog posts. This means you can contribute to discussions more easily.
Spellcheck
The create/edit post box now includes an optional spellchecker.
More than one forum/gallery/blog in a group
At the moment, Community Groups (such as Volunteering, Big Garden Birdwatch or Minsmere) are limited to one blog/forum/gallery each. This limit is lifted in the new version which means we can do much more with groups from now on.
New profile fields
Profile pages will include two new sets of fields:
  • links to your pages on other sites (like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr)
  • ways to get in touch with you (via Skype, Google Talk, Windows Messenger, etc)

Of course, these are entirely optional - you don't have to tell the world this info - but for some people it will be very welcome.

New Community homepage
We’ll be replacing the current promotional page with a new page giving you access to the latest happenings on the entire Community site.
Is anything going away?
Unfortunately there are a couple of differences in the new software that will mean changes to existing functionality:
Different URLs
As a result of the new topic-based organisation, most URLs across the Community site will change. This means that any bookmarks you have (not including Community Favourites) may cease to work. We will be doing our best to redirect old URLs to their new equivalents but this may not be possible in some cases. We are aware that changing URLs is bad practice but we have no choice as the structural change in the software mandates it.
User profile Comments
The ability to post Comments on people’s profile pages is going away entirely - if you want to contact someone via their profile page, the new Messages functionality will be the thing to use. In our opinion this is a good thing as profile Comments were never really that successful as a feature. However, it does mean that the comments themselves will be deleted and once the upgrade is complete they will be gone forever.
UPDATE: User badges
The badges that appear in the current version and show who is a moderator, blogger, RSPB staff member or Community "Good egg" do not appear in the new version. They are still there but not visible. We are in discussion with the software manufacturer as this is a pretty significant issue for us. This means that the badges will not be visible when the new version goes live but we hope to restore them in the near future. Rest assured we are looking into this as a matter of priority.
So, that's everything. I hope everyone will enjoy the end result when it's all complete.
Graham

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