Quarion
09-26-2007, 11:50 AM
We will be upgrading the forum system in the next few weeks.
When the forum service returns, things will look quite a bit different, but have no fear, heres a rundown of what you can expect. We're working to streamline the forums and impliment tools that allow us to communicate better with the players.
The Front Page:
First and foremost, you'll notice the front page (http://forums.ddo.com) will have changed drastically. We'll now have a "portal" page which collects a plethora of useful information from the forums all on one page, like upcoming events, latest posts, latest official news, and much more. (Figure 1)
Let's break down each new section of this page and talk about what it does. (See Figure 1 for numbered sections)
News: The center section of the page displays the most recent posts by Turbine in the "News and Announcement, and Service News" forums. Here you have quick and clear access to the latest official news!
Recent Threads: Directly beneath the News section, you'll find a listing of th most recent non-news posts made on the forums by any user. You can check ALL of the new posts since your last visit in section 3:
User CP: The User "control panel" module allows you to login if you aren't already, and when you are logged in, displays your avatar, private messages, and allows you to check ALL of the latest posts since you last visited.
The Calendar: This is the module I'm most excited about. This displays the current month, and any events that are happening, which are listed on the new EVENT calendars. More on those later. The number of the day is clickable if there is any events scheduled for a certain day.
Current Poll: We'll be asking your opinion a little more often with this new Poll Module, which draws polls out of the all new POLLS forum. (More on that later too!)
And finally, the Forum Menu: Here, you'll find a list of each forum, in order in an easy to navigate format, so you can go directly to where you want to go, without sorting through an entire page of links.Ultimately, this brings useful information right to the front, but if you prefer the original forum front page, it's still there. Simply navigate and bookmark this link:
http://forums.ddo.com/forumlist.php, or simply click "Full Forum List" at the top of the Forum Menu. Also, to further reduce clutter, each module on the front page has a collapse button, which will allow you to collapse modules you don't use very often.
The Server and General Events Calendar
A few weeks ago, you may have noticed the new server events forums appear, and wondered, "what the heck is this?" They allow you to post advertisments, so to speak, for your in-game player run events! We've taken these forums a step further by eliminating them. Err... rather replacing them with actual calendars. The forums links will now lead to an actual calendar, which you can add event listings to, for all to see. Remember that Calendar module on the front page? Events posted on your server event calendar will be shown to users on their front page through that module!
(Refer to figure 2, attached)
To view a calendar:
Visit the calendar of your choice from the forum list page (see above), or visit http://forums.ddo.com/calendar.php (This link will not work until after Tuesday) and choose the appropriate calendar. From the "Calendar Jump" drop-down at the bottom right corner.
Any day that has an event listed, will show you the title of the event, which you can click for more information! (Figure 3)To add your event to a calendar:
Visit the calendar of your choice from the forum list page (see above), or visit http://forums.ddo.com/calendar.php and choose the appropriate calendar.
In the "Add New Event" section or drop down, choose whether you're going to post an all day event, ranged event, or recurring event. Most users will choose a ranged event. (i.e: September 3rd, 2pm-9pm)
You'll be prompted for the proper information, and posting an event is very similar to making a forum post.
NOTE: Once submitted, your event will be reviewed by a moderator and posted when approved. Remember to allow at least 48 hours for moderation when planning your event post.
Because each event posting is moderated, we've enabled the tag, so you can create promotional artwork for your event if you choose. These will be reviewed along with the post, so remember, these images are governed by the same forum guidelines as the rest of the forums.We hope the calendar system will help cultivate and expand the community and community events within DDO. If you ever have any questions or suggestions about it's use, feel free to let us know!
Polls:
You'll notice a new forum called "Community Polls" where we'll post monthly polls for users to participate in. These polls will also appear on the new "front page". The first one is already up: Check it out here! (http://forums.ddo.com/forumdisplay.php?f=132)
Finally, we've reorganized the forum listing to be more user-friendly and less cluttered. You'll notice the server forums are back out front, and there's a new forum called "Real-Life Events" for those of you who like to organize that sort of thing.
So there you have it, a crash course in the new forum system!
When the forum service returns, things will look quite a bit different, but have no fear, heres a rundown of what you can expect. We're working to streamline the forums and impliment tools that allow us to communicate better with the players.
The Front Page:
First and foremost, you'll notice the front page (http://forums.ddo.com) will have changed drastically. We'll now have a "portal" page which collects a plethora of useful information from the forums all on one page, like upcoming events, latest posts, latest official news, and much more. (Figure 1)
Let's break down each new section of this page and talk about what it does. (See Figure 1 for numbered sections)
News: The center section of the page displays the most recent posts by Turbine in the "News and Announcement, and Service News" forums. Here you have quick and clear access to the latest official news!
Recent Threads: Directly beneath the News section, you'll find a listing of th most recent non-news posts made on the forums by any user. You can check ALL of the new posts since your last visit in section 3:
User CP: The User "control panel" module allows you to login if you aren't already, and when you are logged in, displays your avatar, private messages, and allows you to check ALL of the latest posts since you last visited.
The Calendar: This is the module I'm most excited about. This displays the current month, and any events that are happening, which are listed on the new EVENT calendars. More on those later. The number of the day is clickable if there is any events scheduled for a certain day.
Current Poll: We'll be asking your opinion a little more often with this new Poll Module, which draws polls out of the all new POLLS forum. (More on that later too!)
And finally, the Forum Menu: Here, you'll find a list of each forum, in order in an easy to navigate format, so you can go directly to where you want to go, without sorting through an entire page of links.Ultimately, this brings useful information right to the front, but if you prefer the original forum front page, it's still there. Simply navigate and bookmark this link:
http://forums.ddo.com/forumlist.php, or simply click "Full Forum List" at the top of the Forum Menu. Also, to further reduce clutter, each module on the front page has a collapse button, which will allow you to collapse modules you don't use very often.
The Server and General Events Calendar
A few weeks ago, you may have noticed the new server events forums appear, and wondered, "what the heck is this?" They allow you to post advertisments, so to speak, for your in-game player run events! We've taken these forums a step further by eliminating them. Err... rather replacing them with actual calendars. The forums links will now lead to an actual calendar, which you can add event listings to, for all to see. Remember that Calendar module on the front page? Events posted on your server event calendar will be shown to users on their front page through that module!
(Refer to figure 2, attached)
To view a calendar:
Visit the calendar of your choice from the forum list page (see above), or visit http://forums.ddo.com/calendar.php (This link will not work until after Tuesday) and choose the appropriate calendar. From the "Calendar Jump" drop-down at the bottom right corner.
Any day that has an event listed, will show you the title of the event, which you can click for more information! (Figure 3)To add your event to a calendar:
Visit the calendar of your choice from the forum list page (see above), or visit http://forums.ddo.com/calendar.php and choose the appropriate calendar.
In the "Add New Event" section or drop down, choose whether you're going to post an all day event, ranged event, or recurring event. Most users will choose a ranged event. (i.e: September 3rd, 2pm-9pm)
You'll be prompted for the proper information, and posting an event is very similar to making a forum post.
NOTE: Once submitted, your event will be reviewed by a moderator and posted when approved. Remember to allow at least 48 hours for moderation when planning your event post.
Because each event posting is moderated, we've enabled the tag, so you can create promotional artwork for your event if you choose. These will be reviewed along with the post, so remember, these images are governed by the same forum guidelines as the rest of the forums.We hope the calendar system will help cultivate and expand the community and community events within DDO. If you ever have any questions or suggestions about it's use, feel free to let us know!
Polls:
You'll notice a new forum called "Community Polls" where we'll post monthly polls for users to participate in. These polls will also appear on the new "front page". The first one is already up: Check it out here! (http://forums.ddo.com/forumdisplay.php?f=132)
Finally, we've reorganized the forum listing to be more user-friendly and less cluttered. You'll notice the server forums are back out front, and there's a new forum called "Real-Life Events" for those of you who like to organize that sort of thing.
So there you have it, a crash course in the new forum system!