It’s been awhile since Reid has made a post. Things are going quite smoothly. The train has left the station and we’re on a roll! While I’m not as wordy as Reid, I’d like to start about some fancy features we’re implementing, and Reid’d like to show you a couple of new layout images. More after the jump!
First of all I’d like to mention the The Shining Wonderful Ruby Challenge. We’re still interested in Ruby on Rails coders. Check out the forum for more information!
Big Ideas
AJAXy Javascript
One of the key cornerstones I’d like to implement, is a huge Javascript base never seen in a forum. Some forums have AJAXy quick posts, but I want to Javascript the whole thing. Why? Most people have a very powerful computer that can handle data quickly enough. The server generally is split 50/50 to load a page: grabbing data and rendering the HTML. If Javascript asks for the raw data and you render the page, that’s half the work on the website offloaded on to you!
Search
Search is back again. The old method got really, really heavy on memory and slowed down the forums. (Even some basic page loading slows the forum down. :/) The good news is that with the offloaded rendering, we can spend more time on the basics.
Caching
Most giant websites like Slashdot or Digg utilize a proper caching system instead of pulling data out of the database. The database, while quick, is not speedy enough to handle every request uniquely, as I’m sure you’ve seen on our forum. Caching elements speeds up the page such that it loads in an instant. A perfectly cached page doesn’t even hit the database, which is good news for our poor overloaded server.
iPhones and other Mobile Browsers
Webkit, the browser software used both in the iPhone and Safari, is going to be huge. Not only is it used on the iPhone and iPod Touch, but it’s now used in the Wifi enabled Archos, and it’s also going to be used in Google’s Android phones. I plan on taking advantage of this technology. As some of you know, browsing the forum on the iPhone is a big pain in the butt that will be easily fixed. (No more trying to find the [ key!)
Customizable CSS
Reid and I want to make the website fully customizable by allowing you to upload your own CSS file. Take a look at CSS Zen Garden. With the exact same HTML, you can load completely different looking pages, so we plan to offer this feature to our designy crowd.
And for those of you who just want to change fonts and/or colors, we’re going to offer a simple page that will easily change those.
Design
Reid has finished the Topic and Posts page mockups. Feast your eyes upon them!
Feel free to leave comments about them! We’re looking for constructive criticism about the layouts.
I think the layout is looking good, but can there be some kind of Alert-ish thing for when you get a PM?
Also, is the “Elsewhere” thingy the new fourm spy?
I plan on highlighting/animating the ‘Private Messages’ button if/when you get a PM, kinda like our current system :)
Very Nice and Awesome I like it!It’s pretty good!
That’s looking great guys, keep up the good work.
One minor gripe though, to be completely honest, with the right sidebar on even the actual topics things look a little cluttered. Though I’m sure it’s the kind of thing that one would quickly get used to, because aside from appearing slightly cluttered the website DOES look good regardless.