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Website Update Announcements (Updated: February 16, 2024) • Page 7

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Jason Tate, Mar 11, 2016.

  1. March 6, 2019
    • Added some new emoji.
    Some new comic characters in the comic section:

    :captainmarvel::goose::shazam::pikachu: :hellboy:

    Some new secret band/music emoji:

    :freddy: :mxpx: :weezer: :chorus:

    And some new secret sports emoji (or just Joel Embiid):

    :embiid:
     
    David Parke, marceting and Joe like this.
  2. March 20, 2019
    • Two homepage changes made.
    • The first fixes a bug that would logout supporters after sessions ended, instead of keeping them logged in for a much longer period. (Sorry about that, it was a weird thing where it worked right with my account, but not with other accounts.) So, all supporters should now be able to login once and have that 'stick' for quite a while. (You'll need to logout/and back in for the new cookie to set.)
    • The second minor change is that when viewing videos on the homepage, the links to the videos now properly respond to keyboard shortcuts and clicks. So, for example, if you use Command+Click on a YouTube video link it will open up in a new tab behind the current one you're viewing. Shift+Command+Click will open the link in a new foremost tab. Regular clicking will still open the video in the Lightbox view. This was something I wanted to fix for a long while, since a lot of people like to open up all the videos they wanna watch in the background while reading the news, and then go through them, instead of having the video take up the entire screen right then.
    (Thanks to Jason Marr at AnyList for giving me the kick in the ass to finally fix these.)
     
  3. April 8, 2019
     
    David Parke likes this.
  4. Jason Tate May 6, 2019
    (Last edited: Jun 13, 2019)
    May 6, 2019

    Today I'm rolling out one of my favorite new additions and features to the website in quite a while: post bookmarks. This is a supporter only feature for the time being.

    Have you ever been recommended a band and want to make a note of it to check it out later? Has someone ever said something funny that you want to keep track of and be able to come back to? What about a movie recommendation, or a ridiculous prediction you want to remember in a few months? Or maybe you made a good point/funny comment yourself and you want to keep track of it for posterity? Now, with the bookmark feature, you can do just that.

    On all posts on the website you'll now find a new "bookmark" link that appears in the same place as "edit, delete, and report." On desktop it's in the left corner when you hover over a post, on mobile it appears when you tap the ... menu link on any post.

    Once you do that you'll have the option to add a note if you'd like about the post:

    Screen Shot 2019-05-04 at 3.43.27 PM.png

    This is a good way to add some context for what you're bookmarking to help jog your memory later.

    You'll find all your bookmarks on your Bookmark List page available via the pop-down menu on desktop via your username in the menu bar:

    Screen Shot 2019-05-04 at 3.57.35 PM.png

    Or in the "Options" side menu via mobile.

    On the Bookmark List page you'll see all of your bookmarks:

    Screen Shot 2019-05-04 at 3.43.12 PM.png
    This page shows you the thread your bookmark was in, who the post was by, the date it was made on, and clicking the blue thread link will take you right to the bookmarked post. You also have all your notes for each post right there as well. You can edit your notes, or remove bookmarks, from here as well.

    Lastly, I added a live instant search at the top of the page. This will search all your bookmarks for any word you're looking for and show the matches. Here's quick little screen capture I made showing it in practice:



    You can search by post username, thread title, and all of your notes as well. So, for one example, you could add a specific word, like a tag, to any note, and then quickly filter for everything that contains the tag "rec." This search box and feature also exists on mobile so all your bookmarks will always be with you and you can find what you're looking for easily.

    Last thing I can think of is that for right now this is a supporter only feature. It took a lot of time and effort to build, and it takes up website resources that need to be paid for in some fashion. If you ever decide not to be a supporter any longer, you'll lose access to the bookmark feature but I will not delete your bookmarks. You can still access all of them when you become a supporter again.

    I think that's everything! Thanks to everyone that supports this website and I hope you all like the new feature! Let me know if you have any questions or if any bugs or issues show up.

    If you like features like this, which take a lot of time to code and create, please consider becoming a supporting member of the website. For just 7 cents a day you can help support the continued development of new features on this website and its continued existence.
     
    scott, Dog with a Blog, Omni and 15 others like this.
  5. May 27, 2019
    • I made a small change to the page navigation logic for mobile devices. A lot of people asked me why "2" didn't show up in the page nav, and it was because of space concerns, and the duplicate with "next →" already being there, that I didn't include it. I finally had some time to make it so that I could show the "2" on the first page of a thread AND still have enough space in the middle of threads to show pages next and previous pages on both sides as well. I think I caught everything and there shouldn't be any bugs, and I doubt anyone actually even notices the change. But, it's better now.
     
  6. Jason Tate May 28, 2019
    (Last edited: Jun 13, 2019)
    May 28, 2019
    • Today I've added a new feature for supporters where they can link their user title (the text that shows up under your username on your posts, in your mini-profile, and on your profile) to any URL they'd like. This is an often requested feature and a great way to plug your blog, bandcamp, twitter, podcast, or really anything you'd like. Supporters will find the new field to enter a URL on their Edit Profile page. Simple.

    On posts:
    Screen Shot 2019-05-28 at 4.45.17 PM.png

    Mini-Profile:
    Screen Shot 2019-05-28 at 4.45.26 PM.png

    Regular Profile:

    Screen Shot 2019-05-28 at 4.45.37 PM.png

    Edit Profile Page:

    Screen Shot 2019-05-28 at 5.15.21 PM.png

    This feature should be rolling out to all supporting members shortly. Hope you like it. Enjoy!

    (Oh, and subscribe to my newsletter. ;-p)

    If you like features like this, which take time to code and create, please consider becoming a supporting member of the website. For just 7 cents a day you can help support the continued development of new features on this website and its continued existence.
     
    BoldType, oldjersey, RJ Knorr and 3 others like this.
  7. Jason Tate Jun 13, 2019
    (Last edited: Jun 13, 2019)
    June 13, 2019

    Today I'm excited to bring a new feature to the website for all users: Top Posters in a thread.

    This is a feature that I had written a long time ago on AbsolutePunk.net, but it didn't get done in time to bring to this website ... until now. This feature shows you who has posted the most in each thread and gives you quick access to all of the posts from each user in that thread.

    It looks like this:

    Screen Shot 2019-06-13 at 2.01.32 PM.png

    And you can access it in a variety of ways.

    On a desktop computer you'll find the option in the Thread Tools menu at the top of each thread (this is one reason I redesigned the thread view a few months back to give me a better way to add new features and options to each thread):

    Screen Shot 2019-06-13 at 11.11.17 AM.png

    You can also click on the number of replies in any forum view ...

    Screen Shot 2019-06-13 at 11.10.58 AM.png

    ... and this will give you the same pop-up of the top posters from that thread. (This works via your Followed Threads list as well.)

    On mobile you can find this via the action menu (top right icon) in any thread and then by clicking the Top Posters button from that menu:
    Screen Shot 2019-06-13 at 11.11.31 AM.png

    From the Top Posters pop-up page you'll see who has posted the most in each thread and if click their username you can view their mini-profile, or if you click the number of posts they've made (the number on the right), you'll run a search and see all of their posts in that thread. (This was always available by doing a search in a thread and typing in a username, but this is a somewhat faster way to find posts by a specific user in a thread.)

    This feature should be rolling out to all users over the next 15 minutes and will be available to every logged in user on the website. This feature took some time to write, but it felt like something everyone on the website should have access to -- so I hope you enjoy it!

    If you like features like this, which take time to code and create, please consider becoming a supporting member of the website. For just 7 cents a day you can help support the continued development of new features on this website and its continued existence.
     
    Omni, Jake W, David Parke and 3 others like this.
  8. Fucking Dustin

    Please click "like" Supporter

    Time to question all my posting decisions
     
    Omni, phaynes12, Max_123 and 4 others like this.
  9. Serh

    Prestigious Prestigious

    Very nice
     
  10. aoftbsten

    Trusted Supporter

    lol, of course Drew is the top poster in the NBA thread.
     
  11. Oh shit waddup
     
    Jason Tate likes this.
  12. a nice person

    Trusted Prestigious

    I’m a quality-over-quantity guy.
     
    aliens exist and Jason Tate like this.
  13. phaynes12

    https://expertfrowner.bandcamp.com/ Prestigious

    drew is only top bc i had to make a new account
     
    Jason Tate likes this.
  14. cshadows2887

    Hailey, It Happens @haileyithappens Supporter

    Maybe I'll have to start posting more regularly again. Make that veteran statistical-aberration comeback.
     
    Jason Tate likes this.
  15. June 25, 2019

    Today I made a few changes around the website to better promote my weekly newsletter.

    On the homepage I added a way to directly signup for the newsletter by entering your email address:
    Screen Shot 2019-06-25 at 1.16.39 PM.png
    And then I put the link in the footer and on the mobile menu as well.

    If you haven't signed up yet ... you should! It's a weekly newsletter about music, movies, tv shows, and other cool stuff. It goes out on Friday and includes a playlist of ten songs I loved during the week. It's a really great way to stay up to date even if you don't check the website every day.
     
  16. Jacob Tender and David Parke like this.
  17. Jason Tate Jul 1, 2019
    (Last edited: Jul 3, 2019)
    Thanks. After working on it I've had a few other people send me other services similar. Basically all do the same, but I'm still happy with my decision because I really want to have control over the endpoint URL and know it's not going to disappear on me one day. Plus, I like my aesthetic. :crylaugh:

    Let me know if you run into any issues or have feature requests. The Shortcut is pretty cool.
     
    David Parke likes this.
  18. Jason Tate Jul 22, 2019
    (Last edited: Jul 22, 2019)
    July 22, 2019

    Added some new emoji to the website.

    :spidey4: :spiderman3: :spidey5: :mysterio:

    :godzilla:

    :gauntlet: :avengers:
     
    Jacob Tender and David Parke like this.
  19. July 22, 2019

    After spending the weekend deep in spreadsheets, I've decided to tweak a few of the ad frequency knobs to see if I can increase revenue per page by just a little bit more. I hate to do it, but it really is the only option I have if I want this website to be able to be able to sustain itself. I'm at the spot now where, based on my calculations, I need to bring in a little more money from ads, and I need pretty much exactly 105 more people to sign up as supporters at the $3 a month or $25 a year tier for the website to be my only source of income.

    If you dislike the ads (as much as I do) and you hang out on this website a lot, I really do recommend you upgrade your account to remove all the ads on the website. You can do so for basically 7 cents a day. The website is a massively better experience without the ads, but they're a necessary evil right now.
     
    David Parke likes this.
  20. Henry

    Moderator Moderator

    what the fuck is this post
     
  21. Rick Sihl

    Newbie

    I am new here and I do not know what I am doing.
     
    Mr. Serotonin likes this.
  22. September 23, 2019

    Made a few very minor changes to the supporter management system to better show to a former supporting member, whose credit card has expired, that after they update that card, that they can now reactivate their account with only one click. It was a little confusing in the wording before.

    I don't think I screwed anything up, but if anyone sees any issues, please let me know.
     
  23. Scheduled Maintenance

    October 23rd, 2019: At 3:00 AM UTC there will be scheduled maintenance on the main website, followed by maintenance on the forum server at 4:00 AM UTC. The expected downtime is roughly 30 minutes for each server.
     
  24. October 31, 2019

    Automatic theme selection is now available for supporters.

    In your preferences section, there's now an option for "automatic theme selection" which will automatically change the website's theme to match your computer or phone's theme. So, if you're using Dark Mode on iOS, it'll switch automatically to Dark Mode here in the forums. This is great for if you have your phone set to automatically change at a certain time, or sunset, and want the website to match.

    Screen Shot 2019-10-30 at 5.27.27 PM.png

    A few things things of note: This will override whatever theme you have selected and changing the theme while it's selected will do virtually nothing, it'll reset itself to your system theme no matter what. Second, it takes a refresh of the page for it to work because the first time you visit the website it checks what your system theme is, and then the next page you visit will kick in and move it to the correct color scheme. As far as I know, this only works using Safari and Apple devices since I'm using their standard to detect what your theme is.



    This should be live for all supporters within the next few minutes.
     
    surgerone, aoftbsten and David Parke like this.