New Forum Board

[Jeff Tirey]

Hello Textkitters

I'm sorry for the forum being down.

It's entirely my fault because I didn't keep the phpbb2 forum script updated which led to the script-kiddie hack last week. We should be in better shape with the new phpbb3. I turned the forum on as quickly as possible to prevent additional down-time, but please be aware I'll be making additional forum updates.

Here's what's worth noting:

The Good:
- new phpbb3 script with some nice features
- i'm around and energized to get the forum in shape
- getting the forum into phpbb3 is the first step needed towards a final Drupal migration. We have the drupal version of Textkit largely ready to go but the forum was a roadblock.

The Bad:
- this backup is from late October, we will most likely miss the last 3 weeks of posting.
- i'm struggling to figure out how to convert the Greek SPIonic into Unicode. The forum conversion script did not do so well. I could use help if anyone has skills in this area.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Amadeus]

Ho ho! Nice look!

Congratulations Jeff for taking TextKit to the next level. We definitely needed a change (which, btw, seems to be something in vogue right now). Hope to see everyone else back here soon.

Vale!

[Jeff Tirey]

Hi Amadeus,

I'm happy to see you like the change. This was long overdue. The next step will be to migrate phpbb3 to a drupal based forum. Once that's done, we can launch the new site which is currently at http://new.textkit.com. Already, we have all the Textkit books migrated http://new.textkit.com/greek_grammar.php
So the roadblocks in my way are migrating the forum and then really rolling up my sleeves and customizing the drupal app.

The drupal version will unleash this community in some neat ways.

thanks,
Jeff

[NuclearWarhead]

I would suggest that the subsilver theme is installed too. I never really liked the prosilver theme in phpbb3.

As for the Drupal site, I would suggest keeping the old top banner. The Drupal site with just the solid green banner is a bit ... dull ... I like the old banner better.

[Jeff Tirey]

agreed. the current look of the textkit site through drupal is weak. I want the template to keep some of the elements of whitespace/web 2.0 but it needs a snazzy header.

[dlb]

Like the new layout, capabilities, ...
but,
How about a more inviting color scheme ?

[Interaxus]

Has November been lost forever then? No backups? For instance , all those brilliant English-Latin parallel texts from Adrianus and the others - lost for ever...?!!? Ye gods! I only hope (against hope) that those November posters kept backups of their own and may be kind enough to re-post a few of them.

Oh well, worse things have happened I suppose (Bamiyan, Alexandrian library, etc).

But why this emphasis on image rather then content? Who are the prospects? Is blue superior to green, right to left?

We live in vulnerable times. Bad moment for hubris.

No cheers,
Int

[Jeff Tirey]

Has November been lost forever then? No backups? For instance , all those brilliant English-Latin parallel texts from Adrianus and the others - lost for ever...?!!? Ye gods! I only hope (against hope) that those November posters kept backups of their own and may be kind enough to re-post a few of them.
Int

Hi Interaxus,
I have them. For me to restore the lost November posts, I'll need to import them manually. This normally would not have been that big of a deal but I have made the situation far worse by being absent. The hack happened before Thanksgiving holiday and I was not aware of it for just over a week which meant that the hacked files made their way into the weekly backup. The hack, as best I can tell, left the posts alone but destroyed the table structure.

So it will take me some time to to get them back in, but it will happen. I do apologize to everyone here for the disruption.

thanks,
Jeff

[Interaxus]

And I apologize for my over-hasty reaction. Nice to know the hacker spared the goodies. Take your time, Jeff. No rush. Vivat Textkit!

Cheers,
Int

[adrianus]

Thanks for all your hard work on our behalf, Jeff.
Tuis de operis, Galfride, pro nobis omnibus, ago tibi grates.

[jk0592]

This is a very nice change from the old forum layout. Even though we are preoccupied with ancient languages, it is refreshing to finally have a modern look and feel to this forum.
I am very happy, and congratulate all of you who have worked for the benefit of this forum users.

[Boban]

I liked old forum but I don't think this is a bad change.

Is it possible to have green colors again maybe?

[Jeff Tirey]

Hi,

i'll be editing the template this weekend to bring it inline with Textkit green.

jeff

[demetri]

Hi,

i'll be editing the template this weekend to bring it inline with Textkit green.

jeff

Hey, thanks for that effort. I sort of miss the green. I'm not sure why; perhaps I'm a traditionalist.

[edonnelly]

Hey, thanks for that effort. I sort of miss the green. I'm not sure why; perhaps I'm a traditionalist.

Same here. I liked the images across the top, too.

[cantator]

Just a quick note of sempiternal thanks for the Textkit site and its tireless maintainers and moderators. The new board looks fine too.

[Bert]

A small complaint: I find the red lined icon that says there is a new post not all that distinct from the blacked lined one. If it takes hundreds of lines of programming to change that, don't worry about it, but if it is just a matter of a little toggle switch, so to speak, to make a clearer distinction than please do. Thanks a lot.

[edonnelly]

A small complaint: I find the red lined icon that says there is a new post not all that distinct from the blacked lined one. If it takes hundreds of lines of programming to change that, don't worry about it, but if it is just a matter of a little toggle switch, so to speak, to make a clearer distinction than please do. Thanks a lot.

Hey, Bert - How do you look for new posts here? Do you ever use the following link:

http://www.textkit.com/greek-latin-forum/search.php?search_id=newposts

For me, it takes me right to a list of all the new posts since I last logged in. I can't remember the last time I ever even looked at the regular board index. The other nice thing is that when you do click on one of the new threads, there's a link right at the top of it to jump you to the "first unread post." Probably there's a way to merge that all into one step, but it's still pretty fast the way it is now.

Ed

[Bert]

Hey, thanks. That's great.

[Bert]

Works great.

[adrianus]

Salve Jeff/Galfride
Things that I noticed that I wondered about: (1) the Forum search tool doesn't work and (2) the diacritics on archived posts don't display properly (I have a lot in my Latin). With respect to 2, will I edit my old posts or is there an automated fix to come?
Haec adnotavi, de quibus cogitabam: (primum) instrumentum ad inquirendum in foro non fungitur, et (secundum) priscis in epistulis diacritica (quorum ego quidem latinè nummerum magnum habeo) perperàm ostenduntur. De secundo, debeone epistulas meas corrigere an automatismum emendandi expectare?

[Essorant]

I hope you may go back to the original textkit.com as much as possible. This style and colour doesn't have the uniqueness that the original did.

[Essorant]

i'll be editing the template this weekend to bring it inline with Textkit green.

Isn't the forum going to be edited anymore to its original Textkit green?

[Borakovelover]

I liked old forum but I don't think this is a bad change.

Is it possible to have green colors again maybe?

I guess so, but pink would be cool, lol....

[Antonios]

I just came back to the forum recently after a long absence and was dissapointed to find that many posts I used to be able to find through keyword searches cannot be retrieved. In fact, none of my searches pull up posts older than December 2008. Is this going to be fixed?

Oddly enough I can search by user and pull up old posts, but I'm usually not concerned with the user name (except in a few exceptional cases.)

[edonnelly]

I just came back to the forum recently after a long absence and was dissapointed to find that many posts I used to be able to find through keyword searches cannot be retrieved. In fact, none of my searches pull up posts older than December 2008. Is this going to be fixed?

Oddly enough I can search by user and pull up old posts, but I'm usually not concerned with the user name (except in a few exceptional cases.)

I have no idea what will or won't be fixed, but I have found that the best way to search is to just use google, and put:

site:textkit.com/greek-latin-forum/

into the search box as the first part of the search, then add whatever you are searching for into the rest of the search box.

[christophe]

For those who would like to hear a real conversation in ancient Greek, a new video has been posted in the site poliskoine.com. It is worthwhile having a look at it.

Christophe