New site

[Hunchman801]

As you may have heard, we are currently working on major changes to the website, involving the forum, the wiki, the portal and other parts of Pirate-Community.

It's the occasion for all of you to suggest any features and improvements you'd like to see on the new version of the website, so please do!

But first, I'd like us to focus on the portal, since I'll basically be recreating it from scratch. New designs, ideas for its content, etc.: feel free to suggest anything!

EDIT: SITE IS NOW LIVE

Hi all,

I am delighted to announce that Pirate-Community has been successfully updated to a brand new version!

Please find below a list of all additions, improvements and other modifications.

• Forum
  • The forum software has been updated to phpBB 3.1, a major rewrite bringing its load of new features. You can read more about it here, but here is a summary of the major additions:
    • Responsive theme: now fully optimized for mobile devices.
    • Notifications: get notified when someone replies to one of your posts, a topic you are following, or many other events.
    • Extensions system: this means that every single custom feature of the forum, from points to BBCode to gender icons to ranks to record day and spam protection, has been rewritten using state-of-the-art technologies.
    • AJAX calls: some actions can be performed without having to reload the whole page.
    • Large image resizing: view your images in full.
    • Better timezone handling: daylight saving time adjusts automatically.
    • Last message topic and author in forum list.
    • Improved search.
  • Points system
    • Notifications when a user is given, added or deducted Tings.
    • Link to the transactions page on the front page.
  • BBCode
    • Brand new spoiler tag: click a blurry spoiler to show its content. This technique allows the use of inline as well as block spoilers.
    • Improved interface for the YouTube tag: just paste the URL and the tag will be added for you.
    • Missing tags added to the posting page.
  • Style
    • Support for high pixel density displays (e.g. Retina): new vector icons will look smooth and smilies will stay crisp on all screens.
    • Many small improvements to the forum style.
  • Other
    • Zoom available for resized images: click to view the original version.
    • New smilies were added and some of the existing ones were enhanced.
• Wiki
  • New style: RayWiki comes with a brand new style, in line with that of the forum. It looks great on high pixel density displays thanks to its use of vector images and high resolution sprites.
  • Single sign-on: no need to enter your credentials twice, logging in on the forum will automatically log you in on the wiki. Due to a breaking change in the latest version of MediaWiki, this feature has been postponed.
  • The wiki software has been updated to MediaWiki 1.27. A full list of changes is available here and here.
  • CSS classes for templates: contributors need not use inline CSS anymore, just use the new style's classes.
• Portal
  • Complete code rewrite: just like all of our custom features, the portal has been rebuilt from scratch. Say hello to v3.1, “Lotsa Featuri”!
  • Anyone authorized by the team can now write news items.
  • The automatic posting of news items on Facebook and Twitter has been reactivated.
  • The complex RSS feed on the right has been replaced with a simply customizable latest posts feed: just select the forums you want to see messages from.
  • The calendar has been removed.
  • Localized wiki links: French users will be taken to the French wiki.
• Other
  • The entire site has been switched to HTTPS for enhanced security and privacy. While HTTPS has been available on Pirate-Community for many years, the self-signed certificate caused browsers to display alarming messages, which is not the case anymore thanks to the new valid, authoritatively signed certficate.

There are also a few improvements that we were not able to roll out yet due to some of the underlying software's release schedule: another update is coming, which will bring, among others, emoji support, enhanced BBCodes and performance improvements.

Stay tuned, and we hope you'll enjoy this brand new website!

[Matyuv]

More smileys

[Reese Riverson]

More smileys

Ditto.

[Hunchman801]

More smileys

Post your selection here, maybe the community can vote for the best ones!

[Bradandez]

Yeah, more smiley would be great. Maybe even remake the old ones too?
And a whole page dedicated for Barbara

[Imco]

Well, I did post some banners here viewtopic.php?p=1112665#p1112665 viewtopic.php?p=1112613#p1112613 which you're welcome to use any time

[Master]

And a whole page dedicated for Barbara

Heh, I don't think that'd work. But there is something else being discussed that might be able to accommodate such an idea.

As for my own suggestions, I think I've blabbed about some things in the past, I'll see if I can dig 'em up and have folks sound off.

[Bradandez]

Do new ranks count as a suggestion?

[Hunchman801]

Well, I did post some banners here viewtopic.php?p=1112665#p1112665 viewtopic.php?p=1112613#p1112613 which you're welcome to use any time

Thanks Imco, I'll be sure to use them where they're needed. Don't hesitate to create some for RayWiki and RaySaves if you feel like it.

Do new ranks count as a suggestion?

Sure, though that'd have to be a big community project like last time!

[Bradandez]

I'll be more than happy to make Origins/Legends ranks once we get something sorted out.

[DandyGuy]

Can we make suggestions about the U.I. as well? Or better yet show you some things within Dreamweaver?

[Imco]

Well, I did post some banners here viewtopic.php?p=1112665#p1112665 viewtopic.php?p=1112613#p1112613 which you're welcome to use any time

Thanks Imco, I'll be sure to use them where they're needed. Don't hesitate to create some for RayWiki and RaySaves if you feel like it.

How are these?

[Hunchman801]

Can we make suggestions about the U.I. as well? Or better yet show you some things within Dreamweaver?

Definitely!

How are these?
http://puu.sh/kisVF/9574116452.png
http://puu.sh/kisWz/fead4740c3.png

Much better than the placeholders! I'll update them as soon as possible.

[Imco]

Here's one for RayTunes

[Dart]

Well, I did post some banners here viewtopic.php?p=1112665#p1112665 viewtopic.php?p=1112613#p1112613 which you're welcome to use any time

Thanks Imco, I'll be sure to use them where they're needed. Don't hesitate to create some for RayWiki and RaySaves if you feel like it.

Do new ranks count as a suggestion?

Sure, though that'd have to be a big community project like last time!

I'd love to assist in creating a few new ranks, though I hardly know how one would make them.

[Eren]

I'd love to assist in creating a few new ranks, though I hardly know how one would make them.

Photoshop or Gimp
I would also love to help creating new ranks
These are examples i made for the Special Rank Archive (of course i will put more effort in making them)

[incognito]

I have an idea !

The ability to choose his rank without having a ting bank !

[Reese Riverson]

I have an idea !

The ability to choose his rank without having a ting bank !

Not a bad idea! I can picture it now. You get a drop down menu in your UCP below your goodies / baddies selector, and you can choose any rank at or below what you normally get for your Ting count.

[Imco]

I have an idea !

The ability to choose his rank without having a ting bank !

Not a bad idea! I can picture it now. You get a drop down menu in your UCP below your goodies / baddies selector, and you can choose any rank at or below what you normally get for your Ting count.

That's indeed quite a good idea, you could see ranks as unlockables

[Reese Riverson]

Something like this is what I'm thinking.

We could either go by "Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, etc" or by actual rank name. Though the former option will be easiest unless the list gets it's arrangement from the selected alignment.