New website and forum integration

testerdahl

testerdahl

Administrator
Staff member
Hello everyone,

Yesterday Jill and I spent 2 hours with our IT guy discussing a new website. I wanted to share some overall thoughts as well as how this would impact the forum.

First, the plan is to:

  • Speed up page loading times
  • Stop items from shifting on the screen
  • Make font larger and easier to read
  • Make photos wider
  • Add more white space throughout the website which should cut down on how spammy some ads are displayed
  • Improve how the website looks on mobile
For the forum

  • Automate creating posts for every new story on the website
  • Move all article comments to the forum
  • Improve page loading speed
We are just in the midst of working on this and I hope by September 1 a new website will be online.

Why make the change? Our current design is at least 5 years old and we have been patching it together. Not everything works as it should and things shift too much for my liking.

Also, the website took a massive hit for traffic and revenue last year with a Google update. The hope is a new website layout will encourage Google to love us again and turn that trend around.

Thank you for your patience.
 
That’d be great, Tim. I had an old ipad and it was really hard to do anything, post, like comments, etc. i have a new ipad now that works better but its still glitchy on your forum.
 
I'm also working on removing our comments section and instead using the forum and vice versa. There's a slick app that we are playing with that will automatically create a forum post whenever we publish a website article. Then you can comment and anyone who visits the website can more easily comment or reply to your comment on the forum.

Scroll down a little and there's a short video showing how this would work: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/article-and-forum-connect-xenforo-and-wordpress.8405/
 
testerdahl said:
I'm also working on removing our comments section and instead using the forum and vice versa. There's a slick app that we are playing with that will automatically create a forum post whenever we publish a website article. Then you can comment and anyone who visits the website can more easily comment or reply to your comment on the forum.

Scroll down a little and there's a short video showing how this would work: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/article-and-forum-connect-xenforo-and-wordpress.8405/
Click to expand...
Wow that’s a lot of good information. It’s probably me but I’ve had trouble linking outside “stories” into my response to a forum topic. Also it seems whenever I post a photo it just shows the image file that the viewer has to click on to bring up the actual photo. Maybe it’s because the photo is too large? Just an old geezer trying to stumble his way through the modern technology.
 
NMTRUCKER said:
Wow that’s a lot of good information. It’s probably me but I’ve had trouble linking outside “stories” into my response to a forum topic. Also it seems whenever I post a photo it just shows the image file that the viewer has to click on to bring up the actual photo. Maybe it’s because the photo is too large? Just an old geezer trying to stumble his way through the modern technology.
Click to expand...
I've had similar issues. Once the new website goes live, I'm going to have the IT team take a closer look at the forum especially the photos piece of it.
 
It might be the way you attach your image or the format. Iphone photos need to be converted to .jpg to work properly on the forum. The .heic file format use by Apple does not play nice with most internet forum.

Also, make sure to use the Insert image function and not the attach files. The insert image, will render the file in page and not just attach it like an email.
 
TheDo114 said:
It might be the way you attach your image or the format. Iphone photos need to be converted to .jpg to work properly on the forum. The .heic file format use by Apple does not play nice with most internet forum.

Also, make sure to use the Insert image function and not the attach files. The insert image, will render the file in page and not just attach it like an email.
Click to expand...
I had noticed the .heic issue and wasn't sure on it. Thanks for sharing.
 
TheDo114 said:
It might be the way you attach your image or the format. Iphone photos need to be converted to .jpg to work properly on the forum. The .heic file format use by Apple does not play nice with most internet forum.

Also, make sure to use the Insert image function and not the attach files. The insert image, will render the file in page and not just attach it like an email.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I would have never known those 2 things. Is there an APP used to convert iPhone photos to JPEG?
 
NMTRUCKER said:
Thanks, I would have never known those 2 things. Is there an APP used to convert iPhone photos to JPEG?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure. I usually post pictures from a computer but you could try these steps:

To convert HEIC to JPG directly on an iPhone, navigate to the HEIC photo you wish to convert. Then,use the ‘Share’ button and opt to copy the photo. It will then be copied to the JPEG folder on your iPhone as a JPG.

Once you copy the picture, you can then come back to the post and paste it.
 
TheDo114 said:
I'm not sure. I usually post pictures from a computer but you could try these steps:

To convert HEIC to JPG directly on an iPhone, navigate to the HEIC photo you wish to convert. Then,use the ‘Share’ button and opt to copy the photo. It will then be copied to the JPEG folder on your iPhone as a JPG.

Once you copy the picture, you can then come back to the post and paste it.
Click to expand...
Got it, check post #12.👍
 
You can also change it within your iPhone:
There are multiple ways to change HEIC to JPG on an iPhone, including changing the camera settings and using the Files app:


  • Change the camera settings
    To save photos as JPGs instead of HEIC, you can change the camera settings in the Settings app:

    1. Open Settings


    2. Tap Camera


    3. Tap Formats


    4. In the Camera Capture section, select Most Compatible

    • Use the Files app
      To convert HEIC images to JPGs, you can use the Files app:

        • Open the Photos app and select the images to convert

        • Click the Share icon and select Copy Photos

        • Open the Files app

        • Select New Folder

        • Tap and hold in the blank space and select Paste

        • The images will appear in JPG format

HEIC is the file format for the High Efficiency Image Format (HEIF) Standard, which allows photos to be smaller while retaining high image quality. However, HEIC may not be compatible with all devices.
 
testerdahl said:
You can also change it within your iPhone:
There are multiple ways to change HEIC to JPG on an iPhone, including changing the camera settings and using the Files app:


  • Change the camera settings
    To save photos as JPGs instead of HEIC, you can change the camera settings in the Settings app:
    1. Open Settings


    2. Tap Camera


    3. Tap Formats


    4. In the Camera Capture section, select Most Compatible
    • Use the Files app
      To convert HEIC images to JPGs, you can use the Files app:
        • Open the Photos app and select the images to convert

        • Click the Share icon and select Copy Photos

        • Open the Files app

        • Select New Folder

        • Tap and hold in the blank space and select Paste

        • The images will appear in JPG format
HEIC is the file format for the High Efficiency Image Format (HEIF) Standard, which allows photos to be smaller while retaining high image quality. However, HEIC may not be compatible with all devices.
Click to expand...
Got it. Thanks for the detailed response and I followed them to the letter and the results are shown in post #12. Thanks again to all. 👊
 
Just a quick update; after a few weeks of back and forth, we got the plugin to work enabling our websites posts to create threads on this forum automatically and we got the comments integrated to work with the forum and website. I’m hoping this creates more engagement and more forum activity.

The only problem I found is you have to be a forum member to comment with this plugin. We tried another that would allow anyone to comment, but it’s no longer supported and doesn’t work.

I don’t love the idea of forcing people to sign up for the forum to comment. On the other hand, it might deter some dumbasses from commenting since they’d have to register with their email address. Who knows.

Not sure on launch date yet. I do think we are getting close.
 
testerdahl said:
Just a quick update; after a few weeks of back and forth, we got the plugin to work enabling our websites posts to create threads on this forum automatically and we got the comments integrated to work with the forum and website. I’m hoping this creates more engagement and more forum activity.

The only problem I found is you have to be a forum member to comment with this plugin. We tried another that would allow anyone to comment, but it’s no longer supported and doesn’t work.

I don’t love the idea of forcing people to sign up for the forum to comment. On the other hand, it might deter some dumbasses from commenting since they’d have to register with their email address. Who knows.

Not sure on launch date yet. I do think we are getting close.
Click to expand...
Detering dumbassess is always welcome!
 
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