The new TAT2.0. And how it works (technical questions)

[ponchi101]

I forgot who asked about making tables in this board.
It can be done.
1. You will notice a small new icon when you start a new post IN FULL MODE (not in quick reply). It looks like a...little table.
2. You can select number of rows and columns. It is limited to 7 columns, 10 rows (sorry, not my code. I would have done... something worse, for sure).
3. You can DISPLAY/HIDE the guidelines. They are fairly serious.

The tables are not easy. There is considerable substitution, but once you figure it out, it does make sense.
For example:
TEXT is arranged in a matrix format so that TEXT13 means TEXT in the 1st ROW, 3rd COLUMN. Text24: 2nd ROW/4th COLUMN.

tables.jpg

YOU CANNOT CREATE THE TABLE AND THEN FILL IT IN AFTER POSTING. I said it before: it will not be a Rolls. And this is like having windshield wipers BEFORE there was the INTERMITENT functions (yes, I remember those).
But you still have windshield wipers. Now.

[Deuce]

Hi, ponchi...
Two questions - firstly, would you consider moving the 'profile box' of each post (where the avatar, medals, join date, etc. are) to the left-hand side, as it is in the original TAT (and in the great majority of other message boards/forums)? I've tried to get used to it being on the right, but it's difficult.
The avatar is what instantly identifies a poster for me (and for most others, I assume), and, as English is always read from left to right, having the avatar on the opposite side to the side we start reading posts on means having to scan the other side of the screen on every post.
I think having it on the left-hand side would be more natural and intuitive for the majority.

Secondly, I sometimes notice in the 'who is online' area at the bottom of the Board Index a 'user' named 'Google Bot'. Is this you, or something you initiate... or are we all being spied upon by Big Brother?

[ponchi101]

Deuce.
I don't see a setting for having the poster's profile on the left. I believe that is the structure of the page, so I don't see a way of changing it.
Remember, TAT1.0 was run on a different software.
The google bot is part of the phpBB package. I do not understand bots that well, but nothing we can do about it. Google Analytics comes here, checks that we are a bunch of boring people, and probably are putting us at the very end of every single search for "tennis forum". Which I really will not mind.

[Deuce]

Deuce.
I don't see a setting for having the poster's profile on the left. I believe that is the structure of the page, so I don't see a way of changing it.
Remember, TAT1.0 was run on a different software.
The google bot is part of the phpBB package. I do not understand bots that well, but nothing we can do about it. Google Analytics comes here, checks that we are a bunch of boring people, and probably are putting us at the very end of every single search for "tennis forum". Which I really will not mind.

^Yes, I know TAT was on different software - but 95% of the forums I've seen, including phpBB ones, the poster's profile is on the left-hand side. I always thought that profiles on the left was the default in all forum software - at least the ones which function primarily in English, due to the left-to-right reading direction.
I thought it would be as easy as you clicking a button - really - because this, too, seems like a pretty basic feature. But I've searched about it and see that it seems to be dependent on the 'style' (colour theme)... and it must be changed for each 'style' individually?
The more I see of how phpBB works, I see that to make changes, one must often have to change the coding. And on top of that, the instructions are always written in Japanese (well, it might as well be Japanese to me .)
Hey - if it's complicated, just forget it. I would have thought that in 2020, changes like this could literally be made by a simple click.

This seems complicated (to me, at least)...
https://www.artodia.com/phpbb-30-tutori ... -the-left/

I assume there's no way to disable the Google Bot spy - at least not without missing out on something that's sort of necessary?

Here's an extension that does what Deuce is mentioning: https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/exte ... _switcher/. In a quick search, I didn't see anyone posting about whether it works with phpBB 3.3 or not, but some people said it worked with 3.2.

^ Thanks for checking, Tog.

[ponchi101]

Deuce:
The first two solutions cause crashes . But THE THIRD ONE WORKS!
Let me wait until the afternoon so I can make a backup of the forum (I can only do one every 24 hrs) and then upload to the real site. I tested that one in my "fake" one for testing, and it worked, but from previous experience we know now that sometimes they do not work in the real server.
BTW: the extension sets the default to LEFT, but you can select that individually. So I will post the instructions here on how to do that (fairly simple, just User CP). But I want this thread to be like the repository for all these technical instructions.
Tog, thanks for the searches. You posted one with the link to the real solution.

(Ponchi101, sheepishly, jealously, thinks: "Damn, Tog is doing a better job than I am They are going to want HIM to run the site. CAN'T ALLOW THAT )

Edit. And BTW: I like the profile on the RIGHT. That way you can read the post before finding out who wrote it. Avoids some bias

[Kirkus]

Stop apologizing for using phpBB. What it does is actually pretty amazing. TAT's first forum software didn't even use a database. It was all done with text files. This is all coming together really well, Ponchi.

[ponchi101]

We have uploaded an extension that allows you to decide where to put the profiles' boxes in messages and PM. It can be customized:
1. USER CONTROL PANEL
2. BOARD PREFERENCES
3. EDIT DISPLAY OPTIONS
4. DISPLAY PROFILE LEFT (yes or no switch)

Switch.jpg

Let us know if it is working fine.

[Deuce]

Great! Thanks, ponchi - much appreciated. The fact that it's user selectable is a nice bonus that renders it perfect.

Now you just need to figure out how to put your eyeball avatar on BOTH sides of each post - to frighten people even more...

Thanks again.

[ponchi101]

Hello.
I have installed two new themes for the board. They are related to the Aussie open.
The first one is prosilver_AO_Of. I used the official colors of the tournament, which, coincidentally, are very similar to the default theme of the board (prosilver, the main theme for all phpBB). It makes very little difference, but those are the colors.
However, the Aussie uses a bright yellow in many of its pages. That is included in the prosilver_AO_Br theme. I like that a little more.
If anybody wants to submit a good header to put up at the beginning of 2021, I will gladly use it.
I gather I have enough time to work out RG. And the other two.

Edit: RG, two Wimby and USO are up. Let me know which ones you dislike

[Deuce]

Ok, I give up... For the past 2 weeks or so, I've been seeing star ratings for topics.... I've been seeing these ratings change from day to day...
I've looked for how one can rate a topic, and HAVE NOT FOUND any button or function for that purpose.
My vision is good - so that's not the problem. I've looked for it with the 'prosilver' style, thinking maybe other styles may not show the ratings button. But I don't see it in 'prosilver', either.
I have told myself that I will not ask where the function is - I will keep looking for it, and will eventually locate it. But after at least 2 weeks of searching, I am giving up.

Now, I will likely never rate a topic in my lifetime - but it is truly bothering me that I cannot for the life of me find any function that allows one to rate a topic. As I see star ratings for topics, I assume that there must be a function for this somewhere. BUT WHERE??
For the sake of my sanity, please point me to it.

[ponchi101]

You can't, indeed, rate a topic. It is in function of the THANKS a post receives.
It is kind of silly, but it works like this: People can thank the posts in any topic. So, the rating is done by how many posts are thanked WITHIN THE TOPIC. if, for example, the topic has three posts and only one has been thanked, it will get a 33% rating, which will be rounded. So for a topic to have multiple stars, a lot of readers must thank it a lot.
I am not sure if when people thank many times a post, the many times count for the total thanks of the topic.
So, no, you can't rank a post. It will be done automatically. But as we thank some people for their posts, the little stars will change.
Us being almost a club and not a board (we are so few) I gather any post with 2 thanks will be 95% of the highest thanked post.
So don't worry, it is not you. Go ahead and thank somebody and then see how that will affect the post (you can un-thank it later).

[Deuce]

Wow... I wouldn't have thought of that. Man, you should have told me this before - I wouldn't have spent the past 2+ weeks searching for the ratings function!

I agree - it is silly. And misleading. I was wondering why some topics went from being rated, say, 75% to being rated 20%. I assumed it was because people were indicating they did not like the topic - which I think is a logical assumption.
If it matters, I vote for removing the star ratings if that's possible, as the way it is calculated makes every rating completely irrelevant - and confusing.

[ponchi101]

A question has been asked about editing your profile.
All profile matters are controlled via the User Control Panel. There, the second tab controls all your profile features:

Profile.jpg

And BTW: You CANNOT change your profile until you stop being a NEWLY REGISTERED member. That is so spambots cannot change/insert links to profiles created minutes ago. And you stop being a newbie after you post 5 times; or you can ask Tog or I to upgrade you. We can and will do that only for known members (those coming from TAT1.0)
Keep your questions coming. phpBB has some charms up the sleeve

[ponchi101]

Hi gang:
I believe that this has happened to me twice already.
I was posting a reply (not quoting) and pressed SUBMIT. At the same time, a second person was posting something more in the topic, and my post was not posted. At least, that is what I think happened.
Let us know if this has happened to you. If this is a limitation of phpBB, we have to be aware of it, specially during contests and such in which people may be posting simultaneously.
Txs.

[Deuce]

For you and anyone else to whom this might happen, and you lose everything you've typed, there is an add-on / extension that will save what you type in case this kind of accident occurs.

It is called 'Textarea Cache', and I can confirm that it works efficiently and does what it claims to do - saves what you type so that you can recover it in situations like the one ponchi describes. It even saves formatted text.

For Chrome and Chrome-based browsers:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... ated?hl=en

For Firefox and Firefox-based browsers:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefo ... rea-cache/

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