Geek Developers' Blog

We have changed the release schedule to be every Thursday instead of every Friday.

This week (from today until next Thursday, that is) we focus on testing Frontpage, account, geekmod, image upload, editor. Remember that what you do on the beta site is done also to the live site, so upload images, change your account etc. like you would on the normal site. If you want to test anything without using your own account, use the test account (information was in your invitation email).

An issue that was noted as known in the previous updates but many have reported on is that hotness images are not correctly scaled. Rescaling for the new image formats is not activated yet.

We have a new post editor! It is a popup window that can be minimized and then brought up again, you can scroll the page, quote multiple posts etc. Please test! Is the way it works intuitive? Is it easy to understand what forces it to disappear? Are the confirmation messages appearing for the right reasons?

The parts we focus on for the week are working, there are no major changes planned to them, and we ask for your help in checking that they work as they should. If you find errors or improvements that could be made, please report them so we can make the site better. Major reworking and new features must however wait until after the new UI is released. Reports on other things than the focus area are great too, but there might be work done on them already that is not in the release of the beta that you are testing.

Thanks for your help!

Some of the issues that were fixed during the last week. Please check, especially if you reported it
Browser History problems and problems with refreshing pages
Customization of forums now works.
Can't get to list of forums from anywhere but top menu? Added a "Go to Forums" link on the Forums navigation and renamed "All Forums" to "All Recent Posts" .
Printer Friendly improved
Items in current Geekdo\Forum\News not showing in announcements bucket on RPGG: Fixed
Can't access thread during reply: Fixed with the new editor
Clicking on an 'Interest' link in a user's profile results in an error message: Fixed, and added a new set of options to the advanced search for users, to search by interest.
Not able to login/multiple javascript errors in IE: Fixed
Image not loading on user page:Fixed
Image uploader is not created on ajax window: Fixed, also for other types that are not just thread posts, like comments, geeklists and geeklist items.
Roll click event not work: Fixed. Image results now also display correct on rolls block for posts and etc. Clicking to expand on a roll is also working
Header of threads: Changed, darker now.
Item pages and Admin queue don't show item names or version nicknames: Fixed
Compose geekmail does not prefill username: Fixed
Remove superfluous header from the top of forums (Rules/Subscriptions/Bookmarks/etc...):Fixed
Pressing save after customizing your layout provides no feedback that it did anything: Feedback added.
Subscription button is shown to anonymous users: Fixed
Create thread form is unclear: The checkboxes now use the bigger more clear template
Under "Customize" nav, what does "Reset to My Defaults" do? Changed name to Refresh page.
Add Merge, delete, and view links to Admin tools for GeekItems

BETA SYSTEMS STATUS

Tested and complete
None

Tested, needs bugfix
Forums
GeekItems

Current testing
GeekAccount
Front Page - Inc. customization
Image upload
GeekMod

Working
GeekLists
GeekItem Creation
GeekItem Admin Queue
GeekItem Admin Tools
Subscriptions
GeekFeed
GeekMail
Blogs
Browse Page
Image Page
Video Page
Profile
File Page
Greatest Hits/Default Home
Search
Advanced Search
Wiki
Microbadge
Podcast
GeekGold (Give/Browse)
Tags (including browse/edit)
QuickBar
Collection (only board games)

Not working
Gone Cardboard
Collection Portability
GeekItem Accelerator
Homepage Banner Rotator
Plays
Flag/User Browser
eBay
Guilds
Trades
Polls
GeekBuddies
Publisher Sorted Geeklist
Marketplace
GeekExchange
GeekAuctions
GeekCurrent
GeekChat
GeekQuestions

Changing Domains
If you want to change domains you click on the images on the footer of the page, the URL won’t change but until you do something to change again you should still be on the new domain.

New Global Forums
Although there are three “domains” to the geek, in the end it is only one big site, instead of a simple network of sites. In face of that there has been a change to the organization of the forums. The old GeekDo News got some new friends, and they are now visible on the Forum list under “Global Forums”. The new forums are:
- How to Geek;
- Geek Bugs;
- Geek Suggestions;
- Complaints Department;
- RSP;
- Spam;
- Testing;

When we launch (but not before as this change would affect the live site as well) threads that are now on the equivalent domain forums (for Geek Bugs it would BGG Bugs, RPGG Bugs, etc) will be moved to the Global Forum. Also, a new forum, again only on launch, will be added to each domain called “Domain Discussion”. This forum will be a catch-all type to encompass domain specific bugs, suggestions and how-tos. These will become rarer as time pass, so it should be easy to manage only one. The Off-Topic forums (Arcade, Chit Chat and Tavern) will be kept separated and will be moved from the Everything Else header to the DOMAIN Related header. We have not decided on the Creative Fodder yet.

Empty pages
Some pages, especially things that are sorted by Hot might appear empty the first time you check. If you recheck it after about 5 mins it should show correctly. This is because you might hit a cache that is not created yet. And after the first hit it is created.

Other know issues
Geeklists are getting reworked. The functionality is there, it works, but it will be changed in layout.

The customization has changed completely. You can click on customization on the bottom of the navigation panel and change what block of information to show, and edit the details of each one.

Checking your geekmail or a subscription might not correctly mark it as read, so there might be a difference between the beta and the live site.

Image caches have not been regenerated. This means that for example the hotness images look very odd.

The laurel image on the ranks is a placeholder.

If you change the page or filter on the hotness and hit the back button it opens the hotness on the center bucket.

The “Next Unread Item” might hit an error page. That is because some of the subscription types have not been converted yet, so if you hit one of those it won’t work.

The social web bucket is not there.

The recent activity is not styled yet.

Most of your old quickbar links should be converted, although there is a bug where the pages are shifted 1 to the right (so your first page is now page 2).

The site loads slow from time to time.