Suggestions for Apolyton's Future

[Aeson]

Over the next couple weeks (hopefully not longer) I am going to be rather busy getting ready to move the site to a new server, and upgrade to vB5. I have a few ideas about what I'd like to see happen with Apolyton over the next few months, and thought I would share them with you. Also, I'd like to hear what things you want to see Apolyton do ... things to keep the way they are, things to change, features you'd like to see added.

Changes I plan on: (not necessarily in order)

- attachments/avatars fixed
- default theme back to a retro Apolyton look. Greatly reduced header size.
- upgrade to vB5.
- Android and iOS branded apps for accessing the forums. Tapatalk integration.
- site navigation to a Civ I, Civ II, ... Civ X top-level layout.
- complete and easily navigated game "civilopedias" integrated into the site
- intuitive download section

What are your thoughts? Please keep this thread constructive. This is the thread for which smilies we need most ... We can have an OT mirror thread for who you'd like to see banned

[ZEE]

Please keeP a BlacK BacKground theme as a choice.

[SlowwHand]

Yes.

[Aeson]

Ok, I'll make sure to keep a black background theme option.

[BlackCat]

[N35t0r]

I've grown to like the new themes.

[Ming]

Yes... please make sure you keep all the current themes. It has taken me a while to get used to the theme I'm using, and I would like to continue using it

[Aeson]

Ok, but once you see the new themes you'll change your mind.

The look of vBulletin 5 is going to necessarily be a bit different though. I'm still not sold on the upgrade. That's one of the main things I'd like feedback on. I have the license already, but if we don't use it for Apolyton I can use it for one of my other sites, and it can be used for 5 or 4, so it's not an issue either way.

You can see the basic vBulletin 5 look at http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/

There's a lot of changes with it, the most noticeable ones:

- site previews added automatically when adding links to posts
- "likes" for posts, threads, blogs, etc (can be vB or Facebook)
- jquery attachments, much more fluid than the attachment system we're using
- themes are adaptive (by default) so appear better on smaller viewports (cellphones).
- comments on specific replies (can be disabled, probably should be for most threads)

Other benefits:

- easy integration to Android and iOS apps (as well as the adaptive themes which maintain useability on smaller viewports)
- moderation via mobile apps

Other Drawbacks:

- still a lot of bugs/missing features

[Nikolai]

Safety first. I guess vb5 is better than some old vb4?

[Aeson]

I don't know which would be more secure. vB5 is more of an unknown commodity. It likely has vulnerabilities that haven't been found yet. vB4 is widely used, and so more likely targeted ... but has had at least some of it's vulnerabilities figured out/fixed.

[SlowwHand]

For what it's worth, I don't change for Vista or any other crap. I wait for 2nd service pack and business to adopt it.

[Legend]

Feedback I have read on vbulletin 5 is that it is a resource-hungry sloth. Interested to see what you make of it.

[Aeson]

Yah, the more I read about it the less there seems to be to like. It is running well on a test server I set up, but there's a lot of horror stories out there. For now we'll stick with 4.2

[Magno]

good luck Aeson! thanks for your work to keep Apoly young for ever...!!

[Nikolai]

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