Forum Software Upgraded

[MarkP]

I just finished upgrading the forum software to the next software release. This release includes numerous bug fixes and new features/enhancements.

Below are some of the new features and enhancements:

Thread Tagging

A new way to facilitate searching and grouping of threads, it is now possible for users to add tags to threads they post or read.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/thread-tags-newthread.png

Tags can be added when creating a new thread, or to an existing thread by any user (with appropriate permissions).

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/thread-tags-showthread.png

Any users who then click on these tags will not only find all thread that have the same tag as the one clicked, but will also contribute to the building of a search tag cloud, which gives users a quick guide as to what has been searched for recently and most frequently.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/thread-tags-search-cloud.png


Thread Prefixes

Long requested by users, threads can now have administrator-defined prefixes to their titles.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/thread-prefixes-forumdisplay.png

Thread prefixes are divided into groups by the administrator, allowing different prefixes to be available in different forums.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/thread-prefixes.png

Reciprocal Friendships Between Users

As part of our new social networking system, users can now request that people on their buddy list confirm their friendship, after which time a person's list of confirmed friends will be viewable to other users.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/friends-edit.png

Public Messaging

While private messages between users have been in vBulletin since version 2.0, vBulletin 3.7 introduces the public messaging system, allowing users to communicate publicly via their profile pages.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/public-messages-profile.png

User Picture Galleries

vBulletin users can now create albums and upload pictures to their account.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/album-show-album.png

The ability to view these albums and pictures can be limited by the user to just board staff and people on their buddy list if they want privacy.

[MarkP]

User-Created Social Groups

To further social cohesion between users and to encourage people to make friends, vBulletin now includes a facility to allow users to create their own social/interest groups.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/social-groups.png

These groups are enhanced by having their own public messaging system, and the ability to add pictures to the group from user albums.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/social-groups-messages-and-pictures.png

New Member Profile Page

In order to accomodate all the new features in vBulletin 3.7, the member profile page has been completely redesigned from the ground up.

The new page presents information in a far cleaner and more logical manner, while dividing up information into manageable chunks using a tabbed interface.

Individual profile field categories can be displayed alone in blocks in the right column, in addition to appearing by default in the 'About Me' tab.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/new-memberinfo-b.png

Member Customization of Profile Page

The administrator may choose to allow his members to use the profile page customization tool, which allows users to alter fonts, colors, background and borders etc. of their profile page in order to create a more personalized look.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/customize-profile-editor.png


Inline Editing of Profile Field Values

The 'About Me' tab of each member's profile page has edit controls, allowing them to quickly change values without leaving their profile page.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/profilefield-ajax-edit.png

Attachment Viewing Lightbox

Clicking on an attached image will now open a lightbox rather than open a new window, with the image scaled to fit the browser viewport. A click on the image in the lightbox will open it in a new window as before.

http://files.vbulletin.com/3.7/lightbox-showthread.png