*Welcome to the new TechExams.net!*

Webmaster

I'm pleased to introduce to you the new TE! Took a "tad" longer than expected, which was expected but it took even longer than that.

This upgrade was what we internally refer to as phase one of TEv4 and besides a major forum upgrade provides us with a better system for integrating additional features. Phase two will be spread out over the next several weeks and includes integrated blogs, a new test engine (including new practice exams) and more.

The forum upgrade by itself introduces a whole bunch of new features of which I will list some of the imo best:

- Much better editor (box I'm typing in now) that amongst many other things supports an auto-save draft feature.

- Notifications menu (top right of page, the counter) - Although it was available for our forums earlier, if you use Google+ you'll find it very familiar. Currently notifies you of new PMs, new rep, and friend requests. I'll add more in the future, perhaps when you get a reply to a subscribed thread.

- Better search - Not directly something you'll notice, but once we finish phase 2 of the upgrade you'll be able to search blogs, articles/TechNotes, and the forums in one search. [Search tables are still rebuilding, so results are incomplete for a while]

- New Mobile Style - A new mobile theme that supports iPhones and Androids, and soon other mobile browsers. There's an update coming that fixes a whopping 122 bugs so consider this one in a test phase.

There are still several things I need to do to but they don't require the forums to be closed. That includes some cosmetic changes as well but if you notice something unworkable or simply not functioning please let me know (either by posting here or PM-ing me). I hope you like the new design! Still needs some tweaking (including some font size changes) which I'll do this weekend.

Several maintenance routines and cache rebuilding might cause the site to respond slower than usual. I'm keeping a close eye on the server and we may have some additional down time during the weekend.

Johan

jamesleecoleman

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

djfunz

It looks so pretty!

Essendon

I'll be honest, I liked the former look of the forums. This one looks too fancy, but I guess I need to get used to it.

I like the auto-save feature in the quick-type box, love it. More than a few times, I've accidentally hit the backspace button and lost all my text.

@ Johan

- I cannot find the User CP button we used to have before, tucked away somewhere?
- The add rep button kinda blends into the grey background when you hover your mouse over it, can we have a different colour please?
- Can we add the English dictionary to the site? Colour is red-lined. I dont want to call it Color, I know this aint a big deal, just something I noticed.

And you know what Johan, you rock! YOU da man!!

Webmaster

Essendon wrote: »

- I cannot find the User CP button we used to have before, tucked away somewhere?

It's the Settings icon left from Log Out at the top right of the page.

Essendon wrote: »

- The add rep button kinda blends into the grey background when you hover your mouse over it, can we have a different colour please?

Yes (that's one of the cosmetic changes I was referring to).

Essendon wrote: »

- Can we add the English dictionary to the site? Colour is red-lined. I dont want to call it Color, I know this aint a big deal, just something I noticed.

Isn't that FF / your browser?

Edit: I just noticed the first quote above overlaps the title - added to list.

Dr IT

Fantastickoo Keep up the good work...

Mike-Mike

it looks sweet!

there used to be a "new posts" button, is that the same as "today's post" now?

Webmaster

Mike-Mike wrote: »

there used to be a "new posts" button, is that the same as "today's post" now?

Ah, I should have mentioned that. The What's New option (top left) basically replaces the "New Posts" feature but will also show new blogs entries and articles/TechNotes.

N2IT

Nice work so far so good!

Everyone

That explains the "Internal Error 500" last night." :P

Looks good! What no one else uses any other forums that have upgraded to this version of vBulletin? A couple car related forums I'm on upgraded to this quite some time ago, so I guess I'm already used to it. :P Maybe I'm just a bit of a forum junkie.

mikedisd2

Nuts, it doesn't fit into my browser anymore.

Wouldn't mind it being a few shades greyer to be gentler on the eyes.

Devilsbane

Well this explains why the forums were down last night!

Change always disappoints me at first. When things move around I get concerned. But with all of the new features I think this should be a big win.

Way to go!

Webmaster

mikedisd2 wrote: »

Nuts, it doesn't fit into my browser anymore.

Wouldn't mind it being a few shades greyer to be gentler on the eyes.

Ok, changed the minimum width a little so it should fit in 1024x768 again (assuming that's what you have). I'll take a look at our second request after I get some sleep because right now even #ccc is bright.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

RobertKaucher

Awesome!

erpadmin

Well done, Johan!

I can't wait to see how TE looks on my phone.

hiddenknight821

Wow. Not bad at all. I guess I would have to get used to it since the new layout is pretty much eye candy.

Priston

When I search for posts by my username I get
Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.

SteveLord

Looks great on iPad finally.

CodeBlox

I personally like the new look! IMO, change is good!

pham0329

sweeet! The new color scheme is way better than the old one. Nice job!

KrisA

That explains why I couldn't get on the forums at midnight!... Looks good so far, keep up the GREAT work

themagicone

I'm going to disagree here, I'm not a fan of the "block" style. I like the much flatter style, easier to read.

cyberguypr

Looks very clean. Good job

jamesp1983

It looks great. Nice work.

NightShade03

Awesome job on the new look.

FYI - Logging in gives me a "Unknown redirect" error. The login happens fine, just seems to get confused on the redirect. Not a huge deal.

alan2308

I'm liking it. And this is coming from an old crotchety guy who generally hates change.

demonfurbie

umm the mobile site wont work on android 2.2 with the dolphin hd browser (the most popular one it beats out the normal one)

nastynate604

I am finding that I cannot create new posts using Chrome or Firefox, only IE. When I try and create a new post with either Chrome or FF the editor will not show up, it just turns grey. Any thoughts on this? Other than that great job! But please try and fix the above, I hate using Internet Exploder.

Thanks!

networker050184

nastynate604 wrote: »

I am finding that I cannot create new posts using Chrome or Firefox, only IE. When I try and create a new post with either Chrome or FF the editor will not show up, it just turns grey. Any thoughts on this? Other than that great job! But please try and fix the above, I hate using Internet Exploder.

Thanks!

Just tested and it works fine for me in FF 6.0.2.

CodeBlox

Works for me. I do notice that it creates the post in the "quick reply" automatically.

nastynate604

What about chrome?