Welcome to the new TechExams.net!

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

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Comments

Mike-Mike

one note... on a thread with multiple pages, when looking at the <<First < 1234567 etc in the lower right hand corner, it's a little hard to tell what page you are on, there's not a lot of color/size difference in between the number you're on and the page that is previous/next

side note, posting on FF just fine

Psoasman

I like it!

Webmaster

Priston wrote: »

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

That was because the search tables were still rebuilding but since that process is finished now you should be getting results.

SteveLord wrote: »

Looks great on iPad finally.

Thanks, I'm glad to hear that. The mobile theme is created for phones and not tablets so I wanted to make sure the full site "fits" on a tablet properly. I do expect we will have a style for tablets in the near future as well.

NightShade03 wrote: »

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.

One of the moderators mentioned this as well but we haven't been able to reproduce it yet (only happens first time logging in to new forums?).

demonfurbie wrote: »

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)

I actually considered delaying the upgrade a few weeks because there's a major update on it's way that fixes many bugs in the mobile style in particular and adds support for more mobile browsers. It's not working properly for me on iOS 5 beta 7 either (can't load posts in particular). I expect the update to be available in a matter of weeks.

Mike-Mike wrote: »

one note... on a thread with multiple pages, when looking at the <<First < 1234567 etc in the lower right hand corner, it's a little hard to tell what page you are on, there's not a lot of color/size difference in between the number you're on and the page that is previous/next

Yeah that is supposed to be bold in addition to the page x of y, probably messed up one of the tons of css settings - added to list, thanks. [edit: fixed]

For anyone having problems with the new editor, please check Demo | CKEditor and see if it loads there. On a similar note, one of the great things of this update for me is that I can add pages to TE now by posting it in an editor just like this one, and soon that goes for practice exam/questions as well. I can also promote posts to articles, which basically turns a post into a page outside the forums with comments that (just as future blogs comments) still count as forum posts. We'll be able to provide user blogs (probably on request) soon as well. More about that later.

And thanks again for all the comments!

nastynate604

Webmaster wrote: »

For anyone having problems with the new editor, please check Demo | CKEditor and see if it loads there. On a similar note, one of the great things of this update for me is that I can add pages to TE now by posting it in an editor just like this one, and soon that goes for practice exam/questions as well. I can also promote posts to articles, which basically turns a post into a page outside the forums with comments that (just as future blogs comments) still count as forum posts. We'll be able to provide user blogs (probably on request) soon as well. More about that later.

And thanks again for all the comments!

Can't get it to work in Chrome. Doesn't work?

JDMurray

This is a test post from me (

with a test account) from Chrome with default settings, so it works fine for me. You can't open/see the editor at Demo | CKEditor either?

nastynate604

blaxman wrote: »

This is a test post from me ( with a test account) from Chrome with default settings, so it works fine for me. You can't open/see the editor at Demo | CKEditor either?

I can see the Demo of CKEditor on that page.. but when i go to reply (I'm using IE right now) with chrome, the editor displays for like half a second and then disappears..

nastynate604

blaxman wrote: »

This is a test post from me ( with a test account) from Chrome with default settings, so it works fine for me. You can't open/see the editor at Demo | CKEditor either?

Which version of chrome are you using?

WiseWun

Love it! Change is always good...for the most part.

Webmaster

nastynate604 wrote: »

Which version of chrome are you using?

13.0.782.220 m. Does it work if you "Go Advanced" below the quick reply box?

nastynate604

Webmaster wrote: »

13.0.782.220 m. Does it work if you "Go Advanced" below the quick reply box?

I just switched to latest version of Firefox which is working fine. I'm using the same version of Chrome as you and basically if I hit the 'go advanced' button it takes me to the next screen where I can see the box briefly (with your quote in it) and then it just disappears and turns grey. This is so weird.

veritas_libertas

I like! The only problem I'm having trouble with is viewing the forum on my BB.

One other thing, is there a key for what the new icons mean? When I click "What's New" I'm perplexed by what the different highlighted icons and colors mean.

Webmaster

nastynate604 wrote: »

I just switched to latest version of Firefox which is working fine. I'm using the same version of Chrome as you and basically if I hit the 'go advanced' button it takes me to the next screen where I can see the box briefly (with your quote in it) and then it just disappears and turns grey. This is so weird.

Yeah that is weird. One of the benefits of the CKeditor is its complete browser support. I'll dig deeper into this issue later this weekend/tomorrow. If anyone else is having this problem please let me know.

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I like! The only problem I'm having trouble with is viewing the forum on my BB.

As in having trouble viewing the full site? If the next mobile style update I expect in a matter of weeks doesn't make it workable for most of all of our visitors I'll create an additional more simple mobile style myself.

eansdad

Looks nice

veritas_libertas

Webmaster wrote: »

As in having trouble viewing the full site? If the next mobile style update I expect in a matter of weeks doesn't make it workable for most of all of our visitors I'll create an additional more simple mobile style myself.

It only shows as the full site. For some reason it's not displaying the mobile version.

TheShadow

Looking good Johan; autosave eh... bless you. But what is this sleep that you speak of?

stlsmoore

Fancy stuff, I like it!

SilverGenius

Looks good, the auto save feature is cool!
I didn't have any errors when signing back into the forum. I am also using Chrome 14.0.835.159 beta-m.

vCole

Thank you Johan, it looks great.

simonmoon

Clicking "go to first unread post" icon is taking me to the start of the thread, not the first unread post.

Webmaster

The invalid redirect message after logging in should no longer appear. I also tested the new mobile style on Android and iOS and it's working quite well for me atm on various versions. If you have an iPhone/iPod or a droid please give it a try.

Thanks again for the feedback and also for the offers I received for help.

poriggity

I like it so far! Looks nice!

yuddhidhtir

Really liked the previous version, coz of its simplicity. The newer version is also nice, clean and bright! Yesterday i was worried why the site is under construction and thought it would take some time for the site to go online, but nicely and timely done.

mikedisd2

Webmaster wrote: »

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.QUOTE]

Cool, thnks for the response, all good now.

knownhero

So far really liking the upgrade.

RichAsskikr

It definitely gets my vote!

SteveO86

Something I noticed as I was looking through the main page for the forums.. Sub-forums like the CCNA Concentrators, when there are new posts in those forums the bubble is shaded in blue compared the normal background of the forum, could that get filled in with orange like the normal main forums? I think they can be very easily overlooked. (Or maybe I just have to get use to it

I'm still loving the new look!)

Webmaster

SteveO86 wrote: »

Something I noticed as I was looking through the main page for the forums.. Sub-forums like the CCNA Concentrators, when there are new posts in those forums the bubble is shaded in blue compared the normal background of the forum, could that get filled in with orange like the normal main forums? I think they can be very easily overlooked. (Or maybe I just have to get use to it I'm still loving the new look!)

Nice one

*fixed*

Devilry

I liked the old look better, easier on the eyes.My mobile browsing on a EVO is really really bad.

nastynate604

Webmaster wrote: »

Nice one *fixed*

Quick FYI Webmaster. I rebooted my computer and tried it again in Chrome and all is working now. Have NO Idea what that was, totally strange.

Cheers.

Slowhand

I want to say a big thank you to our one and only Webmaster for all the hard work that went into this upgrade, along with all the fixes and changes that are still on-going. Thank you, Johan, TE has always been a great forum for all of us, and now it looks even better. Without your tireless dedication, the rest of us would actually have to work all those hours we spend in front of our computers when our bosses think we're doing our jobs.