Forum software upgrade

[Jordy]

To all members of www.saaustralia.org

We will shortly be upgrading the software we use to run the forum. The new upgrade has some features which are quite exciting. We hope you will enjoy the new features and not be too daunted by the improvements and changes that the upgrade brings. Some of these new features are:

Twitter and Facebook Integration

The upgraded software supports Twitter and Facebook authentication, meaning members can sign with their Twitter or Facebook account. They can sync their Twitter profile background with their profile within the forum. What’s more, status updates made by them can be posted to Twitter and/or Facebook and vice versa.

Status Updates

Members will now be able to update other users on what they’re doing right now. Updates appear in that user’s profile, in a block on the forum’s homepage, and in the new status feed. Plus, status updates can now be replied to and moderated, and if you choose to integrate your Twitter and Facebook accounts (optional), your facebook status updates will appear in your profile.

Share Content Links

Each post will have “Content Sharing” links which will enable members to share forum content on social networking websites like facebook, twitter etc. The new software even keeps a running tally of the most-shared content and displays them in the sidebar for you to see what other members are sharing.

Customization of profile pages

Members can customize their profile pages by selecting a background colour or background image, with tiling options. Alternatively, members can choose to automatically import their profile customizations from Twitter and/or Facebook - and keep them synced.

Mini Profile Popup

Members will be able to click a little icon to see a member’s mini-profile popup. From the pop up you will be able to send a PM, check reputation or find user content - without needing to leave the current page.

Activity Overview

The profile page shows an overview of everything that a member has done on the forum and includes status updates, recent topics, posts, blog entries and more.

Personal Conversations

In addition to the Private Messages function, members will be able to have Personal Conversations. This feature allows members to send messages directly to other members, out of public view, in a topic format. Other members can be invited to existing conversations - or remove themselves, if they so desire.

Emoticons

The upgrade has new distinctive emoticons, to better express your emotions in your posts.

Powerful Search

As www.saaustralia.org is ultimately about accessing information for immigration purposes, and as the search function has been lacking in the past, the new upgrade will include a powerful search engine that enables our members to find the content they’re looking for. Each application can be searched individually, with specialist filters and ordering options for each. Plus, there’s a contextual search bar in the global header for quick searching.

New posts/content Search

The upgrade will have a handy link available on every page to see what new content has been posted since a member’s last visit. The content shown can be everything a member hasn’t read before, or just that content posted since their last visit.

Find User Content

Members will be easily able to find all content generated by a particular member, by clicking the ‘Find Content’ button that appears on the main profile page, or in the Mini Profile Popup which can be accessed throughout the forum. The results page allows content to be filtered by application, as well whether the member created it or merely participated in it.

Central Notifications

Members will be able to receive notifications (via a board popup or email) of events that are important to them, such as new personal conversations, status updates made by friends, or one of their posts being quoted.

Reputation

Members will be able to rate posts up or down, earning the author of that post reputation points.

Topic Rating

Topics can be rated one to five stars, so users can identify the topics that others rate highly - or poorly!

RSS Syndication

An exciting feature of the new upgrade is that members will be able to subscribe to an RSS feed of topics or threads.

iPhone support

The new upgrade offers iPhone support for reading the forum on the go through a downloadable app!

In order for the upgrade to take place there will be some downtime, during which you will not be able to access the forum. Please be patient while this happens.