jaunty75

I've always thought one of the most idiotic features of this website is that there is no button prominently displayed anywhere in the new message window that says "Add a Photo" or something similar to that in its obviousness. This is BY FAR the most common problem people have with this website, and I'm sure the moderators and everyone else, in spite of the "sticky" that's supposed to explain how, are tired of answering it.

The "Manage Attachments" button toward the bottom of the page just doesn't cut it. How many times do people want to attach something other than a photo? I would guess practically never. If a better-located button is not possible, perhaps renaming that button is.

I realize the moderators likely do not write the software for this site nor have any control over its design. But someone does. This website has been around for more than a decade, well long enough for any of its flaws, especially one as obvious as this one, to be corrected.


If anyone is interested in seeing what classicoldsmobile.com could be like, go on over to stationwagonforums.com and visit any thread. That site, which used to look and feel just like this one, just underwent a major software upgrade about a week or so ago, and now it's everything classicoldsmobile.com should be. Replying to a message has been greatly simplified, and, more importantly, right there on the bottom of the edit window is a button that says "Upload a File." It doesn't say "Upload a Photo," but it's pretty close, and anyone looking to add a photo will likely get its meaning, especially because it has the word "Upload" on it. More importantly, you don't have to scroll down a ways to find a rather obtusely-worded "Manage Attachments" button. The button needed to attach a photo, with its meaning plain, is right there in front of you.

Note: you probably have to be a registered user to see the New Message window and the File Upload button.

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/

Allan R

100% true. Not even Paul (Omicron) who is the site administrator writes the software. But, all requests go through him to Internet Brands for action. IB doesn't seem to endorse quick change though. I asked Paul to make a change related to New Posts vs "Quick links" to get to "Today's Posts" quite some time ago. He followed up with me via PMs and to date no action from IB. THEY write and control the software for this site. To date still no action Where do new posts go after I hit 'submit'?

Nailed it. Can you not take a screenshot of the feature and post it? I didn't feel like registering at a site that I don't need to be a member. I noted that their software is written by Zenforo LTD. I didn't see anything linking them to IB.

We're really hijacking the heck out of the OP's thread BTW.

jaunty75

I'm posting here to follow up on something started in another thread, and that is what the website stationwagonforums.com looks like now that it has undergone a major software upgrade about two weeks ago (and maybe what classicoldsmobile.com could look like in the future).

I've attached a screenshot of a thread, and I am a member of the site, which you need to be to see all of the features.

There are many aspects of the new software that are nice enhancements, and I'll point out two of them here.

1. Note that the thread of messages is as you'd expect, with the most recent one the last one. But note what follows this. The window into which you would type your reply is open by default. Note the light-color text in that window that says "Write your reply...." You just start typing if you want to post something. When you're done, just hit "Post Reply" at the lower right. (That's my avatar at that site, Beeker, at the far left. You're very encouraged to have an avatar at that site as, if you don't have one, a big question mark appears there instead.)

2. More importantly, note at the lower right just under the reply window the second of the three buttons, which says "Upload a File." This is what is sorely needed on classicoldsmobile.com as by far the most common problem/question people have on this site is how to upload photos. Replacing the not-so-easy-to-find, poorly named "Manage Attachments" button with something with a more obvious name and putting it in a more obvious position on the page would go a long way toward rectifying this problem and making the site more user friendly.

jaunty75

Allan, I wanted to reply to this comment as well from the other thread.

Yes, the software may or may not be written by the same company. But I'll bet it was prior to their upgrade at least because, before the upgrade, the stationwagons site looked and operated just like classicoldsmobile in every respect.

Of course, maybe the new software at stationwagons is from a different source.

MDchanic

That site's credits state:

To use that software, CO would have to be relinquished by IB, which ain't likely.

- Eric

jaunty75

Not necessarily. Couldn't CO go and buy the same software that stationwagons uses? The two sites looked and worked identically prior to their upgrade, and that has to be because they used the same software.

Besides, what's important is not that CO adopt the exact same software. What's important is that CO adopt the improved features that are available on other sites.

oldcutlass

I moved the rest of the posts from the other thread here also.

VI Cutty

From what I can tell, CO is running on vBulletin forum software so modifications to features aren't likely to happen unless it's included in a vBulletin release or achievable through a plugin.

The Xenforo forum can be bought and run in the same manner, and there is probably a migration script to accomplish the BASIC change.

Where it likely gets complicated is trying to migrate other features such as the gallery and assorted other feature modules implemented here. Anything can be done with a certain level of effort and money.

Other considerations include code stability and security. vBulletin has been developed and used for a long time, much longer than Xenforo based on copyright dates. Quality and availability of support is a factor, ease of use and configurability from the admin perspective and the range of add ons available from third party sources. I'm not familiar with Xenforo's range of use and support, but I do know vBulletin has a broad scope available.

The question is, is it worth it?

Koda

I always liked phpBB over vBulletin.

joe_padavano

I'm also a member of stationwagonforums.com, and to be honest, I'm not thrilled with the new software over there. In any case, attaching a file is extremely easy on this site if the user just scrolls down in the REPLY TO THREAD page.

jaunty75

It's easy once you know how to do it. It's getting people to know how to do it that's been the problem. Anyone who spends any time at all on this site has seen the all-to-familiar refrain, especially from a newbie: "I'd post photos, but I don't know how" or words to that effect.

joe_padavano

Kinda like the posts that say "I've searched and can't find an answer (to an extremely common question)".

You can't fix that problem.

oldcutlass

No matter what software is available on a any site there is a natural learning curve to use it properly. This site is very easy to navigate, other than the search function, which we all agree is lacking.

Joffroi

Like many have said, this site is built off the vBulletin, but probably an outdated version of it. vBulletin and phpbb were your two big forum software providers. Can someone probably add a new feature or upgrade it? Sure! But making modifications like that to a pre-built system can almost be harder then just making one yourself. For fun I decided to code a forum system for my oldsmobile site and it was very easy to implement an image upload system. On mine you can even just drag images to my text editor to add them to your post. Site will add, resize, and place them all automatically.

But since this is owned by a much large group that has to go through probably a standardized processes, it probably won't happen. If anything changes, it will be a large scale upgrade and probably just for security reasons. One of the disadvantages to being bought.