Kokoro Cafe - Otome Gaming Forum

Announcements => Kokoro Cafe News => Topic started by: kokoro-cafe on May 18, 2016, 12:24:18 AM

Title: [News] Kokoro Cafe Forum Changes
Post by: kokoro-cafe on May 18, 2016, 12:24:18 AM
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Renovation Time!
Before I get further into changing things up on this forum, I just wanted to let everyone know what's going on and what to expect.

As per the answers to the survey I did last month I decided to change the forum up to make it more user friendly for everyone.  The changes won't be huge like the year I decided to switch the forum software, the layout and web address which brought the site down for a month, instead they will be more minor changes and the forum should still be usable during its implementation.

Below is a list of changes that have either already been implemented or will be implemented with the upcoming months and description of each change:

Mobile Device Layout
Some of you may have noticed this layout on and off on the site lately. I'm currently tweaking a layout to see if it will work well with the site.  I haven't settled on the layout yet so it still may change later in the year.

Also, some of the News page layout has been changed so that it would look better on a mobile device.

WYSIWYG Text Editor
This one is already installed. The editor hides most of the BBcodes and allows you to see the formatting within the text box while you are typing. The only exception is custom BBcodes (i.e. hide, spoiler, anchor tags) will still show in the editor as code form. Either way, it should declutter a lot of the text editor and make it easier to write a post the way you want.

I will be posting tutorials in the future about posting walkthroughs using the new text editor and the posting template.

Also want to mention that mentions is not currently playing nicely with this editor. It won't look up the name you want in the text editor when you type [member=10377]username[/member]. Mentions still works though as long as you type the full username of the user in the text editor. I do plan to have this problem fixed soon.

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Cafe Menu
Cafe Menu was restructured so that it would work better with the new mobile layout and so that users have easier access to information they care most about. Let me know what you think of the new structure!

Merging Otome Game Database with User Reviews
&
Topic Prefixes
I'm in the process of doing this one now. It seems a waste of the space and website resources to have two separate areas that could easily be merged into one. Going forward I will be making the User Review section into the new Otome Game Database. Everyone is welcome to add in any games they think are missing.  I will be adding a posting template to the text editor for easier posting very soon.

In addition, there is a new topic prefix mod that has been added specifically for this section (for now). The topic prefix is required so the games are properly labeled to show what platform the game is for. Users can use the topic prefix filter option to search for games for a specific device.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
If you guys want your posts to be found by search engines better then I suggest filling in the new spots for meta description and meta keywords underneath the text box where you put the title and tags.


This is a list of possible changes in the future (if you feel strongly about a certain item in the list, let me know in a reply below):

Alerts System
Alerting users of replies or new topics on boards you subscribe to.

Facebook-like Profile
The current profile system doesn't work well on mobile device. Considering switching it out to one that plays better with it and looks nicer.

Social Login
This one is on the very bottom of my list. It just gives users the option to login with their social media account instead of making a whole new username and password for the forum. Let me know if this is something you care about.

Phew! This is all I can think of for now. Let me know what you think of the current changes and upcoming changes and if you have any suggestions of your own. I will definitely put some thought into seeing if it's worthwhile to implement!
(http://kokoro-cafe.net//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/)