Forum Upgrade

[Eric]

Howdy folks, sorry about the short notice, but I'm going to be working on upgrading the forum today, so there will be a little bit of downtime.

You're going to see some changes, some more noticeable than others.

1. New look and feel. Blue and green theme. Bigger text in all areas by default. Should be easier on the eyes.

2. Improved navigation for controls for your settings and profile info. Hopefully the new layout is more logical and doesn't take long for anyone to get used to.

3. Searching. While the default search will be the same as the old one, I'm going to add a new option that will use Google to search the forum. This option will allow you to use smaller search terms.. for example you'll be able to search commonly abbreviated tax terms that are not searchable with the built-in forum search. This will become available after the initial upgrade.

4. May remove the ATX links from the top of the forum if they're not being used. I'll start a poll to see how many people use them regularly.

There are many more changes/new features than what's on this short list, but I think that covers the most common suggestions I have received so far. Again, I'm sorry for the short notice, but the site shouldn't be down for too long. I just wanted to get this done soon so that everyone has time to get comfortable before tax season hits.

[JRS]

I use the links to go to My ATX. Maybe just a link to ATX website?

[Eric]

Still working on the updates. The downtime may not occur until tomorrow (Monday) evening.

[Lion EA]

Thank you very much, Eric.

[Eric]

Ok, seriously folks. Almost done.

[Eric]

The major parts of the updates are complete now. I'll be working on tweaks here and there today, like making the font sizes larger.

There were changes in the software that affect time zone calculation and DST settings, so you may have to go back and edit your settings relating to those things. To check if the forum time matches your time, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and look for the time in the right-hand corner.

You can get to your settings by going to the top-right and clicking that drop-down box. Everything has been reorganized and is hopefully easier to find.

There are lots of changes, so shout if you have any questions!

[Catherine]

WOW, Eric!! The new look is amazing. I'm sure there will be things that confuse me and hope I can figure them out without having to bug you too much.

Thank you!!

[JohnH]

Thanks Eric.

It looks great.

We appreciate all your efforts.

What's the financial picture like?

Seems to me it's been a while since any of us mentioned that we need to click on the "Donate" button to keep things humming along.

Come to think of it, what happened to the "Donate" buton?

[tilt]

This looks fantastic! Thank you.

[JRS]

Thanks, it looks great.

[Eric]

Thanks Eric.

It looks great.

We appreciate all your efforts.

What's the financial picture like?

Seems to me it's been a while since any of us mentioned that we need to click on the "Donate" button to keep things humming along.

Come to think of it, what happened to the "Donate" buton?

I've got a list I'm working through, and the Donate button is somewhere near the end. I may end up introducing a voluntary subscription feature for something like $5/yr. Bigger text everywhere (almost finished) and a new search option come first.

[JRS]

I've got a list I'm working through, and the Donate button is somewhere near the end. I may end up introducing a voluntary subscription feature for something like $5/yr. Bigger text everywhere (almost finished) and a new search option come first.

The voluntary subscription works for me.

[Bob Hoffman]

The voluntary subscription works for me.

I agree. I'll be looking for that.

[kcjenkins]

Looks wonderful, and I am sure I'll get used to getting around it pretty soon.

[GeneInAlabama]

The board has a very nice look to it. Thanks Eric.

[TAXBILLY]

You did your usual stellar job eric! All of us appreciate it.

taxbilly

[Lion EA]

Absolutely wonderful, Eric. Thank you very much!

[TAXMAN]

I like the looks of it. May take me a while to get around.

Eric can a link be put on desktop?

Thanks for the fine job.

[Eric]

I like the looks of it. May take me a while to get around.

Eric can a link be put on desktop?

Thanks for the fine job.

A link on your desktop that opens this website? There are a number of ways to do that. The easiest is go to the ATX Community home page, and click/drag the icon next to the website address to your desktop.

Another option is to right click your desktop, click New, then choose Shortcut.

When asked for the location, type www.atxcommunity.com

When asked for a name, type ATX Community

[JRS]

Eric,thanks for the My ATX button.

[Eric]

Eric,thanks for the My ATX button.

Of course! And thanks for the suggestion. I much prefer having the single link to My ATX over having the three specific links to the KB, Efile Doodad, and Downloads.

Also, I've scrapped the subscription idea, as it just got needlessly complicated. I'll have a new Donate button up, but not before I finish the Google Search option.

[OldJack]

Well... I will be honest and say I liked the old style better. The icons on the left edge of topics are too dark and the color of everything else is to pale. I'll admit the member pictures stand out better. But who am I to complain.

[Eric]

Well... I will be honest and say I liked the old style better. The icons on the left edge of topics are too dark and the color of everything else is to pale. I'll admit the member pictures stand out better. But who am I to complain.

I will be adding one more theme to the mix, maybe you'll like that one better. I'll send you a private message when it's available to view (maybe today)

[Margaret CPA in OH]

OldJack, you are a bolder person than I am. I also prefer the previous version but hesitated to express my opinion in the face of overwhelming praise by so many. It is cleaner looking but, for me, more difficult to navigate and manage.

One problem is mine alone so I really cannot complain. Due to less than ideal vision, I have the resolution on my monitors set to 800x600. This setting really helps with virtually everything from internet sites to all my programs. Eric has addressed this by enlarging the entire site, I think, but now it overwhelms my screen. The top, pinned topics and header fill the entire screen so I always have to scroll down to see even the first topic. But, that's my problem, not everyone's issue. It's just that this new design exacerbates it. And I don't know if it is even possible to make this site smaller while allowing all others to remain the size that I can see.

Whatever, the content is the most important aspect and to have access to it, well, I will manage with whatever form and format is provided. Thanks again to Eric and ALL who work so diligently to provide this incredible forum for all!

[Eric]

OldJack, you are a bolder person than I am. I also prefer the previous version but hesitated to express my opinion in the face of overwhelming praise by so many. It is cleaner looking but, for me, more difficult to navigate and manage.

One problem is mine alone so I really cannot complain. Due to less than ideal vision, I have the resolution on my monitors set to 800x600. This setting really helps with virtually everything from internet sites to all my programs. Eric has addressed this by enlarging the entire site, I think, but now it overwhelms my screen. The top, pinned topics and header fill the entire screen so I always have to scroll down to see even the first topic. But, that's my problem, not everyone's issue. It's just that this new design exacerbates it. And I don't know if it is even possible to make this site smaller while allowing all others to remain the size that I can see.

Whatever, the content is the most important aspect and to have access to it, well, I will manage with whatever form and format is provided. Thanks again to Eric and ALL who work so diligently to provide this incredible forum for all!

Unfortunately, the old theme is incompatible with the new version of the forum software.

There is now a choice between three themes. The default theme is called "ATX Community (large text)". There is another version of the same theme available, called simply "ATX Community" which has smaller text. I have also added a theme called "CleanCut" which is totally different. I don't think any of these will be much of an improvement at 800x600 resolution, but you can look through them and pick whichever works best.

Themes are changed with a drop-down box at the very bottom left-hand corner of the site.

Margaret, what size is your monitor? 800x600 seems to be less and less supported for software and websites as larger LCD monitors become more common. Maybe a larger monitor at a higher resolution (20" at 1024x768, maybe) would give you the best of both worlds? (big picture plus more screen real estate)

EDIT: OldJack, tried to send you a PM, but couldn't. Must have disabled your private messages?