Jan 21
Keep your theme selector simple
With the theme selector, you can offer as many themes as you want to your board's users. However, you might want to think twice when you become tempted to add hundreds of themes to your board. While offering your users flexibility and control is important, you can go overboard. A single distinct theme builds your board's image/brand. Many of your members will visit more than on board so a strong brand for your board is key to keeping their attention. Instead of spending time picking out 25 themes and adding them to your board, you can spend that time customizing your own theme.
However, there are a few cases where a handful of themes can be useful. You might have a main theme that is dark and offer a second similar theme that is light. Each of your members may have a personal preference about whether a dark or light theme is easy on the eyes. You might also want offer a simplified theme for dial-up or mobile users.
The final choice on how many themes you install is entirely up to you. We do not limit the number of themes you install.
Jan 21
BBCode
Why does BBCode exist? / WHy not allow HTML?
BBCode solves a lot of issues. HTML was designed for one author to have full control over the editing of a whole web page. However, a message board has multiple authors: the posters and the board software itself. Thus a mistake in one post's HTML could easily ruin the other posts on the page. HTML can also be used to embed malicious javascript which could steal logins or hide parts of the board. Beyond security BBCode solves several other issues:
- Limiting posters to certain tags. For example, your board might not like a poster posting in huge text.
- Preventing accidental misuse of tags. BBCode can automatically correct common mistakes without them harming the board.
- Providing ease of use to posters. Some HTML tags (lists, tables, etc) can be quite tedious to use, especially if you have limited experience with HTML.
Where are custom BBCodes?
Early in the development of ZetaBoards, I had every intention of implementing a very powerful and flexible custom BBCode system. However, each feature in ZetaBoards goes through a series of planning and design stages. Sometimes a feature solves a problem, but there is an even better feature that solves the problem better. Other times a security issue is identified. For BBCode, I realized that custom BBCode could be accidentally used to bypass the security benefits of BBCode. As a result, we switched plans and set the goal of BBCode in ZetaBoards adding new tags until it was essentially on par with HTML (or better in some cases). New tags already in ZetaBoards include: spoilers, border text boxes, text backgrounds, indent, and flash tags that easily support YouTube. We are also working on tags such as the table tag.
The future of BBCode in ZetaBoards:
1. We will continue to add new tags to support the feature that you and your members want.
2. We hope to see a standard BBCode syntax come forward so there is no learning hurdle for any of your members who have used other forum software before.
3. An improved editor that lets you see the results of your BBCode as you enter your post.
Jan 05
Browser Usage on ZetaBoards
Here is a breakdown by browser of traffic on ZetaBoards so far:
FireFox: 57.4%
Internet Explorer: 34.6%
Other/Misc: 3.0%
Safari: 2.9%
Opera: 2.1%
All percentages are based on page views, not unique users.
5% of Opera's usage came from the Wii.
iPod Touch users viewed twice as many pages as iPhone users.
Netscape is essentially gone with only 0.04%
Dec 08
The Features on this Support Board
A common question about this board is if a certain feature is available on your own ZetaBoards board. Every feature (except one that I will explain later in this post) is available on your board. Some features may be off by default on your board, but you can turn them on in the preferences section of your Admin CP.
The one feature not available to other boards is the Personal Support Ticket forum. This is a specialized feature that lets you post a topic that only yourself and staff can see. While we have considered offering this feature to all boards, it seems to serve a very specialized and limited purpose that only this support board fits.
If you have seen a feature on this board that you would like to use on your board, but can't find how to turn it on, feel free to open a support ticket and we can show you how.
11:38 AM Dec 8
