Post by Admin Team on Aug 14, 2011 5:08:59 GMT
Ladies & Gents,
As you can see, our planned refurbishment has now taken place. Please do read all the contents of this post as it details all the changes including the new website and how you can change the look of this forum.
The background - why change?
District Dave's original Trainweb website will forever be frozen in time in June 2005 after Dave's home PC suffered a terminal failure, taking the website files with it. After much persuasion and coercion by ChrisW, Dave finally relented in April 2010 and set ChrisW the challenge of creating a totally new website to replace the old Trainweb version.
A new domain was obtained - www.districtdave.co.uk - and so the development work began. Dave felt that his website needed an update and gave Chris a free a reign over the design. As things developed, the remit included the forum as it was felt it too should maintain a link in terms of identity.
It should be noted that Dave was very involved in every aspect of what we have arrived at - it is only because we have taken our time to ensure every single thing was covered and every opportunity to update exploited that Dave was unable to see it through to completion, sadly passing away in March this year.
The forum staff would like to think of this update of both the main website and Forum as a celebration of the success Dave enjoyed in creating a whole community of friends with a common interest. With some amazing foresight, he brought LU staff and enthusiasts together - the very fact we are still going strong more than six years later, and have grown to a very real membership of over 800....well it has been our pleasure to assist Dave in ensuring his legacy doesn't go stale. He felt both places needed an update and we have now delivered.
Highlights of what has changed on the forum:
Additional information regarding the new URL
We have a new address!! Please add www.districtdavesforum.co.uk to your bookmarks/favourites. The Proboards address will still work but we would like all members to use our new address as it will prevent you appearing to be logged out when following forum links.
When you first log in using our new address, you'll get the usual "would you like your password saved" type message - this is because although you are visiting the same place, the two addresses are entirely separate. That's why you'll appear to be logged out if you follow the new links from the old address.
It's fine if you don't understand - just use our new address only (www.districtdavesforum.co.uk) and you will not experience any problems
Additional information regarding the new skins
The 7 skins (or forum colours if you don't know what we mean!) are....
We have deliberately chosen to use 'LU' or 'NR' in the descriptions - 'LU' for London Underground and 'NR' for Network Rail - as we felt they were more easily recognised & associated with the signals used. The 'NR' ones are of course position light shunt signals and 'LU' uses them too, but not everybody knows that!!
The all white version was going to be the only choice but we felt it was important to cater for those that would not wish to see much change, as well as those that may embrace a partial or full change. Afterall, LU looks after it's heritage and so should we!! The result is that we have arrived at a choice of 7 skins.
The default skin for new accounts and those that are signed out or viewing as a guest is essentially one of the 'halfway house' versions. Once signed in, members may use which ever skin they wish. It should be noted that this choice will only be seen when signed in.
To change your skin when signed in, we have created a tutorial ***INSERT LINK*** in our tutorial area. If you'd prefer a text step by step version:
Can't see all the new features?
If you are using a TfL computer, or other device where free image providers are blocked, it's highly likely that you will not be able to see all the new features. You can still log in by using the box at the bottom of the homepage, and we've hosted the 'Log Out' and 'Profile' buttons on our own web space so you'll still have access to the basics
As you can see, our planned refurbishment has now taken place. Please do read all the contents of this post as it details all the changes including the new website and how you can change the look of this forum.
The background - why change?
District Dave's original Trainweb website will forever be frozen in time in June 2005 after Dave's home PC suffered a terminal failure, taking the website files with it. After much persuasion and coercion by ChrisW, Dave finally relented in April 2010 and set ChrisW the challenge of creating a totally new website to replace the old Trainweb version.
A new domain was obtained - www.districtdave.co.uk - and so the development work began. Dave felt that his website needed an update and gave Chris a free a reign over the design. As things developed, the remit included the forum as it was felt it too should maintain a link in terms of identity.
It should be noted that Dave was very involved in every aspect of what we have arrived at - it is only because we have taken our time to ensure every single thing was covered and every opportunity to update exploited that Dave was unable to see it through to completion, sadly passing away in March this year.
The forum staff would like to think of this update of both the main website and Forum as a celebration of the success Dave enjoyed in creating a whole community of friends with a common interest. With some amazing foresight, he brought LU staff and enthusiasts together - the very fact we are still going strong more than six years later, and have grown to a very real membership of over 800....well it has been our pleasure to assist Dave in ensuring his legacy doesn't go stale. He felt both places needed an update and we have now delivered.
Highlights of what has changed on the forum:
- New URL (address) for the forum: www.districtdavesforum.co.uk (see below for more info!)
- New logo at the top of all pages, matching that found on the new 'main website' (www.districtdave.co.uk)
- New logo at the bottom of all pages, again matching that found on the new 'main website'
- New buttons along the top of all pages (including a button that'll take you to the new main website), also as found on the 'main website' and thus completing the common look between the two entities
- All buttons removed from the bottom of all pages
- Choice of no less than 7 skins (see below for more info!)
- New shunt signal system to indicate new posts (see below for more info!)
- New archive of past threads - but only the very best & most useful
- Moderators attached to specific areas
- Forum staff names & groups now coloured
- New rule regarding serious incidents (rule 7.3)
- East London line board now a sub board within the Historical area
- Christmas archive sub board removed from Quiz area
- New tutorial to explain how to change skins (see below also)
- Avatar, signature and forum time tutorials updated to reflect changed look of buttons
- HTML coding at both the top & bottom of all pages reworked to prevent additional text causing page stretch or scroll problems across multiple browsers including mobile phones
Additional information regarding the new URL
We have a new address!! Please add www.districtdavesforum.co.uk to your bookmarks/favourites. The Proboards address will still work but we would like all members to use our new address as it will prevent you appearing to be logged out when following forum links.
When you first log in using our new address, you'll get the usual "would you like your password saved" type message - this is because although you are visiting the same place, the two addresses are entirely separate. That's why you'll appear to be logged out if you follow the new links from the old address.
It's fine if you don't understand - just use our new address only (www.districtdavesforum.co.uk) and you will not experience any problems
Additional information regarding the new skins
The 7 skins (or forum colours if you don't know what we mean!) are....
- Original - only the top & bottom logo's and buttons are changed
- Original with LU shunts - as 'original' above, but with LU shunt signals to indicate new posts
- Original with LU shunts - as 'original' above, but with NR shunt signals to indicate new posts
- White edges with LU shunts - very similar to 'Original with LU shunts' above, but with White edges
- White edges with NR shunts - very similar to 'Original with NR shunts' above, but with White edges
- All White with LU shunts - all white "clean forum" with LU shunt signals to indicate new posts
- All White with NR shunts & multi link colours - all white "clean forum" with NR shunt signals to indicate new posts and differing colours for links depending on whether they've been visited
We have deliberately chosen to use 'LU' or 'NR' in the descriptions - 'LU' for London Underground and 'NR' for Network Rail - as we felt they were more easily recognised & associated with the signals used. The 'NR' ones are of course position light shunt signals and 'LU' uses them too, but not everybody knows that!!
The all white version was going to be the only choice but we felt it was important to cater for those that would not wish to see much change, as well as those that may embrace a partial or full change. Afterall, LU looks after it's heritage and so should we!! The result is that we have arrived at a choice of 7 skins.
The default skin for new accounts and those that are signed out or viewing as a guest is essentially one of the 'halfway house' versions. Once signed in, members may use which ever skin they wish. It should be noted that this choice will only be seen when signed in.
To change your skin when signed in, we have created a tutorial ***INSERT LINK*** in our tutorial area. If you'd prefer a text step by step version:
- Click on 'profile', 3rd button from right at the top of any page
- Then click on 'modify profile'
- Scroll down to 'Select Skin'
- The drop down list will show all the skins ranging from original to the two all-white ones (the one you are currently using will be at the top of the list)
- Once you have decided, select it by clicking on it, then
- Scroll down to "modify profile" (which you'll need to click on) and you're done
Can't see all the new features?
If you are using a TfL computer, or other device where free image providers are blocked, it's highly likely that you will not be able to see all the new features. You can still log in by using the box at the bottom of the homepage, and we've hosted the 'Log Out' and 'Profile' buttons on our own web space so you'll still have access to the basics
