THE NEW AP FORUMS
& THE WONDERFUL THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH THEM
New forums are up. We’ve been waiting for a long time but I’m glad I could finally finish the job.
AP now has ultra-modern and much better designed (well, I hope so!) forums. It’s the first step to new Web features for AP.
The Towers Database system for the Clans, created and hosted by AP, will be the next step. Then the AP web site will be the third step, along with the MP Guide.
But let's get to our topic... So what can you do with the new forums?...
...So many things that I can’t list them all. But these new forums will allow better communication and information, and much better looking posts, especially interesting to create great guides for AO.
[center][b][size=110][color=#FFBF00]Better communication and information[/color][/size][/b][/center]
[justify]Forums can now have sub-forums (like folders and sub-folders on your computer), so information can be much better organized. We will change the structure of forums soon; for the moment we leave it as it was, so you don’t have to get used to too many changes at the same time.
Also, Links to the Web can now appear on the list of forums. No more important link hiding deep in a post now.
You can now save drafts of your messages and PMs, and edit them as long as you want, even hours later, before posting.
Search functions have been vastly improved, and now you can even perform a new search inside the results of a preceding search.
Functions to list new topics, unread topics, your topics, unanswered topics, etc., and jump to them have been enhanced too.
You can now bookmark topics, and still mark them unread if you wish so. You can subscribe to forums and be informed when something is posted.
You can send the same PM to a list of members.
You can manage your forums options, old and news, much better.
You can even create a list of friends and foes. (A useless thing in AP!)
If you are interested in all the details, you can see a list of the features (compared to the old ones) here:
http://www.phpbb.com/about/features/
but be aware we implemented even more in AP forums.[/justify]
[size=110][center][b][color=#FFBF00]Layout and design: another world[/color][/b][/center][/size]
[justify]Looking at this thread, you probably already understood many, many things have changed in the way you can post! You can even use videos, and Flash animations.
Your messages can now be more legible, much better designed, and that’s just great for guides-writers… or for the fun!
But, first thing, we solved a long-time issue on the forums: in the past, if you posted a very large picture or a very long line that couldn’t be warped, you know that all the thread was stretched to fit the large element. This made the other posts difficult to read as their lines could even be longer than your screen.
Now, if something “too” large is posted in a message, AP forums will stretch ONLY that message, and will leave their normal width to other messages. Like this:[/justify]
[thumbnail]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/apscreens/smartsterch.jpg[/thumbnail]
(Click on the thumbnail to see the picture.)
[justify]But you can also ask the forums to create a thumbnail for a picture somewhere on the web, as you just saw, and will see again below.[/justify]
[color=#FF4000]And now, let’s the fun begin!... The available posting features![/color]
You can do all the following, and even more is still to come. Also note that most of the possibilities below can be combined together.
In order not to distract you, the text used in most examples is a Latin one, and if you wonder, it's a famous text of Cicero.
Let's start with our best friend in this post: the simple horizontal rule, because we'll use it to separate sections:
The horizontal rule
Here it is:
And now let's continue.
Hide and show text
You can post hidden spoiler, or just make some parts of your posts "fold", for example long details or technical stuff. Just try: click "Show" and then "Hide".
Hello, I was hiding there! And that picture was hiding too with me!
All the old features you were used to
You can still use Bold, Italic, Underline, Lists, Code, Quotes... But as you know them... we have hidden them and you have to press on the button to see how they look!
Curabitur ut tortor. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Vivamus quis sem vitae elit elementum bibendum. Phasellus pulvinar. Aliquam ornare volutpat dolor. Cras augue. Ut mattis blandit quam. Sed arcu magna, viverra quis, gravida quis, interdum quis, erat. Praesent ut ante. Nunc dictum urna at orci. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.
Nulla libero justo, consectetuer et, adipiscing vel, pretium vitae, mi.
Donec dui. Curabitur luctus pede et arcu.
Nunc eget felis ac nunc interdum congue. Integer rutrum iaculis dolor.
Right-aligned text
That's easy too!
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.
Nulla libero justo, consectetuer et, adipiscing vel, pretium vitae, mi.
Donec dui. Curabitur luctus pede et arcu.
Nunc eget felis ac nunc interdum congue. Integer rutrum iaculis dolor.
Justified text
Very easy, your text can be justified (aligned on both sides).
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nulla libero justo, consectetuer et, adipiscing vel, pretium vitae, mi. Donec dui. Curabitur luctus pede et arcu. Nunc eget felis ac nunc interdum congue. Integer rutrum iaculis dolor. Curabitur in nunc. Nunc dolor. In ullamcorper odio quis libero mollis dapibus. Quisque ultrices condimentum lacus. Nunc aliquet nisl in mi. Nam magna dui, posuere ac, cursus vitae, tincidunt sit amet, augue. Nullam leo. In aliquet, ante et sodales molestie, mauris lectus accumsan ante, nec consequat nisl lacus sit amet enim. Nulla facilisi. Nunc a ipsum non lorem tincidunt egestas. Praesent velit diam, imperdiet eu, imperdiet in, aliquam eget, risus. Phasellus tempus pretium dolor.
Include YouTube videos
You just need to know the #ID of the video or or the web-embed code provided by YouTube, select it, and then click on a button.
AP forums can now EMBED the content of other websites. And, of course, the embedded page WORKS. This also allows us to created sophisticated tables and display them on AP forums.
You can of course r-click on the site and select the command to open it in its own window.
The dimensions of the areas can be set as we want.
You can even embed... AO forums when you're talking about them! Hehe.
You can also witness here the smart-resizing of this sole message.
Note that the above is not "hot-linking" where you link to a part of an outside page, in order to make the work of someone else yours. Here, the totality of the targeted web site is visible; it can be identified immediately, and you can open it with a simple r-click in your browser, something hot-linking of course doesn't allow. In addition, we will always clearly mention the outside site.
(In fact we technically do some hot-linking with some pictures from AO official site, in some forums, but such practices are known by Funcom, and there is not problem with them, especially as it's good for the activity in AO and the entertainment of players.)
[expert-css=width: 500px; font-family: arial,hevetica,verdana; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic; color: orange; padding: 5px; background-color: blue; border-bottom: 8px solid red; border-right: 3px solid red; text-align: center;]EXPERT-CSS function allows you to use your own style by using inline CSS... if you know how CSS work.[/expert-css]
EXPERT-CSS function allows you to use your own style by using inline CSS... if you know how CSS work.
[expert-css=width: 400px; font-family: arial,hevetica,verdana; font-weight:normal; font-style:normal; font-size:1.6em; color: yellow; padding: 5px; background-color: grey; border-left: 15px solid darkred; border-top: 2px solid darkred; text-align: justify; line-height:1.7em]EXPERT-CSS function allows you to use your own style by using inline CSS... if you know how CSS work.[/expert-css]