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Topics - Nao
181
Features: BBCode / URL trimming
« on May 7th, 2011, 01:00 PM »
Feature: URL trimming
Developer: Nao
Target: users
Status: 100% (complete.)
Comment:
A simple feature, but it's still nice. Thanks to JayBachatero for the inspiration. When you post a link by pasting the URL, Wedge will cut it off if it's too long. Also, if it's still too long to show even after cutting it off, it should be split over two lines.
:edit: This feature was actually rewritten in January 2013 to use JavaScript exclusively and allow for copy & paste. :)
Developer: Nao
Target: users
Status: 100% (complete.)
Comment:
A simple feature, but it's still nice. Thanks to JayBachatero for the inspiration. When you post a link by pasting the URL, Wedge will cut it off if it's too long. Also, if it's still too long to show even after cutting it off, it should be split over two lines.
:edit: This feature was actually rewritten in January 2013 to use JavaScript exclusively and allow for copy & paste. :)
182
Features: BBCode / Spoiler tag
« on May 7th, 2011, 01:00 PM »
Feature: Spoiler tag
Developer: Nao
Target: users, geeks
Status: 100% (complete.)
Comment:
Just as the name implies, use the spoiler tag to hide sensitive information by default. Perfect to discuss recently released fiction. Or whatever.
Developer: Nao
Target: users, geeks
Status: 100% (complete.)
Comment:
Just as the name implies, use the spoiler tag to hide sensitive information by default. Perfect to discuss recently released fiction. Or whatever.
183
Features: BBCode / Footnotes
« on May 7th, 2011, 01:00 PM »
Feature: Footnotes
Developer: Nao
Target: users, geeks
Status: 99% (one minor bug left to fix. Doesn't happen much often.)
Comment:
This is THE other feature (apart from auto-saved drafts) for you übergeeks who like to speak a lot. You're just like me, you can't stop yourself from drifting into off-topic territory and discuss which 4th season is the best between Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica[1] when you originally posted to flame someone who gave bad hints on how to bake sour dough. Well, just use the nb tag and be done with it. Separate your content from the aside.
Developer: Nao
Target: users, geeks
Status: 99% (one minor bug left to fix. Doesn't happen much often.)
Comment:
This is THE other feature (apart from auto-saved drafts) for you übergeeks who like to speak a lot. You're just like me, you can't stop yourself from drifting into off-topic territory and discuss which 4th season is the best between Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica[1] when you originally posted to flame someone who gave bad hints on how to bake sour dough. Well, just use the nb tag and be done with it. Separate your content from the aside.
| 1. | Personally, I think it's a draw. |
184
Features: Miscellaneous / SMF bugs
« on May 7th, 2011, 12:57 PM »
Feature: SMF bugs
Developer: Nao (main), Arantor
Target: everyone
Status: 100%
Comment:
Fixed a few dozen noticeable bugs that were in SMF2 (and probably still are.) We would have reported them to the SMF team, of course, but apparently they don't care about bug reports, because they never fix them. Believe me, I reported hundreds of them... So these bug fixes will remain undocumented, and unsolved in SMF2. Except for the security issues. We're whimsical, not evil.
Developer: Nao (main), Arantor
Target: everyone
Status: 100%
Comment:
Fixed a few dozen noticeable bugs that were in SMF2 (and probably still are.) We would have reported them to the SMF team, of course, but apparently they don't care about bug reports, because they never fix them. Believe me, I reported hundreds of them... So these bug fixes will remain undocumented, and unsolved in SMF2. Except for the security issues. We're whimsical, not evil.
185
Features: Miscellaneous / Media area (Aeva Media integration)
« on May 7th, 2011, 12:57 PM »
Feature: Media area
Developer: Nao
Target: everyone
Status: 80% (Aeva Media 2.10 implementation working 99%, work has yet to be done on further integrating AeMe into the Wedge internals, such as using it in place of the attachment system.)
Comment:
I think what most people thought when they heard Arantor and Nao were teaming up on a SMF fork, was "Really? A SMF with Aeva Media and SimpleDesk installed by default? I'm in!". Well, it doesn't have SimpleDesk (yet!), but yes, it has Aeva Media. Officially it loses the 'Aeva' in favor of generic naming, but it's all in there.
The same features you loved before -- now at full speed in Wedge, including all of the features in Aeva Media 2.10, for free. Now if that isn't commitment! The only thing that actually disappears is Highslide -- because of the confusing license, I decided to rewrite it from a cleaner base that allows for use on commercial websites. So, instead of a 30kb gzipped Highslide, we now have a 800-byte gzipped Zoomedia that does the exact same stuff for pictures. Not kidding you. (Support for other media types is being worked on.)
:edit: Zoomedia is now 3 kilobytes after gzipping. Adds better animations, support for HTML divs, and finally works across all major browser versions (including IE6).
Developer: Nao
Target: everyone
Status: 80% (Aeva Media 2.10 implementation working 99%, work has yet to be done on further integrating AeMe into the Wedge internals, such as using it in place of the attachment system.)
Comment:
I think what most people thought when they heard Arantor and Nao were teaming up on a SMF fork, was "Really? A SMF with Aeva Media and SimpleDesk installed by default? I'm in!". Well, it doesn't have SimpleDesk (yet!), but yes, it has Aeva Media. Officially it loses the 'Aeva' in favor of generic naming, but it's all in there.
The same features you loved before -- now at full speed in Wedge, including all of the features in Aeva Media 2.10, for free. Now if that isn't commitment! The only thing that actually disappears is Highslide -- because of the confusing license, I decided to rewrite it from a cleaner base that allows for use on commercial websites. So, instead of a 30kb gzipped Highslide, we now have a 800-byte gzipped Zoomedia that does the exact same stuff for pictures. Not kidding you. (Support for other media types is being worked on.)
:edit: Zoomedia is now 3 kilobytes after gzipping. Adds better animations, support for HTML divs, and finally works across all major browser versions (including IE6).
186
Features: Miscellaneous / Pretty URLs
« on May 7th, 2011, 12:56 PM »
Feature: Pretty URLs
Developer: Nao
Target: users, admins
Status: 90% (complete, may add support for extra URL schemes, needs to support subdomains other than through database editing, although I wouldn't recommend that overall...)
Comment:
Back in late 2007, my first foray into SMF modding was through giving helpful suggestions to Dannii, the author of the Pretty URLs mod. He subsequently added some of these, but I decided to write my own variation for my website, with features such as better handling of exotic languages, no need for htaccess editing, subdomain handling...
The codebases became somewhat incompatible and what is in Wedge now is my variation, with some additional improvements, and some features disabled (notably the subdomain stuff, which only works through carefully editing the database.) This will hopefully be re-enabled later.
Developer: Nao
Target: users, admins
Status: 90% (complete, may add support for extra URL schemes, needs to support subdomains other than through database editing, although I wouldn't recommend that overall...)
Comment:
Back in late 2007, my first foray into SMF modding was through giving helpful suggestions to Dannii, the author of the Pretty URLs mod. He subsequently added some of these, but I decided to write my own variation for my website, with features such as better handling of exotic languages, no need for htaccess editing, subdomain handling...
The codebases became somewhat incompatible and what is in Wedge now is my variation, with some additional improvements, and some features disabled (notably the subdomain stuff, which only works through carefully editing the database.) This will hopefully be re-enabled later.
187
Features: Miscellaneous / Gravatar support
« on May 7th, 2011, 12:56 PM »
Feature: Gravatar support
Developer: Arantor
Target: users, admins
Status: 100% (believed to be complete.)
Comment:
Users may now use their gravatar (if available), instead of a locally or remotely hosted avatar.
One of the finest points in Wedge is that they can specify a gravatar e-mail address that isn't their account's e-mail address. For instance if your e-mail address is something@somewhere.com and your gravatar address is gravatar@somewhere.com, you just need to specify it in your profile area. Simple, yet epic.
Developer: Arantor
Target: users, admins
Status: 100% (believed to be complete.)
Comment:
Users may now use their gravatar (if available), instead of a locally or remotely hosted avatar.
One of the finest points in Wedge is that they can specify a gravatar e-mail address that isn't their account's e-mail address. For instance if your e-mail address is something@somewhere.com and your gravatar address is gravatar@somewhere.com, you just need to specify it in your profile area. Simple, yet epic.
188
Features: Miscellaneous / Per-board Languages and Language flags
« on May 7th, 2011, 12:55 PM »
Feature: Per-board Languages and Language flags
Developer: Arantor & Nao
Target: users
Status: 99% (complete, although more could be done?)
Comment:
Language packs can now offer a "Flag.language.png" file that will be used by Wedge to show flags where needed. Boards can now specify a default language that may be different from the overall default. User preference is still given priority, then the board language, then the overall language. Boards with a special language get a flag shown next to them.
Also, Wedge shows all available languages in the top-left corner, through a list of flags you can click to immediately switch the interface to the desired language.
Developer: Arantor & Nao
Target: users
Status: 99% (complete, although more could be done?)
Comment:
Language packs can now offer a "Flag.language.png" file that will be used by Wedge to show flags where needed. Boards can now specify a default language that may be different from the overall default. User preference is still given priority, then the board language, then the overall language. Boards with a special language get a flag shown next to them.
Also, Wedge shows all available languages in the top-left corner, through a list of flags you can click to immediately switch the interface to the desired language.
189
Features: Miscellaneous / Plugins
« on May 7th, 2011, 12:55 PM »
Feature: Plugins
Developer: Arantor (main), Nao
Target: admins, modders
Status: 99% (a complete rewrite... Pretty much ready to go!)
Comment:
SMF 'packages' and 'mods' are now called 'plugins'.
Our goal here is to completely phase out file edits in favor of the use of hooks, so that admins no longer have no deal with plugin incompatibilities and tedious forum updates. Of course, it's not going to be easy... Which is why, like its Hook counterpart, this is still largely a work in progress.
October 7 update: Arantor implemented the new plugin system, which is a much bigger rewrite than originally expected, and more powerful as well. We're sure modders and users will both love it!
2013 update: it seems to be complete at last ;)
Developer: Arantor (main), Nao
Target: admins, modders
Status: 99% (a complete rewrite... Pretty much ready to go!)
Comment:
SMF 'packages' and 'mods' are now called 'plugins'.
Our goal here is to completely phase out file edits in favor of the use of hooks, so that admins no longer have no deal with plugin incompatibilities and tedious forum updates. Of course, it's not going to be easy... Which is why, like its Hook counterpart, this is still largely a work in progress.
October 7 update: Arantor implemented the new plugin system, which is a much bigger rewrite than originally expected, and more powerful as well. We're sure modders and users will both love it!
2013 update: it seems to be complete at last ;)
190
Features: Miscellaneous / Improvements to Hooks
« on May 7th, 2011, 12:55 PM »
Feature: Improvements to Hooks
Developer: Nao (main), Arantor
Target: modders, admins
Status: 60% (source hooks completed; template hooks in progress; considering whether to add file param; once everything's done, need to look through the code and add hooks where useful.)
Comment:
It took SMF a long time to add "real" support for hooks -- a way to allow plug-ins to safely add code to the main codebase without actually editing the original files. Still, it's far from being a usable standard.
We simplified the calls to begin with. "add_hook('hook_point', 'my_function', 'my_source_file')" will execute 'function' once Wedge reaches the specified hook point (you may specify a source file to load before calling it.)
We provided context data to a few more hooks, and deleted a few useless hooks and outdated mechanisms (such as pre_include, catch_settings or the SMF_INTEGRATION_SETTINGS array).
Mostly, though, we added hooks to various places that SMF doesn't handle, like auto-suggest, behavior check, friend additions, post creation/modification (before and after), browser detection, query string analysis, dynamic rewrite (pre-pretty URL output buffer time), admin settings, credits...
The code internals are also better laid out. Hooks are unregistered if they're no longer available (e.g. uninstalled add-on.) Everything is put into a $modSettings['hooks'] array, instead of scattered through multiple annoying $modSettings['integrate_*'] variables.
We also try and make sure existing hooks can actually do something instead of just stare at the sky. They can now for instance intercept and modify outstanding personal messages, new topics and error messages.
This feature is under development and hasn't yet a state where it can be considered to be feature-frozen. The goal is to enable modders to add their code anywhere, without having to use SMF's code edit hacks... Thus making it possible to upgrade Wedge versions without uninstalling and reinstalling plugins in the process.
Developer: Nao (main), Arantor
Target: modders, admins
Status: 60% (source hooks completed; template hooks in progress; considering whether to add file param; once everything's done, need to look through the code and add hooks where useful.)
Comment:
It took SMF a long time to add "real" support for hooks -- a way to allow plug-ins to safely add code to the main codebase without actually editing the original files. Still, it's far from being a usable standard.
We simplified the calls to begin with. "add_hook('hook_point', 'my_function', 'my_source_file')" will execute 'function' once Wedge reaches the specified hook point (you may specify a source file to load before calling it.)
We provided context data to a few more hooks, and deleted a few useless hooks and outdated mechanisms (such as pre_include, catch_settings or the SMF_INTEGRATION_SETTINGS array).
Mostly, though, we added hooks to various places that SMF doesn't handle, like auto-suggest, behavior check, friend additions, post creation/modification (before and after), browser detection, query string analysis, dynamic rewrite (pre-pretty URL output buffer time), admin settings, credits...
The code internals are also better laid out. Hooks are unregistered if they're no longer available (e.g. uninstalled add-on.) Everything is put into a $modSettings['hooks'] array, instead of scattered through multiple annoying $modSettings['integrate_*'] variables.
We also try and make sure existing hooks can actually do something instead of just stare at the sky. They can now for instance intercept and modify outstanding personal messages, new topics and error messages.
This feature is under development and hasn't yet a state where it can be considered to be feature-frozen. The goal is to enable modders to add their code anywhere, without having to use SMF's code edit hacks... Thus making it possible to upgrade Wedge versions without uninstalling and reinstalling plugins in the process.
191
Features: Miscellaneous / Feed links
« on May 6th, 2011, 07:33 PM »
Feature: Feed links
Developer: Arantor & Nao
Target: users
Status: 90% (some links don't work. Needs further investigation.)
Comment:
Inspired by the Noisen implementation of blogs, we added these feed links in the sidebar (as well as support for topic subscription.)
You'll always see at least two links for the entire site: latest posts, and latest topics. Then, if you're inside a board, you'll get additional links for latest posts & latest topics in that board. Visit a topic page and you'll get another additional link for latest posts in that topic.
:edit: Wedge now links to Atom feeds by default. They're as widely supported as RSS 1 nowadays, and are generally better in every respect. Support for Webslices and smf custom feeds has been removed, due to lack of interest from both users and developers.
Developer: Arantor & Nao
Target: users
Status: 90% (some links don't work. Needs further investigation.)
Comment:
Inspired by the Noisen implementation of blogs, we added these feed links in the sidebar (as well as support for topic subscription.)
You'll always see at least two links for the entire site: latest posts, and latest topics. Then, if you're inside a board, you'll get additional links for latest posts & latest topics in that board. Visit a topic page and you'll get another additional link for latest posts in that topic.
:edit: Wedge now links to Atom feeds by default. They're as widely supported as RSS 1 nowadays, and are generally better in every respect. Support for Webslices and smf custom feeds has been removed, due to lack of interest from both users and developers.
192
Features: BBCode / More tag
« on May 6th, 2011, 07:32 PM »
Feature: More tag
Developer: Arantor & Nao
Target: users
Status: 100% (believed to be complete.)
Comment:
The [more] BBC tag can be used to set a clear break between a post's introduction and its main body. If present, the post will be cut at the more tag whenever it's shown outside the actual topic page (including RSS feeds.) Very useful for blog posts. Or whatever, really.
Developer: Arantor & Nao
Target: users
Status: 100% (believed to be complete.)
Comment:
The [more] BBC tag can be used to set a clear break between a post's introduction and its main body. If present, the post will be cut at the more tag whenever it's shown outside the actual topic page (including RSS feeds.) Very useful for blog posts. Or whatever, really.
193
Features: Posts & Topics / Auto-embedding
« on May 6th, 2011, 07:31 PM »
Feature: Auto-embedding
Developer: Nao
Target: users
Status: 99% (completed. By its nature, the site list will need updates to keep up with the web's evolution.)
Comment:
Based on Aeva Lite, this is the only auto-embedding tool you'll ever need. (Feel free to disagree, but then again you're free to be stupid :niark:)
There's not much to be said... It's just there, it's enabled by default, it works great with 200+ sites, but most people will know it as "the thing that magically embeds my YouTube videos and Google Maps when I post their URLs." Oh, and yes, it also supports the recent youtu.be URLs.
Developer: Nao
Target: users
Status: 99% (completed. By its nature, the site list will need updates to keep up with the web's evolution.)
Comment:
Based on Aeva Lite, this is the only auto-embedding tool you'll ever need. (Feel free to disagree, but then again you're free to be stupid :niark:)
There's not much to be said... It's just there, it's enabled by default, it works great with 200+ sites, but most people will know it as "the thing that magically embeds my YouTube videos and Google Maps when I post their URLs." Oh, and yes, it also supports the recent youtu.be URLs.
194
Features: Security / Dynamic CAPTCHAs
« on May 6th, 2011, 07:31 PM »
Feature: Dynamic CAPTCHAs
Developer: Arantor
Target: users, admins
Status: 100% (complete; by its nature, more captchas will be added in the future as needed.)
Comment:
A captcha is a script that shows an image with usually some text in it, and asks you to confirm what the image says. It's a relatively effective measure taken against spam bots, but it only works as long as bots aren't updated to be able to decrypt the captcha. For that reason, new captchas need to be used as soon as one is found to be ineffective against non-human spam.
Wedge gets around this by implementing a more robust captcha system. It's built as a plug-in system that allows you to write your own captchas, or simply drop in new captchas written by others. One captcha = one file in the captcha folder. As simple as that. Wedge includes 10 new captchas, some of which use animated GIFs built dynamically.
Developer: Arantor
Target: users, admins
Status: 100% (complete; by its nature, more captchas will be added in the future as needed.)
Comment:
A captcha is a script that shows an image with usually some text in it, and asks you to confirm what the image says. It's a relatively effective measure taken against spam bots, but it only works as long as bots aren't updated to be able to decrypt the captcha. For that reason, new captchas need to be used as soon as one is found to be ineffective against non-human spam.
Wedge gets around this by implementing a more robust captcha system. It's built as a plug-in system that allows you to write your own captchas, or simply drop in new captchas written by others. One captcha = one file in the captcha folder. As simple as that. Wedge includes 10 new captchas, some of which use animated GIFs built dynamically.
195
Features: Theming / New theme
« on May 6th, 2011, 07:30 PM »
Feature: New theme
Developer: Nao
Target: everyone
Status: 100% (complete; details are updated as I feel like it.)
Comment:
Gone are Core, Babylon, Classic and Curve. None of SMF's themes had our preference. So we took the (pretty good) Curve codebase and built a new default theme upon it, using HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery.
Its main goal is to be easily extensible, which is achieved through the new Skins feature. See below, as well as the 'Forward thinking' section. Wedge's theme is both beautiful and has the cleanest possible code.
Developer: Nao
Target: everyone
Status: 100% (complete; details are updated as I feel like it.)
Comment:
Gone are Core, Babylon, Classic and Curve. None of SMF's themes had our preference. So we took the (pretty good) Curve codebase and built a new default theme upon it, using HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery.
Its main goal is to be easily extensible, which is achieved through the new Skins feature. See below, as well as the 'Forward thinking' section. Wedge's theme is both beautiful and has the cleanest possible code.