Forum software upgrade

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Lemming
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Forum software upgrade

Post by Lemming »

I've updated the software that makes the forum work, phpBB. We've changed from phpBB 3.1.10 to phpBB 3.2.

The new version is supposed to be faster and have new features. Check out the details here if you're interested. That will tell you what you can now do that you couldn't before.

There do seem to have been a few issues with this upgrade. Some of us have found that the display goes weird.

One solution to this is to do a hard refresh in the browser - CTRL-F5 on Google Chrome. Other variations of the good old switch it off and back on again solution probably also work.

It's likely to be more of an issue on mobile devices than desktops because they typically stay on all of the time and so are more likely to carry forward bits of the old software and/or template. Again some kind of reset might be required.

If you are still having issues or have any advice for users of specific devices please let me know or post here.


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Fat_old_dwarf
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by Fat_old_dwarf »

F5 on computer and clearing cache on phone worked for me. And cheers for all the hard work.
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Not_the_monk
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by Not_the_monk »

Wow that was a trippy looking forum for a minute there! A simple F5 fixed things here too :)
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Fat_old_dwarf
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by Fat_old_dwarf »

Just noticed that the search facility doesn't seem to be working, at least for me. Neither of them. The top one I can't set focus to, and one in blue pretends to search, but doesn't. Can others do anything with them?
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notsofasteddie
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by notsofasteddie »

Fat_old_dwarf wrote: Sun 29th Jan 2017 07:10 pm Just noticed that the search facility doesn't seem to be working, at least for me. Neither of them. The top one I can't set focus to, and one in blue pretends to search, but doesn't. Can others do anything with them?
"Google the ACD" appears to be dead. Search for Keywords allows word entry, but blanks out when initiated. Takes a while but, the magnifying glass search will yield 2283 hits for the word lemming, but won't find Amnesia as it yields too many hits. Using Amnesia in advanced search also yields too many hits to complete even when the Coffeeshop Review forum is selected.
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Lemming
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by Lemming »

Some have said they've had to clear browsing history. This shouldn't really be necessary, unless you want to.

The problem is that browsers retain parts of web pages between visits so that they load quicker next time (in this case I think it's the css stylesheet). After an upgrade like this you finish up with some of the new stuff mixed up with old stuff and that creates a mess.

To fix the problem you need to persuade your browser to reload everything that makes up the page so that it gets the new versions of all of the components. The place where the old bits are still lurking is called the 'cache' so it's a matter of clearing the cache.

On most browsers the solution is called a hard refresh.

A normal or soft refresh is usually a button at the top of the browser with an arrow going around in a circle. It might be called 'refresh' or 'reload the page'. The F5 key is often an alternative way of doing it.

In some cases a simple refresh like this might be enough but sometimes that doesn't reload everything so you need to do a hard refresh to force everything to be reloaded.

To do a hard refresh:

Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer for Windows/Linux
- hold down the Ctrl key and press the F5 key.

Mac - hold down the shift key and click the browser Reload button with mouse.

Safari - Hold down Opt key and Cmd key and press E key.

Mobile devices are worse because they rarely get switched off properly and are more fiddly to perform a hard refresh on. In general you need to go into settings and select 'clear cache'.

You only need to clear the cache for the ACD Forum, not all sites and you don't really need to clear all of you browsing history or anything else. In other words you shouldn't lose anything, just force a reload that will be slightly slower opening this forum once. After that it should be fine until next time I do an upgrade.

Incidentally, I've also been playing around with the 4/20 countdown. You might not be seeing the latest version of that. If you've got the hang of the hard refresh then you could try it again from time to time to see what I've been up to.
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spidergawd
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by spidergawd »

Cheers Lemming. :D singing and dancing on all my devices now. :mrgreen:
What a long strange trip it is.
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Fat_old_dwarf
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by Fat_old_dwarf »

Good to hear, Spidey. Hope the forum is working OK for you as well.
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spidergawd
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by spidergawd »

Oh, that too thankyou. :D
What a long strange trip it is.
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TwoCanucks
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by TwoCanucks »

got it working, was getting frustrated with Chrome...cursing its name...now peace and serenity have returned
Amsterdam dreaming.............
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ed the head
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by ed the head »

Lemming wrote: Sun 29th Jan 2017 03:05 pm I've updated the software that makes the forum work, phpBB. We've changed from phpBB 3.1.10 to phpBB 3.2.
...
If you are still having issues or have any advice for users of specific devices please let me know or post here.

:wtf:
Was Lost but now am Found
Blind but now I See

Thank you Lemming

:mrgreen:
He who tries to shine dims his own light
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Lemming
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by Lemming »

Hope all is working well for everyone now.
Fat_old_dwarf wrote: Sun 29th Jan 2017 07:10 pm Just noticed that the search facility doesn't seem to be working, at least for me. Neither of them. The top one I can't set focus to, and one in blue pretends to search, but doesn't. Can others do anything with them?
The search in the blue block is part of phpBB. This means it only searches the forum.

I just tried a few searches with it and most worked as expected. The only exception was searching for 'Amnesia', which claimed to be too common a word! I have no idea why it complains about that. Searches for 'Utopia' and 'Voyagers' worked fine.

The other search, using Google, stopped working when I switched the forum to ProSilver style about a year ago. It still works throughout the rest of the site - try clicking Home and then searching - and does return results for 'amnesia'. It also searches the whole site, not just the forum.

I've been intending to have another look at why the Google search doesn't work on the forum, although, to be honest, it had me quite baffled last time I looked at it. If any of you techies out there can help I'd really appreciate it.
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by notsofasteddie »

Lemming wrote: Tue 31st Jan 2017 09:50 pm Hope all is working well for everyone now.
The Last Post subjects seemed to have disappeared from the Board Index
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Lemming
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by Lemming »

I turned that feature off because I thought it looked a bit messy. I've turned it back on again now.
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Lemming
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Re: Forum software upgrade

Post by Lemming »

Well, I switched that back on again.

The reason I'm smoking this celebratory joint is not because of that, though, it's because I've managed to fix some long-standing bugs. For instance, the Google the ACD search at the top now works.
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