Brother_Bliss

It's out now. But before we upgrade JWTalk to IPS 5.0 (currently we're on 4.7) we are waiting for more bugs to be ironed out. A new version of software is typically rebuilt from the ground up, and the early releases will have some issues. They are already pushing 5.0.4 <- that's 4 updates so far to fix bugs. Then, JWTalk currently utilizes a lot of 3rd party add-ons. Many of these add-ons haven't been rewritten by the authors to be compatible with 5.0 yet. Upgrading means we would lose... Tapatalk (a mobile app, that we will likely drop because they haven't made a version that works with 5.0). Back to Top (puts the little arrow in the bottom right corner) Bookmarks (let members save and categorize posts) Auto-Welcome (sends new registrants a PM automatically welcoming them and giving them some tips and info) Files Tab on User Profile (shows which files that person uploaded to the Library) ... which honestly, nobody probably cares about except for the few that utilize Bookmarks. Status Updates have also been deprecated, but some 3rd party's have released apps to preserve that functionality. This and any remaining add-ons that we want to keep using will need to be purchased again, since they all have to be rewritten for 5.0

The default will probably just be an admin decision. And then each user will be able to customize their own view in the Account Settings. The sidebar panel vs traditional header can be a theme difference...

We can create unlimited themes, lol. To date, I've been the only one working on themes. I've made the default one, and then made a "dark mode" theme as well. When we move to v5, we will decide on what we want to be the default. Naturally, there will be those who are not ecstatic about the design changes, so we can also create something that looks similar to what we have been using here over the last several years.

The side panel navigation vs traditional header is fixed on a per theme basis. Of course, we can created multiple themes and allow users to choose.

Bro, I threw this together in like 5 minutes, lol. We're a long way from migrating to it. The colors we use here are the same colors from the JW Library app. Yes, if we choose "Feed View" like in those screen caps, or the "Card/Grid View" which you can select now at the top of the index page, then we will need some artwork to represent each forum. I have to see if v5 lets members choose their own display/view like we can here on v4.

Here's a video that talks about the redesign and new features coming to version 5 (IF we were to use them)... Some things that I personally like.... 1) Left navigation panel. 2) Feed view. My sceenshots show feed view. The index page shows the main top level forums in each category on the left. And then a snippet of the 5 most recent posts in that forum (and it's subforums) on the right. 3) Pinning the first post to the top of each page. Some things I am on the fence about.... 4) Condensed Member panel across the top, like on mobile, vs the large left pane user panel on each post. Here is what we use now... Vs. the new option coming in v5... The 2nd pic shows how you can open the users stats with a click of a drop down arrow.

Which is exactly why I like the left navigation panel. The other sections of the side might get used more. But as it is, they are buried under the drop down menus in the masthead and like you said, people don't know they exist. Of course, the classic looks are still available....

Do you mean emojis to use in the editor. Or are you referring to "Reactions" at the bottom right of each post?

The Unread Content link will become a button next to your username. The Mark Site Read link will move to the dropdown menu under your username.

Here's what I came up with....

I've downloaded the latest software and have been toying around with it. Here's one idea I came up with while trying to maintain the same color scheme...

We have a Dark Theme that you can use. Scroll down to the very bottom of the page and look for "Theme". We will be upgrading to v5. Currently, I am waiting to see more of the bugs get worked out. Plus we rely a lot on 3rd party plugins. We have to see when and if they will be updated, and buy new licenses for each of them.

No. That's only available on certain Cloud plans. JWTalk is actually hosted on a server owned by a brother, with a self-hosted "Community Classic" license. If we hosted on one of Invision's Cloud plans, the expenses would be considerably more exorbitant.

Our software, called Invision, is ever moving forward, and just had a major release that we haven't installed yet. It's chock full of new features and design changes. However, one of the problems with upgrading is that some 3rd party applications may not have been updated to be compatible with the latest software release. One 3rd party app that we use is Tapatalk. However, if you look at the Tapatalk Support Forums, they look pretty dead. Low activity, and very little response. Here is a post I made on February 19th that nobody has bothered to answer as of yet... https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/tapatalksupport/any-plans-to-bring-tapatalk-to-invision-community--t48151.html#p260559 Scrolling around over there reveals some interesting drama over the last few years that I was unaware of. It appears that Tapatalk sold themselves to another company. That company didn't do jack-diddly with the product and ran it into the ground. Then the original authors bought it back. But then, a company that owned like 1500+ forums stopped using Tapatalk in favor of their own in-house app, seriously hitting them financially. Now the place looks like a ghosttown. We will eventually have to make the decision to move forward with our upgrade. It isn't imperative at the moment. But we can't stay on old software and deprive ourselves of security patches, bug fixes, and advancing features because Tapatalk is going belly up.

Hmmm... Topics are supposed to auto-lock after a year of inactivity. Just a reminder that JWTalk does not have a discord, telegram, Whatsapp, or any other real time messaging system outside of these forums and the private message system. This is in harmony with the direction to not have chat rooms. We used to, and the branch had us shut it down.