nms-cgi-devel

[Nms-cgi-devel] NMSBoard ideas

[Dadi J. <da...@si...>]

I really look forward to see the first official version of NMSBoard. I have
seen what you guys have done with Tfmail, so I have high hopes about this
new script. I downloaded the pre-alpha and got it running. I tried to post a
message, but it didn't show up (no error message, everything seemed normal).

I see that in data.nml you store the <date>, but not time. I definitely want
to show the time and date in my message index, and I believe that it may
also be useful for other purposes to have the exact time of posting.

I have been running a "threaded" message board for some years, and below I
have made a list of useful things to have in such a message board. Hopefully
you will put some of these on the "to-do" list for NMSBoard. I realize that
some of the items are already planned for NMSBoard.

I see that recently you have mostly been discussing the more technical
aspects of the script, but I hope that its not too early (and not too late!)
to suggest new ideas.

*Users*

1. Allow users to easily change the "look" of the board (like fancy list in
the pre-alpha, choose another CSS etc.)

2. User profiles (See more about this in 19 below) : Name, e-mail, password,
descriptive text, optional link (and description), optional image URL,
optional graphic upload. This might require a config for the profile and
graphic directories. Also allow the users to exclude old messages from their
message listing (Only show the last three days, one week etc.). This setting
should also be stored in the profile.

3. Only allow one profile per e-mail address. This has really cut down
problems with posters on my current board.

4. User Preferences, allowing users to change the preferred order of
messages in the message list etc.

5. Easy changing of message list order (threaded, chronological or
guestbook-style lists). The more flexibility and choices in this area the
better.

6. Mark new messages in message list since last visit (different color,
icon... configurable)

7. Allow users to mark all messages as read.

8. Easy use of smilies when writing messages (icons)

9. Allow easy formatting of message text (bold, italic, highlighted...)

10. Easy recovery of lost user passwords (e-mail to the address in the
profile?). The most frequent problem my users have is losing/forgetting
their password.

11. Search function

12. Paged message index with user selected timeframe for each page.
(Requires page links similar to those in the advanced guestbook of the
Tfmail script).

13. Reply with or without quoting (different links/buttons). Both choices
should be available when responding to a message.

14. Allow preview of messages before posting

15. Automatically hotlink URLs and e-mail addresses (maybe configurable)

16. Allow users to delete their own messages. Maybe it would be easiest (and
least confusing for the users) if a placeholder for the deleted message is
shown in the message list if it had followup messages.

17 List of most active posters (top n list)

*Administration*

18. Admin module (Manage profiles, delete/modify messages, admin posts,
archiving, rebuild database...)

19. Allow the admin to limit posting to those who have a user profile. Also
allow the admin to prevent certain users (e-mail addresses) from posting.

20. Multiple message boards using only separate config files.

21. Allow the admin to choose to have the post message form on the index
page or on a separate page.

22. Same as above for a post message form on individual message pages (like
when reading a message).

23. Configure the message index to show if a message contains a picture or a
link (separate icons, so a message with both a link and a picture would
display both).

24. Configure the message index to show how often each message has been read
(This has proved to be very popular on my board).

25. View statistics (Number of posts per week...)

26. As much flexibility as possible through CSS

*Script modifications*

27. Hooks for custom code (Before message is saved, before it is
displayed... probably many other places). This would be _really_ nice.

RE: [Nms-cgi-devel] NMSBoard ideas

[Wizard <wi...@ne...>]

Just a note: the script you have is PRE-ALPHA, and is still being developed.
Also, some of my answers may seem discouraging, but most of the things that
you have suggested are good, and will likely make it in at some point.

> I downloaded the pre-alpha and got it running. I
> tried to post a message, but it didn't show up (no error
> message, everything seemed normal).

There is no posting ability yet. I hope to get something up this week. This
is still not a complete package, but is just there to try out. keep watching
and you should see something shortly.

> I see that in data.nml you store the <date>, but not time. I
> definitely want
> to show the time and date in my message index, and I believe that it may
> also be useful for other purposes to have the exact time of posting.

Actually, I'm planning on storing date AND time using the standard time
value of seconds since epoch (both in the <date> field). This will be
transformed into date and time strings when displayed. Post converted from
older wwwboard.html posts may only have the date string, but I may try to
work in the time as well, we'll see.

> 1. Allow users to easily change the "look" of the board (like
> fancy list in
> the pre-alpha, choose another CSS etc.)

You can do this already, but you'll have to have the templates/css/configs
already there. The fancy list is an example of that, using the same dataset
with different templates and settings. If you mean 'fully customizable' as
in the ability to create one's own templates and configurations, I don't
know that there is a truly safe way to do that. Templates are parsed, and
user configurations are VERY unsafe. If I can come up with a way, I can
pretty much guarantee that it won't be in the first version. When we have
user accounts/sessions, there will be more ability to customize views.

> 2. User profiles (See more about this in 19 below) : Name,
> e-mail, password,
> descriptive text, optional link (and description), optional image URL,
> optional graphic upload. This might require a config for the profile and
> graphic directories. Also allow the users to exclude old messages
> from their
> message listing (Only show the last three days, one week etc.).
> This setting
> should also be stored in the profile.

There may be some of this functionality, specifically the ability to filter
messages by date, but presently not stateful. Something like the user
profiles is planned for future revisions, but not the first one.

> 3. Only allow one profile per e-mail address. This has really cut down
> problems with posters on my current board.

With this version, you'll be able to block posting by IP block and email,
and you'll be able to moderate posts by email or 'all'. Moderated posts will
be recorded but not displayed until the admin says so.

> 4. User Preferences, allowing users to change the preferred order of
> messages in the message list etc.

This will be a sort feature in the 2nd release that will allow one to sort
based on date, user, and message size. This will likely be retained in a
cookie to reduce server space.

> 5. Easy changing of message list order (threaded, chronological or
> guestbook-style lists). The more flexibility and choices in this area the
> better.

There will be a 'guestbook-like' (sorry, Nick Clark ;-) feature where all
posts will be top-level in this first version, but it is configuration
based. When we get user accounts and sessions, we'll be able to do more of
this.

> 6. Mark new messages in message list since last visit (different color,
> icon... configurable)

You can simulate this now by setting the "a.visited {" value in the .css
file to a different color than the "a {" value. This won't quite accomplish
what you are asking, and I will consider it for a future version when we
implement some sort of stateful/session interface.

> 7. Allow users to mark all messages as read.

Again, this will have to wait until after we have some sort of session
cookie.

> 8. Easy use of smilies when writing messages (icons)

I saw this in another request, and it could be done with this version
without actually adding anything to the script. It would involve adding some
JavaScript buttons to the form template and creating the images, but it
shouldn't be too complicated. I'll see if I can add something to the
examples.

> 9. Allow easy formatting of message text (bold, italic, highlighted...)

More JavaScript stuff. I'll try to get to it, but we'll have to see.

> 10. Easy recovery of lost user passwords (e-mail to the address in the
> profile?). The most frequent problem my users have is losing/forgetting
> their password.

User Accounts aren't slated until the next release, but this won't be part
of it. Without incorporating multiple servers with GPG/PGP or something
similar, I don't believe that there is a safe way to store retrievable
passwords.

> 11. Search function

Should be in this version.

> 12. Paged message index with user selected timeframe for each page.
> (Requires page links similar to those in the advanced guestbook of the
> Tfmail script).

I'm not sure what this means, but I'll take a look at TFmail when I have a
chance.

> 13. Reply with or without quoting (different links/buttons). Both choices
> should be available when responding to a message.

I can add a 'clear form' button that will clear everything except the
Subject field. That should accomplish what you're asking.

> 14. Allow preview of messages before posting

It'll be in this version.

> 15. Automatically hotlink URLs and e-mail addresses (maybe configurable)

That's not a bad idea. I'll try to fit this into this version.

> 16. Allow users to delete their own messages. Maybe it would be
> easiest (and
> least confusing for the users) if a placeholder for the deleted message is
> shown in the message list if it had follow-up messages.

Perhaps next version. As stated earlier, we need a session/user accounts
first.

> 17 List of most active posters (top n list)

Again, we'll need User accounts first.

> 18. Admin module (Manage profiles, delete/modify messages, admin posts,
> archiving, rebuild database...)

There will be an admin module that does everything it needs to.

> 19. Allow the admin to limit posting to those who have a user
> profile. Also
> allow the admin to prevent certain users (e-mail addresses) from posting.

Emails and IPs can be blocked with this release.

> 20. Multiple message boards using only separate config files.

That's in this version. The two example boards supplied are just that, but
simply share the same data file.

> 21. Allow the admin to choose to have the post message form on the index
> page or on a separate page.

Good thought. That'll likely only be for the list views. The message views
will have a form, but I could put a 'no_form_on_thread' config variable.

> 22. Same as above for a post message form on individual message
> pages (like
> when reading a message).

I'm not sure there is a real need to have a separate form for individual
messages, but you could do this now by making the form template all hiddens
with a post button pointing to an (X)HTML form page with JavaScript to
fill-in the fields with the post values. I'll see what I can do as far as an
example.

> 23. Configure the message index to show if a message contains a
> picture or a
> link (separate icons, so a message with both a link and a picture would
> display both).

This may be in a future version. Advanced displays of lists/threads will
probably not occur until we have sessions, so that users can turn them on
and off.

> 24. Configure the message index to show how often each message
> has been read
> (This has proved to be very popular on my board).

I may be able to do this by incorporating the counter script into NMSBoard.
If I have the chance, I'll see.

> 25. View statistics (Number of posts per week...)

That's do-able, but we'll see if I have time.

> 26. As much flexibility as possible through CSS

That is pretty do-able with this version. I'm trying to avoid specifically
formatting any dynamically generated display items (no tables). Everything
should be within DIVs, SPANs, etc, with class= as needed. The rest is done
through templates.

> 27. Hooks for custom code (Before message is saved, before it is
> displayed... probably many other places). This would be _really_ nice.

I'll think about it for a later version.

Right now I'm just trying to finish a working, more flexible version of NMS
WWWBoard so that we have something to get some feedback on. Don't be
discouraged by my responses though, as this is, and will be a work in
progress. Once we have this version completed and released, we'll have a
base to add features to. We have tried to make it as generic as possible so
that any additions we make after the first release should be plug-in
replacements. In the event that I mess something up and we need to change
something that will not be backward-compatible, we will include scripts to
automate the upgrade.

Thanks for the feedback, and please continue to offer suggestions.
If I missed anything, let me know,
Grant M.