John Scheffel
12-10-2004, 02:32 PM
There are lots new features in version 3. I am starting this thread to document some of the more important ones so people can try them out. If you find any cool new features, post them in the Discussion of vBulletin 3.0 (http://www.cocreateusers.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5330) thread. Also if you find things you liked better in version 2, post it to that thread as well. This thread is closed so it can be a quick reference to the new features. I will add to it as we go.
Three Editing Modes Including WYSIWYG :cool:
In User CP, Edit Options, you can now choose from 3 different editing modes.
Basic Editor - simple text entry box
Standard Editor - text entry box with buttons to add formatting
Guided Mode - clicking format buttons opens dialogs to assist you.
Enhanced Mode - clicking format buttons adds tags to text edit window. Use Close Current Tag to close them.
Enhanced Interface - WYSIWYG Editor which displays the post as it will appear. A little sluggish, but very handy.
The default is the Standard Editor, but there is supposedly a way we can force all the users to the Enhanced Interface if we want to.
Enhanced Search :)
The search options have been greatly enhanced. You can now search any group of forums by Ctrl-clicking from a list, or you can click a category or forum and search all the sub-forums. You can also save your prefered default option settings using the "Save Search Preferences" drop down and Go button. For example, you could make your default for "Show Results As: Posts" if you prefer it.
Unfortunately there is still no standard Day Search, so we will have to try to add the hack from version 2 for that.
Quick Reply
At the bottom of each thread is a box for entering a quick reply. This can be turned on/off from the vBulletin admin settings.
Threaded View Options
Version 3 now supports true threaded discussions. You can change the view of the thread using the "Display Modes" drop down while viewing a thread. The imported v2 threads don't seem to have been updated to be threaded, even if Quote was used and the post titles match.
Clicking User Name Displays Options
You might wonder what happened to the user info buttons on the post (profile, email, www, etc...). You can now click on the user name to get a list of these options and more.
Instant Message Icon In Posts
If you have entered ID(s) in the "Instant Messaging" section of your profile, your posts will include icon(s) that people can click to send you an instant message.
Attachment Management
You can now include multiple attachments with a single post, and change attachments from the Edit Post form (eliminates the need for one of our v2 hacks).
Preview Changes Now Standard
When you edit a post there is now a standard Preview Changes button, which eliminates the need for the v2 hack that we added to provide this button.
Preview First Post By Hover
If you hover your mouse cursor over a thread title, it will display a tooltip box with the beginning of the first post. Only seems to work with threads created in v3.
Quick Style Change
The bottom of every window includes a drop down to quickly change the Style (colors, icons, etc. also now referred to by the trendy name "skin"). Note that all the non-default styles in this test forum were imported from version 2 and may not work well. We will probably want to delete these and add new vb 3 styles.
Show/Hide Categories
The categories headings on the home page now include an arrow on the right side which can be used to show/hide the forums under that category. The setting is remembered when you exit.
Sub Forum Display
There is a global setting that will display a list of sub forum links under the forum titles. Not really relevant since we don't have subforums yet.
Three Editing Modes Including WYSIWYG :cool:
In User CP, Edit Options, you can now choose from 3 different editing modes.
Basic Editor - simple text entry box
Standard Editor - text entry box with buttons to add formatting
Guided Mode - clicking format buttons opens dialogs to assist you.
Enhanced Mode - clicking format buttons adds tags to text edit window. Use Close Current Tag to close them.
Enhanced Interface - WYSIWYG Editor which displays the post as it will appear. A little sluggish, but very handy.
The default is the Standard Editor, but there is supposedly a way we can force all the users to the Enhanced Interface if we want to.
Enhanced Search :)
The search options have been greatly enhanced. You can now search any group of forums by Ctrl-clicking from a list, or you can click a category or forum and search all the sub-forums. You can also save your prefered default option settings using the "Save Search Preferences" drop down and Go button. For example, you could make your default for "Show Results As: Posts" if you prefer it.
Unfortunately there is still no standard Day Search, so we will have to try to add the hack from version 2 for that.
Quick Reply
At the bottom of each thread is a box for entering a quick reply. This can be turned on/off from the vBulletin admin settings.
Threaded View Options
Version 3 now supports true threaded discussions. You can change the view of the thread using the "Display Modes" drop down while viewing a thread. The imported v2 threads don't seem to have been updated to be threaded, even if Quote was used and the post titles match.
Clicking User Name Displays Options
You might wonder what happened to the user info buttons on the post (profile, email, www, etc...). You can now click on the user name to get a list of these options and more.
Instant Message Icon In Posts
If you have entered ID(s) in the "Instant Messaging" section of your profile, your posts will include icon(s) that people can click to send you an instant message.
Attachment Management
You can now include multiple attachments with a single post, and change attachments from the Edit Post form (eliminates the need for one of our v2 hacks).
Preview Changes Now Standard
When you edit a post there is now a standard Preview Changes button, which eliminates the need for the v2 hack that we added to provide this button.
Preview First Post By Hover
If you hover your mouse cursor over a thread title, it will display a tooltip box with the beginning of the first post. Only seems to work with threads created in v3.
Quick Style Change
The bottom of every window includes a drop down to quickly change the Style (colors, icons, etc. also now referred to by the trendy name "skin"). Note that all the non-default styles in this test forum were imported from version 2 and may not work well. We will probably want to delete these and add new vb 3 styles.
Show/Hide Categories
The categories headings on the home page now include an arrow on the right side which can be used to show/hide the forums under that category. The setting is remembered when you exit.
Sub Forum Display
There is a global setting that will display a list of sub forum links under the forum titles. Not really relevant since we don't have subforums yet.