(I'd e-mail this directly to the BBS admin, but I thought some of this might be open to discussion by the BBS users...)

This is a very nicely formatted BBS. The design is quite elegant, and the orange-on-blue-on-black color scheme is attractive and quite easy to read. I especially like being able to use markup in the messages, such as posting reply quotes in orange. The BBS is easy to navigate, and its ability to track new messages (for logged-in users) is very nice. With that in mind, I have some improvement suggestions. I don't know how much the code of this BBS can be customized, but if it's possible to work on these things, I think they could improve the BBS a little bit.

My first suggestion: The size and shape of the text entry box when you post a message. On my system, it's too wide. This might be a Netscape-only problem, since that's what I use. But even on my 1152x864 screen, it's often as wide or wider than my maximixed browser window. Also, its height is way too short. I can only see five lines at a time when I'm editing a message. It's easier to edit text if the width is more natural and the height allows you to see previous paragraphs. The current code on the page that controls this has a "Textarea" command with the parameters of cols=80 and rows=5. I'd suggest cols=60 and rows=15 if it's possible to change it.

My other problem is with the new message counts. I think there's a bug in it. I don't know if it's something that's under the control of the BBS admin, but perhaps there's a way to edit it: When I post a reply to a message and then go to the forum index, it counts my message as a "New" one for my user profile. But only at the forum index, not in the forum itself. For example: Let's say I reply to a message in the "General" forum. I finish posting the message, then wait for the page to auto-return me to the message I was replying to. I can see my new post in the thread underneath the message. I can even go to it and read my new message. Then I hit "Forum Index", and in the "General" forum it shows "(1 New)". So I go back into to the General forum, but there are no new messages (as are usually indicated by the red triangles on the icons). It's counting my own message as a new one. But when I go to actually verify that the message is new, it turns out that it's not really new. See?

Has anyone else encountered these problems?

Um, nevermind. I found out that the posting box width/height is customizable by the user. Although I'd suggest changing the global default to 60/15 instead of 80/5 so that new users aren't bothered by it.

And the "New message" bug probably isn't something that can be edited by the board administrator. It's probably a bug in that version of wwwthreads. Perhaps an upgrade to a newer version of wwwthreads would fix it?

I think Paul ruled out upgrading because WWWThreads is no longer free.

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Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...

Right you are, Andy.

Below is the text of PaulH's reply to a message about the "Send Private" feature we used to have.

>>Yes I turned it off as there where some bugs lurking in the code.

>>Unfortunatly WWWThreads has now gone commercial so it looks like we are stuck with this revision of the board for now.

>>If I had time I would fix it myself but I'd rather spend that time doing something else!

>>Cheers

>>Paul

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"