Welcome to vBulletin 3.7.0!

[Webmaster]

Earlier this morning, we upgraded the forum software to the latest beta release of the new vBulletin 3.7.0 branch. This upgrade is actually monstrous, however we're questioning how many of the newly added features our members will actually use.

The first new option is one that can help increase traffic to the forum. It allows threads to be added to the more popular social bookmarking sites.

Each of you will be familiar with the Favorites or Bookmarks option in your browser. This allows you to bookmark a site and return to it later.

How many of you are aware you can also bookmark sites in a bookmark, or favorites file that is on the Web? Instead of ending up with a huge bookmark file in your browser, there are now Web bookmarking sites, where you can save pages and files. Do you Digg?

Digg is one of the bookmarking sites. If you bookmark a page to Digg, you are Digg'ing the page. And your Digg bookmark is available for other Digg'ers to see, as well. If someone else sees a page you've saved to Digg and they enjoy the page as well, then they will also Digg the page. How many of you have visited a Web page that will have a small badge saying the page has X number of Diggs?

If you look below this thread, there is now a new set of icons appearing there. One for Digg, one for del.icio.us, one for Stumbleupon and one for Google. (Click on the attached image to view these icons.)

So if any of you use the social bookmarking sites and see a thread here that you don't want to lose, or perhaps want others to see, then just click on the icon of your choice.

I will warn you - it is easy to hit one of the social bookmarking sites, select a category and then lose several hours as you are looking at pages that others have bookmarked. We're not going to be held responsible for you losing sleep or being late to work.

 

[Youngster]

One new feature I've found so far is "Veiw my photo gallery" Gotta go see what else I can find!

Ron

 

[Webmaster]

Another new feature of vBulletin 3.7.0 is the way your member profile is now displayed. You're not going to recognize your profile page anymore.

Go ahead, click on the Quick Links option in the Navbar and select Your Profile. (Click on the left attachment to see the link.)

And there is your brand new profile. (Click on the second image to view an example.)

The Visitor's Messages tab is selected in that example. If you want to leave a message for a member and it does not have to be private, you can type in the message on that tab.

You can view details about a member in the About Me tab, a member's forum stats in the Statistics tab, a member's friends in the Friends tab or contact a member in the Contact Info tab.

The Friends option is new. You can select forum members that you want to be part of your Friends group. I suspect this won't be a wildly popular option, but it is there if you want to use it.

The Contact Info tab will be where you will want to click, if you want to send a Private Message to another member. (Click the right image for an example.) Just click on the Send a Private Message link to create the message for that member.

 

[Webmaster]

There is another major change that has been made to the User Profile side of vBulletin 3.7.0.

If you're adventurous and want to customize your User profile page, you can do exactly that.

Colors can be changed, fonts can be changed, background images can be added, etc.

Personally, I can't be bothered with any of it. But we have left the option active, just in case a member or two are feeling particularly artistic.

The profile editing can be done by selecting User CP and then clicking on Customize Profile in the uppermost module.

If you want to use the option, please feel free to do so. There is not going to be any support on the various editing options, as I'm not going to be spending the time to learn how it all works.

Additionally, you will see in the second module, there are now options for you to create your Friends list, to start a new Social Group or to upload pictures to some albums accessible only through your profile. Again, the options are there if you care to use them, but support is going to be extremely minimal.

 

[tfeverfred]

I'm sending private massages and can't see them in my sent file. I have also recieved "conversations", but can't find where they are stored. Am I doing something wrong or what?:sad: Are private messages "conversations" now? Yup, confused as always.


CRAP! Okay, I figured it out.

 

[Webmaster]

OK, that's good to hear.

I just sent you a PM from a test account to verify that everything was working as it should. It seems it is.

 

[Webmaster]

Private Messages are now part of the Notification system, so the prompt in the Navbar will say you have Notifications. Click the attached image for an example.

 

[tfeverfred]

Okay! I figured it out. REALLY, I did.:beer: Thanks.

 

[donsrods]

Are pictures going to be any easier to post? On most forums that use VBulletin you simply click on manage attachments and download right from your computer and they come up as full sized posts. Do we now have that?

Don

 

[Webmaster]

Images attached to a post are now displayed in a lightbox viewer. In one of my earlier posts, locate one of the attached images and then just hover your mouse pointer over the attachment for a brief moment. You can click on the image, as well.

If you're wanting to use simple uploads from your local computer, then the vBPicGallery is your best bet. Simply create an album and start uploading.