Forum upgrade taking place on Wednesday 8th July 2020

[Admin_MND]

Hi all,

We will be emailing the below out to all users this morning but we also wanted to share it here for your information.

We are delighted to announce that we will be upgrading the Forum software, vBulletin, to a newer version.

This update will include a range of improved features including:
- Improved display on mobile phones
- Improved 'look and feel' which will be cleaner, more intuitive and easier to find what you're looking for

Whilst this update takes place, the Forum will experience some downtime and will be out of action from Wednesday 8th July until Thursday 9th July (one day in total).

We will send you another email once the Forum is back up and running to let you all know.

You will be able to access the Forum using the same URL - http://forum.mndassociation.org and the same username and password that you currently use.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes you, and we know how important it is to you, so we hope you will enjoy the benefits the new look Forum will provide.

Thank you for being a valued member of the Forum.

Best Wishes,

Forum Admin

July 2020

[Admin_MND]

Hi again all,

For your information, we will be temporarily closing the forum for new posts from midnight BST tonight (7th July).

This is so the team can make progress overnight on the upgrade with minimal disruption.

As previously mentioned we will notify you all when the forum is back up and running, and we can't wait for you all to see it.

Forum Admin.

[Admin_MND]

Hi all,

Thank you for your patience whilst we carried out the upgrade on the Forum, it is greatly appreciated.

We hope you will enjoy using the new version and the benefits it provides.

If you have any feedback you would like to share, please feel free to message us on here or email [email protected].

Thank you,

Forum Admin

[nunhead_man]

Good afternoon,

Just logged on again after the update discover I no longer have a signature?

Or perhaps I do and it's been switched off in some way?

[nunhead_man]

Hello again,

Just trying to see if I fixed it

Apparently not!

[Admin_MND]

Sorry to hear that. We've just had a look and realised that the button for signatures had switched itself off during the upgrade. We've turned it back on now, so hopefully your signature should appear on future posts.

If you spot anything else then do let us know!

Forum Admin.

[Ellie]

Don’t take this the wrong way but… Did you by any chance trial this new Forum version on any active Members – especially those with manual dexterity issues and eyegaze users?

And what’s with the FB & Twitter shares? Does that mean anyone can share my post on FB or tweet it?

Thanks.

[Admin_MND]

Hi Ellie,

Thank you for your feedback.

We were keen to get the Forum back up and running as quickly as we could as we appreciate it is such an important channel for our members, especially at the current time.

We would welcome any feedback you have on how you find the new version and if we can make any tweaks to improve it, we most definitely will. Please feel free to message us on here or email us on [email protected] . We will also be reviewing how members are using the Forum over the coming days and weeks and making any improvements or tweak as required.

One of the key things the new version has given us is a more device responsive design. This means the Forum should now work more effectively across mobile and tablet devices. This is something that we know previously had been an issue for several of our members.

We have disabled all social media sharing for now. This is something we would like to explore at another time, and we will communicate any proposed changes if we did decide to switch these features on.

Thank you,

Forum Admin

[miranda]

Oh no! I’m really struggling! The text is so feint and small. Plenty of icons to adjust ext in the reply box but can’t see it for the actual posts. .”go to top” button doesn’t take me back to the top of the page I’m on. Help please

[Ellie]

Hi Admin.

I acknowledge I am just one of the 189 active users and I am at an advanced stage in the disease, don’t/can’t use a phone, so ultimately, it’s the comments of other users that will be most valid. Also, I know you have been planning this move for a good while and have done substantial background work for the migration to happen. Lastly, I know it’s early days, I am still getting used to this new Forum, having come from a Forum I knew inside out.

Overall, I find this new Forum more difficult to use as it does not have a free flow system, is clunkier, cluttered, less accessible and is generally just more laborious to use.

No Activity Stream is a significant change. The Today’s Posts doesn’t replace a live activity stream - I fear I’ll miss some posts, which is a real shame.

Use of small arrow icons at top of page instead of NEXT & PREVIOUS icons makes for a much smaller target for both eyegaze users and the high proportions of users with manual dexterity issues. One needs to scroll down to the end of the page for the larger NEXT & PREVIOUS icons - all more laborious.

No Member List anymore. Friends list gone.

As the Forum is now on a separate platform to the MNDA website, there is now no link to the main MNDA website nor to the MND Helpline details.

Private Messaging: The PM skin this Forum uses has no counter so, given the 50 PM limit, I have to manually count each message in each folder.
Deleting PMs now dumps them into a trash Folder which in turn needs to be emptied. This is what I had to do: Select PMs to delete, click Delete, select Yes to confirm, click OK on a confirmation dialogue box, click on the Trash folder, select message to delete, click Delete Permanently, click Yes to confirm, click OK on the confirmation dialogue box – that is 9 steps to delete PMs, absolutely head wrecking!! That’s not easy if your hands don’t work that well and draining for eyegaze users. I regularly delete my PMs to free space, but this lengthy effort appals me. it’s a “Why bother?” moment…
Auto logout timer for inactivity is waaay too short at less than 15mins - hopefully it can be greatly extended. Not only is it infuriating to keep on having to log in again, but it can take me longer than the timer allows to type a post.

Again, this is only my own experience and genuinely I’m sorry to be so negative. I was looking forward to the “upgrade” but am sorely disappointed (for now) There are more gripes but I feel I ought to stop!

Many thanks.
Love Ellie.

[Barry52]

Hello admin,

I am disappointed that the new look of the forum is a step backwards. As Ellie has pointed out the function icons are tiny and difficult to select with my tremors so I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for someone using eyecontrol. Even something simple like starting a new line or paragraph doesn’t automatically select a capital letter, however this may be an iOS issue.

regards (no capital)
barry

[Admin_MND]

Oh no! I’m really struggling! The text is so feint and small. Plenty of icons to adjust ext in the reply box but can’t see it for the actual posts. .”go to top” button doesn’t take me back to the top of the page I’m on. Help please

Hi Miranda,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble. Interestingly the font size is the same as the old version but I think because the new version fills the screen more the font looks smaller. We have increased this now and I hope that helps?

We have tested the 'go to top' button and it seems to work ok on Chrome and Firefox but not 100% on internet Explorer. What device or browser are you using?

I hope this helps for now.

Thanks,

Forum Admin

[Admin_MND]

Hi Admin

I acknowledge I am just one of the 189 active users and I am at an advanced stage in the disease, don’t/can’t use a phone, so ultimately, it’s the comments of other users that will be most valid. Also, I know you have been planning this move for a good while and have done substantial background work for the migration to happen. Lastly, I know it’s early days, I am still getting used to this new Forum, having come from a Forum I knew inside out.

Overall, I find this new Forum more difficult to use as it does not have a free flow system, is clunkier, cluttered, less accessible and is generally just more laborious to use.

No Activity Stream is a significant change. The Today’s Posts doesn’t replace a live activity stream - I fear I’ll miss some posts, which is a real shame.

Use of small arrow icons at top of page instead of NEXT & PREVIOUS icons makes for a much smaller target for both eyegaze users and the high proportions of users with manual dexterity issues. One needs to scroll down to the end of the page for the larger NEXT & PREVIOUS icons - all more laborious.

No Member List anymore. Friends list gone.

As the Forum is now on a separate platform to the MNDA website, there is now no link to the main MNDA website nor to the MND Helpline details.

Private Messaging: The PM skin this Forum uses has no counter so, given the 50 PM limit, I have to manually count each message in each folder.
Deleting PMs now dumps them into a trash Folder which in turn needs to be emptied. This is what I had to do: Select PMs to delete, click Delete, select Yes to confirm, click OK on a confirmation dialogue box, click on the Trash folder, select message to delete, click Delete Permanently, click Yes to confirm, click OK on the confirmation dialogue box – that is 9 steps to delete PMs, absolutely head wrecking!! That’s not easy if your hands don’t work that well and draining for eyegaze users. I regularly delete my PMs to free space, but this lengthy effort appals me. it’s a “Why bother?” moment…
Auto logout timer for inactivity is waaay too short at less than 15mins - hopefully it can be greatly extended. Not only is it infuriating to keep on having to log in again, but it can take me longer than the timer allows to type a post.

Again, this is only my own experience and genuinely I’m sorry to be so negative. I was looking forward to the “upgrade” but am sorely disappointed (for now) There are more gripes but I feel I ought to stop!

Many thanks.
Love Ellie.

Hi Ellie,

Thanks very much for taking the time to write all this feedback, it is appreciated. We are sorry you are finding it hard to use that definitely wasn't our intention.

I have split your feedback into points below and have provided an update - I really hope this helps and makes it a little easier for you over the weekend. We will look into the outstanding issues next week.

1. No Activity Stream is a significant change. The Today’s Posts doesn’t replace a live activity stream - I fear I’ll miss some posts, which is a real shame.

Reply - we do have an activity stream on the new forum and you can find it under ‘latest activity’. Please just make sure your filter is set too ‘All time’ and switch ‘New topics’ to No. We have set the filter to these settings as default so hopefully it should all work ok for you.

Forum.png

2. Use of small arrow icons at top of page instead of NEXT & PREVIOUS icons makes for a much smaller target for both eyegaze users and the high proportions of users with manual dexterity issues. One needs to scroll down to the end of the page for the larger NEXT & PREVIOUS icons - all more laborious.

Reply - we need to look into this one next week and we will update you when we can.

3. No Member List anymore. Friends list gone.

Reply - both are now back. We have lots of settings in the backend of the Forum that we can switch on so we can easily add any features :-)

4. As the Forum is now on a separate platform to the MNDA website, there is now no link to the main MNDA website nor to the MND Helpline details.

Reply- The Forum has always been on it's own domain but we will be adding links to our main website and MND Connect next week. We will update you when this is done.

5. Private Messaging: The PM skin this Forum uses has no counter so, given the 50 PM limit, I have to manually count each message in each folder. Deleting PMs now dumps them into a trash Folder which in turn needs to be emptied. This is what I had to do: Select PMs to delete, click Delete, select Yes to confirm, click OK on a confirmation dialogue box, click on the Trash folder, select message to delete, click Delete Permanently, click Yes to confirm, click OK on the confirmation dialogue box – that is 9 steps to delete PMs, absolutely head wrecking!! That’s not easy if your hands don’t work that well and draining for eyegaze users. I regularly delete my PMs to free space, but this lengthy effort appals me. it’s a “Why bother?” moment…

Reply - sorry for the lengthy process on this one. The PMs have been increased to 100 and we will look into the deleting issues next week.

6. Auto logout timer for inactivity is waaay too short at less than 15mins - hopefully it can be greatly extended. Not only is it infuriating to keep on having to log in again, but it can take me longer than the timer allows to type a post.

Reply - we have increased the default of 900 seconds (15 minutes) to 1800 seconds (30 minutes). Is this a long enough period or would you like us to increase this more? Please let us know a length if so and we will try and change too that.

[Admin_MND]

Hello admin,

I am disappointed that the new look of the forum is a step backwards. As Ellie has pointed out the function icons are tiny and difficult to select with my tremors so I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for someone using eyecontrol. Even something simple like starting a new line or paragraph doesn’t automatically select a capital letter, however this may be an iOS issue.

regards (no capital)
barry

Hi Barry,

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. You will see that we have replied in full to Ellie above and will be looking at the icon issues next week.

Regarding the capital letter issue you are experiencing, we weren't aware of this functionality before and didn't experience when on a desktop so we can only assume it is an iOS issue? If we come across anything in the Forum settings we will let you know though.

Thanks,

Forum Admin

[Barry52]

Thanks for your reply Admin,

The font size is better now although I have not encountered the issue of auto capital when starting a new line with the any other platform.

Regards,
Barry