A few quick updates & Project roadmap
Some immediate changes & reflection on features + todo
Posted by Sheepy on Jul 03, 2025 05:56
I am so happy that I was able to build this forum for the community however I do realize that things are a little buggy around here so I have been making some quality of life changes, as well as making a list of immediate improvements to make next, since the big forum update.
What's new since the forum update?
These changes have been made since the initial inclusion of forum features to the website as announced in this thread:
- Session storage has been moved to an external session store: This means that when I make updates to the website, or if for some reason the website restarts, then your session will remain valid and you will not be logged out prematurely.
- Several QoL enhancements have been made while addressing UI enhancements & bug fixes. These include links to user profiles in name on replies, adding user avatars to posts and replies, adding latest threads section to forum home, adding the "back to forum index" button on thread index pages, and other small, yet similar, improvements.
What's next?
ETA: 1 - 2 weeks
- Thread previews: Ability to preview a thread before you create it.
- Thread editing: The ability to edit a thread that you have created.
- UI tweaks: I have realized that while logged in members can delete their own post, I did not add the button for them to my knowledge. I plan to fix this.
- Notifications & a message center: I have realized the immediate need for notifications to be sent to members of the forum, and likewise a central place ON the website for members to check their notifications. This will be in an update near you soon.
- Image/Video uploads: I want to enable media uploads across the forum, as well as the ability to add things to a gallery on user profiles. This would be great for showing off builds or renovations!
Please leave any feedback you have regarding the recently added/modified features, and what you would like to see happen next!
Replies
OH I also added this cool feature that embeds youtube video links like this one when you just click the link
Mobile users will notice a major UI improvement to the nav menu. 😉
Summary of tonight's UI Improvements since this original post:
- New Thread form now collapses and is collapsed by default on the forum threads page.
- Site navigation menu collapses on mobile devices to better support smaller screens.
- Youtube links to watch page automatically embed in a pop-up modal when you click them in forum threads and profile pages.
- Added new "Profile Media" so now you can have both a youtube video background and a website link on your profile at the same time. Alternatively you can embed a soundcloud link to the bottom of your profile card.
- Profile videos start muted (with unmute option in top right corner). This ensures that video backgrounds automatically begin playback across all browsers and devices.
Today's new features & UI improvements
New Features
- A shout box chat has been added for authenticated users to have live discussions. This includes chat history up to the last 50 messages.
UI Improvements:
- Server listing page now has a share button to copy information to a new forum post.
- Chat box supports link embeds. This has broken mobile experience a little bit so I will fix that next.
- Fixed UI scrolling horizontally in chatbox on mobile devices
- Added several admin features so that I no longer need to go into a database on command line to accomplish common tasks! I know this doesn't matter to hardly anyone else but it was much needed for the forum in particular.
Today's Updates:
- Site was officially approved for advertisements today! Sorry folks, big news for me though because now I can actually get paid for my hard efforts which will help me keep this project alive.
- Server search now updates URI and populates fields from query parameters. (Yes: My inputs have undergone psych eval.) This enables you to copy-paste the URL in the browser tab to share queries with your friends so that they can see exactly what you see!
Added to TODO:
- Disable advertisements to patron subscribers who are logged in.
- When you click on the timestamp of a reply it will change the URI in browser so that when you copy it to your friends then it will take you directly to that reply.