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September 10th, 2009 Huddler Platform Release

What's New In This Release?
Primary Focus Of Release

• Back end software changes
• Redesign of forum navigation tools and forum jump
  
• Ability for PayPal integration
• Enhancements to newsletter email system
• Bug fixes
  

User-Facing

• Complete redesign of forum jump tool:  Previously, the forum jump tool was limited to a simple drop down menu of the forum and sub-forum listings to allow users to move from forum to forum from any thread or forum page.  The new tool includes all of this same functionality, now housed in a slick nested inline menu.  To access the tool, users will click the "More Forums" button at either the top or bottom of the page.
  
• Consolidation of forum navigation tools:  This release includes design enhancements to the forum navigation tools at the top and bottom of forum and thread pages.  These design changes are a result of a usability study performed in the last weeks.  The condensed tools move the content of the page up to display more content above the fold.
• Additional displays of "Where to Buy" modules for product-related content: "Where to Buy" modules with affiliate links will now display on Wiki pages, thread pages, and review pages where relevant.  In addition to providing utility to the user base when browsing product-related content, it will increase the number of affiliate links displayed to help increase site monetization.
• Ability for PayPal integration:  This enhancement allows for smooth use of PayPal for premium membership functionality within the platform.  When premium services and memberships, or special "supporter-only" deals are established, there is a well-integrated means for users to contribute money and be automatically placed into the appropriate groups and removed when their memberships expire.
• Enhancements to the newsletter email system
  
• New greeting for logged in users:  The content in the greeting module on the home page for logged in users has been enhanced to display the most recent content on the site.
• New display for email verification checks:  When a user has not verified their email address, they are presented with a message on site.  The design of this module has been enhanced.
• New display for timed messages to spur user participation:  Various timed messages are displayed on a per-user basis to encourage participation.  The design of these modules have been enhanced.
  
• Last post date added to thread search results: On search pages, the last post date will now display for thread results along with reply count and start date.
• Icons enhanced on product owners pages
• Bug - FCK editor scroll bar cannot be dragged to move (IE8 only):  The FCK editor in IE8 had a partially unusable scroll bar on inline quick replies which could not be dragged up or down.  This bug has been resolved.
• Bug - Cannot move past inline smilies in FCK editor (IE8 only): When inserting smilies into the editor, users could not click past the smilie in IE8.  This bug has been resolved.
• Bug - Issues embedding and editing embedded links in FCK editor (IE8 only):  When embedding or editing embedded links there was a bug causing the tool to get stuck.  This bug has been resolved.
  
• Bug - "Please wait" barber poll getting stuck when submitting PMs with missing required content:  With this bug, when a user submitted a private message without specifying a recipient or a subject line, the "Please wait" barber poll would get stuck on the page.  This bug has been resolved.
• Bug - Inconsistent behavior with image ordering on product pages: With this bug, there were occasional problems with changing the primary image on a product page.  This bug has been resolved.
• Bug - when editing My List, drop down was not pulling custom labels for Own It, Want It, Had It status:  Previously, the status drop down menu did not reflect any custom labeling.  The menu will now reflect the appropriate labels attached to the parent category.
• Bug - issues publishing to Facebook feed from the full page editor/Advanced Reply have been resolved
  

Moderator-Facing

• Enhancements to Spam Queue admin panel
• Enhancements to spam prevention service tool for reporting false positives
• New admin interface for featuring content on site: This new interface will control the featuring of threads, Wikis, reviews, users, and products.  From this tool, admins will be able to feature content, arrange the order, see past lists of featured content, edit display descriptions and images for featured threads, etc.  Known Issues:  Currently, there is no on-site display of featured users or products, despite the ability to select these within the admin tool.  Additionally, the tool is currently not fully integrated with the on-page review featuring tool.  From the new admin tool, there is the option to both publish on the home page and the product page.  Selecting both will allow for the review to appear on the home page, the product page, and on the full list of featured reviews.  Select to display only on the home page will not feature the review on the product page or add the review to the full featured review list.  This will be enhanced in a future release.
• Enhancements to counter system for future stats dashboard
  
• Small bug fix for the flagged content report
  

Categories: Platform Release Notes

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