Here are some of the features available to you now on v5!Information originally written by Patrick Clinger and Ryan Roos of ProBoardsComposite graphics and screencaps of Stepping Out of Squalor's v5 board done by Celeste.
SOS illustrations based on graphics by Ryan Roos.
Live SearchThere is a new search box in the top right corner in many sections of the forum: When viewing a board, viewing a thread, in your Personal Messages. You can type any search term into this box and results will instantly appear on your screen.
How can we make this feature even better? We offer a new Live Search Filters system. Filters allow you to narrow down your results even further by various criteria.
Here's some examples of searches you could do:
Inside of a thread you could search for all posts containing the word "amnesty," posted by CourageouslyLion_SeeksSerenity, created after June 20th but before June 22nd -- and your results will come up instantly.
When viewing a board you could search for all threads created by eagle that have more than 10 replies and were created before January 2010.
These are just a couple examples -- try it out for yourself!
Member Search BoxDon't know a member's username? No problem! ProBoards is introducing their new Member Search (1). This feature allows you to type in either a persons username or their display name to find them. For example, if you wanted to send Celeste a PM, you can type either "Celeste" or "celestial8888" to find her. In our example, we've typed "messymi" to find messymimi. Results pop up live on our screen (2).
Exact username matches will show up at the top of the results. So if you type "messymimi", messymimi will always be at the top. If you just type "messymi" you will find various members with "messymi" in their name at the top, etc (2).
Then you can easily add the member to your search filters, conversations and more (3).
Like!Did you really like something that was posted, but don't feel it deserves a reply with "Me too!"? Our new Like button (1) is the way to go. Each individual post tracks how many Likes have been made (2) and who Liked what (3). Totals are NOT kept on the number of Likes a member accumulates throughout the site, so collecting Likes won't turn into a popularity contest.
NotificationsNotifications give you quick access to important information about your account.
Do you wish you knew every time someone quoted you in a thread or someone mentions you in a post? We have these and much more!
Visual EditorTired of trying to see what you've composed around intrusive BBCode? Do you wish you knew what your post would look like without having to hit that Preview button? Our new Visual Editor allows you to see exactly what your post will look like while you create it! For this reason, we don't have a Preview button anymore. (If you decide to use the BBCode Editor to type your posts, just switch to the Visual Editor to see what it looks like.)
Our editor comes with all the regular options that you are used to, and even some new ones. If you have a preferred editor, you can even select it as your default. Check it out!
Updated Attachments SystemWe've made many improvements to our attachments system:
You can now attach multiple files to a single post.
You can attach a wider assortment of file types.
Instead of listing the attachments at the end of a post, you can insert the attachments anywhere you want.
You can opt to display or not display the thumbnail of images that are uploaded.
You can delete your own attachments rather than having to ask a moderator to do it.
Avatar Maker!Along with uploading our own personal avatars, as we have done in the past, we now have a super fancy new avatar maker. One problem people have when joining a new forum is that they often don't have an avatar. We want to make creating an avatar a fun and easy process. Our avatar maker allows you to mix and match hundreds of options to create truly unique avatars. Give it a try by clicking Profile > Edit Profile > Avatar
Navigation TreeWe have a new navigation tree for v5. Instead of just the basic "Forum :: Board :: Thread :: Post" we now have a much more functional navigation tree. You can quickly jump to any board on the forum by clicking on the arrow next to the name of the forum. It will also show you which boards have new posts and which do not -- making it even easier to keep tabs on various boards on our forum.
ParticipatedWhen you are logged in to v5, and have it enabled, you will notice a new link on the right side: Participated. Clicking on this will bring up a small window showing all topics that you have recently participated in. The "Participated" link will even display a new icon if any of your topics have been recently updated!
ConversationsNo longer are you limited to having only two people involved in a Private Message. Our new Conversations system allows you to send a message to multiple users simultaneously, allowing them all to participate in the same discussion. The display also changes to mimic a thread so you don't have to rely on either "quote" or your memory to recall what has been said previously. Also, we have added a new Forward Conversation option, allowing you to send a copy of a conversation to a different member.
Following and FriendsYou can now "Follow" other members on Stepping Out of Squalor. There are a few benefits you get by following a member:
There is a new tab in your profile called Following where you can see the activity of all the members you are following (such as topics they have participated in).
When you follow another member they will automatically show up higher in the Member Search Box than members you are not following (excluding exact username matches).
If two members follow each other they automatically are labeled as "Friends" on their profiles.
Tag Members - @usernameEver wanted to mention someone in a post and link to their profile? Now it's easy! We have a new @username feature to accomplish this. All you need to do is type @ followed by their username in your post. This will automatically link to this member's profile and will tag them in the post, notifying them if they have notifications turned on.
Don't know a member's username? No problem! Just hover your mouse over their display name to find out. If you're creating a new post click on the member icon to popup our Member Search Box and you can do a quick search for them as well.
