Welcome to the Podiatry Arena forums

You are currently viewing our podiatry forum as a guest which gives you limited access to view all podiatry discussions and access our other features. By joining our free global community of Podiatrists and other interested foot health care professionals you will have access to post podiatry topics (answer and ask questions), communicate privately with other members, upload content, view attachments, receive a weekly email update of new discussions, access other special features. Registered users do not get displayed the advertisements in posted messages. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our global Podiatry community today!

  1. Have you considered the Clinical Biomechanics Boot Camp Online, for taking it to the next level? See here for more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
Have you considered the Clinical Biomechanics Boot Camp Online, for taking it to the next level? See here for more.
Dismiss Notice
Have you liked us on Facebook to get our updates? Please do. Click here for our Facebook page.
Dismiss Notice
Do you get the weekly newsletter that Podiatry Arena sends out to update everybody? If not, click here to organise this.

Podiatry Arena Changes and Enhancements

Discussion in 'Podiatry Arena Help, Suggestions and Comments' started by admin, Aug 4, 2007.

  1. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member


    Members do not see these Ads. Sign Up.
    We are planning some changes and enhancements to Podiatry Arena. Most of these will improve the functionality of the site. Some will be in the background (especially spam handling). Some will be cosmetic. There may even be a colour change.

    Unfortunately some will involve the appearance of more advertising (we have to pay the hosting bills somehow). These will, however, be unobtrusive and not affect the users experience and with the new colours, better integrated into the site.

    A lot of old threads that hold no value for users are going to be deleted.

    We have no date, but the site may be down for a while when the change over happens.

    Does anyone have any ideas to improve the site; to get more members; to get more posting? If so post below:
     
  2. DaVinci

    DaVinci Well-Known Member

    A spell checker, especially for.... ;)
     
  3. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    This is Hylton's contribution:
     

    Attached Files:

  4. Greg Fyfe

    Greg Fyfe Active Member

    Hi

    As someone who is philosophically orientated to such things as public service radio/tv /media.
    I'm putting my hand up for "podiatric service" online continuing education, to be added to the site.

    Cheers
    Greg Fyfe

    ps great new look banner!
     
  5. Podomagerit

    Podomagerit Member

    Wow! I like very much Hylton's banner :eek:

    But I think that we need to display some feet on the banner... in order to give a more professional look, as well to show the new visitors what is this forum about :confused:

    So I slightly modified Hylton's proposal. :D

    Cool, isn't it ? :p
     

    Attached Files:

  6. One Foot In The Grave

    One Foot In The Grave Active Member

    A worthy contender, however I think I could find some very interesting pictures of Hylton for you to put in the banner Craig....

    There must be many Pods who regret the "Podantics" years at Abbotsford. :D
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2007
  7. Johnpod

    Johnpod Active Member

    Hi Admin,

    I'd like to see the 'rules of engagement' for all to see on the top front page. Just 3 lines - bullet points.

    Great site. Important to us all. Please don't spoil it.

    I look forward to trying it out.
     
  8. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    The link to the 'rules' are in my signature --- I have no idea how many actually read them, but when every one joins here they agree to abide by them!
     
  9. Fantastic- No adverts.
     
  10. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    They will be back - I need the money. Upgrade is still happening....
     
  11. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    BTW - the banner that is currently showing is only temporary for a bit of fun for a few days.
     
  12. Donna

    Donna Active Member


    Awww.... only temporary? I think it's cool, makes me giggle every time I see it! :p
     
  13. W J Liggins

    W J Liggins Well-Known Member

    Yes....but who is that handsome Roman soldier. Is it the virile young actor we have seen engaging in orgies in the recent series 'Rome', on U.K. T.V.? Is it a leather beclad Richard Burton in his younger days?
    Is that really a dagger I see before me, or a fine upstanding phallic symbol with the female equivalent held (very properly) sinister? Do the two circular decorations on the escutcheon symbolise fertility?

    I wait agog for the answers to these and other questions......

    Bill Liggins
     
  14. Payneful Maximus, I think that you need to PhotoShop a scar across your cheek in the photo to demonstrate evidence of your battles with the lions, gladiators, spammers and possibly even Russell Crowe within the Arena.:rolleyes: :eek:
     
  15. Craig Payne

    Craig Payne Moderator

    Articles:
    8
    I have been called many a thing in my time ... even compared to the great Tylomus Minimus
     
  16. Donna

    Donna Active Member

    Speaking of spammers... what happened to the little icon on the side that I normally use to help zap them?:eek:

    Donna :)
     
  17. Or maybe it should have been Maximum Payne???:rolleyes::eek:
     
  18. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Fixed. The Report Post icon got turned off accidently in the Settings during the software upgrade -- should be workin fine now.
     
  19. Donna

    Donna Active Member

    Yay, thanks Admin! ;)
     
  20. Paulo Silva

    Paulo Silva Active Member

    Just to sign that with this new layout its harder to spot the unread threads:mad:
     
  21. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Yes we are aware of this - we have three options to highlight unread threads for those who are logged in - just experimenting with the different options. But the color of the text of clickable links might need to be a darker one .... we working on it (only just got the security problems fixed with all the spam registrations).

    Watch for further enhancements and add-ons - we even going to be using Google maps for members to mark where they are from (and, in case someone asks --- we won't be using Google moon or mars)
     
  22. suresh

    suresh Active Member

    new changes on web page

    hi,
    glad to see new web page for last few days.
    i am feeling eye strain for while working because of
    new design compare to old one.
    any body is having this problem...

    suresh
     
  23. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    When you hit reply, on the right of the box is some smilies or emoticons which are used to reflect your 'mood' when posting a message - I have just added some extra one:

    :pigs: :bash: :drinks :morning: :butcher: :empathy:

    Enjoy
     
  24. Donna

    Donna Active Member

    :drinks

    Hmm I like that one CP! Wouldn't that make the working day so much easier if there was beer to help us along! :p
     
  25. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Sorry Simon, they are back - but hopefully better integrated into the site....I do need to pay the hosting bills somehow.
     
  26. I hadn't been too irritated by the fact that I'm not allowed to scroll straight past the google adds until the amazon adds took up a fifth of the page. I'd say this is very well integrated and completely unobtrusive. Just how much does it cost to host this sight anyway?

    "I can't see through the tear gas or the dollar signs in my eyes"
     
  27. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Hosting costs
    Bandwidth costs
    Domain name registration
    Software licensing
    Design costs
    Modification to the software code for added features (last round cost USD$1400)
    Press Release & Patent subscription services

    .....it adds up (the Google ads only bring in around $150/month). The Amazon ads are only being trialed in the short term (The money from last month went to the Breast Cancer Foundation)

    Not to mention the >2-4hrs/day that staff (Admin; Admin2; Newsbot) spend in front to add content (let alone find it) and behind the scenes working on spam fighting, administrative and rules issues. Its all aimed at providing the environment for members to contribute and benefit.

    It is planned to spend money on marketing/promoting the site to bring in more visitors --> more visitors = more messages posted --> Podiatry Arena becomes a more valuable resource. Rest assured, that I get no money from this, its all put back in (except watch out for the 'Buy Admin a beer' scheme that will soon start :dizzy: )
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2007
  28. W J Liggins

    W J Liggins Well-Known Member

    I'll buy you one, and a decent Pommy pint at that - not that freezing pi(l)sner that Paul Hogan gets paid to purvey. When you come up here I'll try to get get some Baz's Bonce Basher (13%) or even Bomb Blaster (26%). Failing that Old Peculier or Old Speckled Hen might be to your taste.

    Bill

    :drinks
     
  29. twirly

    twirly Well-Known Member

    Hello Oh wise ones, Just a thought about increasing users etc. :rolleyes: hate it/love it sup to you but considered latest on local radio yesterday. We (them, you, me & us) send more text messages per minute now than were sent on a weekly basis last year.

    Is there a way we can download a pic/screensaver thingy from this site to send on to our pals in the pod world? :empathy: Share the knowledge with a lazy link as it were.

    Just a thought, feel free to shoot me at any time. :eek:
     
  30. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Two options:

    In your Internet Explorer browser go to:
    File > Send > Page by email

    or at the top of each thread, do this:
    Thread Tools > Email this page
     
  31. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    The next change has happened. Following on from the member map in which 31 members have marked there location on a map and the statistics page (that spurned a thread or two), I have now implemented some RSS feeds of health and medicine news in sub-forums - these will be automatically updated every few hours.

    In the General Issues and Discussion forum, there is now a sub-forum for Arthritis and Rheumatology News. In the Diabetic Foot & Wound Management forum, there is now a sub-forum on the Latest Diabetes Medicine Research & News. In the USA forum, there is now a medicare and medicaid feed (as that it a topical issue for Podiatrists in the USA. In the Australia and UK forums, there are now sub-forums for Australian and UK health and medicine news.

    Traffic and visitors will be monitored to these pages. Hopefully they provide an additional resource for Podiatry Arena visitors. More similar subforums will also be added. To keep it topical and current, only one page of posts in each forum will be kept. Part of Admin2's role will be to prune these (Andy - you paying attention?)

    The only short term drama this might cause it that those who use the new posts function when visiting (you all should be - its in the top of page navigation bar), will have a few hundred extra posts on the next time you use that function. On subsequent visits, this won't be the case.

    Speaking of RSS feeds...if you know what they are and have a news aggregator, then our feed is here.

    One spin off from these news sub-forums, is that the posts in them are made under Newsbot's user name, and their posts total now has almost knocked Kevin of being numero uno

    Additionally, to the conferences forum, there is this conference page being set up to list all conferences around the world (its still work in progress)- if you know of any, send us a message.
     
  32. Boots n all

    Boots n all Well-Known Member

    There is a simple way to address the cost factor that some other forums use.

    For the cost of $50 - $75 -$100 per year (the choice would be yours CP) the member would be noted as a"Premium Member"if you want $100 could be Gold and so on, this would be a seperate title from say "Podiatry Arena Veteran", this would cut down on the amount of advertising we see and would suprize you how much cash would be generated for those upgrades you so long for?

    Just a thought
     
  33. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Its always on option. A large number of forums do that. Paid subscriptions can be used to create a special user group (eg Premium member; or Supporting Member; or etc). Paid subscribers could get additional privelages such as access to Premium members only forums with extra content; etc etc. I just need to find a way to create the premium content....
     
  34. Boots n all

    Boots n all Well-Known Member

    l am not suggesting paid subscription, then again thats up to you, l believe that may put some people off joining us?
    The "Premium" title does not need to give greater access either, it can be a status symbol, a symbol of the commitment that user has for this forum.
    That way it will be very easy for you to monitor and not make too much work for yourself.

    Where do l sign up...l have to beat "Asher" at something
     
  35. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    The next development to bring in and bring back more users:

    As of today we are starting a new weekly community bulletin going to all member who elected to recieve email from Administrators when they joined (so please don't complain). If you do not wish to recieve these, simply uncheck the button in your User CP - just remove the tick from the ''Receive Community Bulletin Newsletters". The instructions on how to do this is at the bottom of each weekly email sent.

    This is different to the monthly one sent previously. This one is more automated. Users found the monthly one helpful in reminding them to return to the forum after joining and also gave them a list of some of the activity at the forum.

    Please get back to use with any feedback to improve the Newsletter/Bulletin.

    All newsletters will get automatically posted in the new Newsletter Forum.
     
  36. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    The next big development has just been finished (or started!) :dizzy:

    The day has been spent installing software to 'tag' threads with keywords. Its all working (ie finished), now I just have to go through and tag all the threads we have had -- quite a few thousand! (ie its just starting).

    Some of you may have noticed it:
    Check near the top of the biomechanics forum and you will see some threads that have been tagged already. Click on one of the tags, eg windlass mechanism and you get the threads that have been tagged with that keyword. There is a tags page for browsing (its not remotely close to being finished yet!).

    This is all at enhancing the users experience at Podiatry Arena to help find the incredible wealth of information that is here and built up by the users. There is always the regular search function, but it just returns useages of the word in messages, whereas this tagging system builds up a collection of threads specific to that keyword or tag.

    ....now all I have to do is come up with the keywords and go and tag the 3575 threads we have ..... :boohoo: :santa2:
     
  37. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    OK. This is going to take a while ...just finished tagging everything in the Break Room. You can see here the value of the thread tags....its just goin take a while...
     
  38. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    OK, now a third of the way through them...Admin2 helped out tagging a lot. This really is a big job :boohoo: , but hopefully it helps all users.. also just added 3 more smilies: :deadhorse: :craig: :boxing:

    More modification have been done ... notice the "Number of new posts" since last visit in the welcome panel at top right of page? Unfortunalty I screwed it up and see what its done to the lcation of the CPD Points! ... now have to get a coder to come and fix it. Also installed a new notification for private messages, so people don't miss them! ..... its never ending :boohoo:
     
  39. Ian Linane

    Ian Linane Well-Known Member

    Unfortunalty I screwed it up and see what its done to the lcation of the CPD Points!

    Phew! Now I can take the monitor out of the stretching vice, it just did not seem to make a difference;)

    Thanks Craig
    Ian
     
  40. admin

    admin Administrator Staff Member

    Its a bit hard to find a coder who knows more about this than me during the weekend, let alone at xmas time - if I can't get this fixed by tomorrow, will have to uninstall the "new posts" function ....according to the logs a lot of people are using it!

    I got bored with all the thread tagging, so just installed the language translate function at the bottom of each page --- so we can now translate the EspaƱol forum into english ...BUT, it only translates the words and NOT the grammer, so the results can be a little amusing!
     
Loading...

Share This Page