Home Page
Our new forums home page, with a similar (but more modern) design compared to Enjin once developed it
will contain all of our forums boards.
The home page also contains a number of different widgets in the sidebar, containing different
information/stats about the forums (members online, total posts etc). There are a number of additional
widgets we are considering/developing currently.
Similar to Cosmos these forums do come with the ability to change what theme you prefer, we are still
working on the lightmode version of our theme (eww lightmode), and will have some images featuring it
further into development. Unlike Cosmos all of the themes will be very similar to each other, only
changing the core colour scheme of the forums
Home Page (Lightmode)
The same homepage as the default (darkmode) theme but in a lighter theme for anyone that prefers that. This theme is still under development and may be tweaked further
Forum Posts
The post/thread layout in the new forums once again is more similar to Enjin than Cosmos but once again
with a more modern styling. There is the main body of the post with a number of different basic styling
options (text decoration, images, emojis, etc). There is also a space for the users forum signature,
which can be toggled on/off depending on each users preference towards seeing signatures.
Looking towards the sidebar there are a number of changes from the BETA version of the forums
shown a few days ago. As with before we have the users basic profile information (Avatar, Name, Title)
and then their rank. What has changed is the addition of badges (like we had with Enjin), more details
will be said about the badges further down however any badges the user has will be shown on sidebar for
all to see (you can be Neutral again Halo players). Clicking the blue down arrow will expand the sidebar
and show a number of user stats (Like count, post count, etc)
User Profiles
The new forums come with a number of cool user profile features and customisations. Firstly there are the
basic details, name, avatar and profile background. Under the user name you also have the users rank,
their title and then the users badges. Underneath the banner there are a number of user stats, Messages,
Reaction Score (likes), badges and points
In the section below the main profile there are a number of different tabs with different information.
- - Firstly there is the users profile post board (another feature similar to one in Enjin) where the user can post updates and other users can comment directly on someone’s profile.
- - Next there is the latest activity and postings, these are fairly self explanatory and show a feed of the users recent actions/posts on the forum.
- Finally there is the badges about about tabs, which are both shown below
Forum Badges
As shown/discussed in the above sections badges are making a comeback. There are currently 3 badges which
have been created however a number of additional ones (including cakes) are being worked on. Badges can
be awarded in 2 ways, either manually by a member of management adding them to your profile; or
automatically when you reach a required criteria (eg staff). A reason can also be given when you receive
a
badge which will show on the badges tab.
When you are given a badge, the icon will show up in your profile and any places where your profile also
shows up (forum sidebar, etc)
About Tab and Awards
The about tab of the profile contains a number of additional bits of information a user may wish to add
to their account, including an About Me, Website and Steam Profile Link. The about tab will also show
the users signature (if they have one) and any awards they have achieved.
Awards are similar to badges but have some key differences, awards are given for forum milestones and
most
users can expect to receive some of the awards. Awards are given out automatically when a user reaches a
specific milestone (amount of likes, posts etc) and will give them a set number of "award points". These
points don't have any values (apart from a leaderboard) currently.
The awards shown in this image are the default ones, however some custom ones may be added further on in
development.
Post Templates
Many of the forum categories have templates that must be followed when posting there (Suggestions, Bugs, Appeals, etc). In order to make life simpler when creating these posts we have added automatic templates to the appropriate categories. When you create a thread in these categories the template will be there for you to fill in. You CAN edit the template text however this should only be done in limited situation, as the templates are there for a reason.
Help Pages
To ensure that using the forums is as easy as possible the forums come with a number of built in help
pages, these pages explain how some of the forums many features work and how to effectively use them.
The pages also contain the site privacy and cookie information.
While we have no custom help pages currently, we will be looking at any parts of the forums that are
causing some issues/confusion to the community and making the appropriate pages as needed.
Shoutbox
In line with all of our previous forums the shoutbox is returning, it will once again appear on the sidebar (not on the top and full width) following commuity feedback.