I've just upgraded the TIWWA software suite. As with any big update, if you are visiting soon after the upgrade, I strongly recommend that you do a hard refresh to make sure your browser loads the updated versions of the files and isn't using a mix of new and cached old ones which can cause odd things to happen to your experience of our site(!). To do this in Windows, simply hold down the CTRL key and then just press F5 then let go, and it will force your browser to reload all files on the page. There, you are seeing everything as it should be.

There are some minor maintenance fixes expected over the next few weeks, which will address any new bugs etc with this latest major update and may add some new features along the way.

What's New?!

The developers have added dozens of new features, enhancements to existing features, fixed the majority of 4.0 bugs, and made large performance gains.

Firstly New Content (some still call it View New Content) is now called Unread Content. There is also a handy link to it as shown below...

This will take you to one of the new Activity Streams, which is like a time-line of new content.

If you don't like the way a particular Stream looks, (eg. say you want a more condensed view without the content of the posts showing), you can toggle the display between the Expanded (normal) and Condensed Views.

 

The new Menu Bar

The new Menu Bar represents how most people use the software suite, by browsing through the existing content to spot or view items of interest or sections of the site such as the Forums, Gallery, etc, much like the old menu system, but it also now provides an easy way to see and catch up with new activity using the Activity menu tab. We can also customise the menu, so we'll soon add useful links to the main website, such as the Episode Guide, Music Guide etc.

The image below shows the new Activity tab where you can use the default Activity Streams, or Create or Edit your own streams....

 

Browser Notifications

If you choose to allow Browser Notifications, you will get a small pop up and sound effect to alert you when someone has say, replied to a topic you are following or created a new topic.

 

Smarter Pasting

When you paste content from say another website or page, if the editor detects it it is styled content (different font, size, contains HTML or images etc), you can choose to quickly paste it as plain text.

 

Selective Quoting

I've a feeling many will like this new feature. You can now hightlight part of a post, and selectively quote it using the pop-up option that appears. When ready, only the part of the post you highlighted will be quoted, which saves time and is much neater. It makes it easier to quote part of someone's post without quoting the whole things, especially if its from a long post when it will save lots of scrolling.

 

A list of changes and new features...

Some of the main changes and new features include (I've highlighted the main ones, and removed a lot of the internal stuff from this list):

• New menu structure and drag-and-drop menu manager
  • Ability to have two menu levels
  • Option to create both custom-link menu items and embed preconfigured menus
  • Preview before publishing
  • All menu items support group permissions
• Discovery system, a very powerful new feature that allows for both admin and user created Activity Streams
  • Admin-defined Streams always visible to users. Users can edit and save admin streams to create their own, custom copy if they would like to tweak them to suit themselves.
  • The main show-all stream automatically tells you when there is new activity
  • Users can now create their own custom streams
  • User streams can be shared but viewer will only see content based on their permissions
  • Filter options include:
    • All content or specific apps. Some apps support further refinement into categories or content-type.
    • Unread content
    • Ownership
      • Content I posted in
      • Content I started
      • Content by specific members (user can create a list)
    • Content I follow
      • Areas I follow
      • Specific content I follow
      • Posted by members I follow
    •  Time Period
      • Any time
      • Since my last visit
      • Specified number of days
      • Specific date range
  • Activity Streams that reference features not available to Guests such as unread tracking and follow system will auto-hide
• Selective quoting to highlight a bit of a post and quote just that
• Gallery application enhancements
  • New upload image process
  • Images and movies are submitted to the same upload field
  • Image reviews
• Editor updates
  • Uses div-mode which is much faster and more reliable. Clicking into the editor is now pretty much instant.
  • Auto-linking and member mentions to use new APIs for better reliability
  • Quotes, code boxes, and spoilers can be dragged and moved and there is no more "red line"
  • When cmd/ctrl right-clicking: options to remove or break-out of quotes, edit links and edit image properties
  • Pasting asks if you want to convert to plain text
  • Editor is responsive, and ability to have small editor show in areas with less space
  • Member @mentions in posts can now be selected by tab key
• Design and interface enhancements
  • Improve typography for titles
  • Better contrast for user-entered text (posts/comments/etc)
  • Brighten background colors
  • Pre-select text in when share popup is opened
  • Make positive/negative colors consistent across all uses
  • Better hover highlighting of 'blended' links
  • Better styling of mentions in posts (both the username, and the menu to select a user)
  • Better contrast for certain areas
  • Flatten the default photo image
  • Improve popular/selected post styles
  • Change popular post icon to heart for consistency with likes
  • Make date a permalink for sharing
  • Improve sidebar contrast and block styles
  • Improve attachments dialog
  • Add X to close mobile nav menu
  • Select messages for multiple deleting in messenger
  • Make leaving a conversation clearer
  • Improved warning panel in user profiles
  • Move content status icons (pinned, hidden etc.) to start of row
  • Improve cover photo so it automatically puts it into position mode after uploading
  • Android title bar inherits theme header color
  • Added date uploaded to Downloads version dropdown
• Browser notifications for completed actions (such as large file uploads)
• Search
  • The main search box defaults to the app you are currently browsing unless you are on home page where it searches all
  • New default interface
  • Results now highlight and skip to search term in preview
• Retina emoticons for Ipad/iPhone etc (where available)
• Instant Notifications
  • Receive notifications via your Browser Notifications of new Personal Messages and anything in the notifications menu
  • Intelligent auto-polling that only polls when needed to reduce server traffic
  • Browser local storage used, to allow for cross-communication if you have multiple tabs open to further reduce resource use