Cool New Features

Quite a few things have been implemented in the Grail, above what the old Asylum did.

So many, actually, that I can't even be certain to remember them all, so I'll just try to jot them down here in no particular order.
As always, feedback is welcome.

• 'Fixed' URLs - the link to a thread (and any page, actually) via its ID stays. Whether the thread is moved or preserved - that link is yours to keep.
  
  
• A few new graphics - Thank you, mahjqa and mas!
  
  
• Linkwords - You may simply use ->some linkword. Like ->cool new features for this page, or ->kuckus for kuckus' cell. Most inmates have been automatically assigned linkwords for their user names. Exceptions are those with strange characters (anything but [A-z 0-9], basically) in their names, and whose name are just to short.
  
  Holler if you want one assigned later on. New inmates get one by default (but their user name must conform to the A-z0-9 rule, and start with a letter.)
  
  
• Refreshed, valid (99.9% at least) XHTML transitional layout. We tried terribly hard to keep the old Asylum's look and feel.
  
  
• New text input box. Check this one out for yourself.
  
  
• Search - try it. And no, you won't have to wait 5 minutes for it to complete. It's like lightning now.
  
  
• QuickChanges - the changes now always show the last 24 hours, not what happend since midnight in Sweden. You can also quickly view more days into the past. Accessible via http://www.ozoneasylum.com/quickChanges or (for the lazy) http://www.ozoneasylum.com/q. (Recent Changes by default displays the last week)
  
  
• Admin Log - whenever a Mad Scientist does something, his/her actions are recorded in the admin log, for all to see.
  
  
• Auto 'Preservation' - once a thread gets to a certain age, it is automatically either moved to the appropriate archive (if it has been assigned a keyword by a Mad Scientist, via 'preserve' at the bottom left) or to The Sink - there to rot or be rescued in time. In time, we'll look into them again and possibly throw the oldest rotten ones away.
  
  
• Meta data ability - now meta-data can be added to about anything, allowing the search to work even better
  
  
• Moved Notices - whenever a Mad Scientist moves a thread, a 'moved to' notice is automatically created for those still looking in the old forum. The thread's URL stays the same though!
  
  
• A MySQL backend - finally making regular backups possible (it took more than half a day to download the 30,000 small files the Asylum had).
  
  
• A valid email adress is now required on registration. It won't be shown to anyone but the Mad Scientists, though.
  
  
• New UBB Codes and assorted things - see ->aboutUBB .
  
  
• Couple o' new ranks. The Doc is now Lord Mad Scientist. Serveral others are now Mad Scientist With Finglongeres and may create forums and the like.
  
  
• New postcount/ranking system. See ->our Ranking System for details.
  
  
• Different powers for Psychotics. They're not tied to a forum anymore and can move and preserve threads. (All existing Psychotics are now Mad Scientists.)
  
  
• Quote Buttons. These allow you to either quote a post in full, or quote just the parts you highlighted (not in all browsers :-( ). They also have access keys assigned to them. Alt-1 to quote the ultimate post, Alt-2 for the penultimate one...
  
  
• "Copy Post to Clipboard Before Submitting" option.
  
  
• "What Changed" RSS feed at http://www.ozoneasylum.com/rsschanges.
  
  
• "View Differences Since Last Edit" feature for the FAQ.
  
  
• Backlinks - many page titles can be clicked on and will present the 50 latest pages linking to this page. This can also be used to search for posts by a user - just click on the title of his cell.
  
  
• Option to display longer threads pagewise. Can be toggled by clicking the link in the left-hand part of the footer.

(Edited by kuckus on 04-11-2004 12:52)
(Edited by Tyberius Prime on 04-12-2004 00:06)
(Edited by poi on 04-22-2004 14:58)