Read Me New changes, features and improvements

Howdy, Coders!

Many of you are probably noticing a few of the many changes that we have made to Code Forum. Today, I am happy to announce those changes in this thread! These changes range from Badges all the way to the backend server and future changes coming. Down below I will go through many topics in much more detail, but here's a brief overview of all the changes. Badges, Changes to Site Rules & Guidelines - additional rule added, New posts button, Editor changes, new server, new onboarding features and our coding challenge.

Editor Changes
Over the last couple of months, we had a problem where many new coders would post raw code within their posts, which made it very hard to read. Rules were added, many warnings were given out. However, this wasn't a fix, it created even more problems. We thought of many different solutions and came up with changing the layout of our editor was our best option. Before you would have to go through a dropdown (...) and select </>, which wasn't very user-friendly to new community members. Now, you can simply find </> and >_ within the editor toolbar. As shown below:



Badges
Badges aren't really a new feature at Code Forum. However, when we first came out with badges we gave them out like candy on Halloween. Which didn't give them a uniqueness to them, therefore it didn't make you want them.. We have overhauled the badges, and we know, sounds harsh but took all the badges away from coders who had them. You can now request badges etc by creating a thread within Apply for Accessories within The hub. However, obtaining badges must meet the conditions and criteria or your request for the badge will not get accepted. These badges are awarded to coders of the community who show great knowledge within the badge field.



Check out some of the new badges below: (You can also go to help > badges)

This badge is given out to all Community Engagement members.

This badge is awarded to coders who have more than 50 solutions.

This badge belongs to the owner of Code Forum.

This award is given to coders who have great knowledge of HTML.

This badge is awarded to coders of the community who have published an app to the app store.

This badge is awarded to coders who show great knowledge with Python.

This badge is given out to coders who have a great experience with the terminal.

This badge is given out to all coders who joined Code Forum within its first year. October 2018-2019.

Here are the conditions for obtaining a badge.​

• Have 3-5 posts that have been marked as "Solution" related to the badge.
• Be experienced.
• Provide proof of your knowledge with the language.
  • e.g. A portfolio.
• Be a Coder on Code Forum for at least 30 days and have 100 or more messages.
• Additional conditions based on the type of badge.

Site Rules & Guidelines changed to Code of Conduct - New rule added
In regards to our Site Rules & Guidelines, we have changed the name to the Code of Conduct. We felt that the Code of Conduct looked more appealing, had a shorter abbreviation (CC) that was easier to remember and made it sound more significant. With that said, we have also added a new rule regarding Wall of Text. We often saw posts that contained a large amount of text but wasn't very attractive to read. This does not mean you are not able to post with large amounts of text, just simply split it up, format the post and in other words make it more interesting to read.

View the rule down below.

Avoid posting threads and posts that contain a wall of text

1. this is defined as posting a large paragraph or more)
   1. Suggestion: Instead format your post in such a way where it makes it interesting and understandable. It should be straight to the point and easy to read. Perhaps add some photos, bullet points, coloured font, code examples etc.

Tip: Take a look at how this thread was formatted.


Upcoming XenForo Update/Clean up
As you may have noticed, Code Forum currently runes on XenForo 2.1, however within the upcoming weeks we should expect XenForo 2.2 to be released. XenForo 2.2 will come with many new features and improvements that will benefit Code Forum and our community. Some of the new features will allow us to clear some clutter among our installed add-ons due to them being added to the core software. Some of these features include:

• User Profile banners - Upload banners to your profile to make your profile more attractive and beautiful.
• User Account username changes - Allow the coder to change their own username.
• Activity Email (Weekly digest that was being sent weekly).

With XenForo 2.2, comes with some new features as well that we believe Code Forum will greatly benefit from, here are some of them:

• Progressive web app - which will allow Code Forum to behave like a native app on a phone or windows machine.
• Create/Reply to threads before registering, as you submit it will ask the poster to register.
• Text editor and attachment manager improvements.

You can view more at https://xenforo.com/community/forums/have-you-seen/

A new server who dis?
We have recently migrated to a new server... Bet you didn't notice. We decided to make this move due to several different reasons. The first thing was that backups were scheduled based on our hostings time, which would back up once a day. But we weren't able to select what time, this wasn't ideal because we would have to wait for a backup to make any changes or improvements. Second, was that if we needed to install modules or extensions we would have to submit a ticket to have the hosting company to change them - again was not ideal. The third was that I have many other website projects that I am currently working on and purchasing multiple different hosting plans was not cost-efficient. So I bought a VPS, where I could manage all my websites, install and backup whenever I needed to.

Onboarding New Coders
We now have a new onboarding feature that newly registered coders will able to participate in to help them get up to speed. The onboarding feature will give the new coder a set of tasks that should be completed to help complete their account. The current tasks for newly registered coders are:

• Upload an Avatar
• Create a signature
• Create your first thread
• Verify your email
• Reply to a thread

We're hoping that this will help engage new coders in the community.

New Posts Button
We have enabled the "New Posts" icon back onto the homepage to allow posts to be easily found. We hope with this change it will help posts get more attention.



Code Challenge
Welcome our first challenge of 2020 - The challenge is to develop a program or script to convert minutes into seconds.

Code Challenge #01

Hello Coders, Using any language, create a function to convert minutes into seconds. Very simple. Send @Master Yoda your results! Good Luck everyone!

codeforum.org

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read this announcement! Have a good day and happy #coding!

 

[Mathematical]

I've seen some of the recent changes(Aside from the editor change as I have JS disabled - So I'm unable to use the editor), but I'm glad to see that the site is continuously improving.

I'd also like to congratulate you on the new server. It won't be easy managing it though, so good luck with that. I'm hoping this actually increases performance on the site and makes the experience a lot more smoother, aside from just allowing the owner to have more control over their administration-panel.

Regarding Xenforo V2.2, I definitely like some of the changes they're introducing. More customization to user-profiles, improved search-rankings, the ability to lock accounts in the case that their suspected of being breached - They've absolutely nailed it in this update in my opinion. About the PWA, while I won't be able to use it(I'm not interested in it anyway), it will definitely be the solution to what @TableFlipGod was doing a while back, and that was creating a CF app for Windows PCs. This is his solution, but actually done using a standard app-distribution(For Windows, of course), and not some small pieces of code that at anytime may easily break or contain some sort of exploit in it. The new ability for guests to write before registering is also good in my opinion, as it may offer more incentive for new people to join and post - Something that is surprisingly lacking here at CF in my opinion.

The new to-do checklist for new accounts, is also a great way for people to express themselves, customize their profile, and share interesting facts about themselves for others to read. I still haven't gotten the signature done yet, but I'll probably do that when there is something that is worth putting there. Maybe if a user does engage with the items on this list, they may actually start posting, knowing that they have a profile on this site that they spent a few minutes setting-up.

I'm also glad that the badges have actually been attended to. As with some of the other changes, it may actually give the users incentive to post. I mean, if people love collecting trophies on PlayStation or Xbox, they might love trying to get the most badges on CF(I know for a fact that I need to work for those C, Java, and Terminal badges - Damn you, @Master Yoda, you've gotten me hooked already). I was also wondering what that new board was, but I'm glad you've explained what it was. Although, I do believe that every badge should have a description attached to them, even if they're self-explanatory. People won't know what it means to be a "Founding Coder" or a "Valued Contributor". So, adding descriptions to these badges would be a good thing to do.

It's also good to see the coding-challenges started back up again. And I'll say it again. They'll give people incentive to continue being here. But that's just a side-note, what I think is good about these challenges is that it allows people to solve problems and work on solutions. It may even allow people to work in teams and improve their collaboration skills(If you ever do team-challenges that is). I definitely need to get myself involved in these challenges, as long as there is no prize. I only want to do them for the problems, not the prizes. Others can of course, choose their priority though: prize or knowing the fact that you solved a problem. As a suggestion, perhaps you could allow other members of the site to post problems here. It allows for more diverse problems to be created. One could be extremely difficult and involve a bit of maths, one could be extremely simple and only involve a few lines of code. If this does happen though, adding difficulty tags should be done too, so people know how hard the problem they're getting into is.

Either way, I'm pleased with all of the current changes and even the upcoming ones. Of course, take your time with the changes too. A fast-changing environment can getting unsettling and frustrating - Especially for people who don't like change.

 

[Tealk]

You can now request badges, verification etc by creating a thread within Apply for Accessories within The hub.

What exactly is verified there?