We've done it, Flakers. We've finally updated the community forums to Invision 4.5 and WebFlake has never looked better.
You can expect many more updates going forward but in the meantime, let's cover some features that are now available with this update and some changes we've made along the way.
NEW Theme Redesign
We know that many of you had come to love our old dark theme, WebFlake Ink. We didn't want to abandon that so we're sticking with a dark theme in 4.5 but you'll now be able to seamlessly switch between dark and light variations of the theme. Nothing revolutionary but something we've lacked. WebFlake N3XT, as we're calling it, is bolder, flashier, and more advanced than any of the themes we've done in the past. There's still some work to be done so be sure to head over to our Bug Tracker and report any issues you find.
Some other theme features:
News slider — major and persistent announcements you can't miss
Sticky header — freely navigate after scrolling
Author pane scrolling — always know whose post your reading
User PM/Search icons — send a message or search the content of any poster directly from a post
.. and so much more!
NEW Invision 4.5 Features
In case you haven't updated to 4.5 yet or haven't followed any of the development updates provided by Invision, WebFlake will be giving you an opportunity to see some of these fantastic new additions firsthand. Not all of these new features will be available right away but here's a summary of what you can expect:
↣ Content View Behavior
Located in your Account Settings, you can now choose what happens when you open a topic. Want to go straight to the latest comment or just the first comment you haven't read? Your choice!
↣ Notification Updates
No more ticking buttons. Now, you can simply open each specific section and choose between email or notification list for the various available alerts.
↣ Download Notifications
To receive notifications of new file updates it was previously necessary to follow files. This meant that you would also be notified of reviews and comments even if they were of no interest to you. Now, there is a separate button ("send me version updates") so you have more control over the notifications you receive.
↣ Best Answers in Topics
In addition to the QA forum design (our support forums), a new feature reminiscent of Invision Community 3 will allow moderators (and in some cases the topic author) to mark a best answer in discussion forums. You'll find the answer listed at the top of the thread and threads with a best answer will be designated by a green checkmark.
↣ Solved Count
Finally, Invision offers a method to track a user's solved count or rather the number of support topics they've provided the best answer for. You'll find the top-5 users listed in a sidebar widget and in a future WebFlake update, the author pane as well. Also, users who have their post marked as the best answer will receive a notification.
↣ Topic Activity
Located directly beneath the first post in a thread, this acts much like a summary of activity within the topic. It very quickly lets you know how old the topic is and how long it has been since the last reply. This context is essential if you are unwittingly replying to an older topic. Most topics are driven by a handful of key members. The topic activity section shows you who have been most active, which may influence which posters you give greater authority to. Likewise, popular days lets you dig into the 'meat' of the topic which may have evolved quickly over several days. More often than not, a single post attracts more reactions if it is particularly helpful or insightful, and this is shown too. Finally, a mini gallery of all upload images allows you to review media that has been attached to posts.
↣ User Photo Badges
These two new badges identify users with moderator access and new users.
This was just a brief overview of some of the new features available in Invision Community 4.5, now being used on WebFlake. There are a handful of other miscellaneous feature additions such as TikTok embeds, image resizing, upload chunking, performance improvements, and more.
We're super excited for this new update and hopefully yet another new chapter in WebFlake's historic timeline. We have several new features planned over the coming weeks and months, including working through a backlog of promised features and updates.
Thank you, Flakers, for continuing to believe in us. ?