vBulletin V3.6.2 features
As you may have noticed, the forum was upgraded to the latest version of vBulletin over the weekend. It took me longer than I thought to clean up all of the templates that were not compatible with the new version so I am behind with the rest of the upgrades. However, I thought I would take the time document some of the new features with this version. It turns out that it is a fairly extensive upgrade with regards to functionality and the following is a list of the more significant changes:
1) You can now quote multiple posts automatically in a reply. There is a new icon at the bottom right of each post. If you click it, it will change color to indicate that the text from that post will be included in a reply. You can click the icon next to multiple posts in different threads, and when you hit reply, they will all be added to your message. Once you have posted your message, each quote tag will have a link icon beside it so that a reader can quickly navigate to the post or thread where the quote originated.
2) Individual forums can be marked as read by double clicking the icon at the far left of the forum listing on the main page.
3) Vbulletin will attempt to resize any image that exceeds the forum limits (currently set to a max width of 1024 pixels) so that you no longer have to manually edit a jpg to try and get it to fit. There is still a size limitation that might cause this to fail, but it should work with the vast majority of image attachments.
4) The following feature was added earlier, but is now more usable. In the advanced search box, there is a dialog box that allows you to save your search preferences. For example, if you want the advanced search to order the posts by relevancy in descending order as your default preference, just make this setting and then click “save search settings.” It should also be noted that the option to display threads vs. posts has been added to the quick search dialog box.
5) For each forum, you can choose how to sort the thread list (eg, date added, number of replies, rating, number of views etc.). The controls for this are at the bottom of the thread display page for each forum.
6) Autocompletion has been added to most of the dialog boxes that require a user name. For example, in the advanced search dialog box, typing “Don” in the username field will bring up a dropdown box with “Don C, Don Corby, Don Ellis” etc. that you can select from. The more characters you type, the more that this list will be filtered.
7) You can now add an image to your signature. This can be accessed from the “Edit Signature” link in the User CP.
8) Specific profile fields can be made mandatory. I have set up the “Location” field as mandatory. Therefore, even if a longtime registered member has not filled out the “Location” field, they will be required to do so the next time they log on.
9) Private messages that are sent to multiple recipients will now have all of the recipients listed in the header. You can override this by listing multiple recipients in the new BCC (blind carbon copy) field. Users can also restrict PM access to only those that are on their buddy list.
10) Clicking on the paper clip icon to the right of a thread name in the thread list of any forum will open up a new window that allows you to just view the attachments without reading every post.
That’s about it for end users. There are numerous other features for moderation, admin and developers. The complete list can be found here:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=186803
