Find your next favourite story now
Login

Storiesspace.com 2.0, Coming Soon!

last reply
148 replies
6.3k views
16 watchers
34 likes
nicola
Administration
Following on from my post in June concerning site changes, I am delighted to announce that our new team of coders have made excellent progress on the upgraded site, and it is a matter of weeks away.

They have done a successful data import and trial run, and are aiming for a launch date for the new site around 17th August all being well.

The new platform is lightning fast, and purpose built to be responsive for all devices. It has a very clean and modern new design, and is a lot less cluttered.

It's human nature to dislike change (!), but I believe the new site will be a huge improvement.

Plus with a team of coders on board, we can make any changes our membership deem as necessary, in a much more expedient manner going forward.

Here are some screenshots from the front page of the staging site to give you an idea of how it will look (apologies for the grainy images, the forum resizes them):
Verity
Active Ink Slinger
That looks really good. Can't wait to see it in the flesh. Well done to the team. Regards, Verity
Survivor
Primus Omnium
Congratulations to all involved. It will surely be fun to learn to use a new site that is essentially still our old home. Thanks, ever so, Nicola.
Mendalla
Crazy old ape
Quote by nicola


The new platform is lightning fast, and purpose built to be responsive for all devices. It has a very clean and modern new design, and is a lot less cluttered.


Looks great from the screenshots and this is all music to my ears. The responsive part is especially important. While I do my writing and foruming on a PC, I often like to do my reading on my phone or tablet so having a truly responsive site and cleaner design is important to me.

Quote by nicola
It's human nature to dislike change (!), but I believe the new site will be a huge improvement.


I don't know how anyone could reject a change to this site. It is a design that belongs to the age before mobile devices dominated the Internet and is simply not appealing, or sustainable, in this era where phones and tabs dominate.

Quote by nicola
Plus with a team of coders on board, we can make any changes our membership deem as necessary, in a much more expedient manner going forward.


Amen. This is why I use "off the rack" software for the site I run. Makes it much easier to run and change a site when there's a team, rather than an individual, backing you up.

Looking forward to this!

Halloween looms and my annual story is here. Is it a trick? Or a treat? Let me know.

Grace of Bigelow Street | Stories Space
Mendalla
Crazy old ape
Question: Are the existing forums being ported over, or just stories? Wondering if long-standing threads like Inspirations and What are you listening to? will already be there or need to be restarted.

Halloween looms and my annual story is here. Is it a trick? Or a treat? Let me know.

Grace of Bigelow Street | Stories Space
JustAnotherSapphic
Tommy's little darlin'
Quote by Mendalla
I don't know how anyone could reject a change to this site. It is a design that belongs to the age before mobile devices dominated the Internet and is simply not appealing, or sustainable, in this era where phones and tabs dominate.


Then you don't know me very well. I like the look and feel of the current site - probably a bit too much.

Can't we have a compromise? Like where you can have the current look as a classic or flashback skin?

My heart has wi-fi and the password is Tom Petty.
Mendalla
Crazy old ape
Quote by itsxanderkaidyn
Quote by Mendalla


Then you don't know me very well. I like the look and feel of the current site - probably a bit too much.

Can't we have a compromise? Like where you can have the current look as a classic or flashback skin?


From the screenshots, I would say that some of the current look is being preserved, probably more than would have been preserved if my proposal for continuing the site would have gone ahead. This one is not unsalvageable, but needs serious work if Nic kept it. There were some fixes done for mobile, but those did not extend to the forums. For instance, if I zoom in the forums, they do not adapt properly (the left side disappears off the screen and you have to side scroll to see it), just as they do not adapt to mobile screens.

But an alternate skin may be possible depending on the platform the new team is using. Certainly, Xenforo, the forum software I use, allows you to have multiple styles (=skins) available with a button to change between them.

Halloween looms and my annual story is here. Is it a trick? Or a treat? Let me know.

Grace of Bigelow Street | Stories Space
JustAnotherSapphic
Tommy's little darlin'
Quote by Mendalla
But an alternate skin may be possible depending on the platform the new team is using. Certainly, Xenforo, the forum software I use, allows you to have multiple styles (=skins) available with a button to change between them.


I hope so cause I don't really do change very well.

My heart has wi-fi and the password is Tom Petty.
nicola
Administration
Quote by Mendalla
Question: Are the existing forums being ported over, or just stories? Wondering if long-standing threads like Inspirations and What are you listening to? will already be there or need to be restarted.


Everything, barring incidents!

Stories, forums, profiles, the lot.
nicola
Administration
Quote by itsxanderkaidyn
Quote by Mendalla
I don't know how anyone could reject a change to this site. It is a design that belongs to the age before mobile devices dominated the Internet and is simply not appealing, or sustainable, in this era where phones and tabs dominate.


Can't we have a compromise? Like where you can have the current look as a classic or flashback skin?


Unfortunately, we are running 5 dedicated servers currently, on a very outdated platform / setup. The new site will be on a totally different (cloud hosted) platform / servers. We can't maintain 2 versions of the same site.

It's a very intuitive and easy to use platform. I'm sure you'll get used to it soon enough!

This site is pretty simple compared to others. Mostly it's the stories / poetry, forums and profiles. Easy to figure out!
Unknown User
Fantastic news! Lets rock.
Rachel_92
Majestic unicorn 🦄
This is indeed is wonderful news. I'm so grateful to all those who have made the new version possible. Big thank you. Rachel 🌷
etairay
Active Ink Slinger




How exciting changing is coming! How awesome is that scary but good!! A challenge for sure but where's the fun without a few ..right

Bring it on SS we are ready and waiting! New chapter ..new beginnings. Next minute ..I want the old version back kidding. At least games forum will live on it made the cut.

Huge ..HUGE shout out to everyone involved!! cheers .. I am not worthy!

Thank you Nicola, Gav and team!!

nicola
Administration
This is scheduled to happen in the next few days.

It is very likely you will need to log in to the new site when it happens, as your cookies will most likely be invalid. If you can't remember your password, click on the Forgotten Password (/ email address) link: https://www.storiesspace.com/forgotten-password.aspx (when logged out) and go from there.

If you used a throwaway email address or can't access it, use / set up a use a proper email account, then change it in your settings here (hopefully you're still logged in!): https://www.storiesspace.com/membership/update-details.aspx - that way you won't be locked out and have to set up your profile all over again. We can't merge profiles.
Verity
Active Ink Slinger
Everyone sat around, watching, waiting. The time was almost here. A new beginning, the future.
Mendalla
Crazy old ape
Quote by Verity
Everyone sat around, watching, waiting. The time was almost here. A new beginning, the future.


You should use that line in a story. I know a good site for publishing those.

Halloween looms and my annual story is here. Is it a trick? Or a treat? Let me know.

Grace of Bigelow Street | Stories Space
Molly
Administration
I know by now a lot of you have noticed the glitching going on, especially in the forums. Unfortunately, it's all part of the process. I'm sure it's going to happen a few times over the next little bit while the site begins its updates.

Please be patient with us and know if it's down, it will come back shortly.

Thanks!
nicola
Administration
The forums have been fixed. Sorry about that!

We will still be running the old site for the next few days as there are a couple of fields missing on the import script.

Hopefully Thursday is the big move.
Verity
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by nicola
The forums have been fixed. Sorry about that!

We will still be running the old site for the next few days as there are a couple of fields missing on the import script.

Hopefully Thursday is the big move.
Things are running much better now, thank you. I'm really looking forward to the new site, I have a story all ready. Regards, Verity
AnnaMayZing
Chasing Dragons
Quote by nicola
The forums have been fixed. Sorry about that!

We will still be running the old site for the next few days as there are a couple of fields missing on the import script.

Hopefully Thursday is the big move.


But I thought the site was already launched.

It says so right here!

https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/flash-fiction/-anonymous-.aspx



"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana
Verity
Active Ink Slinger

Yessssssssssss, it's here. Hello all you 2.0's out there. I'm back. EDIT. Nooooooo All my story pictures have been cropped. I can no longer see the title, just the bit in the middle. 
Unknown User

I can't change my privacy settings and I let some people know. I still can't. It's safe to say that I'm pretty annoyed. 
Unknown User

I can't see my profile unless I am logged in. Still having the same issues.I can't upload an avatar either. 
Mendalla
Crazy old ape
Quote by Mendalla

Ummmm ... where's The Break Room forum?

Okay, so if I go to the My Posts page, I see posts I have done in threads in The Break Room and if I view those posts, I can then go into the forum from within the thread. But it does not appear on the Forums list.

Halloween looms and my annual story is here. Is it a trick? Or a treat? Let me know.

Grace of Bigelow Street | Stories Space
Mendalla
Crazy old ape
Quote by GodsAngel

I can't see my profile unless I am logged in. Still having the same issues.I can't upload an avatar either. 

Sounds like your privacy settings are set to only allow logged in users to view your profile.

To get to both the My Profile page and the Privacy settings, you need to find the avatar (yours will be the generic female one) in the top right of the forums page.

Click on it, then My Profile to get to your profile.

If you go the generic avatar and move your cursor over it, you should get an Upload Profile Picture. Click that and upload the avatar you wish to use.

For Privacy, click the avatar in the top right again and choose Settings, then click Privacy in the row of links at the top.

Halloween looms and my annual story is here. Is it a trick? Or a treat? Let me know.

Grace of Bigelow Street | Stories Space
Mendalla
Crazy old ape

Looks like replies to comments on existing stories did not come over (just checked my two latest). It is working on new stories. Is this expected?

Halloween looms and my annual story is here. Is it a trick? Or a treat? Let me know.

Grace of Bigelow Street | Stories Space
Molly
Administration

Hey everyone. I am sending in all of your queries as we get them. They are aware of the privacy settings and are working to sort that.

I know everything looks a little different and we are bound to find a few glitches and things missing that we once loved, but please be patient with us while we try to sort them out. If you spot something say something, but if you have a more personal concern please reach out.


Thanks!