Aeternium Engine 1.0.0 Beta 1
PATCH NOTES
ABOUT THE PATCH
This patch marks a definitive step in a multiple year, iterative design and development process for Aelyria's web site engine. Among the changes in this patch include the introduction of a myriad of new Social Networking features to strengthen Aelyria's commitment to Web 2.0 (user-contributed content, or UCC) standards, numerous general bug fixes, several requested feature enhancements, and progression on slated tasks for this patch round. Furthermore, this patch marks a significant milestone in our proprietary set of scripts, tools, and resources that power our site; I am pleased to announce therefore that the Ioannes Engine has now been renamed to the Aeternium Engine, and we have entered the Beta phase of our web site development. This means that the general aesthetics of our web site have been formulated and are proving successful, and the broad feature set available to our users will provide a deep experience that we can build upon for the years to come. Let's begin with a high-level overview of what was added this patch, and then dig down into the details.
GENERAL NOTES
- Updated the Enhanced
User Control Panel Interface to support subscription templating. (12/5/2007)
- Added three-dimensional and gloss-over effects to most of our site's design and tables. (12/7/2007)
- Restored the ability for users to purchase Gift
Companionships for other users. (12/14/2007)
- Embedding images in posts has now been enabled for all forums and categories. (12/16/2007)
- Added the new Wikiwyrm badge to the
Badges Program. (12/17/2007)
- Upgraded the forums software to 3.7.0 Beta 2. (12/17/2007)
- Upgraded the blogs software to 1.0.3. (12/17/2007)
- Installed a new fully-integrated Wiki tool for testing. (12/18/2007)
- Testing JavaScript Slideshow Fader on front page. (12/19/2007)
Social Networking
With the upgrade of our forums software to the next generation of features, something we previewed in a
special sneak-peak two weeks ago, the Ioannes Engine has officially been renamed to the
Aeternium Engine. The features we've added to our web site are nothing short of revolutionary, and they are so numerous that instead these patch notes will describe their unique implementation on Aelyria and reference the original sneak peaks for a general conceptual introduction as to what they are.
Tags
We have added
thread tagging to our forums. All content can now be tagged, something which Creative Director Tarot
is discussing with contributors. In the meantime, feel free to use descriptive tags -- all users can add up to three tags per thread, for a total of 25 tags per thread. Our moderators and contributors can modify the tags to ensure that they are effective for their threads. Also check out the new
tag cloud, which will begin appearing on our site searches.
Thread Prefixes
Forum administrators and site operators can now configure
thread prefixes. The first likely use of this will on our
Herald forum, so that authors can classify their threads into article types (such as News, Opinion, Local, etc.). Once classified, we can use thread prefixes to organize and present threads in creative ways back to users. Feel free to share other forums where you think we can benefit from the use of thread prefixes.
Friendships
When users add buddies to their buddy lists, the recipients will have the opportunity to
reciprocate friendships and confirm the relationship. Friendships that are confirmed appear on the newly designed Profiles for the public to see. Friendships can be broken at any time by either party. Take your buddies to the next level and cast wide your social net as you show everyone the alliances and friendships you have formed on Aelyria.
Public Messaging
The new user profiles (see below) now feature
public messaging; visitors to profiles can leave messages to profile owners on their public message walls. Profile owners can moderate and control the content on their profile public messages, as a way to build communication.
User Albums for Companions
A new
Companions-only premium feature, our subscribers can now upload pictures and photos to personal
User Albums via their
User Control Panel. They can then organize and display these photos on their new User Profiles for the public to view and comment on.
Social Groups
Already incredibly popular, User-created
Social Groups enable Aelyria users to create clubs and teams (and many users already have) via the User Control Panel, the Profiles, or the new
Social Groups page. New societies are sprouting up, from out of character clubs to in character fan teams and guild areas; each Social Group has a public space where its members can post discussions, share pictures and photos, and relate to one another. Group affiliations are also displayed on the User Profiles.
New User Profiles
The totally redesigned
User Profiles are now up and running (
check mine out, for example). There is so much to say about these new profiles, from the tabs that organize and display different types of data, to the fact that you can dynamically edit your own data by looking at your own profile. The new User Profiles make social networking -- creating relevant and strong relationships between our users as individuals and groups -- their central focus, helping our players and characters relate fundamentally in our community.
Profile Styling for Companions
Another feature for our subscribers,
Companions can customize the layout of their user profiles by using
Profile Styling. While our
contributors will enjoy some customization functionality, only Companions will be able to alter elements like background graphics to their profiles offering a highly customized styling experience. Profiles can be styled using the
Customize Profile tool.
reCAPTCHA
I just want to spend a quick moment discussing this seemingly minor change. Most websites, as you know, offer a challenge question to verify that a human being is actually submitting a request (like registering on a site or performing an anonymous search), and Aelyria is no different. However, Aelyria is now pleased to team up with
reCAPTCHA to offer an advanced verification system that displays a couple of words, enables the words to be spoken by machines to enable blind users to register. The best part: everytime someone successfully completes a reCAPTCHA verification stage, whether they are registering or searching, they help digitize old texts and make them available to low income communities and families throughout the world.
Other Forums Changes
-
Inline Editing of Profile Fields
-
Attachment Viewing Lightbox (In Testing)
-
Post Edit Histories
-
Inline Moderation Enhanced Authentication
-
Special Notices on the Navbar
Blogs Software Upgrade
We upgraded our
Blogs tool to version 1.0.3. Among the changes include added compatibility with the new Social Networking features (especially the advanced User Profiles), and some bug fixes, including improvements to pagination, javascript performance, and blog owner controls.
Wiki, the Sequel
Many of you are familiar with our Wiki tool, and so it may interest you that we are testing a new solution based upon NuHit code. The
new Wiki is entering public testing, and is fully-integrated into our forums. There are several advantages to complete integration, including using the same editing tools and vBcode conventions and benefiting from unified searches of our site's many resources. Like the
new Compendium, the new Wiki is presently undergoing testing; the old resources are still being used and will be transitioned out once the new resources are properly configured. Along with the new Wiki is a new pull-down menu on the navigation bar to encourage users to try it out.
Automatic Media Embedding
An essential element to being a part of the social web and sharing in Web 2.0 is also the need to build rich multimedia experiences for our users. Now, whenever users paste any media links (such as links to YouTube, Google Video, Amazon, etc.), the Aeternium Engine will automatically parse the URL and create an embedded viewer for that media type. For an example, check out
this thread I made in the Tavern. To embed media, just post like you normally would -- any links you include will automatically be converted.
This patch note will be updated with revisions as we continue to activate the slumbering features of the Aeternium Engine. Please stay tuned, and feel free to comment on the new resources!
![[Patch] Aeternium Engine 1.0.0 Beta](http://www.playbypost.com/forums/iconimages/commonroom/patch-aeternium-engine-1-0-0-beta_ltr.gif)
[Patch] Aeternium Engine 1.0.0 Beta
