New Forum - Looking for advice, tips and opinions

[Jamie G]

Hi guys,

Recently opened a new forum up --- Check it out @ www.windows7phones.net

I wanted to get this up and running whilst the subject matter is hot so I've been working on it a fair bit over the last few days. Finally getting towards something I like, but still I was looking for your advice and tips as some things I'm just not sure about.


1. Image slider / Rotator for home page

I'm really after some sort of image slider for the home CMS page. Think it will go well with the content and will use it to link in all of my articles, with some images and also a "Join now" image with a bit of info about signing up. Does anyone know of any free ones or any that are easy to implement into vB4's code?

2. Is it possible to add avatar's to the recently posted widget?

I've noticed that on the "Comments" widget, it displays the persons comment as well as their avatar. Is it possible to do this for the latest forum posts as well? Basically I'd like their avatar to appear next to their forum post within the widget? I've looked at the coding for the comment widget to see if it would be a simple case of copying a query to forum post widget but nothing jumped out? Can anyone help?

3. How do I remove - The frontpage from the homepage title?

I looked under phrases manager and couldn't see it? I assumed it would be like X_powered_by on the old forums, but this isn't the case. How do I remove that from the page as it's too generic and I don't really want that appearing in Search engines?

4. Any advice on essential plugins I should have?

I've installed Advanced Registration, Chatbox, Coloured names and a few other little bits. Obviously with 4.02 it changed quite a few bits which mean some add-ons don't work. Can any guru's advise me on what I should really install to make it a pleasure to use the forums and at the same time make my life easier with administration?


Finally.....Opinions....

If it was your forum / site, what would you do to improve? The colour scheme is a bit funky I know, but that is so it is in-keeping with the theme of the product itself, Windows phone 7 series.

Any feedback or help with the forum would be much appreciated.


Thanks in advance.