News

The Reefuge

Administrator
Jul 9, 2011
4,152
1,929
Important Update
Hi everyone,

We are going to be making some fairly big changes around here. The website needs a huge clean up, and a more streamlined interface and an easier way of getting to where you want to go.

I have been developing a framework for another project of mine over the course of the last 6 months, and most of it can carry over to The Reefuge. It is a minimalist, simple and elegant way of having the user interface for the website, as well as a lot of cool features.

With changes comes problems, and we are going to need to face a few problem. As soon as possible, The Reefuge will have all of the software it uses to run updated. This will cause some things to break, and unfortunately you will all need to bare with us until they are fixed (it should not take long).

Once everything is running properly again, the cleanup will begin. Please read the following to see what the cleanup will change.


Staying -
  • Tank Journals
  • Marketplace
  • Forums
  • ChatBox
  • ChatBar

Going -
  • Business Groups
  • Micro Groups
  • State Groups (for now)
  • Code Manager
  • Events
  • LFS & Member Map
  • Reefuge Wallet / Reefuge Gold (for now)
  • User paid subscriptions for added features

Once that is done, we will be adapting the new framework to The Reefuge. This will give it a clean, elegant look and feel. It will make things a lot easier to work with, as well as provide some much needed features. Unfortunately, none of this is "stock" and has all been custom coded.

Once the cleanup is done, and the new interface is in place, we will be focusing on two things.

1. Website features that are needed and wanted by community members.
2. Social online/offline activities, such as competitions, gatherings, etc.

We can not go into great detail about either of these at the moment, but we do ask everyone who is a member of The Reefuge provide some feedback and put your suggestions in for what you guys want. It can be website related or it can be social related. That way we can start working on implementing what you all want during the upgrade period.

Thanks.
 

The Reefuge

Administrator
Jul 9, 2011
4,152
1,929
Are you moving away from XenForo?
No, we will be sticking with Xenforo. This is due to the fact that it is easy to code for. I was looking at BurningBoard at one stage because you can just purchase addons for it that will suite our needs, but customising the code for it (from a programming point of view) is more difficult than it is for Xenforo.

Thanks.
 

CodyS

Member
Sep 22, 2012
236
151
Sounding fantastic Mr Reefuge, sorry I haven't been around as much as I should have but I would love to see this place continue to grow!
 

curly747

Member
Aug 13, 2013
168
57
Curl Curl
From the things that are going the only one i would miss would be the LFS map. I guess i have only used it a couple of times. Once you know a store is there you don't need to look it up again. But i do think its useful if new to the hobby or new to an area.
 

daveH

Team Leader
Nov 24, 2011
2,958
1,475
Brisbane Northside
Over the years your upgrades have always made the Reefuge go from strength to strength. I have no doubt that this next move will keep the Reefuge the absolutely best forum around. Keep up the great work Neo.
 

Susan Bates

Member
Jan 18, 2015
880
117
Hi everyone,

We are going to be making some fairly big changes around here. The website needs a huge clean up, and a more streamlined interface and an easier way of getting to where you want to go.

I have been developing a framework for another project of mine over the course of the last 6 months, and most of it can carry over to The Reefuge. It is a minimalist, simple and elegant way of having the user interface for the website, as well as a lot of cool features.

With changes comes problems, and we are going to need to face a few problem. As soon as possible, The Reefuge will have all of the software it uses to run updated. This will cause some things to break, and unfortunately you will all need to bare with us until they are fixed (it should not take long).

Once everything is running properly again, the cleanup will begin. Please read the following to see what the cleanup will change.


Staying -
  • Tank Journals
  • Marketplace
  • Forums
  • ChatBox
  • ChatBar

Going -
  • Business Groups
  • Micro Groups
  • State Groups (for now)
  • Code Manager
  • Events
  • LFS & Member Map
  • Reefuge Wallet / Reefuge Gold (for now)
  • User paid subscriptions for added features

Once that is done, we will be adapting the new framework to The Reefuge. This will give it a clean, elegant look and feel. It will make things a lot easier to work with, as well as provide some much needed features. Unfortunately, none of this is "stock" and has all been custom coded.

Once the cleanup is done, and the new interface is in place, we will be focusing on two things.

1. Website features that are needed and wanted by community members.
2. Social online/offline activities, such as competitions, gatherings, etc.

We can not go into great detail about either of these at the moment, but we do ask everyone who is a member of The Reefuge provide some feedback and put your suggestions in for what you guys want. It can be website related or it can be social related. That way we can start working on implementing what you all want during the upgrade period.

Thanks.
read
 

MagicJ

Moderator
Jul 11, 2011
9,650
3,761
Hobart, Tasmania
I know they don't get used all that much but any chance the Micro Groups/Code Manager can stay?

If not, I can just start a relevant thread but I like the Micro Groups ;)
 

The Reefuge

Administrator
Jul 9, 2011
4,152
1,929
From the things that are going the only one i would miss would be the LFS map. I guess i have only used it a couple of times. Once you know a store is there you don't need to look it up again. But i do think its useful if new to the hobby or new to an area.
Hi!

The reason the LFS Map will be leaving is because something much better will be taking its place. It is a large job on its own, but trust me, you will like it a lot more. It will be MIA until the replacement is in place though.


I know they don't get used all that much but any chance the Micro Groups/Code Manager can stay?

If not, I can just start a relevant thread but I like the Micro Groups ;)
Nobody uses them. The last update was a very long time ago. I can set something up off-site for you, but as far as a feature on this website, it shall not be for much longer.
 

curly747

Member
Aug 13, 2013
168
57
Curl Curl
Hi!
The reason the LFS Map will be leaving is because something much better will be taking its place. It is a large job on its own, but trust me, you will like it a lot more. It will be MIA until the replacement is in place though.
Sounds great! and thanks for the reply. Just love this site.
 

holly

Member
Jul 10, 2013
1,806
832
Melbourne
Anything that will assist with social organisation would be fantastic. A frag swapping system could be fun and increase member contact and communication?