[Cancelled] Shoutbox, Gallery & Editable Box in Profile

[Mari-chi]

These are near-in-the-future mods that I'm thinking about, the projects started perhaps, in a couple month's time. For now I'd like to work out the ideas, and the costs, and whether they're even reasonable requests. I would also need to discuss them further with the other admins at my forum.

1) Shoutbox

- The shoutbox will be on the members' profiles, and anyone who has permission will be able to use the Shoutboxes to leave each other comments.

- The shoutbox will work kind of like an "add comments" section... Except I really love the AJAX Instant Quick Reply mod--so I'd like it if the comments could be added in a smooth, 'instant' style like that mod without the page refreshing. (Link to mod HERE).

- When leaving a comment, the shoutbox will detect the user's account name. When their name and profile image shows up in the shoutbox after submitting it, the name left in the shoutbox will lead to the account profile. So for example,

[profile image] Mari-chi: Hi, there!

^ In that example, clicking on 'Mari-chi' would lead to my profile. I hope I'm making sense.

2) Extra 'Box' in Profile

- An extra 'box' in the profile section for users to add whatever they would like. In reality it would be used to add character biography (the box title would state 'Character Biography', and should be static and unchangeable by the user). it'll just be an empty box matching the forum theme that will go on the profile of members who have permission.

- Members who don't have permission for the 'character biography box' will not see it at all in their profiles.

- Members who do have permission will be able to edit it through their profile settings (maybe 'Forum Profile' section?), and can choose whether or not they want it showing up on their profile page.

3) Photo Gallery

- Members who have permission will be able to upload avatars and other images in a personal 'photo gallery'.

- This photo gallery can be accessed (only by those members who have permission) when changing their avatar. So they would be able to upload their avatars beforehand, then choose from their gallery if they want to change them.

- The photo gallery, if so the member chooses, can be displayed on the profile page. (An arrow leading left and right will slide through the images.)

My budget is a maximum $50 ~ $100 for each of those mods, but a maximum of $300 in total. (Edit: Sorry, I felt I should clarify my budget better.

What do you think?

[live627]

All three of those ideas seem very similar to some elements in Ultimate Profile, which is installed here. Only, the concepts are innovated.

1) UP adds a comments section to the profile, but without the AJAX element.

2) UP has an About Me area, except there is one permission to edit the whole deal.

3) UP has a gallery too, but without the slider and the unique permission. Would the slider go by itself or would the arrows be clicked to shuffle between images or both?

The only deal breaker for me right now is I have another paid job right now. (Oh, and I'm the lead developer for Dream Portal so some time also goes into that )

[Mari-chi]

Oh wow, thanks for mentioning Dream Portal. I've tried some other portals (ezportal, simple portal and tiny portal), but never liked any of them! Dream Portal is working great on my test forum right now. Will definitely use it on my main forum as soon as I work out how I want it to look. I love that it's very customizable.

As for the mods, yes! They're definitely similar to the Ultimate Profile mod, except UP doesn't quite look right on the test forum, and I can't seem to change the titles of the boxes.

I'm thinking of having a 'left' arrow to the left side of the images, and a 'right' arrow to the right side of the images, so that the images slide back and forth between the arrows. The arrows would need to be clicked to shuffle between them.

Do you think you'd be able to do the mods at all? When you mentioned UP, I briefly thought of copyright issues that might come up... Are they too similar in ideas? Is that a problem at all? If so, is there any way that I could commission you to modify the UP for me, or would I have to get the owner's permission?

Approximately when would you be finishing your other paid job, and could you outline your payment policies for me?

I don't think waiting would be that big of a deal, if we don't have to wait more than  2~3 months for the projects to start. Haha sorry for the onslaught of questions! @_@

[live627]

There is nothing that prevents mods from having similar ideas as long as they aren't duplicates. It's the reason there are close to eight portals for SMF. They all share the same basic ideas with their own twist: blocks and custom pages.

I wholeheartedly agree that UP doesn't look right; heck, I had to rewrite most of it to fit in this site! And there's no UI to change the block titles; the code needs edited.

To fulfil the mod requests, I'm not going to grab UP and dissect it and tweak it. The code is quite messy to me, and the original author probably won't want his mod refitted by someone else as a paid job. So as to not take any chances with the unknown, I'll start from scratch.

My current paid job will end this month (January, most likely the middle).

Payment policies, maybe I'm being retarded here, but do you mean what the charge is or how the payment process goes, eg. initial deposit or after the project is done?

[Mari-chi]

Starting from scratch sounds perfect.

Payment policies as in, do you require deposits? And approximately how much would you estimate each of the mods costing?

[live627]

I do not require an initial deposit of any kind so as to ensure no cheating. That said, one may be made if you so desire.

I estimate $75 for the first and the same figure for the third, while the second mod would be $50.

[Mari-chi]

Oh wow, the estimates are great.

I'd prefer to pay all in full at the end if you're okay with that.

Also, I was wondering how much it would cost to customise the PM system? I don't think it'd really be considered a mod, but this is what I'd like:

- A sidebar to the left with 'inbox', 'sent items', 'drafts', 'trash' (like in most e-mail systems)

- The main block would be beside the sidebar, to the right-hand side, and would list the PM messages like an e-mail system. Click on a subject, and it would take the user to a separate page to view the PM.

And for the Drafts mod that I subscribed to, how much would it cost to modify it a little bit? I would like checkboxes next to each of the saved drafts, so that members can easily delete them all if needed.

[live627]

To keep busy while I'm waiting on feedback from the other jobs, I started on yours.

[Mari-chi]

The first three mods that I described in my lead post, right? Thanks, it's great to hear that!

What are your thoughts on modifying the Drafts mod, and the PM system?

[live627]

Yes the ones listed in the OP . I'm starting from the top.

The PM system, not really. The drafts mod only covers forum posts and not PMs. I guess that's your next request? There is no trash repository for PMs. Once they're deleted, they're gone as far as SMF is concerned.

There are two arrowheads to the right of the menu system. Not sure if you've noticed that. Click them to make the menu convert to a list on the left. Now, I've never experimented with this before since I had no real need to so I don't know if the arrows save their position or not.

Deleting multiple drafts as well as all of them is a great idea! I believe when the mod was made the template was copied and adapted from the one for showing regular posts.

[Mari-chi]

I'm so excited right now. XD I love that SMF is so customisable if a person knows their stuff like you do.

You guessed right; I'd also like to be able to save drafts for PMs, haha.

The only problem with the double arrows to the right of the regular menu system is: 1) it doesn't apply just for the PM system; it applies forum-wide, and 2) it 'pushes' the PM window off to the right so I can't see a part of the message.

My best guess for #2 is probably because I fixed some things to be a certain width through CSS, which is most likely why it's sticking that way in the PM window as well. Here's a screenshot: http://ow.ly/3zN3V

I can probably change it with CSS again... Not sure since I haven't tried it yet.

It's too bad there's no 'trash' for the PM system; but that's okay. I just really like the idea of an e-mail styled PM system. And yeah, I thought the ability to remove multiple drafts would be useful.

[live627]

After much trials and tribulations with the Javascript[1], new shouts can be added. I still need to code the edit and delete functions. What I was thinking for the edit button was to use something like SMF's quick edit feature since that's my favourite way of editing my posts and also since the adding section uses AJAX, I figured the edit system should follow suit.

This mod is exciting to make

1.	Eh, I tried a new structure

[Mari-chi]

<33 It all sounds perfect!

[live627]

Barney wasn't Oriental last I checked :lol:

You know the first thing I noticed about that image? The bevel on the text!

So the shoutbox mod thingy is complete. I even made the delete button AJAX

Posted on January 12, 2011, 11:34:03 PM

I'll start the second one tomorrow as it's almost midnight (my time)

[Mari-chi]

Pfft, Barney is a dinosaur, he's not any race! Also, how do you skip the big purple thing grinning at you from ear to ear? LOL. <3 Words can't describe how awesome you are. I'm beyond excited. If I described how excited I was, it would be highly inappropriate. That's how much.

O:)