The forum software has not changed at all! What I have done is update Joomla, the content management system that runs the site, from version 1.5 to version 2.5. 1.5 is no longer supported, so the site would of necessity had to ‘stand still’ unless the upgrade was done. I have also used a different template, which defines how the site looks. The forum is also using the default template as is, I was using a slightly modified forum template based on the default one before the upgrade.
As I see it there have been two issues :
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Login problems
These happened for a short period only whilst I had a plugin activated to satisfy the EU directive on sites using cookies. This had the effect that when you logged in, the session cookie was set but the plugin immediately wiped it in a very high percentage of cases. Hence the majority of time people could not post, as as far as the site was concerned the session cookie showing the user was logged in was not there. However on a few occasions the cookie stayed, thus allowing posts to be made.
This problem was completely resolved as soon as I deleted the plugin. Any login problems (on ‘normal’ not mobile devices) since last Saturday are problems at the user end, not the site! If you are using a desktop or laptop and you have problems logging in, then as mentioned below delete your browser cache and cookies, do not use the url from your favourites unless it is pointing to www.wittonalbion.co.uk. I repeat, any problems logging in on non-mobile machines are at the user end. -
Mobile devices
The site template has support for mobile devices. It is supposed to recognise them automatically and switch to a modified layout. There were reports of problems using iphones and ipads - this has left me working in the dark as I do not own any mobile devices that access the web - I only use my mobile 'phone for texts and calls!
After much research and a great deal of trial and error I installed a different site template for mobile devices, and the associated forum template. These also use a plugin to automatically detect when the site is being accessed from a mobile device and serve up the appropriate templates. I have tested these using emulators, but I know that some people are still reporting problems. The fact that some people seem to say they have been getting different results at different times seems to me to point at the user end, as I have not made any changes for several days. However I am continuing to look into these problems as best I can.
At present what looks like the next step will be to serve the site up using a very basic site template rather than the advanced one being used at present, which it appears some mobile devices cannot cope with, but this will obviously affect the look and feel of the site.
Please continue to report any problems in as much detail as you can.
