Ever wanted a mobile version of DU? Unlimited edit time? Unlimited time on your My Posts page?

[EarlG]

Those features and more are already available on our new message board software, DU3, which you can check out at http://www.du3preview.com">http://www.du3preview.com

The software is still in development so there are many bugs and missing features, but here's some good stuff that is currently working:

• DU3 standard format (the new "fixed" format)
• Wide format (pages stretch to fit your monitor, like DU2)
• Mobile format (for smartphones and other mobile devices)
• My Posts (now with unlimited viewing time)
• Upgraded Latest page (now with various ways to sort and filter the list of threads)
• RSS feeds for every forum and group, and for the Latest page
• Inline alerts (send alerts without leaving the page)
• Unlimited editing time
• Avatars
• Signature lines
• Emoticons (with some new ones added)

Members who registered before January 19, 2011, can log in and test out the software at http://www.du3preview.com">http://www.du3preview.com

And of course here's a quick plug for the fund drive! We don't have much time left to make our goal so if you haven't already, please http://www.democraticunderground.com/donate.html">donate today! Thank you!

[PeaceNikki]

1. Yay!!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. The new DU3 just sounds better and better!

[Drale]

3. We need an Android app

lol Its hard to read and post from my phone.

[EarlG]

11. We hope to have apps for Android and iPhone eventually

In the meantime, the mobile version works pretty well. You can check it out by clicking "My Account" when on DU3Preview.com, and selecting the "Mobile" option.

[Earth_First]

13. +1

WOOT!

[aquamarina]

29. Excellent news.

[Hosnon]

37. Awesome! [drool] nt.

[Tesha]

45. Earl, the ordinary version has worked fine on iPhone for years now. (NT)

[Renew Deal]

4. I like what you've done with My Posts

It works really well! I will probably use the wide format. The presentation of the forums in their logical order instead of separating "topic forums" from "member groups" is a good idea. It will make it easier to find everything.

I also like that I can get all posts from all forums on the latest page. I don't mind seeing posts from the Lounge or state forums on the latest page. Keep up the good work!

[Canuckistanian]

5. Yes, yes and yes!

A mobile version would be GREAT. I've never been happy with the way DU works on ANY mobile browser, even Opera.

[Renew Deal]

6. DU is tough to deal with on the Blackberry

But it's pretty good on the iPhone. It would be nice if the mobile format was either detected or it was a public setting. I don't like to log in from my phone, and that's the only way to change the setting.

[EarlG]

9. We'll have detection for mobile devices working before launch

We just haven't worked on that part yet, so currently you have to use the manual settings.

[Renew Deal]

18. That's cool

I've looked at it from the phone and it looks good anyway. ;)

[Lucinda]

7. Thank you so much for all the hard work!

There are some things I still like better about the nesting with this forum...but, I'm sure I'll adapt. I appreciate all the work to make DU bettah!

[eleny]

8. Wow, a mobile format!

I can hardly wait to try it out.

[Duer 157099]

10. So is it retroactive?

Will the current DU migrate, and (if you do this I think I'll cry) will the new DU3 show our My Posts from infinity in the past????

If so, ye are gods.

[EarlG]

15. That would be pretty awesome, but...

unfortunately I don't think it will happen. One possibility is that DU3 will start "fresh" and DU2 will remain as a read-only archive -- the idea would be that even after DU3 launches you could still log into your old DU2 account so you would still have access to your old bookmarks, inbox, etc. -- you just won't be able to post new messages, use the DU2 private message system, etc.

[Renew Deal]

20. I think that will be fine

We'll populate DU3 pretty quick. :)

[Duer 157099]

22. Well semi-gods is still ok

It must be archived though. DU functions as a part of my brain, the place I go to remember things that I once knew.

[xchrom]

12. Recommend

[Waiting For Everyman]

14. EarlG, is there a DU Twitter page? n/t

[EarlG]

16. There is no official DU Twitter page

But we are including Twitter integration with the new software, so that people have a very quick and easy way to tweet about something they've read on DU.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

17. Hey EarlG, Will there be anything with Facebook or Twitter in DU3?

BTW: DU3:thumbsup:

[EarlG]

21. Yes

You'll be able to "Like" individual DU threads, and there will be a Tweet button (which allows people to quickly and easily tweet about any thread they're reading).

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

26. Coool

[backscatter712]

19. I test-drove the mobile-view on my Android.

It's a huge improvement. I'm looking forward to it when DU3 goes live. Thanks, DU Devs!

Trying to surf the old DU on a smartphone is pretty rough - lots of pinch-zooming, and you can't read the entire page zoomed out without a jeweler's loupe. Some of the smartphone features address this - double-tapping on a column of text on my Android phone will zoom in on it and reformat the column so you can read it without having to scroll side-to-side. But a dedicated mobile-view is much better.

[lonestarnot]

23. Oh excellent! Now I can make sure every one of my posts is edited.

:rofl:

[OneGrassRoot]

42. LOL!

;)

:hug:

[northoftheborder]

24. What is the difference between an App and the "Mobile Version"?

It would be wonderful to have an App version of my fav. blog site! The page is really hard to navigate now on the IPhone, and the "Latest" button is about the size of the end of a match or smaller.

[EarlG]

25. The mobile version

is just a differently "skinned" version of DU that makes for much easier reading when you're browsing the site using Safari on the iPhone (or your Android web browser). You can test it out on DU3 Preview by logging in and clicking the "My Account" link at the top-right of the page, and then selecting "Mobile" in the preferences section. I think you'll find it much easier to read and navigate.

We haven't thought too much about an app yet, but presumably it would have some different/additional functionality and wouldn't necessarily use a web browser to display the site.

[NYC Liberal]

Perhaps an app might include notifications of replies

to your posts. That might be quite server-intensive though. But it would be pretty awesome!

[sabrina 1]

27. Sounds great. I have a question though.

I have tried logging into the new format but I get a message saying 'no such user'. Same thing happened with the last trial period.

I am using the same name and password so I don't know how I can get past that.

Haven't been able to try it as a result :-(

[EarlG]

28. Hmm, not sure about that

I'll alert Elad to your post and see if he has any suggestions.

[sabrina 1]

34. Thank you, I'll try his suggestion ~

[Elad]

30. Try copying/pasting your username from here

You have a space between "sabrina" and "1" that maybe you're not accounting for?

You're in the database so it must be a mistyped username...

[sabrina 1]

33. Okay, I will try that ~

[sabrina 1]

36. It worked! Thank you!

It was the space which I didn't think of ... :-)

[DRoseDARs]

31. Suggestion with the "Unlimited editing time":

If possible, edits ought to be as addendum to posts, rather than allowed to be carte blanche rewrites. It would force more thought to be put into posts before clicking the "Post Message" button since editing won't remove whatever got posted.

Edit-Fri Feb-18-11 11:51 AM:
So this could be an example of an edit. I can't change the text above; this text is simply added onto the existing post with a time stamp.

[EarlG]

35. We're sort of doing that

Each post on DU3 has an edit history so you can go back and see all the previous versions. (Note that if a post, or a previous version of a post, contains a rule violation and is deleted, the edit history will no longer be available.)

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Skinner]

38. Kick. (nt)

[Tsiyu]

39. Kicking and Reccing

and booting myself in the butt to go try it out.

Didn't have time last night as I thought.

Sounds like there's a lot of new stuff we will all come to love on DU3...


:kick:

[JuniperLea]

40. I've been able to read and post via BlackBerry...

But it's cumbersome. This would feed a whold new addiction, methinks. :D

[sabrina 1]

41. I like the unlimited editing feature. I have a question.

I posted a thread with quotes, but noticed that the normal tags to blockquote, (div class=) don't make the quotes stand out. Will there be different tags needed to do that?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

43. As Tony The Tiger says.........

GREEEAAAATT!!!!! :)

[jannyk]

44. Is there an 'Easy Button' for doing 'Bold' and 'Italic' font in posts?

Instead of having to use HTML every time. I'm all for the latest razzamatazz, but a 'Bold' and 'Italic' button is such a basic required 'standard' we've never had.

[malaise]

46. Nice

Thanks

[santamargarita]

47. I've wanted that for long time!

:bounce:

[swilton]

48. I appreciate all of your hard work

But for me, the stationary version is challenging and keeps me busy enough - no need for all of these bells and whistles.

[immoderate]

49. How about a "his/her posts" button so we can look up DUer postings.

It could be next to the profile button when they post.

It's "My posts" but for everybody else.

--imm

[martymar64]

50. Absolutely! I'd love to post from my iphone.

[Violet_Crumble]

51. I've rarely been able to access DU with my iphone...

I keep on getting 404 errors where it tells me it's timed out. And the few times I have been able to access it, I find thanks to the Thumblethumbs Technology used with the qwerty keyboard that 'I agree totally n/t' turns into 'I argued donuts xxoog/sj'

[hootinholler]

52. How about a DUzy link?

Let it work like recommend and drive a DUzy Page.

-Hoot