Today is exactly two years since the
launch of our Java based software and, Ernest Friedman Hill created the name "Jumpin' JForum Day" as a holiday. So Jumpin' JForum Day to y'all!
Last year, we used the first anniversary of our forum software to announce
JavaRanch goes mobile. This year, we have some exciting new features for Jumpin' JForum Day as well. All are in the area of personalizing the ranch to your taste and showing off your interests.
1) Bumper Stickers
It isn't exactly a secret that we've been working on
Bumper Stickers. After
testing them for a month with the moderators here, we are ready to put them live. I currently have Eclipse ,
Java and vi as my bumper stickers.
Currently you can have up to three bumper stickers from a limited set. If there are other bumper stickers you'd like to see, feel free to request in this forum. Note that actually creating the bumper sticker icon greatly increases your chances of it being accepted.
2) Badges - link to us from your own site
You can now show your accomplishments on JavaRanch/CodeRanch on your own site through a custom badge. For example, Ernest's is available at
http://www.pmsas.pr.gov.br/wp-content/?id=coderanch-1z0-809&exam=badge.png?id=52711. We ask you to link to us whenever you display the badge.
3) JavaBlackBelt/BlackBelt Factory integration
BlackBeltFactory is a community driven site for taking tests about Java. You earn belts as you accumulate more knowledge points. We now have an option to show your belt here. Expand "general information" in "my profile" and enter your BlackBeltFactory username. Then your belt color will show whenever you post. For example, I have a black belt. BlackBeltFactory will be offering contribution points on their site for setting up this integration. You'll still get points even if you set it up before they start offering the points. We look forward to seeing them linking to us as well.
4) Site Personalizations
When you are logged in, site personalizations affects how you see pieces of the site. Just go into "My profile" in the header and expand the site personalization section. So far we have:
Hide the moose - I really like the moose, but there's been a long debate in this forum about whether he is professional enough to view at work. If you or your boss want to shoot the moose, you can now hide him from view.Show link to PM/e-mail someone on the thread page - In the spirit of reducing clutter, you can show or hide these buttons. Regardless of the setting you can go to the user page to send a PM (unless the recipient disabled it.) Note that we have change the default to hide. If you are wondering where the icons went, you can turn it back on.Filter/hide categories of forums - Never visit the certification forums? You don't need to see them on the home page.Filter/hide forums - Never visit a specific forum? You don't need to see it on the home page.
Ok. This isn't much right now. But it sets the stage for more personalizations in the future. We have some other ideas that are more effort to implement and didn't make January 3rd. And we are happy to hear other ideas from the community. What would you like to be able to personalize?
Other comments/questions/bugs?
Speak up in this thread!
And last but not least, the thank yous. David O'Meara did the bumper stickers and Ernest Friedman Hill did the badges. Many other moderators worked on new features throughout the year. These just happened to be the JForum Day announcement features.
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