Comment to 'Warming up to UNA'
  • Hi everyone, the OP here for a quick update.

    The more I interact with UNA the more I like it. The system is quite good and meets my needs when I transferred from Dolphin. I started with Dolphin in 2007 and switched to UNA in Summer 2019. So far I have been able to transfer most of my content over to UNA with some assistance from a friend who is a db guru.  Molosserdogs.com is mostly driven by content (AQB articles-needs work), discussions (remember those), and photos.  I find that UNA is suitable for this.  

    As the site gets built out and gain in popularity (at one time we had over 17000 active members on e107 platform, then came facebook) I will be able to assess how it performs under load with multiple logged in users.

    The DB was switched from MyISAM over to Innodb based on a post by Alex T⚜️ and pages load about 30% faster - not sure if this will hold up under load.

    Some things that need improvement.

    • All content should have quick index like what is in Glossary. A B C E F G ... X Y Z etc to facilitate easy retrieval. This can be with members, groups, orgs, spaces etc. 
    • While viewing content, members, groups, posts, orgs etc.. there must be the option to view next and previous. This creates curiosity and encourages viewers to see what is next... 
    • Photo upload needs to be simplified. I still get people asking how to upload.  
    • Creating albums for groups needs to be simplified as most users will not bother with the dropdown list to find the group in visibility.options.
    • The ability for Admin/Operator to log in as a member. many requests for assistance with cover, profile photo, or creation of groups, orgs, etc... 
    • Decrease white space.  All blocks should be reduced to eliminate wasted space. Card sizes seem standard regardless of the content therein.
    • Chat and instant messages - integrated out of the box.  Must have for engagement. TMD has installed Rocket Chat for me and now I will see about configuring the Ap with the OAuth 2.   
    • Speed, speed, speed, and more speed.  eliminate some page loads when content is updated. Just load with was updated instead of an entire page.
    • Get the App devs over to UNA. We need choices.

    The bottom line - UNA is a robust system with great architecture and positioned for future growth. I like the modularity of it and the ability to make changes without modifying core files. All in all - I have had a great experience with the system and with the UNA Community.

    Keep up the great work - and always keep the user experience in mind and develop with simplicity in mind.  Cheers, all.

    Merry Christmas!