Hello again. I know I have been gone for a while but I would like to show you all the new version of the forum. I have kept the old website (and repository) online as a backup and the new site can be found at http://162.243.173.39 (No proper URL yet).
It uses NodeJS and Socket.IO to provide a real time experience. As you navigate around (some pages are still missing compared to the PHP version) you will notice there are no page refreshes. This was an important thing for me especially when creating a real time application.
When you visit the site you are automatically subscribed to certain events (only 2 so far). These are new topics, and user logins. When a user logs in their name will appear in the online user list automatically. If you happen to be viewing a forum and someone makes a new topic, the topic will also pop in automatically.
A new feature I have introduced is the way that new topics and posts are created. When you click the "new topic" button you don't get the usual modal popup. Instead you are taken to a page that resembles the topic. Simply click on the default name and default post body to change it and then click save. I feel this little feature will help with the flow of the site so let me know your thoughts.
It is still quite basic and you can't do a lot besides create topics and posts (and login/register) but the core framework is shaping up nicely.
I have a lot of new ideas which implement the real time aspect. For example when I implement a friend/follower system. When you login your friends will receive a popup to say that you have logged in, or when you create a new post they will get an instant popup. Or when you mention someone in a post (yup they will get a popup!). These options will of course be configurable for the specific user.