Journal

Zeta

    I know it's been a struggle for some people to get used to Delphi's new Zeta format. It has been for me at times too, alternating between loving it, and hating it. There's still some things I don't like, but now that we have the ability to add some personalization, and some of the features we've been asking for are being implemented, Zeta is feeling more and more right all the time. 

    Things I love:

    • Article embeds, of course!
    • OneStream
    • The ease & speed of changing your color scheme.
    • Bookmarks
    • CC's
    • @mentions

    Things I'm still not that fond of:

    • Limited formatting editor
    • Signature control in Options instead of on the formatting toolbar
    • Header photo size is hard to work with, I'm having a very hard time finding images that are copyright free, large in px, but not in kb, and are the right aspect ratio to look good.
    • There's some other stuff I don't like too, but there are enough people complaining about their pet peeves that I don't need to add more of them here. 

    The speed with which Delphi has adopted the color schemes that Ce has created has been a real boon to everyone. I think it may have actually gained a few new converts once others saw what forums could look like with different colors. I hope other designers will join in soon too, so we have a hundred options available by "game day."

    I have to thank management for being open to suggestions, and quietly implementing them when they think they have merit. :)

    There are still some very important features that need to be implemented:

    • Text size control
    • Granular color controls, so hosts can choose each element of the color scheme themselves.
    • The rest of the control center functions.

    I'm sure that will all come with time. The more people that see Zeta, the more suggestions there will be, but I hope that one suggestion that's been made by many people will be taken to heart: the need for a low vision/high contrast color scheme, perhaps with heavier font weights.

    Let me just share some of the images that prompted me to write this post. I think this forum looks pretty darned good! Now I just need to get some more posters in it. I've neglected this one for far too long, and that's my fault. A forum is only successful if you work it and promote it, and I haven't done enough to keep this one going strong. Since it's a legacy forum that was given to me when I asked for it, I have a certain obligation, right? :)

    Hey, I have an idea. How about *you* come post there?

     
     
     

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    Drones

      Welcome to Drones!

      I couldn't resist creating this forum, because drones are so much in the news these days, and I think public interest in them (both good and bad) as well as the technology will continue to grow.

      There's a huge hobbyist community out there, and Delphi would be the perfect place to set up shop to talk about drones in all their forms.

      However, I don't really want to run a forum like this - I'd rather turn it over to a drone enthusiast, someone who has expertise in the area, contacts to make it popular, and the desire to create a busy forum.

      The forum is all set up, it's seeded with a few threads, and I've put up a couple of promos, and feelers out on Facebook & Twitter.

      Interested?

       
      As of 3/20/14, the forum has been turned over to  HPeeler 
       
      Best of luck with your new forum!

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      Opening the Archives


        The Zone Gazette was created by JohnVHarris, Fun4Cat, Cstar1, SoftAsSilk and Lurch63 in 2001. None of us worked for Delphi*, but we were enthusiastic users, and eager to help foster the community that we found ourselves in. 

        From August 18, 2001 until February 2008 (with a lengthy hiatus in 2007), The Zone Gazette was the community newspaper for Delphi Forums. Run by JohnVHarris, Fun4Cat and Cstar1 along with many, many other staff, guest writers, interviewers and delivery people throughout the years, the "paper" was always informative, always positive, and always fun. The Zone Gazette was published every three weeks for six years, usually after a grueling 18 hour writing, editing, paste-up and chat-about-everything marathon.

        Posts from the first five volumes are now available, the final volumes covering our last years in operation will be released soon. The messages you'll now see in the forum are the final edited versions I submitted to John for uploading. The titles, messages and dates are presented just as I gave them to him. The only changes that have been made were to move them from his "Editor's Desk" folder to the new Volume folders. 

        (*I didn't work for Delphi when we started TZG. That came later, in 2002.)


        Between February of 2003 and October of 2010, there was a Land Known as Tyran on Talk City. This was the oldest and most popular RPG (Role Playing Game) forum on Talk City, though the history of the game is much older. Dawnstar was the forum owner, and when her membership lapsed, the forum reverted to Talk City. Her later death put the forum in a semi-permanent limbo, since under the practices we'd established, the forum could not go to another owner.

        Now, 3 years later, with the agreement of the current Tyran game owner, Jessimi, (Tyran: Perceptions of Destiny) we've opened the archives, so the wonderful stories can be seen again, forever frozen in time.

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