We are aware that there are bugs with our online community, and we still working through the bugs list and retrieving missing content. Thank you for your patience.
New BCC website coming soon - please read!
Hi all
We're pleased to announce that the new Breast Cancer Care website will soon be ready to launch. We're really excited about it (and I'll explain why below).
HOWEVER please note that in order to transfer everything to the new site (including all your posts and threads and profiles) we will have to suspend the ability to post on the site for 3 days, from Monday 7 March to Wednesday 9 March. You will still be able to read the forums during this time, but no-one will be able to post new content.
* * * * *
Where else can I go?
- The Breast Cancer Care helpline (0808 800 6000) and Ask the Nurse email service http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/about-us/our-services/our-information/email-our-nurse/ will be operating as usual
- The Live Chat sessions will also be running as normal: Secondary breast cancer chat on Tuesdays 8.30-9.30pm, and General breast cancer chat on Thursdays 9-10pm. http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/community/live-chat/
- If you fancy a chat (with us or each other) you could come and see us on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/breastcancercare) or on Twitter (http://twitter.com/BCCare). But please do remember that these are very public sites and you won't be anonymous(especially on Facebook), so you might not want to post the same kind of things there as you do on the Breast Cancer Care forum.
We are really sorry that we'll have to suspend posting during this time, as we know the forum is a very important support service to many people, but we believe the long term benefits will be worth it.
* * * * *
Why are we changing our website?
Thousands of people affected by breast cancer use the Breast Cancer Care website every day to get information and support, and to find out about our services.
Our current website is good, but we know it can be better. We want our new site to be great. With the help of volunteers (both current forum members and some who don’t use the forums), we've been analysing what we think we do well and what we can do better and we've been building the new site with this in mind.
Our new site has been built in a new flexible system, which will make ongoing improvements quicker, easier and cheaper for us to make. We’ll be able to introduce new functionality such as blogs and member chat, and continue to develop the features we already offer.
We’ve also looked at the way that people find the information, support and services they need on our website and at how we can structure everything more effectively. The new system will allow us to be more intelligent about leading people to the right place based on what we know about their particular needs.
The more technically minded among you may be interested to learn that we’re moving to an ‘open-source’ platform, which enables us to tap into the expertise of a broader international community of developers, connecting Breast Cancer Care with the Open Web.
The new site has been developed by the in-house Digital Team at Breast Cancer Care, which means that we'll have the flexibility to respond to your changing needs as we go along.
* * * * *
Apologies for the extra-long post. We'll remind you about the suspension of posting nearer the time. Thank you so much for your understanding during this time.
Leah Williams
Breast Cancer Care
Community & Social Media Manager
Thanks to all @BCC for your labours! Maybe an idea to make this post a "sticky"
What about private messages, will they also be moved to the new website?
Mmm call me a ludite if you like but last time the web site was changed it took ages to get to grips with the new format and (in my opinion it wasn't a huge improvement).
cheers
Caroline
This will be the 3rd site for me since dx in 2007 and i agree with carolihne it does take a while to get to grips with it all again, its a shame that it will take 3 days for people to be able to post again though as lots of ladies will miss being able to speak and support each other .
Ive been having a look and trying out the new Beta version and wasnt sure about it at first, but the more ive been on it and navagated my way round i think it will be realy good, im sure lots of hard work has gone into the new version so thank you BCC, i only have one criticism though (sorry) i hate the colour! its now purple, thats just just opinion though , i know others realy dislik Pink but i dont .
Linda
Thanks for all the good work, BCC. Maybe NOT having the forums for a couple of days can help to break my addiction.
A very valuable service, and I imagine moving from one format to another will be a huge job, so it's good it can happen in just three days.
Thanks and BUMP!
Hi all
Yes, mrsblue, your private messages should all be transferred to the new website.
I know it will take a bit of time to adjust to the new site (and there are bound to be a few teething problems at first) but we're working hard to make the transition as smooth as possible. When it does switch over, we'll need your help to spot any things that aren't working as they should, and we'll be around to help you get used to any changes.
Thanks for all your support
Leah
Bringing to the top for your attention.
Jo, Facilitator
Just to say I actually prefer purple
bump
good luck with the launch BCC IT team
I am sure it will be fab
Will you have something on the BCC Home page letting anyone who looks at it for the first time know that the forum is 'offline' for a couple of days?
rhixx
Please don't make it too pink, I get sick of all this pinkness around BC, I'm a grown-up, not a Barbie doll and the current BCC purple is warm without being nauseating.
Hi all
Rhian - yes, we'll try to make it clear for people that the forum is temporarily closed to new posting and new registrations.
If you want to have a sneak preview at the new site there is a link to it on this page: http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/media-centre/all-our-latest-news/newsblog/new-beta-website
Don't forget it's not finished yet, but you'll be able to get an idea of what it's going to look like.
Not long to go now!
Leah
well i have taken a look and think it looks pretty gooood:) though i am looking at it with a brand new fangled laptop screen ha ha ha only joking!! its seems to 'flow' smoother. Those who found the last changes difficult to get the hang of will notice a difference for the better this time for sure, but as with everything will take getting used to. I know lots of folk don't like the whole pink thing, but pink is the BCC colour and it would be silly to spend lots of money on changing that, but looking at the new site its not in your face pink and there are other colours incoporated.
well done BCC IT Team ( i have this image of them being like the IT Team on that sit com on the telly heeee heeee )
rhian x
Thanks Rhian (re comments about the new site).
And as for the "IT team"... no comment
We keep them tucked away in a corner office (or cupboard, as I like to call it) but they seem happy enough with their screens and biscuits.
When I first discovered your site in 2008 it was great - you could find anything in the forums so easily and I got a lot of help from it.
Then it was changed into an incomprehensible mess - couldn't find anything, and I have to keep scrolling back and forwards because your 'page' is too wide for the average computer screen.
Hope your new site will be better.
About private messages:
I've just been checking mine, and in the Sent Messages folder, each message in the list has "From" (mrsblue) but not the name of the person it is sent "To" ! Please fix this on the new forums!
IMPORTANT! It's a good idea if we all check our Inbox and Sent folders ASAP, and delete old messages, to make less work for those who are transferring everything to the new forums. Off you go and do it now
And I still think this thread should be a "sticky"............
Can't access the Beta site at the moment - says the link is broken, but I'm wondering what disability access standard you're designing it to? Anyone know?
Hi
Amber32002: yes, we had to take the test site offline for a bit, that's why you can't access it at the moment.
With regards to disability accessibility, we're building the new site in Drupal, and here is a statement about Drupal and accessibility standards http://drupal.org/about/accessibility. Once we launch, we'd welcome any feedback about any accessibility issues we may have inadvertently overlooked, along with any other feedback of course.
Mrsblue - I believe the sent messages folder on the new site is a lot more logical than the current one but I can't check as the site is down right now. And I've made this thread a sticky.
Thanks all
Leah
I thought I'd posted this before, but BCC website fell over on me so it didn't happen.
On other forums I use there is often an option "new posts since last visit" or "unread posts", or "posts in last 24 hours". Will the new site have one of these? Sometimes a new post or a new thread just drops off the Latest Posts page and gets missed so the person posting doesn't get any responses, which can be very distressing if it's a first post for someone.
Just a thought.
Hi CM - yes, these kinds of options are the sort of thing we'll be adding. When we launch, if there are any we've missed that you think would be helpful, let us know. It should be reasonably simple to add them.
Leah
P.S. Sorry about the website problems this morning - we're trying to get that sorted too.
Hi Leah,
Drupal talks a lot about colour contrast and sizing, but doesn't seem to mention accessibility for learning difficulties or autism, which also need to be fully incorporated under the Equality Act 2010?
Happy to assist with the thinking on this if you need it as I'm a national adviser?
Ann
I had a quick look at the new site yesterday and I like it very much. I'm particularly impressed that it even looks good and loads quickly on my little Linux netbook using Firefox. All the graphics and boxes look to be correct, and the text is sitting properly where it should. Even some very big corporate sites (including some of those for IT companies!) can't always get that right, so well done.
Did I spot smilies in some of the test posts?
Are we going to be able to include photos in our posts now? That would be lovely as the only way we can currently do that (e.g. for before and after "hair" shots) is to change our avatars.
Looking forward to the new site, but not to not being able to post for a few days. Still, needs must!
Jane xxx
Hi amber32002 - thanks for this. If you PM me your contact details etc, I'll pass them on to our digital team who are developing the site.
Alto - thanks for comments! The answers are: yes to smilies (and other emoticons), not sure about photos though. Again we should be able to make adjustments after launch, so let us know what we've missed.
Leah
hello Leah
Like Alto I think photos on our profiles would be nice
r x
Yup, like the other poster, I've mentioned the weird issue of being able to see posts you've sent, but not who they went TO. Believe me, an easy thing to forget when you are in mid-treatment...
Assume the little matter of not being able to completely delete a post you've put up will also be sorted?
This thread is showing as a sticky when the page
http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/forum/
is visited.
But on "Latest posts" -
http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/forum/search.php?search_id=active_topics&xid[]=14
- it was on page 3 when I checked this morning... but of course I've bumped it now
And the Latest Posts link doesn't work properly, the []14 isn't underlined!
Sorry... I've been involved in a Forum migration so I know it is a lot of work for those behind the scenes... hopefully this feedback can help make things smoother for all.
Hello
Mrsblue - with the current set-up, sticky posts are only sticky on the actual forum pages, they don't stay at the top of latest posts. The only way to make a thread stay near the top of the latest posts page is to keep commenting on it - so you're all helping with that!
I've checked a couple of things out for you:
- in the new system you WILL be able to see who you've sent the PM to
- you won't be able to add photos to your posts when we launch, but we might be able to add that functionality later if people want it (we would have to draw up some guidelines so we can agree what kind of images are appropriate for the forum)
- Again, you won't be able to add pictures to your profile (other than your profile picture itself) when we launch, but we could add that possibility later if it's something people really want
- in terms of not being able to completely delete your own post, that's a choice we make rather than a system design feature. We don't allow forum members to completely delete a post for two main reasons: 1) to preserve the flow of threads (if people have already responded to a post and then it completely disappears, it can be really confusing) and 2) to allow us to track and deal with (the very rare) nuisance or malicious posters.
I hope that answers most of the questions so far. I am sure there will be many, many more when we launch the new site, and we will try to do our best to respond to you as swiftly as we can.
Best wishes
Leah
I really can't understand why you can't display your forums like all the other ones I visit, ie. have an index page with ALL the forums listed on it, divided into headings from which you can go to a list of threads in each forum.
Go and look at something like Digital Spy for instance. On sites like that you can find discussions from years back at the click of a button.
Is anyone experiencing difficulty trying to post a comment. I was slow last night but this morning it just seems to stop completely. I know we are in the process of updating the site but thought that was from Monday. Thanks, Val
Hi Val
Yes, the site has been having problems over the past few days. It keeps going down but we haven't been able to isolate the error that is causing it. I'm really sorry, I know it's very frustrating. We're trying to make sure we get it back working as soon as we can.
Leah