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Nations Screen

Your new user options screen includes a Nations page that currently does the following:

1) Displays and explains your Citizenship status in the region (current Citizen, former Citizen, honorary Citizen, or never been a Citizen)
2) Displays your current Citizenship nation (current and former Citizens will have one, and honorary Citizens may have one)
3) Allows admins to change the Citizenship nation

When an admin changes the Citizenship nation, the site will first check the NationStates API to determine if the nation exists and if the nation is in the region, and change the nation if both are true. This (and other future reasons) is why I needed to create the NS API Handler (11/29 Update), so that if this is running while the WA security script is running it won't blow up and cut the site off from the API for 15 minutes for going over the limit. Also, from looking at the page you may get some ideas of what's coming in this area in the future...

Adding Nations

As an addition to the new Nations page, you can now add other nations to the page. You do so simply be selecting the "Add Nation" button on the page, then typing in the name of the nation. It will then check that you have permissions (must be a Citizen or Paragon), check that it's an actual nation (through the NS API), and then add the nation if all checks pass. The page also displays the region that the nation is in, but for now this is as of the time you added the nation to the page! I will include code to regularly update this at intervals, but due to the limitations of using the NationStates API it will never be instantaneous.

It may look like we're just redoing the NS dossier right now, but there's more to come here.

Also, this fulfills the decision made by Nox, when given a choice back in November...to work on multiple nation support or complete the family system.

Recruitment Page Updates

Some updates were made to the recruitment page so that registration as a recruiter is no longer required...any Citizen can now recruit, although it isn't recommended that anyone recruit unless they already know how to at the moment. Also, the recruitment page is now tied into the NS API Processor, and a bug in the processor when it came to elements contained as CDATA was fixed in the process.

New Website Header Dropdowns

There are now two dropdowns on the website header, which replaces the header text of old...the menu on the left side of the banner lists areas of the website, while the right side lists places that are relevant to your profile in some way. In the future, I will be consolidating more menus in the header and freeing up space on other parts of the website.

Also, in addition to the pop-up, you will now see a red alert message come across the website under the banner and navigation bar if you have a personal message you haven't read it. You can click on the message to go directly to your inbox.

Just to clarify, is it just me or is the menu on the left side of the banner when expanded does not display fully?

What do you mean when you say not display fully?

New UserCP Changes

The "New UserCP" is now simply named Profile, and leads directly to your profile settings. The "Basic Profile" portion of the new CP is now called "Personalization Options", and includes new settings to change your personal text and your signature. This should now be your one-stop shop to change the look of your profile!

Additionally, with the introduction of the new top menus, the side menu in the profile areas became redundant and was removed. This gives more screen real estate to the relevant option, which should be handy especially when it come to the Notes tool.

What do you mean when you say not display fully?

Screenshot A

Screenshot B

It's possible to zoom out and see the full dropdown menu when I am using the PC but when it comes to mobile devices ...

Are you using Tapatalk on mobile? It's our solution for viewing the forums at the moment.

I'll look at making it better soon, though...

I've temporarily disabled the snowfall effect due to the load it causes on older CPUs. I'll include an option to enable it soon in the user control panel.

Recruitment Page Improvements

1) I freshened up our guide to recruiting new nations, put it in the guides section, and linked it to the top of the recruitment page so that it's easier for new recruiters to figure out what to do.

2) I replaced the old check that made sure you were an approved recruiter with one that merely checks if you're a Citizen. Additionally, if you attempt to recruit after your login session has expired (if you're not permanently logged in) you will be kicked off the recruitment page. This fixes the error where guests could recruit and their activity would be logged under a blank name.

Another Recruitment Page Improvement
There is now a space on the recruitment page to store your recruitment message template ID, so you don't have to go searching through your sent telegrams on NS to find it. Another small improvement to our recruitment page.

I had mine saved on a .txt file on my desktop, but this definitely makes more sense!

I never thought of that...but I recruit from multiple computers, so this still works better for me.

Account Options Area & Disable Sidebar
There is a new account options area, which will be used to specify settings related to your account. At the moment there is only one option, which is a display option to disable to sidebar on the main index page. If disabled, the forums will take up the entire space. This may be a good option if you have a low-resolution screen or you would rather have the extra space for the forums themselves.

You can access the account area from your menu on the upper right-hand corner of any page (the menu with your user name on it).