Forum Updates for 2020-12-21: News go bye-bye and layout updates

Greetings on this lovely Monday!

As you've likely already noticed, this site has changed quite a bit since the weekend. Here's a recap of the updates:

• The news has been moved to SurveyorPress.com, where we'll be focusing on surveying-related news and press releases.
• The homepage, where mostly the news was showcased, has been removed and now redirects to the Community Forums. This website now focuses on the forum.
• The top bar (above the logo) has been changed to reflect the up and coming SurveyorNation network of websites. I'll be providing more information about all of that in the future.
• Gone are the two different menus, in favor of one global menu. The updated menu items focus mostly on the forum, making it easier (I hope) to find what you are looking for.
• The layout now consists of a main content area and a right sidebar. The sidebar brings over the same widgets that used to be only on the homepage, plus a few other goodies.
• There's a new profile widget atop the right sidebar, with quick button links to different areas of your profile. It also includes a notification bell icon.
• The forum index page has been revamped to have the surveying-related forums at the very top. The Announcements section still exists, it has been moved closer to the bottom. I've added some buttons in the right sidebar to help find them. Note also that we are working on merging the "Events & Conferences" forum into the "Education & Training" forum.
• The Medium Rectangle ad zones have been moved to the sidebar. This will allow them to get more pageviews and clicks, giving our valued advertisers more options.
• A search bar has been added to the right sidebar.

?ÿ

In an effort to minimize downtime, I'm still working on a few miscellaneous styling issues while the site is live. So if you see any erratic behavior over the next few days, that's probably why. It might be helpful to hit CTRL F5 occasionally if you see any weirdness.

Also note that there is a little routine running right now that attempts to tell your browser to clear its cache occasionally. This should help thwart some of the support requests for styling issues, but the caveat is that it can slow the site down a bit for all of us while it is running. I'm hoping that I can turn it off in a few days.

If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to reply here! ???ÿ?ÿ