In our October 2013 CIX Newsletter.

1) Updated API for CIX Forums
2) ICUK Announced as Comms National Awards Finalist
3) Free Membership for Broadband Customers

Updated API for CIX forums

In the last month, Steve Palmer has been working to improve the usability of the API for CIX Forums. We’re currently looking for developers and programmers who would be interested in getting involved with this – a great example being iXolr, the offline reader for iPad and iPhone which is available through the App Store. Working on the API is a great way to get started, and if you’re interested, please drop an email to support@cix.co.uk to be added to the right forums.

ICUK announced as Comms National Awards Finalist!

ICUK are very excited to announce that they are finalists in the ‘Best Channel Software Solution’ category at the 2013 Comms National Awards which will be hosted by Comms Dealer in October at Park Lane Hilton. We are up against 14 other companies so it’s a tough category, but we’re hoping for the best!

Convergence Summit South

We’re also exhibiting at the Convergence Summit South at Sandown Park this week – there’s still time to register if you want to come along too! Just do so here: http://goo.gl/pHg1TT; or on the day.

There’s a new set of blogs coming soon based around our time at Social Media Week in London this year. If you’re interested (as users of the original social network!) then please head to blog.icuk.net to have a read.

Free CIX Membership for Broadband Customers

As we mentioned last month, we are offering full access CIX accounts free to existing users who switch their broadband to ICUK.net. The  sign-up process is simple and the link can be found here: https://www.icuk.net/broadband/internet_signup.aspx?ref=cix.

We will need your CIX login details in order to authenticate your account to qualify for this offer.

ICUK broadband offers great speeds with packages starting at £10, and excellent UK coverage. Our phone lines are open 9am – 5.30pm, Monday to Friday and we answer emails within minutes.

Our full range of packages can be viewed here: http://www.icuk.net/broadband/home_adsl.asp and don’t forget to ask
about Fibre too.

The CIX Team

CIX is pleased to announce an update to the official CIX API which allows third parties to develop solutions based around the CIX Forum services. The update introduces a number of new API methods to make interacting with CIX easier, as well as improvements to existing methods and the introduction of a basic authentication scheme to accompany the existing OAuth authentication mechanism.

Documentation of the API and samples are available at the web site:

http://developer.cixonline.com

Further updates are planned over the coming months. Aspiring developers and other interested parties should join the closed cix.developer forum. E-mail solutions@cix.co.uk if you would like to be admitted.

At some point in the coming weeks, we’re launching email digests.

To allow everyone sufficient time to change their delivery preference, we’re announcing this now.

Those who have used CIX in the last week have been automatically set to not receive digests. If you’re a regular user who would like to receive digests, you may need to change your delivery preference.

To change your delivery preference, go to https://forums.cixonline.com/secure/settings.aspx . Under ‘Receive Email Digests’, select either daily, weekly, monthly, or never.

We’ll post here again with more details of the digests when they’re ready to be sent out.

Shaun Donnelly
CIX Online

Today we’re releasing a major update to CIX Forums, available at https://forums.cixonline.com/

Thanks to all our members who have given up their time to beta test and provide feedback to many of these features during development.

If you have any questions or support queries related to this new version, don’t hesitate to contact us in cix:cix.support .

You can discuss these changes in cix:cix.customer .

Here is a non exhaustive list of the changes it brings:

Message Viewing
The thread page has a redesigned UI
The thread pane can now be pinned to the top of the browser

Notifications
Users of Forums now receive instant notifications of new replies to their posts
A new notification area allows you to view and manage your notifications

Search
The search page has been replaced with a new version that is faster and yields better results
CIX short links can now be entered into the search box to go directly to certain forums, topics or messages

General
The header bar navigation has been improved
The ‘username’ and ‘Settings’ dropdowns have been merged
You can now press ‘?’ at any time to view keyboard shortcuts
You are now able to sign in using the email address set in your profile
‘mark all as read’ button has been added to the home page
Your browser will now remember your preference for the left column on the home page
Reposted messages now include CIX links to the original post
There is now an interactive tutorial to explain how to use Forums
Several bug fixes

Note – If you go to Forums and it displays strangely, you can simply clear your browser cache and everything should clear up. Instructions on how to do that are at http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-Your-Browser’s-Cache

We have many more plans to make CIX Forums even better in the coming months, so stay tuned for further updates!

We are pleased to announce a new major release of CIX Forums, available at forums.cixonline.com. The revamp has been part of the planned overhaul which ICUK  set out to complete since purchasing CIX last year. The changes are based around feedback we have received from members as well as ideas from the creative talents of our development team.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the changes it brings:

Message Viewing

• Messages can be viewed in a fixed width font
• Quotes are now highlighted in a different colour
• Option to mark messages as read when opened
• Maximum thread line display has been increased
• A new button to create an internal CIX link to the current message
• Page size has been greatly increased

Composing

• New ‘quote’ button when replying
• Message copy function has been replaced with an improved ‘repost’ function
• Messages can now be saved as drafts for posting later

General

• Added a new keyboard shortcuts section
• Visiting a thread in a forum automatically joins the forum, if you are not a member
• The left menu bar can be hidden
• Decreased loading times throughout
• Font changes
• Numerous cosmetic changes
• A new sign in page
• The header bar now includes navigational features to make getting around forums much faster
• Dozens of bug fixes
• The ability to create a new forum has been restored
• Syncing pointers is no longer required to view newly created topics
• Users can now sign in to their CIX webmail from inside Forums

Forums Page

• Forum pages have a new layout, displaying all open topics and most recent threads

Search

• Search results are now in date order

Home Page

• Added a new home page that displays all the relevant information from the old home page, and loads around three times faster
• Added a “Who’s Online” list
• Mobile users are now given the option of using our mobile web app

Profile Pages

• Profiles now display CoSy resumes
• Profile picture size has been increased
• Users can now edit their CoSy resume from their profile page

Private Messages

• Messages can now have a reply to address specified

Thanks to all our members who have given up their time to beta test and provide feedback to many of these features during development.  Similarly, we welcome all feedback for future developments as we try and make this one of the best forum platforms available.