CIX is pleased to release an update to CIXReader, the official desktop reader for Windows and Mac OSX, available to download from http://www.cixonline.com/cixreader.asp or via Check For Updates in your current CIXReader version.

The main change is the introduction of a new home page which lists the most interesting threads in all open forums. Interesting threads are those where there is currently the most activity. In addition, the home page shows a list of people who are currently online so you can see who is active at the time.

Changes are :-

* New home page that shows interesting threads and online users.
* Add option in Settings to change whether CIXReader always starts at the home page.
* Backtrack now restores unread state of message.
* ‘Q’ key now aliases to replying and quoting the original message’.
* New message markup parser.
* Improved handling of missing messages.
* Fixed multiple image rendering issue.
* [CIXReader for Windows] New folder tree layout to match the Mac OSX version.
* [CIXReader for Mac OSX] Allow selective quoting of message replies.
* [CIXReader for Mac OSX] Added new Ramtops style courtesy of ramtops@cix.
* [CIXReader for Mac OSX] Install custom styles with drag and drop.

The CIX Team

Since May 2011, CIX Online Limited has been wholly owned by ICUK Computing Services Limited.

As part of our internal restructuring, customers that pay by credit or debit card may notice that their card subscription payment will be collected by our parent company, ICUK. This will appear on their bank or card statement accordingly. This has been in effect since January 2015, with a gradual increase in the number of customers moving over to this method of payment collection.

Please note, this does not alter the product or terms of service customers are subscribed to – it is merely a restructuring exercise at our end.

If you have any queries regarding this, please contact CIX Accounts in the usual way.

Many thanks,

CIX Management.

CIX is pleased to release an update to CIXReader, the official desktop reader for Windows, available to download from http://www.cixonline.com/cixreader.asp

Changes are :-

* Added Set Signature/Delete Signature to editor popup menu. Simply type a signature, highlight and right click on the text and choose Set Signature to make that text your signature.

* Added Read-Lock on messages. Press ‘L’ to set a locked, unread, flag on the current message.

* Add Install Script to system menu to install CIXReader script packages.

* Can now close a profile window with Esc or Ctrl+F4.

* Can now override mugshots by putting a replacement image in the Mugshots folder in the CIXReader data folder with the username as the filename.

* Support Ctrl+K to mark the current topic read.

* Fixed a bug where some messages didn’t scroll into view when selected.

* Fixed a bug where backtracking missed some messages.

* Added more shortcut keys to dialogs for improved accessibility.

* Added F5 to invoke the system menu.

* Improvements for running CIXReader on high DPI displays.

* Add IndentationOffset configuration option in ini file for adjusting indentation in thread list.

* Expanded the Keyboard Help dialog.

The CIX Team

CIX is pleased to announce the release of the CIXBasic account which is completely free and available to all, including new sign ups.

The CIXBasic account allows anyone with an email address to sign up to CIX and participate in upto five open forums/conferences.

They will not have email facilities, and will not be able to join/be added to closed or closed confidential private forums/conferences, or become moderators of forums.

They are different to a ‘Plus4′ account as a ‘Plus4′ account requires a full paying parent subscriber to be in service, and Plus4 accounts can take part in all forums/conferences, regardless of their privacy level.

CIXBasic accounts will be able to access CIX via CIXForums, CIXReader, API applications and CoSy reliant programs, such as traditional off-line readers including Ameol.

Sign up can begin at http://www.cixonline.com/pricing.asp

The CIX Team

There has been confusion recently on how Private Messages work on CIX.

Private Messages allow messages to be sent between CIX users (and only CIX users). For example, customer_a can send a message to customer_b, and customer_b can reply accordingly.

However, this feature is not available in Ameol, but it is available in CIXReader, CIXForums and other applications that use the CIX API.

The obvious problem is that Ameol users won’t receive the Private Message within Ameol when they do a conferencing/forums blink.

To get round this, the CIX System will send an email to the intended recipient using the email address we have on file notifying them they have Private Message, who it is from and the content of the message and instructions on how to reply, so they can open up CIXReader / CIXForums accordingly. The reason why we use the email address held on file is because they might not have a CIX email address or it might be different to their CIX email address. Obviously, if the user has their CIX email address as the registered address for their account, the notification email will be sent there.

CIX never reveals this email address to the sender or to third parties, and you cannot send a Private Message unless you’re logged onto CIX.

CIX has no immediate plans to integrate this feature within Ameol because Ameol doesn’t interact with the CIX API to send and receive these messages. However, now that Ameol is open source, developers are welcome to write an add-on or include it within Ameol itself. Longer term, however, we recommend Windows users to switch to CIXReader for using CIX which is constantly updated and has many improved features over Ameol for daily CIX usage.

If you have any questions regarding this post, please use cix.support

CIX is pleased to release the Ameol Off Line Reader forums, mail and news client for Windows under the Apache Open-Source licence.

This will allow anyone to download, view, modify and edit the source
code accordingly. In line with this, a new forum has been created -
cix:ameol_dev for discussion and FAQs.

Support will be limited from CIX staff.

CIX will be using the GitHub repository, and the page can be found at https://github.com/cixonline/ameol

CIX will continue to support and update Ameol as needed and with
contributions from the open source community, but we are concentrating on new software; we have already released CIXReader for Windows which is proving very popular among existing and new users, with a view to taking this to other platforms in the near future.

For further discussion, please see cix:ameol_dev

The CIX Team

CIX is pleased to announce the release of 1.1 of CIXReader for Windows desktop computers. 1.1 now includes search facilities, an improved layout, performance improvements and additional scripting support.

CIXReader can be downloaded from http://www.cixonline.com/cixreader.asp

OR from the Settings Cog | Check for Update within CIXReader itself.

A detailed list of changes can be found below

Changes:

* Message search capability, across a topic or forum.
* Added optional status bar that shows background activities.
* Added support for scripting via Lua. See http://developer.cixonline.com/cixreaderapi.aspx for details.
* Added option to disable rendering markdown codes in messages.
* Root font now configurable in Theme Editor.
* Can now configure the message pane font separately.
* Can now compact a database from Settings.
* Can now resign a forum or topic via the forums list popup menu.
* Can force refresh a specific folder or forum.
* New ‘G’ command to go to a specific message.
* New default theme. The old theme is now renamed “Blue” in Settings.
* Log files can now be optionally archived.
* User’s account type is now shown on the Account page.
* Performance improvements under the hood.
* UI style tweaks.
* Fix potential crash on startup with splitter bar.
* Fix bug with folder counts getting out of sync.
* Fix a bug where Ctrl+C and Reply does not pick up selected text in three pane mode.
* Add more validation to a private message recipient name.
* Check main window position on startup and ensure it is constrained to the desktop.
* Allow re-ordering a forum to underneath the Draft folder.
* Remove selection toggle when clicking on items.
* Fix bug where thread items show expanded in three pane mode.
* Add ‘W’ shortcut key for Withdraw messages.
* Fix exception when restarting CIXReader after it was shut down while minimised.
* Fix NHunspellExtender exception when minimising editor.
* Fixed root message font size with Large theme.
* Keyboard Help window is now modeless.
* Added some custom words to the spelling checker.
* Minor bug fixes.

We have also made the following changes to the CIX API

1. User.Account.Get to get the authenticated user’s account type.
2. When a private message is posted, an e-mail is sent to the recipient’s address on file to notify them that a message is waiting.
3. Added Forums.AllMessagesGlobal.Get to return all messages since a specified date.
4. Added Forum.ResignTopic to resign a topic.

CIX is proud to announce a brand new client for reading and posting to CIX through Windows – CIXReader. CIXReader is bursting with new features that help to keep you up to date with all your forums, so you never miss a post.

A Distant Memory

Thanks to the new CIXReader you can forget:

• Telnet: Now CIXReader connects through a secure HTTPS API meaning you can be rid of telnet and have messages downloaded quickly to maintain the CIX experience.
• Blinking: Messages are synchronised automatically, and posted instantly, reducing any OLR Lag problems.
• Broken Threads: The aim of CIX Reader is to simplify the messaging system, so even when you move machines, you’ll still be able to access the same messages and forums quickly.
• Confusing Menus: CIXReader features just four headings- Forums, Messages, Directory, Account – to help you navigate.

Improved Features

Thanks to the new CIXReader, you will now enjoy:

• Access to private messages: bringing the feature to the desktop world, you can now access messages between you and another user.
• Font Styling: retained from Ameol2 and across CIX
• Improved Layout/Multi-pane view: choose from two pane or three pane view, whichever you prefer. Both still support threading.
• Moderator features: Moderators can still withdraw posts and also post in read-only topics. New topics can be created in CIXForums web interface.
• Simple install: download, confirm, login and go!
• Starred messages: to return to a message for later, just star it, and you’ll be able to find it when you’re ready to reply.
• Auto-updates: never miss a bug fix or an update, as CIXReader will let you know when an update is available.

You can obtain the new CIXReader from: http://www.cixonline.com/cixreader.asp

Support for CIXReader can be found in cix:cix.support/cixreader

FAQs and help files can be found at http://www.cixonline.com/support.asp

Watch this space for more information about the Linux and Mac versions.

And our thanks go to Steve Palmer and the Beta testing team for their help on this development project.

The CIX Settings section of webmail.CIX is where you can control your CIX email. You can access your CIX Settings by clicking on the Settings button, then selecting the CIX tab. Quick access available from this link: https://webmail.cix.co.uk/CIX_Settings.

Changes in this version.

+ Added X-Envelope-To: header to the available rule headers.
+ Introduced Spam Settings section so subscribers can choose their own scores to mark messages as Spam.
+ Introduced deletion of messages if over your chosen score.
+ Added the ability to edit existing rules.
+ Updated help sections.
+ Rules may now be toggled on and off.
+ Minor bug fixes.

At the moment, if you have mail forwarding set on your mailbox, email is forwarded from the CIX mail platform immediately. This means that lots of email marked Spam is being sent from CIX mail servers causing our mail server reputation to be lowered. We intend to change this, in future all messages will be processed by the CIX mail rules. This will put any message tagged SPAM into the users Spam folder, and process any other CIX mail rules before forwarding the message onto the desired destination.

CIX subscribers without mail forwarding will have no changes made. CIX subscribers with mail forwarding will not need to do anything. Spam folders will be auto-created for people forwarding mail externally if they do not already exist. Existing forwarding configurations will be retained.

For those that forward their CIX email externally, mail tagged Spam can be accessed either by your own mail client (IMAP) or via http://webmail.cix.co.uk, where you can also see your CIX mail rules, configure forwarding and see your delivery log.

This change will take place on Tuesday 18th March.