Exciting news...new version of the forums software released

Following on from the recent upgrade to the forum software the latest release of IP.Board is now available, with dozens of new features, improvements and fixes, including revamped search engine, centralized notifications and a brand new mobile forum experience.

Revamped Search UPDATED
IP.Board 3.1 features a completely revamped search engine, making it easier to find content. It's now easier to search individual applications, and each application has custom filters available to find precisely the material you're looking for. Moderation actions can now be performed inline right within the search results, speeding up moderation duties immensely.

IP.Board 3 has always supported Sphinx, but we've also revamped that. Sphinx searching is now identical to the regular search, giving you all the benefits of a fast and efficient engine, without losing the search features IP.Board brings.

Finally, there's a brand new contextual search box in the global header. Specify which type of content to find, and search inside individual topics or forums easily.

Centralized Notifications NEW
IP.Board 3.1 introduces a brand new centralized notifications system. Notifications have been available in the past for several events (topic subscriptions, etc.), but they used disparate generation systems. The new notifications system provides consistent, central management of notifications, as well as several new events that can send notifications (such as 'someone quoted my post'). Notification options are now managed in a single interface in the User Control Panel.

Status Updates UPDATED
Status updates have had several big improvements. Most notably, members can now comment directly on each others' statuses. We've also added a new Community Statuses page, allowing all member statuses to be viewed and commented on at once. Member profiles have been updated with a new tab to show a history of that user's status updates, as well as an overview of comments they've given on other status updates. Finally, Facebook and Twitter status integration means your users can bring their external statuses into your community, and vice-versa.

Content Sharing Tools NEW
IP.Board 3.1 features brand new content sharing tools, letting members share community content across the internet. We include support for all the major social networking and new aggregation services, and with Facebook and Twitter and members don't even need to leave our site (other options open a new window instead). We've also included a new sidebar block which shows the most shared content in your community.

Topic Preview NEW
Click the new topic preview icon in the topic listing or search results views, and see the first and latest posts without leaving the page.

Profile Customization NEW
Users can now choose an image to be their profile background. They can even automatically have their Twitter background imported to use instead!

Soft Delete NEW
Moderators can now soft delete topics, hiding them from public display but not removing them. Reasons can be specified, and soft-deleted topics can be restored easily.

In addition to the above lots of bugs and refinements have been made. I am in the queue for an upgrade and am just waiting for the availability of my designer, which is looking like 3-4 weeks.

I will keep you posted.

Full details and screenshots can be found here:
http://www.invisionp...d/whats_new.php