Kevan Cummins's activity

Hi RonaldUsing comments in groups and having comments set to the default Threaded list - expanded is a bit confusing - if someone clicks reply to a comment further up the long list then the comment appears there. Most users expect latest comment to appear at top or bottom and for longer discussions and can find threaded discussion difficult to follow. I prefer changing the setting to Flat list - expanded so that all comments appear in chronological order and adding the quote function so that users who want to reply to a post several comments back can use the quote feature. This is the set up I've used for Drupal groups on TeachingEnglish and it works well - sorry I can't show you groups there as they are all closed groups for Teaching Assosciations from different countries. I was going to upload a screenshot of groups on the site but it's not easy to add a picture to a comment as it's only possible to link to a URL in the add images for comments - do you plan to allow users to upload photos from within the comments WSYWIG editor too? Seems strange to allow the person who starts the discussion ability to upload photos but not commentors - if it's a security risk then probably don't want to allow either to upload photos?Kevan 

Hi Sarah and MarkThe problem is that although I work from home here in Le Marche, my company is in the UK and I'm paid in sterling to a UK account so I need to access my UK bank at least 6-8 times a month (which is a pain when I can't use the local banks). I could transfer all the money each month to my Italian bank (CARISAP) but they seem to charge me lots of fees just to let them keep my money and up until now I've not wanted to use them for anything other than an account that needs to be kept open but not for normal use. BancoPosto sounds interesting and 39Euros a year is pretty cheap if you get a maestro card too - I'll look into how easy it is to transfer money to BancoPosto.Kevan

Hi Sanseverino Thanks - looks like I won't be getting dressed up for the occassion as I will be in the cheap seats!Kevan

It seems to be a geographical problem - I've been all around to every bank and now know which locations work and which don't -it's not the Bank Name/Tyep but the location of the branch and it's distance from Communanza . CARISAP in Force and Communanza never ever ever gives me money but CARISAP in Ascoli Piceno always does (apart from off-days when it just doesn't feel like dispensing any money at all). There is another bank in Communanza with a branch in Otezzano - Communanza won't pay out but the little bank in Ortezzno will? So it doesn't seem to be that Communanza is a small town - it's probably that they won't pay the bill but how can this be that it's just the branches around Communanza that don't pay... ..I had better stop or I could go on and on and on moaning about the banks and the problems I have never having any money in my wallet and just using a credit card all the time to pay for things...

For the sferistio opera - is there any dress code? I'm thinking of taking the wife as a surprise for our anniversay in August - not planning on telling her where we are going but am not sure how smart we need to be? Is there a dress code?PS Hope my wife doesn't see this post

Sorry - forgot to add a link to the booking site which you can view in English http://www.vivaticket.it - if you put in Macerata under place and choose category opera and take it from there.

Here is some info for the Sferisterio opera festival for this July and August with links through to website - don't forget the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro starts in August too (there's a short video clip from youtube from last years festival in the link). 

Hi SprostoniI agree that change is difficult and that this should have been managed better for the move from the old forums to new groups. I'm in the middle of moving two large websites into Drupal and I moved one large one over last year. ItalyMag should have managed the change over better so that users don't get frustrated with the old and familiar disappearing and the new way of doing things on the site being very different. One way is to build up to the change with lots of announcements about what's coming and samples of what it will be like etc so that it doesn't come as a shock when the change arrives and users are at least mentally prepared for something coming (I think we got very little warning and no clue what was coming?). Then rather than switch everyone over in one go, you run both systems side by side for several months so that everyone can take a look at the new system and the more adventurous move over and they can probably cope with the initial problems and provide feedback to admin so that changes can be made and things run more smoothly. Once everything is working well with new system and users are happy, then you can switch off the old system and move users across - but with lots of support in place - a few screencapture movies showing how to use system would be nice of course.Kevan

Hi sprostoniThe weather is too hot here in Italy today to get so heated over a change from forums to a new system. It's a big change to move from forums to goups. There are advanatages to having an old system like forums (and lots of disadvantages) and lots of advantages to using groups (and of course disadvantages). The problem for Ronald and the other admin is that this is a new system for them and fairly new to the web in general and it takes time to get things right.The problems you mention with search can be easy to fix - the CMS that the site is using is Drupal and it's very powerful and can do most things with a bit of tinkering. There is a search box that can be added pretty much out of the box with Drupal and the site admin should be able to include it easily. If the site admin wants to they can include very a very powerful faceted search module for the site but that will take a lot more tinkering. The style of displaying text can be improved and lots of other things too about how group posts are displayed but I think we should give the admin team a bit of time - this is not an upgrade but a complete change and in my opinion a bold step and the site will be a vast improvement in a couple of months.Kevan  

I always forget to take bathing caps when I take my sons to the water park - which means buying a new set for the family each time I go. We haven't been to the parks in Macerata as they are a bit far - we usually go to river verde www.rivaverde.it/english/index.htm in Ascoli Piceno province on the coast near Pedaso. It's a bit small but the boys loved it when they were 5 and 7 and still love it now they are 8 and 10. Although it's advertised as a holiday camp on the website you can just turn up and pay for a day at the pool. BUT we need to handover an ID card for entrance.