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Release 1.3.6

Cedric · 7 months ago · 23 replies · 877

Hi everyone,

Version 1.3.6 is here, and it's another big one - touching almost every corner of the platform. Let's get into it.

Theme Editor

The highlight of 1.3.6 is the brand new Theme Editor, available directly from the front end clicking your username dropdown.

You can now customize every color in your theme - in both light and dark modes - using a visual color picker. No more guessing hex codes or editing raw CSS.

Beyond colors, the editor also allows you to:

  • Write custom CSS

  • Edit layout templates

  • Upload your own board logo and forum marker images

All changes happen in real-time through a slide-out panel, so you can instantly see the results of your adjustments.

Under the hood, the entire theme system has been rebuilt using CSS custom properties and variables, making your customizations cleaner, more predictable, and resilient to future updates. Some custom themes may need some minor fixing. I tried to cause as little damage as I could. If wanted, I can look into an automatic migration later. But now our theme system is finalized, so we can stop pushing changes to the theme system. 😇

The theme editor is still a work in progress.

Custom Templates (RPG Templates)

For RPG and creative communities, this is a game changer. Due to some great feedback from the RPG community, ForumSpark now supports fully custom Mustache-style HTML templates across six key areas:

  • Mini-profiles

  • Profile pages

  • Forum rows

  • Topic rows

  • Replies

  • Categories

You’ll have access to variables, conditionals, and loops - everything needed to build immersive, highly customized layouts.

If you’ve ever wanted your forum to feel like it belongs in a completely different universe - now you can build it that way from the ground up. The custom templates are found in the theme editor.

TipTap Rich Text Editor

The old textarea is gone.

ForumSpark now uses TipTap v3, a modern WYSIWYG editor for all posts and replies.

Formatting & Structure

  • Bold, italic, headings

  • Text alignment

  • Lists and formatting tools

Media & Embeds

  • Images (paste + drag & drop)

  • YouTube embeds

  • GIF search (powered by Klipy) => Coming soon. We need to verify our production license.

Advanced Features

  • Tables

  • Code blocks

  • Mentions

  • Text color and highlight pickers

Legacy BBCode content is automatically converted, so nothing breaks.

The editor is lazy-loaded, ensuring it doesn’t impact page performance for browsing users.

And importantly - draft autosave is now built in. If a tab is closed or navigation is interrupted, your content will be restored when you return.

Gravatar Support

ForumSpark now integrates with Gravatar.

  • Avatars can be pulled automatically on registration

  • Members can link or unlink their Gravatar anytime

Help Pages & Custom Pages

Help pages and custom pages now support group-based visibility permissions.

This allows you to restrict content to specific user groups - ideal for:

  • Staff documentation

  • Member-only guides

  • VIP content

Both page types now use the TipTap editor, replacing the old plain textarea.

Google Analytics Integration

You can now add your Google Analytics tracking ID directly from board settings.

No template edits. No code injection. Just paste your ID and go.

Security Improvements

Security has been significantly strengthened in this release.

Performance Improvements

A number of performance enhancements have been introduced:

  • New database indexes for faster queries

  • Search result caching

  • Fixed N+1 queries in key areas (Most Active Users, Users Online)

  • Non-render-blocking font loading

  • Lazy-loaded images

  • Lazy-loaded editor and theme editor assets

  • Refactored CSS into smaller, component-based files

SEO & Accessibility Improvements

Building on 1.3.5, this release continues to improve:

  • Page structure

  • ARIA labels

  • Contrast ratios

These changes contribute to better accessibility and improved search engine visibility. We're nearing that perfect score:

Removed Widgets

The following widgets have been retired:

  • Today’s Active Topics

  • Today’s Top Posters

  • All Time Top Posters

These were lightly used and introduced unnecessary database queries on every page load.

The underlying data remains available, and these features will return in a more optimized form in the future.

As always, feel free to leave some feedback or suggestions.

23 replies
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Deleted user · 7 months ago

Very nice. Gravatar Ok but now html do not work on create new page and board templates code head, top do not work

Cedric OP · 7 months ago

sophialange:

Very nice. Gravatar Ok but now html do not work on create new page and board templates code head, top do not work

Are you sure? I've just tested it to be sure, and it was in fact working.

Edit: it seems you were correct. Working on a fix now.

This has been fixed.

Sir Chivas · 7 months ago

Nicely done, Cedric. Working long shifts huh

Cedric OP · 7 months ago

Sir Chivas:

Nicely done, Cedric. Working long shifts huh

It’s been wild yeah. But I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

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Deleted user · 7 months ago

Cedric:

sophialange:

Very nice. Gravatar Ok but now html do not work on create new page and board templates code head, top do not work

Are you sure? I've just tested it to be sure, and it was in fact working.

Edit: it seems you were correct. Working on a fix now.

This has been fixed.

Yes i got this "This content is blocked. Contact the site owner to fix the issue"

Cedric OP · 7 months ago

sophialange:

Cedric:

sophialange:

Very nice. Gravatar Ok but now html do not work on create new page and board templates code head, top do not work

Are you sure? I've just tested it to be sure, and it was in fact working.

Edit: it seems you were correct. Working on a fix now.

This has been fixed.

Yes i got this "This content is blocked. Contact the site owner to fix the issue"

It is likely due to a script. Some scripts like iframes are not allowed because they can cause security problems.

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Deleted user · 7 months ago

Weather code and Tawk io is secure . But ok

Sir Chivas · 7 months ago

I just noticed it affected all of my hard work, bro… https://aforum.forumspark.net

Cedric OP · 7 months ago

Sir Chivas:

I just noticed it affected all of my hard work, bro… https://aforum.forumspark.net

So I’ve heard from Cory. Currently working on a fix for that. Apologies!

Cedric OP · 7 months ago

Apologies everyone.

The Content Security Policy I implemented was too strong. This has been disabled for now for further testing and tuning to make sure I don't break anything going forward. For themes, a hard refresh may be necessary. Please accept my sincere apologies. 🙏

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Deleted user · 7 months ago

Cedric:

Apologies everyone.

The Content Security Policy I implemented was too strong. This has been disabled for now for further testing and tuning to make sure I don't break anything going forward. For themes, a hard refresh may be necessary. Please accept my sincere apologies. 🙏

Now is ok everything. But in future tawk io pop up chat customer better can stay code if someone want ask something before register or problem

Its good because do not have option report profile and I use Tawk io for this

Empire · 7 months ago

I need to have to redo my theme :( again, click white and dark makes it all weired

Cedric OP · 7 months ago

empire:

I need to have to redo my theme :( again, click white and dark makes it all weired

Hard refresh please.

Sir Chivas · 7 months ago

What do you mean about hard refresh? Like start all over again?

Cory · 7 months ago

Sir Chivas:

What do you mean about hard refresh? Like start all over again?

He means clearing your web browser's cache.

Byzantine · 7 months ago

Sir Chivas:

What do you mean about hard refresh? Like start all over again?

I would think he means like doing Control + F5.

Smokey · 7 months ago

Lovin the new editor! :-) Updates are lookin real nice.

Cedric OP · 7 months ago

Patch Released

I've just pushed a small patch after spotting a few production errors and an issue with the editor when mentioning members.

Fixes

  • Resolved production errors related to reCAPTCHA, admin routing, and poll options

  • Fixed Tiptap mention extraction and link rendering issues

  • Fixed an issue with custom themes where buttons were not positioned correctly

Improvements

  • Added attachment management for existing replies (delete + reorder uploads)

  • Modernized the quick reply layout (now avatar-focused, removing redundant postbit info)

The new attachment management has been a long time coming, it wasn’t previously possible to manage uploads after posting, which was pretty limiting.

While working in that area, I also simplified the quick reply. The extra postbit details felt unnecessary, so the interface is now cleaner and more focused.

Cory · 7 months ago

I think the member list and topic header text should be clickable so that they can sort the member and topic lists in ascending or descending order. For example, when you click the "Replies" text, it will sort the topics by the most replies or the fewest replies. When you click the "Posts" text, it will sort the members by the most posts or the fewest posts.

Cedric OP · 7 months ago

Cory:

I think the member list and topic header text should be clickable so that they can sort the member and topic lists in ascending or descending order. For example, when you click the "Replies" text, it will sort the topics by the most replies or the fewest replies. When you click the "Posts" text, it will sort the members by the most posts or the fewest posts.

I'm not sure what you mean.

Cory · 7 months ago

These are the headers I'm referring to. If, for example, you click "Author," it will sort authors A-Z. If it's clicked after that, it will sort authors from Z-A.

Cedric OP · 7 months ago

Oh I see. Yeah, that could definitely be added sometime.

DramaK · 6 months ago

I love the theme editor and the ability to see in real time the changes to the colors...but I cannot find the field to change the member's profile background color. Help? I know it's there somewhere, I'm just not seeing it.

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