Do I have to do anything?

Nothing, at all.

Can I Go Back the old Style?

Yes, for the next 1 week only you will be able to go to the Control Panel Display Options -> Choose an X-Face Theme: Use the dropdown menu to select OpenTopic XFace (pre 2.0). Warning: some control panel options will not work in these old stylesheets. Use this time to resize images and make layout changes as required.

But I like the way the old site looked!
Many of the options for the login placement, topic layout and alternating colors can be set to the old look and feel in the control panel.

What about my custom Style Sheets? [Not enabled in all plans]

They will stay in place unchanged. However, the new features, Emails, MyPop and dozens of new control panel options will NOT appear in your older style sheets. Now is a good time to update to the Infopop default style sheets. Many of the changes that required you to edit style sheets only a few months ago can be accomplished now through the control panel. Of course you can still edit the new XSL to get pixel level control.

Is there a Written Guide or a Support Forum to visit?

Yes. Download a Quick start Guide at http://community.infopop.net/6/ubb.x/s/729094322/a/ga/ul/4363036822/OT_Transition_Document.doc

Infopop Support will answer any questions about the upgrade at

http://community.infopop.net/6/ubb.x?a=frm&s=729094322&f=630091422

PS: All account contacts were notified by email of this upgrade last week. If you did NOT receive an email, check your control panel and be sure all addresses are correct in the General Settings -> Account Contacts

Michael Farris
OpenTopic™ Product Manager

quote:

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After one week, all of your information and settings get swallowed up into a great big InfoHole!

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No, not really. All information continues in the database. Ditto your existing options. All that disappears is the option to use pre 2.0 stylesheets as a default setting.

The reason is simple. Compared to a year ago [the code base for the old stylesheets] there are dozens of new options in the control panel. The email features are just a few of them. *None* of these options are available through the old stylesheets. Though the control panel lists them, they won't show up in the pre 2.0 pages.

After 3 months we know the new stylesheets are solid. We've added options for users who like the way the old stylesheets look. That's why we started the process of moving all the old defaults to the new stylesheet set.

In order to give webmasters a little more time to check through the settings, it will be possible to switch back for a short time. But on Nov 09 that option will no longer be available.

It is possible to run the pre-2.0 stylesheets as custom XSL by saving each stylesheet and re-uploading under different name. This is definitely NOT advised since the old look and feel can be achieved perefectly now through the control panel. Worse -- using the old stylesheet will shut you out of new options as they appear.

If you need some pointers on how to update stylesheets and make them look like your pre-2.0 settings -- ask away.

PS - Laura. cruisecritic runs custom XSL stylesheets now. This means nothing will happen after one week. OpenTopic always respects a customer stylesheet. What it wll mean is that if you want to create a new stylesheet to accommodate new features, you'll need to begin with the 2.0 stylesheet set. Not a tough thing.

Michael Farris
OpenTopic™ Product Manager

[This message was edited by Michael Farris on 04 Nov 01 at 10:08 AM.]