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01

New RIFT Item Tooltips

Feb 01, 2012 at 01:59 AM in Features
By popular request, today's update switching the item tooltip source from Yellow Gremlin to ZAM.



Besides the source changing, the functionality stays the same. You can create tooltips by linking to content on http://rift.zam.com, or by using BBcode such as [item]Abyssal Hatchet[/item]. Tooltips are also automatically created for items in your Guild Bank and DKP sections.

Improved Signup Flow
As Shivtr has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years (woot, thanks everyone!), the situation where someone who is trying to join your guild site and already has a Shivtr account has become more common. Previously, this meant after being accepted to join your site they get sent to the Create Account page, enter their email and receive the validation error "Email already in use"...

This can appear as an error to a user and cause confusion, when really its just saying they already have an account with us. So to resolve this, now when you try to create an account with an existing email, it simply redirects you to the login form with that email already filled out and prompts you for your password:



We hope this will help to make joining sites easier for users with existing Shivtr accounts.

Misc

  • Poll Choices and Progression Steps now retain the order they were created in *bugfix
  • Custom Pages now have proper titles, such as "Guild Rules | Enmity"
  • Buttons on AJAX forms now update to let you know they have been submitted (Clicking a "Post" button changes its text to "Posting...")

That's all for this update, but stay tuned as we've been hard at work on a Mobile version of Shivtr and that is coming soon now! =)
16

Make Headlines with our new Blocks!

Jan 16, 2012 at 09:41 AM in Features
For our first official update of 2012 we're helping you get news out to your community easier, with our new Headlines block!

Headlines Block
Our Headlines block offers a new way to make news important to your community more visible. The block displays headlines, which each have an image and optionally a title and caption; once setup the block will cycle through each of your headlines to show to your visitors, with a slick transition (choosable by you! with many options including fades, slides, slicing, folds and more).



Time Zone Block
In addition to the Headlines block we are also introducing another new block with this update, the Time Zone block. This block very simply displays the current time, with it's time zone on the side of your site. The Time Zone displays per user, so helps to clarify what times different content on the site are shown in, and will be helpful for guilds that span across multiple time zones.



Updated SWTOR Server Status
The SWTOR Server Status block now includes population info in its display, to show how full the server is.




Messages Multi-Update
The messages section of your site has now been updated to allow actions on multiple messages at a time, so you may now check several messages and mark them each as read, unread or for deletion.



Misc

  • Guildapps which became un-changeable when the characters were disabled is now fixed. *bugfix


That's all for this update, we hope everyone is off to a great start in 2012!
20

SWTOR Updates: Torhead Integration & Server Status

Dec 20, 2011 at 06:53 PM in Features
As those of you who follow us on Twitter know, we were attending the World Cyber Games and Blizzard Cup events in South Korea over the past two weeks; a very fun and exciting experience, but we're back as of last night and have some Star Wars updates to release today!

Server Status
Server Status information can now be added to your guild site from the Site Admin -> Layout tab. Information is pulled from the official SWTOR server status page.



Torhead Tooltips
Initial integration is now added for Torhead, meaning any content from there site you link to on your guild will create a tooltip, such as:

[url=http://www.torhead.com/item/8IcPVLn]The Headhunter[/url]



* we're looking into further integration for the [item] tags and dkp/bank still...


Torhead Search
Searching the Torhead site can now be done right from your guild site by adding the Torhead Search block to your site from the Site Admin -> Layout tab.




To enable any of the above features, ensure your game is set to "Star Wars: The Old Republic" in the Settings tab of your Site Admin.

That's all for today's update, Happy Holidays everyone =)
05

Holiday "Wish List" Contest!

Dec 05, 2011 at 06:19 AM in Contests


Keeping with tradition, we're running our Holiday "Wish List" Contest once again!

Participating in this contest is super easy, simply post in the comments below the game you're wishing for most this holiday season, and we'll enter you into a draw, where the winner gets their game!

Contest Rules

Just a few simple rules:

  • You must own an active guild site with us (either free or premium) prior to Dec 5th
  • The game you wish for must cost less than $100 USD to purchase
  • The game needs to be relatively easy for us to find and purchase for you (we'll likely use Amazon in most cases, so if its available there you should be good)
  • The game needs to be for a current system (such as PC, Wii, PS3, Xbox360, etc.)

And that's it! We'll be handing out two games, one winner from those on our premium plans, and one winner from those on our free plan.

This contest will run until the end of the day on Monday December 19th, so be sure to comment before then. We're ending the contest on the 19th so we have some time to send the game out and hopefully have it arrive by the 25th =)

Update: Congrats to our Winners:

  • Premium Plan Winner: Lui wishing for Skyrim (PC)
  • Free Plan Winner: Rhone wishing for Skyrim (PC)

Happy Holidays Everyone!
02

Introducing Shivtr Tools & League of Legends Features!

Dec 02, 2011 at 01:18 PM in Features
Greetings Summoners! Today's update introduces a new Tools section to the Shivtr website, along with adding official support for League of Legends with a host of new features!

Shivtr Tools
The new Tools section of the Shivtr website will be where we post game-specific tools for a variety of games. These tools can be used on their own, but also will be integrated with Shivtr and embeddable on your site. As this update is focused on League of Legends, we have a few tools for that game to kick this section off with.

New Tool: League of Legends Items Builder
The first tool we are introducing is an Items Builder for League of Legends. Our Items Builder is designed to be fast and friendly to use, allowing you to quickly select items for a champions and see their effects. The stats and abilities instantly update as changes are made, and you can switch through champions as well, allowing you to see how effective your build is on them.



Any builds you create with the Items Builder can be shared as a link (for example to post on Twitter), but can also be embedded directly into your Shivtr Clan site with BBcode:



We hope the Items Builder will be useful, as its brand new we would love to hear any feedback, suggestions or bug reports which you can post to our Help & Support Site.

New Tool: League of Legends Masteries Builder
The second tool we are introducing is a Masteries Builder for League of Legends. Much simpler than our Items Builder, the Masteries Builder allows you to plan our Masteries for your Champions.



As with the Items Builder, you can link to and embed Mastery Builds to your Shivtr Clan site:



And of course, we would love any feedback, suggestions and bug reports you may have for this tool as well =)


New League of Legends Glare Theme
A New theme has been added to the official themes section called Glare. Glare is available in 3 different color schemes and is meant for use with League of Legends Clan Sites. Each theme is fully customizable with our theme editor.


View Glare Themes

Select your Champions
Sites which have their game set to League of Legends will have the Characters section replaced with the new Champions section. The Champions section lists all of the champions available in LoL and allows you to discuss and state which ones you play. Each champion includes stats and information, such as their back story and suggested items, along with links to our LoL Tools and the official League of Legends page for the Champion.



To support this feature, new Champion Permissions are available in the Site Admin so you can control who may view and use the Champions section.

Item Tooltips
Item tooltips for League of Legends are enabled throughout your site and can be created with the [item] BBcode:




Own3d.tv Streaming
A quick re-mention of this feature as it is very popular with LoL players, we support an [own3d] bbcode tag you can use on your site to embed streams from own3d.tv. Own3d.tv is a popular steaming service for League of Legends, Starcraft 2, World of Warcraft and many other games. If your clan live streams, you can embed these right on your site to make it easier for your members to follow along =)



To see some example usage of the [own3d] tag, check out our BBcode Guide

Misc
Guild Applications have been updated to work better with Characters and Champions, hiding Character questions such as Race/Class/Character when the Characters feature is disabled or champions are used.


That's all for this update, we would love to hear your feedback and comments below =)
27

Ding! Shivtr Turns Five! *Contest*

Nov 27, 2011 at 08:36 AM in Contests


It's almost hard to believe, but today marks the 5th Birthday for our website! Yes, today we are leveling up to 5! While we rebranded our site from MMO Guildsites to Shivtr earlier this year, we're still the same company that first started way back in 2006 as a simple website for our WoW guild! Five years already, that's pretty crazy!

All birthdays require a celebration, and so we're running a few contests today to hand out prizes, as a thanks from Severed Pinkies and myself (8 Toes) for allowing us to continue running this site for half a decade! =)

  • For site owners on our free plan, everyone is entered into a draw for Five 3-month upgrades of our Advanced Plan
  • For site owners on our premium plans, everyone is entered into a draw for Five $25 Amazon Gift Cards
And finally, we're also running a Twitter contest! Simply retweet this tweet before 9pm EST today for a chance to win a $50 Amazon Gift card:



Update: Congrats to the winners!

Twitter: @whitneyfawn
Amazon $25 Gift Cards: http://vai-si-amar.shivtr.com, http://kalimdormercenaries.shivtr.com, http://intrepid-gaming.com, http://rivenwow.net, http://twilight-incursion.net
Free 3 months of Advanced Plan: http://thenightwatch.shivtr.com, http://wickedmolten.shivtr.com, http://iproscape.shivtr.com, http://beyondlimitation.shivtr.com, http://exito.shivtr.com

Thanks again to everyone who has helped support and promote Shivtr over the years, you guys are truely awesome! =)
16

Guild Wars 2 Updates

Nov 16, 2011 at 07:09 PM in Features
Guild Wars 2 is fast approaching, and in preparation we're releasing some Guild Wars 2 updates today.

Vas Theme
A New theme has been added to the official themes section called Vas. Vas is available in 4 different color schemes which represent different aspects of Guild Wars 2. Each theme is fully customizable with our theme editor.


View Vas Themes

Guild Wars 2 Races & Classes
Race and Class options for Guild Wars 2 are now added and will be automatically applied to any new Guild Wars 2 guild. If you already have a GW2 site with us, you can make yours match as follows:

Races: Asura, Charr, Human, Norn, Sylvari
Classes: Elementalist, Warrior, Ranger, Necromancer, Guardian, Thief, Engineer


As Guild Wars 2 approaches we're planning to add more features for the game so stay tuned! =)
01

Halloween 2011 Contest Winners!

Nov 01, 2011 at 08:06 AM in Contests
All Hallow's Eve has whisked by once more, and now its time to announce the winners of our Halloween Contests!

Congrats to:

Trick or Treat: $20 Amazon Gift Card Winners
  • Missteek
  • Ido
  • Jaycen
  • Derek Slide
  • Guinea

Trick or Treat: Free 3 Months of Advanced Plan Winners
  • Tophman
  • Darkwraith
  • Tanes
  • mAzZuIIuZzAm
  • TommyU

Best Site Costume: $50 Amazon Gift Card Winner

Thanks to everyone who participated, it was great fun to see some of the epic themes that were created this year. We've captured a sample of some of the themes and posted them to our Facebook Fan page for you to check out as well:


Halloween 2011 Facebook Album

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!!
24

Mumble Goes Back to the Cloud

Oct 24, 2011 at 12:51 AM in News
Thanks to those who provided feedback on the switch of our Mumble servers; as it seems all-around many were having issues, we have reverted this now and switched Mumble back to the Cloud Server Instance it was running on.

Due to this change, the DNS for mumble1.shivtr.com needs to be updated again to point back to the Cloud Server. This change will happen for most within 24 hours, but can take up to 72 hours to fully propagate for everyone.

In the meantime, to access the mumble server you can do so by using the IP 50.22.10.162 - then once it propagates for you, you can switch back to using mumble1.shivtr.com

We apologize for any inconvenience the Mumble server switchups may have caused, hopefully this will sort everything back out and be running smoothly again from here forward.
23

Mumble Performance - Requesting Your Feedback

Oct 23, 2011 at 10:05 PM in News
A few days ago we switched our Mumble servers, moving them from the small cloud instance they were running on to our new hardware. This should have be an increase in performance, however since the switch we have had a few reports of problems with mumble, mentioning lag and audio cutting out...

We would of course like our Mumble servers to be performing as well as possible, and after tweaking settings over the past few days we're polling you guys to ask how the performance is.

If you use our Mumble service, can you please post in the comments below and let us know how it is performing for you since today. Please include:

  • Where you connect from? (Canada, US, Europe, Australia, etc.)
  • The time and timezone you were using the mumble server? (9pm EST, 4pm GMT, etc.)
  • How many users were on mumble with you at the time?
  • How many users mumble was performing well for?
  • How many users were having issues, and what the issues were?
  • If users were having any troubles, were these issues present with the old cloud server, or new since the hardware switch?
  • If you used Mumble with our old cloud server, is performance better now, equal, or worse?

Thanks to anyone who can help out with this, and we hope you had a great weekend =)

Update: Mumble has been switched back to the Cloud; thanks for everyones feedback