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The New Ning: Ning 3.0
Have you heard the news? Re-Imagining Ning
Ning/Glam Social has completely rebuilt the Ning platform from the ground-up - - well, almost. This platform release is major, and will be known as: Ning 3.0. The development of 3.0 has been a huge hush-hush project, and will come at some as "rapid fire".
One of the primary reasons for the development of 3.0, Ning was pushing the limits with Ning 2.0. Obviously, their acquisition by Glam Media gave them the resources to upgrade. The strategy for development: (1) Move Ning into the future, and (2) Move the Design and User Interface up to Industry standards. Ning definitely needed a facelift. And boy, did they give it one!
According to John McDonald of Ning: Ning 3.0 is our next generation product. It's geared toward social leaders: people who already have — or want to attract — a community of people to gather around compelling content and conversation. It's a full re-launch of the Ning product. We invite you to start a free trial to test drive it. (Although obviously you can cancel before your free trial is up if you don't want to continue!)
John also talks about, and the most exciting new features - - extremely powerful:
The new Ning offers powerful flexibility for publishing and populating sites with multiple kinds of content and layouts, as well as multiple instances of features. You want 10 forums? You've got it. A community blog and an official blog? Done.
The last big upgrade was (Ning 2.0). In that release, Ning added the new Design Studio from the old Ning Editor, Header and Footer Instant Ad Boxes, and the alternative tools to designing a site: Developer Mode and LESS variables. The word upgrade doesn't apply much to Ning 3.0, at least not from my viewpoint. With the launch of Ning 3.0, I would have to call this a new product - - a new Ning. Too much has changed to call this an upgrade. Although the overall platform features will be similar, the entire HTML structure including CSS selector names have completely changed. This is to accommodate a new responsive design.
With the huge platform changes, there are a lot of pros and what appears to be some serious cons. The good news is: Most of the cons are temporary. There is so much to write about. I will try to touch on the most important aspects of the new Ning 3.0. I'll spare you a lot of the details, and we'll cover more as time goes by.
Before you take it all in, although I have concerns about different issues; all-in-all, I believe if existing Ning Networks can approach this with an open mind, 2 years down the road, you'll own even better and more exciting Social Communities, with creative possibilities that are never-ending.
For those new to the platform: Ning is the Industry Leader in online Social Community Building. The platform enables anyone to build their own niche Community with: Members, Friends, Blogs, Forums, Photos, Profile Pages, Latest Activity, and more. With the new release, there are modules not yet available that are part of Ning 2.0, but the power to build multiple modules is huge. Most of the modules are in development, and coming soon. After an extensive preview of the new Ning 3.0 by our Team, these are our findings.
What's New?
Social Site Manager / Site & Pages:
Overall Cons:
Don't Panic, Help Is Here - As JenSocial and NingCustomDesign has done for a while now, my Partner (soon to announce!) and I, will specialize in hand-holding, redesigns, recreating apps, and everything Ning 3.0. We'll be here for you. We will offer customization at our design and application development rates. But, we will also offer tips and free support when possible.
What's Missing?
It's tempting to list: What is included in 3.0? It's highly likely that most modules and features are on the way. I'll cover what I know is missing, and what I know for sure is coming.
Forum comment and Link by Ning Developer: As part of the upgrade process, you can move over already uploaded videos from your v2 network and members will be able to access them on devices that support flash.
After Diving In?
Now that I've shared the overall features, pros/cons, and what's missing, I'll give you my overall thoughts after diving in!
Responsive web design (RWD) is a web design approach aimed at crafting sites to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones. ~ Wikipedia
Member Profile Page Functionality and Features:
The Profile Pages are 100% different in 3.0, than 2.0. But, give them a chance. At first, I was completely thrown off. Then, after a few hours in the system, I realized the elegance behind the layout and features of the new Profile Pages. They're beautiful in style: modern and sleek, and have tabs that access different sections of a Profile Page - - instead of everything being all jumbled up and busy. I would like to see Ning add the ability to add the different Profile Modules to a canvas page, similar to what's available in 2.0. But, I don't know that this will happen.
Will Current Ning Networks Be Impacted?
Not yet. In fact, as mentioned above, current sites cannot move to the new platform until Ning completes the "Migration Tool", not your current content and members. Ning states that current Ning Networks will be able to move over to Ning 3.0, seamlessly, in a few months.
Ning 3.0 Roadmap - for updates:
As of 3/11/2013
Complete the Ning 3.0 Feature Set
We plan to develop and release the following additional features for Ning 3.0 by mid-summer 2013:
New Features Planned for Ning 3.0
These projects are currently in progress and should also be completed by mid-summer:
Final Thoughts:
It's going to take time for existing Nings to feel comfortable with the new 3.0. Newbies can dive right in and start building new Communities. Once all modules are rolled out, any bugs are ironed out, and the Migration Tool is ready, there's no doubt that Ning will continue to be the Industry Leader in Building Social Communities; the platform is here to stay and continue to grow. Ning will be the most reliable and up-to-date Social Community Building platform available online.
Hopefully this review will assist many. We'll do our best to answer your questions, and discuss more about 3.0 as time goes by. We will add new Discussions under the Category Ning 3.0. Feel free to start...
JenSocial Team - new partner announcement coming soon!
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i do not understand any of this .I cannot see my photos anymore when i first get on my page.I SEVERLEY NEED HELP but cannot afford to pay anyone this is my MINISTRY is there any help available? http://www.voices4missing.ning.com
DeDe, if you could see them before, everything will probably be okay. I just looked and I can see them. If not, you need to contact Ning Support.
In regards to not understanding anything in this discussion, I don't know how to help you. Maybe if you read over it again, it would help? This discussion topic is totally different that your photos missing.
Best of luck,
Jen
DeDe.
The photos appear as soon as the page loaded. It could be your pc is running slow or your internet provider is running slow.
By the nature of your site, you are performing a public service so you shouldn't be paying anything.
Lester.
Other problem is, that must of us have a lot of fake members, due the lack of security with Ning. So, we will be charged for that :(
Well I have some good news about that. It's my understanding, but course I can't promise what Ning will do: When the migration tool is complete, it will give us the option of moving over active members only.
=)
Ramon.
If you know they are fake, how come you have not got rid of them.
The fake members on your site has nothing to do with Ning security, it has to do with your failure to implement the tools provided to your site by Ning to prevent spammers from joining.
Kingdoms.
Fake profiles are of persons who don't exist. They are made up profiles and don't usually do anything unlike spammers who do.
Question, no customization will be available Design Studio or not and the old Ning format will go poof or when you say all customization will need to be redesigned then some sort of options for those that do create themes will be there?
Customization and Tips Won't Work - I'm not one to report something that could cause panic. And, I'm a huge Ning Fan. But, there is simply no way to skirt this issue. The biggest con - - All Ning 2.0 customization will need to be redesigned and developed, to work on Ning 3.0. Yeah, sorry to say, you read that right. This is our biggest disappointment. However, according to Ning, with the addition of responsive design, there's no getting around it. Sometimes change is not easy.
Next the text box query, are we speaking of comment boxes that members leave message on a persons profile page?
Text Box or custom area - none. But, I hope Ning will add this back.
The Design Studio has been redesigned, and some functions are missing. Your current customization will have to be completely redone once you migrate your network over to the new platform.
Jen is talking about the text boxes where members would normally place information about themselves or a widget of some sort, not the comment boxes.
Hi Pagan UnderWorld,
The old Ning Themes will not work in Ning 3.0. All of the classes were renamed to accommodate the new grid for responsive design. Yes, you will be able to create new themes in the future. For now, during my around the clock review, I didn't see the Profile Page Customization. But, I'm certain I either missed it, or it's coming in the near future. During the preview presentation by Ning Team, I specifically remember John McDonald talk about the power of customizing Profile Pages.
In regards to the Text Box, I am referring to the one Text Box where your Members can add HTML or content. This is not available. The comments are available and full speed ahead.
Hope that helps,
Jen
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