Forum Feed - USSRPhoto Forums

Vlad 05/04/2026 09:52Members Only Section

Site redesign preview

Hey guys,
It's been a while since I last posted�I�ve been pretty busy with my full-time job, personal life, and US camera shows 🙂. Recently though, I spent some time updating the look and feel of the site after 20 years. The goal is to make it feel a bit more modern and improve how it displays on mobile browsers.
It�s still a work in progress and not fully finished yet, but you can check out a preview here:
https://ussrphoto.com/modern
I know everyone�s used to the old layout, so I tried to keep the changes more like a light facelift without altering the overall flow too much. Let me know what you think! Some pages might still show the old style as I continue working on it.
Best regards,
Vlad

xya05/22/2026 15:02

My sincerest congratulations. That's a whole bunch of improvements, very useful. I only have to adapt to the new design after so many years...😉

Vlad05/22/2026 15:42

thank you xya, it's mostly just modern improvements but keeping the flow the same.
Best regards,
Vlad

Vlad05/26/2026 21:42

A few more improvements/updates:
- Wiki/catalog reactions now use the same emoji reaction system as forum posts, including reactions on catalog listings and the homepage tile gallery.
- Added a Sad reaction option to the reaction set.
- Updated email formatting so outbound site emails use the cleaner modern template and the footer now says "Visit the site."
- Improved handling for forum subscription email content, including emoji/entity rendering work.
- Added the Camerosity podcast to the Supporters area on the homepage.
- Added the USSRPhoto channel on the Camerosity Discord Server to the homepage Socials area.

SteveA05/29/2026 04:29

Yes, the redesign is really good, thanks for all the hard work!

Vlad06/05/2026 14:59

Sorry about the downtime in the forum, I am still improving the site, as much as I test it, it can still break when updated. It should be all fixed, thank you guys for bearing with me here, and I appreciate you reporting the issues, I try to fix them as fast as I can, hopefully the modernization of the site is worth it 🙂
Best regards,
Vlad

Vlad06/05/2026 15:13

Latest updates to the site:

Forum reply and topic posting now use a richer editor with preview, image thumbnails, drag-and-drop upload, and paste-from-clipboard image upload.
Large forum topics now use traditional paging, so long threads load much faster.
Forum post images now render more consistently inline, in printer-friendly pages, and in notification emails.
Member avatars were improved with default avatar graphics, country flags, and easier avatar upload/editing.
New user registration now goes through an approval workflow: applicants explain why they want to join, accounts stay inactive until approved, and admins can approve or reject from a modern review page.
Contact Us was added with captcha, reply-to support, and modern email delivery.
Member-to-member contact was added for logged-in users, including a report/block spam flow.
Wiki request workflows were modernized for category changes, entry removal, image removal, linked copies, and relationships, with login gating and approval/rejection flow.
Wiki image/file uploads were modernized with drag-and-drop upload and session-only delete controls for newly uploaded files.
Lightbox viewing was improved with navigation and watermarked download support.
Recent forum post hover previews were added on the homepage and forum landing page.
Resources/seller reviews were modernized with star ratings and notifications for new reviews/comments.
Mobile navigation and mobile forum layouts were improved, including collapsed navigation and mobile-friendly notification behavior.
Classic-site redirect controls were added so old links can route to the matching modern page while still keeping the Classic Site footer link available.

Vlad06/05/2026 15:15

Oh I fixed French letters for you, Jacques! 😃 Now you can type Amitiés again! 🤩

Vlad06/08/2026 16:04

I'm aware of image upload issues again in the forum, trying to fix it, please bear with me, thank you!

Vlad06/08/2026 17:02

Ok, it should be fixed now (I hope 😀), with some other minor visual items on a home page.

Vlad06/10/2026 10:41

Some more additions if you notice, a new "social-network" style forum view feed that's now built into a home page that lets you quickly reply and post, forum-style pages are still active, available and work in tandem, so anything posted to feed appears there and vice versa. It's still in beta version so I'm still improving things, so any observations, suggestions, annoyances as a feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Forum Feed beta

Site redesign preview