I'm new to MyBB and I am going to use it for a project that hopefully will be online in about a couple of months. I saw that there are hardly any responsive themes for MyBB, and they are not complete anyway (I checked some pages on the demo sites and some were not responsive). So, for these and other reasons, I was thinking of keeping the default theme and modify it to make it responsive. I know HTML and CSS, it's not a problem for me to modify the default theme, but I have a few important questions:
1. How many templates do I actually need to modify? The database table where templates are stored seems to have about a thousand rows, so I wonder how much stuff I'd have to modify. I don't need to make everything responsive, I only care about the main pages used by most users and visitors (threads, posts, profiles, search, etc.), so for example I don't need to make the moderation/admin panel responsive, that can remain fixed. I'm asking this question because I'd like to get an idea of how much work I'd have to do and if it's worth it before I even start, considering that the project should go online in a few months at most and that I heard MyBB 1.9 will have a responsive template by default and that's supposed to be released soon (hopefully).
2. What happens when you update MyBB and you have a customized theme? I suppose (but I'm not sure at all) that updates in the 1.8 branch don't affect the theme, which will continue to work and nothing needs to be changed. Is it so? In the same way, if I modify the default theme of 1.9 (when it's released), will it continue to work ok after every update in the 1.9 branch?
It really depends on which pages you want to be responsive. At this current stage it may not be worth the hassle if you plan on updating to 1.9. 1.9 will also use TWIG templates so don't expect most if not all themes to work.
Isn't worth it at this stage. Wait till 1.9.
It will take ages for anybody to edit all of the templates for a semi decent base.
We are on the way to release our (probably last) feature release of 1.8.x branch. 1.9 is a plan afterwards. So it totally depends on you to decide if you take the effort or not, but as you say you are gonna be live in couple of months I can guess by the time you are live MyBB 1.9 will not be released. (completely my personal assumption, my orange name doesn't establish whatever I say is official).
There will be responsive theme for 1.9. In fact it is already WIP. You can experience it by switching to "MyBB 1.9 Concept" theme here in community forums. Also as others have already said there will be new template system (twig) and new theme management system as well (yet to be developed), but its not like that you can't develop a theme based on current scenario and have to wait for release of 1.9. In fact we are also doing the same thing - we are making 1.9 responsive theme based on 1.8 theme / template system only and the same will be converted later on with new system in place and I hardly believe it will be too hard to convert for a theme developer who really knows his work.
MyBB is ever changing, ever improving to adapt new age technologies - so as the life. If you wait for next release to do something you probably will be waiting for life for next and then next release. Its like waiting to purchase the latest tech and featured mobile phone, by the time you target and prepare your mind to purchase a model another advanced one pops up in market falling yours as backdated. - just my personal opinion.
To answer your second question, yes, themes get affected by updates and we provide the changed template names with release announcement (easily identifiable by the template versioning as well) for theme makers to update their theme, sometimes a diff report of the xml also gets available IIRC. So its not a big issue updating themes with version updates.
Thanks Effone for that informative answer! I'm just getting started with MyBB - I've been tinkering with the latest (and from what you say, final) version of 1.8, and like others, I have found the range of "responsive" premium themes disappointing. I've been playing with the one I finally selected, but today I flipped back to the Default theme just to sort out something, and guess what ... it looks so professional compared to many of the other themes that have been developed. I think I'll stick with the Default theme as I await 1.9 with great anticipation.
(2018-06-26, 04:18 AM)effone Wrote: [ -> ]We are on the way to release our (probably last) feature release of 1.8.x branch. 1.9 is a plan afterwards. So it totally depends on you to decide if you take the effort or not, but as you say you are gonna be live in couple of months I can guess by the time you are live MyBB 1.9 will not be released. (completely my personal assumption, my orange name doesn't establish whatever I say is official).
-- SNIP --
To answer your second question, yes, themes get affected by updates and we provide the changed template names with release announcement (easily identifiable by the template versioning as well) for theme makers to update their theme, sometimes a diff report of the xml also gets available IIRC. So its not a big issue updating themes with version updates.
Ok, all of that talk is about the themes.
What about the plugins?
How would upgrading to 1.9.xx affect the current suite of plugins that a lot of us Admins use? ( large majority of those plugins are found in the Extend section )
(2018-07-27, 12:23 AM)Serpius Wrote: [ -> ]How would upgrading to 1.9.xx affect the current suite of plugins that a lot of us Admins use? ( large majority of those plugins are found in the Extend section )
There shouldn't be many changes to how plugins interact with MyBB's core, however all plugins using templates, CSS or otherwise interacting with the theme system will need to be adjusted to use Twig instead (unless some fallback will be provided - none planned so far). This will generally include moving code from plugin files to separate template files with changed syntax (
{{ variable }} instead of
{$variable}, etc.).