2009-06-04, 07:13 PM
This may be in the wrong area....
I've run various phpBB boards over the past several years, and as late, I've been pretty disappointed with the way things have been going with phpBB, and it's future doesn't look so bright.
I suppose one of the biggest issues is that a vanilla install of phpBB is just that, vanilla.... from the get go, it's practically featureless.... but for years it has been the best, heck, the only solution for a powerful and respectable forum other than Vbulletin (which I here is what MyBB was largely inspired by, which is great
) but then, who has money for that?
but see, not only was there a lack of features, there was no way to add features (along came easymod but it's hit or miss), so PHP and MySGL coders ended up adding and modifying code to add features to phpBB, this was great, at first, but as time went on..... everything became unruly, mods that shouldn't take long would take hours...
it's not that I'm not fluent in PHP, I've worked with it quite a bit (never made anything from scratch though) but unless you made the code your adding, your not quite sure how it all fits together, especially because it relies on code in other files you have added and code already there, and until they tell you where to put the code... you don't know how it will interface... and of course, instead of telling you what all it has to integrate with technically, they make your job so much harder by assuming your an average joe, incapable of understanding anything more than insert after or before a piece of code already there....
but after so many modifications, code is either rewritten, moved or deleted altogether and then, the install guide is useless.... which is why I think the idea of using hooks whenever possible is an awesome idea...
all this editing is why I think phpBB has come to a standstill, because everybody put in the work, and then phpBB 3 came out, which isn't all that different, but requires things to be redone, and noone wants to start over...
I love coding, and hacking, but phpBB went about it the wrong way...
and plugins? plugins are always a good idea, and if one of the reasons I love Opensource software, (the main reason being I can do whatever I want with it) another being modularity, which I see you have also incorporated, like with Linux, where almost everything is modular, this also gives one the ability to work on one piece of code or in this case, a plugin, without taking the whole system down,which is a plus, considering, sometimes, you would have to take your phpbb forum down until you got the new modifications playing nice with everything else...
this can also, like in Linux, allow for massive growth,
the plugin system and modularity alone has grabbed my attention,
but I'm not looking for an easy way own, just a better way, and I think metaBB could be the Linux of BB's
but I'm worried, you talk about ease of use and that's great, but what about us advanced users who are comfortable working with PHP and MySQL, is myBB just as powerful as other BB's, or will advanced users be out of luck in favor of simplicity?
and first, two things I just noticed
1) Thread description, not there, but I think I saw a plug in for it....
2) smilies need an overhaul lol (yeah I know, easy to replace)
I'm using MetaBB right now, heres are some of the features it has
1) Arcade Mod, really cool, but I saw a plugin for that...
2)Portal, didn't see a portal plugin but did see mention of portal ad-ons, but can it have marquees and custom boxes like MetaBB?
3) Album, does myBB have any photo album plugins?
4) forum pet, no plug but it isn't needed XD
5) forum RPG, same as pet, wasn't really thought out anyway
6) biggy, subforums, I see mybb has it, but can you have subforums in subforums...
7) calender, already integrated with mybb right? does it show birthdays before you where born like in MetaBB LOL, I was born in 1990, but you can see it says i have a birthday in 89.88.87,ect... and they all say (along with birthdays that did occur,) that I'll be 20 (I'm 19), yeah, big glitch.....
8) advanced BBcode , you use mycode right? I found the plugins
9) you can add extra profile fields in metaBB, I haven't seen this via plugin
and I want users to be able to insert css for custom profiles...
10) I've found plugins for everything else I think XD, and things I really want XD
and please tell me theres a new posts plugin,
and how hard is it to write a plugin?
it all sounds great, but even with a blank forum right now, I'm hesitant to make the leap, I just fixed a bunch of issues I've been having with MetaBB.. seems like I'm finally getting somewhere and I'm afraid I'll regret jumping in the myBB pool....
(yeah I can back stuff up though, but just the thought XD)
Edit: How do I edit the poll? does an Admin have to do it for me? *points to next post*
I've run various phpBB boards over the past several years, and as late, I've been pretty disappointed with the way things have been going with phpBB, and it's future doesn't look so bright.
I suppose one of the biggest issues is that a vanilla install of phpBB is just that, vanilla.... from the get go, it's practically featureless.... but for years it has been the best, heck, the only solution for a powerful and respectable forum other than Vbulletin (which I here is what MyBB was largely inspired by, which is great
) but then, who has money for that?but see, not only was there a lack of features, there was no way to add features (along came easymod but it's hit or miss), so PHP and MySGL coders ended up adding and modifying code to add features to phpBB, this was great, at first, but as time went on..... everything became unruly, mods that shouldn't take long would take hours...
it's not that I'm not fluent in PHP, I've worked with it quite a bit (never made anything from scratch though) but unless you made the code your adding, your not quite sure how it all fits together, especially because it relies on code in other files you have added and code already there, and until they tell you where to put the code... you don't know how it will interface... and of course, instead of telling you what all it has to integrate with technically, they make your job so much harder by assuming your an average joe, incapable of understanding anything more than insert after or before a piece of code already there....
but after so many modifications, code is either rewritten, moved or deleted altogether and then, the install guide is useless.... which is why I think the idea of using hooks whenever possible is an awesome idea...
all this editing is why I think phpBB has come to a standstill, because everybody put in the work, and then phpBB 3 came out, which isn't all that different, but requires things to be redone, and noone wants to start over...
I love coding, and hacking, but phpBB went about it the wrong way...
and plugins? plugins are always a good idea, and if one of the reasons I love Opensource software, (the main reason being I can do whatever I want with it) another being modularity, which I see you have also incorporated, like with Linux, where almost everything is modular, this also gives one the ability to work on one piece of code or in this case, a plugin, without taking the whole system down,which is a plus, considering, sometimes, you would have to take your phpbb forum down until you got the new modifications playing nice with everything else...
this can also, like in Linux, allow for massive growth,
the plugin system and modularity alone has grabbed my attention,
but I'm not looking for an easy way own, just a better way, and I think metaBB could be the Linux of BB's
but I'm worried, you talk about ease of use and that's great, but what about us advanced users who are comfortable working with PHP and MySQL, is myBB just as powerful as other BB's, or will advanced users be out of luck in favor of simplicity?
and first, two things I just noticed
1) Thread description, not there, but I think I saw a plug in for it....
2) smilies need an overhaul lol (yeah I know, easy to replace)
I'm using MetaBB right now, heres are some of the features it has
1) Arcade Mod, really cool, but I saw a plugin for that...
2)Portal, didn't see a portal plugin but did see mention of portal ad-ons, but can it have marquees and custom boxes like MetaBB?
3) Album, does myBB have any photo album plugins?
4) forum pet, no plug but it isn't needed XD
5) forum RPG, same as pet, wasn't really thought out anyway
6) biggy, subforums, I see mybb has it, but can you have subforums in subforums...
7) calender, already integrated with mybb right? does it show birthdays before you where born like in MetaBB LOL, I was born in 1990, but you can see it says i have a birthday in 89.88.87,ect... and they all say (along with birthdays that did occur,) that I'll be 20 (I'm 19), yeah, big glitch.....
8) advanced BBcode , you use mycode right? I found the plugins
9) you can add extra profile fields in metaBB, I haven't seen this via plugin
and I want users to be able to insert css for custom profiles...
10) I've found plugins for everything else I think XD, and things I really want XD
and please tell me theres a new posts plugin,
and how hard is it to write a plugin?
it all sounds great, but even with a blank forum right now, I'm hesitant to make the leap, I just fixed a bunch of issues I've been having with MetaBB.. seems like I'm finally getting somewhere and I'm afraid I'll regret jumping in the myBB pool....
(yeah I can back stuff up though, but just the thought XD)
Edit: How do I edit the poll? does an Admin have to do it for me? *points to next post*
