phpbb3 to enter beta; m2k2 forum features equivalent?

2006-03-20 12:26:37 pm

this announcement came as a bit of a surprise to me. granted, it will probably still be years before we see a final version of phpbb 3, but i thought that now would be a good time to assess how smooth our forum's transition to phpbb 3 might be.

here's the proposed feature list for 3. what i need everyone here to do is to compare what the m2k2 forum offers with what is on that list. if the m2k2 forum does something that's not on that list (for example, the smart tags), i want you to report that here.

the reason this concerns you is that if a feature is not on that list (and perhaps even if it is - i don't trust phpbb as far as i could throw it), our forum will likely lose that feature's functionality at the upgrade to 3 until i or someone can write a mod that will restore it.

it's been a long road getting from there to here, and something tells me we have a long way yet to go. for that reason, there's no sense in being underprepared in the slightest when we finally get there.

known limitations of phpbb 3
smart tags
offsite avatar file size limitation
sig image quantity/dimensions limitation
horizontal scrollbar mitigation

Thread title:

[url=http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=375510]this announcement[/url] came as a bit of a surprise to me. granted, it will probably still be years before we see a final version of phpbb 3, but i thought that now would be a good time to assess how smooth our forum's transition to phpbb 3 might be.

[url=http://area51.phpbb.com/docs/features.html]here's the proposed feature list for 3[/url]. what i need everyone here to do is to compare what the m2k2 forum offers with what is on that list. if the m2k2 forum does something that's [i]not[/i] on that list (for example, the [url=http://www.metroid2002.com/forum/smart_tags.php]smart tags[/url]), i want you to report that here.

the reason this concerns you is that if a feature is not on that list (and perhaps even if it is - i don't trust phpbb as far as i could throw it), our forum will likely lose that feature's functionality at the upgrade to 3 until i or someone can write a mod that will restore it.

it's been a long road getting from there to here, and something tells me we have a long way yet to go. for that reason, there's no sense in being underprepared in the slightest when we finally get there.

[u]known limitations of phpbb 3[/u]
smart tags
offsite avatar file size limitation
sig image quantity/dimensions limitation
horizontal scrollbar mitigation

spineshark

2006-03-20 12:46:49 pm

in the name of justice!

Sweet, more functional polls.

I hate polls, by the way.

"Show and edit all attachments of a user"

Sweet.

Wow, I really don't know jack about the forum's current features.

Toozin

2006-03-20 01:00:46 pm

Not impossible

just highly unlikely

I didn't see anything about stat tracking, nor spoiler tags. There's also some things that sound pretty iffy to me, like friend and foe lists and "super moderators" (wtf?).

kwinse

2006-03-20 01:37:38 pm

Quote from Toozin:

"super moderators" (wtf?).

Regular moderators, at least on some forums, only moderate certain boards. Super moderators, on the other hand, can moderate all boards, and may have addditional moderation features (I don't run a forum, so I wouldn't know exactly how it works).

trh

2006-03-20 01:50:55 pm

It does say "Non-exhaustive Olympus Feature List".

P.JMan

2006-03-20 01:52:13 pm

I like Big Butts and I can not lie

search for authers of posts/topics
profile stuff
statistics(at top)
FAQ
auto login
main website link
(random)avatar linking(still can't figure out how to use them)
notify when post reply

nate

2006-03-20 01:52:54 pm

Yeah, they were always masters of propaganda.

(three years ago) "JUST ANOTHER FEW MONTHS UNTIL BETA!!!!"

trh

2006-03-20 01:57:41 pm

Quote from P.JBoy:

search for authers of posts/topics
profile stuff
statistics(at top)
FAQ
auto login
main website link
(random)avatar linking(still can't figure out how to use them)
notify when post reply

I seriously doubt they've removed anything of that except for the random avatar linking which is not something that this forum offers anyway..

nate

2006-03-20 02:11:57 pm

updated the first post with what's been identified so far. thanks, guys.

kwinse

2006-03-20 02:52:08 pm

Wait, I'm lost... can spoiler tags can be made from scratch with the custom BBCode thing? And why is the custom profile fields a limitation of phpBB 3, when it's also a new feature?

Quote:

Custom BBCodes

* Create your own BBCodes
* Add buttons to posting screen

Custom Profile Fields

* Add new fields on user profiles
* Display them at registration
* Display them on the profile view
* Hide new profile fields
* Support different data types

nate

2006-03-20 05:44:27 pm

ah, thanks for pointing that out. removed those two from the list (we'll go ahead and assume, even though it makes an ass out of NUMMERLICIOUS!! and me, that this "custom bbcode" feature will allow the spontaneous creation of spoiler tags). actually, that brings up an interesting point - i don't know if smartor will make a smartdark for 3. i'm sure trh could cook up something great for us if he doesn't, though.

nate

2007-03-19 01:31:29 pm

a day short of a year later ...

they've taken the wraps off of the new style, "prosilver".

more specifically, here's what a topic display will look like.

the right justification of the user info blocks is of course the biggest thing. i can think of several reasons to do it but i'm not sure we should keep that part because i can also think of several reasons not to do it. let me know what y'all think (obviously we will do a dark style by default as now).

P.JMan

2007-03-19 03:02:49 pm

I like Big Butts and I can not lie

Couldn't you make it optional in the profile

nate

2007-03-19 03:40:39 pm

yep. but should it be the default or no?

P.JMan

2007-03-19 04:07:50 pm

I like Big Butts and I can not lie

Yes, it shows the evolution of the forum

StarmanHaxor

2007-03-19 04:17:28 pm

I hate how that's set up. If you have to have the user info justified right, make left default but leave right as an option, it looks crappy.

iowa

2007-03-19 04:37:35 pm

I like it more when it's on the left as well.

arkarian

2007-03-19 08:19:06 pm

red chamber dream

I like left better, but that may just be because I'm used to it. I can see why they made the change, i.e. they wanted the content of interest to be the first thing a user sees; however, left still make sense, as (if I'm not mistaken) all the supported languages of this forum read from left to right; and seeing first the user and then their words just makes sense to me. Should definitely make it an option, though, so the more rebellious users can feel cool (it'll go along with their SubRed!).

13M13

2007-03-19 11:50:51 pm

l'appel du vide

I want it to alternate between right and left after each post.

SABERinBLUE

2007-03-19 11:59:27 pm

Cook of the Sea

gb2gaia

Toozin

2007-03-20 09:51:53 am

Not impossible

just highly unlikely

Geez, how long has this been going on now?

User profile on right = hardcore sux0rZ

Being a primarily English-speaking board, and being that English speakers read left to right, and being that most people tend to like to know who is talking to them, I DEMAND user profiles remain on the left. Having them on the right would be like IRC looking like this:

Code:

I confess my undying love for you, Nate                              <Toozin>
about time                                                           <Nate>

nate

2007-03-20 12:21:07 pm

ok cool. no problem.

JaggerG

2007-03-20 07:07:21 pm

Shifty Leader

That M2k2 guy

Quote from Toozin:

Code:

                                       etaN ,uoy rof evol gniydnu ym ssefnoc I >nizooT<
                                                                      emit tuoba >etaN<

Fixed.

Actually I've gotten good at spelling things mirrored, and it happens to be even neater than me going left to right.

iiiiiiiii

2007-03-21 01:05:31 am

MURFAURFURFA!!!!

the new phpbb sounds cool. seeing I have a phpbb website forum of my own (which I won't name) I might upgrade it as well.

what would be really cool is if M2K2 upgraded to vBulletin. of course it has a $100-250 price tag (not sure exactly how much). If M2K2 is taking donations then you guys might wanna direct those towards the upgrade, and if you guys are taking donations how could I donate?

nate

2007-03-21 01:10:50 am

how is vbulletin better than phpbb3?