phpBB or not to be ... What is our Forum?

[admin]

This forum runs on phpBB 3.0 software. This is free, open source and used by most forums worldwide.

It could be called the grand daddy of all forum software. But it is beginning to show its age. The passion for continued development appears to have died. There has been no major developments for five years and I may not be breathing when 3.1 arrives.

Meanwhile its commercial siblings have overtaken and the best of these is really rather good. You may have bumped into Xenforo if you use other forums. Here is a local Xenforo powered one: http://www.southeastcentral.co.uk/. In particular it means that, provided you are logged in, you automatically go to the latest post you have not read. There are many other great goodies.

Now I'm an open source sort of person. I hesitate at committing our 10 year database to a proprietary product but the differences between Xenforo and phpBB are great and growing. With the need to compete with other social media (blogs, facebook & twitter) I have to decide whether to stick with phpBB or jump to Xenforo.

A downside is Xenforo costs. Only $140 and $40 ongoing but the transition will cost me much more. I could make STF more commercial and recoup costs that way. I could go to the Sydenham Assembly and ask for a 'without strings' grant. I wouldn't want STF to be beholden to anybody and remain free for maverick members to question the great and the good.

I would appreciate any input or questions you may have - either here or privately.

Admin

[michael]

Here is a local Xenforo powered one: http://www.southeastcentral.co.uk/. In particular it means that, provided you are logged in, you automatically go to the latest post you have not read. There are many other great goodies.

I bookmarked http://sydenham.org.uk/forum/search.php ... d=newposts a long time ago so that I always go the to latest posts I have not read.
I do like the 'like' option on SE Central, but that is about it. I cannot see any other reason for upgrading, so I don't think it is worth it. A good forum is not made by good software, it is made from a diverse range of opinions and regular posts on subjects that are of interest to many.

[JulietP]

I agree. Better to keep open source, keep costs down and stay independent. In my experience, once a forum has to earn money from advertising, the whole atmosphere changes, as the owner feels they have to ban free "recommendations" for competitors of the forum's paying advertisers.

If it ain't broke...

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[admin]

... as the owner feels they have to ban free "recommendations" for competitors of the forum's paying advertisers.

NEVER NEVER while I breathe!

Admin

[leenewham]

Content is king.
The only thing that will kill this forum will be if gets boring and no-one posts.

I don't understand the whole 'new posts' issue mosy had. Old posts drop down and I can tell at a glance if a thread has a new post.

This is the ONLY local website that I get click throughs to the blogs. Despite once occupying almost the whole front page of the stdenham society site, I didn't get a single click through to any of the blogs I run. On here I get hundreds and thousands.

I saw the owners of barakh yesterday about the signage we designed. They had customers call them to tell them about what I had posted on the forum. It was all positive.

No other local site comes close to this one for reach. Some may not like it, but if you want to get a message out there locally online, this is the primary place to do it.

In short, it ain't broke. Don't change it.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Annie.]

It's good as it is,I read this one because it is easy to get into, I don't read any other board,I did try a couple of others a long time ago, but this one is the best of the bunch, please don't change it.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[chrisj1948]

It works very well for me as it is. I normally look at the RSS feed to see if anything especially interesting has been posted recently, and then open the forum and choose 'view unread posts'.

More importantly, please put me in the 'Content is King' category. The important thing is what is presented, not how it is presented.

Regards
Chris

[Barry]

I run a small forum in phpbb3 and have also moderated one using Simple Machines software. I'm a member of one using vBulletin which has loads of features, but I don't know what it is like for admin or moderators. Of each of them I prefer PHPbb. I assume you are on version 3.0.9

This forum seems to work very well. The export and import process does not always go as well as expected, and my advice is "don't fix it, it isn't broken!"

[admin]

I assume you are on version 3.0.9

Version 3.0.11. phpBB announced 3.0.12 bug fix version today. STF will be upgraded next week if there are no conflicts with the MODS.

Admin

[Barry]

Yes, just got notification for 3.0.12 (I was on 3.0.11 - my mistake!)

[mosy]

A forum proprietor where the membership grew to be very large swapped to paid-for software though I think more a case of having to, and found that it took some of the joy away for him; either he had to fund it himself or seek contributions. As there'd be no reason why people would contribute if they didn't have to, he tried to make parts available to contributors only and add the privilege of blocking irritating pop-up ads when they viewed, yet still leave the "free" parts worth visiting. It all works, but I'm sure the whole thing gave him headaches he'd happily have lived without given working full time also.

Peeps on other sites I visit tend to figure out how to use a site only to the extent they need to and then stick with what they're comfortable doing, so many superduper features are simply redundant for them. (I'm probably one of those.)

The only feature that I'd find useful is being able to mouse-over a thread heading and get the first line, although if people post representative thread headings it's unnecessary so hardly an essential "must have" feature.

My two cents. Hope the impending upgrade goes without a hitch, fingers crossed.

[admin]

Thank you for your comments. I was surprised as I do find other forums more advanced and more convenient. Particulary when you click on a thread and you are taken immediately to the first unread posts. A great help in fast running multiple page threads.

The other main issue I have is the current 'theme' is not responsive. Responsive themes are all the rage in these days when people access using multiple devices - smartphones, tablets and PCs. Getting one layout to fit such different sized screens was impossible. That's why we currently have a separate mobile theme which you should get automatically from that type of device.

So where do we go from here? I'm not going to spend money and go proprietary if there is no pressure to do so.

What I can do is swop to a responsive theme. Using the links below on an ordinary wide screen PC and then slowly reduce the width of your browser. You will see them dynamically reformatting to intelligently show all the forum within the available width. In other words what it would look like on other devices.

I would have to do some tweaking to give one of them an STF feel - but watchafink?

http://www.artodia.com/demo/index.php?style=16
http://www.artodia.com/demo/index.php?style=2

Admin

[mosy]

Re the responsive theme, as more and more sites are becoming mobile-friendly, presumably it never hurts to keep up
As a desktop person, it'd suit me as I often have several windows on screen at once.

Q: I notice on my desktop screen that if I pull in my browser far enough that only the topic field is visible, I can't scroll right and see the columns that fell off the edge (they're not there any more). Is that the case if it's fully installed rather than a demo?

Anyway, you really need mobile users to respond, so over to them...

[Annie.]

Not sure what the question is as I'm not technically minded, but both of the links above look good on my IPad,better than the dreary grey that I can only get at the moment.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[admin]

Annie,

The iPad has probably defaulted to the mobile theme. You can get the desktop version either by clicking on desktop (bottom left of main page) or you can bookmark this link:
http://sydenham.org.uk/forum/index.php?style=4

A responsive theme saves all this bother.

Admin

[Annie.]

Both of your suggestions still appear grey on my IPad .

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[mosy]

Re the responsive theme...[clip]...

Q: I notice on my desktop screen that if I pull in my browser far enough that only the topic field is visible, I can't scroll right and see the columns that fell off the edge (they're not there any more). Is that the case if it's fully installed rather than a demo?

FWIW: I think I've found the answer as another PHPBB forum has just changed to the responsive theme and, once the width is pulled in, yes I can use the horizontal slider scroll to view the columns that fell off the side. At least on my desktop monitor I can. I like it actually.

[admin]

Mosy,

What forum is that? Be great to nosy up to how someone else has done it.

TIA
Admin