Suggestions for SMF!

[shadow82x]

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Simple Machines is proud to announce the release of SMF 2.0 RC2 Public. This is the long awaited second Release Candidate for 2.0 and is one of the last steps towards 2.0 going gold. Literally hundreds of bugs that were reported after the release of RC1 have been fixed and improvements have been made to security, stability, and performance. We recommend that all users of earlier development versions upgrade as soon as possible. As promised, 2.0 RC2 boasts our new Curve theme, which has been made the new default theme. The previous default theme has been renamed Core. Please note that the Classic and Babylon themes have been removed from the package and are now only available on the theme site. Major changes since the last public release: Inclusion of the Curve theme. Three brand-new smiley sets. 960 new entries in the changelog, which consist of: Fixes for a significant number of bugs reported by Beta Testers, Charter members, and community members. Hundreds of queries optimized for faster performance (new indexes, re-written queries, changes to column type, etc) Canonical link support for better search engine indexing New feature: ability to have different readmes in packages for different languages New feature: ability to delete languages (oops! we forgot that earlier) Linktrees have been added to the lower-areas of the forum and to the admin, moderation and profile sections. Lighttpd support for Queryless urls Improved support for right to left languages OpenID is fixed Extra fields for Advanced Profile fields (surround/enclose within other text, and choose placement as icon or signature). Several theme improvements for better semantics and standards support. Moved more JS out of templates Wireless links to switch back to normal mode. Those interested in the detailed changelog may like to download it on our download page. Finally - please do not use this topic for any support requests. You will get a much more prompt response by visiting the relevant support board! Regards, Simple Machines

http://www.simplemachines.org/commun...topic=346813.0

Yey!

[Blind Bandit]

Awesome hopefully one more RC and then we will have gold.

Took long enough. Thats one thing SMF really needs to work on the development time.

[christicehurst]

It has always been slow and I hope one day they will get a move on.

[Trekkie101]

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Originally Posted by christicehurst It has always been slow and I hope one day they will get a move on.

To be honest, its something we're looking at internally.

However hopefully the quick turnaround RC 1, to RC 2 Charter, to RC 2 Public and soon enough final, is a bit more of what is expected?

[Blind Bandit]

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Originally Posted by Trekkie101 To be honest, its something we're looking at internally. However hopefully the quick turnaround RC 1, to RC 2 Charter, to RC 2 Public and soon enough final, is a bit more of what is expected?

SMF is falling behind. SMF has been in beta for a very long time and its still at RC status. Its been I think at least or nearly two years.

SMF can't use the we are free excuse anymore simply as that. SMF at 1.1 is not completive. And this long development time points to lack of stability in development and a team lacking in focus. We all know forum development is hard and time consuming but if SMF still wants to be completive things need to be stepped up. phpBB and MyBB are in many ways better and worse than SMF but they are still for the most part good alternatives. And I would say SMF is not competing against free or paid. IPB frankly looks pretty good in a lot of ways. VB may not but we already knew that.

All I'm saying is SMF is really starting to fall behind.

Thats my honest opinion.

[Trekkie101]

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Originally Posted by Blind Bandit SMF is falling behind. SMF has been in beta for a very long time and its still at RC status. Its been I think at least or nearly two years. SMF can't use the we are free excuse anymore simply as that. SMF at 1.1 is not completive. And this long development time points to lack of stability in development and a team lacking in focus. We all know forum development is hard and time consuming but if SMF still wants to be completive things need to be stepped up. phpBB and MyBB are in many ways better and worse than SMF but they are still for the most part good alternatives. And I would say SMF is not competing against free or paid. IPB frankly looks pretty good in a lot of ways. VB may not but we already knew that. All I'm saying is SMF is really starting to fall behind. Thats my honest opinion.

Thank you for being totally honest and open

SMF 2.0 has taken far too long to come out, but its very near now, while its taken an age we've made some big changes to our code:

Easier integration
Open ID support
Sphinx Search Support
Multiple database interfaces
FULL UTF8 support
Mail ques
Member warning
Moderation center
Paid subscriptions
Registration security enhancements

Fully semantic theme, and whole new art set.

Perhaps more than should have been "chewed" but, still were building features

What sort of things would you like to see from the SMF team? Where would you like to see SMF?

[Bendo]

Don't forget WYSIWYG editor.

[Blind Bandit]

while impressive I still stand by what I say. For example SMF is still lacking a little in member facing features.

[Bendo]

Such as?

[Caliope]

I use SMF. I'm on 1.1.10 and I'll be waiting for 2.0 to go gold.

I don't pay for SMF and so I'm happy to wait, afterall, these guys are doing it for free

I have no complaints over what features are included, the software does everything that I want.

OK vB has some fancy tricks, but I'm not going to pay their charges and then get stiffed (from what I can see) when they bring out an upgrade.

[Trekkie101]

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Originally Posted by Blind Bandit while impressive I still stand by what I say. For example SMF is still lacking a little in member facing features.

What sort of things are we missing? Quite happy to pass the thoughts along to the internal team boards.

[Bendo]

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Originally Posted by Bendo Such as?

I'm still curious...

[HarryWx]

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Originally Posted by Trekkie101 What sort of things are we missing? Quite happy to pass the thoughts along to the internal team boards.

Start with the index page..
1. Last poster info looks very messy. Needs to be cleaned up so it is easier to read.
2. STILL cant collapse forum sections.

I do however think that overal the new skin is a HUGE improvement over the older style.

Forum display..

1. Did you all remove the users browsing forum feature? If so that i think is a terrible choice. If it and it is hidden then i think it should be shown. People wanna see what SMF fully offers then no better way to do that then on your own forum. Not having it shown makes the forum itself appear dead. YES users notice that sort of thing.
2. It just looks dull. Perhaps outdated is better fitting? No use of stuff for those on the fly ( ajax/java type stuff ) what so ever by the looks of it. YES people do like being able to do stuff on the fly such as quick topic edits or for staff quick moderation tools instead of having to do it the OLD way from inside the thread display itself. Can apply this as well to thread/topic display. It all looks like you just gave it a new skin. Feel's like it did when i used SMF 4yrs ago.

YES i know you all have the package manager which YES is awesome but still core features are seriously lacking ( atleast APPEARS to be-Read on.. ) and it looks as if hardly a thing has been added. KEEP IN MIND this is based off what i have seen on the SMF forum itself. So i am certain some things may have been missed.

Lastly you guy's could use a little PR work by making it so people can see more of what the system can do on your own forums by not having features turned off or whatever on your forum. Never understood why profiles cant be viewed as a guest. You are missing out by not showing a part ( some consider vital parts) of your system by hiding such stuff. I see it AS IS and i am not impressed at all and thus would keep moving along if i was looking for a forum solution for my site. So as a suggestion i would start showing everything that can be shown on your company forums.

[Oldiesmann]

Index page:
1. Edit the template files to make things look the way you want them.
2. What are you referring to? SMF has always had an option to collapse categories.

Forum display:
1. We don't have it enabled on our forum for a reason - mainly to prevent team members from being hounded when browsing the support boards...

2. We did just give SMF a new theme called Curve. We do have some AJAX - the ability to edit a topic inline, the ability to change a topic title from the message index (double-click on it...), ability to change the message icon without editing the topic (click on the icon...). We don't have AJAX quick reply or fancy little AJAXy alerts like IPB does, but I don't find that much of an issue.

[Blind Bandit]

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Originally Posted by Bendo I'm still curious...

Sorry but I've been a bit busy. I'm not shying away from the issue.

Right off the top of my head an issue that needs fixed.

The post reply box in SMF 2 is tiny it almost looks like a quick reply box. Whats worse is you can't expand it unless you edit the template. This alone makes me never want to touch SMF even though I think it would a be a good option. Its so un user freindly I shouldn't have to scroll to read all of my text or at least give me the option standard to make it bigger.

In line moderation, its a good feature to have. Its one feature i think every staffer would benefit from.

Speaking of moderation a simpler and clearer indication for a warned member something on the profile that shows how high their warning is and not just that they are warned.

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Originally Posted by HarryWx Start with the index page.. 1. Last poster info looks very messy. Needs to be cleaned up so it is easier to read. 2. STILL cant collapse forum sections. I do however think that overall the new skin is a HUGE improvement over the older style. Forum display.. 1. Did you all remove the users browsing forum feature? If so that i think is a terrible choice. If it and it is hidden then i think it should be shown. People wanna see what SMF fully offers then no better way to do that then on your own forum. Not having it shown makes the forum itself appear dead. YES users notice that sort of thing. 2. It just looks dull. Perhaps outdated is better fitting? No use of stuff for those on the fly ( ajax/java type stuff ) what so ever by the looks of it. YES people do like being able to do stuff on the fly such as quick topic edits or for staff quick moderation tools instead of having to do it the OLD way from inside the thread display itself. Can apply this as well to thread/topic display. It all looks like you just gave it a new skin. Feel's like it did when i used SMF 4yrs ago. YES i know you all have the package manager which YES is awesome but still core features are seriously lacking ( atleast APPEARS to be-Read on.. ) and it looks as if hardly a thing has been added. KEEP IN MIND this is based off what i have seen on the SMF forum itself. So i am certain some things may have been missed. Lastly you guy's could use a little PR work by making it so people can see more of what the system can do on your own forums by not having features turned off or whatever on your forum. Never understood why profiles cant be viewed as a guest. You are missing out by not showing a part ( some consider vital parts) of your system by hiding such stuff. I see it AS IS and i am not impressed at all and thus would keep moving along if i was looking for a forum solution for my site. So as a suggestion i would start showing everything that can be shown on your company forums.

I really agree with the ajax and dynamic features they are very nice to have.

And yes the themes and graphics even still look well not really that great but thats just me.

SMF has always from what I've seen focused on security, performance and admin feature set. And frankly SMF is so anti new features that I think that is part of the problem. Unless the feature seems absolutely necessary it won't go in. If you look at the new feature list only a handle full will do your average joe any actually good. And even less for a forums membership.

And as harry mentioned the core features are well very slow to be updated. I'm not asking for SMF to turn into social networking software but it also needs to be competitive. And frankly I think to much focus is put on back end features and not features that members and normal people will use. And an eye towards looking better curve is a good step in the right direction but some stuff such as buttons and other graphics don't look good.

One more thought and this is a big issue with all forum software not just SMF. Staff need to take members more seriously and look at suggestions and see what the users need. I feel this is where a lot of software actually many or all of the current options fall short. The developers take the we know best attitude and I think sometimes forget who makes the software popular and who actually uses it the users.

Theres more to add to this but I'll have to think on it some more.

[Bendo]

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Originally Posted by Blind Bandit The post reply box in SMF 2 is tiny it almost looks like a quick reply box. Whats worse is you can't expand it unless you edit the template. This alone makes me never want to touch SMF even though I think it would a be a good option. Its so un user freindly I shouldn't have to scroll to read all of my text or at least give me the option standard to make it bigger.

It is resizable by dragging the bar at the bottom.

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In line moderation, its a good feature to have. Its one feature i think every staffer would benefit from.

They have been in since 1.0.

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Speaking of moderation a simpler and clearer indication for a warned member something on the profile that shows how high their warning is and not just that they are warned.

Not sure, thought that was in.

[Oldiesmann]

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And frankly SMF is so anti new features that I think that is part of the problem. Unless the feature seems absolutely necessary it won't go in. If you look at the new feature list only a handle full will do your average joe any actually good. And even less for a forums membership.

That explains why there are so many new features in SMF 2.0:

WYSIWYG editor
Moderation center
User warnings
Built-in custom profile fields
Scheduled tasks
Daily/weekly notification emails
PM rules
User-selectable PM display modes
User-joinable groups
Support for PostgreSQL and SQLite
Built-in support for the Sphinx search daemon
Ability to edit language files from the admin center
Ability to download and install new languages from the admin center
Improved package manager
...

[Blind Bandit]

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Originally Posted by Bendo It is resizable by dragging the bar at the bottom. They have been in since 1.0. Not sure, thought that was in.

I referring to having an expand option without having to do it manually.

I'm referring to what VB has, not simply moderation.

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Originally Posted by Oldiesmann That explains why there are so many new features in SMF 2.0: WYSIWYG editor Moderation center User warnings Built-in custom profile fields Scheduled tasks Daily/weekly notification emails PM rules User-selectable PM display modes User-joinable groups Support for PostgreSQL and SQLite Built-in support for the Sphinx search daemon Ability to edit language files from the admin center Ability to download and install new languages from the admin center Improved package manager ...

And yes I know this and how long has it taken SMF to get to RC. Its not even gold yet after what 2 plus years.

As it stands 1.1 is not feature competitive. As I've already said 2.0 is completive and very good in back end features but member facing features aren't a priority.

2.0 as fair as I can see if you compare forum software is in some ways ahead of other free software and catching up in other places. And compared to paid (yes I'm doing that) its only playing catchup. With the exception of the Sphinx search. Which for most users won't effect them.

This is the same kind of response I see on the official site ignore the membership and act like only the devs / staff know best.

[Bendo]

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Originally Posted by Blind Bandit I referring to having an expand option without having to do it manually.

Surely doing it manually is an expand option (or whatever that means?) O does vB magically do it for you?

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I'm referring to what VB not simply moderation.

In English?

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And yes I know this and how long has it taken SMF to get to RC. Its not even gold yet after what 2 plus years.

And it will be a stable product when it goes gold rather than some buggy shizzle that needs a million . releases...

As it stands 1.1 is not feature competitive. As I've already y said 2.0 is completive and very good in back end features but member facing features aren't a priority.[/quote]

As it stands 1.1 is more holds its own, although people who want to be forum reviewers (is there a point?) don't seem to have a clue...

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2.0 as far as I can see if you compare forum software is in some ways ahead of other free software and catching up in other places. And compared to paid (yes I'm doing that) its only playing catchup. With the expection of the Sphinx search. Which ofr most users won't effect them.

Given you haven't noticed some features that have been there since YaBB....

[Blind Bandit]

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]Surely doing it manually is an expand option (or whatever that means?) O does vB magically do it for you?

I'm referring to clicking a link or button instead of having to expand it every time.

As I mentioned it should be bigger by default.

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In English?

The ability to do in line moderation. IE ability to soft delete, use of ajax, and other little features that isn't currently an option in SMF.

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And it will be a stable product when it goes gold rather than some buggy shizzle that needs a million . releases...

I'm not saying rush it out I'm saying get a more stable and focused team. Or at the very least a faster release schedule would be beneficial.

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As it stands 1.1 is more holds its own, although people who want to be forum reviewers (is there a point?) don't seem to have a clue...

I would argue that barely holding ones own isn't good enough.

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Given you haven't noticed some features that have been there since YaBB....

Please fill me in on the features you are referring to.

Brendo you may not have noticed but I have problems with most of the current forum software not just SMF.

http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=67632