- Joined
- Feb 25, 2011
- Messages
- 710
Oh...wow. I would change software, if I were you.The ugliest-looking forum script out there is without doubt FUDforum. And you can't even customize it !
That's the one I use. I must be some kind of pervert![]()
Oh...wow. I would change software, if I were you.The ugliest-looking forum script out there is without doubt FUDforum. And you can't even customize it !
That's the one I use. I must be some kind of pervert![]()
I disagree. The vB 4x theme is actually alright, but we think we can do better and give our site a more unique look, so that's why we're creating our own style (not a major one though).Likewise i hate the VB default theme its over complicated and very bland, compared to others, With phpbb and IPB, well i won't even go there..
You need to remember Default themes are like pieces of chicken, Cooked on its own is very bland, But knock together some spices and you have a curry out of this world.
I think its pretty sad that people judge a forum by the default theme alone.
I'm not saying SMF is bad, in fact I said that it looks pretty good, except I'm not a fan of the default style, and we're well setup with vBulletin as is.Compare SMF with any other forums on the forum matrix http://www.forummatrix.org/
And you'll see Just how good SMF compares to the other forums and even the well known paid forums, It really does set standards![]()
Thanks.There are plenty of forums running SMF with a lot more posts than that.
One of the largest is http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/ - 10,746,528 posts.
While also true for vBulletin, we're doing it ourselves anyway. The thing I like about vB 4's default theme is that it's not so bad so we can take our time tinkering with it, but if we migrated to SMF, I'd feel pressured to edit the styles straight away, which is something I don't have the time to do.On the subject of the design - there are literally hundreds of themes available for SMF, many of which significantly vary from the default theme. If you spend an hour or two looking around, you'll likely find something you like. If there's a particular look/style you have in mind, I might be able to make some suggestions as well.
There are a lot more modifications that what you can see, both as a guest and a member. We have a Twitter-style user tagging and quoting notification mod, plus a LOT of stuff behind the scenes that you won't notice and that I won't mention here.For modifications - pretty much anything you want can be done with SMF. It's just a matter of what it is and such. The few things I see immediately (the boxes at the top of the page, the tabs with custom menu items and the custom board icons) are quite easy to accomplish, and can be done in various ways. For the boxes, you can either edit the template yourself or install a portal system like SimplePortal and add them as custom blocks (SP lets you completely customize the look of each block as well). For the custom menu items, you just edit a single file. For the custom board icons, you can replace the ones included with the theme you're using (just name your files the same as what the theme uses and upload them to the appropriate directory).
I'm not saying SMF is bad, in fact I said that it looks pretty good, except I'm not a fan of the default style, and we're well setup with vBulletin as is.
I respecfully disagree, but perhaps we should leave it at that.Hi Nick
I've finally come to the conclusion that default themes are not liked with any boards, They are a plain whiteboard ready to be personalised, there's nothing to like about it. Its the very basic starting point of any forum.
When people say they are not a fan of the default style it implies that you just can't do nothing at all with it and thats not the case.
You don't need to worry what the default theme looks like but what the finished forum and personalised theme looks like.
SMF's core code is pretty much purely amateurish procedural code, until their supposedly object oriented version 3.0 comes out Id say its a poorly designed software.
SMF's core code is pretty much purely amateurish procedural code, until their supposedly object oriented version 3.0 comes out Id say its a poorly designed software.
Personally, I think FUDforum has the WORST default theme out there, with FUDforum as a close second.Personally, I think IPB has the BEST default theme out there, with vB being a close second.
You just love to bash SMF do you? I dunno what are your reasons... I suppose you do have reasons...
You haven't even take a look at the code to make an accurate observation. You just blindly assumes OOP == better.
OOP is indeed better in some aspects but not all of them, using OOP for the sake of using OOP for everything is simply erroneous.
Knowing when to use OOP and when to use procedural in your script makes you a good coder, not using OOP or procedural wherever and for whatever reasons...
I already told you, SMF is indeed amateur since is made by volunteers... what you fail to realize is that amateur != bad.
Lastly, can you please show me some of your own work please? you seems so enlightened and confident on your skills that makes me utterly curious to see if your work lives up as high as your words![]()
Yeah, knowing when to use OOP makes you a good coder. Thats why those who develop a forumware with amateurish procedural styles aint in that category. The reason why SMF's development is slower than many other competitors is that its core is procedural and that its impossible to maintain and make minor changes without breaking the entire code.
I never said I was an advanced programmer, Id say I am intermediate skilled at this point but at least I know what programming styles should fit with the scale of the application you develop. Procedural style is only useful for small hobbyist fansite builders, for an actual software its never the solution to whatever problems.
Anyway I am still in the middle of the process converting a script I took over from someone else to fully object oriented code. This is taking a while since I am basically the only active programmer, but I can show you a piece of my minor work available on PHPclasses.org. You can check it out here:
http://www.phpclasses.org/package/7857-PHP-Render-HTML-pages-composed-programmatically.html
Honestly I dont mind if you criticize my work, 'cause if I realize there's a piece of the code not being object oriented enough or at all, Id be willing to do anything to revise and correct it. I actually see you as an excellent programmer, although the way you defend SMF's amateurish code is somewhat incomprehensible. I dont consider critics as haters myself, 'cause without them I'd never improve.
So yeah, in a perfect script everything is an object. You cannot be perfect, but you can approach this limit. I actually like the direction SMF is going, although you just have to confess that this stage SMF is still a poorly designed software. Its a fact you cannot change so long as the core script is procedural.
Yeah, knowing when to use OOP makes you a good coder. Thats why those who develop a forumware with amateurish procedural styles aint in that category. The reason why SMF's development is slower than many other competitors is that its core is procedural and that its impossible to maintain and make minor changes without breaking the entire code.
I never said I was an advanced programmer, Id say I am intermediate skilled at this point but at least I know what programming styles should fit with the scale of the application you develop. Procedural style is only useful for small hobbyist fansite builders, for an actual software its never the solution to whatever problems.
Anyway I am still in the middle of the process converting a script I took over from someone else to fully object oriented code. This is taking a while since I am basically the only active programmer, but I can show you a piece of my minor work available on PHPclasses.org. You can check it out here:
http://www.phpclasses.org/package/7857-PHP-Render-HTML-pages-composed-programmatically.html
Honestly I dont mind if you criticize my work, 'cause if I realize there's a piece of the code not being object oriented enough or at all, Id be willing to do anything to revise and correct it. I actually see you as an excellent programmer, although the way you defend SMF's amateurish code is somewhat incomprehensible. I dont consider critics as haters myself, 'cause without them I'd never improve.
So yeah, in a perfect script everything is an object. You cannot be perfect, but you can approach this limit. I actually like the direction SMF is going, although you just have to confess that this stage SMF is still a poorly designed software. Its a fact you cannot change so long as the core script is procedural.
Knowing when to use OOP and when to use procedural
I have to with Suki, and HallofFamer, quite frankly. Suki, regardless of your opinion, an application of the size and popularity of SMF should be written in OOP. Using the ten-year-old codebase as an excuse not to update it to OOP is a poor argument. It may be ten years old, but that's ten years the team had to rewrite it, and only now are they beginning to do it.
However, HoF, SMF works fantastically on big boards just as much as it does on small boards, and it's written procedurally.
No one's bashing anything. Let's try to refrain from using the term "bashing" since criticising a coding style is hardly "bashing," and HallofFamer doesn't seem to be posting with the intentions to "bash" or insult anyone.