phpBB 3.0 Release Candidate 1

[Antrax]

We are currently running version 2.0.something. A release candidate ¹ version for phpBB 3.0 ("Olympos") has been announced about a while back.
What I'd like to know is, what do you think about the new look? I'm hesitant to migrate us yet again, and I expect porting the "byzantium" theme from our current board won't be easy, but there are also advantages to big rewrites like this, in the form of much less security holes, etc.
So, take a look (just use the forums on phpbb.com) and tell me if you think it's something worth aiming for, or are we happy with phpBB 2 as long as it's supported.

1 - release candidate is what happens after beta testing, these are versions that are relatively stable with some known bugs (hence the name).
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After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Courk]

http://www.phpbb.com/community/?sid=7a8d0b674353045b2b632f1ab8dd0d5a
That page isn't too bad. I imagine we'd be able to tweak it a bit to be even more similar to what we have.

http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewforum.php?f=46
I'm not sure I like announcements being separated from the rest of the threads. I don't like the page links for multiple pages being listed off to the side. I prefer our current method of listing them directly beneath the thread title. Listing it off to the side means that you scan down on side of the screen to find the thread you want, then your eyes have to move over to find the page number you want. Now, all we have to do is look directly beneath the topic we were looking for.

http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=405994
I don't like the username off to the right side of the screen. I also prefer our font better, but I suppose that can be changed easily. I like my Is to looks like Is, not ls. I do like their e-mail icon, it's nice and small. Though we'd need to come up with a PM icon that is dissimilar enough to not be confused with e-mail, yet still be readily identifiable as a PM icon. Our current PM/profile/etc, icons are a bit ugly and out of theme to me. I'm not sure I like the profile being accessible by clicking on the user's name, though. I like our SNs appearing as black. The new "Go-to-top" icon is nicer, too. It's less intrusive. Maybe we could come up with a tiny little icon like that for profiles. A tiny "P" in a circle, maybe?

I do not like their "online" banner that goes diagonally across the username portion of the post. I don't see any reason to identify that someone is online on every single one of their posts.

[jeep]

I hate the default look/feel. It's possible that the templating is easier...

It would require me to rewrite the game tags yet again. I'm going to set up a test forum so that I can get familiar with the new code, but I wouldn't migrate until there is a formal release, at least. And preferably at least one patch beyond that.

-JEEP

[Antrax]

Oh, of course. It just took several months since we decided on migrating from UBB to actually move to phpBB. I figured if we start considering it now, we'll be able to finish preparations should we choose to around the time a stable version is out.
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After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Courk*]

The margins around the pages seem really wide, too. I'm assuming that's just the way they have things set up.

To me at least, it would be preferable to have the same look, but with the extra security and whatnot the new version supplies. What exactly do you want us to look at? Do we have anything that you know we won't be able to carry over without exceptional hassle? I mean, if everything can be moved over, asking what I think of phpBB 3.0 is a bit pointless, since the effects will be something I won't see, but the fact that you are asking makes me wonder what wouldn't be movable.

[jeep]

Yeah, I think there is no reason we shouldn't do it... it's just a matter of when. And I think that the answer should be: After the first patched release AND after we have the style converted so that there is minimal undesirable impact to the look/feel.

-JEEP

[Jack_Ian]

User control Panel->Board Preferences -> Edit Display Options
allows one to turn display of signatures on/off

Worth it just for that.

BTW I have set up a user GLTestUser with p/w spyderz for anyone who wants to use it on http://www.phpbb.com/community/

The forum seems quite cluttered when compared to the classic simplicity of the GL fora.

Hopefully, keeping this simplicity will not prove too difficult.

[Antrax]

There's a small and effective mod to disallow signature display for phpBB 2.x, as well. I don't recall there ever being a strong enough demand for it -- usually members with annoying signatures were just politely requested to change them.
Courk, I have no idea what phpBB 3.0 code looks like, so I honestly can't tell. I suspect all of our custom mods will have to be rewritten (spoiler/sub tags easily, post hover shouldn't be a problem, spam button we no longer need, but the game mods will be a lot of hassle, I expect), but this is just a guess.
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After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Nsof]

If and when you do this, will you be running a test where users can try to use the new version and provide feedback? (It would also allow me some time to update my show/hide spoiler script before deployment.)
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Will sell this place for beer

[Antrax]

Very likely yes. We'll need a place to test code changes, and to tweak the new byzantium theme.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Courk]

Any chance that the new version will help with the search feature?

[Antrax]

Yes.
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After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Courk]

Testing with GLTestUser, I don't like the way you click to post, it takes you to a log in screen, you log in, then it takes you to a screen that says you have successfully logged in and gives a link to the previous page, which actually takes you to the posting window. [/runon] I like our current method where, if you successfully log in, you're taken directly to the posting screen. No middle step. I don't know if that can be changed.

A Save feature for posts in progress? I don't think that's necessary.

Some of the smilies are even worse than what we got with the move a few years ago.

I'm not a big fan of their edit and quote buttons.

You can send PMs to multiple people and can send BCC PMs. That's something I'd like to see stay.

PMs can be saved -- that might actually be handy. I find the loading saved posts procedure to be a bit confusing since it has two links for each message, and only one loads the saved text, but the PM version has only the one link and would be very useful for setting up mafia games. You could type the PMs and save them there to send when ready.

I like having a "New PM" icon instead of "Post New." Though I don't like their specific design.

They have a flash tag: [flash=] What is this?

[Courk]

Manage Friends and Foes? I don't like that at all.

[Courk]

Finally figured out the flash tag. I can see that getting abused and being annoying. Let's not use that.

[Antrax]

Frankly, I also feel phpBB3 has way too many featutres. I'm also worried about server load, as the temp server I played with it on seemed to sweat it a lot.
And yeah, way too many clicks. Wait until you see the admin interface
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After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Courk]

I'm not an admin, so I don't care how many buttons y'all have to push.

Is the mod panel bad, too? What we have now seems pretty straight forward, and I can't honestly think of a big reason to change it. I suppose it could be a bit more streamlined, but that's all out of your control. I just want to know if it's changed for the worse and why?

I understand waiting for a more stable release, any ideas when that would be? I don't know how fast these things work. Is it a few months, another year?

[Dented Ford]

I don't know what weight you want to give to my opinion, but I would say that the content here is more important than the engine/look/click-factor.
I don't think there's a lot to be gained by upgrading for the sake of fancy looks, but upgrades should be made in order to benefit from improved security, hack and abuse resistance, as well as improved searches and features like the multiple/BCC PMs that Courk mentions. These would be handy, especially for the game mods to set up and control games.
So I would say that it seems you are taking the right view of an upgrade, in that yes, it's on the agenda, will be done when you feel the time is right and the system is proven stable and works as expected.

[Samadhi]

[Courk]

I wouldn't use it, but it wouldn't bother me to have it if others do feel a need for it. I typically type my longer posts in notepad first before I even open the reply window.

DF, your opinion matters (I cannot make that not sound like a dictator's PA announcement). We wouldn't be trying to change how the GL looks. That was one of the big issues with the switch from UBB to phpBB. I don't know if you were even lurking when the old boards were around. Here's what they looked like:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010411112920/www.greylabyrinth.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi
You can go to Grey Labyrinth Puzzles there to see what the forums and threads looked like, too. You'll see they're not all that different from what we have now.

So we won't be upgrading for fancy looks, though I imagine we'd be keeping anything that we found prettier than what we currently have. Not that I've found anything like that. Could it also be used as an opportunity to change things we may not be happy with now, like the PM/AIM/etc icons by any chance? *winning smile at Ant*

More reviewing: I don't like each post having a "Re: [thread title]" with it linking to the post in addition to the tiny page icon linking to the post. I'd hate to see the "Re: title" at all (I know what thread I'm reading), and making it a redundant link makes it that much more annoying.

[Samadhi]

I hate the re: too. I think it's an intended feature that would allow a responder to title their individual posts. IE "About your opinion on widgets..." This could be useful for a blog style dialogue that was continuous and had new subjects constantly coming up (I read one like that with multiple contributers). But in a thread it's worse than useless, it's annoying.
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And he lived happily ever after. Except for the dieing at the end and the heartbreak in between.

[Courk]

I see threads as usually normal conversation. When I'm talking to someone in real life, I don't hold up signs that say "I'm replying to your thoughts on ___." Even though our threads veer off topic quite a bit, it's easy enough to type "Oh, hey, that thing you said about ___, I just found out that ___."

[Logain]

[Beartalon]

[Antrax]

Dented Ford (and all), the GL is a site run by its users. It's been this way for several years. So, nobody should have any doubt regarding the importance of his or her opinion.
_________________
After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Courk]

[jeep]

The default behavior is for each post to have a subject... We've removed it here and we'd likely remove it in 3.0. Honestly, I think that we'd be removing a ton of stuff from 3.0.

-JEEP

[wordcross]

One thing i just noticed on our boards that we might change at some point:

The new Firefox (and maybe the old one) has a menu called "Bookmarks" for which the keyboard shortcut is alt+b. This means that one cannot use this shortcut when trying to bold parts of a post. I honestly don't use it that often, but there are people who might?
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[Courk]

alt+b does open the bookmarks for me with Firefox. However, alt+i and alt+u do nothing. Apparently it wouldn't work anyway.

[Jack_Ian]

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snood_(game)]Testing Special Characters in URL[/url]
works on 3.0 without the need for replacing any "special" characters with their %xx equivalent. (i.e. Testing Special Characters in URL)

[wordcross]

huh.... the quicktag shorcuts used to work for me. maybe the firefox updates have something to do with it?

Nevermind then
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[Courk]

But I *just* learned to use %28 and %29!

[jeep]

For the record, there is a RC2 now.

-JEEP