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punbb 1.3
Any plans to update this forum to the latest stable 1.3 version? I understand that it is not as simple considering the textile mod and the changes in the templating system but the software has nevertheless evolved with many extensions now authored and supported by the developers.
Yiannis
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Re: punbb 1.3
In addition to that, or perhaps in relation to it, it might be a good time to start thinking about the forum’s presentation against the theme integration of .com, .net, and .org (e.g., thoughts I threw out a while back: index and thread – disregarding the masthead there as the new one will be what comes from Matthew).
Further, I am convinced the Forum’s structure at the moment could use some attention. For a while there it really started to expand (with good intention, I know), but I think it went overboard in some cases. For one thing, I think there are too many subforums, to the point where new forum users probably don’t know where to look for anything or where to accurately post a question if they need to. Some forums are hardly used, and thus take up index real estate needlessly. Also, I would give an audit of all sticky posts that exist and make sure they are accurately communicating to the times. Do you really need a sticky post from Dean Allen? (Or for that matter from zem? Mary?) That sort of thing.
Finally, being we shouldn’t want devs spending their time on the forum, how about taking on some new, trusted forum managers to handle the updates, cleanup and presentation. That wouldn’t be me, but I would think somebody would like to step up to this fine opportunity.
Ed. That’s not a dis on Dean, zem, or Mary, I’m just saying, do you want information to reflect current times or not?
Last edited by Destry (2008-11-14 12:19:51)
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#3 2008-11-14 12:56:54
- els
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Re: punbb 1.3
Destry wrote:
Finally, being we shouldn’t want devs spending their time on the forum, how about taking on some new, trusted forum managers to handle the updates, cleanup and presentation. That wouldn’t be me, but I would think somebody would like to step up to this fine opportunity.
I couldn’t agree more. Ever since Mary stepped back there is no real ‘keeper’ of the forum, and this forum is big enough to need one. I don’t have the necessary skills, but surely there must be one or two people in this community who are PunBB-wise and are willing to put some time into this?
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Re: punbb 1.3
In the past, I’ve been a firm advocate of PunBB, but that’s in the past.
PunBB 1.3 stable was rushed out and should of been labeled an RC. As it stands now, whoever adopts 1.3 is essentially a tester and puts their community at risk. Should the PunBB code base remain your choice moving forward, then FluxBB would be a better option, but even then, we don’t know what the future holds for Flux.
If you’re going to go through the migrating pains, you should consider another code base, which is something Mary was looking into before she left.
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#5 2008-11-14 14:21:06
- els
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Re: punbb 1.3
Bert, you’re the expert :) But even if an upgrade or migration is not relevant at the moment, a new forum admin would still be welcome!
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Re: punbb 1.3
hcgtv wrote:
PunBB 1.3 stable was rushed out and should of been labeled an RC. As it stands now, whoever adopts 1.3 is essentially a tester and puts their community at risk. Should the PunBB code base remain your choice moving forward, then FluxBB would be a better option, but even then, we don’t know what the future holds for Flux.
I am not disagreeing with you Bert and our upgrade still has confirmed problems. It was however an easy decision as we manage a low traffic forum. Having said that, the antispam extension worked wonders for us and managed to stop a wave of automated registrations and posts which forced us to close new registrations for two months.
It might be an RC as you say but if this forum is handed over to the community, there are enough people here who speak php as a first language and it will be a matter of a very short time before many possible bugs are reported, pinpointed and squashed.
Last edited by colak (2008-11-14 15:17:10)
Yiannis
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Re: punbb 1.3
Anybody here to come out with a real plan for the future? I’ve no idea about the pros and cons of the various options like PunBB, FluxBB, bbPress ;- )
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Re: punbb 1.3
That looks like a green light for stepping up, folks.
You didn’t mention phpBB, but let me go ahead and say I’m not crazy about the interface of phpBB, it’s overly cluttered and seems to like buttons and smileys a lot. You could probably whittle that down, but maybe it’s better to start with a system that is already some steps to being usable (and dignified) out of the box.
In that respect, I like what exists now in terms of functionality and position of it. Just needs to be fewer forums, fewer stickies (maybe use the wiki for drafting forum help docs like they do here, for there, but in our case it could be less mechanical help and more of the procedural help — the things you would normally use 25 stickies to say), and less interface dialog like excessive descriptions and external links.
Last edited by Destry (2008-11-18 14:48:03)
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Re: punbb 1.3
fwiw I like the ethos behind PunBB (I guess FluxBB as it is now…); it fits nicely with its small footprint and fairly extensible / customisable nature, like Textpattern. It was easy to mod when I last played with it and does the job of offering a forum without too much bloat. The CSS is a total pig to work with, though.
When I was last researching, I found things like phpBB and Invision to be the Joomla of forums; absolutely chock full of stuff and unfeasibly configurable… if you could be arsed to fight the interface. In comparison, punBB didn’t have the extensive feature set out of the box but felt light, nimble and malleable (CSS notwithstanding).
That was based on v1.2.17; I can’t speak for its state now, so take my opinion with a silo of salt.
Last edited by Bloke (2008-11-18 15:05:49)
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Re: punbb 1.3
wet wrote:
Anybody here to come out with a real plan for the future?
Mary was looking into other forum packages, she had compiled a short list and was working on a plan. Maybe she can fill us in on her thoughts?
I’ve no idea about the pros and cons of the various options like PunBB, FluxBB, bbPress ;- )
The shortest path would be an upgrade to the next generation PunBB 1.3 or FluxBB 1.3. But of course, with any new code base, it will take a while to iron out the bugs.
One of the forums on Mary’s short list, was Phorum. It’s funny cause I also arrived at Phorum after reviewing all the available forums. There’s a conversion script in the making, just needs a nudge to finish it up. Phorum has a lot going for it, the module hook system is very mature and the templating system lets your imagination run wild.
Forum Matrix does a good job of highlighting the differences in all the forums available.
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Re: punbb 1.3
hcgtv wrote:
Forum Matrix does a good job of highlighting the differences in all the forums available.
Great link, thanks. I like the sound of Phorum. If it can take Textile and/or Markdown I might give it a spin on my testbed.
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Re: punbb 1.3
hcgtv wrote:
One of the forums on Mary’s short list, was Phorum. It’s funny cause I also arrived at Phorum after reviewing all the available forums. There’s a conversion script in the making, just needs a nudge to finish it up. Phorum has a lot going for it, the module hook system is very mature and the templating system lets your imagination run wild.
Looks interesting but I’m not certain if threaded posts are a good idea. Although it is there for usability, it actually makes the forum harder to follow as there is no good system yet regarding reading new posts etc.
I find punBB the simplest most elegant solution. Yes, it has its problems but tell me a software which doesn’t.
One thing that I think that we would all agree is that part of the success of txp is its community and that community was developed through this PunBB forum.
Regarding reducing the number of forums, I think that it is worth discussing but on a thread of its own…
Last edited by colak (2008-11-18 15:58:54)
Yiannis
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Re: punbb 1.3
Bloke wrote:
I like the sound of Phorum. If it can take Textile and/or Markdown I might give it a spin on my testbed.
I don’t want to sidetrack this post but on the subject of Textile in a forum, I think it should be a per user option. Forcing everybody to use Textile or Markdown over BBCode can be confusing to the new TxP user, even I get confused at times. BBCode is the standard on all forums, and if you bounce around forums like I do, visiting this forum makes you have to think when posting and that could turn off posters. With a well implemented BBCode toolbar, like Phorum has, Textile becomes less of a need, at least that’s my thinking.
colak wrote:
Looks interesting but I’m not certain if threaded posts are a good idea. Although it is there for usability, it actually makes the forum harder to follow as there is no good system yet regarding reading new posts etc.
Threaded posts are an option, you can toggle them on and off. As for new posts, there is a recent messages module that has many options to follow new messages. There’s talk of making the recent messages module more interactive, since Ajax has been introduced into Phorum. I believe the goal is to set the screen to auto update whenever a new post or reply is made (great for moderators).
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Re: punbb 1.3
Thanks for the matrix link, Bert. Giving the systems a cursory glance, I don’t think I’d touch most of them for one reason or another:
- ASP
- .NET
- no UTF-8 support
- costs money
- blatant visual rip-off of phpBB (bad choice anyway)
- too new (and likely small community)
I’ve always liked punBB for it’s straightforward interface and ideals (like Bloke was getting at), but Phorum is interesting and the simplified templating could be very useful here. I think it’s a bit odd they say they are “the original” forum system around since 1998. I’ve never heard of them until today. Still, a plausible candidate.
As for BBCode, I don’t like it, bu I can fly either way if I have to (and do in the various forums I participate in), because I know the Textile implementation is not a cinch to do and maintain (at least it didn’t used to be). Bert might be right about forum newbies, but us vets, I’m sure, would not like to see Textile go, which has been functioning in this forum since day one (I’m fairly certain). A functioning, stable option at the very least.
Colak, you’re right about the discussion of architecture (forums and such) being a new thread, but it’s probably premature until there are named forum dedicants (I made that up, meaning dedicated forum masters) and picked a system, definitively.
I nominate Yiannis and Bert to be co-forum managers!
Last edited by Destry (2008-11-18 18:23:40)
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Re: punbb 1.3
hcgtv wrote:
… Textile in a forum, I think it should be a per user option.
Totally. That’s why I modded PunBB the way I did in that link up there; it’s BBCode out of the box/for new users, but each person had a dropdown that can be toggled between BBCode, Textile or Markdown. The admin has a global dropdown to enable/disable Textile or Markdown depending on whether they’ve installed either; the ones they haven’t enabled aren’t given as options to the users. If Phorum can be twisted into allowing something similar (plugin or hack), I’m all over it.
As for threaded forums, I don’t like them but to have the option would be great for those that do. And the AJAX-style recent message sounds interesting; would save having to click Show New Posts all the time or relying on feeds (for which I’ve never found a reader that agrees with me, but that’s a separate issue)
Destry wrote:
I nominate Yiannis and Bert to be co-forum managers!
Winner ;-)
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