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Best Forum Software

Started by pokercapo, December 03, 2013, 02:27:53 AM

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pokercapo

Hi,
i think that smf has the best forum software on this f planet.
The only thing that i dont understand is why oh why there is no plugin to intergrate smf into wordpress or joomla !!!
I'f seen many topics here about that issue and see the same ignorant replies
" Anything you can do in WP you can do in SMF !! "
thats a load of bull
I'am willing to pay for somebody that can help me out here and intergrate smf into my Wordpress site .
I love both systems and i need this to be done.
ATM i use Simple:Press at my site but i hate this Forum plugin.
So please can anybody help me out here?
Kind regards,
Erik

Ricky.

There are few plugins in WP and some in SMF which can integrate both which other but generally it is not advised as SMF along with portal can double as CMS (to certain extent). However, if you insist on using WP or Joomla then you can actually make both looks similar, there is also certain level of integration available but  are not really exciting and full of problems.


pokercapo

Hi Ricky,
Yes if seen that here about the bridges ( duo login )
The thing is that nobody seem to get it to work,and i am scared to ruin my wordpress site.
the bridges i found are at least 2 years old :(
If maybe you know a bridge that wil give me that dual login posibilty then GREAT !
I can then make smf look like my wp site.
Hope you or anybody can help me out with this
Cheers,

Arantor

Quotethats a load of bull

No it isn't. You can do anything in SMF that you could have done in WP - just not immediately out of the box, and I can guarantee you making your themes harmonise is a far far larger job than the bridge would be (speaking as someone who has ported WP themes to SMF in the past)

Kindred

and my replies in that vein are not ignorant...

I have more than 20+ years experience in making internet software work.... (yes, even before there was an internet)

I also run multiple SMF sites as well as several WordPress sites and even a few joomla sites...

Anything I can do in one, I can get the other to do....  the main idea is - determine what the focus of your site is going to be.
If your site is going to focus on content with blogs or forums as a side note, then Joomla is a greta way to go.
If your site is going to focus on blogs with content and/or a forum/community as a side note, then WordPress (as ugly as the coding is) works pretty well.
If the primary focus of your site is going to be a community/forum with everyone participating, but you want blogs or content as well, then SMF can handle that, without any other separate software

but... do what you want. There are a few bridges out there.
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Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

pokercapo

Dear Kindred,
wordpress has beter plugins and beter seo options then smf.
my site is a online gaming review site that publishes reviews everyday and blogs news of the online gambling and gaming world.
You can never do this as good as wordpress with your smf.
smf is ( for me)the best forum software !
But why you say that smfis beter then wp is a ridle to me and many others.
why would smf compete with wp ?
why not work together like simple:press does or phbb
WP is the best system for building a pretty and good seo optimised site.
And you with all your experience ! Dont you see that you could earn a lot of money by making a premium smf to wp intergration plugin?
Then again you probebly dont have sites to make money from but pure as a hobby
Cheers,

Arantor

Quotewordpress has beter plugins and beter seo options then smf.

It has *more* plugins. Having 15 different gallery options isn't necessarily a good thing.

Quotemy site is a online gaming review site that publishes reviews everyday and blogs news of the online gambling and gaming world.

So make it a blog and be done with it.

QuoteYou can never do this as good as wordpress with your smf.

I can but I'm an SMF expert. I once built an accounting system on top of SMF.

QuoteWP is the best system for building a pretty and good seo optimised site.

The fact that you can't actually optimise content you don't control is, of course, totally irrelevant.

QuoteDont you see that you could earn a lot of money by making a premium smf to wp intergration plugin?

This will result in a large number of complaints from our users who seem to feel that everything should be free and generally object to paying for anything.

We (the developer team) are not going to touch a WP integration for 2.1, it is unlikely for us to do so for 3.0 either but that's because we have other plans anyway.

pokercapo

whatever smf experts !!!
smf is the world's best site builder :P
    (((  my site is a online gaming review site that publishes reviews everyday and blogs news of the online gambling and gaming world.


So make it a blog and be done with it. ;D ;D ;D

))

i need both !!!
can you do this with smf ?????
http://themeforest.net/item/powermag-the-most-muscular-magazinereviews-theme/4740939 [nofollow]

Arantor

If *you* want a blog, use a blog. Me, I'll just convert a WP theme to SMF and roll it myself.

For example, crossingoverland.com is actually entirely SMF.

Yes, I probably could do that on SMF with a bit of time. I just can't do it magically (and neither could you even with a bridge)

pokercapo

i did not say i could do that.
i only need a dual login for my site and community
and btw you site crossingoverland.com [nofollow] is a simpel blog main page with forum.
nothing special there,even i can make that with smf

Arantor

Quoteand btw you site crossingoverland.com is a simpel blog main page with forum.

Except there's no blog component there. There's also things like geotagging of posts and a gallery.

Quotei did not say i could do that.
i only need a dual login for my site and community

You said you wanted a dual login, followed by having to modify your theme. So you'd have to modify your theme (and you're going to have *so* much fun doing that as opposed to grabbing SMF and a portal mod and using one standard theme across the entire site)

As for your example, yes that could be done in SMF, just no-one has done it yet. But it's far from impossible, it's just not pre-made and off the shelf. There are plenty of things that can't be done in WP pre-made and out of the box.

But honestly the argument is going nowhere.

Kindred

and actually, yes...  I can make a site like that in SMF without too much trouble.
http://www.askawitchcommunity.org

Gallery (had a slider module but didn't like it)
several custom modules (moon phase, RSS feed, Wikipedia
FAQ
Glossary
Articles
Affiliates
Link list
facebook integration
FanFic/Writing component

I could have blogs too... but those did not suit the intention of the site...

So - yes, I believe that I can do anything from wordpress, either the same or better, using SMF.
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

IchBin™

I have to say guys, your replies are very off-putting.  Sure you can do everything in SMF that WP can do, but that's not what people want. People want to use both. No reason to constantly barrage people with telling them they are all wrong. Why not just encourage people to write the bridge, or update one that could work with the latest and greatest SMF? The fact of the matter is SMF isn't doing what they want that a Blog is doing. They don't want to have to do all sorts of customizing things, when they can get what they want out of a box in both software.

This attitude you guys have is driving away people that would use SMF, and at worst someone that could possibly turn out to be a contributor.  People aren't experts at doing this like you guys. You have to cater to those who know just enough to install a piece of software, and if they are lucky they can get a bridge to help merge the bits they want. If I were to look around and look at the requests that are made for SMF, I'd wager money that a WP bridge is one of those top items. Not saying you guys have to work on it, but at least stop shoving people into the "SMF can do anything hole". Maybe just a "Sorry, the bridges that have worked on here (link). If they don't work for you, maybe try to get someone to update it for you. We don't have the time or man power at the moment."...
IchBin™        TinyPortal

Arantor

I have told people in the past that we don't have the time or the manpower; this is of course irrelevant - so I have to step it up to stating flat out that we're not working on it for probably 18 months to 2 years and even then the message doesn't sink in that we have neither the time, the energy or the desire to do so - and even then no-one cares as long as they get what they want.

It's, of course, much easier to complain than to actually do something about it. I have been busy working on improving 2.1, because that to me is infinitely more important than spending time on something that a minority of users want.

I personally would also rather build CMS functionality rather than integrating the terrible mess of code that is WP - but that's just me.

IchBin™

I know it's an OCD with you and unanswered topics ;), but maybe just stop replying will help you. :D Users will get the point, if they don't then that is there problem.
IchBin™        TinyPortal

Arantor

Quote from: IchBin™ on December 03, 2013, 09:50:12 PM
I know it's an OCD with you and unanswered topics ;), but maybe just stop replying will help you. :D Users will get the point, if they don't then that is there problem.

You did know I have issues with autism, right? And users will continue to complain one way or the other until a bridge occurs and then someone has to maintain it, and then someone will complain that it doesn't integrate their theme. Been there, done that.

But of course, if you'd rather I didn't reply to topics, that's easily fixable. It'll just need people to tell me when there's bugs and whatnot that I need to work on amongst everything else I need to do.

IchBin™

You do know how to take a joke right?  My point is, if all you guys (not just you) are going to do is badger members about the above mentioned problems, there's no reason to reply.  Just encourage people. There's no reason to discourage them, especially if you want other developers to get interested in helping on these things.
IchBin™        TinyPortal

pokercapo

Its hopeless,
Look at Kindred for example !
He gives example of what he can do with smf,lol but its a simpel community that has nothing special
You can do all with smf that WP can you say ? and i give you the powermag wordpress magazinereviews-theme as example ( witch is my current theme.
and you show me that ugly site
(  and actually, yes...  I can make a site like that in SMF without too much trouble.
http://www.askawitchcommunity.org [nofollow]

Gallery (had a slider module but didn't like it)
several custom modules (moon phase, RSS feed, Wikipedia )

I give up !!

for whatever its worth ,close this topic as solved :P

Ricky.

I do agree with IchBin that we can have little better or softer approach on this, lets hope we will have someone to code for it, may be lets get 2.1 to beta or RC then I can devote some time to it. However, Beeblebrox is also right that we can have CMS thing in it but lately he himself had denied  in one discussion .
For pokercapo, had once done a small SMF site and even portal was not used, guy was really happy with end result..
http://sanitationwan.net/

Kindred

one thing, pokercapo, please learn how to use the quote tags?
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Suki

Quote from: pokercapo on December 03, 2013, 04:55:30 AM
Hi Ricky,
Yes if seen that here about the bridges ( duo login )
The thing is that nobody seem to get it to work,and i am scared to ruin my wordpress site.
the bridges i found are at least 2 years old :(
If maybe you know a bridge that wil give me that dual login posibilty then GREAT !
I can then make smf look like my wp site.
Hope you or anybody can help me out with this
Cheers,


Well, you can make a back up of your site and work on it on local, the very few bridges I've done I made them it with http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=3008

Sure, its 2 years old but that doesn't mean you can't give it a try, it is for WP 3.0 and you don't mention what WP version you're using or eve what SMF version you're using so even if I want to help out, I can't because I don't know all the details. All I know is that mod works with SMF 2.0.x and will most likely work with 2.1 with a few changes.

Matching themes is as easy or complicated as you want it to be, I've been porting WP themes to SMF for my own use and most of the time I only use the header and footer from the WP theme (and maybe its css rule for things like buttons, textareas, lists, menus, etc), the rest is just adjusting the colors and backgrounds in the SMF theme to match the one in your WP.
Disclaimer: unless otherwise stated, all my posts are personal and does not represent any views or opinions held by Simple Machines.

pokercapo

Hi Suki,
Thanks for your replie
my wordpress version is 3.7.1 and i did try that BlogBridge plugin with a new 2.0 RC5 smf version

The thing is that i got a few errors like

1 - Existing WP users aren't added to SMF
2-  When i try to install a new template i get an error saying ( An Error Has Occurred!
Session verification failed. Please try logging out and back in again )
3 -SMF login is not redirecting back to wordpress

Im trying now again with a fresh smf install and hope it works now.

:)

Cheers,
Erik

Arantor

Also, SMF 2.0 RC5 is now several years old with a number of security holes in it (there's a reason 2.0 and 6 subsequent patches came out)

Suki

Quote from: pokercapo on December 04, 2013, 01:19:48 PM
Hi Suki,
Thanks for your replie
my wordpress version is 3.7.1 and i did try that BlogBridge plugin with a new 2.0 RC5 smf version

The thing is that i got a few errors like

1 - Existing WP users aren't added to SMF
2-  When i try to install a new template i get an error saying ( An Error Has Occurred!
Session verification failed. Please try logging out and back in again )
3 -SMF login is not redirecting back to wordpress

Im trying now again with a fresh smf install and hope it works now.

:)

Cheers,
Erik

Well, the mod can be used on a 2.0.6 or later SMF installation by using How can I install a mod that doesn't work in my SMF version?

As for the errors, existing users are only added to SMF when they log in again, in theory, all your users needs to do is log off and log in on your wordpress site.

2.- I've seen the session error before, do you use WP and SMF both on subdomains?

3.- This is new, is been a while since I looked at the code but I'll check it out again to see what I can find.
Disclaimer: unless otherwise stated, all my posts are personal and does not represent any views or opinions held by Simple Machines.

pokercapo

Hi Suki,
i use WP in my main root casinocribs.com [nofollow]
and i placed smf in a folder called casinocribs.com/community [nofollow]

It''s not easy to fix this i gues
Cheers,.
Erik

Suki

Quote from: pokercapo on December 06, 2013, 04:52:55 AM
Hi Suki,
i use WP in my main root casinocribs.com
and i placed smf in a folder called casinocribs.com/community

It''s not easy to fix this i gues
Cheers,.
Erik

I will check it out to see what I can find, in the meanwhile, try the attached package found in the last reply to its support topic: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=434738.msg3635126#msg3635126 (the mod itself is licensed as MPL 1.1 so redistribution is absolutely OK)
Disclaimer: unless otherwise stated, all my posts are personal and does not represent any views or opinions held by Simple Machines.

pokercapo


Draffi

@Suki: Are you sure, this version of the mod is "safe" (The author has only one post...)

At all the discussion, all the people here forget something important: the user !!!

First you need to know, that i`m usinf SMF since 2008. Last year i was changing to vB 4.2 - And i was terrible dissapointed - from the ACP...to complicated, to much settings....sure, it is powerfull but i never was lucky with this desicion as an Admin.

Furthermore, there was no good portal outside (until today, is not) and the Support in the community was (is?) more than terrible. Good was only, that the Modification was installed AFTER a new template/theme was uploading...

BUT:

My members was happy! The editor was easy and great and when they search something, they found ALL (Blog, Gallery-Pictures, Articles). The profile Page is super, Buddy/Groups was creating easy and out-of-the-box. GREAT

Sure, for you (sorry: SMF-Nerds & Geeks...all the Pros) it is easy to make this, but for the "normal" admin it is far away to archive this:
I can install Gallery, Download and Blogs, Articles-System, a WIKI-Bridge, and...and...and... But for ALL OF THEM I HAVE AN SEPARATE SEARCH-FUNCTION !!!

This make every SMF-powered page looking like....No, better is write "amateur"

Anyway - after 6 month i was converting back my board to SMF, but for only 4 reasons:
1. Before i have an working Send PM with Attachment-Modification
2. It was more easy for me to change small things in the templates-files, what was not so easy in vB.
3. The Portal-Function from SimplePortal
4. I was missing the "clear" (and simple) ACP

All what i have now is the wish, that SMF have Gallery, Download, Article, Link-Directory System inside out-of the-box, with a search function for all of them and a better looking, real WYSIWYG editor. And a better profile-page with a more cleaner design. Not for me, i wish this for my user !!!


At least: content, content, content is important (maybe i forget a "content"...)- so the possibility to write some articles (for SEO-purposes) its now important for me.
And yes, i know, i can do this with SMF, but this is nothing more than an Article-Board inside the forum, showing with a Portal-mod on the starting page...HarHar...great Joke. What happends with Pictures inside the text? oh...sure, i can install ILA-Mod or use a gallery with IMG-Tag....Great solution !

BTW: the new page http://www.cms2cms.com helps, to switch easily between the different CMS-Systems...enough money in the pocket is required... :(




Arantor

QuoteAll what i have now is the wish, that SMF have Gallery, Download, Article, Link-Directory System inside out-of the-box,

Never going to happen. Most users do not want all those functions.

Draffi

yes, sure...the user HERE.

I was talking from the user (member) of a board.

i see many user (here) what have a Board (Forum) for a couple of years, month. When i look thru the "Showcase" here (or in SP.net) a lot of forums are closed and gone.

Why?

Today it is not enough to offer only a forum. We are living in times with facebook, twitter, google - the user (from boards) want to share something (impressions, story, coding, what ever...)

This is the reason, why vB or IBP or Kunena (together with joomla) have more success and used by big pages/sites: they can share and offer CONTENT.

When i see big SMF communitys, they have gallery, arcade, Downloads, Articles and... furthermore, they are often bridged (or behing Wordpress/Joomla/something else...)

Thats my personal opinion.


Kindred

See, I disagree with you here, Bloc...

I agree that those "features" should be available - but I think they should almost definitely ALWAYS be mods.

I run several sites... every one of those "features" listed has been used on one or more of them... but none of those sites use ALL of those listed items....
and by forcing the MAIN script to have ALL of them, you have now increased the code by a large factor, including points of failure  --   for a low return, over all.

Where-as, if those "features" are offered as MODS, then the admin installs the ones he WANTS only... thus allowing SMF to be kept slim and sleek... with a lower count of possible failure points and a higher probability of identifying and fixing issues that arise fomr the mods rather than the core code.
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Draffi

After the last weeks i was checking many Forum and CMS-Software.

Starting with Joomla and Wordpress, going thru phpBB and vBulletin, not to forget Xenforo and IPB, i was taking a decession.

Since my Board have more than 80K postings and 5K Members, i was looking for a "complete" solution:
- a search function what integrate all (not a Search in Download, Search in Members, search in Gallery-Solution on every single page...)
- a content solution, what gave me the possibility to write articles WITH pictures inside
- an easy system for Modifications (without manually edit some kind of files)
- and a cleaner, more WEB 2.0 based layout
- ...

I found IPB !!!

At this stage, i want to say thank you for all the Support here and for this nice, lovely community - I`m, sure, that IPB have not this kind of Community, since it is a commercial Software.

T*H*A*N*K    Y*O*U   !!!!

(and good bye... :'()

i will look sometimes later here, for to see how SMF will going...

This was my short 5-years-storie with SMF

B*Y*E


Ricky.

Thank you that you came here and gave your time to tell us about your final decision.

Raths Rants

I think (myself included) why people want a bridge for Joomla and WordPress is because they look prettier out of the box with little to no effort. They want the look of Joomla or WordPress but the functionality of SMF.

I have fiddled with all the major CMS software out there and keep coming back to SMF.

Would be nice if someday SMF wouldn't quite look like forum software while keeping all the awesomeness it has :)
The DDC Network
a lot of hard work goes into easy

Arantor

Except a bridge won't solve any of that.

Armada

Let's forget visual (theme) integration between SMF and Wordpress just for a minute.

Let's say we have an established SMF forum.
Let's say that we have a front-end to the site that we are happy with too.

OK, so let's say that we also want to use Wordpress in a subdirectory somewhere, and we want people who are logged into the forum to also be able to contribute articles.

How would that be done?
--- SMF Rocks even more than YabbSE---

Mike L

Quote from: Draffi on December 21, 2013, 08:23:32 PMI found IPB !!!

T*H*A*N*K    Y*O*U   !!!!

(and good bye... :'()

B*Y*E

Recently made a similar journey but in the other direction. No regrets here  :)

Frantix

Quote from: Armada on January 20, 2014, 10:53:30 AM
Let's forget visual (theme) integration between SMF and Wordpress just for a minute.

Let's say we have an established SMF forum.
Let's say that we have a front-end to the site that we are happy with too.

OK, so let's say that we also want to use Wordpress in a subdirectory somewhere, and we want people who are logged into the forum to also be able to contribute articles.

How would that be done?

I'm 100% with you on this and the previous post about it being "prettier out of the box".  I'm not looking for something to revolutionize the world.  I simply want a unified method for logging into both so that I can have people seamlessly manage one account.  I don't want it to convert the theme, create a theme or cook me dinner, just unify my login.  I had this previously w/Joomla and ended up going with something else, which could, for multiple forums so people could manage one account.  You probably only see the people making comments that have forums up, those who can't find anything in the early stages more than likely move on without spending too much time here.  Maybe it's not clear that people are looking only for seamless login between products?  I'm in process of resurrecting something and I need to do it in the next few months so we'll see.  I had started it at another time and did my own SMF to PHPBB port that went fairly well but I've lost the thought process at this point but may still have my notes.  Odd, seeing some of the responses here reminded me of similar combative responses in the past. 
Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive. -Andy Grove

Armada

Hey Frantix,

Did you get anywhere in the end in your journey to find an unified way to stay logged in when using Wordpress with SMF?

Armada
--- SMF Rocks even more than YabbSE---

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