Three letters, two the same... WOW

[.Joel]

I just have to say, WOW.

I started using ikonboard 1 series, back about 8 yrs ago I think now.  Or somewhere there in that time.  It was all flat file, I moved from there to Yabb SE as php was starting to grow.  From there for some reason we switched to IPB, and used that with VB for most site since.  Had been years, and i still looked at the old Yabb SE forum for the memories.  I always liked Yabb SE because it was different to all the others, IPB, VB, and most of the other forum software on the market tries to be too damn similar.

I stumbled back in and decided to try SMF.  All I can say is WOW.  It still has that Yabb SE feel which I loved, it was unique, it made you feel like you were using something created differently, not just mimmicking the guy next door.

Two months ago I was appointed co-admin of another site, and we are in the process of moving everything over to a CMS (Joomla) and the forum from phpBB2 to SMF.

I would in short just like to say what an awsome job you have done with SMF.  It still is unique, and I love it.  I have read people say it is "cluttered" compared to other software.  I disagree, if that's their feeling change the skin a bit as I have.  But I feel so at home using it.

After the install I thought this was ok and I could "live with it" due to lack of features. Boy was I wrong...  I have now spent about 5 days playing with it, the more I stumble around the more I discover.

The commenting in the files is AMAZING!  I'm not a guru with php, but you have made it really really really easy to get around the core files and change code etc to template or modify it.  Excellent as it helps a newbie like me start to understand the system better.

Here's a link to what i'm working on: http://dev.extremekites.com.au/forum/index.php?topic=4.0 [nofollow] 

It is only a dev site, so not trying to gain members or hits etc etc.  Its just a blank forum but i'm proud of my 2 days skinning for the first time.  There are a few images and bugs i need to clean up, positioning of some text is slightly off.  But this is a testiment to the fact that you can pickup SMF, knowing nothing, and know something about it in the space of a very short time.

Thankyou for providing this great software free.

Kind Regards,

Joel Theodore

[MMJ]

Yes, compared to some forums it is very impressive.

[Daniel15]

Wow, your site looks very nice Joel! Keep up the good work
Indeed, you can do heaps of things with SMF, which are just not possible with other forum systems. The actual code itself is thought out very well, and is very easy to modify