Stop making us replace our code!

[onepiece]

I, personally, prefer "replaces" all the time because they are always accurate. It is hard to guess how a code is added when used "add before" and "add after", if you consider the blank returns and the white spaces.

I'd better see mod authors using "replaces" and making clean edits in the file, rather using "add before" or "add after" and messing the lines edited and the ones around. 90 percent of the conflicts I've seen caused by mods was just because of an inaccurate code addition by a mod.

Well, phpBB mods for example are usually very verbose and easy to understand even for beginners. I don't know if that is because of some policy or unwritten law of that community, or if SMF perhaps simply isn't built in an as practical way in terms of modification as phpBB is (something i noticed seemed very true in most cases early on), but the problems i'm aiming at could be taken care of.

It is surprising to see someone supporting customization side of phpBB. They are understandable for beginners, because there are no complex mods for phpBB -at least I know of-, like there is for SMF. Do you know of any mods like TinyPortal or zCommunity or SMF Media Gallery for phpBB? I do respect phpBB, but having coded for both softwares a lot I find it a lot harder to customize than SMF.

And sorry, but I find the expression "Stop making us replace our code!" quite disrespectful to mod authors. It is ultimately their choice, how to code their packages, as long as they stick with the guidelines.

[robinrobin]

Bunch of jealous conservationists, that's what you're behaving like since all you can come up with as reasons not to improve the modding community here are plain silly. Listen to what i'm saying and notice how i only want what's best for everyone, and by very little effort.

so now you want to sling insults about because people debate with you

if phpBB is so ******ing great ****** of there and kiss there arses for being better than smf

You are clearly rather young so i apologize for making life tough for you. Youngsters don't need more of that. I however refuse to let you publicly twist the words that i wrote to fit your illogical view just because you misunderstood.

phpBB's modding community is great due to the rules and guidelines that the authors have set up. This has nothing to do with the work of the modders themselves, but the way that the authors of SMF let modders use installation-instructions to allow mods to take part of the official mods base. There is as much hard work going on here as in any modding community.

I actually think that the more you limit the ways of getting to a certain end, the less variety and willing coders in that department we would get... I may be wrong though...

What about the minority who actually likes to play around with code, and/or would be willing to do more to get all they can out of the provided software, or the few who just like to very heavily mod their forums?

The phpBB team had to put up some limits since their software was a ******hole in terms of security and was too easy to abuse. But that's what you risk when you let modders mod things any way they like. Today, phpBB has a very competent modding community thanks to this. And the install instructions are really good since they almost only consist of add, remove and inline-find instructions rather than replace when possible, which is very often. If you think that stricter guidelines turn people away you are clearly mistaken since phpBB isn't only the most popular but also the fastest growing BB software there is. The more people, the more modders. The fact that tons of mods actually work together in phpBB due to what i've just talked about and that even newbies have to learn how to manually install code (which is very easy due to the verbose instructions) should if anything make modders MORE interested in modding for phpBB since there is greater chance that the mods will work regardless of what theme or other mods that you use.

What i just wrote isn't in favor SMF either, in terms of your second paragraph. There's a lot more actual manual coding going on in, for example, phpBB than here. And it's easier to modify it since phpBB is easier to understand and learn in the core.

I, personally, prefer "replaces" all the time because they are always accurate. It is hard to guess how a code is added when used "add before" and "add after", if you consider the blank returns and the white spaces.

I'd better see mod authors using "replaces" and making clean edits in the file, rather using "add before" or "add after" and messing the lines edited and the ones around. 90 percent of the conflicts I've seen caused by mods was just because of an inaccurate code addition by a mod.

Well, phpBB mods for example are usually very verbose and easy to understand even for beginners. I don't know if that is because of some policy or unwritten law of that community, or if SMF perhaps simply isn't built in an as practical way in terms of modification as phpBB is (something i noticed seemed very true in most cases early on), but the problems i'm aiming at could be taken care of.

It is surprising to see someone supporting customization side of phpBB. They are understandable for beginners, because there are no complex mods for phpBB -at least I know of-, like there is for SMF. Do you know of any mods like TinyPortal or zCommunity or SMF Media Gallery for phpBB? I do respect phpBB, but having coded for both softwares a lot I find it a lot harder to customize than SMF.

And sorry, but I find the expression "Stop making us replace our code!" quite disrespectful to mod authors. It is ultimately their choice, how to code their packages, as long as they stick with the guidelines.

Replaces are NEVER accurate if you are running a different theme than any of the ones that each mod has native support for and/or your forum already is heavily modded. You'll have to manually get in there in the ugly instructions anyway. I have never ever experienced a faulty instruction with any phpBB mod due to white-space, again, thanks to the cleverly set up guidelines there ARE no white-spaces in any find or inline-find instructions of a phpBB mod. They split it down to several finds instead, to find the right paragraph of code.

Well that proves my indirect point a bit; SMF modders can be sloppy all they want because they aren't forced to make perfect instructions. I'm NOT saying they are, so don't take the words out of my posts and twist them around too, please. Do you know how hard it is to get into the official mods base in phpBB? The strictness has nothing to do with how enjoyable it is to mod, because it doesn't limit your imagination. It simply makes instructions more verbose and makes modders more keen on security.

Wow, you're kinda new to the scene, aren't you? The customization is the REASON why phpBB is the most popular and fastest growing BB software even still. No complex mods? Hehe, you go ahead and enter the modding boards in the forums and you'll learn what complex is. The reason why they're not in the official mods base is BECAUSE of their complexity. There are a LOT more portal, gallery and blogging mods for phpBB than for any other BB software i've ever tried, even for the relatively new version of the BB. Well i'm glad that you find modding for SMF to be easier. phpBB's modding base doesn't exactly need more modders.

Well i'm sorry if i insulted any of the hard workers here. I've been trying to complement their amazing work as much as i could in between all this. And as i've said before; it's not their fault that the install-instructions aren't better. But you have to admit that it does seem a little jiffy that the freedom of modders here at SMF is the only difference between this place and phpBB, and perhaps the difference between the amount of users, because SMF is the best out-of-the-box BB software on the planet, and that's why i'm here.

[onepiece]

Replaces are NEVER accurate if you are running a different theme than any of the ones that each mod has native support for and/or your forum already is heavily modded. You'll have to manually get in there in the ugly instructions anyway. I have never ever experienced a faulty instruction with any phpBB mod due to white-space, again, thanks to the cleverly set up guidelines there ARE no white-spaces in any find or inline-find instructions of a phpBB mod. They split it down to several finds instead, to find the right paragraph of code.

"Replace"s are always accurate. If code is not found, "Add before" and "Add after" will fail too. And I can't see how "Replace" being more difficult than "Add"s for manual installations. They are the same when you find the "Search" code.

Well that proves my indirect point a bit; SMF modders can be sloppy all they want because they aren't forced to make perfect instructions. I'm NOT saying they are, so don't take the words out of my posts and twist them around too, please. Do you know how hard it is to get into the official mods base in phpBB? The strictness has nothing to do with how enjoyable it is to mod, because it doesn't limit your imagination. It simply makes instructions more verbose and makes modders more keen on security.

No, they are not forced. That's why SMF has a huge mod database with decent mods in it. Why would you bother with white-spaces and making the mod compatible with every mod, when it is secure, stable and works on a vanilla forum? There is a thin line between asking for quality and being picky.

Wow, you're kinda new to the scene, aren't you? The customization is the REASON why phpBB is the most popular and fastest growing BB software even still. No complex mods? Hehe, you go ahead and enter the modding boards in the forums and you'll learn what complex is. The reason why they're not in the official mods base is BECAUSE of their complexity. There are a LOT more portal, gallery and blogging mods for phpBB than for any other BB software i've ever tried, even for the relatively new version of the BB. Well i'm glad that you find modding for SMF to be easier. phpBB's modding base doesn't exactly need more modders.

I recently searched for a portal mod for one of phpBB3 forums and all I could find was something like SimplePortal 1.0 for SMF. Though they doesn't mean much to me when they are not in the official mod base. The idea of complex mods not being there because of they are "complex" doesn't sound logical. That means they aren't good enough; maybe even not stable and/or secure.