SMF vs. phpBB - Differences and user friendlyness!

[metallica48423]

no automatic mod system is perfect. actually on hosts and configurations that allow it, smf does its own backup in the backups folder inside the packages folder

[Ol' Wombat]

no automatic mod system is perfect.

one would expect the un-installation of a mod to be able to restore the forum like it was before but nada so far for my little experience.

I am not sure is the backup in the packages folder to the minute? (made just before the mod's installation)?

For my part I make a cPanel home-dir backup every time the minute before I dare to install any mod. That way I can extract the forum folder just in case - I like to be on a double safe side 

[metallica48423]

yes its made just before install

generally speaking, the mod system initiates the same instructions in reverse order -- its when you have the same part of code modified by 2 mods that causes it to fail to uninstall.  In those cases they'd have to be uninstalled in reverse order they were installed.

When that happens i just replace all the files and reinstall the mods i need

[Ol' Wombat]

yes its made just before install

generally speaking, the mod system initiates the same instructions in reverse order -- its when you have the same part of code modified by 2 mods that causes it to fail to uninstall.  In those cases they'd have to be uninstalled in reverse order they were installed.

When that happens i just replace all the files and reinstall the mods i need

I tried a handful mods - uninstallation usually threw errors like "Hacker?" or pretended to be successful but looking into the web space these files were still there (not deleted) and admin panel links were still in place (not removed).

One mod, not sure which one was it, I installed/uninstalled twice and looking into the code this mod wrote his functions *twice* into the code causing even more mess and errors.

To me the package-install  thingy (mods) appears a fair bit fishy.

I appreciate all the mods publicly released but feel there is need for some sort of quality-code assurance system in place. People just need to be sure the code is not smashing their forum (worst case I experienced with sBox) and a package restores properly when uninstalling.

just my thoughts 

[metallica48423]

theres always room for improvement but i'm gonna have to say i doubt your problems are the package manager or the mods themselves.

Sometimes the server environment can contribute significantly to these types of things, particularly the double installs and such.

The "Hacker?" messages happen when an improperly coded *or* potentially destructive package is attempted to be loaded, if i remember correctly.  I'd have to look at what exactly trigggers it.  it is a security thing, though.

Who is your host? which mods were you installing?

[Ol' Wombat]

....
Who is your host? which mods were you installing?

my host is http://www.xhostsolutions.com.au/ and I am fairly happy with that service using an Australian based server.

which mods? really can't remember everything except sBox was evil for me and global headers & footers doubled the text (sigh). Ok, I was just "playing" around with those mods without real need to have it installed and working. I was just testing how it works out.

it's not of big importance to me - the forum itself works flawless and all is well as long as I do not attempt to install 3rd party mods (cough).

   

[metallica48423]

i'm not saying its definitely the host -- just based off my experience i've seen that be a factor sometimes

Peronally i manually install all my mods (which is like 3 of them).  The only auto installed package i have is my custom site integration package on my page -- not because the package manager doesn't work but rather because I feel better knowing its my own handiwork..  I do not trust mods by default

[franklinrony]

be secure with smf , very good support , the smf 2.0 integrate more ajax

[motumbo]

I think the SMF board looks better. But what about customization and changing up the look of the forum? i.e I would like ads on the side, top and bottom of the forum. Will that be easy to do?

Also, is it possible to transfer the data from phpBB to the SMF forum?

Every forum has its strengths and weaknesses.  Compared to phpBB2, SMF has a lot more features right out of the box.  However, phpBB3 is very impressive and has a CSS layout, which means that doing theme customizations are going to be much, much easier than with SMF's table-based layout.

I know phpBB3 is still not finalized, but if you haven't seriously looked at it, you should.

As you've mentioned, SMF's default theme is not pretty.  Getting it to look like your site is going to take a considerable amount of time.  phpBB3's default theme isn't pretty, either, though. 

Choosing a forum is no trivial task, as getting it to look and work as you want it to can take many hours.  I know I've spent many frustrating hours working on my SMF forum. 

Choose wisely.