SMF is AWESOME except...

[taha116]

Hi id just like to say that SMF rules, and you should do more because phbb sucks compared to you guys! You should make a way to attract more programers to use your opensourse stuff cuz again its awesome and uses very little resourses. Look at wordpress its got sooooo many mods you should attract people who make complex mods like that to SMF.

Anyways the only complaint (more like constructive critiscm) i have is you should ensure that the MOds work properly cuz some say they will work an a version and they end up cauzing errors.You should tougen down on that.

One more suggestion
Please add one more thing! A demo site for themes, and make a standard so themes all work properly with mods like the defult core theme. Thats all

Your awesome!

[IchBin™]

How about some ideas on what you think could be improved to bring programmers to SMF? There is no way SMF could do support for all the mods. IF there is a problem with a mod, that should be taken up with the mod author. It really has little to do with SMF, unless its a bug in SMF causing the problem.

Theme demo site:
www.smfthemes.org

[SleePy]

Our customize site is a site with 3rd party customizations. We can not provide support for their work, we only allow for a easy central place for users like you to find customizations.

We are all volunteers here, so everything we do, including approving of new customizations, is something we do in our free time. Approving a single mod can take anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple hours depending on its size. So for us to have to check a mod every time it is updated, would only mean that you as the end user wouldn't see new mods as often.

If you are having issues with a mod or theme, you should ask the author in their support topic for that mod or theme. Each customization (mod or theme) we approve, has its own support topic. You can find a link to it on its page on the customize site. As well, that support topic may already have a solution to your question or issue you are having.

Note that the theme demo site is also a 3rd party site not hosted nor affiliated with Simple Machines LLC.

[taha116]

I agree 100% but im saying that you should reject Mods that people upload if they have false statments such as works with 1.1.6 when it dosent. Dont get me wrong im very gratefull just trying to make a positive suggestion to you guys

[Crasy]

I agree 100% but im saying that you should reject Mods that people upload if they have false statments such as works with 1.1.6 when it dosent. Dont get me wrong im very gratefull just trying to make a positive suggestion to you guys

I always thought they already did that 

[IchBin™]

Yes they should. If a mod doesn't work, then you should bring it up with the mod author in their topic. And if you see that others are having the same problem, then you should bring it to the attention of SMF if the author doesn't respond.

[taha116]

Thanks guys i already reported the mod as unsafe and commented on the issue

[Deprecated]

I agree 100% but im saying that you should reject Mods that people upload if they have false statments such as works with 1.1.6 when it dosent. Dont get me wrong im very gratefull just trying to make a positive suggestion to you guys

We generally test their mod with the version they say it works with, usually the current 1.x or 2.x version. (I'm using 1.1.7 today to test 1.1.6 mod packages.) If it doesn't work with the SMF they say (or both versions) then it's rejected until it does.

Just to repeat what was said earlier, we have only enough resources to test modification packages initially, up to the time they have been approved and have their support topic. Currently mods take a few days to a few weeks to approve, depending on available Custom Team volunteer time, and depending on how quickly mod authors respond to our critique and suggestions.

If we had to test every update of every mod, that wait period would be a few weeks to a few months, perhaps even longer. Even worse, many mod authors would just give up any thought of updating their mods or writing new ones.

You would end up with very few mods if we had to retest them after initial approval. A wide assortment of free mod packages is often cited as one of the reasons people prefer SMF over the competition.

[Deprecated]

Thanks guys i already reported the mod as unsafe and commented on the issue

Not unsafe, but dysfunctional. The download doesn't work. The mod author has been informed.

"Unsafe" generally means that it might either damage SMF or present a security risk. "Damage" would have to be more severe than "won't install," "causes errors," etc.

[tyhgdgh]

How about some ideas on what you think could be improved to bring programmers to SMF? There is no way SMF could do support for all the mods. IF there is a problem with a mod, that should be taken up with the mod author. It really has little to do with SMF, unless its a bug in SMF causing the problem.

Theme demo site:
www.smfthemes.org

heres one...

groups, sorta like users are in a Club, where they can chat. Sorta like a social lounge. you just talk about what the Topic is. Like lets say Games, there would be a Social group of that and people join it and they talk about it more and more as time grows.

[sugarengine]

As for attracting more programmers...

Has SMF ever applied for a google SoC thingy?

Just curious.

[taha116]

yeah i agree...but they shold do sumthin radical...anyways i don know wat tht gogle thing ur takin about is

[Xarcell]

I agree 100% but im saying that you should reject Mods that people upload if they have false statments such as works with 1.1.6 when it dosent. Dont get me wrong im very gratefull just trying to make a positive suggestion to you guys

Something you need to keep in mind is that most mod's are designed for the default theme(as it should be). If you are using a theme other than the default than it will not work.

I'm not saying this is your case entirely, but 90% of the time that's the issue as to why a mod isn't working with the version of SMF that it says it does.

MOD authors are responsible for there own mods, but they can't possibly be responsible for making sure it works with all themes either.

SMF 2.0 will try to install a mod across all themes installed, which solves alot of that, but some themes it will not work. You'll need to manually add the script onto that theme.

[Deprecated]

Easily two-thirds of my mod package support problems resolve to careless work by other mod authors, usually stepping on search lines and for example inserting or deleting a tab, or their code ends up on the same line because they unintentionally deleted a line-feed.

Some modifications don't modify theme files so I'm pretty sure they are largely immune to theme problems.

It would be nice if the developers could think of ways to reduce the incompatibility between mods and themes. Actually they have improved it to some degree going from 1.0 to 2.0. However, at the moment I can't think of any specific improvements that I could suggest.

[taha116]

Guys i thought of something that could really step SMF up a notch. A Codex, like wordpress, with tags that Noobs can learn. That would be awesome. I used worpress and even though i didnt know how to make mods i could modify a theme to something totaly extraordinary. It was all thanks to wordpress codeex...You should do the same,  i know thats a huge task, but its worth it. Trust me, i relied on wordpress codex all the time.

Wordpress codex link
http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page

(Should i be starting a new topic for this one?)

[Rumbaar]

Well that, for the most part, is what the Online Manual is meant to be and/or working to be.