Personally I think 2.1 should be skipped and go straight into developing on 3.0.
My 3.0 Dream:
1.| Use HTML 5 especially with the use of microdata. The way I see it, but the time 3.0 comes out, there will be a lot more support for it.
2.| Go Object Oriented.
3.| Keep your ground on not supporting third party software. jQuery "might" being the only exception, as some don't consider it third party. However, it should be discussed publicly on whether to support it or not. The pros may out-weigh the cons greatly.
4.| Add a BBC manager and a Menu Manager.
5.| Rename "Default Theme" to "Master Theme", and use the term "Default Theme" when applying a theme to run as the site default. This makes things a little clearer for newcomers.
6.| Remove most of the profile fields in profiles and let the custom profile fields do the work. If the admin wants them, he can create them.
7.| Remove the Calendar. I actually have mixed feeling about this, because I use the Calendar. I think it should be an "official" mod.
8.| Permissions need a make-over. Current system is to complicated to understand for newcomers. Adding options like "Accept" "Deny" and "Revoke" can be a game changer and help people understand it better. Using "Deny" means no permission, but can get permission that allows you from another group. However, using "Revoke" means no permission, regardless if you get permission from another group.
9.| Full UTF8 support by default.
10.| Look at "
PHP Speedy"(uses GZIP compression to reduce browser overhead), this idea has potential. Can SMF have something similar by default, that combines all JS files into one file and CSS files into one file(including additional JS/CSS files from mods), and removes white-space and comments. This will reduce HTTP requests and file sizes. Not speed up not only page loading by a little bit, but increase browser load speed greatly on slower computers.
11.| Make notification a numbered queue like facebook alerts, rather than sending an email.
12.| Add user tagging, meaning I can tag a user in a message(@Xarcell) and receive an notification that my name was tagged. It lets me know a comment was directed towards me. To cut down on abuse, you should only be able tag users that are participating within that topic. Also have an option to ignore those notifications for a particular topic.
13.| More CSS3 support, less IE6 support.
14.| Default theme(or "Master Theme" if you will), should have better smart-phone/tablet support out-of-box. Heck, look at windows 8.
15.| Eliminate as many images as you can. SMF uses way too many icons. Many of them can be created using pure CSS, like the "new" button. Reduce HTTP requests and page load.
16.| Eliminate post page, expand Quick Reply and use ajax.
17.| Continue support for multiple database types.
18.| URL's need to be prettier. Site domain followed by the category name, numeric topic id, and then numeric reply id if any. Example: "simplemachines.org/smf-development/feature-requests/topic=31689/". Each reply go in numeric order, example: "simplemachines.org/smf-development/feature-requests/topic=31689/reply=1/".
19.| For the love of GOD, don't add a sidebar, it won't be flexible enough. All or nothing. If you want to do such as thing, then do it properly. Allow blocks of content to be displayed around the forum. Much like your common portals. Top, bottom, left, and right.
20.| Option to apply any age, gender, or custom profile field into a membergroup, so that it can be given permissions. This would allow sites to restrict content by age, gender, or custom profile field. This is something I have not seen any software do, but is always asked for as a mod/add-on.
21.| No more gifs! SVG should be used with a PNG fallback(javascript needed to do this until it becomes fully supported) where applicable.
22.| Scrap karma system for users and add like/dislike system based on posts.
23.| Use overlays where applicable.
24.| Profiles need a make-over, add more information and ditch the old YaBB look. Be sure to add page views a profile, and show what the user is currently viewing.
25.| Full Litespeed support.
26.| Allow multiple polls per topic.
27.| Expand buddy system to include following their activity & posts.
28.| Add option to appoint a membergroup moderator, which add add/remove users from that particular membergroup.
29.| Option to use custom on/off images per board.
30.| Use jQuery as library of choice and/or jQuery mobile.
31.| Add "drag & drop" for arranging for categories/boards, and profile fields. Also any other areas where useful.
32.| Option to add attachments in PM's.
33.| phpinfo should be shown in admin section.
34.| Add default avatar, brings uniform to forum.
Help Forums Evolve!1.| There should be an option to display a topic as an "article", "page", "file", "thread", or "blog". Really if you think about it, the only different between the four is HOW the information is displayed. Selecting between the five options merely changes which template can be used to display that information.
Membergroup permissions determine what type can be used, along with what code such as BBC, HTML, or PHP. An example of default restrictions would be Page & PHP is allowed by the admin only.
If your wondering what "file" type is, then it's nothing more than taking a post with an attachment and display to look like a item download page. All the information is there, it's just a manner of how to display it.
It would also make it easier to make an add-on for it. Someone might want a custom "reviews" add-on, that mainly just displays the information within the post to look like a review page.
2.| All content of any type can all be found within the forum. No need for separate sections. Actions(such as the calendar) show even be allowed to placed into a forum category. So there should be an option for every action to do this or not(Google doesn't like redirects). Either way though, everything that a forum has, should have an option be able to be found within the forum itself, including the member base. The forum index should be the sitemap!
3.| I'm not for third party support, but I think people should be able to login and post using their Facebook, Twitter, OpenID, Yahoo, Live, and Google login's without registering or creating a profile.
