Considering SMF for new site

[martin05rc]

I am re-purposing a site I had done with vBulletin.  The site never took off, so I am changing focus.  Prime time to consider alternatives to vBulletin.  Why?  Personally, touching vBulletin is painful at nearly every stage.  Support is crap (I even paid for annual support and it was crap).  The code is a mess.  It's full of bugs.  Even doing simple things is a research project.  In general, maintaining a board, if it has been customized, is very painful.  I kept very detailed notes on everything I did but absolutely dreaded every single update.  Anyhow, enough of that.

Simple questions about SMF.  Please let me know if I should break these up into different sub-forums.




• What's the status of attack "hardness" of SMF?  SQL injection?  Hammering?  etc.
• If not off the shelf, what are the best --as in widely deployed, supported and proven-- security mods?
• Integration into a site:  Any documentation on how to implement this?  In other words, forum is one link on a site with other stuff in it.
• Cross-site login usage:  Can I have my users log-in with SMF and share that login across the site for other services?  How?
• AdSense Integration:  Off the shelf or mod?
• Advertising management: I want to sell ads independently of AdSense and also use networks like AdSense.  Which mods are best for this?
• Classifieds:  Any mods to host a paid classifieds section?
• Amazon Affiliate:  If someone posts a link to something on Amazon I want the link modified with to include my affiliate code.  I see that a couple of mods that were claimed to do this were pulled.  How can I make this happen?  I can code in PHP but don't know where to get started.
• No-Follow:  Are there options to automatically set links to no-follow on a user type basis?  For example, follow links from admins but not from regular members?
• Like/Favorites:  Is there a mod to allow members to "like" posts or threads?  How about allowing members to keep a list of favorite posts or threads?
• Facebook, etc:  Best practices/mods to allow liking or posting thread links to Facebook, Twitter, etc.?
• Code tag formatting:  Any mods to change the way code is formatted?  The most basic option would be to change the font.  Is this just a CSS change?  How about intelligent formatting with coloring/highlighting?
• Message Editing:  Any WYSIWYG editor mods?
• Math tags: Any mods to be able to enter mathematical equations and have them display as such?
• Spammers:  What are the best practices to stop spammers from getting in?  Best mods?
• Mobile Integration:  What are the options to make a SMF forum easy to read/use on smart phones?
• Email notification:  Any options to notify a member of new posts existing within a specific sub-forum?
• Backup:  How is backup and restore of the forum and/or database handled?
• Mod writing:  Any tutorials or documentation to get started with writing your own mods?
• Captchka:  Any option to use reCaptchka instead of what I see down there while I type this?
• Subscriptions:  Any mods to allow automatic subscriptions to threads/messages based on various criteria (my own, interesting, sub-forum, etc.)?

I'm sure more questions will pop-up.  I am going to download and install SMF on my local machine to play with over the weekend and see how much trouble I can get into.  Thanks for your help.

-Martin

[Matthew K.]

Hey there!

I apologize for being brief, hopefully someone else can stop by and expand on some of them.

1) SMF is extremely secure, this includes in regards to SQL injections and so forth.
2) There are thousands of modifications, the large majority of which are not officially developed by our team.
3) Definitely, the main way to integrate made extremely easy is SSI.php: SSI Readme
4) You'd use either SSI.php, or possibly the smf_2_api that Andre wrote.
5) There are multiple modifications that provide extremely vast possibilities for AdSense or other ad programs. SMF is built "light-weight" with modifications for most extensions.
6) In SMF 2.0 there is a Subscriptions system built-in to Profiles and the Admin panel that you could most likely utilize.
7) I do believe there is a Classifieds mod, but it is either WIP or Paid if I recall correctly.
Not completely sure, have you checked out the mod site? (http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods)
9) Definitely mod[s] for this.
10) Two separate modifications, they both exist, probably multiple ones too.
11) Take your pick from a handful of modifications that allow this, and most without direct edits.
12) That's a simple CSS change, or even a theme change. PHP is automatically highlighted, beyond that, you'd have to look into implementing your own system.
13) WYSIWIYG Editor is built-in to SMF's editor. However, there are multiple third-party modifications to change this to other editors.
14) Not sure what you mean here?
15) Kindred has I think 3 modifications installed, and absolutely no issues with spam. Don't remember off the top of my head which they are.
16) Well, SMF has wap/2 and iMode. I personally have an iPhone, and use it as normal. Although there are iPhone/Android options on the mod site.
17) Most definitely.
18) You can take database backups via the Administration Panel (Maintenance, believe it or not.), you have to take file back-ups yourself, although I don't think it's hard to figure out how they're applied? Pretty basic. There is however a modification in the queue from ziycon that makes managing backups easier (database).
19) Yes...definitely.
20) There's a reCAPTCHA modification on the site.

I'd really suggest searching the site a bit...

[martin05rc]

Thanks for your answers. Yes, I am reading through the site.  Kind of like drinking through a firehose at the moment.  The intent of my post was to try to hunt down best practices, which isn't always immediately evident from reading through dozens or hundreds of posts.

With regards to #8, I found this: http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=893

However, the mod is gone.  I came across a blurb on another thread that claimed that development ended due to some kind of a legal problem with Amazon.  No further details or explanation, so hard to tell exactly what the issue might have been.  I can't see any harm done by taking user-submitted links and adding your affiliate id to them.  Or even better, if the link is coming in with an affiliate link already (them clever users!) change it to your own.

#13.  Ah.  I didn't realize that the "Toggle View" button switched to WYSIWYG mode.  A more descriptive tool-tip might help here.  Just thinking about the users.  Not sure that "Toggle View" is immediately obvious.

#14.  Math.  Say you want to enter an equation involving an integral.  It'd be nice if there was a way to do so and have the equation displayed with proper mathematical notation, fonts, layout, etc. 

Thanks again.  I'll continue digging.

[Oldiesmann]

To elaborate on a few things here...

4. Cross-site login usage:  Can I have my users log-in with SMF and share that login across the site for other services?  How?

Several methods exist for this, depending on the setup you want. The easiest way is to use SSI integration, which will allow you to use SMF's login system and userbase for everything (so you can, for instance, prevent guests from viewing certain parts of the site). There are also built-in integration hooks for user registration, login, etc. if you would prefer to keep a separate userbase for the site.

6. Advertising management: I want to sell ads independently of AdSense and also use networks like AdSense.  Which mods are best for this?

For that, I'd recommend using OpenX (the free "OnRamp" version), which will let you serve custom ads alongside AdSense. The Ad Management mod will still be needed to handle the displaying of the ads (unless you wish to modify the templates yourself).

7. Classifieds:  Any mods to host a paid classifieds section?

Yes, but it's a tad bit pricey. See SMF Classifieds for more info.

8. Amazon Affiliate:  If someone posts a link to something on Amazon I want the link modified with to include my affiliate code.  I see that a couple of mods that were claimed to do this were pulled.  How can I make this happen?  I can code in PHP but don't know where to get started.

There isn't anything exactly like this, though there are a few Amazon affiliate mods available: Amazon DVD, Amazon MP3 and Amazon Search. It probably wouldn't be too hard to add this functionality though. The mod you linked to isn't compatible with SMF 2.0, but it could probably be updated to work with that version.

9. No-Follow:  Are there options to automatically set links to no-follow on a user type basis?  For example, follow links from admins but not from regular members?

The closest to this is the Anti-Spam Links, which lets you control who can post links, whether or not to make those links active and whether or not to make them "nofollow", with each option being based on how many posts the user has made. There's also a NoFollow All Links mod, but I don't know if it's configurable the way you want.

10. Like/Favorites:  Is there a mod to allow members to "like" posts or threads?  How about allowing members to keep a list of favorite posts or threads?

Yes to both. For "Likes", there's the SMF Likes Pro mod ($15), which works quite well. For favorites, there's the Bookmarks mod.

11. Facebook, etc:  Best practices/mods to allow liking or posting thread links to Facebook, Twitter, etc.?

There are quite a few social bookmark mods, or you could use a free website toolbar system such as the one from Wibiya. It really depends on what you want/need.

12. Code tag formatting:  Any mods to change the way code is formatted?  The most basic option would be to change the font.  Is this just a CSS change?  How about intelligent formatting with coloring/highlighting?

For the font, it's just a simple CSS change. If you want intelligent highlighting, there's a Code Highlighting mod, and also a GeShi (Generic Syntax Highlighter) mod.

14. Math tags: Any mods to be able to enter mathematical equations and have them display as such?

I don't believe there's a mod for it, but others have managed to integrate LatexRender with SMF in the past, so I'm sure it can be done.

16. Mobile Integration:  What are the options to make a SMF forum easy to read/use on smart phones?

As Labradoodle said, SMF has built-in WAP/Wap2/iMode (C-Html) formats, but those are rather basic for today's phones. The best option would be either Tapatalk (free for you, but the users have to pay for the app to use it) or the SMF4Mobile theme (not free for you, but does not require your users to pay for an app to use it).

21. Subscriptions:  Any mods to allow automatic subscriptions to threads/messages based on various criteria (my own, interesting, sub-forum, etc.)?

I don't believe so, but I could be wrong.

[Matthew K.]

There is also "Simple Ads" as an alternative to Ad Management Mod, it's really all up to you. They're pretty similar, although I think Simple Ads might be a little bit more advanced, not sure though.

[punchy]

Nicely Explained guys, Since IB bought VB its gone down hill big time, The prices go up but the quality of the software gets worse, Everyones thinking of saving $$$$ or £££££, so corners are cut. With SMF things are different They create this software striaght from the heart, Its not about the money with SMF its about creating a forum which is far superior than the paid ones, I was a developer/coder over at VB.org and i'm glad i got out when i did. Came to SMF and been here ever since

The Coders and programmers here are excellent and that also uncludes the Mods and skin creators

I take my hat off to you all   

[Kindred]

There is a latex mod... It's a little outdated and needs a few tweaks, but I got it working on my test forum last week....  (the one with 160 mods installed, lol)

The three antispammer measures that I use are - bad behavior with httpbl, stop spammer and the built in human questions.
I also ave the antispam links mid installed, but mostly to encourage newbies to post before flooding us with links.

[martin05rc]

Thanks for the answers.  Between this thread and continuing to read the board I am getting a much better picture of what I'd be walking into.  I already own a vB license, so there would be no cost in staying with vB.  But, I'd have to upgrade from 4.0-something to the latest revision due to a whole bunch of security fixes, etc. that were released over the last year or so.  That process is rather painful due to all of the work you have to do in going around and editing templates and CSS files all over the place.  I am looking for simple, functional and safe as well as ease of monetization (mainly to cover costs) and integration into the rest of the site.  It seems to be between SMF and IB at the moment.

[kat]

I'd have to upgrade from 4.0-something to the latest revision due to a whole bunch of security fixes, etc. that were released over the last year or so.  That process is rather painful due to all of the work you have to do in going around and editing templates and CSS files all over the place.

Unfortunately, you'll have that, to some degree, whatever software you use.

I mean, look at how often Windows gets updated, for very similar reasons.

[martin05rc]

I'd have to upgrade from 4.0-something to the latest revision due to a whole bunch of security fixes, etc. that were released over the last year or so.  That process is rather painful due to all of the work you have to do in going around and editing templates and CSS files all over the place.

Unfortunately, you'll have that, to some degree, whatever software you use.

I mean, look at how often Windows gets updated, for very similar reasons.

I don't have a problem with updates.  I have a problem when they become more like with brain surgery.  Windows updates can quite literally happen while you sleep. 

[kat]

Oh, of course! Some people get real problems, though. Especially when it updates drivers with crap versions.

Sometimes, though, SMF needs some manual editing, especially if you have mods.

But, I have to say that doing that can't be too difficult, with SMF, coz even I can do it!

[martin05rc]

Oh, of course! Some people get real problems, though. Especially when it updates drivers with crap versions.

Sometimes, though, SMF needs some manual editing, especially if you have mods.

But, I have to say that doing that can't be too difficult, with SMF, coz even I can do it!

That's not a problem.  With my vB installation it takes about three hours of work to update versions assuming that nothing goes wrong.  And that is with a very accurate step-by-step log I wrote during my very first installation and customization.  It literally gives me step-by-step "do this", "do that" instructions to follow, nothing to think about until something breaks.  Then it could be hours of troubleshooting.  If you didn't have this guide it'd be days of work (potentially).

[kat]

Sod that for a lark!

[青山 素子]

Sometimes, though, SMF needs some manual editing, especially if you have mods.

In case you are unaware, vBulletin stores templates in the database. This means that fixes to the software that require template changes mean you have to make all those changes manually. With highly-edited template files this becomes very difficult and time-consuming.

[martin05rc]

Sometimes, though, SMF needs some manual editing, especially if you have mods.

In case you are unaware, vBulletin stores templates in the database. This means that fixes to the software that require template changes mean you have to make all those changes manually. With highly-edited template files this becomes very difficult and time-consuming.

Yup.  And you better keep a good log of all the changes you make this way or you'll never be able to get back to were you where after an upgrade.  In addition to that, you need to document WHY you are making some changes because a manual modification might not work on a new version...so you have to know what you were thinking six months ago to try to recreate the desired behavior.  An absolute mess.

[青山 素子]

Just to note, if you mess with the theme for SMF enough, you'll run into similar issues. However, if you follow best practices by making a copy of the default template and editing that, and then including only the modified files in your theme you'll have it a lot easier if you get to such a point. Having version control (be it Subversion, Mercurial, Git, or even CVS if you must) helps a ton when managing edited themes.

[kat]

In case you are unaware, vBulletin stores templates in the database.

I wasn't aware.

That seems a bit dumb, to me. (But, then, what do I know? )