Some updates on SMF 2.1

[NekoJonez]

there is already a mod for tapatalk...

It is - however - not a mobile theme...
(and it requires payment, which is an issue)
(and there are several things that interact badly between tapatalk and other mods)

Indeed. And yes, it's indeed buggy and messy.

[Kindred]

so, why would we work on a deeper integration with a third party, which costs money and is known the have issues, when the better solution is to design the theme to be responsive in the first place?

[SolarShane]

so, why would we work on a deeper integration with a third party, which costs money and is known the have issues, when the better solution is to design the theme to be responsive in the first place?

Tapatalk doesn't cost money. It's free to download for all. It's only if you want a dedicated SMF forum app created that costs money.

[Arantor]

It being free is a new thing, but it does have some interesting quirks like branding on uploads.

And the fact that it has all kinds of technical issues and had to be served a takedown notice a few months ago for not adhering to legalities of the SMF licence.

[xeon365]

what is actually new for 2.1 anything decent?

[Arantor]

Draft posts, improved handling of attachments, revamped admin panel, alerts system, improved security systems, improved mod handling facilities... lots of goodies.

[Kindred]

The actual featureset will be announced when beta1 is released... and you can test it out yourself anyway...

[CountryLady]

Have we told y'all lately that we appreciate everyone working on this? Probably not nearly often enough.

...and those who are testing and trying out SMF v.2.1 deserve our thanks as well.
...and props to all the workers & support helpers that are keeping our current versions humming along.

To everyone helping us enjoy this awesome software, "SMF"...

                         Many Thanks to each of you for a SUPER JOB~!
                                         A Fantastic Crew of Volunteers~!

[radu81]

After the beta 1,it will be beta 2 and then RC? Sorry for the offtopic

[Arantor]

It will be what it needs to be. If more betas are required or more RCs are required, they will happen, simple as that.

[radu81]

No problem for me, I thought there was some kind of rule... Today I just had a look to github and sow beta 1,beta 2 and RC.  Too bad that github is not for me, I m not a coder

[Arantor]

Nope, that's just the expectation rather than a definitive 'this is how it will be'.

But even the best laid plans of mice and men - my gallery was supposed to be out a couple of weeks ago and I still have 19 items on the to do list.

[xeon365]

so username will have membergroup class styling like....

<a class="adminGroup" href="/profile/adminUSER">AdminUSER</a>

<a class="memberGroup" href="/profile/memberUSER">memberUSER</a>

bit like enjin boards, would be nice.

and avatars on board index so board index can look a less crap by default instead of requiring tons of modding to get smf looking less like it wasn't made for the last decade.. or is that still to many queries for 2014 forum software, what can't be done without options to enable/disable can't be done.

[Arantor]

so username will have membergroup class styling like

Given that hundreds of groups get used, the only way this could even possibly be a thing is if you had it as group_1, group_2 etc. or similar, and then you'd have to have a custom pipeline regenerating the stylesheet - or having the system manually attempt to modify stylesheets in themes, which is both a practical nightmare and a security risk.

Of course, if you don't like that SMF does it this way, alternative forum systems are available.

and avatars on board index so board index can look a less crap by default

I've never liked it, personally, but I believe 2.1 has an option for this.

or is that still to many queries for 2014 forum software

Given that this 2014 forum software has to work on the most stunted of forum hosts, serious considerations have to be given to performance. This is one of the things SMF has always taken very seriously and is how come we have communities with millions of posts running on a single server without too much difficulty.

what can't be done without options to enable/disable can't be done.

Every option that's added makes it slower, it also makes it harder to use, harder to develop, harder to test.

[xeon365]

Given that hundreds of groups get used, the only way this could even possibly be a thing is if you had it as group_1, group_2 etc. or similar, and then you'd have to have a custom pipeline regenerating the stylesheet - or having the system manually attempt to modify stylesheets in themes, which is both a practical nightmare and a security risk.

ofc member groups can just have default css style for that group, or no plain css styling for membergroups as it is right now.

With an admin option to specify a membergroup css class per membergroup then tada..

none of this nonsense...

and then you'd have to have a custom pipeline regenerating the stylesheet - or having the system manually attempt to modify stylesheets in themes, which is both a practical nightmare and a security risk.

it will attach the specific class, while those with tons of membergroups can just use the defaults. Those who want slighty less naff looking forums can add some better style into it at least for certain membergroups where css class has been specified, or class is just the membergroup name.

i dunno any sites that use hundreds of membergoup .. but i'd bet vast majority of smf configurations barely use much more than the defaults.

Given that this 2014 forum software has to work on the most stunted of forum hosts, serious considerations have to be given to performance. This is one of the things SMF has always taken very seriously and is how come we have communities with millions of posts running on a single server without too much difficulty.

fork smf into a lite edition if its such a problem, seems more like an excuse

Of course, if you don't like that SMF does it this way, alternative forum systems are available.

yes xenforo seems like the next one to move to, my smf board is nothing but tons of mods attempting to get what is just another boards freaking defaults.

[Arantor]

With an admin option to specify a membergroup css class per membergroup then tada..

You have clearly never actually IMPLEMENTED this. I have in the past and it isn't nearly the simplicity you make it out to be. (I am formerly of the SMF development team. I know the code base at least as well as anyone currently on the dev team. The facilities to provide this simply do not exist in 2.1 and are not going to.)

You see, the part you fail to grasp is the actuality of implementing this. You say it's nonsense - I happen to be a programmer who understands what's actually involved in making it happen.

So you set the colours in the admin panel. At some point they have to get from the admin panel to the style sheet in order to be used, meaning either 1) you don't have the colours configurable from the admin panel, period, or 2) you expect theme authors to define colours for the standard groups which most sites don't actually use.

Trust me, you do not speak for the majority of forums. Neither do I, technically, but I have worked with many hundreds of SMF installations over the years. I've seen so many crazy setups it's not even funny any more.

[xeon365]

the default membergroups specified in the theme, just becomes common knowledge and easy to make forum admins aware of the changes

oh make a new membergroup, don't forgot to add this css into your theme style sheet, simple helper note in the relavent section if a new class is added or membergroup made etc.

such rocket science, though could be nice and have it automatically modify the theme css with the new class.

[JBlaze]

the default membergroups specified in the theme, just becomes common knowledge and easy to make forum admins aware of the changes

oh make a new membergroup, don't forgot to add this css into your theme style sheet, simple helper note in the relavent section if a new class is added or membergroup made etc.

such rocket science, though could be nice and have it automatically modify the theme css with the new class.

If you want it that bad, ask and/or pay someone to do it for you in a mod package. It won't make it to the 2.1 feature list (it's already feature-locked), and not to mention it's just too much work for such a minor change.

[Arantor]

Except, actually, that's also several steps beyond the average technical competence of SMF's admin users. Editing CSS by hand only happens in most cases when people get given the exact CSS they need and told where and how to use it.

And it's simply a terrible use of dev time to build a massive piece of architecture for something that, as far as I remember, has been requested only a handful of times.

[stmaxx]

I have seen many, many themes, and none of them will suit, every Admin, Member or visitor, so what happens is that, either you take it upon yourself to learn a bit of the latest CSS stuff, make it appealing to you and you community, you pay someone to do it and or ask for some help, if you are no too fussy with them they may do it for you.
Making a great software, secure software package is allot of work and Team work as well. The themes and mods can be done freely buy others and submitted to the SMT team, or on their own as also ways.

I have seem some/many CMS packages that allow limited colour schemes to be edited, via the admin control panel. but the systems are nothing like or close to the SMF work. They have, not much other to offer, than the front door looks and feel, with very like or way too complicated admin controls.

I say let's let the progress continue with out, minor requests of distraction.

I for one can not, but have wait for the next release Beta or what ever. and It not going to be the simplistic ways of the past versions, At least as I see and. I'm not afraid of the changes, but looking forwarded to working with it, as with the Alpha!