Are MyBB serious with the 1.8 theme?

[euantor]

phpBB 3.1 is released, but not a lot of themes are made for it right now.

Oh, that obviously slipped past me. Last I saw was one of the beta releases.

 

[Phillip]

Oh, that obviously slipped past me. Last I saw was one of the beta releases.

Yeah, they released it not too long ago on the 28th of last month. But now it's phpbb 3.1.1

 

[salem]

3.0.12 has some responsive styles as well . see http://www.artodia.com/phpbb-styles Sorry to highjack a MyBB thread

 

[Azareal]

phpBB will do when 3.1 is released. Not sure about SMF.

Regarding 2.0, yes it has been talked about many times before, but we've reacted to the community's response. When first announced, most of the big forums and many users responded by saying they'd move away if MyBB 2.0 was released soon due to the major breaking changes. It's due to this 1.8 started development and was finally released. 1.8 was to be a stopgap for 2.0 with minor improvements, but ended up having many more features and changes accepted. Now that 1.8 is out, 2.0 is the true 100% focus.

Could have continued doing updates for 1.6.x for a longer time than usual while having the 2.x branch going on. And let's face it, developers would be alot more interested in working on the "legendary" 2.0 than a minor stop-gap release.

The main problem in my opinion is that people don't really understand what 2.0 is and the MyBB Team are usually fairly vague about it (I don't know whether it's due to you not having a plan or trying to hide secrets from competitors or whatever) other than.. It'll be more modern. What people do know is that it will break everything and that modern features can be done with plugins or with competitors who do have a grand plan.
I don't know what XenForo is planning to do in 2.0, but it's bound to be interesting, at the very least.

And honestly, being modern is what everyone is doing. It doesn't make people want to jump to MyBB specifically for and MyBB is a little late to the party when it comes to that too (Wedge, ElkArte, etc. Heck, even ABB will likely be released a long time before 2.0).

It's hard for big forums to get invested in something that they know will break everything when they don't know what the direction is.

Oh, that obviously slipped past me. Last I saw was one of the beta releases.

To be fair, I didn't really notice that 1.8.1 was released, thus continuing to mention how 1.8 shipped with such a collosal number of bugs which were deferred to 1.8.1. As they say, first impressions count.

 

[euantor]

Could have continued doing updates for 1.6.x for a longer time than usual while having the 2.x branch going on. And let's face it, developers would be alot more interested in working on the "legendary" 2.0 than a minor stop-gap release.

The main problem in my opinion is that people don't really understand what 2.0 is and the MyBB Team are usually fairly vague about it (I don't know whether it's due to you not having a plan or trying to hide secrets from competitors or whatever) other than.. It'll be more modern. What people do know is that it will break everything and that modern features can be done with plugins or with competitors who do have a grand plan.
I don't know what XenForo is planning to do in 2.0, but it's bound to be interesting, at the very least.

And honestly, being modern is what everyone is doing. It doesn't make people want to jump to MyBB specifically for and MyBB is a little late to the party when it comes to that too (Wedge, ElkArte, etc. Heck, even ABB will likely be released a long time before 2.0).

It's hard for big forums to get invested in something that they know will break everything when they don't know what the direction is.

To be fair, I didn't really notice that 1.8.1 was released, thus continuing to mention how 1.8 shipped with such a collosal number of bugs which were deferred to 1.8.1. As they say, first impressions count.

We could have, but the decision was made before I was a part of the team to do 1.8 to keep people happy and interested. We were also originally waiting on Yii 2.0 was released to work on MyBB 2.0 (Yii was going to be the framework of choice).

Nobody really understands what 2.0 is yet, as features are still being discussed. The only confirmed features are really as follows:

- it will be a forum only software
- It will be a complete rewrite
- There will be a clear and easy upgrade path from 1.8
- It will be built using modern PHP techniques and will require a minimum of PHP 5.4

The problem that MyBB has (and continues to) struggle with is the fact it's a fairly big project with quite a large number of users, but with very little interest from developers willing to contribute to the core (admittedly, something that the team hasn't exactly helped or pushed for in the past...). In the past contributing has never been clearly defined or easy to do and required jumping through several hurdles (signing up to redline, submitting bugs, following coding standards etc). The move to GitHub has helped this issue a lot.

Regarding 1.8, it was a shaky release and the team know that. Hence the prompt release of 1.8.1. 1.8 had been in development long past the original planned release date due to many team changes - including the lead developer leaving the project (Tomm M) and several other developers moving on. We're still moving forward though and hope that 2.0 will bring a lot more interest back to the project. We're all very excited about it and will be revealing some news shortly via both our blog and forums.

 

[omg123]

i thought the Apart theme was responsive
and responsive isnt a minor point, because of all the traffic that comes from mobiles/other devices

I agree that responsive is the way to go, but we're committed to 1.8 now. We can't go changing the theme in a minor point release. Jason is slowly working on MyBB GoMobile, but he has a lot on right now (including custom theme design requests, one of which is for me).

Audentio are also working on several responsive themes as far as I know too. They will likely all cost though.

 

[omg123]

"- it will be a forum only software"

why no social features as standard ?
because thats the way things have been going for years.


i would choose mybb over wordpress forums any day of the week, after a lot of research,
but add buddypress & bbpress to a wordpress site and you have forums & groups/walls/chat etc etc

so why not have the forums as the main feature & the groups/chat/social/wall etc etc as standard features ?
because the member signups/retention would increase once people saw these features.

We could have, but the decision was made before I was a part of the team to do 1.8 to keep people happy and interested. We were also originally waiting on Yii 2.0 was released to work on MyBB 2.0 (Yii was going to be the framework of choice).

Nobody really understands what 2.0 is yet, as features are still being discussed. The only confirmed features are really as follows:

- it will be a forum only software
- It will be a complete rewrite
- There will be a clear and easy upgrade path from 1.8
- It will be built using modern PHP techniques and will require a minimum of PHP 5.4

The problem that MyBB has (and continues to) struggle with is the fact it's a fairly big project with quite a large number of users, but with very little interest from developers willing to contribute to the core (admittedly, something that the team hasn't exactly helped or pushed for in the past...). In the past contributing has never been clearly defined or easy to do and required jumping through several hurdles (signing up to redline, submitting bugs, following coding standards etc). The move to GitHub has helped this issue a lot.

Regarding 1.8, it was a shaky release and the team know that. Hence the prompt release of 1.8.1. 1.8 had been in development long past the original planned release date due to many team changes - including the lead developer leaving the project (Tomm M) and several other developers moving on. We're still moving forward though and hope that 2.0 will bring a lot more interest back to the project. We're all very excited about it and will be revealing some news shortly via both our blog and forums.

 

[Emen]

When it comes to the 1.8 theme, it is not intended as a theme to be used actively on peoples forums. In many respects it is a clean starter for people to evolve their own ideas from. phpBBs default pro silver theme is not much better.

 

[Azareal]

When it comes to the 1.8 theme, it is not intended as a theme to be used actively on peoples forums. In many respects it is a clean starter for people to evolve their own ideas from. phpBBs default pro silver theme is not much better.

The problem with the 1.8 theme is that all they did was take a theme from five years ago, slapped it on 1.8 and called it a day.
The idea of pushing out a new theme is for it to feel fresh.

 

[Emen]

The problem with the 1.8 theme is that all they did was take a theme from five years ago, slapped it on 1.8 and called it a day.
The idea of pushing out a new theme is for it to feel fresh.

While the theme was based on an older theme, which was extremely popular, I doubt they used the exact same theme. All themes required re-writes for 1.8 and in that process they will have made edits and improvements.

I don't see the issue of the theme. No-one ever uses the starter theme of a software for a live forum anyway. The theme for 1.8 is responsive which is what most people were asking for. It is a good foundation for people to build off, even though I would of love a theme that was even more minimal.

 

[DeralG]

The problem with the 1.8 theme is that all they did was take a theme from five years ago, slapped it on 1.8 and called it a day.
The idea of pushing out a new theme is for it to feel fresh.

I disagree. Cause a popular theme is a better than a new unknown theme for members and the guests. 1.8 has patches too. 1.8 is not just a new theme.

 

[Tecca]

I suppose it's a matter of taste. I personally wouldn't worry about what MyBB.com looks like, it comes down to how easily I can modify themes. MyBB makes it pretty simple. But then again, I'm saying that from a perspective that I design all of my own stuff.

 

[Azareal]

I disagree. Cause a popular theme is a better than a new unknown theme for members and the guests. 1.8 has patches too. 1.8 is not just a new theme.

After five years, any theme would become stale. What MyBB needs is a fresh new theme to signify that they're not just trapped in the past like many people think they are. I've seen many people who dismissed 1.8 over the theme alone, the security issues was just icing on the cake.

 

[Emen]

Security issues occur everywhere, but I will admit MyBB has had a lot of them lately. Although in this case I ask is it really MyBB who is to blame, or the users of MyBB that are constantly pushing for new software and upgrades faster than the team at MyBB can truly create fantastic products? I believe 2.0 will be awesome and I also believe that MyBB has wrongly been criticized lately. Yes, they released software that was not truly functional, but if they received more support from their user base, they wouldn't feel forced into doing so.

 

[DeralG]

After five years, any theme would become stale. What MyBB needs is a fresh new theme to signify that they're not just trapped in the past like many people think they are. I've seen many people who dismissed 1.8 over the theme alone, the security issues was just icing on the cake.

That is you're opinion. What you can't force is the fact many people like Mybb like it is. People can make the themes on their own. A new theme is not a new forum software. I'd hoped you'd know that with your "Developer" title.

 

[Azareal]

Security issues occur everywhere, but I will admit MyBB has had a lot of them lately. Although in this case I ask is it really MyBB who is to blame, or the users of MyBB that are constantly pushing for new software and upgrades faster than the team at MyBB can truly create fantastic products? I believe 2.0 will be awesome and I also believe that MyBB has wrongly been criticized lately. Yes, they released software that was not truly functional, but if they received more support from their user base, they wouldn't feel forced into doing so.

As far as the security issues are concerned, I've mentioned it before in some other topics, but MyBB rushed 1.8 out the door and that was one of the main causes of the recent security issues. They made some big mistakes in the past, I don't believe that they have been wrongly criticized. Whether they learn from their past mistakes is a different matter.

As far as "support from the userbase" is concerned, the userbase is entitled to their own opinions. MyBB isn't the most transparent project at times and times of silence really can cause people to fear the worst.

That is you're opinion. What you can't force is the fact many people like Mybb like it is. People can make the themes on their own. A new theme is not a new forum software. I'd hoped you'd know that with your "Developer" title.

At the end of the day, MyBB has been largely declining and it's reputation has been going downhill. Perhaps, 2.0 will change public opinion. Perhaps not. I can't see the future, unfortunately. A new theme doesn't change the underlying code, correct. However, it's a fresh coat of paint that shows the world that MyBB is still changing and advancing.

The worst that they can do is to portray the idea that MyBB is stagnant.

 

[omg123]

"At the end of the day, MyBB has been largely declining"

i thought mybb userbase was increasing ? (am i wrong ?)


ps
here
mybb = 9.2 (free)
xenforo = 8.1 (paid)
phpbb = 8.4 (free)
bbpress = 5.5 (free)

http://www.forum-software.org/forum-comparator/bbpress-vs-mybb-vs-phpbb3-vs-xenforo

mybb best (& free)

i left out vbulletin because it seems the consensus of opinion is that people are leaving.


theres plenty of other forum software - some are listed on there and some are not - and it doesnt include all of the features etc that i or anyone else would want included

 

[Emen]

"At the end of the day, MyBB has been largely declining"

i thought mybb userbase was increasing ? (am i wrong ?)


ps
here
mybb = 9.2 (free)
xenforo = 8.1 (paid)
phpbb = 8.4 (free)
bbpress = 5.5 (free)

http://www.forum-software.org/forum-comparator/bbpress-vs-mybb-vs-phpbb3-vs-xenforo

mybb best (& free)

i left out vbulletin because it seems the consensus of opinion is that people are leaving.


theres plenty of other forum software - some are listed on there and some are not - and it doesnt include all of the features etc that i or anyone else would want included

Im confused...

 

[omg123]

ps - when i said plenty of other forum software - i meant social scripts etc such as social engine - basically anything that includes a community type script

 

[omg123]

why are you confused ?