[ Closed ] Couple Suggestions

I agree with pretty much all of those..

Thank you. Suggestions are always welcome.

I kind of like it the way it is now. Sure, it's beginning to be a bit long, but I'm not sure dividing it up into e.g. three or four pages would make it any better. I like it the way it is now because doing common tasks such as modifying the signature doesn't involve finding the right "sub page" in the profile. I click profile and it's right there.

Ok, here's the thing. I could add chacmools mod into the next release. After that, someone will tell me that they feel attachment support is equally "essential" these days and then I will add that as well. Then, all of a sudden, PunBB will be identical to every other bulletin board software out there. I'm not kidding here. Giving PunBB more features actually makes it less attractive. If PunBB had the same amount of features as e.g. Invision Power Board, why the hell would anyone want to use PunBB?

That said, I'm considering adding chacmool's PM mod, but I haven't decided yet. I have to take a much closer look at it before I make my decision.

Sure. I would love to have such a tool. I don't think it should be part of PunBB though. It should be a separate download. Maybe Cactuz should make a tool for Punres? :D

I know absolutely nothing at all about that whole industry, but if adding that media attribute helps in any way, sure. What does it do actually?

True. There are a few things I would also like to change, but I would definately keep the admin scripts in the root as they are now. The idea behind the current layout is that files that are accessed directly are in the root and files that are included from those files are in the include directory.

Your welcome.

I agree that it looks ok how it is, but if you think searching for the word "Signature Controls" or "Signature" inside of UserCP or "My Preferences" is by any means hard, then please think a little bit more on the subject. That is by no means an insult, so please don't take it the wrong way.

Alright, I'll agree on that point. It's a very valid one at that. I do know how that works. People always want what they can't have. And I do think that if you're not going to add it, then I'm happy that there is a modification. Personally, I don't use Personal Messaging on forums except to notify members individually of offenses to the forum rules or to further help them, if it becomes like one of those topics where it's just you replying to each other, in essence an Instant Messenger chat.

Drawing the line is a good thing. You need to draw a line and say, "This is what PunBB is, this is what your feature is" and explain why you won't be implementing that. You cannot prevent people from wanting, however, you can draw the line and say it won't be done. I like that you have such a clear vision of what PunBB should be so early in the game.

Yes, it would be very easy to do.

Just make an xml file or even a tpl file and have a php script insert the code where it should be.

It's really one of the newer crazes out there for enthusiest web developers to claim that their site is "Totally Standards Compliant," so that people on all media's can view the site. The most popular type is obviously "media="print"" which in essence makes a printer friendly version of the page, simply by hitting the print button in any modern browser. The reason this works is the browser identifies the media as a printer, so if you declare a css stylesheet for that media, it will use it when it's requested by the device. The same applies for PDA, using the media="handheld." The same goes for media="screen," which by the way is what your common web browser would use. Though, be careful about the "just if it helps" part. Keep in mind these are different types of devices and you need to modify the stylesheets accordingly. So, before you implement any of them, read up on them. Most likely, the only one you need are:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="OxygenScreen.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="handheld" href="OxygenHandheld.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="print" href="OxygenPrint.css" />

I don't agree with the admin pages thing. I think that they'd be better off in /sources/admin.

Thanks.

There may be a hidden benefit to have a stylesheet generator. It will enable the stylesheet to be optimised and therefore smaller because it will not have to be easy for less experienced users to follow.

Rickard: Are you going to write a stylesheet generator or did I interpret your post all wrong? =)

Truth be told, this is so far one of the only things keeping me from switching my forum from Invision Board to Punbb. I really love the speed and simplicity of Punbb, but the lack of instant messaging is kind of keeping me back. However, I'm also not really sure how much it gets used on my forum. I just don't want to hear them complain when they find out it's not there. I'm going to post and find out how much it gets used.

Please don't add PM ! There is a mod, fine, but I don't wanna see PunBB bloated (this is bloat as it's not required, a PM should use mail IMHO) as it become more popular.

If you add PM, I'm pretty sure there will be some PunBB-light fork

It has ever been said that PunBB does not want to include every stuff that other forums have, with the effect that they are really mighty, filled with hundreds of features which infact only some will ever use.

The reason for it not being in PunBB wasnt that PunBB is "not being developed that far yet", it was on purpose as far as i understood it. Thats the whole concept of this Forum
And you dont walk into a mans clothing store and ask for a handbag either, do you?

Im perfectly fine with it being some kind of plugin. I think thats a really good solution to the satisfaction of all.

My two pences

Oh, by the way, am i wrong or will modding get more and more difficult the bigger a forum software gets?